Chapter 4:

The road stretched out in front of Sasuke, sun splashing down from above upon the hard packed earth. Squinting from the terrible glare, He waited for his eyes to adjust to the contrasting bright outdoor world after being under fluorescent lights for the past two days. Dust swirled up through the air, bending fingers around his ankles as he led the way down the street and away from the hospital. Naruto hung back behind him like a storm cloud brooding over the horizon. His mood was so palpable to Sasuke that he could taste it on the back of his tongue like electricity. Disgruntled with a pinch of pure anger.

They hadn't spoken a word to each other since leaving the linoleum lined halls, but Sasuke was handling the awkwardness well. Ever since coming back, the only thing that they had shared between each other was a lot of stale air, so he was used to it. Though, with out other people around for Naruto to be loud and chummy with, it was hard for Sasuke to get used to him being utterly silent.

Inside, Sasuke felt a small piece of himself recoil in anguish. He had created this mess and ruined all the potential and hope that Naruto might have once been for him. On his face, however, he wore the cold porcelain mask that was expected of him. Not even a glimmer of the discomfort or pain he was feeling from the rawness of his throat or throbbing of his head passed through his dark eyes.

Pressing air out of his nose, he pushed the discomfort in his chest down and ignored the looks shot his way. Some were of admiration, others of wary curiosity. None were hostile. But he noticed them turn to glares as they passed over his companion. Clenching his teeth, he ignored those, too. He was used to the way civilians and even some of the older ninja acted when Naruto was around, but it didn't piss him off any less. Why couldn't they mind their own damn business? So maybe he housed a nine tailed biju, big fucking whoop.

They continued to walk on in silence even as the village bustled about them. Sasuke felt overly uncomfortable around this quiet version of Naruto, but didn't say anything about it. He was convinced it would come off as weird if he showed any concern, and besides, he already knew what was bothering the other. Him.

Finally, the Uchiha district loomed up in front of them. This part of town was quiet and subdued in comparison to the market that lay at the heart of the village. Passing through the gates, Sasuke picked up his pace in apprehension. He felt chills roll down his spine as he was assaulted by the aura of the dead that seemed to cling to the broken foundations and ruins scattered about. It coiled around his heart and choked him. Forgetting for a moment about Naruto, he willed himself not to break out into a sprint.

Keeping his composure, he let out a small sigh of relief only once they had reached the other end of the compound. They'd wound their way through the labyrinth of abandoned establishments and houses, cutting through a band of overgrown foliage and trees to reach his own home. Naruto still hung behind him, but hadn't let the gap between them grow any in Sasuke's haste. He had merely increased his own pace, but not enough to catch up with him.

Irritated by all that had come to pass in the last couple days, by the way he was always so weak and messing things up, by the annoying way Naruto hung heavily on his mind, Sasuke yanked open the front door to his musty childhood home and strode in leaving it ajar for Naruto to follow. He kicked his sandals violently off where they smacked against the wall adjacent to the door and slid to the slick cold floor and, not bothering to see that Naruto made it into the house, he walked up the stairs and into his room, closing the door behind himself.

He sat down on the edge of his bed and closed his eyes, sensing Naruto's chakra as it stood idle in the foyer. He could also feel it as Naruto's awareness lightly touched on his own aura to place him in the house. This irritated Sasuke even more, but he contained himself knowing Naruto was still in contact with him and didn't want him to feel how his chakra would flare under his stress and frustration. He was only doing the job that had been assigned to him, and Sasuke knew it would not help anything in the slightest to get angry.

Finally he felt the tang of Naruto's chakra recede and watched as a clear green essence drifted from room to room. It was tinged with fire, orange and red, at the root where it was closest to Naruto's core, but on the whole it was a blue-green color.

Finally it settled on what Sasuke was sure was the living room and sat on what had to be the couch seeing as it was the only piece of furniture in the room besides a coffee table and a couple bookcases. Sasuke took the time to observe Naruto's aura in greater detail. As before it was blue-green with wisps of fiery opalescent colors near the center. It swirled about in thin ribbons. It seemed to curl up out of the fiery pit and cool to a blue as it left the abdomen area, wrapping and entwining around the forearms, calves, hands and fingers, extending outward everywhere. Now that Sasuke was really getting a look at it, it was even sewing itself into the fabric of the couch.

He had done this before, studying Naruto's chakra signature and aura as a boy to see if the secret to his boundless strength and power could be fathomed that way, but of course it had never borne results. Instead he had always gotten caught up in the intricate patterns the energy made as it languidly swept through his minds eye or crackled in the air. Of course, now it was different. It didn't feel the same or look the same. But that was to be expected.

While he had been gone, Naruto had spent all that time training. And he had been gone for a very long time. Now his aura had grown, become denser and more controlled. It changed easily and effortlessly with Naruto's moods and desires.

For now it seemed calm, though at times it did churn in agitated movements. Watching it ebb and flow, Sasuke felt himself grow drowsy, but he was unwilling to pull his attention away from the mesmerizing, mellifluous way Naruto's essence wrapped and coiled inward on itself. At some point he lowered himself backward onto the bed feeling warm and cozy. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep, body askew on top of his comforter and green pools of water set aflame dancing in behind his eyes.

Jolting awake in bed, Sasuke took a large intake of breath, as if he were surfacing from dark waters, only to wince in agony as his throat caught fire with pain. Agg, it seemed as if it only felt worse with time. He remembered back to when he had first woken up in the hospital, throwing up blood into the toilette. He had completely forgotten about that. He remembered a nurse or someone eventually coming in to help them. All that blood in his bile couldn't have been a good sign, but Tsunade hadn't mentioned anything about it. If it had been a nurse they would have told her…Then, who could it have been?

He remembered the colors black and blue, but in his disorientated version of the memory, he couldn't remember if the black was on the bottom or top. Maybe they had been wearing blue and had black hair. Or maybe the other way around…

At any rate, he wasn't sure if he could even talk without extreme pain. As troubling as that was, he suddenly jumped off his bed, faced with a bigger problem. Closing his eyes, he extended his awareness despite how dizzy he began to feel, searching for Naruto in the house. Surprisingly, Sasuke found his chakra signature still in the living room, swirling so slowly it almost appeared stagnant.

Finding his way down the stairs, he cautiously poked his head in through the doorway, for a moment worry flashing through his mind, only to spy Naruto's large frame sprawled across the faded couch. It was almost comical how poorly he fit on the narrow cushions. He breathed slowly in and out, one arm dragging the floor as it hung off the edge of a cushion. His hand was still holding a book. Picking it up gingerly, he recognized it as one of his own. In fact, it was notebook filled with his notes on jutsus and observations on chakra. There were even detailed drawings of Oto and a map of Orochimaru's now ruined underground labyrinth. He wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that Naruto had been reading it, but Sasuke felt ashamed at the state he had allowed Naruto to fall asleep in, and cast his eyes around for some sort of blanket. With all the time he had spent on the couch these past months, he was sure there was one around here somewhere. Finding a tan woven one behind the sofa, Sasuke carefully draped Naruto in it. How could he have not at least been cordial enough to offer him one of the many spare rooms upstairs?

Feeling his earlier frustration returning, he wandered into the kitchen, taking note of the time. He must have slept through the day, as it was now late afternoon. For a spell, Sasuke simply stood leaning against the kitchen counter, staring into space. His throat felt dry, but he was terrified to even bother trying to drink much less eat anything.

Finally deciding he absolutely loathed the feeling of being idle, he looked in once more at a still sleeping Naruto, before deciding to go train. He looked so pale and exhausted that Sasuke couldn't bring himself to wake him up. For all the effort he put into his appearance, he wasn't always so much of a bastard.

Walking back through the kitchen, he pushed open the paper screen doors that made up 2/3rds of the wall. It opened out onto a porch that wrapped around the house, which was in the tradition Japanese style. Despite how small and Spartan some of the traditional eastern styles were, they really treasured incorporating nature and its open spaces into the daily life.

The house was fairly old, and so a couple of the rice paper screens didn't run so smoothly on their tracks, but Sasuke always treated them carefully, always hearing of an echo of his mother's voice in his mind to do so.

Stepping out onto the porch, he took a deep breath of the dusty warm air. He had his own personal training area out back, so technically he would still be on his own property and not breaking the limits of his "house arrest".

Once out in the sunlight, Sasuke was grateful for his sleeveless uniform. Taking in a calming breath, he began to run through some calming katas before doing his usual stretching. Flipping his feet into the air, he carefully did a couple handstand pushups, just to stretch his shoulders out. Then, he held his balance for a moment before twisting back to his feet. It felt good to exercise like this despite how starved his body was beginning to feel.

Sitting down on the cool grass, he crossed his legs in a lotus position and closed his eyes. Slowly the feel of the sun on his face and arms faded and the beating of his heart drowned out the sound of the wind in the trees. Visualizing his chakra as a glowing ball beneath the approximate location of his sternum, Sasuke slowly began to distribute it to different chakra points in his body, carefully working it towards his hands. Once he felt the soft tingling in his fingertips, he began to mold the raw energy into a dense ball. He continued to make it denser and denser until he felt that his mental muscles were well stretched as well.

Finally, after a couple more stretches, he moved to stand in front of the standard martial arts dummy. Hitting one of the wooden limbs, he jumped over the one that began to swing towards his feet and dodged the one that swiped at his midsection. Slowly his momentum built up until he was a blur, dodging and leaping in quick maneuvers.

It felt good to fall into the well-practiced motions, like he was finally in control. But suddenly, his head felt light and his vision faded to a grainy smudge of darkness. Blinking to try and clear it, Sasuke never saw it as the wooden limb careened towards his head.

When he awoke, it was to the soft ministrations of a small tongue against his face. Opening his eyes, he felt pain slice through his head at the bright world the action revealed. Turning he saw the small orange tabby that lived with her litter in one of the abandoned buildings in the main square of the compound. Gently pushing her away, he sat up and gingerly dabbed his temple with a finger only to have it come away red. Cursing, he patted the little cat before wobbly getting to his feet.

Limping to the back porch, he sat down on the edge and carefully blinked. Crap, it hurt so bad. Breathing through his nose, he blinked a bit more before clambering to his feet and limping through the open screen door.

The little ginger streaked through Sasuke's legs, almost tripping him up and he frowned. That little cat almost never came near Sasuke's house. Watching as she disappeared around the corner, he headed for the bathroom.

Surprisingly, it didn't look as bad as it felt, just a small laceration on his temple and some small bruising. Rinsing it off with some cool water, he was about to put a butterfly bandage on it to keep the cut from healing awkwardly when none other than Naruto appeared behind his reflection in the mirror.

Exhausted blue-grey eyes took in what he was doing and narrowed.

"What did you do?"

Pursing his lips, Sasuke ignored his thumping heart, and scowled. He wasn't about to let Naruto know how he had let his own training dummy get the better of him.

"Nothing," he bit out, angrily smoothing the small bandage on his forehead and throwing the wrapper away. "It's none of your business." His eyes watered. He had forgotten about his throat. Frustrated, he tried to push his way past Naruto's massive frame in the doorway and failed.

Tanned hands gripped his shoulders and pushed him back.

"It is my business, as I have been assigned by the Hokage to watch over you," Naruto said through clenched teeth.

"I don't need a baby sitter," Sasuke ground out, ignoring his throat.

"Stop arguing, you shouldn't be talking, and also stop talking, because you're wrong," Naruto mumbled, prodding the bandage on Sasuke's head.

Hissing, Sasuke pushed his hands away and ducked under his arm, getting ready to lock himself up in his room. But Naruto grabbed his wrist.

"Nu uh, not so fast," he growled. "You have to eat and take your medicine."

Swinging around, Sasuke glared at Naruto.

"I don't need someone like you," Sasuke hissed, "to watch over me. In fact, I don't need you around at all, no body does." He felt so angry and frustrated he was seeing red.

Naruto's grip slackened at his words, and Sasuke took it as his chance to escape, jogging up the stairs and slamming the door, back pressed against it, breathing through his nose because his throat hurt too much.

Staring unseeingly at the floor, he was surprised to feel cold wetness roll down his cheeks. With shaking fingers, he brushed them hastily away, denying what they were, but new ones came to replace the ones he wiped away. With trembling shoulders, Sasuke slid to squat on the floor, sobbing quietly. He knew his words had injured Naruto and that he would never change. How could he have said that mean spiteful thing? He knew what it meant, what it would do, and yet he had done it anyway.

He would always be this way, alone and hated, and it was his entire fault.

AN: Aww, poor Sas-baby. He feels bad. But never fear, because it will get better!