A Story of Abusing Angels

Chapter Two

"Naruto!"

Sasuke caught the falling blonde in his arms. He arranged his best friend so that he rested bridal style against his chest.

One thought managed to fill Sasuke's head: 'If Naruto's not alright someone is going to die...'

An indescribable amount of fury swept through his veins; he could barely breathe for he was so unbelievably mad. He knew that Orochimaru had hurt his friend. He knew that Naruto would have to go home eventually. And he knew that if Naruto asked him to, he wouldn't say a single word.

He... God, he wanted to beat the shit out of something. He wanted to make something bleed, preferably the snake who dared hurt his sunshine...

Sasuke shut the front door and walked as calmly as he could up the stairs to his bedroom. He wanted nothing more than to stomp holes into the floor and to relieve the itch in his body to hurt something. However, he held something precious in his arms and throwing a tantrum would not help at all.

He sighed deeply and pulled the blonde tighter against him. When he reached his room he refrained from kicking the door open and gently nudged it open instead.

He couldn't help but smile when he was met with the dreary grey walls of his room. There was almost no color at all, unless of course, his blacked out bed counted. He had a king-sized mattress covered in black sheets, a black headboard and footboard, and his pillows and comforter were also black.

The only color in his dull room was the multiple pictures that now covered the walls. They were all Naruto's doing... He would always walk into his room and smile. Whenever he walked into the colorless space he could always hear Naruto's voice say: "Hey, bastard what are you...? A vampire or something? You need some color in this place! How about orange!?"

He hadn't allowed the moron to paint his walls, but he had allowed him to put pictures up.

They were all random pictures of their, or at least Naruto's, friends and of course there were a bunch of him and Naruto.

Sasuke's favorite picture though had to be one he had put up and had taken while the blonde wasn't looking.

They had been outside the Uchiha house, Naruto had been admiring the climbing roses that Sasuke's mother had planted personally, and Sasuke had been watching. He loved watching Naruto, and it just so happened that he had a camera with him when the afternoon sun shined down upon the blonde and seemed to create a halo around his body. His bright blue eyes had been closed and he had had the most beautiful and most peaceful smile that Sasuke had ever seen. The blonde's hair waved slightly in front of his angelic face and he was surrounded by roses.

Sasuke hadn't been able to resist taking a few pictures of the sight.

Sasuke walked to his bed and gently placed the blonde on top. He pushed some blonde hair from the angelic face and wiped away the lingering tears. He saw through red eyes, a hideous bruise forming across the blonde's cheek; it looked incredibly painful. He looked down the blonde's face to his neck and saw what appeared to be bite marks. His stomach clenched painfully. That sick excuse for a man had bitten his Naruto.

With trembling fingers, Sasuke reached for the hem of the blonde's shirt and, shutting his eyes tightly, pulled it up to his chin... He didn't want to open his eyes; he didn't want to see what he knew was there...

'No... No... No... No...'

Sasuke opened his onyx eyes and wished they had stayed closed. All over the blonde's chest were bruises and bite marks. Many of the bite marks had broken the golden skin and shown with bright red blood and the others looked red and agitated. All of the bruises were turning a dark purple and some old ones were a yellow-green color.

Sasuke raised his right hand to hover over one particularly vicious looking bruise and quickly pulled it away when he noticed that the handprint wasn't that much bigger than his own... He ran his eyes down the blonde's marred chest and noticed a bite mark right above the top of the blonde's pants.

"Naruto..." Sasuke's voice was nothing more than a mere whisper. How could anyone hurt him? How could Naruto, happy-smiley-perfect Naruto, have been put through something like this?

Sasuke pulled the blonde's shirt back down and sat down at the edge of the bed. He didn't need to see anymore. He knew what had happened.

And Orochimaru was going to die. There was no way in hell that Sasuke would let that man get away with hurting his best friend. Orochimaru had beaten him. He... He had... Sasuke couldn't bear the thought... He had raped him...

Sasuke ran a hand through his dark locks and tried to clear a thousand ways to kill a snake out of his head. He had to take care of Naruto first.

The Uchiha stood back up and walked to the bathroom that was connected to his room. He walked in and turned the light on to reveal a bright, white bathroom. He pulled two big, fluffy orange towels from beneath the sink. He still wasn't sure how Naruto had snuck them into his house without him noticing, but they were there so they would stay.

He placed them on the counter. He then turned to the big white tub that could easily fit three people and turned the water on. He waited a moment until the water was warm before he plugged the drain and walked from the bathroom to the dresser-drawers in his room. He pulled out a black t-shirt, some boxers, and a pair of sweatpants that were too small for him.

After placing the clothes on the bathroom counter next to the towels, he left his room and walked a few doors down to his parent's old room, the one they had before they died. He walked to his mother's side of the room and removed a bottle of rose oil from the top of her vanity.

Sasuke hurried back to his bathroom and allowed a few drops of the good smelling oil to mix in with the warm water. One time, when they were younger, Sasuke had given Naruto some roses from his mother's garden because the blonde had been upset and his mother had told him once that roses were signs of love. Well, since Sasuke was young, he mistook his mother's words and thought roses were love. So he handed Naruto a bunch of the pretty flowers, red ones, white ones, yellow ones, and the blonde had smiled for the rest of the day. It seemed the gorgeous flowers could always make Naruto smile.

The Uchiha turned the water off and walked to the bed where Naruto was still passed out. He didn't really want to wake the blonde up, he was probably asleep because he had been so hurt, but... He probably wanted to be cleaned up more than anything.

"Naruto," Sasuke said, gently shaking the blonde's shoulder, "Wake up Naruto. Wake up for me."

He shook the blonde's shoulders a little harder and was relieved when his dark eyes met bright, yet pained, blue. "Hey moron." The Uchiha brought his hand up to lightly cup the blonde's uninjured cheek.

"...bastard...?" Naruto asked weakly. He wanted to smile; he was safe now, with Sasuke, but his entire body ached. "It hurts..." was all he could say before closing his eyes against the pain he felt.

Sasuke felt his heart break as if those two simple words were hammers and his heart was simple glass. "I know," he said quietly. Without thinking he leaned forward and kissed the blonde's forehead, offering comfort.

Naruto's eyes shot open and he stared open-mouthed at the Uchiha. "Sasuke?" he questioned, confused. Sasuke had never kissed him anywhere before, well, except once in the sixth grade, but that had been an accident.

Sasuke shook his head as if he had been in a daze. "I'm sorry," he said standing up. "I fixed a bath for you. I figured you'd want to get cleaned up." He offered the blonde a hand. "Can you walk?"

Naruto nodded. How long had he been asleep? He had no clue; he didn't think it had been very long though. His excruciating headache was gone; in fact it was just a dull throb now. He sat up and bit back a cry of pain. He couldn't bite back a whimper though as he swung his legs over the bed and tried to stand up.

It hurt to move... It hurt to breathe... He just hurt... everywhere...

Sasuke felt the pieces of his heart break into tinier pieces. He gently scooped the blonde into his arms, bridal style.

"I can walk, bastard," the blonde exclaimed, although he put no real effort into the words. He was honestly glad that he didn't have to walk. It hurt just to stand. His back hurt, but he didn't want to complain.

"I know, moron," Sasuke replied, "You were just going too slow."

Naruto smiled weakly. Leave it to the bastard to make him feel better by insulting him. That was just Sasuke.

As they neared the bathroom Naruto could smell roses. He breathed in deeply. It seemed that the smell cleared his head slightly. Pain wasn't the only thing on his mind now. The sweet scent of the flowers and the haven of his fairy tale escape made him feel many times better.

Sasuke walked into the bright bathroom and gently stood the blonde on his feet, not missing how wobbly and hurt this action made the blonde look.

"You get cleaned up, okay?" he ordered, releasing the blonde but not moving away, "I have some clothes you can borrow on the counter. I'll go fix up a spare bedroom for myself. You can have my room, it's the biggest... Okay?"

Just as Sasuke turned to leave, Naruto grabbed his hand. "Stay?" he asked. His voice was so small, and Sasuke could hear the fear of being left alone mixed in with the pain he was feeling.

It amazed Sasuke that his heart could break so many times, into so many pieces. Naruto's pain and fear was killing him.

"Please...?" the blonde asked, as if the Uchiha would say no.

"If you want," Sasuke replied.

Naruto smiled slightly. He didn't want Sasuke to see how hurt he was. He didn't want Sasuke to think he was weak or disgusting, but he needed someone with him, otherwise he would certainly drown himself in the sweet smelling bath.

Anything to get the feeling of Orochimaru off his body...

He reached up to remove his shirt, but his body disagreed with him. Reaching his arms up turned into fighting to keep his balance, which he nearly lost. Sasuke quickly saved him from falling by wrapping a pale arm around his waist.

"Let me help," the Uchiha offered, reaching to pull the blonde's shirt off.

Naruto nodded his head and allowed Sasuke to remove his shirt. He tried not to look down at his chest. He knew what he would see and he didn't want to see. Seeing would only make him remember and he was trying his hardest no to. He opened his eyes without looking down, but then he saw himself in the mirror.

All he could do was to stare at the stranger he saw there. Was that really him with the bruised face and red and purple chest? Was that really him covered in those ugly bite marks...? In his mind he saw a set of teeth covered by rough lips... He felt each tooth bite into his skin... He could hear himself begging for his torture to end...

'Stop. Don't think about it,' he scolded himself.

He could see the ghostly skin of his guardian slide against his own golden tan skin.

'Think of something else... Think of something good...'

He could feel the snake's hands slide all over him... He could hear the bastard's moans... and... He could–

'Something good... Sasuke... Sasuke... Sasuke... Sasuke...'

He could feel the blood and sperm run down his legs... He could feel his tears run down his cheeks as he cried...

'Sasuke... Sasuke... Sasuke... Sasuke... Sasuke...Sasuke..." He started crying.

Sasuke stopped trying to remove the blonde's clothes and pulled the blonde against his chest tightly. He had no clue what to do. He knew what his friend had to be thinking of, but what should he do? How could he possibly make his sunshine feel better?

"Shh..." he soothed, "I'm right here..." He very lightly rubbed the blonde's back, which had received even more abuse then his chest. It was still slightly bleeding from a long row of fingernail scratches. "You're safe, Naruto. You're safe..."

Naruto held onto Sasuke as tightly as he could. He allowed the smell of roses and the Uchiha's gentle whispers to calm him down. He only relinquished his hold on Sasuke slightly when he stopped crying and kept his eyes closed. He pushed everything except roses and Sasuke out of his head. He hadn't even realized that he'd been undressed until he felt himself being lowered into the warm water of the tub.

He opened his eyes when he felt a hand gently grab his chin.

"Would you still like me to stay?" Sasuke asked, "I can leave if you want..."

"No, no," the blonde said quickly, placing one of his hands over Sasuke's, "I don't want you to leave. Please stay with me."

Sasuke nodded his head and pulled his hand away when the blonde released it. He grabbed a washcloth off the side of the tub and handed it and a bottle of soap to the blonde. Naruto took the things from him and tried to open the soap, but his hands were shaking, so Sasuke took the things back and lathered the cloth up himself.

Just as he was beginning to hand the soapy cloth back to the blonde, Naruto said, "Can you do it Sasuke? I-I don't want to look... I don't want to see..." He closed his eyes and turned his back to the raven.

"Hn," Sasuke replied. He cupped some water in one hand and brought it up to run down the blonde's chest and back. He repeated this action until the blonde's upper body was completely wet. Then, he gently ran the cloth over Naruto's shoulders, but stopped when he saw the blonde wince.

He looked at the cloth, then at the multiple bite marks, bruises, and scratches covering the blonde's body. The cloth wasn't exactly the softest thing in the world... He tossed the rag onto the floor next to him and squeezed some soap into his hand. He rubbed his hands together to create bubbles and then gently rubbed the soap into the golden skin...

Naruto tensed. He knew it was Sasuke's hands on his bare skin, but he couldn't fight off a sudden feeling of fear. Sasuke wasn't going to hurt him; he needed to relax. Taking a deep breath, he fought off his nerves and allowed Sasuke to continue.

Sasuke continued to gently cover the blonde's upper body with soap and then proceeded to rinse it off. He was reaching for more soap when the phone rang loudly, scaring them both.

Sasuke handed Naruto the soap bottle and stood up from his position of kneeling next to the tub.

"Finish up okay?" he instructed, "I'll go answer the phone. There are clothes on the counter and those hideous towels you snuck in." He walked out of the bathroom, and closed the door to give his friend some privacy.

He left his room and walked downstairs to pick up the cordless phone. He had no clue who it could be… Naruto was the only one he had given his number to...

Sasuke picked the phone up and instantly wanted to launch it out the window. The only thing his eyes could focus on was the word 'Orochimaru' flashing across the caller ID.

With and angry jab, he answered the phone. He miraculously managed to answer politely. "Uchiha residence. Who the hell is it?"

Well, it was more polite then what he had wanted to say anyway.

"This is Orochimaru; I'm Naruto's guardian..."

"Ah," Sasuke replied, "And you're calling my house because...?"

"You should watch your tone, young man. Haven't you been taught to respect your elders?"

Sasuke smirked at the angry and irritated tone the man had developed. 'Ha! Bastard... Get ticked off all you want...'

"I don't care how old you are. You called my house and interrupted my peace and quiet. So tell me why the fuck you're bothering me or get off the fucking phone." His smirk turned into a full fledged smile when he heard a growl from the man.

"Listen, you insolent little boy," the man sneered, "this is important."

"With all due respect, you oldman," Sasuke sneered back, "You're boring me..."

"Why you..." the man growled, "Listen, have you seen Naruto? He didn't come home after school today."

Sasuke ground his teeth. 'Bastard, he wasn't at school today...'

"You mean you've seen him today...? Because I certainly haven't... He's never missed school before. I'm really worried about him. Do you think he's okay?" he asked innocently.

There was a brief pause. And then there was a small chuckle... The fucking bastard chuckled...

"I'm sure he's just fine. I guess I'm worrying over nothing. He'll come home. He always does..."

Sasuke could almost see the evil smile on the other's face because it was so apparent in his gravely voice.

'He won't be going back while I still have a breath in my body...' he wanted to shoot back, but he kept his mouth shut. "When he gets home tell him to call me. And tell him I won't buy him anymore ramen if he doesn't." With that, Sasuke softly pushed the end button and calmly placed the phone back onto the table where he had gotten it. He was holding his anger in very well.

He had wanted to say so many different things to the man whom had hurt his angel, but he didn't want the snake to know where Naruto was. It had felt really good to hang up on the bastard. How dare that rotten excuse for a man call his home and lie to him as if he were stupid?

It made him so... Sooooo...

Sasuke picked up the cordless phone and launched it clear across the room. It shattered into tiny pieces from the shear force he had used to throw it. Damn.

Without stopping to clean up the mess he had made, he walked back up the stairs to his room. He walked in to see that the bathroom door was closed still. He couldn't stop the feeling of happiness that swelled inside of him. At least Naruto was safe... However, he heard a loud crash...

He ran to the closed door. "Naruto!?" he yelled with a hard knock on the door. Then, he mentally slapped himself. The blonde could be lying on the floor with a broken neck and he was knocking!? He threw the door open to see a tangle of limbs and orange fluff on the tiled floor.

"I'm fine, bastard," came the mumbled reply.

"You don't look fine, you moron," the Uchiha replied. He kneeled on the floor next to the mess. "What happened?"

Naruto sat up, with one bright towel around his waist and the other around his shoulders.

"I feel a lot better now," he said, "But my knees were really wobbly... I kind of tripped... Ow..." he finished with a mumble. He kept his eyes on the floor. He didn't, couldn't, bring himself to look at Sasuke anymore. He had felt a lot better after getting out of the tub. He could stand by himself, he had started to dry himself off. Then, he had heard Sasuke walk into the room. His knees had turned into jelly.

He had always tried his hardest not to let Sasuke know what went on when they weren't together. He had even used a majority of his money to buy make-up to cover up most of his bruises.

Sasuke didn't have the best life – his parents were dead and his brother was missing, so Naruto hated to add any trouble to Sasuke's life. He never complained about his home life or asked for help because he didn't want to bother anyone, especially Sasuke.

It had been stupid to come here. He had forced himself onto Sasuke; he was an awful friend! His guilt and shame had weighed him down until he had fallen.

"Stupid idiot," Sasuke replied. He stood up to his full height, about a foot taller than the blonde, and offered said blonde a hand.

Still avoiding eye contact, Naruto allowed Sasuke to pull him up. He was still incredibly sore, but Sasuke's presence seemed to, if not take his pain away, make it bearable. This caused him to feel incredibly guilty. He shouldn't be with someone so wonderful when he was soiled and used. He pulled his hand from Sasuke's and reached for the clothes on the counter; he was stopped though when a pale hand grabbed his own.

"Naruto..." the Uchiha said, using his other hand to turn the blonde's face towards his own. He didn't continue until Naruto's blue eyes met his black. "Stop it," he ordered.

Naruto momentarily got lost in the onyx sea that was Sasuke's gaze. His eyes were so different from the cold golden stare of Orochimaru. He was never scared to look into Sasuke's eyes; Sasuke had never hurt him.

His dark eyes had once been bubbly and bright until the death of his parents and then the disappearance of his older brother; they had dulled so much... It had taken time but Naruto had finally brought the light back.

"Stop what?" he questioned quietly.

"Stop thinking that getting help from someone who cares makes you a bad person."

Naruto's eyes widened; Sasuke had read his mind.

The Uchiha nodded. "Yes," he said, "I know that's what you're thinking. You should really stop..." He placed his hand over Naruto's mouth when he tried to talk. "No," he said forcefully, "God, Naruto. Look at yourself..."

He ran his eyes over the blonde's marred chest.

"I know that you don't show up at school every day with bruises from a door. I know you try to cover them up; I'm not stupid. You don't complain; you don't talk about it… Damn it!" he growled. "I am one incredibly shitty friend for allowing this to happen to you." He stared into the blonde's eyes forcefully. "You are to never accuse yourself of being a bad person. Do you understand?" Sasuke didn't want to mar the blonde any further, but he needed to know that he wasn't bad. He could never be bad.

Naruto wrapped his arms around the raven and squeezed him tightly. He loved Sasuke so much.

"Sasuke-"

"Naruto-"

both spoke at the same time.

"Umm..." Naruto said, keeping his head hidden in the raven's chest, "You go."

"No," Sasuke replied, "You go. It's okay..."

"No, no, no... You go first..."

The Uchiha sighed. "Okay..." He pulled the blonde back some so he could look into blue sapphires. "I know what that bastard did to you..."

The blonde stiffened and his eyes filled with shame. Sasuke gently cupped the blonde's cheek.

"And I know that what I'm about to say is probably the last thing I should say... I just feel that if I wait or hold it in any longer I'll go insane... It makes me mad though that it's taken something terrible to push me into doing it."

Naruto was sure that Sasuke could hear his heart beating. It was practically breaking his ribs it was going so fast and so hard...

"Naruto..." Sasuke started, "I don't think I could ever tell you how much you mean to me... I mean, I know what I could say, but I also know that those words mean nothing when they're said so often and so casually now-a-days..."

He brought his other hand up to also cup the blonde's face.

"I've had many friends, Naruto... They've made me smile. But–" He stopped. What should he say? How could he ever put what he felt into words? "never mind."

"Sasuke..." Naruto said, trying to encourage the boy on. Whatever Sasuke had to say, he needed to hear it. "Please continue?"

Sasuke thought about it. He wanted to make the blonde understand, but he couldn't say it. "I'll show you how I feel," he concluded.

Slowly, Sasuke moved forward. He gave the blonde plenty of time to pull away, to slap his face, to stop him. Within seconds, their lips were melded together. It was almost like connecting the correct puzzle pieces.

Sasuke put everything he could into the kiss. Not one ounce of his heart did he leave out of the incredibly warm and incredibly good lip lock. He instantly felt his heart patch itself up from its beating. He felt his head get dizzy. He saw fireworks. Every cliché thing that he had ever made fun of came crashing upon him. He had never felt so warm and good.

Naruto was scared to move at first. He was scared that if he moved he would wake up from a dream. Sasuke would only kiss him in his dreams, right? Especially now; but it felt so real. He could feel Sasuke's big, warm hands on his cheeks. He could smell the roses. He could feel his aches and pains. He wouldn't be hurting in a dream? He had an amazing imagination, but even it couldn't possibly make Sasuke's kiss feel so good and so full of feeling. He couldn't be dreaming.

He kissed back fiercely.

Sasuke could have wept from the joy he felt when Naruto kissed him back. He had been scared when the blonde had done nothing, but he was kissing him back. Sasuke didn't want this moment to end. He wanted to hold the blonde just like this, but he pulled away.

He tried to catch his breath. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "I shouldn't have done that."

Naruto looked up at him with his blue eyes shining. They looked as they had before Orochimaru entered the picture, incredibly bright and happy: the way they should be. "I'm glad you did," he replied. He stood on his tiptoes to share another kiss with the Uchiha... His Uchiha... He smiled brightly when they pulled apart.

Sasuke stared at him for a minute. There was no way this was happening. Was Naruto, his secret love affection Naruto, really accepting his feelings? Was he really returning them? This was so unreal and fast. He loved it. Suddenly, he heard a small rumbling sound and Naruto blushed. "Hungry?" he asked with a smirk.

The blonde blushed darker. 'Stupid tummy... Ruining the moment...'

"I don't think I can keep anything down," he replied. Sasuke made him feel really good yes, but he still felt really bad.

"You should try to eat though; it could make you feel better."

"You make me feel better..." the blonde said softly, and then slapped his hands over his mouth when he realized that he'd said that out loud. He blushed a dark crimson color but noticed that it turned the hideous bruise on his face an even darker and uglier color. He looked so terrible right now...

Sasuke wanted to dance around at the blonde's words, but he was an Uchiha so he refrained. He smiled though at the dark blush on the tan cheeks.

"You're so beautiful," he said, kissing Naruto's forehead before turning to walk out the door. "You get dressed, and I'll whip something up for you in the kitchen, okay?" He turned to see a bright smile and a nod of agreement before he actually left.

TLA

Sasuke watched the blonde angel eat as if were seeing him for the first time. It was just simple soup with toast, but there was just something that he couldn't take his eyes off of. Was it the delicate way Naruto ate? Or maybe it was how incredibly adorable the blonde looked even when he was covered in ugly marks? Was it the fact that finally, they were together, even though it was pushed into happening for some dark circumstance?

Whatever it was, Sasuke enjoyed watching Naruto eat the food he'd made. Plus he was happy to see that the blonde was taking it in pretty well, he didn't look sick at all, just extremely tired and sore.

Naruto swirled his soup around in his bowl as he felt Sasuke's dark gaze on him. He was kind of self conscious; he knew he looked like crap. He was trying to act normal, or at least as normal as he could. Today had been and incredibly crappy day, though Sasuke had brightened it up a lot.

He tried to keep his eyes off of the Uchiha. He didn't want to blush anymore then he already was. His face had been cherry-red ever since Sasuke had finished his dinner and brought him down to the kitchen to eat. It was bad enough that he couldn't exactly walk by himself and then he had to wear Sasuke's clothes. The shirt swallowed him whole, and the boxers wouldn't have stayed up if it weren't for the sweatpants he wore that, while fitting better than anything else he had on, still tried to eat him!

Naruto looked at anything that didn't have raven-colored hair and onyx eyes. His blue eyes ran over the sleek kitchen counters, the big black fridge, and the multiple vases of roses throughout the kitchen and living room. He looked all over the spacious sitting room and noticed what looked like a shattered phone on the floor. Only then did he remember the phone call from earlier.

"Oi, bastard, who called earlier? I didn't know you gave your number to anyone else."

Sasuke ceased his staring. His arms twitched to hit something at the memory of the phone call. That damn snake. "It was no one of importance, Naruto," he said simply.

"It had to be someone, Sasuke... Who was it?" He wasn't sure why he even asked; he practically knew. His guardian must have gotten Sasuke's number off of his phone. He was always at Sasuke's house so of course Orochimaru would call the Uchiha residence.

Sasuke sighed. "It was that poor excuse of a human being," he tried not to growl out. "He was looking for you, said you hadn't come home from school."

"Hmm, is that all he said?"

"No," Sasuke replied, "You're always leaving, yet you always return. Why?"

Naruto stared into his soup and swirled it around some more with his spoon. "I leave whenever I can. I've never stayed away very long; I've never stayed the night anywhere else. When I don't come to your house if I leave he sends out people to find me and bring me back. He's a very powerful man, and the people that work for him are a mean bunch. It's better for everyone if I return on my own."

"Everyone but you," Sasuke replied. He didn't give a fuck how powerful the snake-bastard was, that gave him no excuse to hurt an angel. Especially his angel: the most beautiful and perfect one. He stood and walked to the blonde, twisting him in his chair to face him.

"Naruto," Sasuke said softly, pulling the blonde against his chest, "I'm kidnapping you, okay? You're not allowed to go back to that place, ever again, not unless I'm right beside you..."

Despite how incredibly shitty he felt and how much he hurt, Naruto let a small laugh escape him. He smiled brightly. "Promise...?" he questioned, snuggling into the greatest comfort ever offered to him: Sasuke's arms.

To Be Continued…

SasunaruTLA: by the way, these have been beta-ed, which is why they've (chapters one and this one) have been deleted and then put back up! There are only a few differences, nothing too big i believe! :D 3rd chapter coming soon!