A/N: See what happens when you let a story sit for forever and you don't update it? It continues sitting there and then you start forgetting what it was about and then you feel bad and start comparing it to a grandma you left at a bus stop in the rain. Anyway, here is my attempt to resurrect this old biddie.

Sasuke felt himself stirring from sleep once more and again he felt a sense of warmth around him. It was different than cold a sterility of the asylum. There was warmth everywhere and before Sasuke opened his eyes he knew that he was once more in that ethereal, natural world he'd been in only once before. He woke up slowly with eyes heavy lidded.

Sasuke moved slowly. His back had been resting on the weeping willow, whose cascading leaves and bending branches were just a reach away. They were the purest, brightest green Sasuke had ever seen and he wondered how that was possible. It was like this was entirely new world filtered through a color enhanced lense. It was beauty in its most natural and supernatural state.

Sasuke heard a light shuffle which made him look to the right. There was Naruto again. His eyes were closed and he looked peaceful. His mouth was little open and a slightly sloppy breath eased in and out from his lips.

What is this, a dream? Sasuke wondered.

Sasuke turned his entire body toward Naruto. His fingers seemed to gravitate toward the blonde's face and Sasuke allowed them to traverse the small distance to Naruto's scarred cheek.

The scars were fairly light and they resembled whiskers. Looking at them made Sasuke a little sad but at the same time it was just a part of Naruto. Sasuke didn't know how they got there but then he supposed it didn't really matter. The back of Sasuke's index finger carressed the soft flesh and Sasuke felt even more at peace. It was a combination of his surroundings and the fact that Naruto was there thought why the latter eased him he couldn't say.

Suddenly, Naruto stirred from his sleep. His bright blues were revealed under blonde lashes and Naruto's entire face broke into a smile. He half hugged and half tackled Sasuke who took it as best he could while trying to maintain his balance.

"You came back!" Naruto cried.

"Back? What do you mean I came back?" Sasuke asked and he held Naruto's upper arms, trying to keep both himself and Naruto steady.

Naruto pouted out of irritation. It was so childlike of him but Sasuke didn't expect anything less. Naruto was a child and always would be in a sense. It was just a part of his nature.

...how do I know that?

"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you?" Naruto said, agitated.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.

It was the most clear headed Sasuke had been in a long time and suddenly he found himself asking all these questions.

Where am I? Why do I know Naruto so well? Why was I working in an asylum before? Why is this Naruto different from asylum Naruto?

The last one struck him the most. This Naruto was considerably less vulnerable. He looked a little older but there was still an innocence in his eyes. Undoubtedly he was aged more. He looked to be in his mid twenties here where as the Naruto that Sasuke knew was only nineteen or so. Sasuke wondered if his own body looked any different here. He wouldn't put it past this strange environment.

Naruto pulled away from Sasuke. He turned his body away from the brunette. Naruto pushed himself up against the picturesque willow and brought his knees to his chest, an angered disappointment on his features. Sasuke felt a chill from Naruto becoming so cold to him.

"You're not staying this time are you?" Naruto asked, "You're going back again."

Sasuke crawled closer to Naruto. The grass under his knees was soft and cool. Back? Where was back? Was this forward? Was this all a dream? Was it partly a dream? It all felt too real to be a dream.

"I don't know what makes you think I have a say in the matter," Sasuke pointed out.

That much was true. Sasuke didn't seem to have much say in anything that was happening around him. Everything was so turbulent and changing. It suddenly made sense that Sasuke felt at peace here. This was a safe haven. It was a sanctuary.

Naruto leaned in toward Sasuke, a very serious look on his face.

"You mean-" Naruto tried to figure out what he was deducing, "-they're keeping you?"

They? Sasuke thought, his eyes going wide. What is he talking about? Who's they? How does he know of a 'they'?

"Who's they?" Sasuke asked, leaning in closer to Naruto.

"Them," Naruto said a sad note on his face, "the people from the asylum."

Oh God, Sasuke thought his eyes growing wider and wider as his mind attempted to retrieve something. It was on the edge, sitting primed and ready for discovery but Sasuke couldn't quiet reach it. Something, some fact or thought or knowledge evaded him by mere milimeters. It was as if the shadow of it was visible but not distinguishable and paper thin steel seperated Sasuke from it.

Sasuke quickly began to feel light headed. He blinked heavy and felt the world start to fizzle out around him. He felt like he was falling asleep again but not the sort of sleep that normal people had. It felt like slipping into an eternal sleep and with each blink Sasuke felt the air in his lungs shrink. Sasuke tried to focus as his sight blacked in and out and all he could see was Naruto panicking.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, grabbing the other boy.

He was screaming at him so angry and desperate that Sasuke managed to understand as blood filled his ears.

"Sasuke! Don't you dare leave me again! Damn it! Don't you let them keep you! Bastard, you have to try! You have to- for me! I'll wait here, Sasuke! You come back to me!"

Sasuke went straight upright as he reentered the world of all white. As he bolted up, his breath came in sharp pains. His heart felt like it was going to beat right out out of his chest and he clutched hopelessy at it as if trying to keep it inside.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

It was the Naruto Sasuke had come to know over...over whatever span of time he had been here.

"I- I had a dream," Sasuke said as he tried to calm himself.

"It looks like you had a nightmare," Naruto said.

Sasuke took in his surroundings. They were in one of the many hallways and sitting on the floor. The last Sasuke remembered, he was having a break down and Naruto had comforted him. Then Sasuke had told Naruto to lean closer and-

I kissed him, Sasuke realized.

Sasuke looked at Naruto in shock and was expecting some sort of reaction out of the blonde but instead Sasuke just received a pair of wide, scared eyes awaiting for Sasuke to come back to normal.

"Naruto," Sasuke asked, finally reaching a plane of regular breathing, "what happened before I woke up?"

Sasuke was remembering things. He remembered to ask as about them as well. He was finally making progress in bringing some order back to things and he couldn't help but remember the older dream Naruto's voice: You have to try!

"Well, you were upset," Naruto said, mapping things out, "about the wheel for the chair. You couldn't find it and then you got angry and then you passed out."

"You're lying," Sasuke said, his voice dark.

Naruto flinched at the tone. He looked a little hurt but at the same time he looked guilty. That infuriated Sasuke and he grabbed Naruto byt the shirt collar.

"Why are you lying to me!" Sasuke demanded.

Why didn't Naruto mention Haku? Why did he nelgect to point out the fact the the wheel had miysteriously vanished? What about Ino? What about Sasuke going in to kiss Naruto? Why ignore all that?

Naruto once again began to tear up but this time he was angry as well. He pushed Sasuke away from him harshly and with bared teeth he shouted at him.

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST STAY WITH ME?" Naruto cried, his eyes narrowed and his fists balled, "I like you, Sasuke! And I know you like me, I know you really really like me but you're just going to mess up everything again!"

"...again?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto seemed to wake from his fit and he looked like a child fraught with guilt and the shock of getting himself caught. Sasuke felt his heart drop straight to his stomach as he gazed at Naruto's convicted expression. He knew then that Naruto wasn't going to be honest with him. He never had been. He'd just been selfishly trying to keep Sasuke.

Sasuke got up and straighted his uniform a bit. Sasuke attempted not to look at Naruto. He felt like beating the younger boy's face in at this point. How could he do this? How could he have lied to Sasuke especially when Sasuke thought- well felt-

I was stupid to think I could have feelings for that idiot. Sasuke thought.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke with big, curious eyes but Sasuke ignored them.

"I'm going to see the warden," Sasuke said flatly.

Naruto immediately scrambled up from the floor and grabbed Sasuke's arm. He held Sasuke back as much as he could. His eyes were shut tight and he shook his head.

"Don't go!" Naruto yelled, desperate and pleading, "Just stay here with me, Sasuke. You and I can run away together. You and me. We'll go live out in the middle of nowhere. I don't care! We forget this whole place."

Sasuke winced his eyes.

Let's run away, said a child's voice in Sasuke's head, You and me. We can go live out in the woods and forget everyone.

Sasuke shook the voice from his head and returned to the present situation. He violently took back his arm and pushed Naruto off of him.

"If you're not going to help me," Sasuke said, his voice poisonous, "then I don't want anything to do with you."

Sasuke couldn't help but allow the burning hatred he felt come out from his glare. The glare visibly shattered Naruto's heart but Sasuke didn't feel sorry for it. Naruto had deceived him and Sasuke was in no position to be lied to.

Naruto suddenly met Sasuke's glare with equal hatred and it almost suprised Sasuke. Who knew that the blonde could mock Sasuke's anger to clearly. The narrowed brows, the tight mouth; it was like staring into mirror. Sasuke held his glare though and Naruto held his and they stayed like that for a few minutes just staring each other down in mutual fury.

Naruto dropped his gaze first. He turned his violent cerulean eyes toward the floor. Suddenly the anger was a defeated anger. Sasuke felt his gaze lighten but since Naruto wasn't looking at him it didn't matter. The blonde's fists slowly fell out their position. His fingers were limp and tired as if they'd been holding on to something and for dear life at that.

"I tried-" Naruto whsipered, his voice in a rasp, "I tried so hard to make you happy."

Sasuke turned away from Naruto quickly. He couldn't allow himself to absorb that statement. He couldn't fall into the trap of questioning the sentiment. Though as Sasuke began to walk away from Naruto his mouth opened up and from it came an odd statement that even Sasuke didn't understand.

"I know."

A/N: Yeah, I know it's short but I've got to swing myself back into this fic and you know the saying; baby steps. :) Anyway, if anybody is still freaking reading this old thing do let me know in the reviews and leave a little love.