Author's Note: Thanks to all that reviewed. ItaNarulover, you don't know how much your comment likening my story to a book is greatly appreciated. I'm currently working on an original novel as well, which is why updates for this are not as fast as I'd like.

I may have said this before, but Iruka is not an overemotional twat, despite how most authors I've read portray him. He is a ninja who just happens to harbor parental feelings for Naruto, but he is a ninja.

Also, a warning, I plan on taking the story to the very end of the manga as I'd like to see it, so if you're more into the real one, I'll not be offended if you stop reading. But, you'll be missing out on some stellar drama! Oh, and WARNING, there will be sexual situations beginning soon that involve males, so if you clicked the wrong section by accident, please exit quietly now.

Also, more music for you .com/watch?v=_rV_xtV8pJI and this one for the dance .com/watch?v=0rSBYJcG8pg

As always, review, review, review.

Daylight Daunting, Nighttime Haunting

Sasuke gritted his teeth and clenched his fist tightly while restlessly fidgeting his foot up and down. It irritated him, having such uncharacteristic behavior. Truthfully, he still itched. His hands itched for the flesh of those twisted elders, their blood. He silently cursed as his leg shifted again. The hallway outside the Hokage's office was darker and colder than he remembered. He waited. Always, he seemed to be waiting, not able to do enough, to work fast enough, hard enough, strong enough. The low murmur of voices caught his attention. He turned his head slightly to catch as much as he could. The council must really be terrified if they were willing to let a former renegade ninja of Konoha listen in on their conversation, not that Sasuke caught much. Wait, was that . . . Sasuke felt his breath catch in his throat before he could stop it. Damn it. Was he going to give up all he'd worked toward simply because someone he used to know was injured? The fact that he could not answer his own question left him frustrated and frowning. His legs had stopped their nervous shifting though, so that had to be something. Closing his eyes and leaning his head against the wood behind him, Sasuke sighed. A shifting of cloth to his right and Sasuke had a kunai in hand before he'd fully opened his eyes and stood up, pressing it to the intruders' throat calmly. He could feel himself frowning again as he met a single red eye and a scar, a face hidden and that lazy laughter.

"My, my, Sasuke, you've grown." Sasuke continued to stare silently, not bothering to lower his hand.

"I heard on the wind that you were the one to find him." The bored tone was gone, replaced with a hard edge Sasuke had never heard before. Sasuke backed up a step and hit wood, then turned to lower his head slightly.

"I didn't," he found himself saying softly.

"What was that?"

Sasuke knew Kakashi had heard him. Whether it was the active Sharingan that had caught him unaware or something else driving him, Sasuke spoke again.

"I didn't," his voice had gotten stronger, at least, "He found me."

Kakashi's laughter, though soft and gentle, felt like knives, slicing and curving along his skin, electrifying it.

"That sounds nice. He found you." Kakashi spoke so softly Sasuke could barely hear him. "He found you."

Fighting the urge to glare, Sasuke lifted his eyes to his former teacher, resolute, shoulders tensed.

"I'm not here for him."

Kakashi didn't look the least surprised. Instead, he nodded.

"Yes, you are." He held up a hand the moment Sasuke tried to shake his head.

"Yes, you are."

"All I want . . ."

"I don't care." The hard edge had returned, and suddenly, maybe for the first time since they'd fought Zabuza, Sasuke could appreciate how Kakashi had gained his reputation.

"I don't care what you want. This isn't about you. For once, saving you, helping you, doesn't take precedence, not over this."

Sasuke was silent, waiting, almost wanting, to hear more. Something had happened, something beyond the horrid injuries he'd seen.

"He's injured, beyond anything I've ever seen," Kakashi told him calmly. Sasuke stilled his muscles to keep from cringing. 'Beyond anything I've ever seen'? Naruto . . .

"You will help him. You will fix this, because I cannot. He won't let me."

Trailing his eyes upward, Sasuke measured the lines of timber in the ceiling. When he looked back, his teacher was gone. Sasuke felt the tiny crack in his chest, it was getting larger. God damn it, it was getting larger. He went back to clenching his fist and gritting his teeth as the voices of the council washed over him and the cloying scent of his teacher: part dog, part earth, part human, lingered.

Kakashi slipped silently and invisibly into Tsunade's inner office. He could see that she knew he had entered by the tightening in her shoulders and the increasing wave of anger she sent his way. He didn't care. For the first time in his life, he didn't care that he was breaking a major rule as a ninja. He would not wait to be told later about the council's plans for Naruto. He would know them now.

"Tsunade-hime, we understand your reluctance, but let us be clear. We are not suggesting this lightly. We do not view the boy as you might believe. He is not a child, at least, not as much as he was. He is not a weapon to be kept back until the power of the Kyuubi may be useful."

Kakashi watched as Tsunade grunted disbelief and frowned heavily. Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura glanced at each other before sighing in disgust.

"Fine, do as you like. You will no matter what we say, as usual," Homura bit out. They left quietly, pausing to glance at the spot he'd left Sasuke in not moments before. The door jarred the frame slightly as it slammed home and all was now just as silent.

Tsunade sighed deeply and turned to look at Kakashi, though he'd been careful not to let the cloaking jutsu slip. Her face twisted in anger and Kakashi had to use his well honed speed in order to dodge the paper weight just in time. Shaking his head, he let the technique go and stepped forward.

"What do they want to do?" All effort at pretense was beyond him right now. He had enough trouble keeping what features were visible from slipping.

"They want," Tsunade began, teeth clenched tightly, "to institutionalize him."

Kakashi sucked in a careful breath before responding. It was never good to make an already irate medic ninja angrier, especially not this one. He had no doubt that she would not miscalculate his speed as Sakura had done during the second Survival Training mission. Thinking of his dead teammate, his Sakura, so much like he believed his niece would be if he'd not been an only child, made him ill. He forced it away, able to find comfort in the fact that he could still let her know about how Naruto and Sasuke and he were doing, even if she could not hear it.

"Perhaps . . . ," Tsunade's eyes turned to steel and Kakashi, though he knew they could not be deadly on their own, stopped speaking.

"Perhaps it would be the best thing for him?" she finished for him. Kakashi stood without moving. It was answer enough to make her anger grow and morph. She stood up suddenly and slammed her fists onto her desk not caring that what little strength she'd put behind it had cracked its surface and driven the tiny wedges of oak used to raise it above the floor deep into the ground.

"He stays here, he stays free." She emphasized her words by pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi and glaring at him as if she blamed him. Perhaps a part of her does, Kakashi surmised. He wouldn't be at all surprised. It was how he saw it himself, truthfully. He knew that, too, it was simply a deficit in his character, like the compulsive tall tales he'd adopted from Obito and his habitual lateness. That would all change. Whether or not they, no, anyone was able to help Naruto through this, many things would change. Instead of answering Tsunade's last statement, he cleared his throat, fully prepared for any judgment that might follow.

"I told him." For a second, Tsunade looked confused until Kakashi said it again.

"I told him."

"You . . . you told him," Tsunade fell gracelessly back into her seat, "everything?"

"No, not everything, but enough. He already knew more than a detailed search in the Research Library would have afforded him. He knew things, I'm certain, that only one person could have showed him. The man that was found at that cave . . . I think it was . . ." Tsunade held a hand up to stop him from continuing.

"Enough! That's enough. We'll deal with it."

"Hokage-sama . . .,"

"I said we'll deal with it! I won't have him locked away."

"Placing him somewhere where he can . . ."

"He will see it as the same thing! I won't do it!" Kakashi could not agree with her reasoning. There were ninja who could not handle years of constant carnage and destruction. For them, it was not a matter of being weak, but seeing and being a part of too much death. Such a thing is not a weakness and allowing for time and the necessity of therapeutic coping was something all the past Hokages understood. But, Kakashi did not have the strength, at present, to fight her on this now, not this early on. He still held hope that what was happening to Naruto was temporary. He would do whatever was necessary should the need for Naruto to be protected, even from those trying to help, arise. Oh yes, things would change. Kakashi only prayed he would never be late again.

He headed for the door and then turned to face the Godaime one last time.

"And, Sasuke?"

Tsunade stared shrewdly back at him and then took a deep breath while closing her eyes slowly.

"You want him, don't you?"

For the first time since entering, Kakashi flashed one of his grins, hidden by his mask as they were.

"No," he said quietly, "not me."

Tsunade blinked at him slowly, surprise written all over her face.

"Well, I will take him off your hands," he tilted his head to glance at her from the corner of his eyes, still smiling softly, "if you're not planning on interrogating him, that is."

"I've no reason to do so, since it appears he is no longer considered a threat to the village. No one who is a threat," she continued devilishly, "would carry a fallen comrade over two hundred yards to the hospital doors and refuse to leave until that comrade was seen to properly."

Kakashi's keen ears picked up Sasuke's disgusted snort quite easily and he chuckled thinly.

"Very well, I'll let him know your decision, Hokage-sama."

Sasuke sat up a little straighter as footsteps rang clearly through the wall coming toward the door. Kakashi peered levelly at him when he exited and Sasuke held the gaze daringly. The smile caught him off-guard, as usual, though he refused to show it.

"Follow me, Sasuke."

Sasuke wanted to anything but that. He wanted to follow the elders to a secluded glade and force his blade, full of lightning chakra, right through their miserable chests. He wanted to run. He wanted to not be here, here of all places, and with him, of all people. Slowly, he let his feet drag their way behind Kakashi, cursing to himself silently the entire time. He should have stayed with Team Taka instead of leaving them behind with Madara. The memory he saw inside his mind was not of Suigestu or Karin, or Juugo, though. It was of flowing pink hair falling to the ground and laughing blue eyes that swirled and changed when they were sad or angry. He had not expected to feel anything, not a single thing, when Shikamaru had pulled him aside at the hospital and told him, told him that she was dead.

He had killed her in his mind the day he had left and felt the pain then. But, it had resurfaced, stronger and more real when it had actually happened. She had been important, his friend, they were all his friends. He felt the anger at his own failures and his inability to fully banish those feelings fade away in the overflow of that pain. Still, there was that question, the one he had wanted answered as soon as it had formed in his mind. If for no other reason than that one, Sasuke followed. He would have his answer, even if he needed to have it spelled out on paper, he would get it.

The scenery around them had changed and Sasuke looked up to see the red sign above the doors and knew where they were and who they were going to see. His feet dragged on and Kakashi disappeared again as memories clawed and pushed him down. Did his footsteps sound as heavy as they felt?

Kakashi had pushed open a door now, on the third floor, a private wing reserved for the mentally unstable. Naruto wasn't unstable . . . was he? Just silent, always he was silent now. The sight that met him when he entered stopped all motion, all time. A silent Naruto gazing out the window, the normally bright eyes dull, his hair seeming to absorb the same lackluster color of the sheets though it remained yellow. Iruka was there, in the far corner, watching him, his eyes red rimmed from lack of sleep and his hands draped over his knees carelessly. He looked nothing like the ninja Sasuke had known him to be during his days at the Academy.

This Iruka was still quiet, a gentle smile ready for all, but he was different. Sasuke could not understand it until another memory washed over him. This time, his father's eyes filled his vision; it was the day he'd been told Itachi had made ANBU. His father had been proud. Sasuke could see it. And, why shouldn't he be? But, later, when his father and mother had been alone, Sasuke had been watching. His father, so strong and so hard Sasuke had repeatedly broken against him, trying to be the son he had thought his father had wanted, looked at his mother that way, when he told her the news. It was like he was saying Itachi was lost to them, and maybe he was. Maybe they had known something inside him had gone wrong, even then. The thought confused Sasuke. If they had known . . . if they had known, then why had they . . . ?

"Good afternoon, Iruka-san."

Kakashi's voice rang through the room hollowly, as if the room itself knew that someone else should be taking up the space, the air, instead. Sasuke took a breath, willing to risk it.

"How . . . ," his voice had come out weak. Damn it. He tried again.

"How is he?"

Iruka frowned at seeing Sasuke, but answered anyway.

"No real change. Though, he can hear, and for all that those doctors say, understand well enough what people are saying." Iruka's disapproval of the medical staff and their abilities seemed, to Sasuke, like how a father with a constantly sick child might react. Iruka calmly reaching out and placing his hand over Naruto's, rubbing his thumb in slow circles said the same. It made the muscles in Sasuke's chest contract a little, a thing he ignored sullenly. He did not want to be here, he didn't. Kakashi was watching him in that way he had, like he was trying to gauge something. What it was, Sasuke did not know and did not care to know. He did not want to be here, after all.

"Well, Sasuke, as your first time back here in, oh, forever," Sasuke squinted at his old teacher, refusing to feel anything like irritation at Kakashi's blatant attempt to make him feel guilty, "you will be given a D rank mission." Kakashi was so calmly telling him that, wait . . . wait!

"Uh, Kakashi-san, have you spoken to Tsunade-sama about this?" Iruka's fingers had tightened over Naruto's and his voice was dripping poison that could eat a hole in the floor were it real. Sasuke knew the answer even before it came out.

"Oh, yes. This has been discussed. Sasuke is no loner a threat, and, I want him on this mission, a personal request, for which I am paying." Light as his voice was, Sasuke could sense that this was not all going to happen as easily as Kakashi made it sound. It never was, with that lazy, good-for-nothing, shitty . . .

Kakashi clearing his throat and Iruka growling lowly broke Sasuke out of his silent rant.

"Your new mission, no exceptions, is to take care of him."

"Excuse me?" Sasuke cried, incredulous. Iruka looked enraged and ready to eat nails then spit them out at Sasuke.

"You are to look after him, help him. I want him talking. I want him bouncing off the walls. I want you," Kakashi pointed at him, as if Sasuke couldn't understand, "to get him back." Kakashi's eyes had hardened again and Sasuke could feel the chakra overflow on his skin, it burned. Apparently, he and Naruto weren't the only ones training during the last three years. Iruka growled again in the back of his throat and Sasuke realized not all the chakra currently stinging his skin was coming off of Kakashi.

"Iruka," Kakashi warned without even looking at him.

"No. I trusted you once, and he's like this. No, I am not going to hand him over to someone who's idea of friendship and camaraderie is to drive his fist through someone's chest and back. No."

"It is Hokages orders and," this time Kakashi turned that unfaltering heat on Iruka, "it is the best way anyone can see. If you have anything better, anything at all, I'm listening. Really, Iruka, anything that could help him without turning to someone who could potentially damage him further, I'm all ears."

The last sentence had Sasuke fighting to keep his gaze level. He was mildly surprised and only slightly chagrined to find it was easy. The fact that he felt anything at all, again, left a bad taste in his mouth. He would not feel guilty, he would not. Memories he had thought so faded he should be able to see through them surfaced again: Naruto lying atop the water turning to look at him, Sasuke's hand piercing through Naruto's shoulder, Naruto, smiling shakily at him as Sasuke screamed in his face.

Iruka opened his mouth only to close it with a snap a moment later. Instead, he flashed watery eyes in Sasuke's direction.

"I am a ninja, I do not beg," he said quietly, "I am a ninja."

Sasuke understood and the crack in his armor lengthened a little more. He swallowed.

"Alright," he said softly.

"Good," Kakashi said brusquely, "You start tomorrow. Naruto is physically well enough to be home by morning. Keep an eye on him throughout the day. They are having another festival. They've been going on all week."

Iruka groaned as Sasuke frowned a little.

"They are celebrating. Most of the Akatsuki have fallen. Naruto has found a way to assuage their fears of the Kyuubi breaking free and running amok. They are happy, despite all they felt before regarding him. He's changed them," Kakashi explained.

Having said his piece, Kakashi slipped out of the room, motioning for Iruka to follow. While reluctant, Iruka grudgingly gave up his place in the corner glancing back only once before drawing the door shut quietly. To Sasuke, it felt as though he was in a prison instead of a hospital and the closing of the door was the poetic equivalent of steel bars ramming shut. He swallowed and dragged his weighted feet to the side of the bed. He waited for Naruto's head to swivel around, facing him with those strange eyes that were his and yet not.

"Hello, Naruto."

* * * *

Sasuke had woken early in order to prepare to take on the responsibility of another person. The morning had dawned grey and cool. He stretched and warmed up a little before running through some taijutsu movements to circulate his blood better. He cut the time in half this morning, not wanting to be late. The memory of Kakashi's eyes from the day before was still very fresh. He shouldn't care about that or about Naruto, but he was realizing, slowly, that he did. He did care, maybe he had always cared. Sasuke pushed the swirling confusion in his mind away and concentrated on cooling down. He had done a few flips from the hotel roof and some exercises in the main courtyard. It would be enough. The building he had chosen to stay in was a three story circular design, a lot like the Hokage Tower. It was probably modeled specifically for that reason. Painted a pale, serene blue, Sasuke had been drawn to it.

Kakashi, if he bothered to care about Sasuke's rooming choice, would probably make some joke or gesture about the color being close to a certain ninja's eyes, but Sasuke had chosen it out of convenience. It was close to the hospital, in case he needed to drag a screaming or self-destructing Naruto there. It was near several food stalls and one grocery shop as well as close to a bar frequented by many ninja, a great place to eavesdrop for any information concerning missions away or anything else the council had planned. Sasuke still could not trust them, no matter what Kakashi and the Godaime believed.

Settling into a rhythm of brisk leaps over rooftops, Sasuke entered Naruto's room through the window rather than facing any of the medics they'd passed in the halls yesterday. Something about their eyes when they'd learned who Kakashi and Sasuke were going to see had bothered him. The empty bed that greeted him raised no real issue until he'd ventured into the hall and asked the medic at the nurses station where Naruto had been taken. The medic had only to glance at him, surprise and dread clear in his face for Sasuke to take off through the halls at a run. He searched each floor methodically, ignoring any questions thrown his way. Gritting his teeth at the irony of him losing Naruto on his first day of his first mission, he huffed out a breath in irritation. The fool had done this before, right? Usually, he would go someplace like Ichiraku's or to the bridge to wait for Kakashi to drag him back kicking and biting and yelling about not being injured and needing a mission before he went crazy. Where the hell had he gone?

Sasuke bounded to all the places he'd known about in the past, all the while wondering if Naruto had changed enough to no longer visit them at all. So much had changed. So much was the same. The festival had just begun in the main square, a field with a quaint foot-bridge running over a little stream that cut in half along one side, storefronts traveling along another. A large, stone fountain sat dead-center inside the square, streams of water spurting from the open mouths of fish along its base to pool in the basin at the second layer. It ran down over the edge to the larger basin at the bottom which fed into the fish. Sasuke couldn't remember ever seeing it before, but he recognized some of the people and the stores. And, it was here that Sasuke caught sight of him.

Naruto glanced up at him across the crowded square and then his gaze slid down and away. Sasuke watched as Naruto picked his way along. Sasuke had seen something in that look, as if Naruto wanted them to embrace with only their skin and the light misty rain to cover them. He shuddered and halted, frowning. 'That can't be right.'

Shaking his head, he glanced up to see Naruto had disappeared into the milling crowd only to be surprised by that same intense, haunting gaze. He felt a fluttering in his stomach, even though he tried to will it not to. 'He really has gotten taller and so . . .' Sasuke suddenly lost hold of that train of thought as Naruto turned to unknowingly catch the weakened, waning light from the now hidden sun in his face. The shudder became an all out shivering and Sasuke found himself having to snap his mouth shut.

He'd been unaware that it had fallen open, or that he'd been breathing heavier than was necessary. He hadn't even registered the increase in that funny rippling in the pit of his stomach that had started somewhere around the time he'd first noticed Naruto. Or, maybe it was only now that Sasuke was seeing him? The thought he'd let slip away slammed back into him with such force he could no longer draw breath.

'. . . gorgeous.'

The wind picked up at that moment and rifled through Sasuke's hair. Naruto's spikes waved and danced, playing just as merrily with the light breeze. Sasuke wondered to himself if he had cut it; it looked shorter. His chakra, still at full power, spread out and around him, sensing for any passing ninja. He didn't want Naruto to do something stupid if he felt he'd been caught or trapped in any way. Two signatures that were as strong as they were different met Sasuke's questing chakra flow. One he recognized from early morning yesterday when he'd been forced to wait outside the hospital doors for word of how Naruto had been progressing with his injuries. Sasuke still saw the evidence in the slight limp, the listless way he moved his left arm and in the red tinge to his skin at his collar. The burns were still healing. Naruto was technically supposed to be resting in order to recuperate further which meant that Sasuke had to hurry.

Moving forward, he stopped when the ninja with the chakra he knew stepped in front of Naruto. Sasuke halted, unsure of what to do next, and held his breath. Her companion, a roguish smile on his face looked like he was about to pounce on Naruto. Damn it. What should he do? Sasuke hung back and waited, hoping the two newcomers wouldn't do anything stupid.

Hinata could not believe her eyes. Gaping open mouthed, she pulled Kiba in behind her as they moved through the crowd. She'd just seen Naruto, she was sure of it. Yes, that blond hair and those eyes were unmistakable, though something about him seemed off. She'd heard from Tsunade that he would need a lot of time on his own to recover. Then, why was he out of the hospital? It had only been a few days since his near catastrophic injuries. She didn't know anyone who would be up and walking around so quickly, if they even managed to survive at all, that is.

"Naruto," she called out to him as she reined Kiba in tighter. Something was wrong. She could feel it and she didn't want Kiba to make it worse with his wild behavior.

"N-naruto?" she asked again timidly. Naruto raised his head to look at them and Hinata saw it. It made her heart swell, that he had become so changed by the recent battle. Everything was different. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Suddenly, the townsfolk, in further celebration of the ninja defeating most of the Akatsuki, began to play music. They were all laughing and dancing and smiling. Naruto stared at them all and Hinata thought she saw something in his blank expression, something almost wistful. She made a quick and rather uncharacteristic decision, without thinking, mostly because that look was just so unlike her beloved friend. She couldn't stop the blush creeping up her face, though, it seemed. But, she held onto her courage and the words that Naruto, himself, had said to her right before she had fought her cousin.

"I'll be right back, Kiba." She let go of her friends hand to walk over to Naruto. Kiba was shouting at her but she wasn't going to listen, not this time.

"Naruto, how are you?" Still he did not speak. It was as if he didn't see her. Hinata felt her resolve slip a little. She nervously tugged at the gossamer cloth covering her shoulder. She'd worn a dress because the day had turned out so warm and her team had no missions, a scoop-necked, white dress with gossamer white triangular cloth over the shoulders and a gathered rippling of cloth at the back that traveled down her legs to trail out behind her a few inches whenever she moved or the wind blew. She'd been hoping she might see Naruto while wearing it, maybe come to one of the festivals. Now that they both were here, regardless of the fact that Naruto hadn't taken her, Hinata wanted to finally try to get to know him better, and for him to get to know her.

"Would you . . . ," she stopped when Naruto looked directly into her eyes. Her heart was beating so fast and she felt the blush creeping higher than ever. Swallowing quickly before she lost her nerve, again, she managed to get out what she wanted to say.

"Would you like to dance?"

Hinata held her breath and then felt Naruto's hand softly brushing hers and saw that look had returned. It made her ache so much, to not be able to take it away. She took hold of Naruto's hand and began dragging him forward into the square as the alluring tones of flutes and the haunting lilt of pipes accompanied them. Taking his other arm, she placed it around her waist and the one she'd been holding traveled to her shoulder on its own and then upward, to brush against her face. Naruto was looking at her now, without that glassy eyed dead expression. He was seeing her. That's all she needed to start moving.

They traveled the length of the floor and Naruto seemed to dance like he fought, effortless and with a kind of tough grace. Hinata twisted and pivoted around him and in front of him, able to follow his movements easily. They did not train as ninja lightly. As it turned out, all that work made for greater ease of movement here as well. Hinata smiled. The wind picked up again and it was warm and light and good. Naruto held on a little tighter than she thought necessary, but she'd heard about his teammate and knew that he'd been very close to her. This was the only thing she could think of to do to take his mind away from it all, if only for a little while.

The wind grew more forceful and Naruto clung to her harder and brought her in closer until they were only a few spare centimeters apart. Hinata was busy trying to keep her feet as they swirled and dipped and turned another circuit of the stone underneath their feet. Suddenly, she couldn't feel it anymore and glanced down in time to see the ground whirl by, her feet nearly a foot above it. Naruto held tightly to her back and she was forced by the growing wind to connect with his chest as they literally glided on air for a span of mere moments before touching down lightly at the other side of the square.

She caught her breath as the pipes and flutes played on though they had stopped moving. Naruto was . . . Naruto was . . . crying? Her own lips quivered at the sight. Such a strong ninja, so powerful, so hated and yet so loved. Hinata couldn't stand to see it. Gently, quickly, she leaned into his chest again and brushed her lips against his in a chaste, warm kiss, then pulled back only to do it again. This time she let her lips rest on Naruto's for a few moments before pulling back, her hand running down his battle scarred, whiskered cheek. Hinata smiled again. The burns already looked so much better and she could see them lightening further, even now. He'd stopped crying, too. That was a good sign. Just as quietly as before, she leaned in and whispered into his ear.

"I know you may not feel the same, you may never feel the same, but I love you. I love you, Naruto."

That was, perhaps, the worst thing she could have done. Hinata realized it the instant she glanced back up at his face. Horror, abject horror and terror and pain were so deeply ingrained Hinata could map them out along his sweating forehead, his trembling lips and his normally tanned skin that had gone so white, so fast.

"Naruto?" she tried to get his attention softly, gently.

"Naruto, I'm so-." He hadn't let her finish. Naruto wrenched his hand away from hers, shaking his head rapidly as the tears began to fall. When she tried, again, to reach out to him, he shot off past her, pushing her aside as he went. Hinata caught sight of distinctive black hair and cold, dark eyes and a whispered warning as a man went speeding past her to follow.

"I have him. Stay out of it."

That had been Sasuke, right? But, now, Hinata was too caught up in trying to keep Kiba from callously and ignorantly hurting Naruto further in a vain attempt to save her honor.

"Kiba, I'm fine! He's wounded and I shouldn't have pulled him into anything," she barked at him, terrified for Naruto.

Kiba stared at her before mumbling something about women and walking off to the opposite end of the square where they'd set up food stalls. He sent quick, curious glances her way ever few minutes until Hinata sighed heavily and began dragging him back to Training Field eight to meet Shino for some practice. Every so often, she glanced back to see if Sasuke had managed to get Naruto back to the square safely, or perhaps catch them leaping over it toward Naruto's apartment building, but, eventually, she stopped wondering. She would find out the next day how Naruto was faring . . . hopefully . . . if Sasuke would allow her to see him.

Sasuke caught sight of a huddled and shaking mass of clothes to his right, between a stack of old crates and a pile of trash laden bags. Sasuke approached cautiously, slowing down while making sure to scuff his feet a little to warn him. The shuddering continued. Naruto kept his arms over his head, hands twisting and sliding through his hair. Sasuke heard the gasping, choking, heaving breaths. To him, it almost seemed Naruto was trying to make sounds, but couldn't. Sasuke shivered a little, himself, despite the warm air the light rain had brought. Any fear that was strong enough to do that to Naruto was worth paying attention to.

Sasuke shifted his weight to the balls of his feet as he squatted down, and then kneeled, in front of Naruto.

"Naruto," he called softly. Naruto's reaction was one Sasuke expected, even if he didn't like it. Naruto jerked and tightened his hold on his hair, the tension around him thickening the air to near oppressiveness.

Sasuke huffed and shifted a bit closer.

"Naruto," he tried again, pitching his voice lighter than before.

"I'm not going to hurt you. So, you can tell me."

"Tell me what's wrong. What happened? I want to know."

The thought confused Sasuke. After all, he had complete control over his entire being and had willed his mind and spirit to desire nothing more than vengeance and murder. But, here it was without his asking. He 'desired' to be here, having found him. He 'desired' to see, then to claim, the pain he witnessed in Naruto.

The cloth had shifted and Naruto's shivering bulk had unraveled itself enough for his eyes to peer at Sasuke in the dim light of the lone street lamp and the dusky sky. The pain there was not startling, though the intense look Sasuke had seen before made it unsettling. Those eyes were half-lidded and shimmering. What little of his face Sasuke could see was wet, his hair smelling musky with sweat. Sasuke cocked his head to the side slightly.

"See? I've been here almost a whole minute and you're no worse off," he spoke out quietly.

Naruto's sudden movement, again not surprising when Sasuke considered his brashness, stole the breath from his lungs. Sasuke made a low sound in his throat as they connected, barely registering it as he felt the strong arms of his former teammate snake around and cling to his shoulders.

Sasuke sat there, unable to move. When he felt his lungs begin to burn, he realized he had yet to take a breath. Gulping in a large amount of air, Sasuke rested his chin on Naruto's right shoulder a bit to catch his breath. He huffed again as he discovered Naruto's shoulders had begun to convulse heavily. The rapid intake of breath told Sasuke that he was crying again.

Turning his head toward the street, Sasuke's eyes sought out the light from the lonely street lamp to focus on to keep the fingers of nervous fear from wrapping around his stomach. Belatedly, he came to the conclusion that this was the trail that cut off from the main throughway to a smaller gate in the main wall. Of course, that's why it looked so familiar. It was the same trail he had taken out of the village, the same one Sakura had confessed to him on in a desperate bid to keep him here. Sasuke had felt sorry for her at the time. Now, there was only the hollow feeling that had helped him get this far, and that annoying almost fear, and Naruto's silent sobbing.

Sasuke sighed, preparing to speak again, when he felt something brush his shoulder. It took him a few moments to realize it was Naruto's finger and a few more to digest that it was pleasant, before he railroaded that thought and buried it so deep he hoped it would never feel air. And then, then, he made out specific movement. Naruto was writing . . . kanji . . . on his back . . . with his finger. Sasuke shivered. Narrowing his eyes to concentrate, he could just make it out.

'She can't. She can't and you can't.'

"Can't what, Naruto?" he murmured.

Naruto pushed off of Sasuke's shoulders a little to catch and draw him into his eyes. At least, that's what it felt like he was doing. Naruto brought his hands around to catch hold of one of Sasuke's and used the tip of one finger to draw the characters he wanted.

'Love me.'

Sasuke drew in a sharp breath and pushed back the nervous fluttering of his stomach and the blood threatening to roar in his ears. For once in his life, he spoke without thinking.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of you. I'll take care of everything. It's not . . . you're not . . . Everything will be fine."

Sasuke didn't know what else to say so he went back to holding a shaking Naruto until they had both calmed down enough to move. Then, Sasuke took Naruto's hand and guided and nudged him along to his hotel. Naruto had reverted back to staring blankly out at the world as it passed by until they reached the front of the building. Sasuke took in a deep breath, held it for three seconds, and then blew it out quickly.

"Here," he motioned at the hotel, then caught Naruto's chin between his fingers in order to force the boy to look at it.

"We're going to stay here, just for a little while. And then, then, we'll go someplace better. You'll see."

A glimmer of something in Naruto's eyes caught Sasuke's attention and he smiled. He still wasn't convinced Naruto had understood it all, but something Sasuke had said had reached him, he was sure of that much.

"You'll see," he said again.