Naruto was so busy thinking about this he didn't even notice he had arrived at is room until the door smashed into his face.

"Holy Fuck!" he shouted grabbing his nose which was stinging from the impact of the hard wooden door.

A black haired boy walked out and smirked at him. Naruto recalled this boy was Sasuke, and was in fact his roommate.

"What the hell?" he asked angrily.

"Hn…" the boy just grunted, the smirk never leaving his face before his added; "…Dobe."

Naruto opinion of his roommate was set at that moment, the guy was a complete BASTARD.

Then just because the other guy had seen fit to, his responded in kind.

"Teme…"

The Institution- Chapter four

The next few weeks were really quite hard for the poor blonde boy. This was because, although he had an advantage by knowing many of the staff, the other children there were not all so welcoming as Lee, Sakura, and Ino had been. Many of them were nice enough, Naruto supposed but he could not for the life of him figure out how to approach them. Some of them like Kiba, the boy who thought he was a dog, were friendly and willing to talk and accept him….but they obviously didn't have proper social skills. Kiba was always sniffing at people, invading their personal space; and another boy called Sai was constantly making inappropriate comments.

The main reason that Naruto wasn't finding his time at the Institution enjoyable was his room mate. No matter how much of an effort that Naruto put into being friends with the guy, he was getting nowhere.

As much as he hated the dark-haired boy though, Naruto did not hold it against him. He was obviously in the nut house for a reason, it was only fair that he was a bit strange.

As a result of this reasoning the blonde boy was prepared to give out exactly what he got. If Sasuke was a bitch to him, he'd be the same. If Sasuke hit him, he'd definitely punch back; and if Sasuke was nice to him…he'd obviously be nice back.

It was three weeks into his stay at the Institution, when he finally got the new therapist Iruka had informed him about. Although Naruto wasn't looking forward to having his past brought up again; he was excited about having something new to fill up his days with. So far he had therapy with Iruka once every second day, and group therapy once a day, except on weekends. It wouldn't be so bad if their common room was any good…but, of course, it wasn't. The TV only had the basic channels through a set top box, and they didn't have a DVD player at all. They occasionally had one brought in for them, when they had been good enough to deserve a late curfew. None of the movies were any good though. There were some other activities they were allowed to do with supervision, Kiba told him, but they had been suspended for the moment, as the patients had been getting more inventive with the equipment.

Naruto had just finished breakfast, when he was instructed to follow Shizune to his therapist's new office. Upon entering the first thing he noticed, was that there was a large amount of red silk and enormous bookshelves lining the wall. He stared up at them in amazement, not even the bookshelves in the library at his school held so many books. All of a sudden he felt a large hand clapped him on the shoulder. His knees buckled under the weight and he craned his head around to see who had done it.

On seeing who had a hold of him however he face split into a grin.

"Old man!" he exclaimed turning and jumping onto the man.

The person in question was a male, approximately 50. He was a hirsute man with a large, stocky figure. His most noticeable feature were the large tattoos running parallel down his face.

"Haven't seen you in a while kid have I?" the man noted smiling "When was it?"

Naruto laughed pre-emptively before answering "It was when Tsunade kicked you out for bringing porn in for patients to read"

He laughed a big booming laugh at this. "Well, the mentally unstable deserve to enjoy themselves as well don't you think'?"

"Tsunade obviously didn't think so." Naruto sat down on one of the plush couches, making himself comfortable. " So why are you here Jiraiya?" he asked happily

The man, now known as Jiraiya, just gave the boy a look suggesting he was missing the obvious. He sat down behind the polished wood desk, and gazed at the boy from behind clasped hands. It took the blond a while, but he figured it out.

"Wait!….You're my new therapist?" he yelled out, jumping up from his seat.

"No shit." Jiraiya drawled before flapping his hands at the boy "Sit down and shut up" he ordered flippantly before leaning back in his chair.

Naruto did eventually sit down, although it was a might hesitantly.

"So tell me what you're in for." Jiraiya started.

"Didn't the old bat tell you herself…. Or Iruka?" Naruto questioned get petulantly.

"I want to hear it from the horse's mouth….so get going."

Naruto just shrugged. "I don't know what you want to hear?"

"How about how you are feeling at the moment?" Jiraiya offered.

As luck would have it Naruto blanched. This was a question he could not talk his way out of answering. One of the things Naruto avoided was lying, he had learnt his lesson about lying to people. Though he will admit that sometimes he didn't tell the whole truth; and that over time, and as a result of emotional distress he occasionally warped or perverted the truth as well.

He small boy bit his lip not wanting to admit something about himself, that he views as compromising. It wasn't just that he was embarrassed by his feelings, but also that he didn't want to worry his friends to much. Of course Jiraiya counted as a friend as well. He has known the man ever since Iruka had started working at the Institute.

"Well…"

/

Tables and chairs, tables and chairs…..Tables and fucking chairs. This as all Naruto could think about as he walked down the hallway towards the room holding group therapy. It was three days after his first therapy session with Jiraiya. Needless to say it had messed him up a little, he couldn't stand the thought of someone knowing exactly what he was thinking or feeling at the moment. Honestly though he was glad that it was Jiraiya who knew. If there was one thing that Naruto hated about therapists and psychologists, councillors and the like; it was that after hearing your story, or the way you feel, they always adopted either pitying looks. Either that or self-depreciating ones…If you hated your job so much that you felt sorry for yourself about hearing these sob stories, you should put yourself out of your misery and just…change your freaking occupation. Not that hard. Jiraiya was really easy to get along with though. He never gave you the wrong impression, and if he did it was because he was a notorious pervert, not hinting at what he felt in regards to his work.

Tables and chairs….again, there it was. Naruto was driving himself crazy. He had had those three words stuck in his head all morning. It wasn't as if it was his fault though. First thing he saw when he woke up that morning was a load of tables, and of course, chairs lining the hallway outside his room. He stared at them for a while before making his way to the bathroom. It got worse at that point. Not only were these items occupying his walking space outside. They were in the bathroom as well. At least they weren't in the showers or toilet cubicles though. They barely had enough room to wash themselves in the small units of containment as it was. The problem though was that the blond boy had shut the door behind him in the shower, and because he was so scatter brained he forgot to check and see if it was actually closed before he did it. Who could blame him though, Naruto was dopey in the morning.

It was only when Rock lee came in and started announcing how youthful the blonde was without clothes that Naruto finally noticed one of the tables had blocked the shower door from closing fully. This meant Lee was privy to the knowledge that Naruto was indeed a natural blonde. The only bright side was that it was not Genma or someone else who walked in on him.

In reality it was probably the next event that really disturbed the boy. He was in the middle of breakfast, happily munching away on his pancakes with lemon and honey, when he heard some of the handlers talking with each other. These two handlers happened to be Genma and a man named Raidou. Now Naruto had heard some pretty wild things from both Iruka and Kakashi at home about this duo. They had suggested that the two were boyfriends and were not afraid of demonstrating the act, in public.

"I swear I wiped it down properly…"

"You shouldn't have even made me do it in the first place."

He shuddered at the memory of what Genma said next. "Well that we have to move onto another room now anyway." he said.

"Why is that" Raidou asked.

"We've had sex on every surface in this room now."

Naruto immediately dropped the fork he had been about to take a bite of pancake off. His eyes widened and he looked around the room. He slapped a hand over his mouth and sprinted out of the room, knocking Kiba out of his way in his hurry to reach the bathroom.

When he finally returned to the canteen, his belly was empty again and he had a distinct pallor to his skin.

"Are you okay?" Raidou asked him kindly as he sat down gingerly. "Did you eat something bad?"

This was not the right question to ask Naruto as he slammed his head down on the table repeatedly. Raidou grabbed his shoulder then, making Naruto turn to look at the man. Raidou gave him a worrying look as he once again ran out of the room towards the toilets. If anyone asked him however he would swear that he saw something white in his handlers hair.

When he reached the group therapy room he was surprised to notice that he was the only one present, aside from Kurenai. He walked up to the chair that was positioned next to her in the circle. Making sure he checked said chair before sitting down of course.

"Is something wrong?" Kurenai asked him concerned, seeing the expression o his still pasty face.

"Why are there chairs and tables everywhere?" he asked quietly.

She glanced at him before answering. "we ordered some new ones for each classroom to replace the old wooden ones, but they gave us too many."

He nodded solemnly.

Observing this Kurenai attempted to cheer him up. "All of us staff members." she started. "Have a running bet that Tsunade was drunk when she ordered them and wrote the wrong number, down on the inventory form."

Naruto smiled wanly, trying not to worry the woman.

"I'm starting to show." she stated changing the subject.

The blonde turned and looked at her confused as to what she meant by this. Seeing his confusion Kurenai stood up and lifted her shirt up a little. He saw a small bulge in the shape of her stomach and stared at it in wonder. He had forgotten the woman was pregnant. He stretched out a hand to touch it but pulled back before he touched her abdomen.

"Does the baby kick yet?" he asked inquisitively.

"She's a little bit too small," the women chuckled. "Maybe in a few months."

"Will you let me feel when it does?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"If you want." she acquiesced.

"Promise?" Naruto requested intently.

She gave him a smile and a laugh. "I swear," she promised. "Did you want to shake on it or cross our pinkies or something?" she joked with good humour.

Naruto just pouted. "Aren't you supposed to be a therapist? Therapists aren't supposed to make fun of their patients are they?"

Before Kurenai had a chance to respond people started to wonder in. First there was Lee, who looked extremely disappointed that he was not the first to arrive and promptly starting doing push ups. Next was Kiba and Ino, followed shortly by Sakura. Something that surprised Naruto however was who chose to sit next to him. Everyday people who try and avoid having to sit next to the councillor. Purely because they did not want to be the first to talk when they went around the circle. Naruto had no idea why the order they went in mattered but apparently it did. Despite this though one of the people who was usually the one who wanted to talk the least came and sat next to him. Gaara Subaku.

Red hair, and green eyes, the boy was certainly something to look at. Despite his hair colour he had near perfect skin. The only blemish Naruto could see was a large tattoo on his forehead. Not that it was necessarily a blemish, it looked good…in its own special way.

Without realising it the blonde had been staring at the boy for a while now. He was brought out of his own thoughts when he heard the clearing of someone's throat.

A blush took over his face as he saw Gaara gazing back at him with an eyebrow raised.

"H- HI." Naruto stuttered out nervously. "You're Gaara aren't you?" he asked not giving the boy time to respond before moving on. "I'm Naruto. I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself but I didn't think you would want me to. A lot of the people here aren't really approachable." he paled a little realising that he had implied. "Not…not that you come across as unapproachable or something. I don't mean to infer anything. Its just that you are quiet and you look like the type of person who would enjoy their privacy."

Naruto chuckled nervously rubbing the back of his head out of habit.

"But….Hi." he reiterate.

The red headed boy kept his gaze steady. He stood up and raised his hand. Naruto ducked his head thinking that he was going to get hit because of what he had said, and frankly… what he had heard about the boy from Kiba. When he didn't feel anything though he peeked up through his bangs and just saw Gaara with his hand open in front of him.

"Hello." the boy said in a quiet voice,

Naruto supposed that the boy was waiting for him to shake his hand and so he grasped it hesitantly.

"Hi." he said again.

"Now that you've said hello to Gaara….three times. Do you think it would be okay if we started group now?" Kurenai asked from beside him.

Blushing twice as hard now Naruto shrunk back into his chair and apologised as his friends grinned at him. He didn't miss the soft smile Kurenai levelled at him though, or the little twitch at the side of Gaara's mouth.

/

"Dude, that's the first time I have seen Gaara be social, like ever." Kiba exclaimed as they walked out of the room. "What did you do to him? Was it drugs?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the boy. "Of course not, if I had drugs do you think I would be waiting on someone I talked to for the first time only for today?"

Ino shoved closer to her blonde companion, swinging an arm about his neck. "You mean recreational drugs. Not the shit they shove down our throats here. Besides, you know if he had any of the good sort our good friend here would give them to me, wouldn't you buddy."

Sakura huffed from behind them. "That's really not funny." she said crossing her arms. "Oh No!" Ino's hands shot up to cover her mouth in a gasp. "You mean you are one of those 'Just Say No" followers?"

Slapping the blonde in the back of the head Sakura grunted. "At least I know I won't have brain damage when I'm older."

"a little bit late to be saying that." Kiba whispered to Naruto

"What was that?" Sakura shouted at him her hands clenching hard by her sides.

"You heard me women." Kiba said

They had stopped walking by that time and Naruto and Ino watched from the side lines as Sakura attempted to grab the boy who was running circles around her.

"Ha, you can't catch me that easily bitch." Kiba taunted her.

At that moment Naruto could totally picture the boy with a tail wagging excitedly behind him and a set of ears sitting perkily on his head. Sakura almost landed a punch, but before she could score the hit, Kiba barked at her and sprinted down the hallway towards the canteen.

Naruto was astonished when Sakura immediately settled down and walked forward with a measured pace.

"What was that about?" Naruto asked confused. "I though you were angry with him? Why aren't you chasing him?" he whipped his head either side of him in question

"One; I don't want to run. "Sakura started explaining. "And two; he's a dog, he likes to be entertained. I'm not above humouring him, he is crazy after all, I can indulge him every so often."

The blonde boy blinked. "So you aren't against drugs?" he asked still a bit lost.

"Of course I am." Sakura growled at him. "I hate that they think they can cure my 'problems' by claiming it's a chemical imbalance of the brain."

With that the pink haired girl stormed off around the corner and through the entrance to the canteen. Naruto's head dropped.

"I just don't understand girls." he lamented

Ino giggled and patted him on the head. "Of course you don't. You're a boy." she still had one of her arms around his shoulders and steered him forwards. "You don't have to anyway," she commented seemingly offhandedly. "that's the upside of being gay."

Naruto nodded dejectedly before jerking his head up in shock.

"Wait, I never said I was gay." he squeaked at her.

"Oh, sweetie….you didn't have to. Its kind of obvious." and with that said she swaggered off only turning back to give him a secretive wink with her tongue poking through her lips.

Naruto stared on shocked before stalking forward his masculine pride in shreds. "Stupid girls." he grumbled irritably under his breath.

/

"So what is your prognosis?"

"It is not as simple as all that. There is no way that I can provide a reasonable diagnosis without having the 'full' story. You know that Naruto never openes up enough to give all the details. There still so much that we do not know."

Tsunade, and Jiraiya, the incontrovertible leaders in their field of psychology were at a loss. The pair of them both had perhaps become too attached to their patient and as a result their critical thinking was compromised by their emotions pertaining to this certain boy.

"About the only certain thing I can tell from what he revealed to me so far, is that it is much worse then we feared. He did not tell me of any particular events per say…but you know that he is loath to lie in the best circumstances, and I asked him about what he had been feeling lately. Needless to say that the results had not been good." Jiraiya hung his head prompting Tsunade to ask:

"What exactly did he say he was feeling? She asked.

"Oh not this bullshit! You're starting to sound like all the other therapists out there you old hag."

What do you mean by that?" she asked furiously.

"You basically asked. '…and how do you feel about that?' That's just too Cliché!"

Tsunade just rolled her eyes. Trust Jiraiya to dramatise even the most serious of discussions. If only she had never allowed the man to take up writing porn as a hobby, or writing full stop. There quite enough nut jobs in here. As luck mat have it, a lot of them were writers too. Writers always wanted to live out the acts they portray in their novels. Pre-emptively she hit him in the head. That would be for whenever he decides he wants to act out a scene from his cook and attempt to molest her.

"What was that for?" the old man exclaimed clutching the back of his head.

"Doesn't matter, just tell me what the brat said." she demanded

Jiraiya hung his head once again. His sombre attitude fully reinstated from the reminder of their previous subject.

"Basically there is one word that sums it up…."

"What word?" Tsunade prompted when she saw her friend pause.

"….."

/

Rei; "Short chapter, I know. That's your problem though."

Naruto; "…."

Sasuke; "…"

Naruto; "…"

Sasuke; "…..We don't care…"

Naruto; "…Who are you?"