Broken

Naruto sat in the waiting room nervously biting his thumbnail. Itachi had arrived a few minutes earlier and sat in the chair next to him. The doctor came out and went over to the two.

"Which one is Naruto?" he asked.

Said blond stood up.

"Me."

Itachi stood up as the doctor led them to Sasuke's hospital room. Sasuke was laying in a bed by the far wall where an IV was attached to his arm. He looked over at the two and groaned when he saw his brother. Naruto went over and watched as the doctor and Itachi conversed. The youngest Uchiha was still pale and looked like hell, but Naruto didn't care. Just so long as Sasuke didn't do anything to aggravate his injuries. He wasn't aware that he was staring at Sasuke's wrists until the raven spoke up.

"Could you not?"

Naruto blinked out of his stupor and looked instead at Sasuke's face. He looked very drained...almost as if he were devoid of any and all blood. The blond wouldn't have been surprised if he was pale as the freshly fallen snow outside. Naruto brushed a stray hair out of Sasuke's face and tucked it behind his ear.

"You had everyone worried, you know," Naruto said.

Sasuke scoffed.

"My brother doesn't worry about anything other than his business ventures."

Naruto looked around at Itachi and saw that he looked a little strained.

"Don't let him fool you, he's a very good actor," Sasuke stated quietly.

Naruto shook his head disbelieveingly and just looked on as the doctor and Itachi walked over to them. He tried to move away, but Sasuke had an iron grip on his hand, which Naruto just now noticed. He looked at Sasuke questioningly and received a simple answer.

"I hate hospitals."

Naruto's mouth made an 'o' of comprehesion and listened as the doctor talked.

"We are having someone from DMH coming here to evaluate you. If they find that you're unstable then they'll admit you to the hospital where you'll stay until we find it necessary to release you."

Sasuke groaned again.

"If I'd known that, then I wouldn't have slit my wrists..." he got an odd look from Naruto to which he quickly replied, "I would have just injected another dose of heroin and ended it quickly."

Naruto looked down at the hand that was grasping his and found that his gaze travelled up the pale arm where the injection site was easily recognizeable. He turned his hand over in Sasuke's grip and laced their fingers together. Sasuke leaned back in the bed and looked at the blond. The doctor said something else but it was lost to the two who were busy staring into each others' eyes. Naruto thought about what would have happened if he hadn't made it..and if Sasuke succeeded.

He blinked back tears and tore his eyes away from Sasuke's, ashamed at showing a sign of weakness. A tear escaped and fell onto their clasped hands. Sasuke watched it fall and felt an odd pulling sensation somewhere near his heart. This, he realized, was what the many poets and romance novelists in the world called, 'pulling at your heartstrings.'

He supposed that some of it was guilt too. Looking into Naruto's ocean-blue eyes and thinking what would happen if he couldn't look into them anymore made him feel extremely guilty and...another feeling that he was quite familiar with. Loneliness.

Time Skip: 1 hour

Sasuke was finally released from the hospital when the man from DMH came to the conclusion that Sasuke wouldn't try anything and was indeed sane enough to go home. On one condition however. He had to move in with his brother again. Sasuke fought tooth and nail on this decision and asked if there was any other way he could possibly be monitored.

"Well, you could move in with your friend here," the man said, apparently unaware of the effect that this had on the friend in question.

Sasuke looked at Naruto and saw doubt flash in his blue eyes. That stung. Above all the pain he had endured that night, seeing doubt in his once lover's eyes made it all the worse. Naruto saw the defeated look on his best friend's face and said,

"Of course he can stay with me."

Sasuke looked up at him as if he had grown another head. Had he misread his friend's expression? Naruto gave him a simple smile and said,

"What are friends for?"

Sasuke smiled back at him and leaned his head on Naruto's shoulder. Itachi looked at the pair of them in his rear view mirror and grinned slightly to himself. He would never understand the infatuation that went on between those two...but perhaps, it was better that he didn't know.