Disclaimers: Naruto is someone else's, this is purely a fanfic using someone else's characters.

Warnings: This story includes strong language, graphic adult themes, violence, angst, a good friend, and eventually yaoi love.

Hard to Read:

Chapter 8

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"Why are you in here?"

Naruto looked up to find a suspicious Uchiha bearing down on him. He swallowed, trying to calm his nerves. Calm down, he told himself, it's the same fucking guy you've been dealing with all day. You know that.

"What does it look like?" Naruto muttered, avoiding those infuriatingly observant, obsidian eyes as he continued collecting splintered wood off the floor. After being shut down from helping in the kitchen he felt he should do something. So, he found himself in the room he helped destroy, and figured he might as well help fix it too. He didn't go anywhere near the seal- he wasn't a fucking idiot. Which is why he didn't appreciate Sasuke coming in and immediately assuming he was doing something wrong.

"Thought I made it clear that I didn't want you in here" Sasuke said, his voice sharp and absolute.

Naruto sighed. "Maybe you should put a sign on the places I am allowed", blue eyes shot up to glare at the raven. "- since that seems to be a shorter list."

"Have you always been this fucking difficult?" Sasuke asked, joining Naruto in his mission to reset the chaotic mess they made of his room.

Naruto shot him a look, but otherwise said nothing.

"Dust is pretty bad in here.." Sasuke muttered to himself as he walked over to the large ceiling fan hanging over the bed. He gave the string a sharp yank, but it did nothing. He checked that the light switch was on, then tried again. Still nothing. He growled at the stubborn light fixture.

"What's the matter, Sasuke?" Naruto sneered. "Not used to things not just obeying when you tell them to?"

Sasuke glared and ripped at the string, hard. Too hard. Half of the fixture cracked, and he had just enough time to jump back before it came crashing down, destroying the bed beneath it.

"Fantastic." Sasuke muttered angrily. "That's just fucking fantastic."

Naruto looked up. "Well- it didn't hurt the ceiling," he pointed out, "and that half of the fan is still looking good."

"I'm glad you're amused by this, Naruto. I really am." Sasuke grabbed a chunk of ceiling fan and whipped it as hard as he could against the wall. Naruto involuntarily flinched. Sasuke pretended not to see it as he plucked his pillow off the bed, glad that he was able to salvage at least that. "Well, guess it's a good thing the other bedroom has such a huge bed."

Naruto froze. Terrified eyes shot over to Sasuke. "What..?" he breathed.

Sasuke looked over. "Naruto- we've shared a sleeping bag before. I'm sure we can manage a bed the size of an entire room."

Images forced themselves into his mind. He struggled to block them out, but the idea of sharing a bed with a Uchiha brought them to the surface- his wrists tied down, fingers pulling his clothes away as he screamed over and over, begging for him to stop.. rough hands running up his bare thighs, grabbing his hips, forcing-

"I'll sleep on the floor!" he shouted- trying to interrupt his thoughts before more could push through.

Sasuke studied him. "Why?"

"It's- it's more comfortable."

Dark eyes narrowed. "Right.." He kicked away pieces of door and stormed up to the blonde, his irritation growing when he saw him take a shaky step back. Sasuke grabbed his arm and pulled him into the hallway.

"Wai-wait!"

Sasuke dragged him into the main room and veered towards the kitchen. "I made you food and you're going to fucking eat it." He pushed Naruto down onto a simple wooden chair, grabbed a bowl filled with food, and put it in front of him. He reached over, grabbed a set of chopsticks, and thrust those at him too.

He looked pointedly at the bowl. "Eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"Don't piss me off" Sasuke growled. "Just eat." He grabbed his own bowl and sat opposite of Naruto at the small table, waiting for the stubborn blonde to start.

After a while, he finally gave in, and Sasuke joined him. They ate mostly in silence, though neither seemed to really mind. They were both somewhere else in their thoughts. Naruto tried to drag dinner out as long as he could, dreading what comes next, but Sasuke noticed and, getting impatient, forced him away from the table.

He led him over to the bathroom, grabbed spare toiletries, and dropped them onto the counter. He shut the door behind him on his way out, leaving Naruto with a collection of supplies and his terrified reflection. He looked at his disheveled hair, panicky eyes, and pale complexion. His eyes drifted further down to the dark shirt he had found in the bedroom closet when he had been searching for the seal. He had been relieved to find that it was a plain one. The last thing he needed was the Uchiha crest close to his body, marking him.

He got himself cleaned up and then just stood in front of the closed door, his hands shaking, his stomach swirling with fear and nausea. I don't want to go back out there, he thought. He knew that it was Sasuke. That he wouldn't.. but do I know that? I never would have thought that.. that HE would either.

Sure- they used to be close. Emotionally and sometimes physically. He remembered sharing a sleeping bag with Sasuke many times on frigid nights during missions. And of course that was that one time their hands were literally glued together.

But that was a long time ago..

You don't have to be afraid of Sasuke, he tried to tell himself. You know him. You know him.. he finally grabbed the doorknob with trembling fingers and stepped out of his tiny safe place.

He first tries to set himself up on the small loveseat in the main room, but Sasuke shut that down almost immediately. He came out, yanked the blonde off the couch, and forced him into the bedroom, closing and locking the door behind him. Naruto felt his heart pound violently in his chest as he backed away to the far side of the room, as far away from the bed as he could get. As Sasuke walked over to him, Naruto continued to step away until his back hit the wall. He had no where else to go.

He put his hand out, trying to keep distance between them. "Sasuke- stop", he said, trying to keep his voice steady.

"Give me a reason to" the raven challenged.

Naruto could barely hold back his fear. "Please", he whispered. He hated how pathetic he sounded, and his cheek's reddened with shame.

"What is it going to take for you to tell me what happened?" Sasuke stopped, his chest maybe an inch away from Naruto's outstretched hand.

Naruto shook his head, biting his lip, blinking back the tears that threatened to spill and shame him even more.

Sasuke clenched his jaw. "Fine." He grabbed Naruto and threw him down on the bed. Naruto gasped and pulled himself away as Sasuke leaned towards him. The Uchiha narrowed his eyes as he grabbed his pillow and a throw blanket and chucked it down onto the floor. Then he dropped down to join them and turned to lay on his side, his back to the bed.

Naruto took a shaky breath, covering his mouth with his hand, trying to muffle the pitiful noises trying to escape. He peaked over the edge of the bed and saw Sasuke laying on the floor, turned away. He scooted as far away as he could, but being on the bed was still extremely overwhelming. Careful not to make a sound, he grabbed the other pillow and another blanket, slipped off the bed, and set himself up on the floor on the opposite side from Sasuke.

It took a very long time for him to fall asleep, and it didn't last very long.

"Nnnn.."

"Hmm?" Sasuke barely mumbled, still half asleep.

"Nnn- don't.."

Sasuke partially opened his eyes and looked around, trying to make sense of his surroundings. "Naruto..?"

"St-stop.. no- NO!!"

Sasuke shot up, eyes wide as he leapt to his feet. He looked over at the bed, but he wasn't there. He raced over to the other side and found Naruto on the floor, screaming, thrashing his body, clearly in the grips of a horrible nightmare.

Sasuke dropped down next to him and tried to shake him awake, saying his name, but he wouldn't stop screaming. "Naruto! NARUTO!!"

Terrified cerulean eyes flew open, but the fear didn't stop when he saw Sasuke. In fact, it seemed to get worse. He immediately sat up and pulled his body away from him, shaking. "No.." he breathed. "Please, don't.."

Sasuke was confused, not understanding why he was still in the grips of his nightmare after seeing him. "Naruto? It's me. It's-"

"No.." he shook his head, scrambling to get further away from him. Tears streamed down his face as Sasuke moved closer. "Naruto.."

"Stay away from me!!"

"Dammit, Naruto! Snap out of it!" He reached out, but Naruto shrank away from him.

"ITACHI, STOP!!"

Sasuke froze. He stared at the terrified blonde, shock and confusion quickly turning to horror.

"Itachi..?"

And that is when Naruto finally, completely, woke up.

Author Note:

Ok, I wanted the end to be dramatic, but I struggled to find the right words. I don't know- I rewrote it like 100 times, and I'm still not satisfied with how it turned out. Hopefully it's not too terrible.

~ Anyways, as always- thank you so much for reading. I hope you are enjoying my angsty, intense story. And I hope it's just the right amount of upsetting & overwhelming. The bearable amount.