'Empty. That's what I feel most of the time. Like there's no emotion inside of me. Some people call it depressed. I call it normal.' SasuNaru. Naruto becomes depressed with Kyuubi whispering false things in his mind. He thinks he's fooled everyone, but there's a certain someone who won't stop until he's found out what has happened to the blonde.
A/N: Sorry for taking so long. But I figure that you guys are probably already used to my frequent disappearances. I'm not even going to give an excuse this time because I honestly don't have one. I just forgot about it after having a block for the longest time. Also, thank you for voting on my poll and giving me your choices, whether it be by the poll, or comments, or messages. Anyways, you guys have waited enough. So let's get on with it. This one is in Naruto's POV in the beginning then switches to Sasuke's
It had been a few days since I had fixed the stupid hole that I made in Sasuke's wall. It had taken me hours of trying to make it look perfect for the Uchiha. I would have it finished, only to have him come and criticize me on how it wasn't even or something. There was always something wrong with what I did. It seemed like I couldn't make him happy with my work, no matter how well I did it. Finally, he decided to just let it go with only a small bump in the wall. Otherwise, it was unnoticeable. The necklace he had given me was still hooked around my neck and fit nicely. Every once in a while, I would reach up and play with the two foxes curled around each other. I had given the thought of Sasuke and I together a lot of thought, making Kyuubi very unhappy. He constantly tried to talk me out of everything I thought of until he eventually gave up.
But all thoughts about Sasuke and Kyuubi were currently pushed to the farthest corner of my mind as I walked through the door in front of me. As I turned to close it, I scanned my surroundings without being noticed. There was a mirror on one of the walls, directly across from a table with food laid out on it. I could tell it was fresh because steam was still coming off of it. I figured that the mirror was one of those one-way things where the people on the other side could me while I couldn't see them. How unfair. There was a single chair behind the table and I saw a small hidden microphone underneath one of the corners of the chair. I narrowed my eyes at the sight before regaining my old posture and turning back around to face the table and food. I acted like I didn't know that they were watching me and plastered one of the biggest smiles on my face that I could muster. "Oh man! Free food! Perfectly fine with me!" I shouted loudly, hopefully enough to hurt their ears, before all but running to the table. I plopped myself down carelessly and started digging in right away. I refused to let the disgust show on my face as I continued to shovel the food down.
My stomach clenched in a way it normally wouldn't, but I forced the feeling aside as I scooped everything edible into my mouth. My throat threatened to close on me, so I hurried even more. Soon, all the food was gone and I threw myself back on the chair in a relaxed matter. "Man, that was good! Can I get some more?" I asked those behind the mirror. I heard the faint click as the door unlocked and turned my head to look. "Does this mean I can go?" I asked them. Right after, the door was pushed open. There was no one there, so I figured that was a yes. I pushed myself out of the chair and waved them goodbye as I left.
I was too paranoid that I would throw up on anyone to jump across the roofs like I usually would. So I stuck to walking like a normal person, only staying in the alleys so I wouldn't see anyone I knew that would stop to talk to me. I just wasn't in the mood for talking. Having them ask me where I was had been bad enough when I went on a mission, having them ask the same thing while I had been on house arrest? Terrible. I felt the familiar shock of chakra around my neck and was forced to stop, reaching up to grab it and pull the burning metal away from my sensitive skin. I cursed at the Uchiha and spun around in circles until I found him. He had turned the stupid collar I was forced to wear off so that I could go get evaluated. The burning meant that he had turned it back on. I knew from experience that the weird symbols engraved into the thing were currently lit up in red. They would soon fade until they were invisible once more. I clicked my tongue against my teeth at him and continued walking back to his house. Unfortunately, he didn't move. This caused me to be jerked to a stop and the impact on my throat brought me to the ground. It was like I had just gotten clotheslined as I lay on the ground in pain. I snarled at Sasuke in anger. He just gave me that annoying smirk. "I'm not moving until you tell me what you decided." He said. I was confused for a moment until my brain made the mental connection. My choice about dating him or not.
"Can't we fucking talk about this after we get back to the house? I'm really not in the mood." I hissed out at him. He simply raised an eyebrow before he vanished from my sight. I didn't have to look to know that he had appeared beside me. I just raised my hand and felt his wrap around it and pull me up.
"Couldn't tell." He said under his breath. I shot him a look, which he promptly ignored before walking ahead of me. I set out at a slightly slower pace, shoving my hands into my pockets as I followed behind. Clouds were starting to roll in with the promise of rain. They managed to cast a shadow down upon us, almost like an omen, first on Sasuke then me. Then it was gone and Sasuke was bathed once more in sunlight while I was cloaked with darkness. Funny. That's exactly the opposite of what everyone used to think, when he had first left the village in order to train under Orochimaru. Eventually, a small sliver of light traveled from him to my feet. I stopped and looked up at the sky. Then I looked down once more and realized that the light had also stopped but had continued to travel with Sasuke. I tilted my head to the side and took a step forward, now shining the light down on me as well.
-SasuNaru-
Almost as soon as we arrived at the Uchiha complex, my stomach tightened uncomfortably and saliva manifested in my mouth at a ridiculous pace. I bent over quickly before snapping back up and booking it to the bathroom. Since I rarely ate, my body was now rejecting the food I had so gracefully forced down. I didn't have enough time to shut the door, let alone lock it. As soon as my head was over the toilet, all of that food I had just ate was spilling out, giving me only a few seconds in between sessions to regain my breath. My hair was in the way and was doing its best to get vomit all over it. I tried to hold it back with my hands but the piece of shit kept finding ways to bypass me. It usually wasn't this long, so I rarely had to deal with it when this happened. When was the last time I had it cut? I don't know when, but at some point early on, Sasuke had came in and held my hair away from my face.
When I was done spilling my guts all over the place, I let my body slump against half of the sink and half of the tub while Sasuke flushed the toilet. He held his hand out for me and waited. When it was obvious that I wasn't planning on moving anytime soon, he picked me up and placed me in the bathtub. "Careful. I might puke on you too." I whispered, careful to face away from him so he wouldn't smell my breath. He just chuckled. "I think I could handle it. No promises that you wouldn't be doing laundry after that, though." He joked. He turned on the water and softly started to wash my hair. I tried to help, but he just moved my hands out of the way. I ended up just sitting there while he took care of me. Again.
After he bathed me, he picked me up and carried me to my room. He balanced me in his arms while he struggled to open the door.
I just groaned miserably as he struggled to open the door. I would have helped, but all the energy in me was gone, along with all of my insides. Sasuke laid me down gently on the bed then silently left. My stomach still felt weird, so I curled up into a ball, bringing my knees closer to my chest and wrapping my arms around them to help ease the pain my stomach made. My throat burned from the feeling of all that coming up and I could still smell it. I closed my eyes, choosing to ignore all of that and try to sleep. As soon as I started dozing off, however, Sasuke arrived with a glass of water and laid it down on the nightstand beside my bed. I kept my eyes closed and acted like I was asleep so that he wouldn't bother me. Once he left, I opened my eyes and grabbed the water. Sitting up slightly, I quickly drank it, relieving the throbbing of my throat. I put it back down once it was empty and laid back to sleep.
-SasuNaru-Sasuke's POV-
I knew what it was that Tsunade had made Naruto do. As I had to do a weekly report on his condition, I put down everything that I had learned about him. That included him not eating anything, even when around others. The only thing I have really seen him eat was ramen, and that was when we went out to Ichiraku's. I wasn't sure if he then went home and threw it all up, or just left it. What I did know was that he hasn't ate anything since being at my house. The Hokage didn't seem surprised when she read my report and had excused me right after. Kakashi had then told me everything Tsunade was going to be making him do. Biweekly tests to see if he was recovering from everything wrong with him. I resented the thought of them poking and prodding at him, exploring his body while claiming to be helping. I was almost positive that if they did this, it would backfire greatly. I had voiced my opinion to my mentor many times until he promised that he would give the message to the busty blonde woman in control.
With Naruto unusually quiet in his room and the house silent, I decided to read a little. I managed to finish my entire book, which I had started that same day, and clean the house. Although Naruto wasn't the same, he still made the same amount of mess. He left clothes everywhere and cups were scattered around the place, some empty and some liquid still in them. By the time I was done with all of that, darkness had started to fall and my stomach was growling. Naruto was still asleep and I had nothing better to do. So I started making myself food. I didn't bother making more for Naruto, he wouldn't eat it anyways. I made grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. Nothing too big. It wasn't until after I had just started eating that Naruto finally emerged from his slumber. He journeyed into the dining room where I was currently seated and sat across from me. He propped his elbow up on the table and placed his head in his palm. I raised my eyebrow at him before returning my attention back to the food. When I looked back up at him, he was watching me still. Cautiously, I sat up straight and noticed that his eyes didn't move with me. I followed his gaze to notice that he hadn't been watching me, he had been staring at my food. I cleared my throat so he would look at me then raised an eyebrow once more. "If you want my food, you could just ask. I'm not a big enough dick that I would deny you food." I told him, my eyes soft. His cheeks turned red in embarrassment and he turned his head away from me. With a smirk, I pushed my plate towards him, careful not to spill the soup from the bowl resting on it. I stood up from my seat and returned to the kitchen to make another for myself.
When I returned, Naruto had ate almost half of the soup and hadn't touched my sandwich. I looked at him in confusion before it clicked. He hasn't been eating for God knew how long and had forced himself to eat quite a bit of food before throwing it back up. The food he had ate probably caused his body to react normally once more, making him hungry. But he was too worried that, if he ate anything solid, he would end up back in the bathroom with his head over the toilet once more. I snatched up my sandwich from the plate and ate it. I ended up eating the rest of his soup so it wouldn't go to waste (and it was super good, so of course I ate it all) and made Naruto do the dishes. He just nodded and went to it. That worried me a little. Even when he refused to talk to me, he would still argue over cleaning anything when I was able to do it.
I furrowed my brows at him in concern and went to help him. He looked at me in confusion before returning his attention to scrub at the dishes. I walked to stand beside him and grabbed a plate that he had just cleaned. I swiped a rag off of the counter and started to dry it. I kept silent, waiting for Naruto to speak first. We stood in comfortable silence for a minute or two before he cleared his throat. "Ok. You win. I'll give you a chance." He said. I couldn't stop the smirk from forming on my face. I turned to him and swept him into my arms. He let out a yip of surprise as he dropped a plate. I paid no attention to it and kissed him. After a moment, I let go of him and stepped back. His eyes were wide with some emotion that I couldn't read on his face. He nervously shook himself and stepped back. "Uh.. I-I'm just gonna... Go lay down." He said before dashing back to his room. I watched him go, a little hurt. But that was quickly replaced with something I could only call complete happiness. He was going to date me! After weeks of trying to convince him, he finally believes me!
A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed that. It took me a while to write (obviously) and I had to erase the original ending because I couldn't think of another way to end it. So here it is, after months of waiting. I truly am sorry for the inconvenience and waiting. I'll try to put the next one up quickly and wrap this story up. Just a few more chapters left. Thank you to all who reviewed and followed/favorited. I hope the ending satisfied you all and I'll add more sometime soon.