Chapter 10

Early the next morning, Tsunade removed the respirator and allowed Naruto to breath on his own. She smiles down at him, knowing that Naruto hadn't liked having to have the tube to help him breathe.

"I promise we are going to get you fixed up kiddo, and then Sasuke can be as possessive of you as he wants. Although I think he's going to end up driving you crazy." Tsunade told Naruto, who gave her a small smile. He wasn't going to say anything but he enjoyed Sasuke's possessiveness, or he did for the moment.

"Keep on talking old lady" Sasuke muttered from his spot beside Naruto's bed. "I don't care what you say."

"I'm sure you would if I kicked you out of here." Tsunade said laughing at the narrowing of Sasuke's tired looking eyes. He glared at her and turned away. She had a point but he wasn't going to let her know that.

"I'm going to come back in a little while and take you to have more x-rays done." she said returning her attention to Naruto. "I picked up on something in the older x-rays that give me reason for concern. It could be something but it might now, I'm not going to worry you until there is a time for it." Naruto sighed, he wanted to get out of the hospital, he was ready to be home with Iruka again.

"I want out of here." Naruto said hoarsely "I'm tired of staring at the ceiling all the time."

"I guess there are worse things to look at" Tsunade commented "Like Sasuke, although he does a good impersonation of a statue." Sasuke glared, this statue was about to tell her off, he was too tired not to care that it wasn't such a wise decision.

"Leave him alone" Naruto said "I bet his nightmares are of you." Tsunade smiled and chuckled before heading out of the room.

"She is cause enough for nightmares." Sasuke muttered, his annoyance over her teasing slowly disappearing being replaced with joy at being able to talk with Naruto.

"She's just serious about her job, nothing wrong with that." Naruto said as he started to close his eyes.

"She's not doing her job when threatening to separate me from you." Sasuke replied causing a low chuckle to escape from Naruto's mouth.

"You are possessive" Naruto muttered and a wide grin spread across Sasuke's face.

"I have to let people know that you are mine" he said smugly.

"Don't you think you should ask me first?" Naruto asked "I would think that that's rather important."

"Nope, I always take what I want." Sasuke replied "no permission needed."

"I'm not property you know" Naruto muttered, although he was overjoyed at Sasuke's proclamation. In all honesty he wanted nothing more than to be claimed by the Uchiha.

"Naruto does have a point" Iruka pointed out "It's considered polite to ask permission."

"Whoever said I was polite?" Sasuke asked looking at Iruka with a raised eyebrow.

"Our parents did teach you manners." Itachi piped in "or did those lessons go in one ear and out the other." Sasuke shrugged.

"It wasn't like I ever listened, I know what I want nothing gets in my way from getting it."

"Which is probably why you and Naruto never got along at school" Iruka said "you always had to beat him at everything,"

"He just didn't want to win bad enough." Sasuke said, although Iruka's comment bothered him more than he let on. He didn't like thinking about their school days.

"Yeah right" Naruto muttered "I seem to recall doing my best to beat you at track." Sasuke shrugged, he couldn't help it he enjoyed excelling at track, he wasn't going to make any excuses.

"Go to sleep loser, we'll be here when you wake up" Sasuke said when he noticed Naruto struggling to keep his eyes open. "You still need plenty of rest."

"Shut up bastard." Naruto muttered "who died and made you my doctor." that being said he allowed his eyes to drift shut, not seeing the smirk on Sasuke's face. It was clear to the other occupants of the room that Sasuke had enjoyed the small banter with the blonde.

"I could always go bury that old lady and take her job." Sasuke said thoughtfully, ignoring his brother's chuckle.

"I think you would be the one getting buried." Itachi replied "she's too much woman for you to handle."

"I would rather not handle any woman." Sasuke said "not my taste." Itachi rolled his eyes. He was honestly surprised at the statement, Sasuke had never been that open about his sexuality. Even though Itachi had known that Sasuke was gay, he didn't think any of Sasuke's so called friends did, it was a fact that Sasuke kept to himself, going as far as to pretend to date Sakura so that no questions got asked. Why this changed with Naruto's suicide attempt Itachi wasn't sure, but he was glad. No one should ever have to feel ashamed about the way they feel, even if it means having feelings for someone of the same sex.

"I can't believe you just said that" Iruka muttered although he wasn't really all that surprised. Whatever thought popped into Sasuke's head he didn't seem to have problem with saying out loud. He supposed that wasn't a bad thing for people that couldn't handle the truth, however if they were used to people having filters they would probably end up with their feelings getting hurt.

A little while later, Naruto was barely awake when Tsunade reentered the room with a couple orderlies following behind her.

"Nice to see those pretty eyes of yours" she told Naruto, who flushed causing Tsunade to chuckle.

"Watch it" Sasuke said frowning at Tsunade, who rolled her eyes.

"It's time to get some more x-rays done." she told him and he nodded. He couldn't wait until this mess was over with, he wanted nothing more than to be home, reading or arguing with Iruka or something loud and noisy like that.

A few minutes later, Tsunade disappeared out the door with Naruto and left the trio in the room.

"I think you should probably go home and get a shower." Itachi told Sasuke "You are starting to stink." Sasuke turned and scowled at him.

"It's the truth" Itachi said "You haven't left the hospital since Naruto was brought back in."

"Fine whatever" Sasuke said tiredly "he really wasn't in the mood to argue with his brother. Naruto's x-rays would probably take a little while and Sasuke could afford to get some rest, even if it meant risking having nightmares. He was more than a little exhausted from having spent the last few nights in the hospital chair, which wasn't exactly the most comfortable.

"You better call me as soon as Tsunade knows something about the tumor." Sasuke threatened Itachi who only sighed in annoyance.

"Get out of here my little over protective alpha brother." Itachi muttered causing Sasuke to roll his eyes as he headed out the door.

"It really didn't take much convincing him to leave." Iruka commented.

"No, he's beyond exhausted" Itachi said "you can see it when you look at him, besides he really was starting to smell." Iruka chuckled and rubbed at the back of his neck, he had been here just as long as Sasuke, but unlike Sasuke he had no intention of actually leaving.

"You might want to consider getting some rest yourself" Itachi said "you look about as tired as Sasuke."

"I'm not a child" Iruka said "I'm not leaving, like Sasuke I don't want someone to make off with him again."

"That's not going to happen" Itachi said "That bitch is in jail until she goes to trial. No judge is going to grant her bail, not when she was doing what she was."

"I hope your right" Iruka said frowning "I hope she doesn't somehow slip through the system. You never know you could get people on the jury that actually support child sex slaves."

"Even if she does somehow get through the cracks. Someone will be waiting to make sure she never hurts another child again." Itachi said darkly and Iruka frowned. It sounded like Itachi had paid to make sure that someone would get rid of her. Surely, a special ops person wouldn't sink that low. Then again this was Itachi who was determined to make sure that Sasuke was happy and had whatever he needed to grow up.

"I hope that doesn't mean what I think it does." Iruka said and Itachi shrugged.

"I would never do it myself" Itachi replied "I'm smart enough to stay out of prison for Sasuke's sake. But its for Naruto's sake that I have a contract on her, he doesn't deserve to have to face that bitch again."

"Never mind that it's completely illegal." Iruka said and Itachi shrugged again.

"I think Naruto's happiness and state of mind is more important than anything illegal at this point. Besides what she done was completely illegal that didn't stop her from selling children's bodies. If anything she deserves to be put down like the dog she is. Besides none of this will matter if our justice system works the way its supposed too." Itachi said, as he stood and walked over to the window. He couldn't imagine the agony those children had gone through, the fear that they would have to deal with for the rest of their life. They deserved justice even if it was of the illegal variety.

"I suppose you are right." Iruka said "no woman that evil should be allowed to be out in society, she should have to pay for the crimes she committed." Itachi turned and gave Iruka the coldest smirk that the teacher had ever seen. Iruka knew that special ops soldiers had to be tough but this was a side of Itachi that he had never seen before. Iruka wasn't too sure that it was a side of the Uchiha that he ever wanted to see again.

A few hours later, Sasuke returned looking more rested than he had when he had left.

"You look better than when you left" Itachi commented and Sasuke shrugged and yawned.

"Any news yet?" Sasuke asked and Itachi shook his head. Though he supposed it wouldn't be too much longer before they returned. After all how long could it take to take more x-rays?

"Do you think it's cancer?" Sasuke asked, his voice quiet, all traces of arrogance gone.

"I don't know," Itachi answered "I just don't know." Sasuke heaved a sigh, and turned toward the window. He hoped that Naruto would be okay and that the tumor would be easily removed.

Twenty minutes later, a sleepy looking Naruto was wheeled back into the room. Sasuke gave him a small smile, before reaching out and grabbing Naruto's hand.

"What's the news doc?" Sasuke asked trying to keep his voice light, and fear free so that he wouldn't scare Naruto.

"It doesn't look good" Tsunade answered holding the x-ray up so that everyone could see. "The tumor has grown substantially, which is going to make it bit a trickier to remove."

"Is it cancerous?" Sasuke asked, not wanting to know the answer.

"I don't know, and I won't be able to know until we can go in and try to remove the tumor. With Naruto in the condition he is in now, he will need to make a drastic improvement before the surgery can be done, which leads to the fact that the tumor is continuing to grow and will keep growing while Naruto tries to recover from everything else."

"That could be problematic" Sasuke said understanding the problem. Would the tumor end up killing the blonde before they could even get it removed?

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy? Liz