Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto... you know the rest.

Author's Notes: I had a tough time doing this, there was a lot of off and on writing so things might not flow as they should. I'm still not satisfied with this chapter, I wanted it longer and expected it to go in a different direction. I also felt like I was waiting for something to happen but it was a let down this time around. Don't worry, next chapter will be better I promise!

Well, I hope you enjoy it. Happy reading!

A Breath of Life

The melodious chirping of birds flowed throughout the air, the green leaves from nearby trees twirled on the wind. The first rays of the sun filtered through a broken window of a dark apartment bedroom. The room was bare except for scattered dirty clothing and shinobi tools such as kunai, shuriken, wire, and explosive tags. Oddly enough there was a few senbon strewn about the floor and a kusarigama peeking out from under unrolled scrolls. There was a one legged small table in the corner of the room, a lamp – without a shade – sitting precariously on the table top. Next to it there was a box spring with a bare old-looking mattress settled on top.

Lying on the mattress was a body as motionless as a corpse; unkempt blond hair framed a young lightly tanned face. The child looked… wrong, as if the life were drained from him. He was dressed shabbily in a pair of dark tattered sweatpants and a grey rumpled short-sleeved shirt. His right arm was carelessly strewn over the edge of the bed, knuckles resting on the dusty floor.

Energy seemed to be pulsating around the blonde, once – nothing happened. The sounds of the people outside drifted through the broken window across the room. Twice – the pulse happened again, bringing with it a light breeze through the room and with it came voices.

–ake up…

The boy's bangs rustled, dancing over closed eyelids. The winds were whispering his name as if to rouse the seemingly lifeless child from a supposed slumber.

Naruto, wake up… Get up!

Energy pulsed around Naruto once again and chakra exploded into the room. Cerulean snapped open then lightened to a celestial blue. His back arched, drawing a ragged inhalation of air into starved lungs. Tears rolled down flushed cheeks, the sound of his breaths echoing in the room. Naruto's eyes flew to every corner of the room in confusion, his shaking hands grabbing at his midsection.

What was going on? There was no gaping hole in his gut; there was no crying Sakura or rain. His body ached and even though he was taking in air he couldn't breathe. He was in his apartment? What happened to the Valley? Naruto rolled off the bed, which had been a mistake because a ragged cry tore up his throat at jostling his apparently injured body.

The chakra that exuded his body raged throughout the room with the ferocity of a tornado. It caused the temperature to reach sweltering triple digit numbers.

In the distance he heard a door bursting open and a few anbu flooded the room. Looking for some sort of threat and only finding Naruto's fallen frame in the throes of what they assumed was a panic attack. Naruto let out a choked sob, reaching out a hand blindly to the frozen forms of the anbu. His vision swam and then all he knew was darkness.

-o0o-

" – bit different?"

Slowly sounds flowed around Naruto's prone form, someone was talking. It was more than one person and it seemed like everyone was talking all at once.

"Heartbeat – irregular… monitor"

The beeping of machines appeared suddenly, he was in the hospital? Why? Naruto's sluggish mind tried to figure out what was going on. There was a shift and swish of some sort of material off to his right, or was it his left?

"When will… – wake?"

The words were becoming distant and wavering in and out, he was so exhausted. Naruto attempted to move his head or even open his eyes but his body wouldn't listen. His stomach throbbed painfully and if he could control his facial muscles they would no doubt be contorted in agony.

" –eird, he wasn't the only one to come in like this."

What? Was he sick? What the hell was Kyuubi doing? If he can't fix him then surely Tsunade could, right? Naruto felt trepidation settle in his stomach. Come to think of it, neither of the voices belonged to Tsunade. He tuned back into the conversation that moved over him with them being none the wiser.

"… brought in – hour ago."

He froze, had Akatsuki finally captured him? His heart took off in cold fear and the beeping from the heart monitor spiked considerably – scaring whoever was in the room with him. Wait, akatsuki doesn't exist anymore since the final battle with Pein. The sound of footsteps clambered over to him hurriedly, "Naruto?" Kakashi-sensei?

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" A new voice chirped in with worry and concern lacing the tone. Naruto immediately recognized it to be Sakura's saccharine voice but that didn't stop his heart from trying to beat out his chest.

"Sakura, I thought you were with Kurenai and her team?" Kakashi spoke up with that familiar near monotone drawl of his. He heard Kakashi move toward the door where Sakura "Nevermind that, go get a doctor please."

Naruto let out a distressed whine, his eyebrows twitching. He wanted his eyes to open not his eyebrows to twitch and wiggle like dying caterpillars. "Naruto? I know you are confused about what's going on but please calm down." A familiar voice told him in a soothing tone; it was closer to him than Kakashi's. A warm hand settled on his arm, rubbing it in a calming gesture.

"That's right; you're in the hospital, Naruto." Kakashi said and footfalls could be heard, he must be moving closer. Naruto struggled to raise his heavy eye lids but managed to with a small groan. Everything was blurry for a moment and to his horror upside down. What the fuck is wrong with him?

"W-what the fuck?" The blond rasped, breaking into a round of dry hacking coughs.

"Language, Naruto." The unidentified but still familiar voice admonished lightly with a slightly amused tone. A cup was pressed to his lips and upon realizing it was cool water Naruto drained the cup in no time.

"I-Iruka-sensei? Is that you?" He asked after a moment, blinking rapidly to fix his screwed up vision. Just what the hell was going on here? Iruka wasn't supposed to be in Konoha, he'd been assigned a two week mission last he had heard. "Why the hell is everything upside down?"

Just then a female doctor came into the room with a kind smile lighting her pretty face. "Hello Naruto, it's good to see you are awake." Said the woman with an upbeat tone and all but bouncing over to the bed where he was laying. Just who the hell was this woman? Naruto racked his brain to conjure up an image of the woman in front of him but couldn't. Slowly his vision seemed to right itself and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"My name is Nonō Yakushi and I've heard a lot about you." she told him with another smile, picking up the clipboard in the slot at the foot of his bed. "You've given your friend and Sensei quite the scare this morning."

Naruto was thunderstruck, Nonō Yakushi...Yakushi? As in Kabuto's mother? Or perhaps his sister, did he even have a sister? The blond shuddered, his mouth set in a grim line and his once expressive eyes guarded when regarding the female. The adults were talking around him about his condition and the blond opted to only half listen. He needed to figure out just what the fuck was going on while paying along and maintaining his cool. He started out by examining himself; he cautiously stretched out his arm and had to keep himself from gaping when he realized his reach was a bit…short.

The blond closed his eyes, taking deep breaths so that he wouldn't panic and draw the attention of the adults. Not that they entirely missed his little stretch but chose not to address it in favor of finishing their conversation. He locked down his emotions and the tension slowly bled out of his body and he analyzed the situation with a much calmer mind. He dismissed any thoughts of having been trapped in a genjutsu; he recognized Kakashi and Iruka's chakra signature and those couldn't be faked. Kyuubi, are you awake in there? Naruto mentally reached out to his companion but was only greeted with silence.

"Naruto, are you listening to a word I've said?" Nonō interrupted his contemplations and drew his attention. He looked back and shook his head in the negative, his eyes slipping shut. The blond cursed softly within the confines of his mind, he was so tired now.

"Naruto?" she called out to him again, a hand was placed on his shoulder. "I think he is falling back to sleep." Nonō told the others in the room quietly.

I don't want to sleep; I want to know just what the hell is going on. I'm supposed to be dead because… because… He couldn't even finish the thought, the back of his throat burned with tears. Then a thought struck across his mind with all the force of a lightning bolt. If he was here – wherever the hell here was – did that mean Sasuke was too? He mentally cursed again, dare he hope?

Gathering the rest of his fleeting strength Naruto reached out and grabbed the arm of whoever was the closest to him. His eyes only opened a tiny bit not that it matter because his vision was blurry. "S-Sasuke? Here?" he asked quietly, squeezing the person's arm before his hand fell away and he drifted away into the arms of unconsciousness.

Kakashi looked down at his student, his arm tingling where the pre-teen had grabbed him. His brow was furrowed in thought at Naruto's actions.

"He's asking for Sasuke? Why would he be asking for him?" Iruka asked in confusion, voicing the thought on everyone's mind.

"Well, Sasuke was brought in a little over an hour ago…" Nonō answered with a frown of her own. "They weren't together so Naruto wouldn't or shouldn't know he was here. It is a bit curious though, I've heard that they aren't on the …best of terms, yes?"

Kakashi flipped a page of his book while Iruka frowned, none of them saying a word.

-o0o-

Sasuke was floating, feeling oddly…serene. The corner of his mouth turned up in an almost smile, it was warm and comfortable. It didn't matter where he was or what had happened, all that mattered was that he didn't want to leave. When that thought passed his mind gravity seemed to weigh in on him. A weight was settled upon his chest and made it difficult to breathe properly, with a frown his eyes slowly slid open.

Immediately his vision was assaulted by the most nauseatingly familiar color he had ever had the misfortune to witness; pink.

A noise that was a cross between desolation and discomfort sounded from him, such a noise that Sasuke would deny he ever made were it brought to his attention. Right now though, he was attempting to figure out why there seemed to be a giant pink tumor spawning from his torso.

Alertness increased and information flooded in as his senses, dampened by sedatives, returned. His eyes darted around him, brain waves fluxing at the new information being taken in and filed away. Sasuke was fond of taking in all that he could in order to form quick and precise plans before executing them in a timely manner. His sense of place and memory connected while his muscles tensed to free himself of the thing restraining him to the bed.

Naruto and the battle, rain and blood mixing together, and the piercing pain of a kunai plunging into his esophagus – a welcoming self-inflicted life-threatening injury. After that there was nothingness, he'd expected the burning pits of hell or something much worse. There was no doubt in his mind where he would be going after he died. Sasuke gritted his teeth; his thoughts were getting away from him. It didn't matter because he now knew where he was but he hadn't quite made out the how's and why's of it all.

There were numerous unanswered questions buzzing around in his head that he couldn't answer. Things like why he was in the hospital and not dead was on the top of that very long list. Why there was a head of pink hair on his chest was another question that could be easily answered and dealt with. Or it would have been had he not killed this person's most precious friend not long before he supposedly died. So, Sasuke thought. That can't be explained easily, there's no reason for someone like Sakura to be…cuddling up to me when I – I killed…

He pushed that unfinished thought away with a groan that caused the female half on top of him to shift. "Sasuke-kun?" she mumbled, rubbing her eye in what should have been a cute manner but only managed to bring up the old feeling of annoyance he associated with her general existence. Well, that and the small tendril of guilt he felt when he…killed Naruto.

Information. Nagging information, both vital and alarming was fighting for his attention. Why did Sakura look…different? Sasuke's mind went into overdrive, and he jerked into a sitting position. His movements though sluggish were still abrupt enough to alarm Sakura whom cried out in shock at being dislodge from his person rather rudely. Although, one could argue that sleeping on another was also very rude.

Sasuke frowned; digressing from important matter that he had originally been pondering over was both surprisingly annoying and surprising. He'd remember the last time it was so easy to simply jump from one thought to another without out completing –

"Oh Sasuke-kun, I'm so glad you're awake…"

Sakura was talking, he had tuned her out. Again, another easy and familiar feat – too familiar a thing to do when he hadn't been in her presence daily for a number of years. That thought brought him back to his first point, she looked different – younger.

She kept talking, the words spewing from her mouth running together in an annoying blur that spun around his head. Why did her mouth never stop moving? Sasuke caught the odd word every now and then, something about fruit and visitors.

His dark eyes glared into her being, in itch rising up behind his eyes. Did he dare draw her into the Tsukuyomi? He shook his head mentally, that just wouldn't do right now. Logically Sasuke knew something had to have happened for him to be sitting in the hospital bed. Against his will memories assaulted him of the last time he was in a Konoha's hospital. He stiffened, eyes narrowing and darting around the room – assessing.

No.

Impossible.

Inconceivable.

Sakura offered him some fruit and he smacked it out of her hand, the echoes of déjà vu fluttered around him. Sasuke scowled; his mouth moving and uttering an insult before his brain could properly catch up to him. Then he was moving. On his feet and heading out the door in search of Naruto. He was here, he just knew it – he knew.

His heart lurched and thudded heavily in his chest, just thinking his name brought him inconceivable pain. The raven-haired teen shook his head and tried to focus. This wasn't possible, at least that was what Sasuke was trying to reason with himself but really he was a missing-nin who executed out of this world techniques and somehow ending up in the past was impossible?

"Sasuke-kun!"

He turned, and then swore vehemently. Sakura was running toward him but he only turned and trudged forward, using the wall to support his weight and propel him forward. A nurse walked passed him, his hand shout out and took hold of her arm. The nurse cried out in surprise then settled down when seeing that it was one Sasuke Uchiha holding her.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Where is he?" he demanded, obsidian eyes boring into the woman before him.

"Him? Why would you–"

"Tell me where he is!" Sasuke spat between gritted teeth. He did not have time for this civilian bullshit.

Sakura came to a stop just behind him, looking at him funny – he could see that much from the corner of his eye. "Sasuke-kun, why do you want to know where Naruto is?" she asked hesitantly but still very curious. There was something about the way she said it though that made him pause. He dropped the nurse's arm and she grimaced and rubbed the feeling back into it.

"It is in the room down the hall, third on the right."

He was already making his way down the hall before she could get the last word past her lips. Sakura trailed after Sasuke, pestering him with questions on his wellbeing the whole way.

"Sakura."

The girl in question brightened at the sound of her name on her crush's lips. "Yes, Sasuke-kun? Do you need something?" she asked brightly, bouncing over to his side with a blinding smile. They'd just made it to their teammate's room

"Please shut the fuck up, you're annoying." he said blandly, entering the hospital room and leaving the pinkette standing in the hall with her mouth agape.

Once he had shut the door he released a breath at the same time that another was drawn in sharply. Sasuke turned around quickly, his heart pounding in his ears and his sweat breaking out across his forehead.

"Naruto," he croaked out, clutching the door knob that dug into his lower back.