Well, I had a disappointing response to this one....which would be nothing. No responses. Yeah, made me feel good.

Anyways, I decided to put up another chapter, but if I don't have any feedback to this one I probably won't be continuing this story. So. Your deciding how this goes. So please review.

WARNINGS: Cutting, and cuddling, hehe

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. Nope. Nope. I don't.

FINAL REQUEST: PLEASE review

Sasuke sat twirling his pencil in his fingers two days after the game, ignoring the chatter of people around him. He sighed and looked over to the desk beside him, where Naruto was supposed to sit. Sasuke glanced at the watch on another classmate's hand. Naruto was lucky that Shizune was late as well.

He yawned broadly and groaned as he thought of how much he had become like Shikamaru. He looked up as Naruto trudged into the room. Sasuke was about to say something to get on Naruto's nerves but noticed that Naruto wouldn't make eye contact with anyone in the room.

And most people, being late for a class, would be running to make it back to the classroom. He watched as Naruto set out his book and notebook, waiting for Shizune and noticed the tiny dark circles around Naruto's eyes.

"Hey," Sasuke said from his desk to Naruto. Naruto seemed to have not heard, as if he wasn't in the classroom at all. "Hey, Naruto." Naruto was still unresponsive. Sasuke reached out and tapped Naruto's arm. "Naruto!" Naruto was suddenly jolted up and recoiled from Sasuke's touch before he turned and looked at Sasuke in almost annoyance trying to cover up the strange way he reacted to Sasuke's touch.

"What do you want?" Naruto demanded. Sasuke shrugged.

"I couldn't tell if you were asleep or not," Sasuke said beating around the bush trying to seem as if he wasn't trying to get information about why Naruto was acting so strangely. "You look like you didn't sleep well last night."

"Oh, uh, I didn't," Naruto said hurriedly. Sasuke was about to say something else but the professor of medicinal studies, Shizune, walked in. She smiled briefly and started a lecture on muscles almost as soon as she walked into the room. Sasuke was paying attention, this was something he hadn't actually learned yet, but was distracted as he looked over to see Naruto gazing at his desk, eyes glazed over.

"Naruto," Sasuke whispered slightly and nudged Naruto who shook himself and looked over at Sasuke. "Shizune is watching you, wake up," Sasuke hissed, turning to look at Shizune before she caught on to the two talking, and before Naruto noticed the look on Sasuke's face.

The lectured ended and Naruto got up quickly, too quickly. Naruto stumbled slightly but it didn't seem to phase him, even as Sasuke tried to point out that Naruto had cut his ankle while getting up so suddenly. Naruto was about to walk out when Shizune stopped him, and bent down to look at the ankle before shrugging and sending Naruto on his way.

Sasuke watched Naruto carefully while following him, making sure that Naruto didn't notice. Sasuke watched as Naruto turned into his language class. Sasuke frowned, nothing strange about that, except the fact that Naruto didn't have language class for another thirty minutes. Why was he just sitting there? Sasuke shook his head and walked away slowly, Naruto was usually throwing himself into groups of friends, Naruto loved to socialize.

Sasuke walked absently down the hallway before he was stopped by Sakura and Shikamaru who pulled him outside, surprising Sasuke.

"Did you see that?" Sakura demanded. Sasuke looked quizzically at Shikamaru who said nothing.

"If by 'that' you mean Naruto acting weird then yes," Sasuke said slowly.

"He was zoned out during the whole lesson," Sakura said releasing Sasuke's collar and thinking slowly.

"He went into his language class early," Sasuke added. Shikamaru glanced at him.

"He hates that class," Shikamaru said slowly. Sakura glanced at Shikamaru and back at Sasuke, apparently lost.

"And loves being around other people during the time between classes," Sasuke nodded towards Shikamaru who looked up to the dark clouds and sighed. Sakura shrugged.

"We'll just have to watch him," Sakura ventured.

"Watch him?" Shikamaru asked. "That's strange, Sakura, your not a stalker are you?"

"WHAT?!!"

Sasuke sighed and turned to leave the two, making his way to his next class. He dragged through the rest of his classes and walked outside to the covered area close to the parking lot. All of Naruto's friends were sitting there and looked at the door expectantly as Sasuke opened it, and seemed almost disappointed it wasn't Naruto.

"You know," Sasuke said almost angrily, "it's not like Naruto's a show to speculate."

"We just want to see if Naruto is really being a baby or not," Kiba explained smiling slightly. He looked up to see the clouds and shivered. "The next week is going to be cold," he said out loud. "That's freezing rain clouds above us. Everyone looked with distaste at the clouds. The door clicked open as they gazed at the clouds and everyone turned to see Naruto who hadn't noticed them yet.

Sasuke turned, he was still standing in the middle of the small walkway that lead to the parking lot. He watched as Naruto continued walking, looking at his feet, oblivious of everyone around him, or Sasuke in front of him, until he ran into Sasuke who didn't move but raised his eyebrows at Naruto who took a surprised step back.

He finally noticed everyone around him, and looked almost surprised, but a hinted of annoyance was in his dazzling blue eyes as well. "Uh hi," Naruto said, unsure. Everyone mumbled a hello or waved at the blonde.

"What's up, Naruto?" Sakura said, too cheerfully. "Off somewhere?" Naruto shrugged and said nothing. Everyone glanced at each other. Shikamaru turned to look at Naruto, removing his eyes from the dark clouds.

"Are you sick?" he asked innocently. Naruto almost glared at Shikamaru but shook his head and turned to leave them. His eyes met with Sasuke's which held a strange concern in them. Naruto didn't like it. He hurriedly pushed past Sasuke and started towards the parking lot.

"Just going home," Naruto called behind him, trying to get away from them. "I had a long night." Naruto kept walking and made it into the parking lot and reached for his keys.

"Oi, dobe!" Sasuke's voice called out to the quickly retreating Naruto. Naruto froze and bit his lip, hard. Why wouldn't they leave him alone?! Naruto smirked at himself, realizing that the thing he hated most was being alone, and that's exactly what he just wished for. He turned to Sasuke.

"Yeah?" Naruto asked, relieved to find that Sasuke didn't have that annoyingly concerned look anymore.

"We're all gong to my place after their last classes," Sasuke said briskly. "Are you coming?" Naruto noticed a strange hint to Sasuke's voice but shook his head.

"No, I'm just going on home," he said quickly. He turned and hurriedly made his way around the corner and jumped into his care, before speeding off. Everyone was staring where Naruto had once stood. They all knew that Naruto thrived on socializing; he never had turned down an opportunity, once. Sasuke was suspicious even more, confirming his thoughts that there was something much more wrong than a night of lost sleep.

Sasuke sighed and turned to leave, Shikamaru was gazing at the clouds again.

"Since when were we going to your house?" Shikamaru questioned him. Sasuke shook his head and shrugged while walking to his car.

"You aren't," came the blunt response.

"And never was," Kiba muttered before running off as a splatter of rain fell on the ground. Everyone else dispersed as well, remembering the warning of freezing rain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sat in the dark of his house, gazing at his shattered mirror again, listening to the rain fall outside of his apartment. Naruto felt a sudden pain and he brought his fingers up to his lip and felt where he had bit it before. He had bitten hard enough to make a harsh cut, and Naruto pressed on to it, getting all the blood off before staring at his now red finger.

Naruto stared off, reveling in the pain that was in his mouth before he reached down and picked up another shard of mirror, and pulled up his long sleeved shirt, gazing at the upraised skin and scratches that were there from his cutting yesterday. Before he brought the shard to his arm once more, carefully pulling the shard along, grinding his teeth, until the red liquid came up again.

He continued the motions, feeling the pain which replaced the pain in his heart, until he dropped the shard almost in anguish before he placed it in its place in his 'puzzle'. His eyes were burning and his arm was bleeding as the familiar pain came back all too soon.

The feeling was overwhelming this time, and he sat shaking in his couch before he finally couldn't take it any longer, the feeling of being alone forever. He wondered for a moment if he was going insane. He jumped up suddenly, feeling as if the emotion would suffocate him. He grabbed his keys and made his way quickly to his door. He cautiously opened it, glancing around outside to see the complex empty, but hurried down the rusty staircase anyways, making it to his car as he ran through the freezing cold rain.

He sighed as he placed the keys in the ignition and turned the key once. The engine sputtered before dying completely. Naruto groaned loudly and slammed his head against the steering wheel, making a bruise on his forehead. Naruto looked up slowly through his rain streaked window at his apartment door. He hurriedly got out of the car, knowing he couldn't go back in there at the moment.

He turned towards the road, feeling the rain fall on him, he shivered slightly before taking off running towards the richer side of town.

After about fifteen minutes of non-stop running he made it to the large Uchihah manor. He opened the large black gates and slipped inside, and made his way up the driveway and to the front door. He grabbed the handle and attempted to open the door, but found it looked. Naruto gazed through the two windows flanking the door and saw that all the lights were off in the house.

He walked out slowly into the rain, his mind seemed to be asleep. He walked to about halfway down the driveway before he suddenly sat down and stared off into space as the freezing rain poured down on him.

XX

Sasuke looked up as the rain started pouring down harder than ever. Sasuke shivered at the prospect of the freezing rain, and cursed that the rain had made his house cold. He got up from his dark bedroom and started down the stairs, shivering as the cold air hit him. He pulled his loose lounge wear closer to his body as he reached the end of the staircase.

The stairs emptied out at his front door which had tile flooring. Sasuke curled his toes at the prospect of touching the freezing tile and jumped to the mat sitting in front of the front door, to keep away from the cold tile. Sasuke glanced outside at the pouring rain before looking towards his living room. Sasuke froze and did a double take, staring dumbly at the blonde figure sitting in his driveway, out in the rain.

Two and two put together, Sasuke's eyes widened and he quickly twisted the lock and opened the door, almost in a panic state. With this rain, Naruto could easily die tonight. Sasuke burst outside and hurried down his outside stairs, ignoring the cold wind and water as he raced, barefoot, towards Naruto.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted above the rain. Naruto was unresponsive, again. Sasuke was almost at the blonde. "Naruto!!!" he yelled loudly. Naruto turned towards Sasuke dumbly and blinked, apparently not recognizing him. Sasuke didn't have time to explain to Naruto and he grabbed Naruto's forearm, pulling him off the ground and practically dragging Naruto across the driveway and to his door with surprising strength.

He pulled the blonde inside and closed the door quickly, shutting out the cold wind. He turned to Naruto, breathing heavily.

"What were you doing?!" he shouted at the blonde. Naruto responded by shivering violently. Sasuke sighed as Naruto still seemed out of it and pulled the dripping Naruto up the stairs and into Sasuke's room. Sasuke instantly grabbed the soaked, long sleeved shirt and pulled it over Naruto's head, revealing Naruto's torso.

Sasuke knew he had to get Naruto out of the wet clothes and fast. He reached for Naruto's pants but Naruto seemed to be horrified suddenly and pulled away violently. Sasuke sighed at Naruto's apparent modesty and walked over to the dresser.

He pulled out soft lounge wear for Naruto and threw him a towel before closing the door and walking down the stairs. He walked into his living room, noticing that he was wet too, but decided to wait until he got Naruto comfortable before he would change himself. Sasuke quickly stoked the fire until it roared and flared. He grabbed some blankets and placed them on his incredibly comfortable and plush couch.

He sighed and looked up as a dazed Naruto walked down the stairs. Naruto saw the fire, and looked at Sasuke who pointed to the couch. Naruto nodded a weak acknowledgement before sinking into the couch. Sasuke gazed at Naruto for a moment before running up the stairs to change himself.

He sighed as he reached his room, determined to find out what was wrong with Naruto this time. His strange actions and now sitting outside of his house in the pouring down rain? Sasuke shook his head as he pulled on fresh clothes and hurried down the stairs. He looked over and saw Naruto sitting on the far left side of the couch with his feet up and crossed over his feet, staring into the fire.

Sasuke walked down the stairs and stood in front of Naruto and just stared at him, in that "what the crap were you doing" way. Naruto looked up Sasuke, desperately thinking of a way to keep some questions away. Sasuke studied Naruto and realized he could find out nothing with Naruto on his guard like that.

Sasuke moved out of the way and sat down on the middle seat of the couch, beside Naruto. Naruto went to move out of Sasuke's way, but because he had shaky control of his muscles because of the numbing cold, he only succeeded in losing his balance and falling onto Sasuke, his head on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Eh," Sasuke said dryly, as electricity seemed to shoot through his body at the touch. "Is this why you came here, dobe?"

Naruto grunted in anger and annoyance and used the couch to push himself off of Sasuke and as far away from him as possible, managing a 'you wish, creep,' to preserve his dignity. Sasuke bit his tongue and kicked himself mentally. This was the worst way to get Naruto to open up and trust him.

Sasuke gently grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled a surprised and helpless Naruto down onto his shoulder.

"You'll get sick if you're cold," Sasuke explained the unasked question gruffly. Naruto laid against the warm body tensely for a few moments before Sasuke felt him slowly relax and move slightly to get more comfortable, still gazing into the fire.

They sat peacefully for a while, Naruto soaking in the feeling of warmth and protection that Sasuke gave him. For once he was rid of the feeling of being alone without hurting himself. Sasuke waited until Naruto settled down even more comfortably before he ventured a question carefully.

"Naruto…"

"Mm…?"

"Why did you come here?" Sasuke said softly. Naruto opened his halfway shut eyes and was put on guard slightly.

"I just needed to get out of my apartment that's all," Naruto said brushing it off as if it was no big deal. "It's a sad excuse for an apartment…just needed out of it for a little bit." Naruto comforted himself by reminding himself that he was still telling half of the truth. Sasuke frowned slightly. Naruto was hiding something still.

"And you sat in the rain why?" he asked. Naruto held in a sigh.

"Sasuke-"

"Last question, I promise," Sasuke said hurriedly. Naruto sighed thinking quickly of something he could say to Sasuke to satisfy his constant questioning and concern.

"Fine. I came over here and your door was locked…my car was dead, and I…the rain was cold and refreshing. I don't really know why…" Naruto trailed off and his eyes glazed over again as he went to a strange place only he understood, as he was reminded of the painful and riveting experience.

Sasuke looked down with concern at Naruto who trailed off and looked as if he was staring into space. Feeling Sasuke's look of confusion mixed with concern Naruto shook himself slightly.

"That's all I remember." Naruto sighed as if he was glad it was off his chest to push the idea farther into Sasuke's mind, satisfied with his answer. Sasuke pushed himself farther into the soft couch evaluating the answer. He suppressed a sigh, knowing that Naruto was still holding back information. Absently Sasuke thought through the puzzle that Naruto and started massaging Naruto's head, running his fingers through the blondes hair gently.

Naruto slowly closed his eyes to the rhythm of Sasuke's massaging, as Sasuke started to massage on his left shoulder, moving downwards towards his hand. Naruto enjoyed the feeling, awkward as it was, and somehow found himself on Sasuke's lap.

Sasuke was stilling thinking things over as he touched Naruto's hand, which was freezing. Sasuke started massaging Naruto's skin, starting with his hand and moving up his arm, under the sleeve of his shirt, while his other hand moved to massage the back of Naruto's neck. Naruto felt like he was drifting to sleep when he suddenly felt Sasuke's back stiffen and tense, but Naruto didn't know why.

Naruto suddenly felt a sharp pain from one of his newly made cuts on his arm. Naruto's eyes opened slowly and he bit his lip and felt pain again from the wound earlier that day.

Sasuke meanwhile had stopped when he found the marks on Naruto's arm. He felt…what did he feel? Anger? Confused? Protective? Sasuke spoke slowly and unlike himself.

"Naruto…what are you doing to yourself?" Sasuke asked him, nearly in a whisper.

"I thought there wouldn't be anymore questions."

"I lied."

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, suddenly wanting to throw himself at Sasuke and plead for him to help him, and stopped himself, forcing himself to speak in an innocent and bored tone, as if brushing it off, and gave a little sigh.

"Oh please, its nothing Sas-"

"Your arm says differently," Sasuke said almost sharply, cutting the lie off. He tried to gaze closer at the arm, and Naruto moved slightly as if to get up, so Sasuke dropped the arm instantly. Naruto stopped and forced another sigh.

"My mirror fell on me," Naruto said as if he was giving up a secret. "I was in my excuse of a bathroom." Sasuke said nothing but waited in expectant silence. Naruto readied himself. "My apartment complex is being forced to do some repairs and fumigate the place, its falling apart. The mirror fell and I tried to stop it, and it shattered on me. I'm fine, really Sasuke."

Sasuke started reviewing the story and connecting pieces together. Was this what it had all been about? A pride thing? Yes, that would be exactly what was wrong with Naruto, him and his stupid pride. Sasuke sighed and accepted the story, Naruto didn't want to say anything to him because he would feel weak for not being able to provide for himself.

"So who are you staying with," Sasuke said, much calmer and relaxed, knowing that Naruto wouldn't want to dwell on the subject of his poor housing problems. Naruto mentally sighed in victory, Sasuke had bought the story. Then he came upon another problem. What Sasuke had just said.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked not able to suppress a yawn. "I'm not staying with anyone."

"Don't be an idiot," Sasuke playfully and gently tugging on Naruto's hair. "You can't stay in a building when its being fumigated. Everyone knows that." Naruto cringed mentally. Caught in his own lie. Sasuke moved fingers on Naruto's face and gently pushed Naruto's head up to look at him.

"Your staying with me," Sasuke said almost sternly. Naruto was about to get up and protest but Sasuke placed two fingers quickly over Naruto's mouth. "I don't want to hear it. It's done." Naruto rolled his eyes and turned himself towards the fire, knowing there was no point in arguing with Sasuke. He watched the flames, as Sasuke gazed at him.

Naruto's breathing slowly evened and he slowly fell asleep. Sasuke watched him for a little bit before slipping carefully out from under the blonde head, Sasuke looked at the peacefully sleeping face. He gently laid another blanket on the blonde before coaxing the fire some more and walking away to prepare for when he would wake up.