At the beginning he thought the rain had woke him up. It had dimmed a bit, but thunder boomed every now and then… even if it was…what? Three, four in the morning? Gaara wouldn't have to go to work for another three hours still… Gaara.

Naruto woke up a little more, taking into his surroundings and noticing the older boy was wrapped around him, his face pressed against his shirt. That wasn't so rare, they always slept huddled together for warmth and comfort, but the redhead seemed to move closer to him every few seconds and his breathing was a bit ragged.

He straightened a bit on their make shift bed, which just an assortment of moth-eaten couch pillows they had found and their own backpacks for pillows, with their only blanket and Naruto`s jacket on top for more warmth. Gaara made a soft noise and pressed his forehead against his chest. It felt warm, even through the thin shirt he was wearing. His hand extended, touching the mussed red tresses. They were sweaty.

'Gaara? Wake up.' he said, reaching for the other's bony shoulder and shaking a bit.

'Nnno... Kankuro, wait...' the redhead muttered through his teeth, then he let them clatter as he breathed through his mouth. 'Wait, we will be back, wait...'

Then, just like that, he stopped shivering and opened his eyes. A dream?

A dream. Naruto has woken him up. Too bad. He felt like if his eyes were full of cozy wool while his head felt heavy and much too warm. And his feet were ice cubes. He couldn't feel his toes anymore.

Now that sounded bad.

'What is it?' he murmured, then rolled off the blond to let his head fall on the bag and blink a few times. His eyes hurt him like if they were not watered enough. And his mouth felt too dry. Yes, he really worked too much. That must've been it. But it should've go away if he lied a bit more... 'It's time to go to work?'

'No, you still have a few hours… You were having a nightmare?' He touched the other a bit more, his hand sliding through the smooth cheek, frowning at the heat he felt there. He leaned down, pressing their foreheads together. 'I think you have a fever.'

Gaara had looked a little paler than usual yesterday… Sitting up, he adjusted the blankets around the older boy and reached for the canteen next to them, serving some water on a cup and passing it to Gaara. It was safe to drink, Naruto only ever used water he had previously boiled for drinking. He was terrified of either of them getting sick. 'Are you okay?

'...I don't remember.'

No, not true. He remembered very well. And no, not a nightmare. More like a rememberal of his previous life... When the war broke down, their father has been one of the first to fall under the massive and surprising attacks. He always had bad luck and it stayed like that until the end. When hell broke loose, three of them, he and his siblings - older brother and sister, decided to run away from the town. Every city that got attacked, usually was hammered down with biologic bombs which meant horrible diseases. So it was the best choice to evacuate.

The problem was that they were not the only ones to get that idea. They got through the fish market somehow, linking their hands and not letting go even if people around them were threatening to break bones in their arms if they didn't. But if the place was beginning of a mad river, the train station was a whirlpool of insane. They had to kick through the people and walk on them to actually see the train, not to mention getting to them. Somehow his older sister managed to get into that first, holding onto some strange boy with earrings, which lead to them being forced in after her, as they did not let go of each other. But just when they thought they were safe, some old lady started panicking.

'Here's the sick man!' she screamed, pointing at Kankuro, whose face was all smeared in what was left of his kabuki make up (he was in the middle of changing when the alarm struck them) 'He has a disease! He is already sick!' And even if they did not want it and protested against it and held onto him, nothing could be done against panicking mass of people. Kankuro was thrown out from the already moving train.

He remembered looking through the broken roses of the window's glass, seeing the black figure on the station, hearing screaming of his sister and he screamed they will be back, for him to wait, for him to be there, for them... And they never met him again. The redhead opened his eyes as the blond touched his foreheads together. No, not a fever. He couldn't have a fever now. He was just tired. 'Yeah, pretty much. Just a bad dream.' he said, then gulped down the water which felt so good and yet so bad against his throat. It didn't help him lower the temperature. Sleep... he only wanted to sleep...

'Yes, I'm all right,' he said again, then took a deep breath. 'It's just an after effect of eating too much. Go to sleep.' He really couldn't think of any other excuse, even if it sounded so lame he couldn't believe he said that. He licked his lips and breathed again. His mouth were becoming dry again. So fast.

'Y-yeah. More.' he said, then took a cup and drank, slower this time, wetting his throat properly. His eyes glazed over as he felt the gentle caressing of his scalp and looked at Naruto again. Who knew where Kankuro was. It was possible (just possible - not the confirmed truth or anything like that) that he caught a disease and...

Or maybe he got out of the town some other way. He was always good at sneaking out. He looked at the blond. The kid looked seriously worried now and too concentrated on his face. He was all he had now and all he was left with. He couldn't lose him too. And not only loose. His hand slowly descended from under the covers and stroked the blond hair in a gentle manner as he pushed the blond onto his chest and got the cup down the bed. He couldn't drink all in one go, he had to have something for later.

'Sleep I said.' he muttered and closed his eyes. They still hurt him, but watered throat seemed to ease a little in his breathing. Tiresome thing. He was not getting sick. It would worry the blond bug too much. He was not.

Naruto wanted to protest, but he didn't want to stir the redhead even more… Gaara needed all the rest in the world anyway. Three more hours wasn't enough, but it was all he got, and a discussion wouldn't do anything bust waste the time. He didn't know what Gaara had been dreaming and he didn't know why he had looked at him like that, but it worried him. "Please tell me if you are not feeling good.' He said quietly, moving closer to the other so he could pull the blankets tighter to him.

'I'm all right.' The redhead was not under biological attack, was not put into the cold winter wind, was not eating forbidden food. So he couldn't be feeling unwell. But just in case... in case if... He pushed Naruto gently off him and curled with his back to him, facing the wall. Just IF (of course not, but IF) it would be better for not to have two of them on the same railway. 'Too close.' he muttered, trying to sound annoyed, while he actually missed the closeness. 'Night.'

He missed the hurt look that crossed the blonds face at the action, but the younger boy wouldn`t be so easily brushed away. He moved closer again, gluing himself to the other`s back and wrapped his arms around Gaara`s waist, burying his face on the other`s back and nuzzling it a little. 'Good night.'

'Too close.' said Gaara again, trying to move the blond away with one hand, but it seemed to be in vain as the kid has glued himself to his back like if he was drowning. 'Naruto...' The blond stayed in place. Gaara gave up. Well, he wasn't sick anyway, so there was nothing to worry about, right? Right? The next dream he had was imageless but let him know it was not as good as he wanted it to be. Not right.

#+#+#+#

'You are sick.'

It wasn't a question. When they woke up, Gaara still was feverish, but he had brushed off the younger boy's concern and gone to work anyway. Naruto had barely to drink the instant milk sachet that he usually got from that nice office lady who always seemed to buy too many groceries and seemed to like his help carrying the bags. It didn't really taste like milk did, and it was fat-free, because she snatched them from her work and always had a small handful for Naruto when she saw him, but at least it was more than plain warm water and it tasted good with the sugar he got from McDonalds.

Naruto usually reserved them for bad, rainy days for breakfast, but even if it was just drizzling, he had wordlessly dumped the contents of the package on the redhead's cup and threatened Gaara with letting him in charge of cooking if he didn't drink it. Then he'd walked Gaara to work and told him he'd be there with his lunch at the usual time, and that's where Gaara was now. Work. With his bastard of a boss staring at him from under a baseball cap that shielded his face from the rain and stared at him emotionlessly.

At first he tried to ignore him, as usual, and do his best. It was hard though, when his warm head was getting hotter and his dry throat started hacking from the dry air inside. He tried not to cough as the bits of dust got to his nostrils, then tried not to cough when actually his lungs tried to tell him something, but he didn't want to actually listen to them. But it got worse as day got by, At first he almost let go of the heavy packs of cherry wood which was supposed to be used to build a desk for some rich ass in the corporation. Then, in a coughing fit he didn't want to show, he let go of pins and got them around the room, which got one of his co-workers, Zaku, to get wounded in foot.

Then he looked at the wrong part of the schedule as the temperature in his body grew and started blurring his vision and got late for the part of the material he was supposed to move to the backyard. When he got there, the chilly rain that got to him, made him shake uncontrollably as he tried to cut the wood in pieces. When he almost let go of the machine, which was just t h i s close to his toes, it became the last straw.

'Hey you! Redhead!' he heard beside himself. His boss, as usual, wore his sour face and black lenses 'Yes, I'm talking to you!' 'What is it?' he asked, trying to look calm, but his hands still shook and it was impolite to hide them in pockets in front of other people 'Is something wrong?' 'You are wrong. You look like death and act like desperate wanting to get close to it. I don't need such lazy and uncollected things in my corporation. Go home.' Gaara's eyes widened at those words. What? But... It couldn't be!... 'I can work.' he said sternly, though his voice shook for a millisecond 'I can do it better. I will work harder...'

'Don't make me question your hearing boy, or I will fire you.' Gaara's breath came back to his lungs. But if he went home it meant he wouldn't be paid. 'Are you listening to me or not?' The wooden stick hit him across the head, showing that the old man was having a very short span of patience. 'Get the hell outta here!' He complied. But once he reached the door, he was more than down. No work meant no money. No money meant no food, no food meant... And Naruto will be worried.

He grimaced, leaning on the doorframe and coughing a loud, dry cough into his hands. Well, it didn't sound so bad, at least he didn't sound like if he was suffocating dying squeaky pig. But his muscles were already too sore and he was all sweaty from the fever he (as he finally admitted) had, so he opened his jacket and sat near the door, chilling out. Naruto would come in two hours. He could get there by himself, but that was too dangerous. Mostly because the blond could disappear if he hadn't got an eye on him. Everybody in his life were like that.

'At least I will be looking at him nonstop now.' he muttered to himself, smiling. He couldn't do that for long though, his work was a thing that kept them alive. he had to get better and get back. Tomorrow. Or in two days... He coughed again. Yeah, more like two days...