Warning: Some gore early in the chapter. Consider it an early Halloween present.

Chapter Seven: Fading Hope

Sasuke stood on the edge of a small clearing. The moon hung high above him in the sky, bathing the clearing in silvery-blue light. The silence of the surrounding forest was almost deafening.

In the middle of the clearing a body lay facedown on the ground, marinating in a pool of blood. Shakily stepping into the clearing, Sasuke began to move towards it, as if drawn there by some invisible, supernatural force.

No… Not again… Please don't let this be happening again, Sasuke's thoughts echoed pleadingly through his mind.

Carefully stepping up to the body, Sasuke knelt beside the mutilated corpse. Its face was turned down into the ground; its features hidden, its hair and clothes too soaked with blood to tell their original colors. Even though the boy couldn't see the body's face, he somehow knew - like a sickening premonition - what he was going to find.

Hesitantly, he slipped shaking hands underneath its head and turned it towards him, exposing its blood smeared face to the moonlight. A strangled sob broke from his throat as tears blurred his vision.

"No… Not again," he moaned as he looked down into Naruto Uzumaki's lifeless blue eyes. "Please not again…" Cradling his friend's bloody head in his hands, the boy bent down over it, fighting back the waves of anguish that threatened to rip his heart to pieces. A single tear slipped down his cheek as another sob tore itself from his throat.

"Why didn't you save me?"

Sasuke startled and leapt backwards, his friend's head rolling from his hands back onto the ground. As he sat there, staring in horror, Naruto gazed up at him, his dead blue eyes shining in the moonlight.

"Why didn't you save me, Sasuke?" the corpse again asked, its voice echoing eerily through the silent clearing. "You promised me you would…"

Sasuke couldn't find his voice to speak, too horrified to form any words as Naruto slowly pulled himself up off the ground, still staring at Sasuke with accusing, empty blue eyes. The blond's head hung limply down the middle of his chest, like the head of a cattail dangling from its broken stalk. Sasuke could see two small bumps protruding from the back of Naruto's neck, marking the place where the vertebrae in the blond's spine had been brutally snapped in two. Blood dripped from the ends of Naruto's hair back into the surrounding pool of gore. As Naruto sat back on his heels to face him, Sasuke saw the gapping slash across his friend's stomach, exposing a mass of glistening wet entrails.

"You said you'd protect me," the corpse said, still staring at him with lifeless blue eyes. "You said you wouldn't let Akatsuki get me…"

"I'm sorry," Sasuke sobbed, tears now streaming down his face. "I tried to stop them, I swear. I'm so sorry…"

"You said you wouldn't let anyone hurt me," Naruto rasped. His entire body was drenched in blood, drops of crimson dripping from his face, fingers and hair. "You said you'd keep me safe. Now look at me…"

"I'm sorry!" Sasuke wailed. "I tried!"

"You promised me, Sasuke…" Naruto whispered, his lifeless eyes staring at him accusingly. "You said you'd protect me… You lied."

"I couldn't stop them! They were too strong! I tried to protect you!"

"You lied to me, Sasuke… I believed you…"

Sasuke covered both his ears, as if trying to block out the corpse's painful words. "I'm sorry!" he screamed. "I tried to stop them!"

"I believed you… You said you'd protect me…"

"I'm sorry!"

"You lied to me…"

"I didn't mean to!"

"Lied to me…"

"I wasn't strong enough!"

"Lied…"

"Sasuke…"

"I'm sorry!"

"Sasuke."

"I tried to stop them! I swear!"

"SASUKE!"

The boy woke with a start, bolting upright in his chair. A blanket that'd been draped over him went flying to the floor. Eyes wide and breathing hard, Sasuke wildly looked around, unsure of where he even was. It took him a moment to realize there was someone else beside him with a hand resting on his shoulder. His head snapping up towards its owner, the boy was startled to find his former sensei, Kakashi, standing there.

"Sasuke, it's alright. You were just dreaming," the jounin said, gripping Sasuke's shoulder tighter as if to reassure the boy he was real.

Sucking in a ragged breath of air, Sasuke stared at the silver-haired ninja for several moments, his entire body shaking. Lifting a trembling hand to his face he was startled to find his cheeks cold and unexplainably wet.

"It's okay, Sasuke," Kakashi murmured, staring at his student with one worried eye. "It was just a dream…"

Wiping the wetness from face, Sasuke took a deep breath to regain his composure. Slowly calming, he looked around. He sat at the end of a long, sterile white hallway on a bank of chairs set against the wall. At the other end of the hall he could see nurses and people in medical robes moving about. Two ANBU were also standing guard there. Pale morning sunlight filtered in through the windows.

Memories of the previous night suddenly came back to Sasuke in a tidal wave of images. Akatsuki attacking… Itachi grabbing Naruto… Naruto engulfed in a fiery shield of chakra… Trying to go to his friend's aide… Naruto collapsing to the ground, not breathing… Tsunade and Jiraiya taking him back into the hospital… Waiting to be allowed to see his friend… Kakashi coming to wait with him in the hall… And then…

He couldn't remember.

Pushing the hair back from his face, Sasuke shakily sat up his chair, wincing as his neck gave a painful twinge from the position he'd fallen asleep in. "What happened?" he rasped, hiding his still tear-reddened eyes from his sensei's perceptive gaze behind a curtain of bangs. "I don't remember falling asleep out here."

"You haven't slept for the last two nights," Kakashi explained, shoving his hands into his pockets as he looked down at his student. "You've been so caught up worrying about Naruto you haven't done anything to take care of yourself. I could see it last night while you were waiting for Tsunade to come out. You're wearing yourself out. So knowing how stubborn you can be at times - especially when it comes to your own health - I did a small sleeping jutsu to make sure you didn't make yourself sick."

Sasuke glared at Kakashi. "You knocked me out with a jutsu?" he hissed.

"I knew you weren't going to listen to me, so I had to take measures into my own hands," Kakashi casually replied. "I've been your sensei long enough to know how you work, Sasuke…"

The boy glared at his teacher, angry that he'd done something so conniving as to knock him out with a jutsu. But then again, he knew everything Kakashi had said was true. He wouldn't have listened to him…

Pushing himself to his feet, Sasuke silently glanced at the door several yards down the hall from where he'd woken up.

As if reading his student's mind, Kakashi followed his gaze and said, "The Hokage came out a few hours ago. She says Naruto's stable now. You can go in anytime you want."

"How is he?" Sasuke softly asked.

Kakashi gave a heavy sigh, scuffing one foot against the ground. His one eye grew solemn and distant. "Tsunade said he's extremely weak. He needed several blood transfusions and his chakra level is still erratic and unnaturally low. She tried to strengthen the curse seal on his stomach, but he's too weak right now to risk doing any powerful jutsu on it. He's very lucky to even be alive…"

Sasuke said nothing in response, still staring at the innocuous looking door. Images of his dream suddenly flashed in the back of his mind. With a horrifying jolt he remembered Naruto's dead eyes staring back at him, damning him for his failure with their empty blue gaze. He remembered the blond's haunting words and… the blood. Oh gods, the blood… He could still see in his mind's eye that pool of crimson shining darkly in the moonlight…

"Are you alright, Sasuke?" Kakashi's voice drifted through his thoughts, bringing him back to the present. "I heard you murmuring in your sleep. Were you having some kind of nightmare?" The silver-haired jounin was studying him with his one good eye. His Sharingan was still covered by his forehead protector, but that didn't stop Sasuke from feeling as though the older ninja was somehow trying to look into his soul.

For a moment, he didn't answer, images of his dream once again resurfacing like some hellish slideshow in the back of his mind. "No," Sasuke finally murmured, brusquely turning towards the door just down the hall. "I don't remember having any kind of dream. I don't know what you're talking about…" He began to walk towards it. But before he could even get several feet Kakashi's voice drifted after him, making him falter in his footsteps.

"Naruto doesn't blame you for what happened, Sasuke. It wasn't your fault."

Sasuke froze, his entire body going stiff. For several heartbeats of unbroken silence the boy just stood there, staring ahead with his back to Kakashi. Slowly, he turned back towards his former sensei.

"You don't know that," he hoarsely whispered, unable to meet Kakashi's gaze. His face was bowed, half-hidden by long black bangs. "You don't know what Naruto thinks. It was my fault I couldn't get him away in time, or keep Itachi from grabbing him. I should have been able to protect him. I promised him I wouldn't let Akatsuki touch him again. It was my fault he almost died…"

"It wasn't your fault, Sasuke," Kakashi calmly insisted. "If it's anybody's fault Naruto got hurt it was ours. We didn't think Akatsuki would try to directly attack the hospital. That's why there were only several ANBU standing guard around the building and two outside the door. You shouldn't have had to be expected to try and defend him all by yourself against a team of Akatsuki agents and S-class ninja. Not even I could have protected him long as you did given the odds. You did what you could and stalled Itachi long enough for reinforcements to arrive. No one could have asked any more from you than what you did."

"You don't understand!" Sasuke snarled, angrily rounding on Kakashi. "It's my fault Akatsuki ever got a hold of Naruto in the first place! I knew they were after Naruto before. I should have known they would have eventually come after him again. If I'd been paying more attention instead of looking for Itachi I could have been there to stop them! I could have kept them from ever getting Naruto!"

"Sasuke, there was no way you could have known that," Kakashi calmly said, studying his student's angry, guilt-ridden face. "It wasn't anybody's fault Naruto was kidnapped. You have to stop blaming yourself."

"Stop telling me what to do," Sasuke hissed, turning away from Kakashi back towards the door. "I'm no longer your student."

"You'll always be my student, whether officially or not," Kakashi said, stepping closer, "and as my student you're going to listen to what I have to say. Nothing that happened to Naruto was your fault. You couldn't have stopped Akatsuki from taking him even if you had been there the first time they attacked. You protected him as well as you could have last night, and no one is saying otherwise. He's still here in Konoha because you were there to stall Itachi. You couldn't have done anything to stop Itachi from breaking Naruto's curse seal either. Akatsuki's been hacking away at it for the last nine months, and with Naruto as sick as he is right now it didn't take much for Itachi to weaken it enough for Kyuubi's chakra to break out. You have to stop blaming yourself. Guilt doesn't do anyone any good. If you really want to help Naruto then stop blaming yourself and commit yourself to protecting him. He needs you right now. You're one of the few people he trusts anymore. Your guilt is blinding you to what you need to do. He doesn't need some guilty bodyguard. He needs a friend that will be there to look out for him and protect him, and you're the only one that can do that."

Sasuke stood there in silence as Kakashi spoke, his face bowed to his chest. The jounin's words washed over him, somehow painful and encouraging all at the same time. Deep down he knew Kakashi was right - that it wasn't his fault that Naruto was kidnapped - but he still couldn't shake the lingering feeling there was something else he could have done to protect his friend.

Stepping up behind Sasuke, Kakashi put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Come on. Tsunade said Naruto will probably be waking up soon. I know he'll want you to be there when he does."

Not trusting himself to say anything in response, Sasuke just sullenly nodded and let the older ninja guide him towards the door. A barely audible knock was the only thing Kakashi gave to announce their arrival before pushing the door open.

The hospital room was filled with muted morning sunlight - the shades on all the windows drawn. As Sasuke and Kakashi stepped inside, Sasuke saw Tsunade and Jiraiya standing on the other side of the room, speaking together in hushed tones. Iruka sat close beside the only hospital bed in the room, his face shadowed with worry and unspeakable heartache. And laying there in bed…

Sasuke felt his heart twist in the middle of his chest.

Naruto's lay like a tiny island in a sea of bedding. His frail body was barely even visible under all the blankets. Wires, tubes, and IV lines snaked off his arms and chest to half a dozen beeping, humming machines on either side of the bed - like they were the only things tethering the boy to life. An oxygen mask had been fitted over Naruto's nose and mouth, covering the lower half of his face. His body was a violently painted tapestry of pain. Purple bruises, raw cuts and burn covered almost every inch of the boy's ghostly pale skin - almost the same shade of white as the very sheets he lay against.

Sasuke felt the lingering trace of guilt Kakashi had helped suppress but not completely banish come roaring back to life, drowning him in a flood of anguish. This wasn't right. This shouldn't have happened. Naruto barely looked alive. If it wasn't for the rhythmic beeping of the machines around him, Sasuke was sure he would have thought his friend dead.

Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Iruka all looked up at Kakashi and Sasuke's entrance.

"Kakashi," Tsunade said, her voice carefully low as she stepped towards them, "do you have a report from the outer defenses yet?"

The copy-ninja shook his head. "No. We still don't know how Akatsuki got into the village. None of the ninja standing guard last night saw anyone trying to get over the wall or through the gates. We don't know how they managed to make it back out of the village either. Itachi and his partner disappeared before ANBU could catch up with them and stop them."

"Damn it…" Jiraiya hissed, angrily turning away back towards the shuttered window. The Sannin's anger was almost tangible. "They're breaking through our defenses easier and easier. If we don't find some way to stop them soon, they're going to overrun the village."

"Unfortunately, we don't have the manpower needed to enforce the village's defenses anymore than it already is," Tsunade sighed, rubbing her forehead as if fighting back the onset of a terrible headache. "Our forces were severely depleted after our attack on that Akatsuki base. With our resources already stretched thin from fighting both Sound and Akatsuki, patrolling the borders, and defending the village itself, we're lucky we were able to respond to the attack last night as fast as we did. We're slowly being overwhelmed…"

"Can't we ask for assistance from Sand or one of our other allies?" Iruka tentatively asked.

Tsunade wearily shook her head. "Gaara has already given us more assistance than we could have ever asked him for. He also has to think about the welfare of his own people. It wasn't just Leaf-nin that died in that attack on Akatsuki. There were also Sand-nin… We can't hope for any kind of direct help from our other allies either because they're afraid of becoming targets for Sound and Akatsuki too."

"We still should have had more guards posted around Naruto though," Jiraiya murmured, his back to the rest of them. "We thought Akatsuki might come after him again, and we didn't do enough to properly ensure he was safe…"

"It… wasn't your fault…" a raspy voice - barely louder than a whisper and as rough as sandpaper - suddenly spoke up.

Everyone's head snapped towards the bed. Naruto lay there swathed in blankets with his eyes barely open -as if his eyelids were too heavy to fully lift them - with only the faintest hint of blue showing through his dark tangles of eyelashes. As they watched, Naruto slowly, painfully lifted one IV riddled hand up and pulled the oxygen mask down from his face.

"It wouldn't… have mattered…" he rasped, visibly struggling to put thoughts into coherent words. His breathing was labored, as if the simple effort of speaking was almost too much for him to manage. "Akatsuki would've… just found… some other way… to get me…" he whispered.

"Naruto," Iruka said, anxiously leaning forward. "Don't push yourself. You need to rest. Don't worry, you're safe now. Here-" he said, and began to lift the oxygen mask back onto the boy's face. But Naruto just lolled his head to the side to avoid it.

"No…" he croaked, weakly shaking his head. "I don't want it…"

By now the others had begun to gather around Naruto's bed, sorrowfully surveying the damage done to their friend, student, and foster son. Sasuke hovered near the foot of the bed, hesitant to come any closer. Everything Kakashi had said before was nothing but meaningless words in the back of his head now as he stared at the wretched remains of his friend and former teammate.

"Oh, Naruto…" Tsunade murmured, coming up to the other side of Naruto's bed across from Iruka. She tenderly ran her fingers through Naruto's hair, petting it back from the boy's bruised and swollen face. There were tears in the Hokage's eyes.

"How you feeling, kid?" Jiraiya asked, leaning closer to Naruto around Tsunade.

"Like I want to die…" the boy rasped.

An almost visible wave of pain passed over the faces of everyone there. By those five simple words Sasuke felt as though someone had just driven a dull blade through his heart and twisted it.

"Don't say that, Naruto," Iruka pleaded, leaning over him. "It's going to be alright, I promise. You've just got to hold on."

"But it hurts so much…" Naruto whimpered, staring at Iruka as though begging the chuunin to somehow stop the pain. Sasuke saw Iruka visibly have to fight to keep his composure, tears shining brightly in the older man's eyes.

"Don't worry, Naruto," Tsunade said, "we'll get you some more pain medication."

Closing his eyes, Naruto buried the side of his face in the pillow, tears beading along his eyelashes. "Kyuubi almost got out, didn't it?" he choked, his voice hitched with the effort it took to keep it from trembling. "I can feel it getting stronger… It's trying to get out… I can feel it clawing at the back of my mind… like it wants to take over my body…"

"We're not going to let that happen," Tsunade said as reassuringly as she could. "Once you get a little stronger, Jiraiya and I are going to strengthen the Fourth's seal. We'll make it so you can't feel Kyuubi anymore. But you have to get a little stronger first. If we try to do any kind of Sealing jutsu right now, we'd probably only hurt you. That's why you have to get a little better - so we can help you. Do you understand?"

Naruto didn't immediately answer, his face still burrowed in the pillow as if trying to somehow escape his suffering. "I don't know if I can…" he finally muttered, his voice painfully weak and devoid of hope. "I don't know if I can get any better…"

If such a thing was possibly, Sasuke saw the Hokage's heart literally break. "You have to try for me," she whispered, her voice dangerously tight as she reached out and gripped Naruto's frail, tube-infested hand in her own. "You have to keep fighting."

"I've been fighting… for so long…" Naruto sobbed, his misery almost tangible. "I don't know if I want to fight anymore. Akatsuki kept trying to break the seal… kept dragging me into that cave to do that weird ceremony… It felt like I was getting ripped apart every time they did it… They kept doing what Itachi did… weakening the seal so Kyuubi's power could get out. I kept fighting them… kept trying to keep Kyuubi in… But it's getting so hard to do… I'm just so tired of fighting… I can feel the seal getting weaker all the time… I just want it to end. Next time I know I won't be able to hold Kyuubi in…"

"We're not going to let that happen," Kakashi said, leaning forward. "Even if we have to sneak you out of Konoha to someplace they'll never find you, we aren't going to let Akatsuki get you."

"Could we maybe sneak him into Sand?" Iruka asked, hopefully looking up at Tsunade. "I'm sure the Kazekage would take him in, and he could offer Naruto the same amount of protection as we can here, if not more. Sand has a much stronger defensive force than us right now."

"It would be a good plan assuming we could actually get Naruto there safely," Tsunade said. "It's more than several days' journey there by foot, and with Naruto as sick as he is right now it's too much of a risk. We'd have to send half our available ninja with him to offer any kind of protection from being attacked on the road. It's just too dangerous…"

Iruka bowed his head dejectedly - knowing everything the Hokage had said was true - and turned his attention back onto his injured, hurting student. As if trying to silently reassure the boy they'd find some other way to protect him, he began to rhythmically stroke the hair from Naruto's face with his fingertips.

"If we can't move him somewhere outside the village, then where else can we hide him?" Sasuke finally spoke up, looking between the group of adults expectantly with narrowed eyes. "He can't stay here in the hospital. Akatsuki knows exactly where he is. It's too dangerous for him to stay here anymore. We've already seen how poor the security is. He has to be taken somewhere where he'll actually be safe."

"Unfortunately, there aren't many places I know of that we could take him," Tsunade replied. "There is always Hokage tower, but it doesn't have the room or facilities needed to care for Naruto right now. It's also one of the first places Akatsuki might think to look for him if he's not in the hospital. We need someplace that's inconspicuous and out of the way."

An idea sparked in the back of Sasuke's mind, but he hesitated, wondering if it was really something he was willing to suggest. But as he stared at Naruto's frail form laying in silent agony on the bed, he knew it was possibly one of the only ways left to ensure his friend's safety.

"What about the Uchiha family mansion?" he said, looking up to meet Tsunade's gaze. "My family compound is mostly empty with several dozen spare rooms and apartments. We could hide Naruto in any of them without anyone on the outside knowing. It's also secluded and would be easier to guard than a public building like this where people are moving in and out of it all day."

Iruka, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Kakashi all stared at him, their expressions one of surprise, but then growing consideration. One by one, they turned to Tsunade to hear her decision.

For a moment she quietly studied Sasuke. Then nodding her head, she said, "That could work. When is the earliest you could have a room ready for him?"

"As soon as we can sneak him out of here," Sasuke replied.

Tsunade nodded. "Fine then. It's settled. Kakashi, form a team of ANBU to act as guards. They will have to dress inconspicuously. We need to move quickly but without anyone noticing we're moving Naruto to another place."

The silver-haired jounin nodded and began to head for the door to ready his team. Jiraiya and Iruka also stood, preparing for the injured shinobi's move. But as Sasuke glanced down at his friend still laying there silently on the bed, he was dismayed to note the dead look in Naruto half-shuttered eyes, as if he'd already given up his will to try and fight anymore…

"You complete and utter fool!" The shadows shook with the wrath of the one shrouded in their inky darkness. "You almost killed the demon vessel. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking about how I was going to get away from several squads of pesky ANBU," Itachi calmly replied, his demeanor one of complete indifference. Around him his fellow Akatsuki members shifted nervously as the outline of their leader began to almost physically radiate death. Itachi, however, seemed unconcerned. "If anything, it was amusing to see my little brother's expression at seeing his friend's curse seal break."

"I don't care about whatever issues you have with your remaining family, Uchiha," their leader hissed. "If that boy had died, you would have ruined any chance of us ever obtaining the demon fox's power."

"He's still alive," Itachi sniffed. "Our informants inside the village say he was successfully revived."

"I don't care how you do it, I want that boy back," their leader hissed. "Now."

"You will be interested to know then that my dear brother has decided to try and hide his friend away in our family's old mansion," Itachi said, his Sharingan shining evilly in the darkness. "Our Konoha spies say he was moved there earlier this evening. We can sneak into the mansion just like we've snuck into Konoha every other time we've attacked. That secret tunnel beneath the Uchiha family shrine has proved useful on more than one occassion. Sasuke doesn't know he's just moved his friend even closer within our grasp."

"Very well," their leader's voice rumbled, as if resonating from the very shadows themselves. "But this time I'm sending all of you. I want the boy back and will accept no more failure. That demon fox's power will be ours…"

To Be Continued…

Uh oh… This can't be good. Please tell me what you think. My birthday is coming up this next Wednesday (Nov. 1st) so any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated. Consider it an early birthday wish. 8D