Chapter Eight

Path from the Dark

Sasuke wouldn't leave Naruto's side as they took him to a room to wait. He sat beside the bed once they got him transferred to it. He still hadn't said anything, and no one had done anything with him yet. Sasuke knew that the doctors probably didn't know what to do with him. Naruto, meanwhile, had curled up as much as he could on the bed, with eyes wide and watching every move that Sasuke made.

After about half an hour of waiting, a doctor came into the room. Sasuke looked at him and narrowed his eyes.

"What are you going to do?" he snapped.

"Uh, are you related to this young man?" he asked.

"I'm as close to family as he has," Sasuke told him.

The doctor looked a bit uncomfortable. "I really can't share information with anyone except his family or the police."

"Look, he trusts me, and won't let me leave him," Sasuke growled.

Again, the doctor shifted. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave so we can examine him."

"Fine, whatever," Sasuke said and stood up from the chair beside the bed.

Naruto's head popped up and he pushed himself up to the semi-sitting position that it was obvious was allowed with the tail attachment he had. His eyes were wide and Sasuke knew that he understood what was happening even if he wasn't talking yet.

"It's okay, Dobe," Sasuke said, reaching over and ruffling the hair on the top of his head. "Let the doctors see to you."

He whimpered, surprising Sasuke since he had yet to make any noise. As soon as he made the noise, though, he flinched and laid back down again, his respiration increasing significantly. Sasuke guessed he'd been punished for making noises. He reached out and ran a hand over his head, pausing at the box on the side of his neck.

"I won't be far," he said. "No one's going to hurt you here, I promise. No one's going to hurt you ever again." At the last statement, he cut his eyes back to the doctor. The door opened again, though, and a woman in a white doctor's coat and very low-cut shirt came into the room.

"I'll take over here," she said curtly to the other doctor.

"Dr. Tsunade!" he said and bowed to her. "Of course," he said and ducked out of the room.

"Are you going to tell me I need to leave, too?" Sasuke asked with an arched brow.

She sighed. "I've heard about you, Sasuke Uchiha. You need to let us do what needs to be done with him. He needs to be examined and Inspector Hatake wants photographs of everything before we can proceed. He's out in the waiting room; you should go talk to him."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto and back to her. "Alright. But I want back in here as soon as you're done," he said and stalked to the door.

Immediately, Naruto sat up again and whined rather loudly this time. Tsunade smiled at him and went over.

"He'll be close by, Naruto. I promise, he can come back when we're done," she said gently to him.

Naruto stared at her, eyes wide. She looked back at Sasuke and nodded. "He'll be fine."

Sasuke hesitated but left to go to the waiting room. As he left, Tsunade saw the look that went across the blond boy's face. He was afraid without him there.

There was a gentle knock, and she called out for them to enter. "Officer Umino. Inspector Hatake," she said and nodded toward them.

"Please, Kakashi. And this is Iruka. I have a feeling we're going to be working closely over the next few days," Kakashi said with a nod toward her.

She sighed. "I believe you're right," she acknowledged.

"Has he said anything at all?" Iruka said, pulling out the small camera he had in his jacket pocket.

"Not that I've heard." Tsunade turned to him. "Naruto?"

He turned toward her. So, it was obvious his hearing wasn't impeded. The question was whether he could talk or if this Kabuto had done something to his vocal chords. She stepped back and let Iruka take photos of him where he was sitting. She reached from the gown they'd put on him and he flinched away from her.

"No, it's okay. We're just going to take pictures, alright? No one's going to do anything," she told him, reaching for the tie near his throat. He let her do it without moving.

She pulled off the gown and put it to the side. "Here, I'll take the pictures of the wounds," she said, reaching behind her for the camera. Iruka hesitated then gave it to her.

She took pictures of his back where the tail was attached to his sacrum or coccyx, it looked like. That was going to make removal tedious, especially if he'd bolted it into the bone. She couldn't imagine the pain that had to have put him in. It was no wonder he sat the way he did. There were virtually only one or two positions that he could even begin to be comfortable in. She gently pushed his shoulders so he could lay down and took pictures of his head, moving his hair out of the way to get a good look where the ears were attached to him. She moved down and snapped pictures of the collar he was wearing. Now that she could see it, she had her suspicions as to why he wouldn't talk.

"I think this is a shock collar," she commented, pointing out the box on the side of it. "Naruto?" she asked, and he looked at her again. "Did he shock you with this?" she asked and pressed her hand against his neck. He didn't speak but he nodded almost unperceptively.

She sighed, taking a couple more pictures then setting the camera down. She turned and grabbed a pair of gloves out of the box hanging on the wall and took off the collar. She held it up and looked at Kakashi and Iruka.

"Do you have an evidence bag?" she asked.

Kakashi nodded, pulling a plastic bag from his pocket. He held it open and she dropped the collar into it. "There's the reason he won't speak," she commented as she turned back to him.

Kakashi looked at the collar and nodded. "I think you're right," he muttered.

"I can't lie him on his back with this tail attachment. Any other pictures are going to have to wait until it can be removed. If it can be removed." She sighed and handed the camera back to Iruka.

Iruka pointed to his hands. "And those?"

Naruto picked up one of his hands and looked at it. Tsunade pulled on the glove, finding it not moving or giving at all. "I think he's attached it to him somehow."

"We know he did that early on from the photographs so whatever he used has lasted this long," Iruka pointed out.

Tsunade nodded. "There may be permanent damage to his hands. We might have to try and surgically remove them and see what condition his skin is underneath," she said with a sigh. "But the priority is to see if we can remove that tail. The rest is cosmetic for the most part. At least, I hope so, but we'll need x-rays to see what we're dealing with."

She picked up the gown and quickly tied it back around him, covering his back. He looked nervous still and she couldn't blame him. Everyone was different and he spent months being treated like… what? What was he trying to do?

"You should go deal with Uchiha. He's going to want to see him. Does he have any family we can contact?" she asked, picking up his chart and making a couple notes with the attached pen.

"He doesn't have anyone. He's on his own. His parents were killed when he was a child, and he was raised mostly in foster care. He's been on his own since he was eighteen." Kakashi sighed. "The Uchiha boy and his band are the closest thing to a family he has."

"Well, deal with Uchiha. Tell him after his x-rays he can come back in to sit with him," she said as she stepped out and flagged down a nurse to help her.

They quickly took the bed and headed out to get the tests done on him to see how the attachments had been made and if they were going to be able to safely remove them. Through the entire process, Naruto seemed frozen in fear of everyone that was around him. He still didn't say anything, only watched everyone with wide, fearful eyes. Finally, they took him back to his room where Sasuke was already waiting for him. Tsunade shook her head as she watched the nurse set the bed back in there.

"What can you tell me?" Sasuke asked as Tsunade came into the room.

"You know the answer to that. Unless he can tell us he wants you to know, I can't tell you anything," she said and glanced at Naruto.

Naruto looked back at her and then to Sasuke. It was obvious the fear of speaking had been well ingrained into him over the last few months. Tsunade sighed, walking over to the bed and putting a hand against his face.

"Naruto, do you want Sasuke to know about what's happening?" she asked. "I'm not supposed to do this, but if you are able to show me that you are mentally here enough to make a decision, I'll let you make Sasuke involved in your care."

He stared at her, then looked at Sasuke. He had that wide, frightened look on his face again. He opened his mouth, sitting there for a second before he closed it again. His breath had kicked up a notch and he looked like he was trying to summon the ability to say something desperately.

Finally, he managed a muffled, "Please, yeah."

Tsunade smiled. "Okay, that's good enough for now. We're going to take you to surgery in a little while and remove that tail piece and the ears he screwed into your skull. I don't see any problems with taking either of them out. Once we do that, you'll be able to lie down more comfortably."

Naruto just kind of looked at her then looked over at Sasuke and put his head down on his hands again. Sasuke moved over and took one of his mitt covered hands.

"And this?" he asked.

"We're not sure what is going to be done with his hands. If he used some sort bonding agent to attach them, we may have to remove the layer of skin with it. First, we're going to do what we can with the attachments." She smiled at him sadly. "For now, I've got to get ready for the surgery."

She turned and left Sasuke alone with him. Sasuke held onto his hand.

"Come on, you can talk, he's not going to be able to get to you again," Sasuke told him.

Naruto turned his head to look at him and smiled weakly. "Okay," he said softly.

He didn't say anything else, but looked to be sleepy, so Sasuke didn't try to keep him awake. He kept hold of his hand though, until the nurse came in to start an IV on him. He started to fight her, but Sasuke convinced him to calm down and let her start the IV. The nurse thanked him and talked softly to Naruto to keep him calm. After a few minutes, Tsunade sent for them to come get Naruto for the surgeries they were going to perform. Sasuke waited in the room for him to return.

He put his head in his hands. How could he have been so close to him and not know it? He was literally in the place next to Kimimaro. And he spent three months with him undergoing who knew what horrible things. All because Sasuke couldn't see it even though it was right in front of him. He had all the clues. He had the truth but hadn't been able to do anything about it. They didn't even know the extent of what he'd done to Naruto. They just knew what they could see, and that was bad enough.

He jumped when the phone went off in his pocket. He fumbled it out and saw that it was Sakura. He wondered if he should tell her. He thought it would be better if they knew and could come see him.

"Hello," he said sullenly.

"Sasuke! I've been trying to get hold of you for like an hour! Why don't you answer your phone?" she demanded.

"Because we found him."

"What do you mean? Found who? Wait, you don't mean you found Naruto?" she gasped in shock.

"He was next door to Kimimaro. With that guy named Kabuto." His voice was flat, and he was attempting to keep it emotionless.

"Kabuto-senpai?" she said. "Why would he have Naruto with him? He was doing the things in those pictures to him? How can that be, I've seen him at school!"

"We don't know all the details yet; we just know that he was found there. I'm at the hospital now," he said, running a hand over his head. "They just took him to try and take the tail and ears off of him."

"How is he, though? What has he said?" she asked, and he could hear her moving around in the background.

"He won't talk yet. I've gotten him to say a couple words, and that's it," Sasuke told her with a sigh.

"I'll call the others, and we'll be there. Just stay with him. He needs someone he cares about there for him," she said as he heard keys jingling.

Sasuke nodded. "Alright. I'm waiting in his room."

"Just sit tight," she said and hung up.

Sasuke put the phone away in his pocket and wondered how long this would take. He hoped it wasn't very long because he wanted Naruto to be back and be okay. That's all he wanted. He wanted him to go back to the way he was before. He covered his mouth and closed his eyes. He had to stop thinking like that. After what had happened, there was no way he'd just go back to the way he was before. Expecting it would hurt him, he knew. And he was serious about no one hurting him again. Because he wasn't leaving his side.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Kakashi sat in the waiting room with Iruka. He didn't know why Iruka was sticking around; he didn't need to be here. Kakashi really could have left, too, but he wanted to hear what happened immediately. He sighed, running a hand over his head.

"Sir?" he heard and looked up to see Iruka had brought him a coffee.

"Thanks, Iruka," he said, taking it.

"Are you doing okay?" Iruka asked and sat down beside him with his own cup of coffee.

"I can't believe it was right in front of us. I can't imagine what that poor boy went through while we sat on our hands and did nothing," he said, sipping the coffee slowly.

"There wasn't anything else we could do; we did everything the law would allow," Iruka reminded him.

"Inspector Hatake?" a nurse said from the doorway.

"Yes," he said, standing up.

"I was told you wanted to know when our other patient regained consciousness," she said. "He's awake and seems to be within a stable frame of mind."

Kakashi nodded. "I'll talk to him."

She nodded and led him to the room where Kabuto was lying handcuffed to the bed. He was lying back in the bed, staring out the window. Kakashi reached in his pocket and removed a recorder from his pocket and switched it on.

"Yakushi-san?" Kakashi said as he entered the room with Iruka right behind him.

"Yes?" he said, turning toward him with no real expression on his face.

"Do you remember me?" Kakashi asked as he approached.

Kabuto tilted his head to the side. "You look familiar. I can't place you. I know officer Umino," he said, looking at Iruka.

"I came to your door tonight. Do you remember what happened?" Kakashi asked, seeing they had an IV on him.

He was quiet for a second. "I remember getting up this morning. Then I lost time again," he said.

"Lost time again?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, there's times when I lose time. I don't know what happens during those times, but I think sometimes the Predator takes over," he said simply.

"Who is the Predator?" Kakashi asked, pulling the stool over and sitting beside the bed.

"Me. Sort of. I try to keep him at bay. He does bad things, especially to my Kogitsune," he said, eyes focused on Kakashi now.

"Your Kogitsune? Is that the boy you had chained in your basement?" Iruka asked, standing behind Kakashi.

"Yes, he sometimes has to go down there. Just when he's naughty and needs to learn better. If he was down there, he must have done something," Kabuto seemed to talk about it as though it were normal that he had a captive.

Kakashi was trying his best to keep his face neutral when he really wanted to berate him. He wanted to demand an explanation for why he'd done everything. He wanted to know what gave him the right to take a person and confine them for so long and do…what? They weren't even sure besides the obvious what had happened.

"So, you don't remember anything about this evening at all?" he restated.

Kabuto shook his head. "No…last I remember was getting up this morning and taking my Kogitsune down to the living room for the day."

"Okay, let's not talk about today." Kakashi looked over at Iruka. "Tell me about your Kogitsune."

Kabuto smiled broadly as though extremely happy. "Oh, he's amazing. He's absolutely perfect, isn't he? Where is he? Can I see him? I miss him a great deal already."

"Kabuto, do you understand that you're being arrested?" Iruka asked slowly.

He stared for a second, then pulled on the wrist that was handcuffed to the bed. "Huh. Will I be able to take my Kogitsune with me?"

Iruka and Kakashi exchanged glances. "You won't be seeing him again," Kakashi said, frowning at him.

"Oh. That's too bad. I will be sad without him," he said, lying his arm down.

"What did you do to that boy, Kabuto?" Kakashi asked. "You did alterations to his body. You removed his teeth. Why?"

Kabuto was silent for a moment. "He had to be perfect."

"Perfect?" Iruka asked.

"Yes. But his teeth, that was an accident. The Predator got out when he bit me," Kabuto explained, reaching up with his free hand to adjust his round glasses.

"You didn't intend to pull out his teeth?" Kakashi asked.

"I did, eventually. But he was resistant to my affections," he said sadly. "I didn't intend to do it so close to the other procedures. I wanted to reduce the chance of him going into shock."

"You knew what you were doing could cause him to go into shock. You knew that you were hurting him," Kakashi told him.

"I gave him morphine that I'd taken from the hospital. I wanted to keep my Kogitsune comfortable. That was why removing his teeth was an accident, since I didn't numb him. I was regretful of that. I put the poor thing through more pain than I intended. But he shouldn't have bit me," Kabuto said flatly.

Kakashi shook his head. "Did you abuse him?"

Kabuto turned a confused face toward him. "I punished him when he needed it. I didn't abuse him."

"How did you 'punish' him?" Kakashi said through clenched teeth.

"The easiest way to punish him was for talking out of turn, of course. I ordered the collar. It was very effective. His lovely voice was only for me to hear, and only when I instructed him to speak," he said. "I sometimes had to corporally punish him for some things. He was always receptive to it."

Kakashi did and didn't want to know the answer to his next question. "Did you have sexual contact with your Kogitsune?"

"He made a perfect lover, with a little encouragement," Kabuto said and smiled again. "It only took a few times before I could leave him without being bound. It was nice when he became docile enough to be allowed to stay out during the day when I left, after I knew he wouldn't try to get away."

Iruka released a long sigh. It was as they feared. Kakashi looked at him. "You kidnapped a young man to turn him into a pet?"

"He was perfect. Well, almost. I remember now, I was going to amputate his legs at the knees tonight. He tried to run away for the first time in a long time. His ankles healed poorly as it was, so it would cause him pain later on, so it was for the best, I thought," Kabuto explained. "I don't know why he panicked. He had been so good for so long, my beautiful fox."

"Why a fox?" Kakashi asked, unable to resist the curiosity that he was feeling. "Why would you want to make someone into a fox of all creatures?"

"Because I'm a snake," he said, smiling and revealing his filed front teeth. "And the snake consumes the fox."

"Did you intend to kill him?" Kakashi wondered.

"No! Why would I kill the beautiful fox I created?" he said with a frown. "He is everything to me. My adopted mother died," he said suddenly.

Kakashi shook his head. "Your adopted mother?" he asked, wondering what that had to do with anything.

"Yes, she passed away, and everything went blurry for a while. When I remember clearly again, my Kogitsune was already there. She was everything to me. She saved me from the Predator," he said and looked sad.

"I thought you were the Predator?" Iruka asked suddenly.

"No, not me, the real Predator. The one that attacked me as a child," he said. "I wish I could see my Kogitsune again, just once, to tell him good bye since I can't see him anymore."

"You'll have to live without seeing him again," Kakashi said and stood up. "I'm sure we'll have more questions for you."

"It is best. I have a headache," he said, putting his hand to his head. "I think…" he blinked and then fell back on the pillows in a seizure.

Kakashi grabbed the nurse call and a few seconds later, a nurse came in and tended him until the seizure stopped. She called for the doctor to be informed that he'd suffered another seizure. Kakashi and Iruka were ushered out of the room. He turned off the recorder and returned it to his pocket.

"What do you think?" Iruka said as Kakashi stared at the doorway to Kabuto's room where an officer stood outside.

"I think that man is seriously disturbed," Kakashi said. "I've never had a perpetrator that I believed could use the mental illness defense, but this man…"

Iruka nodded. "How did no one notice anything?"

Kakashi shook his head. "We need to talk to the doctor again and tell her what we know."

Together, they went back to the area near Naruto's room. Kakashi approached the nurses' station and asked if he was back in his room yet. He found that he wasn't back from surgery yet. They asked to have Tsunade come find them in the waiting room when she was done. Iruka and Kakashi then went back to sit down again and wait.

"It was all there in front of us," Kakashi said. "And I didn't see it. I thought he was harmless."

Iruka reached out and took Kakashi's hand suddenly. Kakashi flinched a little, then looked up at Iruka's face.

"You did what you could. We're all at fault for not seeing this. Don't put all the blame on yourself. He was good at hiding things from everyone. I'm sure that there will be answers found in his home. The crime scene unit should have collected evidence by now," Iruka told him with a gentle smile.

Kakashi didn't know what to make of Iruka's gesture. He found himself smiling under his mask anyway, though.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Sasuke looked up as the nurses came back in with the bed. He stood up and moved out of the way so they could position it back in the room. Naruto was lying on his side now, and there was a bandage around his head. His hands hadn't been touched yet, but Sasuke figured they still had to figure out what was used on them.

"He might be sleepy for a little while," the nurse said as she adjusted the IV. "He should stay on his side. If he needs to change position, call one of us," she told him as she adjusted the pillows under his head.

Sasuke nodded and pulled the chair up near his face and brushed his hair back. It had gotten longer over the last three months that he had been gone. He heard a light knock and looked up to see Sakura and Ino standing there.

"How is he?" Sakura asked as she came into the room.

"He just got out of surgery to remove the tail and ears," Sasuke told her.

Ino looked like she didn't know what to do or say. "He looks thinner."

Sasuke nodded. "He doesn't have any teeth. They think he was given a feeding tube."

"Why would he pull his teeth out?" Ino said with a frown.

Sasuke fixed her with a stare that relayed exactly how dumb he thought the question was. She winced and bit her lip. "Oh."

Sasuke felt him move under his hand and he turned back to him. "Naruto?"

His eyes fluttered and opened. He frowned and blinked a little. He locked eyes with Sasuke and stared.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked again. "Hey, you're awake. Can you talk to me?"

For a second, Naruto's eyes widened a bit and he took a quick breath. He licked his lips dryly and Sasuke looked over to see the nurse had left a cup of ice water on the rolling table. "Here," he said as he grabbed it and held the straw to his mouth gently. "It's just some water."

He sucked down some water but kept his eyes on Sasuke the entire time as though afraid he might disappear. He reached out one of his mitt-covered hands toward Sasuke after he put the cup of water back on the table. Sasuke took his hand and held it. He then glanced about the room, seeing Sakura and Ino standing there by the bed. His eyes turned back to Sasuke though.

"Sasuke?" he finally said, voice somewhat off without teeth in his mouth.

"Yeah," Sasuke said, squeezing his hand through the mitt. "I'm here."

"What…what happened?" he said, starting to look around the room again. "Where…where is he?"

"Shh," Sasuke said, putting a hand on Naruto's face and cupping his cheek. "He's not here. He's not going to touch you again."

There was a knock again, and Naruto jerked his head toward the sound. Tsunade came into the room. She noted the two girls and guessed they were friends of his by the look.

"Naruto, how are you feeling?" she asked, stepping up behind Sasuke. "You shouldn't be feeling any pain right now."

He shook his head at her, eyes going between her and Sasuke. He just stared at her for a long time, looking unsure of what to do. Tsunade looked over at the two girls and back to him.

"Can I talk in front of your friends or would you rather they wait outside?" she asked.

Naruto's eyes flickered over to them again and back to her. He shook his head slightly, but not very hard. She nodded and glanced at Ino and Sakura. "If you'll wait outside for a moment, I won't be long"

Both Ino and Sakura nodded, going for the door. They both looked back, expecting Sasuke to come too, but he didn't move, and Naruto didn't seem to want him to. They exited and shut the door behind them.

Tsunade looked at Naruto and nodded. "I'm your main doctor. I've been working with the police since this all started. My name is Tsunade. We were able to surgically remove the tail and the ears with no complications. We don't know about your hands yet. I have a specialist coming in tomorrow morning to see what can be done. I've put you on a liquid diet for now both because of your teeth and because we want to keep an eye on what you eat." She paused and put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "I also put in a request to have a dentist come see you. The sooner we can get you able to eat normally, the better."

Naruto nodded. "I haven't eaten in so long," he whispered hoarsely.

"We're going to do what we can to fix that," Tsunade assured. "Inspector Hatake, who has been on your case since you disappeared, would like to talk to you, if you can. If not, I can tell him to wait until later."

"He's still here?" Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke.

"Yeah, he's been trying to find you this whole time," Sasuke said with a soft look on his face. It wasn't quite a smile, but it was as close as he could come right then.

Sasuke knew his voice was too soft, and far from the Naruto he knew before. He squeezed his hand again. "So, can you talk to him?"

Naruto swallowed hard but nodded. Tsunade smiled a little. "I know it won't be easy, but you'll need to do this. I'll tell him you'll see him and ask your friends to wait in the waiting room until he's done talking with you."

She left, and Naruto watched her go before he turned his attention back to Sasuke. Just looking at him, his eyes started filling up with tears that slowly spilled over.

"What is it, Dobe?" Sasuke asked, frowning.

He just shook his head and let the tears fall down onto the pillow until the door opened again. Sasuke looked up to see Kakashi and Iruka come into the room. Kakashi nodded to Sasuke and then pulled the rolling stool over to the bedside. Iruka stood at the end of the bed.

"Naruto? I'm going to record this, so it's important that you speak out loud," Kakashi said, holding up his recorder. "Just, in your own words, tell me what happened to you a little over three months ago."

He looked at Sasuke and back to Kakashi. After a long pause he started talking, still in a soft voice.

"He took me from the Station. I woke up in the basement. He broke my ankles. Then he…he…he…" he paused.

"Take your time," Kakashi assured him.

"He did it to me…" he said finally.

"It?" Kakashi asked, already knowing what he was talking about after seeing Kabuto.

Naruto's eyes were a bit wide and glassy as he swallowed thickly. "He f-forced himself on m-me…"

"Did this happen often?" Kakashi asked. He tried to keep his expression neutral.

He nodded, then remembered he had to speak. "Yeah… H-he said he loved me when he did it." His eyes had started to tear up again, and Kakashi knew that he wouldn't be able to tolerate much longer.

"Just another question for now. What did Kabuto do then?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto stared for a minute. "He did lots of things. He put the tail and ears on me, put these mitts on my hands and poured something in them to make them stay on, and he wouldn't let me wear clothes. I h-had to sit at his feet like a good pet."

"What happened tonight?"

"H-he said he was going to take my legs off at the knees, and I tried to run away, but I couldn't get far, and that guy was out there…"

"Kimimaro," Kakashi provided. "He put him in the basement with you."

Again, Naruto nodded, but then cleared his throat. "I was scared he would use the collar on me again."

"Okay, that's all for now. I just needed a statement of what happened. The details are something we can talk about later. For now, know that he's in police custody, and under careful watch." Kakashi stood up and smiled at him. "I'll tell your friends they can come back."

He turned and left with Iruka and Naruto just watched him go. He looked back to Sasuke and reached for him again. Once more, Sasuke grabbed hold of his covered hands and squeezed them.

"I'm not going anywhere," Sasuke said gently.

Naruto gave him a small smile and sighed, eyes getting heavy. He was really tired all of a sudden.