Hey there, sorry for the wait. My computer exploded so now I have to use my sister's and I had to spend time writing the rest of the outline for this thing -_-…. Oh well, enjoy!

Sleepless nights

Chapter 4

The Loneliest Number

'Children are disease ridden godless bastards.' Uchiha Sasuke thought sourly.

He had just finished his first full day on the job. The profession he was assigned to, it seemed, was created to be torturous to him and him alone for the rest of the faculty looked to have been enjoying the screaming little ones in their rambunctious play.

But not Sasuke.

The day did not begin so bad but sort of developed into something akin to his most feared nightmare. That day just so happened to be the time that his old academy sensei turned boss, Iruka Umino, decided to teach the kids how to use shurrikun and since one of the children had his father teach him a fire jutsu most of the targets were destroyed meaning that Sasuke had to fill in. for all of them.

He may be a world class ninja but that did not mean he could dodge twenty three eight year olds erratically chucking shurrikun at him without the help of his jutsu.

Sasuke limped lazily down the street not caring that it was not his home he was going back to or that he had not waited for the Anbu to come and get him to take him back there. The last thing on his mind was Naruto.

Sasuke glared at the civilians on the streets around him. They either returned his glare or ignored him altogether; some even went so far as to throw small objects his way and he let them hit him. He was not in the mood to pick a fight, just sneered back and continued on his way. Sasuke thought of what lady Tsunade would say to him if she knew he was silently bitching at all her citizens.

'Who cares,' he thought, 'I'm in Konoha to redeem myself not make friends.'

He saw out of the corner of his eye that an older man, one that he had surely seen before and who had seen him pick up a fair sized rock. Knowing it was for him Sasuke flinched preemptively, bracing himself for the blow.

"Uchiha!" he turned towards the sound just in time to see the old man hurl the first stone only for others around him to immediately join in, "go to hell!"

Sasuke stood where he was, taking a few hits to the face, figuring he deserved what he got. He expected the assault to escalate from just throwing things to a full on lynching, but what Sasuke did not expect was his only friend and the last thing on his mind to come to his rescue.

Suddenly Sasuke was off his feet but he did not hit the ground, no, instead a pair of strong arms wrapped around him refusing to let go. Above him stood a very handsome very pissed off Naruto-

'Handsome?' Sasuke thought, 'where did that come from?'

He may not have ever admitted it but Sasuke was glad when the blonde showed up for as soon as Naruto made his appearance the attack on Sasuke ceased altogether. The civilians stared at Rokudaime and he stared right back at them, scanning the crowd for who, Sasuke assumed, had started it all.

Naruto's eyes flicked from the crowd to him when he saw Sasuke holding the already bluish bruise on his cheek. Sasuke hadn't even realized he was but when Naruto took notice he dropped his hand to rest on his stomach and looked away, concealing the wound. As soon as Sasuke's hand was gone Naruto's was there turning the raven's head so he could see and caressing the bruised skin with velvety soft fingers.

"Who did this to you?" Sasuke said nothing. Naruto turned to the crowd.

"Who did this?" but not one fessed up. From the look on the blonde's face it seemed as though he was going to have every one of them beaten but Sasuke, not knowing his friend was destined to be Rokudaime figured they'd attack Naruto too. Just like when they were kids.

Then, Sasuke realized Naruto was still holding him up. Princess style. In front of everyone.

Immediately his face reddened and he tried pushing himself out of Naruto's grasp but again the blonde refused to let go, holding Sasuke even tighter and closer to him. If this had been five or so years earlier Sasuke would have assumed this to be a joke and forced Naruto to let him go then beat him up for embarrassing him; the look on Naruto's face, though, portrayed clearly that this was indeed not meant to be something funny.

So he kept his mouth shut.

Naruto had asked again, this time the old man stepped forward with a fair sized rock in his hand and bowed, incredibly low to the ground, to Naruto.

'He really didn't throw it?' Sasuke thought.

"Please sir, accept my apologies." He said quickly, "I was merely trying to scare the boy… that's all, I didn't mean for him to be injured."

A few perplexing questions ran through Sasuke's head, some of these he could not answer by himself no matter how hard he tried.

'Why are they so – so nice to someone who used to be referred to as monster? Why is Naruto so protective of me and what's with that revered aura coming from him?'

Suddenly Sasuke was set gently on the ground, Naruto kept an arm wrapped around his waist so that he would not fall… or run away.

Sasuke watched silently as Naruto's hand shot into the hair and made a fist. Immediately three Anbu appeared on either side of Naruto and one in front, one took Sasuke's arm, thinking it was he who they were to arrest. But Naruto would not let him budge.

The blonde pointed to the old man and three others who held moderately heavy objects.

"Arrest the three of them for assaulting a Konoha shinobi." The Anbu did not think twice but hurried into the crowd, those who were not singled out gasped and backed away lest they be captured in the excitement.

"You don't have to arrest them," Sasuke hissed, "I'm not a child who needs to be protected."

As an answer to Sasuke's remark Naruto's hand ghosted over his cheek again, he frowned when Sasuke flinched away.

"This says otherwise and…" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small but thick booklet on which Sasuke could see the title: "basic laws of Konoha."

"According to this book they've committed a crime…"

Sasuke glared at the blonde, "and who gave you the authority to arrest people?" noticing for the final time the people stare at him in Naruto's arms Sasuke was finally able to wriggle out of the blonde's grasp, "would you let go of me already? I don't need you to hold me up!"

As he freed himself Sasuke stumbled, nearly ending up on the ground but picked himself up at the last second.

He glared angrily at Naruto's concerned look before sneering at the people behind them who seemed to be enjoying the unfolding drama. They all backed away but then took two more steps forward when he turned away.

"Huh? Aren't you going to answer me dobe?" Naruto just stared at him dumbly and Sasuke blushed and turned back towards home, "quit staring at me… fag."

Naruto had said something to him as he was walking away but the raven was in no mood for listening. He was still angry, at Naruto, Tsunade, and the whole damn town! Sasuke still limped half wishing he still had Naruto to help him along, since he was a partial reason for the pain shooting through his lower half.

'dumbass Naruto and his fucking butt raping, making me go to work…' Sasuke expected to be left alone, for that strategically placed insult to keep Naruto where he was so he could go someplace quiet and think. By himself. But that's not what Naruto had in mind.

Sasuke froze when a hand wrapped around his wrist and tugged him back. The raven threw a dangerous glare over his shoulder, the very signature of the Uchiha clan and one of the many reasons why people, for the most part, stayed away from them. But that glare faded when met with Naruto's bright cocky grin.

"You're limping pretty bad. Does that mean it was good?"

Sasuke scoffed, disgusted. "Are you still thinking about that? You really are a fag aren't you?"

Naruto's smile faded a bit but he did not let go of Sasuke's wrist. "Me? And I'm sure the reason my ears were ringing this morning wasn't because you were screaming my name so loud your throat was raw. Now I don't know about you but I take that as a sign that you liked it more than you let on."

Sasuke's hand flew to his sore throat, his voice had been scratchy that morning but he had not made the connection if that had even been the reason. Tension crackled between the two men as Naruto grinned and Sasuke glared. Due to the lack of volubility in their conversation the crowd had long since dissolved, leaving only the Anbu shinobi to watch the fight. One of these shinobi ran a hand through his silver hair nervously; he and the others were going to have a hell of a time straightening this mess out later.

Immediately Sasuke slapped Naruto's hand away and turned, walking away without another word. Naruto panicked, he had not meant to anger Sasuke, though, if that was his goal he might have not played off Sasuke's femininity so much. He reached out and chased after the retreating Uchiha.

"Sasuke! Look, I'm sorry okay? I didn't know what to say I – I didn't mean anything by it! I swear!" he caught Sasuke's shoulder and the raven shook him off but did not try to leave, "please… we need to talk about this."

He did not notice Sasuke shake with fury and his hands ball into fists.

In a blur of black hair and green vest Sasuke whirled around slamming his knuckles into the blonde's face as Sasuke's twisted into a more vicious bloodthirsty spectacle of anger.

The stench of blood filled the air and despite the force in Sasuke's blow Naruto had not moved an inch, allowing Sasuke to pull back and hit him again.

'Wham!'

This time the man's nose emitted the sickening cringe ensuing sound of bone snapping as blood splattered onto Sasuke's fist, the ground, and dripped down the blonde's face.

"We don't need to talk about anything! All I need is for you to get the fuck away from me! I didn't ask for this! I didn't want you to take me in, I didn't want a job, why don't you just pretend like we're all content with our lives like everyone else? It's better for everyone that way! That is what I want!"

All three Anbu rushed forward as Sasuke took off down the street but were halted by Rokudaime's hand in the air.

Holding his broken nose in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding Naruto watched Sasuke leave, not taking his eyes off the man for a second. He just couldn't bear to look away.

"leev hib," naruto ordered, "well get hib lader." He finally turned and started back the other way when sasuke was out of sight. He needed someone to talk to, Naruto did. He turned to one of his Anbu.

"Copy ninja, contagt sy n tell hib I'b cobing ober lader… I need to get by nose fixed." He mumbled.

X

Salty hot tears streamed down the raven's face as he ran as fast as he could to no place in particular. He only slowed down when the sun had set completely, his eyes had adjusted to the darkness but the tears had not yet subsided making his vision a little worse, not that it mattered at such a time. The raven hiccupped and whipped the tears from his face as he stumbled along the dirt path with thousands of neat round stones and trimmed grass on either side. He didn't know why his feet had taken him here and he didn't care to question his subconscious for doing so.

Sasuke, finally having passed the twisted black gates and reached his destination, burst into a violent sob that sent him crashing to his knees. The raven's hands shot to his face in an attempt to try and stop the tears himself.

'N – No, I can't be weak. Not here, not in front of him!'

Finding that the waterfall would stop for no man Sasuke doubled over in sorrow, using the sturdy stone in front of him to keep himself from collapsing right there.

Sad lonely tears rained down onto the grass and little purple flowers blooming on the plot as Sasuke sobbed, completely and unreserved, he let go of the reservoir that he'd been holding back his entire life.

Lightning flickered in the black sky and the thunder that followed shook the raven to the core as the clouds opened up letting go a torrential downpour on Sasuke's head. He did not move but clung a bit more to the stone slab he was hunched over as though for comfort and warmth. He would face the world in the morning… Naruto, in the morning but right now… right now, he just needed to be here, with his brother. Just a little bit longer.

Alright! what did you think? I need reviews to make me happy and get me to continue! :D

Please and thank you :DDDDDDDDDDDD