Naruto walked out of the bathroom twenty minutes later, drying his hair with a towel that rested around his neck. He looked around the living room a few times when he noticed that Sasuke wasn't there. The blonde walked back into the hall and down to his bed room spying the broken male sitting on the bed, his shirt off as he looked for another one in one of the trash bags of clothes that Naruto had brought back to the apartment yesterday. Naruto watched his body for a moment, a wave of rage surged up his spine and colored his cheeks a scarlet. The scars all over the Ravens body were extensive, some deep and some old and faded, but it all still pissed the Fox off royally.

Naruto had to stop himself from stomping down the hall and over to Sakura's. He stormed into the kitchen and began making a large breakfast for the two of them. He tired his hardest to hide the shaking of his hands when Sasuke came hobbling up the hall and sat at the table, where Naruto had placed many plates of all kinds of food, not just the breakfast kinds.

Sasuke looked at it and smiled at Naruto before he started to fill up his plate, he was good at picking up hidden emotions, but he didn't know what Naruto was mad about. He figured that he would wait and see what was going to happen. He felt safe, even with Naruto so upset. Naruto ate in silence, distracted and hard. Sasuke ate in just as much silence, but he was silent so that he could hear what was going on with the other male in the room.

There was a knock at the door just before Sasuke was about to ask what was making Naruto so mad. He made to get up, but Naruto stopped him by standing up himself. "No," the blonde chocked out, "It might be Sakura, and you're in no condition to fend off that bitch." Sasuke thumped back into his chair and went back to eating, the thought of that woman being there making him shudder. Naruto walked to the door and opened it just a crack, when he saw Hinata there he sighed lightly and said, "What's the password?" Hinata giggled softly and replied, "The password is "Jutsu"." Naruto opened the door for her and smiled quietly. Hinata walked in and then Shikamaru followed a few seconds after.

Shikamaru walked in and sat at the table, leaning back he looked at Sasuke, who looked back at him with a mouth full of eggs. "I see you're eating well, didn't look like you ate a whole lot when you got brought to the hospital." Sasuke looked away and swallowed the lot in his mouth.

"I don't want to talk about it with you – I already told Naruto," hissed the Uchiha in a pained voice.

Shikamaru nodded his head and looked at Hinata, who looked up at Naruto, who was walking toward Sasuke; he patted his shoulder softly and glanced at the others in warning. "We'll talk about this later, guys, what else did you need?"

Shikamaru and Hinata shared a glance before Hinata giggled again, "We thought we should take you two out, you guys always wanna kill each other. I'll take Sasuke and Shikamaru's gonna hang out with you." That was a lot for Hinata to say without stammering, but she hadn't stuttered since she got with the lazy genius. Sasuke looked at the blonde as he waited to see what the male was going to do.

"Yea, all right, this sounds like a good idea," the blonde said

Naruto stood up and made to slip his shoes on and then walked to Sasuke, putting the single sandal on his non-broken leg. Sasuke didn't react, which warranted a look at Hinata from Shikamaru. Once Sasuke was all set and ready to leave the house, Hinata walked with him. Sasuke wasn't sure where they were going, but Hinata took the reins and lead him easily. Sasuke kept his guard up all the way, though, as he was unsure about the female gender.

Naruto looked hard at Shikamaru. "Where are they going?" the blonde asked as he picked up one of the smaller pancakes off his plate. He stuffed it into his mouth as he watched the genius open his mouth. "She's gauging the trauma for Shizune. He's going to walk around some and then go to Tsunade." Shikamaru picked up a piece of bacon and munched on it slowly as Naruto looked at him hard. "Iruka told Tsunade about what you told him and ordered it." Naruto nodded and swallowed his mouthful.

"Well, I need to go get a traditional futon for Sasuke anyway… and pick up a few things that the doc said to have in case I needed them…" Naruto pondered this expedition into the shops quietly as Shikamaru stood up and yawned. "Let's go then," he muttered and started toward the door.

,,,,,

It was strange to spend a day outside. Sasuke was sitting at a café, listening to Hinata tell a story about their childhood with surprising clarity. The Hyuuga was a lot more fun to be around then he might have given her credit for at one point. He was enjoying himself here, listening to her and drinking his tea, then he heard a voice that sounded so much like Sakura's that it made him drop his cup. The tea splattered on the table and ran speedy trails to the edges. Sasuke was frozen like a deer in the headlights. He wasn't sure what to do in this situation. He couldn't run, there was no fast place to hide, and the chattering voice was getting closer.

Hinata stood up and slipped over to him. The café hostess looked at them and then quickly diverted the attention of the other customers from them. Hinata nodded in thanks and then turned her full attention to Sasuke. "What's wrong?" she asked in a firm, soothing tone. Sasuke looked at the street as the laughing voice and the person who owned it passed. Her hair was a deep maroon and her eyes were almost silver. She was in no way Sakura, so this made Sasuke relax.

"I thought I heard her." He said in a soft voice. He was shaking like a leaf, still, as memory hands raked over his skin and left memory pain throbbing in their wake.

Hinata paid for their tea and lifted him up. She started to walk hastily toward the hokage tower, all the while keeping an ear out for anything that might make Sasuke lock up. He was far worse than any of them might have imagined.

Naruto and Shikamaru were walking around the village, talking about Sasuke and about Hinata and about anything, really. Shikamaru and Naruto hadn't been close until Sasuke got with Sakura and she began to lock him away and keep him busy. They were surprised at how easy it was to talk to the other. They were walking into the furniture shop when a man came running toward them. "Naruto Uzumaki, the Hokage requests you in her office now." Naruto and Shikamaru looked at each other and then took off for the tower.

When they got there, Sasuke was not responding well. He sat in a chair with his head hanging in his hands. He was shaking and looked ready to cry. Naruto approached slowly and placed a hand on his head. "Sasuke, Teme, c'mon, everything's okay now, come back to us," he whispered with soft tones, as if he knew exactly what to say. Sasuke only took a few moments to respond. He threw him arms around Naruto and buried his face in the blonde's stomach.

"She was there, she's following me – she wants to make me crazy enough to come back to her…" he whimpered.

Naruto settled a fond smile on his face and gentle hands on Sasuke's head. "You won't go back to her, you're safe, there is no one in this room who is going to let her hurt you again. Sasuke, you're okay."

Sasuke didn't say anything after that. He was quiet and slowly relaxing against the heat rolling off of the blonde. There was no place in this world that felt more safe then in this room, with these people.. with the blonde whom he was currently clinging to.

Naruto stroked the long hair that had grown so long it almost made Sasuke look like a girl.. a manly girl, but a girl all the same. Naruto chuckled at his thoughts and made Sasuke look up at him, "What's so funny?" Sasuke asked, elicting another light laugh from Naruto.

"It's nothing, Teme, c'mon, I need to get you a futon." Naruto pulled out of his grip and took Sasuke's hands, pulling him from the chair. He supported the whole of the Raven's weight until he could grab his crutches. When Sasuke was ready to leave, Naruto looked back at Tsunade and winked in a way that seemed to say "We'll talk later", then he was gone, helping Sasuke hobble to the service elevator down the hall.