Naruto stared at Sasuke who was busying himself around the kitchen. Somehow the Uchiha had managed to convince him to come over to the Uchiha estate for dinner; now Naruto has no idea what to do but to sit and wait for Sasuke to finish whatever he was doing. It has been almost half a year since he had received the all-clear from Tsunade but Sasuke is still treating him like he was going to break into pieces easily. 

The blond rubbed his fingers together, a habit of his whenever he is feeling anxious. He didn't know what he was feeling anxious about but it was making it hard to breathe. Naruto took a few slow shallow breaths, trying to calm himself seeing as taking deep breaths was not working well. His memories had returned to him and so did the nightmares... 

Naruto shivered involuntarily, it was no use telling anyone about it. He shouldn't burden anyone with his stupid little problems anyways. It was awful waking up in the middle of the night in pure shock and terror at the recurring nightmares of the tortures he received when he was a child. He remembered very vividly how it felt when they had cut him open, he remembered the sounds -- screams, probably his own, and the laughter that follows every time the screams rang out. He remembered being left in the dark and muddy alleyway, naked and cold after a night of abuse. It was one of the few memories that felt like it was engraved into his head. He remembered how it felt when their calloused hands ran all over him, the fingers icy due to the winter that has fallen upon Konoha. Naruto pinched himself as hard as possible, knowing that it would leave a massive bruise under his sleeves. 'Snap out of it. Don't be all brooding in front of Sasuke. He has enough problems to worry about. Don't cause more trouble for him.' Naruto mentally berated himself, smiling at Sasuke when he turned around to speak to him. 

Sasuke had been trying everything. He had gone to the library to research, he had asked every single professional in Konoha about how to help a person that was in the mental state that Naruto was in. He made a list of all the suggestions to try to get Naruto to trust him so that the blond wouldn't keep everything cooped up inside just waiting to explode in the forms of tears and possible injuries. 

He had tried every damn thing and yet... nothing worked. Nothing seems to faze Naruto at all. The blond had returned back to the goofy smiling self that something in the back of Sasuke's head keeps telling him those behaviours were fake but he could find no fault in the smiles and the grins and the joyful sound of Naruto's laughter ringing in his ears when Sasuke made sarcastic remarks about people which Naruto seem to thoroughly enjoy listening to. 

Naruto has been returned to active duty a few months back, they were mostly stuck with D ranked missions but occasionally, Naruto manages to score a lucky solo mission after much pleading with Tsunade which left Sasuke stuck with Kakashi and Sakura to the mediocre missions that posed absolutely zero danger except for being bored to death.  

They ate in relative silence, the atmosphere not tense as neither felt that it was necessary to fill the silence with any small talks. The occasional comment was made when they found something weird or amusing about the TV program playing. When they had finished, Naruto insisted that he be the one to do the washing as Sasuke had cooked for him. 

Sasuke would have protested but he remembered how pointless that was the first time this had occurred. The blond had a way with words that tricked him into agreeing that Naruto should do the dishes. Sasuke sat at the table, reflecting on the time when he first met Naruto. They had met way before the academy days, they had both been alone and have never spoken to each other but when their eyes met, it was like they connected... they understood the pain. Even though the eye contact turned into blantant glaring, they couldn't help it when they both turned away sharply to hide the small smile that tugged on the edges of their lips. Their rivalry turned into friendship. Their friendship bond grew stronger and stronger each day. Even though it trembled a little when Naruto pushed him away, Naruto refused his help when the blond was so close to ending it all whilst thinking that nobody cared about him. Even when the friendship trembled, the brotherly love that Sasuke had for him would never. 

Sasuke knows that he cannot make promises like being there for Naruto forever and every step of the way because who knows what kind of unexpected circumstances would arise when the blond needs him most. He thought about Hinata, the girl loves Naruto with all her might but was it true love or is she just infatuated with the way Naruto's personality is? In his long friendship with the blond, he has barely seen the Hyuuga heiress speak to Naruto for longer than 10 minutes. She may have seen him injured but she has never seen him hurting. Sasuke has seen it before and he does not wish for anyone to go through the sheer pain that he saw in Naruto's eyes, Naruto certainly did not deserve to be in such torture. Hinata has never seen the dark, sad side of Naruto. The side that was kept carefully hidden from everyone, everyone including Sasuke until the day he slipped it off thinking he was alone but Sasuke had been there, wanting to ask Naruto if he wanted to talk about whatever that has been bothering him. 

It was a sight he could not forget. The way the blond slumped and dropped to the ground, his eyes glassy as he stared at the ground. There were no tears but it was the lack of tears that hurt Sasuke the most. Tears meant that Naruto was still feeling something. The empty look in the dull blue eyes that were usually bright and shone with hope had meant only one thing. Naruto was giving up.