Hey guys! Sorry I disappeared forever again. You guys know how long it takes me to get a chapter out, right? If it makes you happy this is 3,885 words long minus my nonsense in bold print! Yeah. So I hope you enjoy. The thing that makes me worry is that this chapter doesn't connect smoothly with its predecessors. But you'll let me know if this seems disjointed so I can fix it, right? Yeah. I hope. So yeah. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do these things cuz they're funny, I mean it's not like anyone REALLY believes I own Naruto or anything. Yeah, right. I wish. Psht. I don't own jack (either). Just the plot line :)

Sunlight caused another rare thing to happen: it caused Gaara to wake up. Being an insomniac usually meant that you never slept and therefore never woke. Today was different. Yes, very different.

Another different thing: Gaara was nestled between two warm bodies.

Gaara opened his seafoam eyes to gaze with the barest hint of frigid warmth at his two bed companions: a pale girl with dark indigo hair, her locks somewhat messy from sleep, and a olive skinned boy with spiky, bright blond hair. Both had snuggled up against him in their sleep and breathed deep, calm breaths in sync with the red head's own breathing. The teal eyed redhead was not known for it, but he had a rather poetic streak in him and thusly could not bear to disturb such beauty worth a thousand poems. With a slight upturn of lip present, Gaara sat up just a bit and relaxed in a position in which he could easily watch his sleeping friends. It brought back memories from an earlier time...

The last time Gaara had woken up so pleasantly before this was years ago, if he recalled correctly. He was an orphan in the orphanage and he and Naruto had been playing outside...

The crisp cold breeze had turned two little boys, ages five and six, one blonde and one red headed, fairly pink. They chased leaves in the autumn wind and ran about, giggling wildly as they started an impromptu game of tag. "You're it!" the blonde yelled with glee, tapping his redheaded friend and darting away.

"Not for long, Naruto!" said the redhead happily chasing the blonde.

"Say that after you've caught me!" Naruto grinned, running as fast as his little legs would allow.

"Or I could do this," said the redheaded child, mischievously, before tapping a brunette child on the shoulder, "Kankuro, you're it!"

"No fair, Gaara!"

"It's perfectly fair," replied the six year old as he ran past Naruto with a maniacal grin, "I have to run from him, too!"

"Cheater!" the five year old insisted, speeding up, not wanting to be "it" again.

"Talk less and run more, or I'll get you!" the brunette seven year old known as Kankuro chimed in.

"Say that after you've caught me, 'Kuro!" yelled an enthusiastic Gaara. Kankuro nearly tagged Gaara who changed directions as quickly as he could, nearly causing Kankuro to fall as he followed in suit. "Too slow!"

"Say it again! I dare you, ya little runt!"

"Okay!" Naruto grinned mirthfully, "too... slow!"

"That's it! No more Mr. Nice guy! I'm comin' for ya's... AAARGH!" Kankuro yelled his special battle cry as he charged ahead full speed at the younger boys.

"uh oh..." Naruto said, childish panic filling his features.

"RUN!" Gaara and Naruto screamed in unison, trying their best to outrun Kankuro. However, the chase was cut short when Naruto slipped just as Kankuro had grabbed for him again. The two fell, knocking Gaara over in the process and they rolled down the hill they had at some point run up. They bumped, rolled, and screeched in fear as the descended the hill landing in one of the orphanage's many pricker bushes.

"Ouch!"

"Ah!"

"Bloody-"

"What are you doing?" shrieked a blond girl who had her hair in four spiky pony tails.

Kankuro sat up quickly, scratching the back of his head nervously, "Oh, uh, hey, Temi... we were just playing tag... he he..." Naruto and Gaara sat up, the former with tears in his eyes.

"Temari-chan!" Naruto wailed, running to the stern looking nine year old and throwing his arms around her waist.

Temari's face softened a bit when she looked at the crying blond, patting him on the back. She glared at Kankuro who had picked up Gaara and set him on his feet and was now nervously backing away. "KANKURO! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO LOOK AFTER THEM! NOT LET THEM FALL IN A PRICKER BUSH!"

"I'm sorry! Temi, you're scaring the kids..."

"Don't Temi me!"

"Sorry! I um, we were just playing tag and Naruto tripped-"

"Don't you blame a thing on Naru-chan! Come on Gaara-kun, let's get you two patched up," Temari said, adopting a more motherly tone in addressing her youngest brother. Temari picked the boys up, carrying one on each hip, and managed to haughtily stalk away from her other younger brother, Kankuro, towards the orphanage.

Once inside, Temari went to the room she shared with her siblings and Naruto. She set the whimpering boys on the mattress on the floor and went to go find some medical supplies. She returned with a roll of toilet paper, a cup of water, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and some masking tape. "Don't cry, I'll patch you up," Temari said comfortingly, as she dabbed the scrapes and wounds on the younger two with alcohol and rinsed them with water. Gaara had a partly skinned elbow and minor scratches littering his arms, legs, knees and face. Naruto was in a similar disposition, except his elbows weren't skinned, but his right knee was. Temari applied the masking tape to shallow cuts and wrapped skinned areas with toilet paper before taping them up. "Almost done," she said, smiling. The pony tailed girl pulled a red marker out of her pocket and drew little hearts and stars on the makeshift bandages. "See, isn't it pretty?" the girl asked, nodding to herself in satisfaction.

"Yeah..." Naruto mumbled and Gaara nodded in agreement.

"Good! Now stop bein' a bunch of crybabies and go kick Kankuro's butt! You guys gotta learn that he's an idiot," Temari scolded half seriously, smiling as she watched the redhead and blondie run out of the room happily after a 'yes, ma'am!' with motherly affection that only orphaned nine year old girls knew of.

That evening, four tired children, ages five, six, seven and nine, two blondes, a redhead, a brunette, sat at a table with several other orphaned children. Each child was given a small portion of slightly dry rice topped with wilted vegetables and a few tough pieces of meat. The orphans wolfed down their meager dinners, feeling famished from a day of either work or play. Many sported scrapes, cuts, skinned knees, and bruises from their busy days and a few unlucky children twitched uncomfortably in their chairs due to a red bottom resulted from a spanking. Kankuro, for the tag fiasco, had gotten a fair beating and had some bruises of his own. Dead tired and still hungry, children teens of all types and varieties trudged to bed.

Naruto and Gaara climbed in bed between Temari and Kankuro, snuggling under the thin blanket that they shared. The thin blanket that the four children shared was musty and had holes, their mattress was old and lumpy, and they were all crushed together for lack of space (as it was a twin mattress on which they slept), but it was the best place that Gaara could imagine. Temari's arm was warm around him and Naruto's hair tickled his nose, Kankuro's arm rested over Naruto and Gaara could reach his hand. It was comforting to feel Temari's breathing against his back and Naruto's face buried in his chest. For Gaara, the pitiful orphanage they lived in was heaven and he fell asleep smiling.

Gaara woke up tangled amongst his siblings and Naruto, feeling great. He was a little uncomfortable due to the sting of the wounds he'd received the day before and the itchiness of too much body heat and too much contact with slightly sweaty bodies, but feeling great all the same. If he could, Gaara would never leave his nest of comfort.

Of course Gaara was no longer in his "nest of comfort" but he felt just as relaxed and at home in the bottom bunk of the bunk bed in his and Naruto's dorm, with the now waking Hinata and Naruto snuggled against him.

Sapphire eyes fluttered open and wore a sleep filled expression, "hmm..." the blond mumbled, shifting his position and burying his face in Gaara's chest. On the other side of Gaara, someone stirred, dark lashes batted as cream colored lids struggled to reveal the lilac eyes that lay underneath.

"Good morning," a deep voice rumbled, lulling the two sleepy beings into wakefulness.

"Morning, Gaara... Hinata," Naruto muttered, hugging Gaara a little tighter, not wanting to wake.

Hinata sat up and stretched, "good morning Gaa-kun, Naruto-kun," she greeted the two boys through a massive yawn. She ran fingers through tousled, dark hair, and blinked sleepily, unaware of the blush warming her face in her semi conscious state.

Naruto opened his eyes (they did not pass half mast) and sat up as well, "what time is it?"

Hinata looked at the clock and her eyes snapped open, "It's nine o'clock!" She squeaked, "we're late for class!"

"It's also Saturday, we have no classes to go to," Gaara said, looking at his cell phone.

"Right," Hinata sighed in relief, her and Naruto's postures relaxing at the news.

"Anybody hungry?" Naruto asked.

"No, but I never am before coffee," Gaara answered.

"A little," Hinata admitted.

"Great!" Naruto said, grinning, "it's settled then," he clapped his hands together, "we'll all get breakfast together!" He hopped out of bed and went to find some clean clothes. Gaara stretched and sat up, watching his blonde friend go through the closet and gather clothes.

"How did you sleep, Hinata?" the redhead inquired.
"I slept quite well, thank you."

"Alrighty! Get dressed guys, I'm ready to go! My stomach's hollering at me for food!" Naruto said cheerfully, dumping a pile of clothing on the bed. Hinata took a grey hoodie and a pair of skinny jeans before climbing to the top bunk to change. Gaara simply changed his boxers and pulled on his black jeans from the previous day and left the red t shirt he'd slept in on. Ruffling his hair, he headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Naruto decided on grey jeans, a black shirt and orange hoodie. Hinata jumped down from the top bunk dressed in one of Gaara's grey hoodies and light wash skinny jeans (that had previously been Naruto's, but suffered shrinkage at the hands of the dryer), stuffing her pajamas and clothes from the previous day in her purple backpack before heading to the bathroom. Gaara walked out and went to search for a pair of toe shoes. Naruto was tying his shoes when Hinata exited the bathroom. He finished his task and stood up, "ready to go guys?" They nodded and the trio left the dorm room.

When they walked out of the dorm building, the sun was shining and it was a fairly warm day. "So where are we heading for breakfast?" Naruto asked.

"You mean you don't know?" Gaara deadpanned.

"How about, um... Akimichi's teahouse?" Hinata suggested.

"You mean the one owned by Choji's grandma?" Gaara asked.

"Yes! They make good tea."

"And cinnamon buns," Naruto added.

"As long as there's coffee I don't care."

The three friends walked through the campus, chatting merrily. They were enjoying each other's company and the relaxed atmosphere so much that they ignored a certain pink haired girl as they passed her by.

"You know Tenten, Hina-chan?" this was answered with a nod, "cool! She works at the hospital. She was very nice. Have you met Senju-san?" this was met with a head shake. "Well she was this sassy nurse, or maybe she was a doctor. But she was asking me all of these questions about who I was and who my name was; you'd think I had a concussion! She's related to Senju-sama!"

"Really?"

"Yes! The one who founded the hospital, imagine that! And to imagine I ended up in that particular branch of the hospital and got to meet one of his relatives," Naruto chattered on animatedly.

"Wow! Are you talking about Tsunade-hime?"

"Well her first name was Tsunade..."

"Ah! I know who you're talking about now! She's a famous doctor! She's very young, but already well known."

"Really? I didn't know that. You know what Tenten told me? The one who brought me to the hospital was the jerk himself, Sasuke!"

"We are well aware of that," Gaara said.

"Yeah... wonder why that was..."

"Maybe he's kinder than we thought?" Hinata suggested.

Sakura brushed past Naruto rudely, muttering, "he'd have to have a heart of gold to get injured, saving an idiot like you."

Gaara caught her arm, "Excuse me?"

Sakura snatched her arm back, "You heard me. Sasuke-kun has to have a heart of gold if he'd go so far as to injure himself over someone like that stupid blond friend of yours."

Slap. Hinata glared at the pink haired girl, "Eavesdropping is very rude, as well as purposely bumping into a person not to mention your insults. Would you like to find out what will happen if Neji-nii hears about this? Because Neji is close with Shikamaru who you know is Sasuke's best friend. If Sasuke were to hear about your behavior, what would he think of you then?" Hinata asked rhetorically, glaring icily at the now cowering pinkett.

"I'm sorry!" Sakura insisted quickly, yet insincerely, before fleeing with what was left of her shredded pride.

"Geez, she's in a really bad mood," Naruto commented, still wide eyed at what he had just witnessed.

"No, she's just rude to you in general." Hinata said icily.

"Hey, it's alright. She doesn't matter," Naruto said, wrapping an arm around the raven girl's shoulders, giving her a light squeeze.

Hinata calmed a bit, "you're right, it's useless to get worked up over someone like Sakura. Have you ever had the hot chocolate at Akmichi's teahouse? It's delicious!"

"No, I haven't. Is their coffee good?" Gaara asked, taking Hinata's left hand.

"I haven't had it. It probably is, Akimichi-san is a very skilled baker and barista. Did you know Choji works there?"

"No, but I should have guessed he did," Gaara mused.

"I did!" Naruto chimed, his arm still around Hinata's shoulders. The small group entered Akimichi's Teahouse and separated themselves. "Oy, Choji! Nice to see you!" the cheery blonde greeted the plump brunette behind the counter.

"Good morning Naruto-kun! Hi Gaara, Hinata."

"Hello, Choji-san, how are you?" Hinata politely greeted the boy behind the counter. Gaara nodded at Choji.

"Oh I'm fine, no need for honorifics, though. What would you like?"

Somewhere in Konoha a man sat in an office in a chair at a desk. The computer, pictures of friends and relatives, as well as the common mess of paperwork, forms, stacks of files, sticky notes, and the occasional paper clip were all present on the desk's smooth surface. The man was an ordinary man-complete with dark slacks (somewhere between black and navy), light grey button down dress shirt, loose tie, and shiny black shoes- in a plain, normal to the sitcom stereotype office. Even the usual office boredom was present; it was a warm, thick, slightly suffocating feeling that made people restless. One could easily fall into a state of half wakefulness to the "office noise" (as the man at the desk liked to call it): a quiet hum of phone conversations ("please hold", "could I take a message?", "… is in a meeting right now,", "I can forward you to my manager", "Hello? Customer service speaking, how may I help you?"), ring tones, gossip ("did you hear… got fired?", "you won't believe what… has in his desk!", "I've seen… watching so and so's behind!"), fingers hitting keys, mice clicking, various mechanical noises, and footsteps that filled the air.

What stood out like a splash of color in a world of black and white were the contents of an ordinary looking file that lay open on the desk, subject to the gaze of the "normal" man's one green eye and one gold eye. 'Recent events are of interest, it seems,' he thought, 'according to rumors and surveillance, Minato's boy has finally been found and ROOT is looking for him.' Running a hand through his light green hair, the man continued typing.

A person stood in the doorway of is office. They took a moment to examine the man: light brown skin (courtesy of his biracial heritage) ; calm countenance; one green eye an done gold eye , both trained on a computer screen; and short, sort of spiky hair that was a smooth, creamy, green color. "Any news from our friends in black?" the man's voice cut into the other's thoughts, bringing them out of their musings.

"No. They're watching him," the person replied.

"Tell Hatake and Uchiha to stay in touch."

"Of course, Zetsu-san," the person said, rather cheerfully, "I never realized how much you missed the old scare crow," a teasing tone highlighting their voice.

"Go to Hades."

"Don't you mean-"

"Just go!"

"Of course, Zetsu-san," the person said, thoroughly amused, before ducking out of the office.

Zetsu sighed and focused on what he was typing, his eyes returning to the computer screen. Despite his feigned annoyance, the very corners of his lips were upturned just a fraction in an invisible smirk.

Elsewhere, a silver haired man lounged behind a teacher's desk in a classroom. His desk was made of plastic designed to look like wood and held stacks of essays, homework assignments, and menial paper work. Paper clips, sticky notes, the occasional thumb tack or mini stapler, scraps of paper with random notes, bottles of white out, white out pens, ink pens, pencils, and a pencil cup littered the rest of the space except for a small area occupied by a hot cup of mocha and mint infused coffee within arm's reach and a box of pocky. Grey eyes scanned essays, pointing out grammatical and spelling errors to a red pen while firm, pale lips grasped a stick of strawberry flavored pocky like a cigarette. It was peaceful and would remain so: it was Saturday, which meant that there would be no students today and no annoying secretaries to flirt with him or timidly announce that he was wanted in the office for something or other, either. Yes, the near deserted state of the building and general lack of other life forms (excluding the house plants) along with the silence was bliss. The silence of course, had to be ruined by a certain vibrating cellular device that the silverette fished from a pocket in his navy sweatpants. Cradling the small, grey phone between his ear and his shoulder he answered the call, "Moshi, moshi."

"Hello, Hatake-san."

"Sai-chan!" The silver haired man's eyes lit up, "how nice of you to call, I was just getting so bored."

"Well this is a business call, Hatake-san-"

"So? Still entertaining. Maa, maa, what's with all this "Hatake-san" stuff? Aren't we friends, Sai-chan?"

"You are a valued colleague, Hatake…kun?"

"There you go! What's up?"

"Well, Zetsu-san misses you, so he asked me to tell you to give him a call. He feels out of the loop since he's not the first person you tell anything."

"Really? That cranky, old, plant loving git said all that?" Silver eyebrows rose.

"Not exactly… I may have added a few words…"

"Aw, how sweet of you, Sai! If you missed me that much, you could have just called, ya know?"

"But do colleagues-"

"Sorry, mai ritoru tisuto, but I have papers to grade. Talk to you later on today, okay?"

"Oh. Sorry, Hatake-san."

"It's fine, I'll call you later. Really, I will."

"Sure, ja ne."

"Ja," the line went dead. Kakashi closed the phone, feeling slightly guilty, and returned it to his pocket before picking up his red pen and resuming the rhythm of grading papers.

Sai slipped his droid back in his pocket. He was a little disappointed that he couldn't talk to Kakashi any longer, but he was busy. Pulling the phone back out of his pocket and unlocking it, he dialed Itachi's number.

Itachi hated hiding things from his little brother, but he couldn't tell Sasuke anything about Akatuski or Naruto. Sasuke wasn't prepared to protect the information with his life and the less he knew the better. If Sasuke didn't know anything he couldn't be used for information and ROOT might leave him alone. Or so Itachi hoped. The most he'd been able to tell his brother was that he'd had a nightmare from when they lived with their father. Sasuke knew that their father had been abusive, but was unaware of the finer details of the abuse. Of course that didn't satisfy the younger as a proper explanation as to why he'd been sitting in the dark with a cup of black coffee looking like death warmed over, but he had acquiesced when he realized Itachi wasn't going to go into detail about his nightmares. Perhaps the duck butt haired teen had thought making him describe the dream was cruel. Who knows? Sasuke wasn't asking dangerous questions and that was all that mattered.

"Itachi, what are you brooding about now?"

Crap. He was being obvious. Pushing his thoughts away, the older raven smiled, "nothing, otouto. I forgot about the due date of a paper I'm only half way finished writing."

"When is it due?"

Itachi thought a moment, "Tuesday."

Eyes widened, "how long is it supposed to be?"

"Oh, it's nothing big, just a touch over a hundred pages."

Sasuke's jaw nearly dropped, "that's the minimum?"

Itachi nodded, "forty five pages down, fifty five to go." He smiled again.

Sasuke's head hit the table. "You're impossible."

"Oh, but I have a few days to get it done. I just won't have the luxury of sleep."

"No wonder you looked half dead!"

Itachi only chuckled, relieved that he'd been able to use his status as a freshman in college to deflect suspicion. College was a breeze for him and his paper was already done. He just had to retrieve the file it was in and decode the encryptions. Sasuke didn't need to know that. Just as Sasuke opened his mouth-to ask yet another difficult question, no doubt-Itachi's phone decided to alert him of an incoming call. Itachi held up a finger and picked up the phone, "Moshi, moshi?"

"Uchiha-kun," a dull voice said, with an undertone of what was either enthusiasm or genuine, confused surprise.

"Ah, could you call me back? I'm busy."

"Is it something that could wait? It's important. Well not really, but it will only take a minute."

"My brother's here."

"Oh! Sorry, Uchiha-kun… it's just that Zetsu-san is lonely and wants you to contact him. You know, you two have fallen out of touch and friends-"

"Yes, yes I know. Friends should keep in touch," Itachi replied bemusedly, "don't worry. I will. Meet me up for a study date later?"

"Uh…" the voice started awkwardly, "sure! Friday afternoon?"

"Yeah, that works."

"Right, um yes… we owe Senju-hime and Uchiha-san a visit anyway. Ja," the line went dead.

Itachi put his phone back in his pocket and smiled at Sasuke. "It seems I can't put off studying forever."

"You're impossible," Sasuke groaned, "remind me why I worry about you." Itachi only chuckled. His little brother was so adorable when he was annoyed, which was why Itachi adored him so much. "What are you smiling like that for? Weren't you just stressed?" Sasuke yelled. Itachi laughed harder.

SO! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to point out any typos or inconsistencies in the plot. I don't want my story to be less than perfect. I would have updated around 3:45 AM but I had to go to bed. But I'm up now! That's all.