Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Katekyoshi Hitman Reborn! I just wish I did.

Beta: the lovely Midnight-Kitsune11.

AN: New story time! Thanks to AryaZEvans for the help!

Awakening

Someone is screaming.

No, not someone.

He is.

And he's loud. Very loud.

Loud, without words, and with a hysterical edge to it.

Hands are touching him, holding him down.

And he can feel the desperation clawing at him as he struggles to break free.

He's not sure what is happening anymore.

He remembers being restrained, other people restraining him, remembers watching his friends fighting to get out of the glass prison they are being kept in to get to him and him being unable to do anything.

He lashes out, tries to break free.

He remembers freezing as he spots his parents, unable to move. Dead and covered in blood.

And then he's choking on his own blood, clawing at his throat, trying to close the deep cut that the man with the glasses gave him with a smirk.

Blood red eyes with black markings are all he can see and then pain, pain, pain, pain, pain!

He remembers his Rain dying. He was the first, already gravely hurt from a previous battle. He screams even louder than before as he feels the bright blue flames being ripped from him as their bond is destroyed.

His parents keep on dying. He keeps reliving it. Over and over again. As if someone pushed the repeat button. Only now, he can hear his nii-san talking to him, taunting him. That makes it so much worse.

He used to worship his older brother.

One by one he feels them dying, each leaving an almost unbearable ache behind. With each element that leaves him, he feels his heartbreaking further apart until only a broken mess remains.

His nii-san confesses almost proudly what he has done and clearly doesn't regret it.

He shatters.

He's not sure he'll ever be able to mend the broken pieces of his heart together again.

Pain.

The memories threaten to overwhelm him.

They DO overwhelm him.

The pain continues and still keeps on growing worse until it's all he's aware of.

He can't bare it anymore and his mind shuts down. An icy feeling washes over him and numbs him as he surrenders to the darkness.

Anything to stop feeling.

He's not sure how long he drifts in that darkness. He's lost all awareness of time.

So when he finally becomes aware of something new in the darkness he can't help but turn towards it. A small but bright speck of light appears and he's entranced by it. It's not a conscious thought, and the speck of light is small and delicate. It feels hurt and lonely, but it's still reaching out, even if it is hesitant.

It is also blue and seemed to slowly drift towards him.

He can't help reaching as well and clinging to it, because despite all that, it's warm and it chases the ice away.

It even manages to dull the pain.

Just a little bit.

He basks in the gentle blue light.

He becomes aware again of his body. Slowly but surely.

He's sitting up in a bed, his body is completely cramped up. His muscles still tense and high on the pain he can still feel coursing through him. It's a mental pain, but one that had seized his whole body and left him sore and aching.

However, the blue light distracts him, and he can shove the pain away from himself. Just enough to become aware again of what's happening around him.

He blinks his uncomfortably dry eyes a few times and become aware of a hand that gently covers his own.

It's warm and just like the light he can still feel.

…

In fact, the hand gives off the exact same feeling as the blue light. It never left.

He drags his gaze up and tries to focus on the body attached to the hand. Because yes, it's not just a lone hand, it's actually a whole boy. A small boy. A boy in… orange? Why is he orange? Shouldn't he be blue?

He squints and realises he should know who this is. He knows this person.

No?

Or maybe he just recognizes him? Do they know each other?

His thoughts feel slower than they should, as if they are still trapped in the icy feeling, but the boy is warm and he cares for nothing except that the other is warm and he wishes to bask in that feeling.

He turns his hand and desperately grabs the other's hand in his.

The person next to him is startled, but he doesn't try to make him let go and he has never been more thankful for something in his life.

In his lives?

He shakes the thought away.

"Sasuke?" The boy next to him tries hesitantly.

He blinks again, trying to chase away the haze that still persistently hangs over him.

He knows this boy, they've met before… He's sure of it now…

Sasuke? Was that his name?

…

Yes…

But … At the same time, not?

He had been called something else too… Right?

"Don't leave."

He's surprised to hear his own voice, barely recognizes it.

It doesn't sound like him, not like either of him…

He does vaguely remember screaming as those memories crashed into his mind like a tsunami. Had that been him? The screaming had been so loud that, if it had indeed been him screaming, he'd probably damaged his vocal cords.

The blond next to him watches him with wide eyes but nods with determination.

Basking in the warm feeling and the warm blue light he can still feel but not see, he finally allows himself to relax a bit and he feels his cramped muscles finally loosen up. He's asleep before he realises what happened.

-o-

He wakes back up to shouting and immediately tenses and instinctively reaches for the little blue light. The boy is still next to him, but he's clinging to him and the hospital bed like a monkey as someone in white is trying to drag him away.

His mind blanches and the icy feeling rushes back and briefly paralyses him as he realises what is going on.

They are trying to take his the warm blue light away…

His eyes narrow.

He'll never allow that.

He'll never go back to that darkness again. Twice was enough. Heck, one time had been more than enough!

Power bursts free, fuelled by the immense rage he feels.

And with barely a conscious thought he's up and has kicked the person away.

He's struggling to breathe.

It was clearly too soon since dying to move like that yet. His hands are covered in bright orange flames.

He can clearly see that.

He is so transfixed and horrified to see the flames that he doesn't realise that blue light boy is hovering behind him, or that new people rush in the room.

This couldn't be happening…

Why do these flames feel familiar?

And why is seeing them causing this much fear?

What had happened?

People are yelling at him, but he can't understand what they are saying, because his brain is still messed up and he can't make out their words.

He slowly backs up and unconsciously takes the boy with him. He herds him back towards the wall and away from the people approaching them.

His flames flare brightly, he's determined to keep the strangers at a distance. The boy grabs his hand, seemingly unafraid of the orange flames. Tsuna feels shock course through him at that.

His brain still feels fuzzy, and it's only getting worse.

The darkness is back and this time even the blue light coming from the boy isn't strong enough to keep it at bay.

The last thing he sees is glowing, wide eyes, as blue as the light their owner possess.

…

When he becomes aware again, he feels more lucid. The pain has dulled while he was out, but the icy feeling surrounding him hasn't left. If anything it's back with a vengeance.

The room is darker. It must either be early morning or late in the afternoon..

The blue warmth is gone, and so is the boy…

Why?

He had asked him not to leave.

He stares at the dark ceiling, not caring to move or to sit up. His mind is blank and he honestly can't care less.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun."

But apparently, he is not alone. He feels like scowling in irritation, but can't bring up the energy to act on the feeling.

He doesn't bother turning his head, but he does look at the man sitting next to his bed from the corner of his eyes.

His breath hitches.

Nono?

He turns his head and narrows his eyes as he studied the man.

No, this is not the Kyuudaime.

They had never gotten to nine… Konoha had had a Yondaime at most, not a Kyuudaime.

Still, he has trouble distinguishing the two. This man reminded him way too much of the man that had been so irresponsible with the lives of his own three sons that he had forced a civilian into the mafia world. Who had sealed him away years before, to condemn him to half a life. Who had ultimately forced him to fight and clean up his messes. Which had led to his death.

He struggles to keep his breathing even.

"Do you know who I am, Sasuke-kun?" The man asks calmly as if he doesn't see the boy is on the verge of a panic attack.

He shakes his head.

He doesn't want to know, even if he has his suspicions. He just wants the non-Kyuudaime to leave him alone.

"My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen. I am the Sandaime Hokage." The man introduces himself.

He doesn't react as the man smiles at him. He has seen those grandfatherly smiles before.

He is done thrusting them.

"How are you feeling?" The non-Kyuudaime keeps insisting.

He reacts this time, simply by turning away from the man, staring at the wall on the other side of his hospital bed.

He doesn't want to know how he feels right now. He doesn't want to analyse the non-feeling that envelops him, the numbness that the ice brings. It will only bring back the memories and the pain.

And he doesn't want to deal with either of those.

"Sasuke-kun, can you hear me?"

The non-Kyuudaime sure is persistent, he has to give him that much.

"Can you remember what happened?" Non-Kyuudaime keeps insisting.

He can hear the man move and suddenly he is kneeling at the other side of his bed to look him right in the eyes.

He has to close his eyes as the memories assault him again.

Blood, blood everywhere.

His brother standing over their parents' corpses.

His friends lying dead before him as he's choking on his own blood.

He's never seen so much blood.

He places his hand on his throat to remind himself that he isn't dying anymore.

"Where is he?" He croaked with a hoarse voice, still not healed from screaming earlier. He has no idea how long he's been here. Doesn't want to know.

The Non-Kyu-, no! Sarutobi seems relieved to finally get any sort of response.

"I'm afraid Itachi has become a missing nin and has left the village before we could-"

"No!" he interrupts with a visible flinch. "Not him. The boy. There was a boy here earlier."

"A boy." The man blinks in confusion.

"Yes. A boy." He reminisces. "Blond hair. In orange. Warm. Promised he wouldn't leave. Where is he?"

Sarutobi gives him a smile.

He flinches again.

"Do you mean Naruto-kun? He was here earlier." The Hokage confirms what he had already known. "But I am afraid the nurses threw him out because he was creating too much of a ruckus."

He closes his eyes again. If possible the icy feeling that still surrounds him is growing colder, but he finally has a name for the boy. Naruto…

"He might still be around." The man admits after a few moments of silence. "I can ask someone to go get him if that is what you want."

He can't bring himself to react, he's too far gone into the ice again. The man is still talking, but he can't hear him anymore.

All he feels is himself sinking further and further into the ice, into the darkness that accompanies it.

Times passes, but he didn't register how much.

Until the speck of warm blue light and the warmth are back and slowly but surely start to melt the ice.

"… are real jerks! I didn't do anything and they threw me out anyway! Honestly, I never pranked anyone from the hospital! Except maybe that one guy, but he deserved it and…"

He blinks awake.

The blond boy is back. And he is ranting about something? About the staff?

"Hey, you're finally awake again! You sure sleep a lot." The blond notices with a grin.

"Calm down, Naruto-kun." Sarutobi has moved back into his chair. "Sasuke-kun is still hurt. He needs a lot of rest."

He eyes not-Kyuudaime from the corner of his eyes, but he doesn't want to keep his attention away from the blond for too long. He grabs the blond's hand and squeezes weakly.

"You came back."

The blond grins sheepishly. "I didn't want to leave but those jerks threw me out."

He relaxes at the boy's confession. He hadn't noticed how tense his body had been until now.

He grunts as he tries to sit up without letting go of the other boy's hand. The grin stays firmly on the boy's face as he readjusts the pillow behind him for him to lean on.

He grimaces as his body protests the movement, but he continues to listen as the boy continues talking. Ranting seems to be a thing he does a lot, because he's started again. Talking about anything and everything.

He mentions he'd been sneaking around the village when he'd come across a frenzied shinobi, one of them carrying Sasuke. He had recognized the raven and, curious, he had followed them to the hospital. He'd even managed to sneak into his room once the medics had left.

He wants to snort at the blond's proud face, but he can't find the energy for it.

Right now, the blond seems to be talking about school, how it's being closed the last few days and how he hasn't been able to see their sensei, who he is apparently close to.

Listening to the boy is strangely peaceful. Gripping the blond's warm hand, he can't help falling asleep again.

Hiruzen's POV:

He watches the boy with pain in his heart.

Poor child…

Hiruzen had prayed the last few weeks, that a peaceful solution could be found to deal with the Uchiha matter. He had hoped and prayed to every deity out there and still…

The situation had quickly escalated after Uchiha Shisui had died. Had been murdered? Because Hiruzen found it difficult to believe a child that cheerful and determined to solve the situation had simply taken his own life not an hour after his last talk with the Hokage.

If Shisui had really done that, then something serious had happened shortly after leaving Hiruzen's office. Something so devastating it had made the teen that desperate.

Steel enters Hiruzen's eyes as he lets his thoughts flow.

Had something equally desperate happened to Itachi? Had the young prodigy truly snapped or…?

Was his old friend somehow involved in this mess? Because if he was, that would have crossed a serious line in Hiruzen's mind. A line he had defined carefully to the man, that he had deliberately stepped over then.

Itachi had always adored his younger brother. If he had truly snapped, why had he spared the boy?

Though spared might not be the right word for what he had done to Sasuke-kun, but... Hiruzen shivers even now as he remembers the young boy's screams. He had seen, afterwards, the way young Sasuke-kun had been all but dead to the world. The body was still alive, it was as good as unharmed really, but he had not reacted to any outside stimuli. But he wasn't talking, wasn't eating and he didn't even seem to need to go to the bathroom.

It was like the child's spirit had died.

The only moment Sasuke-kun seems to 'wake up', is when Naruto is in the room.

And hadn't that been strange. Hiruzen had never seen an Uchiha (even a child) react like that and cling to another person like that. He clings to Naruto as if he's the only thing keeping him alive.

And Hiruzen is starting to believe Naruto might just very well be.

Poor child…

Something like this can never happen again. It is high time he pays his old friend a little visit. Hiruzen needs to know if the old War Hawk has finally gone too far, if he has finally stepped over the lines Hiruzen had drawn.

It's not like anyone else could have been responsible after all. The other two people who make up his council would never try anything like what he feared happened without Danzo being behind it, or at least approving it, and no one else knew about the Uchiha matter.

If they had done what he thought they did, if they really had gone behind his back on such a level (and really; how much more likely is it that Itachi had simply snapped without any signs of it?), then it was high time that Hiruzen did some thorough spring cleaning.

High time.

Poor child…

TBC.

Happy Easter everyone!
Let me know what you think, please!