Of Harrowed Hearts

Notes:

I regret nothing.
Enjoy.

Chapter Text

When Sasuke had woken from his nightmare, when he'd wandered out onto the streets in search of a deep breath, this is the last place he would have expected to end up.

But here he sits, leaning against the worn bed in Naruto's tiny apartment, staring pointedly at the far wall as he grudgingly allows Naruto to apply bandages and simple salve to the cuts on his arms. Naruto has been pretty quiet so far, which is strange; he hasn't asked after Sasuke's reason for chasing him down, something Sasuke is incredibly grateful for given that he still has no idea what the hell was going through his head, what stray synapse had misfired and sent him careening into motion.

In return, Sasuke hasn't asked after the cause of the strange grief and potent fury he had been witness to. The result is an odd kind of hush made all the more glaring coming from Naruto, who, in Sasuke's experience, never shuts up. But for all its strangeness the quiet is an easy one; he finds he has no desire to disrupt it.

Sasuke watches out of the corner of his eyes as Naruto works, trying to keep his mind off the other question he hasn't asked. Here he is being bandaged for slashes and scrapes, and yet the only evidence of their battle on Naruto's body is a scattering of already fading bruises, wisped away by unseen energy like so much smoke.

Is it some kind of Kekkei Genkai?

He wonders to himself. It's none of Sasuke's business if it is– outside of battle Bloodline Limits are private things, and Sasuke doesn't know the blonde nearly well enough to ask about it. The only thing he does know, without question, is that Naruto is an orphan.

Sasuke casts his gaze around Naruto's little apartment as a form of distraction, taking in the details. He notes that it's surprisingly clean, if rather cluttered, mostly, oddly enough, with scrolls. Small and large, sealing and scribing, they're tucked into every corner, piled up on the tables and stacked in neat pyramids along the floor.

"Didn't realize you were this into reading, Dobe." he remarks, plucking a scroll off a stack near him with his free hand while Naruto finishes tying off the bandage on the other.

"Ya ya, yuck it up." Naruto grumbles, "I don't get things well when people just talk at me, so I started looking things up myself. It works better."

"Clearly." Sasuke drawls, rolling open the scroll to find instructions for a C-rank wind jutsu, Great Breakthrough. "Are these from the archives?" he asks. Academy students aren't allowed in the jutsu libraries, and definitely not allowed to check out C-rank scrolls.

Naruto winces faintly. "Technically no. They're copies though." He tilts his head and narrows his eyes like a suspicious animal, and for the first time Sasuke notices just how deep the dark bruises around his eyes are– the Uzumaki looks like he hasn't slept in days.

If he was this exhausted when we fought, how strong would he have been fully rested?

Sasuke finds he doesn't like his own answer–because it means that without the subtle tip in his favor, it is very possible Sasuke would have lost that strange battle entirely. Unacceptable.

"You gonna tell on me, Teme?" Naruto asks lowly.

Sasuke snorts and hands the scroll to Naruto. "Not if you share." The information stored in these scrolls is not a resource Sasuke is willing to pass up lightly, not if they can make him stronger.

Apparently Sasuke's stomach has decided it's quite done being nauseous, because it reminds him loudly of its presence right then, and of the fact that he hasn't eaten anything since lunch yesterday. "You got anything to eat in this dump?" he asks without thinking.