Naruto was shuffling through book after book, amazed at the selection they had to offer. He had only received books about animals from 'they'. He had no idea that there were books about other things. Sasuke was looking at some books himself when Naruto found himself in the magazine area. He looked at the covers and flipped through some of them. A certain magazine caught his attention. He pulled it off the shelf and scrunched his eyebrows together. "Hey Sasuke...?" Sasuke was reading the summary of a book, and simply responded with a 'hm'. "What's a 'sexual intercourse'?" Sasuke dropped the book in his hand and jumped when it thudded against the ground. He bit his lip and then bent over to pick it up. He set it back and then turned to Naruto.

"Did you just ask me what sex was?" Sasuke asked, hoping he had misheard.

"No, I asked what sexual inte-"

"It's sex. That's all. Just a more appropriate term for it." He walked over to Naruto and took the magazine out of his hands. He looked down at the cover to find a girl in a bikini sprawled out across a beach towel with the caption 'How To Have Sexual Intercourse With The Man Of Your Dreams' Sasuke blushed slightly and returned the magazine to the rack. Naruto raised an eyebrow, still confused.

"Okay...so what's se-"

"We'll talk about that some other time." Sasuke said grabbing his wrist again and walking out the door. Naruto seemed even more confused by the way Sasuke had reacted to his question.

"Why're you getting all embarrassed about it? Is sex a bad thing?"

Sasuke looked back at him, wishing he'd just drop it. "It can be. And I'm not embarrassed about it."

"Then tell me what it is." Naruto pushed.

"I told you, some other time."

"But I want to know what it is n-"

"Some other time!"

"Why can't you just tell me-"

Sasuke spun around, annoyed with his constant nagging. "Alright!" Naruto bit his cheek waiting for Sasuke to explain. Sasuke thought about how to word it. He didn't want to say anthing more than he needed to. "...Y'know those times when you get that hot feeling and everything seems to look all really...pretty?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Summer time?" He responded.

Sasuke slapped a hand to his head. "Okay, forget that." Naruto cocked his head slightly. "It's when you take that thing in your pants and put in the thing in the girls pants. Okay?"

Naruto thought about it a minute. "But where do you put it if they-"

"They don't have the same thing you have in your pants. I'll show you what I mean if we stop by my house." Sasuke said. He then blushed realizing just how that could've been taken. He hoped Naruto hadn't thought of it the way Sasuke just had. Naruto bit his lip, confused by what Sasuke had meant. He decided not to ask about it and followed Sasuke towards where ever it was that they were going to next. Sasuke pulled out his phone and checked the time. It was barely even seven a clock. He looked over at Naruto and sighed. "We should go back to my place now and wait for all of the stores to open."

"You mean they're not open right now?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shook his head.

"Well some of them are, but the better ones don't open up untill around noon." Sasuke scratched the back of his head and returned his phone to his pocket. "C'mon. We'll come back out here in a few more hours. Untill then, we can just...sleep or something."

"You said you'd show me what sex is." Naruto reminded him.

Sasuke sighed. "Alright, let's get home." A small blush had formed on his face once again.

Sasuke dug into the old box of movies he had never bothered to unload when he first moved here. "I know I should have one..." Sasuke tossed aside movie after movie before he retrieved the one he was looking for. "Here we go."

Naruto was sitting on the bed looking around at the plain and open apartment they were in. "...So, this place has a bunch of rooms in it and different people live in each one?"

Sasuke nodded taking the movie with him to the VCR he had hooked up to his tv. "This should answer your question..." He said with a sigh as he popped the movie in.

Naruto looked at the cover. "'Night at the Doctor's Office?' What does this have to do about sex?"

Sasuke sighed and jumped onto the large bed next to Naruto. "Just watch it." He said as he buried his face into the pillow, trying to catch up on sleep. "Wake me up when it stops."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and then turned to the screen to see a woman with enormous breasts and a man with a well-built body dressed as a doctor. He cocked his head slightly at the odd behavior.

Sasuke managed to drift off to sleep almost immdiately, the blackness that filled his sight taking his coinsciousness with it."...uke..." His mind heard barely. "sa...ke..." Sasuke shifted slightly in his sleep, "SASUKE!" Naruto screamed. Sasuke jumped up immdiately, almost slamming heads with Naruto. He rubbed his eyes.

"W-what? What happened?" Naruto looked scared out of his mind.

"Sasuke, I don't like sex, It's scary." Naruto mummbled. Sasuke looked at the screen to see the porno still playing. He sighed and then stood up and turned it off.

"You asked."

Naruto shifted a bit. "I-I didn't know it was like that! And why was she screaming?! Didn't that hurt!?"

Sasuke threw the movie into the box. "I dunno, she probably liked it. It's sex after all."

"...Is sex supposed to feel good?"

"I don't think everyone would be doing it if it wasn't." Sasuke commented.

Naruto bit his lip. "D-does that mean that you have sex?"

Sasuke's face immdiately flushed. The last thing he wanted to tell Naruto was the fact that he was still a virgin. He looked over at Naruto. Then again, Naruto had to be one too if he didn't even know what it was. Sasuke opened his mouth to talk but shut it. He looked back at the tv screen trying to think which answer would lead to less questions. "Umm...W-well, I mean, not everyone does it..." Naruto remained quiet. "N-no. I don't."

"Oh...okay." Naruto looked down and began to fidget with the sheets. Sasuke chuckled.

"You say that like you're dissapointed."

"Hn?" Naruto looked up at Sasuke. "N-no, it's just, I was gonna ask you a buncha things if you did, but you don't...You're like me."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Hm?" He asked, confused by his last statement. "I'm like you?" Naruto nodded. "How so?"

"Well...I noticed when we were walking through the....vil..lage.." Naruto struggled with the word. "I just noticed that everyone was with someone else. I didn't ever see anyone by themselves. Even in the houses, there were a bunch of people inside, but when we got here, it was just you. You live by yourself, just like I do." Sasuke opened his mouth to talk, but Naruto had more to say. "And you just wanted to get home, because you feel safest here right?" Sasuke remained silent. "I never liked going outside before because it was the only place where I felt safe. But going outside just a little bit, I eventually just felt safe being at my home..."

"Hn..." Was all Sasuke could say. He would've never thought of things like that. Naruto really was a unique kind of person. Sasuke looked over at the clock. His nap had only killed about an hour of the day. He sighed, turning to Naruto. "You tired?" Naruto looked up at Sasuke and had to think about it. Waking up so early all the time to catch a glimpse of Sasuke had left a feeling of drowsiness. He nodded. Sasuke craned his back and pulled out a pillow from under the blanket and then pulled the blanket off slightly. "Then lay down for a few. If you're cold, you can just use the blanket, I don't mind." Sasuke said pulling the blanket over his own body. Naruto watched before he layed his body against the bed. He let a out a pleased sigh.

"Wow...This feels nice..." Naruto said, pulling the blanket over himself. "My beds nothing like this..."

"What'd they do, throw a box with a buncha newspaper in a corner and call it a bed?" Sasuke said sarcasticly.

"Kinda. Except they used actual sheets instead of newspaper..." Naruto mummbled closing his eyes.

Sasuke stayed quiet. He really needed to watch what he said around him. He didn't know if he'd be able to listen to some of the other things they did to Naruto. "I'm sorry..."He mummbled, but it went unheard. Naruto had already been claimed by the slumber. Sasuke shifted a bit before closing his eyes and drifting off back to sleep.

It wasn't until four hours later that Sasuke woke up. He stretched out his legs, forgetting about the body that layed beside him. Sasuke immdiately pulled his legs up to his body, hoping he didn't wake him. He quietly sat up and got out of bed, Naruto's deep sleep heard through the heavy breaths he was taking. Sasuke looked over at him, finding the noise he was making to be a bit, odd. Naruto was curled up in a ball with his hands under his cheek and his knees pulled up to his chin while he continued to let out almost a growl sound. Sasuke leaned over the bed to see if there was something wrong. Sasuke shrugged, then felt a sharp, stinging pain run down his back. He gasped slightly, shocked by the sudden pain. When did he ever hurt his back? Sasuke stuck his hand down the collar of his shirt and felt around on his back. The tingiling pain got stronger and stronger as he felt towards his mid back. Unable to reach that far from the top, Sasuke decided to go in from the bottom. He felt around the spot he left off and immdiately jumped at the looked over at Naruto and then down the hall.

Sasuke pulled off his shirt and stood in front of the bathroom mirror. He craned his neck to try and see what was causing all of the pain, but had a hard time seeing. Sasuke bent in an odd way to get a better look at his back. His eyes widened a bit when they found the thick, almost cat like scratch that ran down his mid-back to his tail bone. "What in the hell...?" Sasuke asked himself as he touched the wound with his finger. "When the fuck did I get this?" He said to himself again. His muscle tightened with the contact, sending the tingiling pain up Sasuke's spine. He winced, pulling his hand away.

Sasuke stared at the odd mark a moment longer before going to check up on Naruto. When Sasuke stepped out into the what-was-supposed-to-be-living-room-but-was-really-his-bedroom, he looked over at his bed and saw Naruto sitting up and rubbing his eye. Naruto yawned before turning to see Sasuke shirtless and staring at him. He immdiately felt as if something was wrong. "Morning." Sasuke greeted, standing in place.

"Umm....After..noon...?" Naruto responded confused.

Sasuke sighed. "Good Morning...People say that when you wake up. It's a kind of greeting..." Sasuke looked over at the clock. "Though, I guess it would be considered good noon..."

"Oh..." Naruto pulled the blanket away from him. "Then, Good Noon."

Sasuke laughed, shaking his head. He decided not to correct him. Naruto looked up at Sasuke, his eyes falling on Sasuke's nice masculine stomach. It was just the right amount of muscle for Sasuke, giving his body a nice curve. Naruto's eyes trailed down Sasuke's stomach, having an urge to run his nails along his soft and delicate looking flesh. Naruto felt his face flush, before he turned away.

Sasuke had been thinking about something keeping him from noticing Naruto staring at him. He took a shirt out of the drawer he had beside him and put it on before Naruto could notice the thick scratch that ran down his back. Sasuke felt the cloth land lightly against the wound, yet it still managed to send that tickiling pain up his spine. He clenched his jaw tight before turning over to Naruto. "Hey, You hungry?" He asked, ignoring the pain.

Naruto thought a minute and then nodded. He went without breakfeast today and it was already almost one. Sasuke smiled then grabbed his wallet. "Well, then come one. We'll go and buy something."

Naruto stood up from the bed. "We're gonna do that trading stuff?" Sasuke nodded. Naruto's face beamed. Ever since Sasuke had mentioned it, Naruto had wanted to see what he had meant by buying. Sasuke watched as Naruto had already awakened and was ready to leave. He looked for his cheap slip on shoes and then immdiately put them on once he found them. Sasuke smiled when Naruto looked at him expecting to leave. It was good that Naruto wasn't worrying anymore about those 'they' people.

Sasuke grabbed his house keys and then stepped out the door with Naruto. He locked it and then the two of them headed down the stairs together. Naruto was again looking at all of the different things from the texture of the wall to the width of the hallways. Sasuke stared down at the steps as he walked, hoping he'd have enough money to pay for the two of them to eat out. Sasuke began to calculate in his head while Naruto ran his hand along the railing that followed with the stairs, feeling all of the different textures. They stepped out into the village again and found the streets even more crowded than earlier. Naruto's mouth hung open at the amount of people walking the streets now. He looked at all of the different faces and different skin and different hair, and sizes. His heart jumped a little everytime he saw a different person. Sasuke smiled. "See? They're other people than just you."

Naruto turned and locked eyes with Sasuke. "Sasuke, this is...amazing..." Sasuke scratched his head in a timid manner and then grabbed Naruto's arm.

"C'mon. You said you were hungry. I know the perfect place to go." Naruto smiled as Sasuke dragged him through the mass of people.

"You like it?" Sasuke said with a laugh as he watched Naruto devour his bowl of ramen. Naruto didn't even turn away from the food, or stop eating for that matter, he just nodded while shoving another mouthful of noddles past his lips. Sasuke turned back to his bowl and wrapped his chopsticks with the hot noodles, then pulled a decent amount from the bowl and ate it. Naruto went to dig for more, but was soon dissapointed when he found his bowl empty. "Oh..."He murmured before setting it down in front of him with the chopsticks on top.

Sasuke looked over and saw the dissapointment in his face that made him look just too cute to refuse anything. He immdiately wanted to offer him his bowl. Sasuke turned back to his food and blushed. He couldn't believe he just found him cute. He looked back at him from the corner of his eyes to find him running his finger along the edge of the bar. Again, Naruto was taking in every single detail that his eyes had never seen before. Sasuke set his chopsticks down and faced Naruto. "Did you want more?"

Naruto blinked. "You can get more?" He asked. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Of course you can, you think they're gonna turn down another five bucks because you already had one?" Naruto shrugged.

"I just thought that once it's gone, it's gone." Naruto scratched the side of his face sheepishly.

Sasuke shook his head and then turned to the cook. "Can we get another bowl?" The cook nodded and went on his way to prepare a second serving. Naruto smiled and went back to admiring his surroundings. Sasuke started eating again before he was distracted by a friendly voice.

"Sasuke!!!" A female's voice chimmed. Sasuke turned his head slightly to see one of his not-so-much-a-friend friend skipping towards him. He set his bowl down as she approached. "I thought that was you! What're you doing here?" The pink haired girl asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "Just eatin'."

The girl giggled. "Well, duh! I mean, shouldn't you be at work?" She asked leaning in towards Sasuke with her hands laced together behind her back.

Sasuke blinked. "Oh, right. I took the day off. I wasn't feeling good earlier, but it passed after I took a nap." Sasuke fibbed. "Speaking of work, shouldn't you be doing that stupid volunteer stuff that you wouldn't shut up about for a month?" Sasuke asked.

The girl smiled brightly. "I thought I told you I finished it last Friday! It was only for a week, not an all the time thing."

"Oh..." Sasuke seemed dissapointed. "So, Sakura, what exactly are you doing then?" Naruto watched the two chat with an odd feeling of the need to be on guard. His muscles were tensed, and his jaw clenched. He didn't like the way that Sakura girl kept staring at Sasuke. It bugged him constantly while they talked.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" She teased. "I've got to go grab some things for my mom. I should probably get going, but I can spare a few minutes for you, Sasuke." She said in a flirting way. Sakura went to reach out to hug him from behind but quickly found a tight grip wrap around her wrist. "Wha-" She turned her head to see Naruto staring back at her with a deadly look in his eyes. He was emitting a low and deep growl that could barely be heard while squeezing tighter onto her wrist. She tried to pull away, but couldn't even get her wrist to budge from his strong grip. "H-Hey, let go! That Hurts!" Sasuke looked over to see what was going on and immdiately jumped to release Naruto's grip.

"Naruto! Let Her Go!" Sasuke yelled, not able to do anything to even loosen his grip. Naruto continued to stare up at the girl, not hearing Sasuke's request. "Naruto! Let Go! You're Hurting Her!" Sakura continued to squirm under his grip. Naruto squeezed harder, feeling the small bones begin to crack under his grasp.

Sakura gasped from the pain and tried desperately to get out of his grip. "S-Stop! Let Me Go!"

Sasuke continued to yell at Naruto. "NARUTO!!LET GO!!" Sasuke's voice had finaly penitrated Naruto's mind, the innocence immdiately flushing back into his face as he let go of Sakura's wrist. Sakura stumbled backwards a little before catching her balance and pulling her wrist towards her chest. Naruto stared at the girl's wrist then Sasuke.

"..I-I.." Naruto's eyes immdiately began to fill with tears.

"..I think he broke it..." Sakura mummbled trying to move it. Sasuke stared at Naruto wondering what the hell had just happened. Naruto didn't even look like he knew.

Naruto stared up at Sakura and then turned to Sasuke. "..They were right..." He mummbled. Sasuke scrunched his eyebrows together. "They said that I'd hurt..."

"Naruto, that wasn't because of what they said." Sasuke said trying to take the guilt away from Naruto.

"Sasuke. Take me home." Naruto said.

"Naruto, listen to m-"

"Take me home, now!" Naruto's voice began to rise. Sakura stared at the two confused.

"That didn't have anything to do with-"

"Sasuke! Take me HOME!!!" Naruto yelled, his voice cracking a bit. Sasuke stared at him for a minute and then sighed. just as Naruto had stopped talking, the cook placed the bowl of ramen on the table. Sasuke stared down at it.

"Don't you want to finish yo-"

"Sasuke." Naruto said firmly.

Sasuke sighed and then paid the bill for the food. He turned to Sakura and smiled slightly. "Lunch is on me." He said before standing up with Naruto. He was turning to leave when Sakura grabbed his wrist with her good hand.

"Wait a minute, I'm not gonna let you walk away untill you tell me what's up. Who's the blonde?" She asked.

Sasuke stared at her and then sighed. "Naruto. He's just a friend of mine."

"Since when? I've never heard you mention anything about a 'Naruto'."

"This morning actually," Sakura scrunched her eyebrows together confused. "I met him out in the woods. He's got his own house out there, down by the lak-" Sasuke cut of when he saw the stunned look Sakura had on her face. Her eyes were staring at Naruto, undetected by him. Sasuke looked at her and saw the color drain from her face. "What?"

"Sasuke, you didn't..." She mummbled. Sasuke stared at her confused. "Please tell me you didn't..."

Sasuke looked over at Naruto and then back to Sakura. "What? Didn't what?" He asked confused.

Sakura pulled him closer to her. "Sasuke, take him back there now." Naruto's ears strained, hearing her voice go lower, and surprisingly, he could understand every word she was saying, almoat like she was talking in her normal loud voice. "That kid isn't normal. He's different from us, you can't have him out here."

Sasuke looked at her odd. "What do you mean different?"

"Haven't you ever heard the stroies about the 'kid in the woods'?" Sasuke stared at her blankly. Sakura opened her mouth to talk, but noticed Naruto looking at them from the corner of his eye and quickly ended the conversation. "He's just not normal, Sasuke. Take him back now, and forget you ever met him." She shoved him away and Sasuke turned back to Naruto to find him staring sadly at the ground. He knew immdiately that he heard what she said.

"Nar-"

"Just take me home..." He mummbled wishing he knew the way himself. Sasuke looked down at the ground and sighed. What Sakura had meant by 'different' he had no idea. He just knew that he didn't see it in Naruto, at least not when he looked like that.

The walk back was quiet and awkward. Naruto trailed behind Sasuke, trying to keep his distance until they reached the enterance into the woods. Sasuke stopped to wait for Naruto, only to watch him walk right past. Naruto turned around slightly. "I can find my way back from here."

"You sure? I could come just to be-"

"I just have to follow the trail, right?" Naruto didn't wait for a response, he began walking back into the woods, back into his earlier life of unknown darkness. Sasuke watched him leave, letting out a sigh once he was out of veiw.

"Haven't you ever heard the stories about the 'kid in the woods'?" Sakura's question lingered in his head. He had never once heard about any kind of stories, and if they were about Naruto, what exactly were they? Sasuke kicked the dirt before he began to walk back home, dissapointed at having to take the old way back. Maybe he might see Sakura on the way back and he could ask her about them. Sasuke was reminded of the wound on his back when he turned around, the bend sending a strong wave of pain through him. He winced, not remembering the wound hurting that badly. It felt as if someone was tearing the wound open further, but Sasuke knew that it was probably just the skin that was tightening around the wound that caused that feeling.

Sasuke bit his lip and focused on something else until the stinging subsided. He sighed, then continued on his walk home.

Sasuke layed himself down onto the bed carefully, trying not to disturb his wound. He didn't end up seeing Sakura again on his way back. After getting home, Sasuke didn't do much except think. All he thought about was Naruto, and those 'stories'. What in the world could he have done for people to make stories about him? "...'The kid in the woods'... " Sasuke had repeated to himself over and over throughout the day. He figured that he'd stop by the bookstore and see if they had something in about it, or even if the owner may have known something about it. Sakura had said it like everyone knew the stories, so he was guessing that it couldn't be that hard to find some kind of information on it.

Sasuke rolled onto his side, slowly, then let out a sigh. Now he had to wory about how he would manage at work tomorrow with his back hurting so much. He closed his eyes. Maybe by tomorrow, the stinging would fade a little...

Sasuke woke up the next morning, his body stiff and aching. He felt like how he had when he first started working. His head was pounding, and his throat felt scratchy. Go figure, he uses his sick day when he wasn't sick and now that he has to go back to work, he gets sick. Sasuke rubbed his eyes and then tried to pull himself out of bed. He was five minutes earlier then his alarm clock, deciding to just get up now rather than wait for the irritating noise. He clicked his alarm off and began to stretch, but stopped.

The wound still stung. Sasuke ran his hands over his face, already dreading today. He yawned and then stood up, heading down the hall and towards the bathroom. Hopefully the shower would help to wake him up.

The shower hadn't helped him at all. When the water reached his back, it stung more than ever, feeling like he had just lit himself on fire. He did his best to not let the water reach contact with the wound, but it only made it worse, not being able to pull his arms to his head without it hurting him. Sasuke gave up on the shower eventually and dried himself off with the towel, being careful with his back.

He sighed standing naked in front of the mirror. Now that he was seriuosly thinking about it, how exactly did he get the mark in the first place? He didn't recall getting injured at work the day before, and he was almost positive that he didn't have it when he was talking to Naruto in the morning. Yet when he woke up, he had the mark there, like he had gotten it a few days ago.

However he got it, it sucked. Not only was the scratch bothering him, but now he was almost sure he had gotten a synesis sickness. Sasuke pinched the skin between his eyes and groaned. His throat was itchy, his head pounding, his back stinging, and now his eyes would be watering and have the feeling of a sneeze for a grueling day working in the sun.

Perfect.

Sasuke started to wonder if maybe he should just call in sick again, but he knew that his boss would probably be upset about it. Sasuke stared at his reflection, seeing the sickness on his face. Well, at least his boss wouldn't think that he was lying...

He looked down at his naked self and then sighed, not wanting to bend over to pull on his boxers. After a hesitating moment, he eventually pulled his boxers and pants on. He stared up at the light, trying to get himself to sneeze, but it wasn't happening. Sasuke groaned, then picked up his shirt and put it on. He checked his phone and realized that it was already time for him to leave and he hadn't even got the chance to pack a lunch or eat breakfeast.

Sasuke thought about trying to hurry and put something together, but as he was heading towards the kitchen he realized that he wasn't even hungry. He grabbed a leftover sandwhich and brought it with him just in case.

His work day was hell. He had already dropped three loads, having to pick it back up by himself. Everytime he bent down to pick up a load, he was reminded of the wound on his back. His arms weren't working well with him, his strength drained from him after the first few loads. He had some how managed to make it to lunch break, the sandwhich he brought laying un-opened next to him. He had his arm covering his eyes, sitting off on a bench in the shade. Normally, people would be crowding the bench, since it was the only one that sat in the shade, but people must not have wanted to catch what Sasuke had, because everyone made sure to keep there distance from the sick teen. His head was hurting now more than ever, all of the over working turning his once headache into a migrane. God, did he just want to go home and rest.

He looked up to see just about the only other person his age at the work place, on his way over to him. Sasuke looked up at the brunette, guessing that it had to be his boss wanting him, since him and Kiba never really talked much. Kiba sat down next to Sasuke and sighed. "Boy, three loads down and four slipped ones? Someone's not having a good day."

Sasuke looked over at the tan boy, staring at him for a moment. "What?"

Kiba glanced at him and then back to the loading dock. "Nothin'. Just thought I'd come by and chat, since no one else seems to want to." Sasuke sighed, looking up into the sunlight, and finally getting the quick relief of a sneeze. "Boss is gonna think you've got a hangover, seeing you like that."

"I wish it was just a hangover..." Sasuke mummbled, though he had never been drunk before.

"Looks like it." Kiba leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. "Yeah, the boss already heard about your mess up. Probably be seeing him some time after break. Hopefully he's in a good mood." Sasuke groaned.

"I just want to get home..." He complained.

"So, why didn't you just call in sick?" Kiba asked, reminding Sasuke that they didn't work Wedsnesdays together.

Sasuke pinched his nose. "Because I called in yesterday...And I need the money or I won't make rent..."

Kiba responded with a 'hm'. He let out a sigh and then looked down at the sandwhich Sasuke packed. "You're not even gonna try to eat?"

Sasuke glanced down at the sandwhich. "No, I'm not hungry..." He wished Kiba would just leave him alone. His throat was in no condition for socializing. Still, the brunette stayed, asking random questions that were starting to just get annoying. Sasuke's head pounded everytime Kiba said something. Didn't that kid know what it was like to be sick? Sasuke rubbed his eyes. "Look, I know you're trying to be nice and all, but can you just leave me alone?" Sasuke finally said.

Kiba blinked, taking his request a bit to heart. "Oh...Sorry..." He mummbled. He hesitated before he was getting up to leave. A sudden thought crossed Sasuke's throbbing mind as Kiba went to walk away.

"Oh! Kiba!" Kiba's head snapped back to him. "Have you ever heard anything about some kid in the woods?"

"Hunh? You mean those kid stories?" Kiba blinked, wondering why he asked that.

Sasuke stood up. "Yeah, those ones."

Kiba cocked his head. "Yeah, well what about them?"

Sasuke grabbed onto the side of the bench, feeling dizzy after standing up too fast. "What are they?"

Kiba was confused by the question. "...stories...?"

Sasuke sighed. "No, I know that! I mean, what're the stories?"

"Oh, that. It's just about a kid that lives in the woods. You're not suppose to go out there because he'll supposedly follow you home and leave his mark on you the next time you fall asleep. Then there's something else about a fox involved, but I don't really remember all the details..."

"Wait a minute..." Sasuke's mind was thinking about the mark on his back. "Mark? Is there supposed to be some kind of description or something?"

"Description of the mark? No, I think it's just supposed to feel like fire or something like that. You're supposed to somehow feel his misery through it or whatever. What's up with all the questions anyways? You're acting like it's happened to you..." Kiba asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Sasuke bit his cheek. "O-oh... No, someone just brought it up and it was bugging me for awhile, cause I didn't know what it was." He lied.

"Oh...Well, breaks almost over, I still need to use the phone so, see ya." Kiba dismissed himself, Sasuke knowing he was just trying to respect his last request. He felt bad for pushing him away like that, but he couldn't take all of the talking. There was already enough noise going on everywhere without him adding to it.

Sasuke let himself fall back onto the bench. He thought about his wound on his back, then of Naruto. That little information helped him out a bit, by why was Naruto supposedly so dangerous? And what in the hell does a fox have to do with it? Sasuke thought about it for a moment, then gave up, the headache not allowing him to think straight. After a long moment of silence, the bell went off, telling the workers that their lunch break was over. Sasuke groaned, not wanting to move. He sat for a moment before forcing himself to stand up. Sasuke stood up slowly not wanting to get himself dizzy. He took his sandwhich with him and then tossed it in the garbage. He walked slowly back towards his loading dock.

After heading back over there, he saw his boss standing over the group, talking with the captian. Sasuke tried to slip into the group, knowing that he was there to talk about the three loads he had dropped. Juast as he was heading towards the dock, he heard his name being called by his boss. He sighed, then turned around. His boss was staring at him with a dissapointed look on his face as he made his way towards him. "Three dropped loads? It's barely noon yet kid, what's the matter with you?"

Sasuke looked down, scratching the back of his head. "I'm sorry, sir. " His boss stared at him, Sasuke's sickness even more obvious with the groggy sound of his voice.

"You still sick?" He asked.

Sasuke nodded. "Yes, but I couldn't take another day off, if I did then I wouldn't have enough to pay for-"

"Slow down. Sick or not, I can't have you here dropping all of my loads. It's alright to push yourself everynow and then, but when you can barley keep your head up, you shouldn't be comin' in and tryin' tp lift these loads." Sasuke bit his lip, looking down. His boss sighed. "Now go on home. I'll pay you for today so you don't miss that bill, alright? "

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. "B-but sir! I only worked for four and a half hou-"

"Well, I'll just have to give you a bonus. Buisness is doin' good right now, I think I can afford to give ya a bit extra." Sasuke still felt differently about getting the money he hadn't worked for, but he remained quiet. His boss smiled. "Now go on home, I don't want you gettin' any of my other workers sick, buisness sure as hell ain't that good." Sasuke nodded and then went to go and punch himself out.