Chapter 13! yeees! Anyone else excited? I'm not. I don't like this chapter very much but whatever ^_^

Enjoy (if you can O_O)

Sasuke dreamt of Naruto that night. Three times.

He and Naruto were standing in a field of long grass. Naruto was grinning up at him, his eyes closed and his blonde fringe moving gently in the warm breeze. They were both holding piles of soft purple flowers, freshly picked.

"She'll love them! Let's go Teme!" called Naruto, taking a happy step into the lead. Half of his body lost to the grass, long and yellow in the gentle afternoon light. Sasuke's heart swelled with lost affection that hadn't filled him in so long. As he took a step forward the rest of the dream began to fall away. Naruto's face had looked back to him in that moment but his expression and features were erased by the bright light of the sun.

In the next one, he and Naruto were standing on Team 7's bridge. Orange and red leaves littered the wood beneath their feet. They were waiting for something but neither could remember what. An uneasy feeling hung in the air. It looked like it was going to rain. Naruto gazed out over the grey water that was running below. All of a sudden, the scene turned black and white and the blonde begun to cry. His face was still and calm but tears were running over his cheeks uncontrollably. Naruto didn't seem to notice and he wouldn't look away from the water even as Sasuke grabbed him and shook his shoulder, calling for him.

In the last one it was foggy and Sasuke couldn't see his hands when he reached them out in front of him. In his fingers was a thick piece of material with a spiral printed on it, like the one on the shoulder of Naruto's orange jacket. He gripped it tightly and opened his mouth to yell for someone. As he stepped further into the fog, a huge gust of cold air hit him between the shoulders. The spiral flew from his fingers and Sasuke cried out.

For some reason it was insanely important for him to keep hold of that ragged scrap of material. Sasuke jumped after it. As his heels lifted of the ground in a leap, he sensed movement behind him. His fingers brushed the spiral as it fell, his head turned to look over his shoulder. It was an enemy he was sure, but he wouldn't be able to move in time. His arms were chasing Naruto's spiral and his head was leaning out, willing his body to move in the other direction, away from the attack he could feel coming. His feet were caught in the middle. Sasuke couldn't move in time.

A shadow appeared, the glint of a kunai, one breath, one gasp, one taste of death before the fog dispersed, blinding him and hot blood spattered across Sasuke's face, into his eyes. He couldn't see. When he opened his eyes again the enemy shadow was gone, the spiral was lying in a pool of red blood and he was on his hands and knees next to something. Another person. Someone with blonde hair and a presence so familiar. Sasuke stared. The colour from Naruto's eyes, vivid blue, had smeared across his now pale face as the scene flickered, the colours watery and faint. Sasuke's hands were soon stained red as he reached to shake the boy while his eyes closed slowly and the blue that had smudged lifted off his skin and escaped. Tear drops made a ripple effect in the crimson blood. A heartbeat Sasuke hadn't noticed until then, stopped.

When Sasuke woke up, Naruto wasn't there. The young Uchiha leapt from the bed.

"Dobe!"

Nothing.

"Usuratonkachi!"

Silence.

"Naruto!"

No one came.

Sasuke looked around the room hurriedly before his eyes found a scrap of paper on the dresser next to his bed. On the paper was a quickly scrawled note in Naruto's messy handwriting.

Got to go. See you later

Naruto.

Sasuke frowned a little. What could Naruto possibly have to do today? There was no training he was sure. His heart skipped a beat. Was he running away? Regretting what happened? Was he scared they wouldn't be able to stay together? Did he want to be together? Sasuke blinked. Together... It sounded so sappy. So superficial. What he felt wasn't superficial. But what else could you call it? He had said "I love you" to Naruto. That's what it was? Love? Maybe. He had said it before to Naruto; that he thought he might have forgotten the feeling of love. But maybe he just needed time to find it again. Knowing that... and after what had happened between them, had Naruto really run away from him?

Sasuke bit his lip. Reading so much into something like this was out of character for him… But it was possible. After all, Naruto was going to be Hokage one day. Would the village accept a person who was so close to someone like Uchiha Sasuke?

Sasuke shook his head and sighed loudly. The note said 'see you later' didn't it? It didn't sound like he was running away, so he probably wasn't. Naruto usually just said whatever he wanted without ordering things in his head so if he was leaving without planning on seeing him 'later' he would have said.

"I've probably loved you for a long time now..."

Naruto had said that. Naruto's nindo was all about keeping his promises.

"I never go back on my word!"

It applied to this kind of thing too right? Naruto definitely wasn't running away. Something inside Sasuke loosened; a tightness easing. Laughing a little, he pushed his palm over one side of his face, his fingers gripping his long bangs. His hand was clammy. Emotional overload from such a little thing; he wasn't used to it. He usually just locked it all away but suddenly when it came to Naruto... It wasn't like that before. Could "I love you" change so much between them?

"Just what have you done to me Usuratonkachi...?"

…

Sasuke hung around at home most of the morning, sitting outside on the veranda like he and Naruto had but the house was eerily quiet after the blonde's loud presence in it for two days.

It was a little cloudy, the daylight faint and water washed on the grass in the garden. It reminded him of the way the blue in his last dream had run and smeared. Maybe it would rain to match the second one, Sasuke mused lazily, unable to keep every thought from coming back his blonde teammate in one way or another. His house was filled with the boy; his scent in Sasuke's room, his crouching footprints by the pond, his voice still lingering in the hallway, his taste, despite breakfast and a shower, on Sasuke's lips. He couldn't not think about him.

Sasuke growled quietly to himself. This was so stupid. Was he really going to sit around doing nothing but think of Naruto? So something had changed, that didn't make pining for his company any less pathetic. He reminded himself the tiniest bit of his fan girls. Well, at least I'm being quiet about it, thought Sasuke but immediately regretted it as a strange mix of embarrassment and fury erupted in his chest.

This is out of control! Come on Sasuke! Get it together! Go and do something constructive!

The young Uchiha stood, his trademark scowl pulling at his features. His footsteps were firm and quick as he pushed the gate that lead out onto the road with more force than needed. Its old hinges creaked and groaned in protest.

…

The village was alive and full of people, despite the deteriorating weather. The air had a cool edge to it that heightened the colours and sounds of Konoha. Sasuke walked with his eyes lowered, hands in his pockets, lips in a tight line. All childish wonderment had left him long ago. The sights and sounds didn't make his heart race the slightest. If he was with Naruto he definitely would have been dragged to look at all the bright things for sale. Naruto loved that kind of thing. Sasuke pinched himself on the leg through his shorts. Stop that. He clenched his teeth. It wasn't unpleasant to think of the other boy, but the sudden change scared him a bit.

As he neared a fork in the road Sasuke heard his name being called.

"Sasuke! Sasuke!" He turned and looked over his shoulder. The voice wasn't very familiar.

"Oi! Sasuke!" Sasuke stopped and turned fully, his eyes meeting the form of the Nara boy from Ino's team. Nara Shikamaru. Sasuke lifted his eyebrows. He couldn't recall a time when this boy had actually approached him on his own accord. They hadn't really interacted. He was just that lazy, so called "genius" from his academy class.

"Sasuke," said Shikamaru, his small dark eyes watched the Uchiha carefully. Sharp and precise without any effort; naturally that way. The eyes of a genius maybe.

"Hey, I don't think its any of my business..." Shikamaru looked away and then brought his eyes back to Sasuke. "But, did you and Naruto have a fight or something?" he asked. Sasuke's eyebrows shot up under his dark hair, his mask completely slipping. That was so far from the truth it shocked all the attitude out of Sasuke for a moment. Shikamaru took in his reaction, his thin eyebrows twitching into a deeper frown, his mouth turning down at the corners.

"It's just, I saw him this morning and he looked like he was crying," continued the Nara boy. "I called out to him but he ran straight past me. I thought you might have fought, he gets pretty worked up over you." Shikamaru changed his stance uncomfortably. He had said what he wanted to and now there was an awkward tang to the air between them. Sasuke turned to hide his face.

"We didn't fight," he replied and started to walk again.

We didn't fight. But why were you crying?

Sasuke walked calmly, fighting the desire to bite his lip.

The apartment blocked loomed tall over head as Sasuke stood at the bottom of the stairs, one hand on the cool railing. He had actually ended up here. He had come out to clear his head, to stop thinking about the blonde but here he was at Naruto's place. At the top of the steps would be Naruto. Sasuke sighed. I'm here and he's probably sleeping or stuffing his face with ramen like an idiot. But then Shikamaru's words came back to him and he tightened his grip on the rail. Just check on him and leave. Scold him for leaving such a messy, unreadable note, and then leave. He started to climb the stairs slowly; his stomach did a weird flip.

"Naruto? Are you here?" Sasuke stood in the open doorway. The untidy room smelt strange and there was a weird whirring sound coming from somewhere, a dull rattling that he couldn't figure out. A bad feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, suppressing the funny little jumps and dragging the smirk from his face.

"Naruto?" Sasuke pulled a kunai from his holster and spun it nervously in his fingers for a moment before flicking it firmly into his hand and took a silent step forward. The air was thick with his own tension. He didn't call anymore as he edged into the little kitchenette and checked behind the counter. Nothing.

From the far side of the room the boy looked around carefully. Was Naruto just not home? But then what was with this feeling he had and the door had been open. What was that noise? It was getting louder the longer he concentrated on it. His eyes locked on the shiny door handle of a room to his left. The bathroom. There? Sasuke approached it quietly and reached for the handle. The metal was oddly warm in his palm.

"Dobe?"

Orange chakra burst forward and shrouded Sasuke in a deep cloak, the door frame splintered beside him. Sasuke yelped in surprise but no other noise could be heard apart from the thundering roar of the swirling chakra. He was forced to his knees and the door behind him disappeared into orange. The whole room was filled with the stuff. Sasuke couldn't see anything, his eyes being pushed closed by the rapid movement of the energy. His whole body was heavy with it, he couldn't breathe. This power, he's felt it before, only for a short time but it was the same. The same as that time. No. Where was Naruto?

Sasuke shielded his eyes and opened them; thin slits. On the far side of the room was a shadow.

"Naruto?" The words were ripped from inside his mouth before they reached his lips. In slow, desperate 'steps' on his hands and knees, the Uchiha moved towards the dark orange silhouette huddled in the corner. The jerky movements were agonizing. So painfully slow. Terror and panic was making its way up his throat, climbing out of his mouth and Sasuke found himself screaming or sobbing, he couldn't tell. His face was dry. The chakra was unbearable. A blazing flame, tearing at his flesh without making a mark on his pale skin. He closed his eyes as he crawled. He tasted blood in his mouth but there was none there. The orange flames smelt like death.

Suddenly it grew quieter and Sasuke thought he must have gone deaf because he could still feel the chakra whipping his hair onto his face. He opened one eye and then opened the other.

"NARUTO!" Sasuke leapt forward, grabbing for the other boy who was writhing on the ground, his whole body consumed with the hot orange chakra. As soon as Sasuke's hands touched him they were burnt, the skin blistering and bursting on contact. Sasuke grit his teeth.

"Naruto! Wake up! What's going on?" Sasuke yelled and shook the other boy, dragging him into a sitting position. Naruto's face wavered in the heat of the chakra, his now ragged whiskers curving and then straightening, distorting his expression. Behind Naruto, Sasuke could see the slight outline of a number of tails, thickest and most visible closest to their master and then wild and flaring into a sea of choking energy further out, losing all shape and form.

"Naruto! Please! What is this?" He already knew the answer. It was the power of the Kyuubi. They were wrong to let it be and now this was happening!

Chakra flicked out from Sasuke's right and slashed a cut across his face. It was more violent here; quieter but more violent. It could hurt him now, a hushed killer. It was completely impossible to see the way out; there was only Sasuke and Naruto in the small bathroom. Even if Sasuke could manage to get them out he was sure the chakra would follow them. It was Naruto's after all.

Suddenly, at that moment, Naruto's eyelids snapped back. They were electric blue and Sasuke drew back, the sight of the familiar colour startling him into near tears.

"Naruto?" Sasuke whispered. His pulse throbbed in his head, centred on the cut in cheek. The boy before him looked up at him helplessly, his bright irises shivering, his mouth open in a silent scream. To Sasuke's horror Naruto began to cry. His sobs were feral howls and his tears were thick and red like blood. He began to claw at himself, drawing blood quickly, the wounds ragged and raw and then instantly healing or opening even more. Extreme to extreme. Naruto screamed in what Sasuke guessed was pain or disgust.

"Naruto!" Sasuke grabbed his wrists and threw him against the wall, their skin burning against each other, through their clothes where they touched. "Listen to me! You've got to stop!" Naruto thrashed in his arms, screaming and crying; a beast with the terrified eyes and tears of a child. Sasuke could smell his breath close to his, like rotting meat.

Naruto flung his arms out wildly and the flame around them became hotter as he freed his hands with impossible strength and sunk his claws into Sasuke's back and started frantically raking the sharpened nails over the flesh, tearing it. The floor and walls were soon covered with Sasuke's blood, but the Uchiha didn't let go. He cried out as Naruto ripped him apart but he didn't let go. His touch had calmed the horrible power before and he was holding onto that last hope. That he could save them both. The blonde struggled harder.

Naruto sunk his teeth into Sasuke's shoulder and the grip broke. Sasuke screamed and fell backwards. Kyuubi took the chance and threw out an arm. The force of it threw Sasuke all the way across the room, slamming him painfully against the wall. Blood was everywhere. Both his and Naruto's, but mostly his. Naruto's steamed surreally. They watched each other through an aisle where the chakra had cleared, connecting them. Sasuke breathed heavily, eyes wide open, his whole body on fire, the chakra pressing down on him from above. Blood was pooling around his feet as he sat slumped against the wall.

Naruto's eyes were blue and frightened but the way he rose onto his back feet unsteadily, the way his image shuddered when a wave of orange passed between them... His eyes were a lie.

I'm scared... Sasuke began to tremble. Despite his torn body all he felt was fear. I'm scared... Naruto took a step forward and Sasuke's eyes watched as his lips parted into the two syllables of his name.

I'm scared. I'm scared. His vision was getting blurry with blood loss and was pitched completely into black for a second as he stood slowly, his eyes wide open even as black passed before them. I'm scared.

"Sa... suke..."

"I'm scared, Naruto... I'm scared..."

"Sa...suke..." The blue eyed Kyuubi looked him straight in the eye and Sasuke lost it. A scream filled his chest. He turned and ran...

…

"Kakashi sensei, thank you for helping me carry this." The girl lifted her face to him and smiled.

"It's no problem Sakura," replied the man, adjusting his grip on her big bag of groceries and shook the light rain off his silver hair. They walked in silence for a while and Kakashi's mind wandered, letting himself be led by the sound of Sakura's footsteps under the gentle rain.

"The rain started suddenly didn't it?"
"Yeah, but it's been kind of miserable all day."

"Yeah."

The quiet atmosphere between them was comfortable.

They turned a corner.

Kakashi's one eye widened, the pupil shrinking at the sight, his heart jumped into his mouth. Sakura screamed beside him and they both dropped their bags. Food went everywhere but neither ninja saw any of that. Kakashi rushed forward, leaving Sakura's side and dropped to his knees.

"SASUKE!" His arms came quickly and carefully under the boy, lifting his head up to look at him. The boy's eyes were just open. Water run over his face making trails in the blood painted on his features.

"SASUKE!" The jounin shook him a little and Sasuke drew a rasping breath.

"...A...ru...o..., Na...u...to..., Na... ru...to..." Kakashi's eyes widened further as Sasuke's closed. Naruto! Where was he? The whole front of Sasuke's shirt was gone and he reeked of something rotten.

"Sasuke! Sasuke!"

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No...

What do I do! Kakashi stared into Sasuke's face, feeling the boy breathe short and shallow, his heartbeat faint through his ruined back.

What do I do! Sasuke needed the hospital right now or he wouldn't make it, but what about Naruto! Sasuke's voice and face. His expression, under the twist of pain was anguished, the tiny light in his dark eyes panicked.

What do I do!

"Saku-!" Kakashi turned to call her but stopped short when his eyes found Sakura collapsed on the wet road unconscious. The jounin growled under his breath.

What do I do! Kakashi pulled Sasuke close to him and clutched the boy, a sob building in his chest.

What do I do!

"Kakashi san!" His head snapped up at his name. Suddenly there were others with him.

"Kakashi san! Kakashi sensei! Get up! Give me Sasuke!" The orders came from Iruka.

"Get up!" Asuma. Asuma was here too.

Kakashi stood and Iruka took Sasuke from him gently. Kakashi tensed as the boy's head lolled back.

"You go to Naruto. I'll take Sasuke," said the shorter man.

"Shouldn't you go to Naruto?" asked Kakashi shakily. Iruka's eyes locked with his.

"No. You go to Naruto," he replied and Kakashi was taken back by the panic in his eyes.

"Let's go Kakashi." Kurenai grabbed his arm and he turned, keeping his eyes on his family as long as he could as both Sasuke and Sakura were carried away by Iruka and another ninja.

"Kakashi!" He moved his eyes to the front and became a ninja.

"Hokage sama will meet us there. Naruto's power is out of control," Asuma said next to him, taking charge of him, Kurenai and several other jounin including Nara Shikaku. He would be useful. Kakashi made a choked noise of agreement as the rain became heavier.

Sasuke. Naruto. What happened?