Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!

Summary: Falling into the trap had been his own fault. He had to deal with that now. As soon as he made it to Naruto, he'd deal with it. Written for snsmonth23 day 18 - prompt: I'll take care of you. Sasuke's POV, SNS, canonverse.

A/N: Another fic for you all! Hope you like it :)


Fear.

Realistically, it had been Sasuke's only option. Take the trap that would result in death, or take the trap that would result in torture—an easy choice. Stumbling into that situation had been a mistake, and that was on him; he was better than that. He'd startled too easily. Danzo's bases of operation hadn't been limited to Konoha, and Sasuke had been assigned to locate and investigate all of them. It was an assignment kept quiet, but Sasuke had already had the knowledge—and the personal interest. Motivation. Anger.

It was his anger that had distracted him.

And the anger.

But it was no matter. He was outside of Konoha, but not far, and he didn't need a hospital—he just needed a safe place. Time. By the time morning came, he would likely be well again. He knew this technique. It was meant to disorient. To confuse, distract, render someone ultimately helpless. Sasuke knew enough to know he would be vulnerable with no one to watch his back, and he knew enough to know that his instincts would take over, if he felt he was under threat—

He needed someone who would defend him, but he also needed someone who could fight back. There was only really one option.

The whispers in his head grew louder, and Sasuke felt the wind at his back. There were visions of shadows all around him. He'd screeched to a halt three times only to realize the tree in front of him had been nothing at all, or had been a person, a friend, a brother, his father—

He'd been tortured by worse. It was fine. It would be fine.

Naruto would make sure it would be fine.

Sasuke broke through his window, and tumbled in.

"Sasuke?!" Naruto yells, and Sasuke hears it from three sides. His vision swims. Naruto is warped and all around him. "What are you—are you okay?!"

"Jutsu," Sasuke manages, and he's sweating. He feels sick. He drops to his knees— "Danzo. Nightmares. It'll pass. I just—"

"Sasuke," comes another voice, and Sasuke looks. "What are you doing here?"

Kakashi. Kakashi? No. This was Naruto's apartment. This was—

"Hey, Sasuke, stay with me," Naruto says—

"Little brother."

Sasuke freezes. Itachi sits on the bed, and pats the place beside him. His face contorts into a smile. It grows wider. Sasuke feels a sharp pain in his chest—cold, wet, metal, metallic—

There's no blood. He looks down.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke closes his eyes and tries to focus himself. Focus on the air around him. There's enough of it to breathe. He's done this before. He's survived much worse. None of this is real. Some of this is real. He has needles all over his body, he can feel them, something is stabbing him, something is stabbing him—

Sasuke's eyes snap open, and Naruto is in front of him.

"I'm gonna get you to the hospital," he says, and Sasuke shakes his head. No. No. That would be worse. That would be so much worse, he could already see the walls painted white, the sterility of it all, the beeping, the whispers, no. No—

Sasuke turns, and the beeping grows worse. Someone is dying. The people are crowding around the bed, Sasuke hears them shouting, he stands to see who it is and there is his mother, blood in her mouth—

No.

No, his eyes need to remain closed.

"Bring me somewhere—safe," he asks, and the sensations are back on his skin. Bugs, skittering across him, the bites of a mosquito, the sting of a hornet, he can feel the need to scratch, the need to slap, the need to—

"Did you say something?" Naruto's voice asks.

"Come this way," Naruto's voice says.

"Sasuke. What are you doing here?" Naruto says.

"Don't move," Naruto tells him.

"Sasuke," Naruto calls. "Sasuke. Sasuke."

"Sasuke."

"Sasuke."

Sasuke opens his eyes, and he doesn't know where he is. Naruto stands in front of him. Naruto stands beside him. Narutos stand all around him.

"Clones?" he asks, and three shake their heads.

"What?" Naruto asks.

"No. Just me," another Naruto says.

"Sasuke. Why are you looking over there?" Naruto asks—

"Look at me," Naruto prompts. "Come with me."

"Don't go that way, Sasuke—"

Sasuke can't do this.

He sits down where he is. One Naruto kneels with him. The rest fizzle away.

He clutches at him, and Naruto clutches him back.

"Are you sure this'll pass?" Naruto asks, and it's panicked. Sasuke nods. "'Cause I—"

"Don't go," Sasuke says, grabbing after him. Had he been going? He'd looked like he'd pulled away—

"I won't," Naruto says, "I'm here."

Sasuke squeezes his eyes shut. He doesn't want to see Naruto's face distort. He tries, for the hundredth time, to dispel the jutsu, but his chakra hits a wall. It's not just a genjutsu. Sasuke would have been able to free himself.

But this was Danzo. He knew how the sharingan worked. He knew how it wouldn't.

Sasuke's anger festers in him like a fire, and his eyes snap open.

Danzo stands in front of him, and he smiles.

The chidori is in his hand before he can even form the thought. And the screech it only for a split-second, but that's all it needs—Danzo's smile vanishes, but so does he, replaced by blue, and blonde, and red.

Blood. So much blood. Naruto's eyes lose their focus. Lose their life. Sasuke can't—Sasuke can't—

He screams.

"Sasuke!" comes Naruto's voice, and Sasuke is pinned to the ground. "It's okay, everything's okay, just focus—can you focus on me? I'm real. I'm real. Okay?"

Sasuke grasps at his clothes. They're unmarked. Unbroken. Sasuke doesn't understand. The blood—the blood had just been there—

"No, don't—don't look over there," Naruto insists, but Sasuke fights him, Sasuke's looking for the blood— "Sasuke! There's nothing there!"

There isn't. There isn't anything there.

Sasuke's vision starts to swirl again. Naruto pulls him back and Sasuke grabs him, too. He holds himself there.

"You're—" he says, staring at him. He keeps spotting—glimpses. Blooms of red in his clothes, gone as Sasuke starts to search for him. "You're okay? I didn't—"

"I'm okay," Naruto says. "You—all you did was punch the bed."

Sasuke stares at himself. Tricked into thinking he could use a technique. He didn't think he was barred. It would take much more to hold his chakra, but to stop him from drawing a blade by fooling him into thinking he already had—

Sasuke sits back, and holds on to Naruto.

Itachi is sitting in front of him again.

"Hello, Sasuke," he says, and Sasuke doesn't answer. He wonders how much of his mind this Itachi is built from. How accurate it is. He's too tall, Sasuke thinks. Sasuke always remembered him like that.

"Come now," Itachi admonishes him. "Not even a greeting?"

Sasuke doesn't answer. Naruto is saying things to him and he can't hear any of them, he can't even make out the words—

"I suppose I deserve that," Itachi says, and he shrinks to Sasuke's level. He sits on the floor, too, and Sasuke presses himself back as far as he can go. He's digging his nails into Naruto's skin. He must be.

"I thought we could study together," he offers, and there's a scroll in his hand. A table in front of them. Are they sitting at a table? Sasuke doesn't— "I've been given a great task, you see, to keep the village safe. What would you do?"

Itachi leans forward. The Uchiha crest is on the table.

"I have to stop the coup," Itachi says, more urgently. "What would you do?"

Sasuke doesn't speak. He cannot. He cannot.

"What would you do, Sasuke?"

Sasuke doesn't answer.

"I think it's the only way," Itachi says, nodding, but Sasuke hadn't spoken. Sasuke hadn't spoken. Sasuke hadn't— "Thank you, Sasuke. I agree."

No.

No.

Itachi stands, and Sasuke tries to follow, tries to run after him, but something wrenches him down, pins him there, Sasuke scrambles against it—

"Sasuke! Bastard, stop—"

Naruto?

"Just stop—it's me! Okay?! You're gonna hurt yourself again," comes Naruto's voice, and it's Naruto's apartment again. It's Naruto's apartment again.

"Again?" Sasuke croaks out, and there's red on Naruto's hands. There's red on Naruto's—

"You broke my lamp," Naruto says, "don't move. Don't move or I'll kick your ass, I swear—you can hear me right now, can't you?"

Sasuke nods. It's his blood. Not Naruto's.

Sasuke's grip grows…softer. He's torn a hole in Naruto's shirt. He hadn't realized.

"I can't clean up the glass," Naruto says. "So just—"

He ties something around Sasuke's foot. A sweater. A shirt. It changes colour in front of Sasuke's eyes. It's bound with purple rope. It's patterned in red and black, a black sky with red clouds—it's nothing at all, except for a single, solitary fan, imprinted on Sasuke's foot.

"I don't know what's real," Sasuke says, and Naruto is next to him.

"I'm real," Naruto tells him. "Just keep holding on to me. You're doing great. D'you know how long this'll last for?"

Sasuke looks at him, and there's a fear deep in his chest.

"I don't know," he whispers. "I don't—"

"You did know," Naruto insists. "You knew when you came in here."

Sasuke shakes his head. He can't. He never knew. Did he ever know? This was—this would be permanent. Wouldn't it? How could he break out of this? He couldn't break out of this. He needed help. He needed to get out of here. He needed to beg for—beg for mercy—

Sasuke grows still.

He can no longer trust his own thoughts.

"I am experiencing fear," he says, and his heart is pounding. "Irrational fear. Don't trust what I say."

Naruto says something, and Sasuke turns to him, but he's gone.

Sasuke is alone, in a room, and it is black. Silent. Sasuke can't hear. He can't even see his own hand. He can't even feel his own touch.

He's lost his senses.

He tries to breathe, but he cannot. There is no air. Sasuke feels the burn in his lungs as he tries. Maybe he is drowning. Maybe this is how it feels. There is nothing to hold onto. No way to scream. Maybe Sasuke was dying, after all. He'd dragged himself to Naruto just to die in front of him.

A final fuck you.

The thought sends something searing in his chest, bouncing off the burning in his lungs. He'd burn alive if not for whatever was holding him down. He hoped it was Naruto. He hoped he'd made it there. He doesn't know, anymore. He feels like he's losing himself.

It's so quiet.

Sasuke wishes he could scream.

It's a searing white light that releases him. It burns in his eyes, but he doesn't screw them shut—he's so relieved to have something to see, so relieved to have a sense, back, he doesn't realize the tears are pouring until his cheeks are wet—

"Too much," Naruto says, and he's holding a light. He's holding a light. "Sorry. Shit—sorry."

"What?" Sasuke asks, and Naruto stares at him.

"You're back?" he says. "Good, fuck, okay—you okay?"

"Yes," he says, "no. What?"

"You were just—gone," Naruto says. "You were just staring at nothing. I kept trying to get you to blink. If you're not okay in an hour, I'm calling Sakura. Okay? I don't care if you—"

He tries to stand, and Sasuke wrenches him back to the floor. He doesn't mean to. It's the panic.

"Sorry," Sasuke says quickly, but he can't let go. "I'm sorry."

"No," Naruto says, "no, I wasn't gonna go, I'm not going anywhere. I just was sitting up. I get clones to—bring us whatever we need. Can you drink water?"

Sasuke blinks.

There's a glass beside him.

"Is that real?" he asks, and Naruto nods.

"Yeah."

Sasuke has to release Naruto to grab the glass. He tries. He really does try.

"No," he says, and his stiff fingers settle back into their grip. "No. Not…yet."

"That's okay," Naruto says, and Sasuke breathes out a shuddering breath. He thinks he can tell, now. These visions come in waves. This one comes with another Naruto, sitting on his feet.

"Y'know, I never asked you," it says, but Sasuke isn't clutching onto it. But it's perfect. Down to the tilt in its smile. It's a perfect recreation. "Why you left again."

Sasuke doesn't reply. This isn't his Naruto.

"'Cause you didn't do it just to hurt me, right?" it asks. "You knew it would, though. You had to. Because you know me."

The Naruto disappears.

The voice doesn't.

"And then you go and take missions, from Kakashi. For Konoha. But you don't even come here. You don't even tell me. I find out from Sakura."

He's looking at Naruto. His lips move, but they don't match the words.

"And when you do come back, it's for help." The voice laughs. "That's it. I guess I'm just useful to you now, right? That's it."

Sasuke swallows. His vision is blurring. He can't read Naruto's lips at all.

"You were so pissed about how Konoha treated me," the voice says, "but now you're the same. You're both the same. I should've known. I should've known the first time we fought at the valley. Remember?"

Sasuke doesn't want to. Sasuke doesn't want to.

"You asked me what I was. Like I wasn't human." The voice continues. "Like I was a monster. I should've known it then. You were the same as them."

No. No, Naruto is wrong, that wasn't it at all, Sasuke feels sick, Sasuke feels the cramp in his stomach, the twist, the stab—

"Y'know, I think the next time you come here, I won't be here at all."

Sasuke's head jerks up.

"I just won't tell you where I'm going," Naruto says. "When have you ever told me? What would it matter?"

"You won't," Sasuke says, but Naruto's let go of him. Naruto is standing. Naruto is moving away, and Sasuke is—Sasuke can't—

"How much longer do you think I'll last?" Naruto asks. "I think I'm already done. You've abandoned me enough. Isn't it my turn?"

"No," Sasuke says, but Naruto just smiles.

"It is. And it's too late, Sasuke."

Naruto disappears.

"I'm not actually here."

"I never was."

Sasuke's eyes open, and he's in an apartment. The window is shattered. The night blows in through the curtains, but the bed is dusty. Made. Untouched. No lights are on. No light has been broken. There's no shirt around Sasuke's foot. There's no picture on the bedside table. No plants on the window sill. No signs of life.

Sasuke is alone.

Naruto is gone.

Sasuke shrinks into himself, and wonders how long it's been that way. Wonders if everyone else knows where he's gone. Wonders if Naruto would even let him find him. Wonders how Sasuke hadn't seen—hadn't anticipated—Naruto had been a constant in all of his life, but Sasuke—Sasuke had never—

"—okay, shh, you're okay—"

Sasuke's eyes snap open.

"—s not real, I'm here—"

He jerks his head up, and Naruto holds his hand up in acquiescence.

"Hey," he says. "You back?"

There's glass on the floor.

There's a shirt on his foot.

The sun is nearly up.

"Fuck," Sasuke breathes, and Naruto catches him as he collapses. He wants to sob. He wants to clutch Naruto to him and scream. The visions were fake but the fear—

The fear is real. The fear is still here. Sasuke can feel it in every part of him.

"You're shaking," Naruto says, and it's soft. Too soft. "Are you sure you don't need some—"

"Yes," he says, because he doesn't. He needs Naruto not to move. He needs Naruto to stop disappearing. If only he could have the visions and Naruto's stupid voice to carry him through them—

"I'm sure. I'm sure."

Naruto settles back down. Sasuke breathes out and twists the fabric of Naruto's shirt. He'll owe him a new one, after this. He'll owe him more than that.

"Thank you," he says quietly, and Naruto's grip on him tightens. He hadn't even realized he was still being held. It might have been the only thing keeping him up.

"Of course," Naruto whispers back, and Sasuke feels himself sag. He's exhausted. He closes his eyes, and the only thing he feels is the warmth of Naruto beside him.

It's the last thing he remembers.


When Sasuke wakes, Naruto is still asleep. The sun is high in the sky, and they've both slowly collapsed onto the floor—

Or, well, Naruto had.

Sasuke seems to have collapsed on top of him.

He pulls back, and Naruto's eyes flicker open.

"Shit," he says, springing up, "sorry, I didn't mean to fall—you okay? Anything changed?"

"It's over," Sasuke tells him, and Naruto deflates in relief. "I'm fine."

"Fuck," Naruto breathes out. "Good. I'm gonna—I gotta clean up the glass. Um."

In the afternoon light, Naruto's apartment is a mess. The sheets are strewn across the floor, intermingling with the glass from the window, the glass from the lamp. It was a standing one that Sasuke had knocked over, and he stands to right it, while Naruto skitters across with a broom—with a stumble and a significant limp.

"Sorry," Naruto says, "my foot's really asleep."

His shirt has a huge tear, just under the collar. Sasuke's doing, too.

"Not your fault," he answers quietly, and something in it makes Naruto pause.

"But it—um," he says, running a hand through his hair. "Thanks for coming—here. I mean, you should've gone to the hospital, but—"

"I didn't know how hostile I would get," Sasuke tells him, and Naruto—begrudgingly accepts it.

"Still. I'm glad. That I could—do something. And that you're doing better, obviously. You're gonna have to tell me what the hell happened to you."

He lets out a stilted laugh and goes back to sweeping. The smile doesn't linger for too long. Neither does the break in Naruto's concern.

"One of Danzo's hideouts," Sasuke explains simply. "That I'm investigating."

He doesn't actually know what to do about this window. Put up some plastic, maybe.

"Right. That's—you did mention that." Naruto presses his lips together, and looks at him twice. He's holding in the words. He may as well have said them, with how obvious he made it.

"I don't need the help, Naruto," Sasuke says. "It was an anomaly."

"You don't need it or you don't want it?" Naruto mutters, taking the dustpan of glass to his bin. "I know you can take care of yourself."

Something in Sasuke softens.

"Need it," Sasuke says, and Naruto's head jerks up. "I know when I can't. Why do you think I came here?"

The question hangs in the air, but it's only a truth. Sasuke knew who he trusted. Sasuke knew where he would be safe. Naruto lets it sink in before he finally nods—once, and then again. He's incapable of keeping his face steady. Sasuke can see the emotion all over him.

"Yeah," Naruto says, and it's a whisper. Sasuke thinks it would have broken, if it had tried to be anything but. "So. You should—recover. For a while."

Sasuke raises an eyebrow, and Naruto goes back to sweep again.

"Here?" he asks, and Naruto nods.

"It's where you came," he points out. "You can go to the hospital, too."

He lifts his head, and Sasuke lets his mouth twitch into a smile. Naruto's trying to trap him. It'll take more than that.

"The jutsu has worn off," he points out. "I'm fully recovered."

"If you try to go back to one of those hellholes," Naruto snaps, and Sasuke is startled at how quickly it comes. "I will kick your ass. And I will come with you. You don't get a goddamn choice. And I'll—write a stupid letter to Kakashi, too, about all this—"

"I'd prefer it to be me doing these investigations," Sasuke tells him. "I do not want to be removed."

"Yeah, but you shouldn't go alone!" Naruto insists. "Not when—you didn't see yourself yesterday, Sasuke. You—"

He breathes out a harsh breath, and goes back to sweeping. Sasuke thinks he ought to grab a….garbage bag, or something.

"I know," Sasuke says. "I'm sorry."

Naruto's head snaps up.

"Don't be," he says, and it's immediate. "Come here. Always come here."

Well.

That settles the fear of Naruto's departure that had been implanted into him.

Sasuke breathes out and sits down on the bed. He isn't as recovered as he's making himself seem. He feels…heavy, all over. Like he's awoken from something awful.

Familiar, familiar feelings.

"You're not leaving today," Naruto tells him sternly, and he's dropped all pretenses of cleaning. "I mean it."

Sasuke lets out a soft laugh.

"Okay," he says simply, and Naruto lets the broom drop.

"I'll—I should—will you take water, now?" he asks, and Sasuke nods. There's still glass on the floor.

Sasuke feels too weak.

Naruto darts back to him in a heartbeat.

"Thank you," he says, taking the cup. Naruto nods. This worry is unwavering. No wonder he had collapsed the moment Sasuke had let him.

"Sorry about your shirt," he says, and Naruto shakes his head. The water is cool on his throat. He hadn't realized it was so sore.

He must have been screaming. He couldn't remember when…

"I don't care," Naruto says, and Sasuke supposes he'd expected the answer. "Um. Food?"

Sasuke breathes in.

"In a moment," he says, and Naruto nods. He'll wait for his stomach to settle. It had always been…touchy, after these types of things. "Your hair is longer."

Naruto's mouth opens and closes.

"Yeah, I—too lazy for haircuts," he says, laughing a little. "Um. Why do you…?"

Sasuke scans his face.

"I haven't returned in some time," he says, and Naruto feels it, too.

"You've been busy," he says, deflecting. Sasuke can physically see the emotion get tucked and locked away.

"I should have returned."

"No, you—"

"I didn't want to think of anything else until it was done," Sasuke tells him. "Until the world was wiped of all trace of him."

Naruto nods his head.

"I know," he says, and the understanding is painful, too. "I know."

"But," he says, and it's with a deep breath in, "I'm sorry."

Naruto shakes his head.

"Don't be," he tells him. "I get it."

Sasuke wants to sigh.

"And I—I mean. I was going to go to you," Naruto says, and Sasuke looks up. "Eventually. If you'd let me. I'd been—thinking about it."

Sasuke doesn't understand.

"You're needed here," Sasuke points out. There's an ache in his heart, but he gives it little attention. It's an old pain. "Are you not?"

Naruto's mouth opens a little wider.

"I—no. I mean, yes, but if you need me—"

"The world needs you," Sasuke says, and Naruto sits down beside him.

"Okay. Here's the thing." He breathes out, and puts his hands in his lap. The bandages are fully folded over the one he'd had repaired. Sasuke had only seen it when it was new. "I don't—care. About the world. If you're not in it."

Sasuke looks at him. Naruto distinctly does not.

"You're gonna make fun of me for saying that and it's a shitty thing to say, but—that's—that's just how it is," Naruto says, "and it's not gonna change, you and everybody else tried to do that already, so just—just know that. Okay?"

Sasuke feels as if he's been handed a bomb.

"I don't think it is," Sasuke says, and it's a low, weak voice. Sasuke's too weak to be hearing this. Too bruised. Too raw. "I don't think that's okay."

Naruto looks at him, and he looks raw, too.

"Naruto," he says, and it's a plea.

Naruto's lips twitch.

"You don't remember anything I said yesterday, do you?" he asks, and the bed sags with the weight he leans back with. "Figures."

"I remember some," Sasuke says, but Naruto shakes his head.

"Yeah. Those bits." He laughs a little. "I just—"

He cuts himself off, looking down. Looking at somewhere on Sasuke. Whatever it gave him, it made him give up.

"I guess it would've been better if you'd come back not on the verge of death," Naruto says, and Sasuke lets out a snort. "But I'm not mad. Really, I'm not. Did you stay away longer 'cause you thought I'd be mad?"

"No," Sasuke says. "...Maybe."

Naruto laughs and rocks his shoulder into him. Sasuke's water splashes a little.

"I missed you," Naruto offers, and that presses into Sasuke, too. He feels himself lean into him, as if it's a response. It's the same lean he'd been doing all night. The press into Naruto's shoulder. Naruto's chest. Naruto's warmth.

He's safe. It's been so long since he's felt safe.

He feels Naruto's eyes on him, but he doesn't lessen the weight. Naruto's offered the shoulder to lean on before. Sasuke knows he wouldn't take it away. It may have been the longest—and the most—that Sasuke's let himself accept, but…

"You're really feeling it, huh?" Naruto teases, and Sasuke tells him to fuck off. Naruto doesn't. Naruto only seems to grow warmer.

"We need to clean your apartment," Sasuke mutters, but his world is growing heavier. He is just—settled. For once. Surrounded by broken glass and the echoes of his own madness, and he couldn't be more comfortable.

"We can," Naruto offers, "later. You need more sleep."

Sasuke breathes out. He doesn't answer. He doesn't have to. Naruto's arm slowly slips around him.

"Drink some more water, though," Naruto prompts. "If you're not gonna eat."

Sasuke gives him a look, but obeys. He has to sit up a little more.

Naruto is close to him. Holding him there. Sitting as they had been when Sasuke had been delirious, with no nightmare to push him together.

Except for the rest of their lives, Sasuke supposes.

"What were you saying to me?" Sasuke asks, and he feels the way Naruto shifts.

"Nothing you don't already know," he answers quietly. Sasuke watches the way his hand moves along the sheets, grabbing the fabric in a soft, nervous motion. Rubbing it between two fingers.

Sasuke looks at him, and Naruto swallows.

His smile is soft. Hesitant, in the way it grows and lessens again.

Sasuke closes his eyes, and tries to remember what he'd seen when he'd read Naruto's lips.

His sharingan had been activated. He hadn't realized. But he could see it.

It's okay. You're okay. I've got you.

He could see it perfectly.

I'm here. It's okay, Sasuke, it'll be okay, just a little bit longer.

The look in Naruto's eyes. The panic. The worry.

Just keep looking at me. Just stay here, hold on to me, I've got you.

The tenderness. The care.

I'm here. I'm real. I love you. I'm here.

Sasuke's eyes snap open. Naruto looks at him, and the tension is back.

"Nothing I don't already know," Sasuke repeats, and Naruto deflates with a small groan.

"You do remember," he mutters, putting his face in his hands.

Sasuke stares at him.

He feels stunned.

"This shouldn't be new to you," Naruto says, muffled into his hands. And it isn't, it isn't, but there were certain things between them that had gone—unnamed. Unspoken. And Sasuke had thought—Sasuke had thought—

This would always be one of them.

Naruto peeks back through his hands, and Sasuke cannot speak.

"Sorry," Naruto says, sitting up. "Here."

The water is shaking in Sasuke's hand. Naruto takes it from him. He tries to stand, but Sasuke stops him.

It's the same grip on his shirt. Sasuke's fingers fit into the hole they've torn.

Naruto settles back down, and Sasuke…breathes.

"Don't apologize," he says, and it's tender. It's—an acknowledgment of something. An acceptance of it. A returned response. An answer in kind.

Sasuke looks at Naruto, and Naruto lets in a shuddering breath. He looks at him like he wants to do something stupid, and for a moment, Sasuke wishes he would. He lets Naruto's shirt go. Lets his hand fall. Naruto holds the water with his bandaged hand, but the one he has left free—

It falls loose, too. It falls open, and when Sasuke's fingers touch his palm, it closes. Gently, hesitantly, but with unmistakable purpose.

Sasuke doesn't flinch. Sasuke doesn't pull away. His purpose is clear, too.

Naruto's breath shudders again.

"So you—" he starts, "you'll—stay for a while, right?"

His hand tightens in a soft squeeze. A question. A plea. Naruto needs time with Sasuke here, and Sasuke—

Sasuke could use some time in a safe place.

"Yes," Sasuke answers, and it feels like a sigh. It feels like he's finally settled. "Yes, I'll stay for a while."


A/N: And that's it for today! My last two after this are for tomorrow and the day after. I think I'm slowing down a little bit, but we'll see!

Thanks friends :)

See you tomorrow,

- Kinomi