Naruto, Sakura, and Gaara are not my property, they belong to Kishimoto. And as much as Sai wanted to be here, he couldn't make it.

Imagine that nothing after chapter 309 happened...

-------------------------

"Naruto." His calm voice felt comforting as Naruto slowly opened his eyes. He saw Gaara and Sakura leaning over him. The shinobi offered a weak smile, but he felt too drained to do much else. His tired eyes watched as Sakura looked relieved, covering her mouth with a hand as she closed her eyes. Naruto felt something damp on his black shirt and had to wonder if Sakura was crying. He couldn't tell as his eyes drifted closed again.

"Naruto!" Her voice was shrill as he briefly opened his eyes again. He couldn't see Sakura or Gaara this time, only a pale white ceiling and some medic-nins he didn't know. He saw a flash of blonde hair and thought he saw Old Lady's big knockers, but his eyes closed before he could make them out.

"Naruto?" The voice sounded cautious as a blank white ceiling came to focus above him. The shinobi wearily looked about himself. He was in a hospital room and there were tubes sticking out of him. The blond slowly lifted an arm, staring at the various bandages and catheters sticking out of it. When he heard his name being called again, he looked over and saw a worried Sakura. The shinobi smiled a little and before he knew it, the pink-haired kunoichi had wrapped her arms around him. He clenched his teeth in pain but endured. It wasn't often that he got a hug from Sakura.

"Thank you for smiling," she whispered and he could feel her tears against his skin. "When I saw you staring at the ceiling with a blank look on your face... You looked just like Sasuke-kun... I-I was afraid..." She trailed off, unable to finish as more tears fell. Naruto only smiled softly as he reached up, placing a hand against her hair.

"Naruto," Gaara's voice came from across the room as the Kazekage walked over to the two. Taking the other side of the bed, Gaara placed a hand on Naruto's thigh. Sakura pulled back, wiping her eyes with a sniffle. Gaara leaned over Naruto, picking up a tissue box and offering it to Sakura. The kunoichi took it with a smile, turning to blow her nose. Naruto watched them, still smiling a little. It hadn't occurred to him yet to be questioning as to why the Kazekage was in the room with them at the moment, since the Chuunin exams in Suna should have started now, but he didn't bother. Right now, he was wondering why he hurt so much and why Sakura was crying. And why Gaara's movements looked a bit sluggish.

Gaara must have picked up on Naruto's curiosity as he said, "you were out from injuries for about a week, Naruto. And you don't remember what had happened." Naruto shook his head slowly, looking down at his body and fully registering how many bandages really covered him. He frowned a bit. He looked just as he did before, when Sasuke and he fought when they were twelve.

With a start, Naruto looked at the two with wide eyes. His lips parted as he began to form the question, but Gaara was already nodding while Sakura looked away, closing her eyes. The shinobi gritted his teeth as he looked down at his lap. He had let the Kyuubi's chakra take over him again. He must've grown the fourth tail once more. He clenched his fists as he closed his eyes.

"What happened?" the words coming from his throat hurt like hell, but he had to know. Gaara sighed, eyes closed as Sakura inhaled shakily. Naruto felt his heart clench with worry. He readied himself to hear the worst. He massacred his teammates, he decimated a part of Konoha or Suna, or maybe he mauled innocent shinobi.

"On our way to Suna, the Akatsuki attacked us, intent on capturing you, Naruto... But..." she bit her lip, looking to him. "Sasuke-kun intervened." Naruto's eyes shot open as he stared at Sakura. Sasuke?!

"However, the Uchiha immediately headed straight for his elder brother the moment he saw him," Gaara continued as he looked out the window at the peaceful sandy hills of Suna. "Chaos happened. By the time we came in, a lot of Konoha shinobi were already dead. Luckily, you weren't too far from Suna." Naruto held his breath, wondering about Sasuke. Gaara picked up on his thought as he tilted his head, resuming.

"The Uchiha turned into," his mouth scrunched up as he looked back to Naruto, "into a form with long hair, lipstick... and hand wings." Naruto stared at Gaara, knowing what form the Kazekage was talking about. But Gaara looked more amused about it than anything. Under different circumstances, Naruto would laugh along with him, but he had to know what had happened.

"And? What about Sasuke? What happened to Sasuke?!" he questioned, unknowing to his frantic voice. Sakura's eyes looked down as she bit her lip.

"He got away... but barely. Yamato-taichou said that he was still alive. A few hunter-nin attempted to track him, but they couldn't... Not even Pakkun," she sounded grim, but Naruto felt relieved as he slowly exhaled. He looked over at Gaara, moving to sit up straighter in the bed.

"What else?" Obviously, he hadn't hurt anyone if Gaara and Sakura were looking at him like that. So the bad news was just Sasuke. Naruto could take that.

"Everyone on our teams were fine..." Sakura said though she looked slightly sad. "A few genin didn't make it."

"The Akatsuki retreated and the Chuunin exams are on hold until they've made sure that it's safe," Gaara said carefully, his eyes studying Naruto. "We need to talk." Naruto blinked as Sakura moved to stand. The blond looked to her and she weakly smiled to him before exiting.

"Ah, Sakura-"

"You're letting the Kyuubi absorb you," Gaara interrupted Naruto with a tone that demanded attention. Naruto glanced to Gaara before looking out the window. He didn't reply and it didn't seem that Gaara was waiting for a reply. "You have to stop, Naruto. You know what could happen..."

"I'd shave off my eyebrows and put on a lot of eyeliner, right?" Naruto grinned to Gaara, a sad attempt at a joke. Gaara's expression didn't look amused as Naruto leaned against the pillows. He scratched at his hair, nodding as the grin faded.

"Tsunade's here and so is Jiraiya. After Tsunade takes a final check on you, Jiraiya will escort you back to Konoha. Naruto... It is imperative that you do not rely on the Kyuubi anymore. You would be considered dangerous," Gaara leaned forward, placing his hand on the other side of Naruto. "They will lock you up. And I don't want that." He paused before leaning closer. "Sakura doesn't want it either." Naruto stared at him, eyebrows knitted together at how close Gaara was as he rested his hands on his injured stomach.

"I-" Gaara pressed his lips against Naruto's before he could speak. The blond jerked slightly but when Gaara's hand lightly trailed over his side, Naruto relaxed. It was Gaara, a fellow jinchuuriki and one of his closest friends. And a really good kisser as he closed his eyes, allowing Gaara to kiss him for a moment more before pulling away.

"I won't let it happen," Gaara murmured, his lips brushing over Naruto's. "I'll break you out and drag you over here..." Naruto couldn't help but to grin a bit.

"You're sounding a bit crazy, Gaara..." he liked the feeling of Gaara's lips near his as he moved forward kiss the Kazekage again. After a few minutes, there was a soft knock at the door. The two quickly ceased their actions as the door opened and Sakura walked in. Naruto, now definitely more awake, gave her his best grin as Gaara smirked slightly. She shut the door behind herself, giving the two a dubious once-over.

"You know," she drawled, slowly walking over to them with her hands behind her back. "You gave Hinata a heart-attack..." Naruto's grin faded a bit as he glanced to Gaara. The Kazekage was staring at Sakura as he extended his hand to her. Sand floated over and wrapped around her waist, dragging her towards the bed. The kunoichi looked surprised as she sat down.

"What are you- hey!" she sharply squeaked as Gaara's hand gripped her upper arm and he yanked her towards him and kissed her a lot rougher than he had Naruto. The blond shinobi chuckled as Gaara pulled away from Sakura, who was staring at him with wide eyes and heavily blushed cheeks.

"Let her have her heart-attack," Gaara replied, grinning ferally. "We'll just have sex right here then, right Naruto?" Naruto laughed hard, grabbing at his sides.

"Ow! No-haha!" He laughed, his body pressing into the pillows as he tried to suppress his laughter from hurting him. Sakura blinked as she smacked at Gaara's arm, forcing her appendage out of his grip. The heavy atmosphere from before had left them as the three smiled easier now.

"Look at what you're doing to him!" she scolded, obviously using Naruto's pain as a diversion as she scooted over to her fellow teammate and cuddling his head on her lap. Naruto looked up at her, grinning still. She felt her cheeks blush as she huffed, jabbing at his side and muttering. "You seem better already."

"Ow, Sakura!" Naruto whined a bit as he rubbed his side. Gaara watched them before moving on top of Naruto's injured legs and placing his head on Sakura's lap as well. The two blinked at him as Sakura arched a brow.

"Aren't you concerned that your shinobi will see you like this?" she slowly questioned. Gaara only shrugged.

"A once-murdering monster cuddling up to two shinobi?" he slowly grinned, looking up at Sakura out of the corner of his eye, "they'll have a heart-attack." Naruto stared at Gaara, giving him an odd look as Sakura rolled her eyes.

"You really need to work on your smile," he stated, reaching up to pinch at one of Gaara's cheeks. But Sakura quickly grabbed his hand before he could as she glared to him.

"We've already degraded the Kazekage, no need to do his reputation any further harm," she reprimanded as she released Naruto's hand. He sighed, but didn't say anything as he recuperated from the pain the laughter gave him. He knew what Gaara was talking about as his grin faded as he stared at Sakura's strong legs. He could feel how restless the Kyuubi was within him. But he had to get Sasuke back... somehow. He'd have to find out a way. Perhaps Kakashi would know...

The three sat like that in silence, Gaara and Sakura looking out the window while Naruto closed his eyes. It didn't take much for him to drift back to sleep. He could remember feeling Gaara get off of the bed and Sakura leaning over him, saying something about how something was unfair and then feeling something pressed to his lips. Naruto smiled as he drifted farther to sleep.

---------------

I suck at this thing called fanfiction. I really do.