"Why do you care?"

"Why do I care? Naruto, you are such an idiot!"

"That's not helping."

"Well, you're not helping either." Sasuke leaned forward to examine the bruises but Naruto flinched away. Sasuke glowered and asked, "What the hell happened."

"Nothing, I told you. Just let it go." Naruto leaned back against his couch and avoided Sasuke's eyes. "I walked into something. Then tripped."

"Naruto, you know I don't believe that."

"Shut up, Teme."

"Dobe," Sasuke automatically replied. "Just tell me what the hell happened or else I'm never leaving your apartment."

Naruto rolled his eyes, ignoring the pain it brought, and sighed. He crossed his arms and bit his cheek, staying silent.

It wasn't his fault. He didn't start anything. Just some losers who wanted to make a point, about something or other. Naruto couldn't catch anything before he was pulled into an alley and pummeled into the ground. Not that they would tell him anything. They only laughed and held him down and punched him until he couldn't see.

He thought he could hear some words, though. Something like…This will teach you not to show your face around here! Or Get out of this town, no one cares about you!

The latter hurt Naruto much more than the former. The thought made him sad. He knew people hated him, and he accepted that even if he had no idea why. What really hurt though…was the thought that the people who smiled at him every day truly didn't care about him.

All liars; fake smiles all around.

Something grazed across his cheek and Naruto looked up to see Sasuke bending down, looking intently at his face. "Naruto, are you okay?"

He was speechless for a moment. Sasuke looked almost...worried. Soft fingertips grazed the spaces between the bruises, being careful not to hurt the fragile face. Naruto looked closely into Sasuke's eyes, trying to catch a spark of a lie or hateful thoughts that could lead Naruto to believe that Sasuke was just being an ass as usual and would only flaunt Naruto's bruised body to the world once he left.

But he couldn't find anything. He saw concern. Concern and…something else flashing inside of those dark eyes.

"No," Naruto whispered, looking down. "I'm not okay."

He began to cry.

For a moment Sasuke was at a loss for words and actions. He watched as Naruto crumbled before him, lifting up his knees to stuff his face into. A ball of self-despair was what Naruto had become in a span of five seconds.

Sasuke was brought back to life from the sudden anger that boiled in his gut. Someone had hurt Naruto; someone did something to make him cry.

This time I'll protect him.

Sasuke brought him forward and forced Naruto's knees down, out of the ball of tears. Naruto looked up questionably, tears cascading down his scarred cheeks, as Sasuke brought him close into a gentle hug.

This action had made Naruto's emotions go haywire; confusion, nerves going every which way, a nervous notion, understanding and acceptance, and finally, a feeling of thanks washing over his entire body as he sank into Sasuke's hug and laid his head on the raven's shoulder.

Thank you, Sasuke, Naruto thought. The caring hand moved in comforting circles across his back.

Thank you, so much.

-0-0-0-

There's my fluff for the day XD ohgosh, I feel so serene now.
I'm also working on a chapter Sasunaru fic, so please look out for that soon. I'm on chapter…5? I think?
I hope you liked this little thing (:

Please Review! It gives me inspiration to write more D if anyone has a request for a short little thing, I'll gladly read it and think about it (:

Thank you!