Please give great thanks to and shower with adoration Liana Uchiha for betaing this chapter. I'm sure it sorely needed it.

Also Thank: MSYOU, Zika., Pen-Name-Kitsune-chan, PyroD, Liana Uchiha, and Chibi Strawberry Neko for reviewing.

--

Gaara watched as the Hokage's pink haired student spoke with Naruto in a low voice. Normally he would have preferred somebody more experienced, but he'd been assured that she was a better medic then anybody in the Sand. Gaara wondered what Naruto thought of having such a young, talented healer as his teammate. Judging by Naruto's facial expression, he either didn't think she was competent or he really didn't like what she was telling him.

Gaara could see their quiet argument escalating till he could hear
Naruto's sharp voice.

"You're wrong; there are a thousand things it could be! You're just jumping to conclusions!" Her response was inaudible, because she didn't raise her voice to match his. Sakura's control didn't inspire Naruto to excise any as he shouted back louder than the first time.

"Fine, run your damn tests! I can't wait for you and Tsunade to look stupid for making wild assumptions!" He stormed out of the room, casting Gaara a venomous look as he passed; apparently he'd learned who'd written Konoha. Gaara sighed and walked into the room to where Sakura was preparing to run her blood tests.

"What's wrong with him?" She jumped slightly as though startled by his silent approach.

"Well of course it's …" Then an odd look crossed her face. "He didn't tell you, did he?" Gaara blinked his eyes, and she shook her head in annoyance.

"What was he suppose to tell me?" Gaara asked, but Sakura just signed and looked back down to her work.

"If Naruto didn't tell you, it's not my place to, especially when I'm not positive. I'm sure you heard him, it could be a lot of things, maybe even just a cold or virus." There was a final quality to the tone of her voice. Gaara briefly wondered if the ninja academy in Konoha taught its students to give vague answers or if that was something Naruto and Sakura had picked up from their teacher.



As he was walking from the room, her voice called after him,

"Ask Naruto, you have a right to know." Gaara didn't answer, but he did go to find Naruto. Well, he went to look for Naruto, but the blond seemed to have disappeared. Unfortunately, being Kazekage was more than a title, and he had meetings to attend and paperwork to do, but throughout the day, worry about Naruto's whereabouts built in him.

While Gaara preformed his duties Naruto sat on the roof with his high black collar pulled up to protect his face. He hoped that nobody would think to look up here for him; he hoped nobody would think to look at all.

His eyes were dry from exposure to the hot desert wind, but he wanted to cry. He'd yelled at Sakura and lied to Gaara, but he'd known from the very start what was happening to him. He may not have had the brains to use genjutsu, but he wasn't a complete idiot. If he were feeling less childish, he would find Sakura and tell her not to run the blood tests, but he was quite content to just sit on this hot, dry roof and pout.

Hiding only works for so long and simple tests don't take forever. The sun was just beginning to fall from its noonday peak when footsteps alerted him to the presence of another person on the roof. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a mess of pink as Sakura sat down next to him. For a while they were silent; her not wanting to speak, him not wanting to hear.

Finally she spoke.

"I finished the test." Naruto just nodded and she looked at him with sad eyes, "But you already know the results, don't you?" Naruto sighed, his eyes fixed on a spot on the shield wall.

"Did you tell Gaara?" He asked, and she shook her head,

"No, I thought that you should."

"I don't know how. I mean, it's not exactly something a person
can slip in over dinner. How do you tell someone that you're… you're…" He shook his head and couldn't finish the sentence.



"I don't know. I've never had to do it before." There was more silence as the wind blew howling past them, this time he spoke,

"Now that you know what's wrong, are you going to go back?"

"No. I've written my master. I'll be here until you no longer need my abilities as a medic."

"Then you should be heading back tonight. There's nothing you can do."

"It will be very painful, I can help it be less so." Again they fell into silence until Sakura stood up and dusted herself off. Her voice was strangely thick and damp when she spoke.

"I'm going to go see what supplies they have here in case I need to have somebody bring something." Naruto listened to her leave and waited a while before following. He entered Gaara's office and sat down at his desk. He waited till the setting sun painted the office vibrant colors. The door opened and Gaara walked in.

"What are you doing?" He asked upon seeing Naruto seated in his chair. Naruto gave him a sad smile.

"I just wanted to know what it felt like to sit in a Kage's chair." Gaara just looked at him, confused. Naruto sighed, getting up, "It doesn't feel any different than a normal chair. I guess it's the title that the person bears that makes it special. It doesn't matter though; it's not something I'll ever find out."

"What are you talking about? You've been proclaiming your impending appointment as Hokage for as long as I've known you." Naruto gave him a sad look.

"Unless Tsunade stops being Hokage very abruptly, it's not going to happen."

"Oh, surely you don't think she'll out live you?" Naruto gave Gaara a frighteningly serious look.

"I don't think she will, I know she will." Gaara allowed confusion to wrinkle his head, and Naruto smiled sadly, "I'm dying, Gaara."



--

AN: So Naruto sad smile there was inspired by Allen from D. Gray-man I'm-going-to-go-through-myself-under-a-train-because-by-a-completely-unrelated-string-of-events-that-will-obviously-save-my-friends smile. I just felt I'd give credit where credit was do, because nobody does the impending death smile better than Allen. –Morana

AN2: I'll be out of town with no computer for another week. Sorry 'bout that. -Morana