Nameless Desires

Please enjoy and let me know what you think. :-) ~ Jelp

Nameless Desires

Chapter 2: Healing

Sasuke looked at Naruto, seeing the pain in Naruto's eyes, hating that their relationship had come to this. They had been so close once. They had developed a bond, a deep bond filled with friendship and admiration. And Sasuke knew it was his fault. He knew that he was the one that had screwed everything up. They had been the best of friends once...


- - - - - - - - - - - -


"I'm telling you Sasuke, it's a good plan to get Kenji back for all those times that he's been scaring me. If I'm really lucky, he'll finally stop," Naruto argued with Sasuke, lounging carelessly on Sasuke's couch. Taking Sasuke up on his offer to come over whenever he wanted, Naruto had been coming to Sasuke's house every day for over a month since he had first wandered in to Sasuke's yard to fetch the soccer ball.

The two had become instantly close, and although they only had a few things in common it was those few things that made them so close. Besides, they made sure to keep each other on their toes, had fun watching movies, did crazy sports in Sasuke's massive yard, kept each other company, and looked out for each other.

They also both had fun insulting each other - with playful intentions of course.

Sasuke had even bought Naruto a mini-bike for his fourteenth birthday. Naruto had stuttered out that it was way too expensive, but Sasuke didn't care, and he had bought himself one too, saying that they could race around the practically deserted street by Sasuke's house. They were always coming up with bizarre things to do. Well, mostly Naruto was coming up with bizarre things to do, and Sasuke usually went along because they ended up being extremely comical - not that Sasuke would ever admit how much he truly enjoyed them to Naruto though.

"I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm just saying that you'll need help," Sasuke said, smirking smugly. Naruto's face lit-up.

"You mean, you wanna help?" Naruto asked incredulous.

"Sure, why not?" Sasuke said, shrugging. "After all, didn't you say this has been dancing around your brain since the first night you came over? I think I vaguely remember what sparked it off. So, I'll supply the supplies, and you can do the inside work. Though if you're caught," Sasuke said, pointing his finger at Naruto, "this was all your idea."

"Yatta!" Naruto shouted out happily.

With Sasuke's aid, Naruto began to set-up his revenge against Kenji for all those times that the older boy had scared him.

After two days of planning, and another day of setting-up just the right timing to make it look as "realistic" and as scary as possible, the Saturday that Sasuke and Naruto had decided would be the best day to execute their plan finally came around. Mr. and Mrs. Yamanaka would be away for the weekend, and therefore it would be easier to catch Kenji unawares without repercussions from the Yamanaka’s, as well as to prevent either of them from getting in the way.

"Are you in position?" Sasuke asked through the microphone walkie-talkie headset that he and Naruto shared.

"Yes. You?"

"Yes. I have the target in sight at about two hundred feet," Sasuke said as he peered from his hiding spot from across that Yamanaka's yard, watching through binoculars as Kenji walked home from his friend's house.

"Two-hundred feet?" Naruto asked, clearly unsure of the distance.

"By the tree with the bird's nest," Sasuke clarified.

"Got it. First one's a go," Naruto breathed, hoping that the timing would be just right.

"He's coming up the front walk. He's got his key out and is opening the door - now!"

"Second one's a go!" Naruto said as he heard the front door open, and ran to hide out of sight.

Sasuke waited with bated breath as he watched Kenji enter the front door. Less than ten seconds had passed before Kenji ran back out of his house, screaming his head off and running back to his friend's house. Sasuke chuckled to himself, shaking his head, knowing how much Naruto would get a kick out of Kenji's reaction. Sasuke quickly headed back to his house, knowing Naruto would follow shortly after with a video of Kenji's reaction.

As Sasuke had predicted, Naruto came running into his house less than two minutes after Sasuke had arrived, looking extremely triumphant, still laughing like a madman, and waving a video tape around wildly, dumping a duffel bag filled with the items from his prank carelessly on the floor.

"I can't believe he fell for something so obviously fake!" Naruto laughed, still waving the video all around. "You gotta see this!" Naruto said through fits of laughter. He popped the tape he had set up of Kenji coming into the house into Sasuke's VCR.

The Yamanaka's house was set up so that as soon as one walked in, one could either go to the right and end up into the living room, or walk forward about twenty steps and head into the kitchen since there was a wall directly to the left of the entrance. From the kitchen, off to the left, was a hallway, hidden by the wall on the left. Sasuke immediately saw that the video camera had been set up from the kitchen, probably on one of the chairs to stay semi-out-of-sight.

The video showed Kenji as he walked into the house and began to come forward. He stopped in mid motion, his face full of confusion and then horror as a severed head came gliding out of the hallway and into the kitchen. Kenji stepped back, with a look of comical mortification on his face.

Kenji's body stiffened as the camera just barely showed a severed hand glide towards Kenji from the opposite side of the living room through the kitchen and living room doorway. The hand bumped into his right foot, then slowly turn, the fingers of the hand gently brushing over his shoe as it spun and then began to move again. Kenji looked down, horrified as the hand was scraping against his foot, and then-

"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMYYYYYYYYY!" Kenji screamed in utter terror as he ran out the door.

Naruto, laughing hysterically again, as he got up and turned off the video player.

"Did you see his face? And then the way he screamed?" Naruto said, clutching his side. Sasuke merely shook his head, finding greater amusement in Naruto's reaction than Kenji's. When Naruto's laughter finally died down, he reached into the bag and pulled out the clearly fake severed head and hand, along with a camcorder, followed by two of Sasuke's roaming vacuums. "These things are soooo cool!" Naruto said as he looked at the vacuums he had secured the fake body parts to in order to make them look like they were gliding across the floor. It had taken him a while to make it so that the parts covered most of the small, circular vacuum top to make it look as real as possible, and had been afraid that if Kenji looked closely, he would realize what they were. But his plan had worked even better than he had expected.

"I don't think the designer had in mind using them to make it look like severed body parts were gliding across the floor in his original plan, but the fake parts were big enough so that you couldn't really see them too well, at least, on the video," Sasuke said, half amusedly.

"Man, I'm telling you, I should invent practical jokes and tricks when I get outta school. Can you imagine how much money I'd make?" Naruto grinned, clearly pleased at the success of his plan.

"As long as you don't scare yourself," Sasuke chuckled. Naruto merely stuck his tongue out at Sasuke, knowing the older boy didn't really mean it harshly.

"Soooo, what's for dinner?" Naruto asked. Sasuke scowled.

"Dinner? We just had lunch two hours ago. It's not even three yet," Sasuke said.

"But I'm hungry," Naruto whined, his stomach growling in emphasis.

"Why do I put up with you?" Sasuke muttered to himself as he went into his kitchen, came back out and threw something at Naruto's face.

"Mmph!" Naruto grunted as the package hit him square in the face. Sasuke chuckled.

"Teme! What the hell was that for?!" Naruto demanded as his short temper got the better of him, not even bothering to look at what Sasuke had thrown at his face.

"You're welcome," Sasuke deadpanned.

"Eh?" Naruto asked confused, before he looked at the packet as a large grin began to spread over his face. "Ramen!" Naruto exclaimed happily.

"I decided I would finally buy you ramen as a way to celebrate your successful triumph over scaring Kenji. I was going to make it for dinner, but if you absolutely have to eat something now, I suppose it could be our mid-afternoon snack. You make it though, since you're the one who's hungry now. You do know how, don't you?" Sasuke said, smirking.

"Of course I do," Naruto said defiantly, running into the kitchen, but re-emerging half a second later. "And Sasuke, thanks. Thanks for the ramen and helping me out," Naruto said grinning, scratching the back of his head quickly before going back into the kitchen. Sasuke merely smiled.


- - - - - - - - - - - -


Naruto awoke the same night of his successful prank to a vicious punch to his gut.

"Stop it!" Naruto yelled, panicked, as another punch landed in the middle of his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Through the dim moonlight of his bedroom window, he just managed to make out Kenji's face before the other boy began to relentlessly hit Naruto in the face and torso. Naruto struggled as punch after punch after punch landed on his stomach or face. He was blocking the blows to his face with the best of his ability, but he was tangled in his blankets. He finally managed to kick them off from around his legs while still trying to block Kenji's blows. Naruto kicked out at Kenji with his foot. It connected with Kenji's head, but Kenji caught his ankle, and began to twist. Naruto coughed out blood onto his pillow as Kenji landed yet another punch to his stomach as he struggled to release his leg from Kenji's grip.

"Thought your little joke was pretty funny, huh?" Kenji asked, pulling Naruto from his bed by his feet, Naruto's head hit the floor with a loud thud, the sharp pain making him feel dizzy.

"Stop!" Naruto tried again, as he began to fight back, lashing out with his hands, but it was no use. Kenji had him by the feet, and Naruto couldn't do anything as Kenji began to drag him roughly through the house, hitting Naruto's head and body against the sides of the doorframes, and against the walls as he passed through the house. Naruto could feel a burning sensation on his bare back as the friction from the carpet on his shirtless back began to literally burn into him with the force and speed of which Kenji was dragging him around.

Naruto finally gripped onto one of the legs of the kitchen table, making Kenji stop just long enough so that Naruto could twist his body from Kenji's grasp. Naruto scrambled to his feet, ignoring the way that his ankle burned in pain along with the rest of his aching body, as he looked wildly around for anything to throw at Kenji. As his eyes rested on the kitchen table, Naruto reached out, and grabbed the ceramic sugar dish that was on it, and threw it right at Kenji's face. He heard a thudded "ding" as it hit Kenji right in the nose before falling to the ground and shattering. Naruto however, didn't bother to see what Kenji would do to him in retaliation and ran for it.

Feeling cowardly and ashamed, Naruto burst out the front door, his bare feet connecting with the cold and rough pavement as he ran. He limped ever so slightly, and his body began to shiver violently in the cold November air.

He reached Sasuke's house in record time, grasping the cold iron bars with his chilled and shaking hands and tried lifting the latch, but it fell back down on the side of his thumb with a loud clang.

"Shimatta!" Naruto cursed, holding his numb but sore hand close to him, noticing part of the skin had torn off and was bleeding. He used his elbow to thrust the latch of the gate open, and kicked at the bars. The gate opened, and Naruto began to limp towards Sasuke's door, trying to wipe at the humiliating tears that had started and seemed to refuse to stop.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, banging at the door and ringing the bell with his good hand. "Sasu-" Naruto began to yell again, but Sasuke had already pulled back the door, having awoken at the clanging Naruto had made at his front gate.

"Wha-" but the question died on Sasuke's lips as he took in Naruto's appearance. Upon seeing Sasuke's surprised and concerned gaze, Naruto ashamedly turned his face to the side, his body shivering, as a few stray tears rolling down his cheeks and a small amount of blood from what he had coughed up earlier still on the side of his mouth. There were also a large number of black and blue marks over his face, chest, arms, and stomach.

"Do you mind if I stay here for the night?" Naruto chattered out, looking at the side of the doorframe as though hoping it would just swallow him whole, feeling humiliated at having been unable to defend himself and having to ask Sasuke for help.

"What the fuck happened to you Naruto?" Sasuke said, ignoring Naruto's question, and grabbed Naruto on the arm that looked the least bruised. Naruto gave a half shrug, still not looking at Sasuke as Sasuke half led/half dragged him into the living room and sat him down.

"Kenji apparently didn't find the practical joke very funny," Naruto mumbled.

"The bastard," Sasuke hissed out as delightful images of bashing Kenji into a bloody pulp popped into Sasuke's head. Still, he wouldn't let thoughts deter him from Naruto who seemed embarrassed to be in such a state, yet clearly needed some medical attention. "Just sit right here," Sasuke ordered, running up to his bathroom to grab the few medical supplies that he had, literally grabbing everything before running down to Naruto.

Sasuke cursed silently as he took in Naruto's appearance again, wishing that he had more supplies to help clean Naruto up. His face looked a terrible swollen mess, and his ankle was swelling quite rapidly at the same time. Sasuke kept on running back and forth to his freezer, taking out random food items and wrapping them in dishtowels and placing them on Naruto's body.

"Lay down," Sasuke murmured to Naruto, but as soon as Naruto did so, he began to gasp for air before sitting back up again.

"Can't breathe like that!" Naruto gasped, coughing. Sasuke looked at Naruto worriedly.

"I'm going to have to take you to the hospital," Sasuke said, standing up to find his car keys.

"No!" Naruto yelled, reaching out and grabbing onto Sasuke's wrist.

"Naruto, please don’t reveal to me that you're afraid of hospitals or something like that. I don’t care why you don’t want to go, but you need to. There could be something seriously wrong with you, and I don't know how to help you," Sasuke said, hating the fact that he could do nothing to help his friend. Dejected, Naruto let go of Sasuke's wrist.

"You don't understand. If social services have to come to the hospital, and if they find out that Kenji was the one that did this, they'll remove me from that Yamanaka's care due to the abuse!"

"As they should! You should see yourself - you look a mess."

"But if they move me," Naruto said, his voice going quiet, his eyes looking down at his hands, "then they'll probably move me far away from here. I won't get to see you," Naruto mumbled. Sasuke looked at Naruto, his mouth open slightly, before snapping it closed. He hadn't thought of that. The terrible fear of feeling such loneliness again welled up in Sasuke's chest so violently he felt he would by physically sick to his stomach. For one glorious month he had had someone who had taken away that terrible hell of being so utterly alone. He didn't want Naruto to leave either.

"They're just going to find out anyway. You need medical care, Naruto," Sasuke said, pushing aside the thought of not being able to be around Naruto any more. Naruto's well being was the most important thing at the moment. "Besides, it's not like you can't call me and talk to me."

"I'm not going, and you can't make me," Naruto said defiantly.

"We just won't tell them who did it," Sasuke said, trying to compromise.

"No."

"Naruto," Sasuke hissed angrily.

"No."

"You're hurt."

"Yes, I'm aware of that fact," Naruto bit out sarcastically. Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, when several light-bulbs went off in his head.

"How about this - how about I call a someone who is a medical student? She can come over and check you out. If she can't help you, then I'm going to punch you out cold and drag you to the hospital because it's 2:40 in the morning, and I can't deal with you fighting me kicking and screaming the entire way," Sasuke suggested. Naruto just fumed.

"Fine," Naruto sighed glaring, but then winced as he decided glaring hurt his bruised eyes. Sasuke merely nodded before running around his house to look for a particular phone number.

"Damnit," Sasuke muttered to himself, "how many times did that girl give me her phone number, and now I can't find it? I can't have thrown them all out." Sasuke searched through some of his drawers, finally locating a piece of pink paper in the shape of a heart with the words "Uchiha" Sakura written on it with little hearts around the last name "Uchiha." Sasuke looked at it in disgust. 'As if I would ever want to give her my last name,' Sasuke thought to himself. 'You're going to owe me for this, Naruto.' Sasuke dialed the number from his office phone, dreading having her come over, but knowing it was his best option at the moment.

"Who the hell is this?" came a surprisingly awake but clearly annoyed female voice. "Don't you know that it's nearly 3:00 in the goddamned morning, and I was-"

"Sakura," Sasuke said, cutting her off. There was a pause.

"Sasuke-kun?" A disbelieving voice asked, her formerly harsh tone turning suddenly sweet.

"Listen, a good friend of mine was hurt pretty badly. Would you mind coming over and taking a look at him for me? He refuses to go to the hospital," Sasuke said offhandedly.

"O-of course. I'll be right over," Sakura said, before hanging up. One of the things that Sakura had made sure that Sasuke never forgot was that she too had been pushed ahead several grades, and that she was therefore very smart. She had been in medical school for several years now. He knew that she was still only studying to be a doctor, but he hoped that she would at least know enough to help Naruto.

Sasuke also had another motive for having Sakura come over. Due to the fact that it was hard not to hear their bickering, Sasuke had figured out that Yamanaka Ino and Sakura had once been best friends but were now mortal enemies due to their mutual crush on him.

Sasuke knew that even if Sakura couldn't help Naruto, she would at least rub it in Ino's face that her little brother had beaten up Sasuke-kun's friend so that Ino would hopefully in turn beat up Kenji. She could be pretty harsh when she wanted to be. Sasuke smirked. Ah, sweet revenge. No one messed with an Uchiha or his friends. Even though he didn't particularly like the idea of having one of his fangirls in his house, he knew that it was the only way to make sure that Naruto was okay - while also making sure that seeds to revenge against the person who had done this to Naruto were planted.

Sasuke walked back downstairs, feeling as though he had been running around his house for ages in order to help Naruto. Sasuke finally sat down next to Naruto on the couch, looking at him worriedly. Naruto grinned half sheepishly.

"She's on her way," Sasuke informed Naruto.

"Thanks," Naruto said. Sasuke merely nodded. Sasuke asked Naruto what happened, and Naruto grudgingly gave him all the details of their scuffle. Sasuke looked over Naruto, noting that Naruto had icy foods draped all over him, and that Naruto had bandaged his own thumb. Still, Sasuke kept looking Naruto over as though he would be able to better help him. Sasuke listened intently to all the things that had been done to him, hoping to figure out a way to help Naruto. Instead, hearing about what had transpired made Sasuke even angrier.

"I hit him in the nose with a sugar dish. Do you think he'll be okay?" Naruto asked. Sasuke merely snorted. Figures Naruto would be worried about the bastard. Sasuke supposed he was feeling ever so slightly guilty having been the one to instigate the fight by pulling the prank.

"I hope not. He deserved it," Sasuke said. "Just because you pulled that prank on him doesn't give him the right to do this to you. Besides," Sasuke said, trying to be logical, "he really deserved that prank too. He's been taunting and tormenting you since you got there." Naruto didn't say anything, and if Naruto hadn't been in such bad physical state, he would have hit the blonde upside the head in hopes of knocking some sense into him.

Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, not even wanting to know how fast Sakura had driven in order to get here in such a short time. He thought she lived at least fifty minutes away while she was at school, and shuddered slightly as he realized that he hadn't even given her directions. He seriously hoped it was because she had once been friends with Ino and was therefore just familiar with the area and thus where he lived, but he had a feeling she had probably stalked him at some point and time.

"He's over on the couch," Sasuke said in way of greeting as he opened the door and let Sakura in. She looked around the house, clearly excited to finally be let inside, despite the situation, clutching a medical bag to her side.

"Sakura this is Naruto. Naruto, Sakura," Sasuke introduced.

"Hello Naruto," Sakura said kindly, kneeling down in front of Naruto.

"Hi," Naruto mumbled, rather embarrassed. Sakura's face became serious as she began to examine Naruto's body with her critical eyes.

"What happened?" Sakura said, frowning at all the damage done to the smaller boy's body, opening her medical kit.

"Naruto's been staying with the Yamanaka's in foster care. Mr. and Mrs. Yamanaka are away, and Ino's little brother woke him up by punching him in his stomach. He then continued to beat him up, all due to getting a taste of his own medicine of being scared in the first place," Sasuke said, his voice laced with anger, though slight glee as he saw the expression on Sakura's face, knowing that she would be sure to let Ino hear about what had happened.

"I see," Sakura said, her voice steely cold, though it held a small hint of glee as well. Sasuke had been right about predicting Sakura's reaction to such new. "What exactly happened, Naruto?" Sakura asked again, all traces of any glee gone, true concern towards her patient. With Sasuke's prompting, Naruto repeated the exact events that led him to be in his current state, Sakura checking each area that Naruto said had been hit as he explained about what Kenji had done to him.

"It also hurts to breathe when I lie down. I feel like I have something pressing down on my chest when I do," Naruto explained.

"Does it hurt when I do this?" Sakura asked, pressing on different points of Naruto's chest. He hissed in pain and nodded. She did a few more simple tests, using a flashlight with his eyes, and checking his peripheral vision by making him follow her finger with just his eyes, as well as asking if when she did such and such if it hurt and if so how.

"Hmm. Well, it appears that you have a concussion, rug burn, chest wall, a sprained ankle, as well as, obviously, many bruises," Sakura said.

"What's chest wall?" Naruto asked.

"Well, luckily for you all it means is that you strained your chest muscular cavity. The proper term for this type of chest wall is costochondritis, and all you need to take is some analgesia for it. You have the mildest form of chest wall, but you seem to have the most trouble when you lay down. Your best bet will be to prop yourself up when you sleep," Sakura explained Naruto's diagnosis.

"Will I need a prescription for that anaer-whats-it called?" Naruto asked. Sakura laughed.

"Analgesia. Just take an extra Advil - it already has some in it. Also, I'll put your ankle in an ace bandage to help with that. You'll probably need crutches. I'll put some burn ointment on your back and arms where you have the rug burn, and just ice the bruises. The Advil for your chest wall should also help your concussion, but you'll need to rest to feel better. Also, you'll need someone to wake you up every two hours tonight to make sure that you're okay, and that you are able to wake up. If you are unable to do so, you'll need to go to the hospital."

"I suppose I will have to wake you up, Naruto," Sasuke grumbled, as Sakura handed Naruto two pills from her medical bag.

"I could always stay over and do it, Sasuke-kun," Sakura offered hopefully.

"I said I would. You should probably head home," Sasuke said.

"But Sasuke, she drove all this way over. Shouldn't she at least stay the night having woken her up so abruptly?" Naruto asked. Sasuke's eye twitched, while Sakura looked as though she were about ready to kiss Naruto for sticking up for her.

"You can stay in a guest room, but I'll still check up on him," Sasuke argued, defiant. He was grumpy, and his tone of voice left no room for argument. "Good thing tomorrow's Sunday, else I'd have to call out from work."

"Today's already Sunday. It's past midnight," Naruto said, as Sakura wrapped an ace bandage around Naruto's swollen ankle.

"I wasn't supposed to wake up yet so it's still yesterday, - I mean, Saturday," Sasuke muttered tiredly. Naruto decided not to argue the point as Sakura began putting burn ointment on his back.

"Come on Naruto, let's head to bed. You can share mine with me so that way I don't have to get out of bed to make sure you're awake," Sasuke said. Naruto merely nodded. Sakura, however, gave a small "oooo!" noise.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, as they all (slowly) ascended the stair.

"I mean - you two, are you two, you know...?" Sakura asked, somehow managing to look both crestfallen and excited at the same time.

"Are we...?" Naruto asked confused.

"No," Sasuke said vehemently. "Get your yaoi mind out of the gutter. He's only fourteen for crying out loud."

"What is yaoi?" Naruto asked, innocently.

"You probably don't want to know," Sasuke muttered. Naruto just looked confused, but Sakura had to hold back a laugh at the pink tinge that had crossed Sasuke's cheeks.

"But the legal age of consent here in Japan is thirteen, so I don't see what the big-" Sakura began but the death glare that Sasuke sent her made her shut-up.

"I'm confused," Naruto said.

"Sakura's just being a girl," Sasuke said before showing Sakura the first empty room on the second floor giving her strict instructions to leave them alone. She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. Sasuke ignored her and led Naruto up to his bedroom.

Sasuke fluffed several pillows up so that Naruto could lie down at an angle to prevent his chest from hurting, and set his alarm for two hours, took off his shirt, and slid into bed.

"Good night, dobe," Sasuke said, reaching over and turning off the lamp.

"Thanks Sasuke. I – I haven't had anyone take care of me like this since before my parents were, you know..." Naruto trailed off.

"Un. I know you'd do that same for me. Now sleep," Sasuke said, turning over onto his side.

Sasuke's alarm went off two hours later, at 5:55am. He went to hit the alarm, but found an arm wrapped around his chest, preventing him from moving correctly. Naruto had snuggled close to him in the middle of the night. Sasuke gave a sleepy smirk, thinking that he would tease Naruto about how cuddly he was later on.

"Oi, dobe. Wake-up!" Sasuke grunted, throwing Naruto's arm off of him.

"Nnnnnnn," Naruto groaned. "I feel like crap," Naruto muttered, before trying to readjust himself on his propped up pillows, moving them around to she could lay down on his stomach, before gasping and waking up sharply. "Aaah," Naruto said, clutching his chest, as he sat back up, eyes blinking as he looked around the room in confusion, clearly forgetting that he shouldn’t be sleeping lying down.

"You woke up fine, now go back to sleep," Sasuke said, resetting his alarm before rolling over and falling back to sleep.

"Thanks," Naruto muttered before repositioning his pillows, and leaning his head back against the headboard and falling asleep again too.

The second time Sasuke woke up, he noted that it was only 7:30, and was surprised to find that it was not his alarm that had woken him up, but rather Naruto. He looked over at Naruto who had his head propped back against the headboard in what looked like a very uncomfortable position. Naruto’s head looked like it was titled back on a hinge, his mouth wide open while he snored loudly. Sasuke's eye twitched at the noise. He reached over and pushed Naruto's mouth closed, only to note that 1) Naruto didn't wake up and 2) Naruto was actually snoring through his nose. So, Sasuke pinched Naruto's nose.

Naruto sputtered awake, flailing around.

"You're awake again. Go back to sleep, and don't snore," Sasuke muttered, before once again rolling over onto his side.

"Teme!" Naruto yelled, rubbing at his sore head. His body ached, and the teme could have woken him up in a more dignified manner. Naruto leaned forward, took one of the pillows from behind him, and thwacked Sasuke on the head.

"What was that for?!" Sasuke asked angrily.

"You could have killed me!" Naruto exaggerated.

"I'm waking up to make sure you're alive. If I had wanted you dead, I wouldn't be doing this. Do you have any idea how much I hate waking up when I don't have to?" Sasuke grumped.

"Well if you're such an anti-morning person, than why did you volunteer to check up on me? You could have had Sakura do it," Naruto said likewise grumpily. Sasuke muttered something.

"What did you say?" Naruto asked.

"I said you're my friend, and I want to make sure you're okay," Sasuke muttered. Naruto grinned.

"You're still a teme," Naruto said.

"You're still a dobe," Sasuke said back, resetting his alarm as he realized it would go off in another twenty minutes since he had woken Naruto up earlier than the second alarm. Sasuke glanced over at Naruto, seeing that he had already fallen asleep again. Sasuke merely shook his head.

When Sasuke woke up for what felt like the hundredth time in less than ten hours, he turned over only to see that Naruto wasn't next to him.

"Naruto?" Sasuke murmured, concerned. He slipped out of bed, and walked towards his master bathroom to see if he could hear Naruto. The door was wide open, so that was ruled out. He walked out of his room and headed down stairs. He saw Naruto in the kitchen, helping himself to a bowl of cereal.

"Morning!" Naruto said brightly. Sasuke just blinked at Naruto, as though he wasn't seeing him properly. Naruto noticed the funny look. "What?" Naruto asked, perplexed as he poured the cereal into the bowl.

"Your bruises - they're all gone," Sasuke said, incredulous.

"Well, yeah. I slept it off," Naruto said as he poured milk into his bowl. However, it was clearly not enough to satisfy the endless void that was Naruto's stomach as the milk only filled the bowl partially. Naruto frowned and went back to the fridge to get out the other milk. Sasuke looked at Naruto incredulous.

"Your back where all the rug burns were yesterday, are all gone now. You're not swollen at all, and you're walking on your ankle like nothing," Sasuke said, wondering if he was still dreaming right now. Or maybe he had dreamt the part about Naruto getting beaten up at all. Looking at Naruto's hand, Sasuke realized that no, Naruto had definitely been beaten up, and Sasuke wondered if the wound under the band-aid had also healed miraculously.

Sasuke had a half mind to pinch himself to make sure he was awake, but he thought that might look just a tad odd.

"Shouldn't it be all healed?" Naruto asked, confused.

"You did get beat up, last night, right?" Sasuke asked, feeling as though he were missing some key piece of information. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Thanks for putting it so kindly, but yes," Naruto said, somewhat embarrassed.

"But - you look fine!"

"Of course I do! I slept, so I healed," Naruto explained as he topped off his bowl of cereal with more milk before plopping down into a seat and digging in.

"Good morning," Sakura yawned, as she entered the kitchen, her clothes rumpled from having slept in them, though Sasuke could tell she had tried to tidy her hair and look somewhat presentable. She too stopped and stared at Naruto.

"He was covered in bumps and bruises last night, wasn't he?" Sasuke asked her, feeling that something was definitely off he had to ask Sakura a question to confirm his sanity, but at least comforted that she seemed just as stunned as he was.

"Yes," Sakura said, looking bewildered, rubbing at her eyes. "Naruto, how did you sleep?" Sakura asked, concerned and quite confused.

Naruto looked at Sasuke and Sakura, clearly confused. It seemed that everyone was wondering what was going on. Sasuke wondered why Naruto didn't seemed at all perturbed that he was completely fine, when he had been in such terrible shape the night before. Naruto seemed oblivious to the fact that his healing ability was so abnormal.

"Well, the ointment on my back made the pillows kinda stick to it for a little while, but then after I woke up the third time this morning on my own, I felt good," Naruto said through his mouthful. "Why do the both of you look like I've grown an extra head? Aren't I supposed to be all better in the morning? Wasn't that the point?" Naruto said, feeling as though he were missing something.

"Naruto, it's not normal for people in your kind of condition to heal so quickly. Normally you'd be one best rest for a few days, if not a week," Sakura said.

Sakura was looking at Naruto as though she had found a diamond along the side of the road. Sasuke saw the glint in her eyes and realized that with the way that Naruto had been, and the fact that he had healed so quickly, he probably had some sort medical condition or blessing that would make him an extremely interesting case for a medical student to study. He would probably even be beneficial to Sakura if she could bring him in, saying that "she" had discovered him. Sasuke had considered becoming a doctor for a brief period of time, and he knew what kind of discoveries would make a medical student stand out.

"I've always been a fast healer. Guess I'm just better than I thought!" Naruto exclaimed happily. Sakura merely shook her head in disbelief before turning to Sasuke. As though just realizing that he was there, Sakura smiled widely at him.

"How're you this morning, Sasuke-kun?" She asked brightly, as though completely ignoring the fact that she had just found a medical researcher's delight.

"Fine," Sasuke clipped shortly before grabbing a bowl and pouring himself some cereal as well. Seeing as how no one said otherwise, Sakura also helped herself to some cereal too.

After breakfast, Sasuke took Sakura aside. He gave her a check for her time. She looked rather put out that he hadn't offered her something else - like a date - but she acted professional enough to not cry about it.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, as Sasuke was trying to get her out his door, "your friend is a bit strange. He shouldn't have healed so quickly with everything that had happened to him. Perhaps you should bring him to the university and run some tests and make sure everything is okay with him," Sakura suggested gently.

"I'll think about it. Thank you. Good-bye," Sasuke said, before Sakura turned cheerfully and left. Naruto was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, but didn't comment on his bizarre behavior to try and rush Sakura out of the house. He seemed to want to talk to Sasuke alone anyway.

"What am I going to do about the Yamanaka's?" Naruto asked, looking at his hands.

"I'll come with you, and we can work something out," Sasuke stated firmly.


- - - - - - - - - - - -


Sasuke looked across at Naruto, wishing that the pain and hurt that he had caused him could have healed as quickly as Naruto's other injuries. If only a simple apology could heal the mental scars Sasuke had caused. He wished he could work things out as easily as he had when he had gone over to the Yamanaka's with Naruto the night that the Yamanaka's had returned home. Sasuke had been able to easily explain the situation and made it sound as beneficial as possible in Naruto’s favor. The Yamanaka's had been extremely upset that Kenji had done such a thing to Naruto, and didn't even punish Naruto for the prank since they felt he had been punished enough.

In fact, Sasuke could clearly remember the look of loathing on Kenji's face when he realized that Naruto looked find, when he had a bruised nose from where the sugar dish had hit him.

"You haven't answered my question," Naruto said accusatorily, his voice cracking, pulling Sasuke from his musings. Sasuke put a blank expression on his face.

"I was drunk. My head wasn't clear. I don't know what I can do to tell you how sorry-"

"Fuck the apologizes. Fuck your drunkenness. Why Sasuke? You wouldn't have just shoved yourself inside of me for no reason. You," Naruto's eyes closed at the memory, "you had to have enjoyed it at some level. You came, didn't you?" Naruto asked, his eyes still held shut tight. Sasuke looked at his hands, feeling the guilt well up, knowing that yes, he had enjoyed it. Sasuke had wanted Naruto for some time before forcing himself upon him, and the pent up frustrations had built up to a point that had made it so hard for Sasuke not to cross the line with Naruto. Sasuke was truly sorry that he had hurt Naruto, but would Naruto understand that?

"I suppose it started two weeks after you and Kenji had that fight..."


Please review? ~ Jelp