Chapter 10: Guilt

Pairings: GaaraXNeji, NarutoXSasuke

Previously on Impervius AI

"I'm getting you out."

He said quietly. Naruto did nothing but stare and him and meow one more time.

Sasuke didn't understand until after that Naruto hadn't believed him, because right at that moment his mind was focused on the machine, which had started to have a fit, rocking back and forth and making sickening grinding noises. Then just as quickly as it had started, the machine stopped moving.

It went completely quiet, even the soft humming of a machine that's been turned on, had stopped.

Sasuke looked up from the buttons, hearing Sakura scream behind him as bits of Naruto's fur and blood splashed up against the glass.

He couldn't hear anything after that, everything and everyone had gone silent as the glass around the machine shattered, Naruto's small orange collar hitting the floor in front of Sasuke's feet, bits of yellow gold fur still clinging to it.

-Guilt-

Gaara couldn't believe it. With everything that had been going lately, the redhead had never seen it coming. It pissed him off. He hadn't felt like this as an actual human yet and he was finding that emotion in humans was at least ten times stronger than it was in a computer. Artificial Intelligence or not. He wanted to scream and hit someone. No, not just anyone. He wanted to hit Sasuke. This was entirely his fault in Gaara's eyes and no amount of reason was going to convince him otherwise.

Sakura was screaming in the background and crying hysterically which was adding to the growing anger he was feeling. Even Neji's zombie-like shock was making him angry.

If Sasuke hadn't have ignored Naruto the way he had.

If Sasuke had been watching his so-called friends.

If Sasuke hadn't been so intent on fixing his precious machine.

There were so many things Gaara was blaming the raven for right about now. Sure he himself had been a little distracted flirting with Neji. But Sasuke was the one at fault for ignoring the blonde to begin with.

"How could you?!"

Gaara growled, tears pricking the corners of his eyes.

"You should have been paying more attention! Instead of FUCKING YOUR GOD DAMN MACHINE night and day!"

Gaara was too far gone to care that his voice was cracking between growling and yelling. It wasn't escaping Neji's notice though.

Neji hadn't seen Gaara angry since the transformation. He hadn't seen much of the boy's emotions at all. Sure there was the occasional irritation and smugness, but nothing so strong. The anger was making Gaara seem far more mechanical then he'd ever seemed to Neji before. It was more than a little worrying.

As much as Neji was trying to focus on the grief everyone was feeling, he couldn't bring himself to care enough.

What if Gaara broke down? How the hell was he supposed to fix that?

Looking around for something to do, Neji noticed that the murderer had fled and quickly sent a message to Tsunade through the intercom in the room. Hanging up on her before she could get pissed and start yelling at him for disturbing her.

At least the man would be found and stopped before he could take a shuttle back to earth. That was all Neji could do right about then.

"This is ALL YOUR FAULT!!"

Gaara screamed, completely ignoring the fact that Neji had woken up and was moving around. That wasn't his concern right now. Moving over to the machine, Gaara picked up a handful of glass and chucked it as hard as he could at Sasuke while he screamed at him. This emotion called grief mixed with anger. Was definitely too much for his new brain to process. Most babies went through years of life before they learned to process this emotion. Gaara hadn't so his brain did the only thing it knew how to do.

Overload- which left Gaara screaming and throwing other pieces of machine at Sasuke.

And

Shut Down- This was the part that Gaara hadn't been expecting. One minute he was throwing things and causing serious problems for the guards who, hearing the commotion from out in the hall, had run in to detain him. The next minute he completely froze. All motion stopped and his arms went rigid as he collapsed. His face and eyes going blank indicated that he was no longer working. This was what made Neji start throwing a fit as he and Gaara were lead out of the room.

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Sasuke had been numbly standing by his now ruined machine throughout this entire ordeal. It wasn't until silence had finally washed over him as everyone left that it hit him. The extent of his love for Naruto had been so strong, he just couldn't believe he was gone. And now that he was alone, the realization was catching up to him.

Gaara had been right in blaming him.

Sasuke felt like it was all his fault. He had known he was ignoring Naruto, and yet he'd still done it. He'd been aware that Naruto was upset, but he hadn't cared enough to fix it.

And now the love of his life was gone.

Sasuke picked Naruto's collar up off the floor and carried it with him into his office, locking both the door to his lab and the door to the hallway and the rest of the ship. He was going to sit in his office until he rotten away into nothing like he deserved.

The pain Sasuke felt, stayed with him into the next day until he was finally feeling okay enough that he could cry. Of course once he started crying, he didn't stop.

Tsunade found him that way three days later. Crying in a pitiful heap on the floor with Naruto's collar clenched in his hands. He was a mess. Sasuke hadn't bothered to eat since he'd locked himself in his office. He hadn't changed or showered or even moved. He was still covered in blood, fur, cuts, multiple bruises, and shattered glass shards. He just didn't care. Why would his health matter at a time like this?

Tsunade seemed to think otherwise though and sent a team in to clean up the mess that'd been left in his lab.

Sasuke himself was taken away to be watched over in the psych ward of their on board hospital with nothing but the little orange collar left to remind him of his stupidity. The blonde captain of the ship had tried to take that from him too, but seeing as it was Naruto's, she just hadn't had the heart to put up a real fight for it.

-------Flashback------

"Hey Sasuke! Guess what?"

"I'm busy Naruto."

"SO! Guess what?"

"What?"

"I love you!"

Naruto's big blue eyes crinkled in a smile that lit up the boy's entire face.

"I love you too."

Sasuke couldn't help but say it back. The raven didn't think he'd have been able to hold it in even if he'd wanted to. Naruto had the tendency to get you to do and say things you usually wouldn't. That was part of what Sasuke loved about him. Actually, Sasuke loved everything about him.

Who wouldn't?

They'd been together for over a year now, but it still felt like they had just gotten together. Sasuke felt that way a lot around Naruto. The boy had a way of making him feel young, happy and alive.

"We're going out to train in the jets today!"

"Are you now? Isn't that a little soon?"

"No! We've been in the Academy for two years now Sasuke. Two whole years! All I've been training for this whole time is to become a pilot. Where have you been?"

Sasuke couldn't help but chuckle slightly.

"I don't know, I guess my school work has kept me preoccupied."

"Same old Sasuke. Always has his nose in his little chemistry book. You're going to make one great scientist one day!"

Sasuke chuckled again.

"I suppose I might. You on the other hand, are going to be one reckless pilot."

"Hey! No fair! I complimented you."

"And I was very happy to hear it."

"Teme…"

"Don't be like that Ru. You do want your birthday present don't you?"

Sasuke looked up from his book in time to see Naruto's face light up with excitement before the boy jumped on him. Nearly knocking him out of his chair.

"You remembered!"

"Of course I did. I may not be as observant most of the time, but I've never forgotten your birthday before. You know that."

"I know, I just like that you remember. So what'd you get me?"

"Open it and see for yourself."

Sasuke watched as Naruto took the present and proceeded to tear off the wrapping from where he was still seated on Sasuke's lap. Naruto squealed in excitement and gave Sasuke one of the suffocating hugs he was known for.

"You got me a transmitting collar! It's even my favorite color!"

"Of course it is. I saw you looking at it when we went down to the shopping district on the second floor last week."

Sasuke still wasn't a hundred percent sure why his little blonde wanted a transmitting collar in such a bright, eye-catching orange, but this was Naruto. The blonde always wanted strange things.

"Now you'll never be able to get rid of me! I'll talk to you all the time now, especially when I'm flying."

"I wish you wouldn't."

"Nope. You got it for me, so now I'm going to use it. You'll just have to suffer Mr. High and Mighty Uchiha. I'll tell you every time I go into a dive or fly upside-down…"

Naruto knew just how much Sasuke hated flying. Even mentioning the word made him feel sick to his stomach. That was how he'd first met Naruto. He'd been on the transport ship the day before his first class started, puking his guts out in the bathroom. The blonde had found him and proceeded to keep him distracted the rest of the flight. They'd been inseparable ever since. It'd been two years since then and now they were dating. Almost everyone on the station knew about it. Everyone except Sakura. Naruto had long since stopped pretending to like her, but for some reason the pink-haired girl just wasn't catching on. If her constant attempts to get into Sasuke's pants was a give away.

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

Gaara had managed to have something that Tsunade informed him was called a mental break down. He'd been out for an entire day and then kept in the hospital for four more after that.

Neji had been there to nearly suffocate him the minute he did wake up though.

Tsunade had to pull him off and sit on him to keep him down.

Gaara couldn't help laughing at the thought of it. Neji had been so happy to see he was okay. It made Gaara feel horribly guilty.

Guilty for making Neji worry.

Guilty for being able to laugh about it.

Guilty for having been so hard on Sasuke.

In his opinion, it was still too soon for anyone to be laughing and he knew perfectly well now that it wasn't Sasuke's fault. Not really. The boy couldn't have known what was going to happen.

News had traveled fast around the hospital. Gaara had been bed ridden for the first three days after he'd woken and Tsunade had refused to let him leave. In retrospect, that had been a good thing. Because while he was there, the redhead had gotten to hear all about what was going on with Sasuke from some of the noisy nurses who hung out in the hallways outside of his room.

Sasuke had been in a state of grief ever since he'd been brought to the hospital. From what Gaara had understood. The boy was a wreck, covered in everything that had been thrown at him and exploded on him. And yet he'd refused to shower or wash his clothes. The raven hadn't done much of anything but sit and cry the whole time, according to the nurses.

Gaara had made a very big decision when he'd heard that.

Sasuke was no longer in his rooms. That meant Gaara had full access to that machine of his. It was broken, but only the glass had shattered. The redhead could have it fixed in no time if Tsunade's cleaning crew hadn't already done it.

Gaara was going to make sure it was done though.

Because Naruto just couldn't stay dead for long.

The world wasn't going to let him. Not just the world, but Gaara wasn't going to let him either. The boy was going to come back and he was going to come back right. Sasuke hadn't been able to transform Naruto back when he'd been a cat, but with even just one small strand of fur, Gaara knew he could do it.

He'd try a million times over if he had to.

Naruto meant the world to Sasuke, and this was how Gaara was going to apologize for being such an ass to the raven.

Gaara untangled himself from the sheets on Neji's bed and went over to the couch where Neji was asleep to kiss the side of the brunette's face. Pulling on an over sized robe to go with his girly pajama pants, courtesy of Ino, Gaara snuck out of the apartment and made his way through the quiet space station. Seeing as the lights in the hallways never turned off, it took him very little time to find Sasuke's lab.

The hard part came next.

Finding a part of Naruto he could use.

Gaara made his way into the unlocked lab and began searching. It was like nothing had even happened a week ago. The place was spotless. The glass on the machine had been repaired and all the extra little shards had been cleaned away. The inside of the machine had been wiped down too.

Gaara wandered back into Sasuke's office to see if he could find anything in here.

It took him all of two seconds to find Naruto's little cat bed. Sasuke had made sure nothing of Naruto's had been moved from its original place. There was enough hair on it for Gaara to be able to try as many times as he wished. The next thing he needed was Sasuke's notes. He didn't know jack about this reanimation machine.

Besides, every scientist kept notes.

Sasuke didn't disappoint.

He had his notes scattered all over a section of counter. Dating all the way back to the first time he'd started building the thing. Gaara found the section he wanted and started skimming through it. The guy had even written down each individual button he'd pushed when he'd created Gaara.

So thorough.

Even Naruto himself would have been able to work the thing. The boy had always been hopeless with buttons. His jet had always had very few in them. Everything had been made to fit his movements so that Naruto could actually fly his jet, back when he'd flown one anyway.

Now Naruto's muted orange jet was in storage. No one else had ever been able to figure out how to fly it.

Gaara had never had the privileged of seeing it before. He'd only ever heard these stories from Neji and seen the outside of it when he was sitting in the hanger or flying with it. It'd been so long Gaara couldn't even remember the actual shade of orange it'd been.

Shaking himself out of his daydream, Gaara got back to work.

Taking the notes and a few pieces of hair with him, he wandered back into the lab.

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

Neji yawned, sitting up on the couch.

He wasn't sure what had woken him, but one look at the clock told him it was only three o'clock in the morning. He almost went back to bed when he noticed that Gaara wasn't there.

Neji jogged around the apartment to make sure the boy really wasn't there before going off in search of him.

Where would the redhead go and this time of night?

Jogging down the halls past the cafeteria and the other rooms, Neji noticed the door to Sasuke's room had been left open. He walked in and noticed lights on it the lab area. Was Sasuke out of the hospital already?

Walking into the lab, Neji was greeted with a sight he never expected to see again. It made him smile. A pair of big blue eyes looked up at him when he entered and a bright smile was flashed his way before a finger was placed in front of the smiling lips in a silencing gesture.

Gaara was fast asleep on Naruto's lap a small smile on his face.

There we are... Chapter 10 of Impervius!

Hope you guys liked it!

Thanks to all of you for being so patient... I know it took forever... but there it is!