Oh shit, did I mention that I don't own Naruto? Why didn't anyone tell me? I totally could've gotten sued and my computer could've gotten confiscated and then who'd update?

"Gaara's dad abuses him." Naruto got straight to the point and just blabbed. He really did like to take the cake.

"I'm sorry, what?" Sasuke wondered if he'd heard right. It sounded so matter-of-fact, unusual for Naruto. And a little ridiculous on him, to be honest.

"Gaara's dad abuses him."

Sasuke stared at his blond friend for a moment. "Is this a joke? Because that's really poor taste, even for you."

"I mean it, I wouldn't joke about something like this, I swear, I saw it myself!"

"What do you mean you 'saw it', what have you been doing?"

Naruto explained how he'd spent his weekend after his party on Friday. He explained everything he'd seen and did and Sasuke listened without visibly reacting. Naruto explained how he'd followed Gaara to his house and after meeting Gaara's father and sophomore brother, he snuck in through the backyard. He climbed a few trees, then jumped through the nearest window, which had been, thankfully, open, though for some bizarre reason there had been a blackout curtain across it. Here, Naruto strayed a little off topic. Who opens a window, just to pull a curtain over it? Seriously, that's just weird, believe it! Sasuke punched his arm and told him to get on with it.

So he did, basically repeating all of chapters 30-40 of the first story, which you should've read before reading this...get back with the present, witchdoctr. All right, all right.

"And now Gaara's staying with me for a week at least. I'm personally hoping his father gets drunk and drives his car off a bridge."

Sasuke stared at the blond, eyes slightly squinted. "That's... hard to believe," he said finally. "It's not that bad, he deserves it, you should've seen-"

"I didn't mean about that, I mean about Gaara being... you know. I mean, I believe you and all," the raven added hastily, noticing Naruto's ready-to-explode-in-fury face. "It's just... hard to believe. He's always so quiet one second, then all furious the next, I guess I understand. But if that's the case, maybe you should stay away from him, Naruto." The blond's reaction was expected. "WHAT?"

At that moment, the object of their discussion slunk back into the room. His head was down, face hidden by brick-red hair. Sasuke saw him in a whole different light now, a whole different image. There had been something wrong, he'd know, but he hadn't bothered to pay much attention to it. It was so obvious. Why hadn't he noticed it? Oh yeah. Apathy.

"I hope you're done now," he said. Naruto glared at Sasuke.

Gaara had just spent a good ten minutes in the bathroom, pulling at the low neckline of the shirt, presumably Sasuke's. It was too big for him, but then, maybe he was too small and thin. He sighed. Nothing he could do about it. He was relieved, though, to get out of his soaking shirt and change into a warmer one. Even if it sagged. He pulled at it once again, then shrugged. The shirt slipped down, barely hanging onto his shoulders. Whatever. Naruto and Sasuke had had enough time to whisper and talk about him. Or whatever.

Now he eyed the two. They were tense. What had they been talking about? What had gotten them both bristling?

He took a few steps closer and Naruto looked at him, breaking his vicious staring contest with Sasuke. He grinned, but it was a little strained. There was still anger in his eyes and Gaara again wondered what had riled him up. No point in asking. The blond had a short attention span. He'd probably forget in the hour.

The redhead was wrong.

Naruto got on the floor and sat next to him. He refused to look at Sasuke and the feeling was apparently mutual, as Sasuke wouldn't glance in his direction either.

What was up with them?

At one point after a few hours of mindless television, Naruto's stomach rumbled.

At this point, he was willing to forgive Sasuke. If the raven gave him a bowl of ramen or something before he went cannibal and ate him.

"That's creepy," Sasuke said. "Come on, loser."

"It's for your good, not mine," Naruto joked. "Come on, Gaara, I'm sure you're hungry, you only ate an apple this morning. And if you're not sure, well I'll make you sure!"

"That sounds like a threat," Gaara rasped. I wish you could've seen Naruto's face. "No, no, I was just kidding, seriously, you know that right? Right, Sasuke?"

"He sounded serious," Sasuke said. "Bastard!"

But Naruto wasn't willing to egg on a fight until he was fed properly. Sasuke didn't have any Ramen, but he did have hot soup, which was fun to eat in front of the downstairs television, next to the fireplace. Naruot burned his tongue gulping it down without even blowing on it first. He began to yelp and ran back and forth comically. "Where's the water, where's the water? Someone tell me before I stick my head down a toilet!" he panicked. Man, that soup was boiling.

"Just get tap water," Sasuke yelled, laughing as Naruto tripped over the small stair seperating the hallway between the kitchen and the living room.

Naruto did and all they heard from him a for a few minutes was gurgling and gasping and swearing. "Clean out that dirty mouth," Sasuke called cheerfully. "You're... one...to... talk," Naruto said between gulps. He wiped his chin off with his sleeve and poked his head around the kitchen wall seperating him from the main hallway. "Hey Sasuke? A word?" Sasuke sighed and put down his bowl. He glanced down at Gaara, who didn't look at him. The redhead had dipped a spoon in occasionally, but he hadn't eaten any of the food in it. "Hey Gaara?" The owner of the name glanced up.

"Eat. Now. Don't let it go to waste, you hear?" Sasuke made his voice sharp and demanding, like he'd heard Itachi do so many times to him before. Like he'd heard parents say to their children. He'd seen in the cafeteria how little Gaara ate. He'd seen Gaara's outline, how thin it was, and right now he could see Gaara's bony shoulders and the begininng of a bruise on his collarbone. He needed to eat something. Sasuke didn't really like the redhead, but he could sympathize. He could understand, could at least try better to understand Gaara. Try to help him. And the first step to helping him was getting him to eat. Well it wasn't the first step and it wasn't the most important, but it was definitely a step.

But Sasuke wasn't going to do a Naruto. He wasn't going to pester and coax gently. He was going to make the redhead eat. Even if he had to be harsh and imitate his parents, trying to scare Gaara into eating.

It worked.

In a way that made Sasuke wish he'd done something different.

Gaara tensed and his fist clenched. He reached for his spoon and began to eat, looking pained with every bite. Tense. Afraid. Of what? Maybe Sasuke hadn't imitated his parents; maybe he'd imitated Gaara's father. And maybe he was remembering. Maybe he thought if he didn't eat, he'd be punished. Maybe, maybe, maybe. There was one "definitely", though. He had "definitely" gone on with this the wrong way. But he's eating, isn't he? Sasuke asked himself. It doesn't matter why, so long as he's eating something.

"Sasuke, come on!"

The raven sighed, but he did go to his kitchen. Gaara finished his soup.

You're pathetic. Look at you, like a stray cat. This displeases me, Gaara. Eat! Stop wasting my money! If I had my way, you wouldn't get anything, but if you don't eat, you'll die. It would be better for us all, but it's illegal, unfortunately. Child neglect. But you're not a child, are you? You're a monster. Why am I wasting food on you?

He didn't want to eat it, but he had to. That was his only thought. Memories unbidden flashed before his eyes and as soon as Sasuke left the room, his stomach began to churn.

"What?" Sasuke asked. The blond grabbed his arm. "You asshole! You bastard, you jackass, you stupid, fuc-"

"What's your problem?" Sasuke said, cutting his dirty tirade. "You! You, you stupid asshole! How could you suggest something like that? Stay away from him? I'm sure at all of his past schools, that's what they did. I'm sure they did nothing, I bet they ran away from him. I bet-" Sasuke didn't feel like hearing one of his passionate speeches today. "Shut up! Let me explain. What I mean, was that, Gaara might be a bit of a messed up kid and while I agree, that yes, you should help him, I just don't think you should be the one. We should call social services or something. Jeez, don't fucking blow a gasket, 'kay?"

"I'll blow as many gaskets I want, whatever they are! I'm the only one who cares, so I'm gonna do it!"

"All right, all right, don't fucking bite my head off, I was just-"

"Taking the easy way out," Naruto yelled at him. "Gaara's a kid too-"

"I know that."

"He has feelings too-"

"Yeah, knew that too, get to the point, will you?"

"My point is that I don't like that you're going to give up on him without even starting. He's probably gotten that his whole life. Else someone would've done something about... you know, by now."

Silence. Sasuke wanted to tell him that he'd managed to get the redhead to eat more than an apple, but now didn't seem to be the right time.

Since the silence was broken by quiet retching coming from the living room.

"Gaara!"

Whew. Hello. Witchdoctr here. Who else is here?

Thanks so much to my many reviewers. I never expected this story to have this many reviews or chapters.

Speaking of which, is this too long? I would not be offended if you told me that the first story wore you out with the seemindly endless chapter after chapter after chapter, then found out there was sequel. Just tell me if you think it's getting to boring or going in circles or something.

See you later. When I'm finally on vacation, I'll probably be able to update quicker.