-1Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Kakashi would be naked in all of his scenes.

Warning: Graphic descriptions of self-harm. Actually, I guess it just depends on he person reading it. Trigger warning obviously. Keep yourself safe.

Author's Note: Yay! Cookies all around! I finally finished Chapter 2. I wrote this in three different writing session things so sorry if it skips about. My writing style changes a bit when I'm in different moods.

So also important info: I haven't decided what time period this is. It's after Orochimaru killed the Hokage and in my fanfic Sasuke never left. But maybe he was going to leave and Naruto stopped him. We'll just have to see when the time comes.

Italics are usually thoughts.

"How will you know I am hurting, If you cannot see my pain? To wear it on my body tells what words cannot explain."

-C.Blount

Naruto had become a little more worried about Sasuke. He had always seen him as his rival. His stronger teammate. And it scared him half to death that Sasuke had a weakness, though what it was, he was not sure. He leapt down from the roof of Sasuke's house to the front door and knocked on the wood. No answer. His hand became red from his incessant pounding on the wood. Anxiousness overcame him. He wouldn't let Sasuke be by himself if he needed help. Naruto grasped the knob and turned, well tried. The door was locked and stood closed. It was as stubborn as that damn Uchiha. He paced backwards and threw all his weight into his left leg and through the wooden door. It crashed down into the ground, the dust swirling around it, as the sound echoed all over the house.

"Sasuke?!" Naruto howled.

And still no answer.

He quickly strode down the hallway and up the stairs to where Sasuke's room was located. He soon arrived at the door. A dim light shown from underneath the door and Naruto could almost taste copper on his tongue. And at that moment he panicked. He heaved the door open with his sweaty palm and ran towards the mass on the bed. The cold, unmoving mass on the bed.

Upon coming closer he could see that Sasuke was still breathing; barely. Grabbing for the blanket hanging off the bed, he wrapped it around Sasuke's arm and tightly tied it up. Naruto then slid his arm underneath Sasuke's limp body and scooped him up into his arms, Sasuke's head resting in the crook of his elbow.

Carrying him while running was not an easy task by any means. Especially on the stairs, and he just only made it down with out falling. He was a strange sight to see running down the streets of Konoha; and nearly no one thought to help the 'demon' boy, even as his friend left behind a small trail of blood on the ground. He arrived at Konoha Hospital in one piece, as well as Sasuke, and was nearly shoved into the wall and out of the way as the Medic Ninjas swept the raven haired boy down the illuminated hallway and through a door at the end.

Naruto was so tired and so confused. He left without saying a word to anyone, not that anyone would care if he did. As he arrived back at the Uchiha's house he could hardly remember where he had been the last hour, or even if it had been that long. Thoughts of Sasuke were permanently stuck in his head and he couldn't concentrate on anything that lay ahead of him. He had remembered passing Sakura. She had said hi and had asked where Sasuke was; as Naruto paced past her she gave him a look of disbelief as he completely ignored her, head to the ground.

The door still lay on the ground as it had when he had left with Sasuke. He slowly proceeded through to the kitchen and shakily grabbed a handful of paper towels and dampened them. The blonde haired boy began to clean up the drips of blood in the hall and along the stairs, now crusted and part of the carpet. He scrubbed at the floor until his arm cramped and all that was left was a faint pink stain. Slowly, without realizing it, he had made it all the way up to Sasuke's room, the rest of the house thoroughly scrubbed. The light was still on and the door still half open. Naruto pulled himself up from his knees and hesitantly walked in. Now that he wasn't panicked he could really survey across the room and what he saw was not pleasing, especially Sasuke's bed. That seemed to Naruto where Sasuke had usually hurt himself in the past, although he hadn't bothered much to look around the rest of the place. The blankets were first to be thrown off, then the sheets onto the floor. "Hell, the mattress should even be burned", thought Naruto. As he had pulled the pillow from the bed something shiny clattered to the wooden floor. The edges were sharp to his fingers as he picked it up. Curiously, he slashed it across the palm of his hand

"Owww fuck. I have no idea how that dobe can do this to himself"

Now more confused than he had been, he went to dresser on the far side of the room where bandages and antiseptic lay strewn across the top. The bandage was tightly wound round his hand and he put the kunai into his pants pocket.

Meanwhile, back at Konoha Hospital, Sasuke, still unconscious was being poked and prodded at. His uninjured arm was connected to an IV and a red stream continually pumped itself into his veins. His ankles and wrists were strapped to the bed with a thick binding. Nightmares floated throughout his mind, mostly those horrifying memories. The quiet path through the Uchiha Estate, abnormally quiet. Running into his house and swinging open his parents' bedroom door; the hollow thud as he fell to the floor in front of their maimed bodies. He was so pathetic, so weak. The red glow of Itachi's Sharingan eyes appeared behind the heap on the floor, preparing to kill Sasuke along with the rest of the clan. And Sasuke had been so weak as to beg to be left alive. Itachi had left him there and his specific reason for doing so Sasuke knew not.

Sasuke groaned and rolled over in his sleep. The weight of his own body on his wounded arm sent a shock throughout him and his eyes snapped open. White everywhere. Heaven? He didn't expect this. Of all people, he'd always assumed he'd end up in Hell. The walls and steel door began to focus into his vision. A rabid itching covered his arm. Sasuke found his arms were heavy, his ankles heavier. He couldn't even scratch the white gauze tightly wrapped around his arm, his new skin. He wanted to rip it off and see the gashes in his scarred flesh. He needed to know that it was real, that he wasn't just in another nightmare. And the itching; the itching was driving him insane. For all he was concerned, this was Hell. The shuffling of feet could be heard coming down the hall closer to his prison. Click. The door was unlocked and a nurse that smelled of cherry cough syrup strode towards his bed and shoved a thermometer under his tongue and held it in place until it beeped. Seeing that his arm had bled through the gauze she unwrapped it. He glanced over, mesmerized by the criss-crossing of over fifty stitches binding his flesh together. The want to bleed, to tear them out was overwhelming. Soon his arm was securely wrapped up again and the nurse left without muttering a word to him. The click of the lock was the only sound heard in his room as Sasuke fell into a deep sleep.

Knowingly, Kakashi headed toward the Uchiha house. He almost wasn't surprised to find the front door lying on the ground. Tsunade had informed him about Sasuke and had sent him to find Naruto, fearing he might do something drastic. It seemed everyone but Naruto and Sasuke knew that they were close friends, regardless of the hurtful things they had said to each other. Over the years spent together on Team 7 a bond had grown between them. Kakashi walked up the stairs, sensing Naruto's chakra.

Although he wouldn't admit it, he was scared. This side of Naruto was disturbing. He had never seen him vulnerable and small. Naruto was known for or his mouth, which was exceptionally loud. And of course he had seen Naruto cry before; he was pretty emotional when it came to something he believed in. Never like this though. Kakashi could see the reddened bandage wrapped around his hand. By the ashamed, confused way Naruto gazed at him, he knew right away what had happened. He didn't know what to expect of him. Cautiously, he bent down beside the blond haired boy and took him into his arms. Naruto leaned into the warm embrace.

Why would Sasuke want to leave me? Leave everyone?

What causes him so much pain that he wants to hurt himself?

Naruto wanted so badly to understand.

Author's Note:

On to chapter 3...probably in like 2 months with my laziness. But I gladly accept reviews, good or bad in the meantime. I also appreciate constructive criticism. Yay for no cliffhangers!

Also, there is no Naruto/Kakashi. Two males can embrace each other whilst in tears without being gay. Except maybe Rock Lee and Guy. They kinda scare me when they do that whole "Guy Sensei!!! Leeeee!!!" thing and then there's the sunset and crashing waves. Weird.

But maybe there will be Naruto/Sasuke just 'cause I'm a huge yaoi fan. They make a good couple. Too bad it'll never happen .