Author's Note; Okay, I thought this would be finished faster than this, but no, writers' block kicked in and ticked me off! Oh well, here's the long awaited chapter! I hope everyone likes it, the next one is going to be a chapter I've wanted to write for a little while now so it'll be probably the best chapter -or one of the best.

Okay, enough of my ranting, ikuzo!


Chapter 12

Finally Some Good News

I'm finally outside! No, I'm not free of the stupid hospital, I'm outside, talking with Sasuke, and Rin and Saiken are near by at the next table in the cafeteria's court yard since it's a nice day out and I feel like I've never been outside before. I mean, it smells better than inside, I'm loving the feel of the sun on my skin and the breeze in my hair. God, I missed being outside!

"You look like you could fall asleep any moment, are you doing okay?" Sasuke asks when I've become silent once again, for the fifth time in just half an hour while we're talking.

"I'm fine, just glad to be outside for a while." I tell him, and he only nods as I rest my head on the table, which reminds me, they took me off that sleeping medication that pedo-snake put me on. I'm actually sleeping much better than I did before hand anyway since he's gone and I've managed to talk to Rin about some stuff, though I'm still scared shitless about some subjects. But, other than that, I feel very content. "Any ideas on how I can celebrate my birthday?"

I still can't believe it's in two days … This is just unfair.

"We're thinking of maybe doing it out here, or waiting until you're home." Sasuke says. "Are you starting to eat better?"

Yes, I told Sasuke this morning when he first got here that I'm now on a new diet plan … of eating every stupid ass meal and I have to eat at least half of it before I'm allowed to throw it away. Stupid fucking pricks. I should be able to eat as much as I want.

"I don't know, I want to throw up everything I eat because it's like I'm eating too much." I tell him. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

"I've had this before, depression can do that to someone. And it's hard to get back onto a regular eating schedule and eating more again, but you'll be able to eat as much as you used to in a few weeks to a couple months." Sasuke tells me, and I glare at him.

"I want to go home." I say. "My forty-five days should be up already … no, I have until the twelfth of this month if I'm allowed to leave."

"Who said you had forty-five days?" Rin asked, and she looked very confused.

"Tsunade-baa-chan did when I first got here." I told her, and she looked surprised. "What?"

"I'm gonna have to talk to her, because I think you should stay in the 60 day program." Rin said, and I gaped at her like a fucking fish out of water.

"No! I can't stay here that long! I'll go fucking mad!" I whined at her, only to be hit in the head by Sasuke.

"Fuck you too teme." I cursed under my breath as I rubbed the back of my head.

"Anyway, I'm only saying you should stay a little bit longer just so we can get you on a proper eating routine." Rin said, but I scowled.

"My mom and Dad can do that."

"You still have four days, try to make a good impression." Sasuke scowled at me. "Oh, do you want me to bring back the books I lent you that you're not reading or going to read very soon?"

"Yea, I'll give them to you when we go back inside." I sighed.

"Why don't we go on back inside? I bet it's lunch time already." Rin suggested, but I shook my head.

"I wanna eat out here with Sasuke-teme." I pouted.

"Then Gaara should have come outside too. I wanna visit him too, Naruto-baka." Sasuke said, and I rose an eyebrow at him but complied and the four of us went inside -and unwillingly agreeing to eat inside with everyone else- silently the entire way. I guess Sasuke's wondering how much longer I'm going to be in here or something. I don't know. I'm hoping that Rin doesn't make me stay too much longer. I truly don't know how much of this hospital I can take right now. I just want to get away from it all, especially this floor.

"Hey, Rin … can I talk to you before I eat lunch?" I asked her, now biting my lip because I don't know how to ask her … mostly because I still have yet to even mention what happened two weeks ago to her. Yes, we've talked, but not about that.

"Sure Naruto, I'll be right there in a moment. I'm going to talk to Kakashi real quick." She said and I went to her office and closed the door, then laid down on the couch. It was, in fact, much comfier than Tenzo's couch. Hell, I could sleep in here all day if I could.

"So, what would you like to talk to me about Naruto?" Rin asked, and I watched her as she closed the door and sat in the chair across from me like she has been the last few days.

"I think it might also benefit me leaving here as well … I personally think I need to leave the environment that I was attacked in while I slept and also molested and raped in…" I told her, though I did not miss a single beat my heart skipped as I talked before it started racing.

I can already tell my palms are sweaty.

"I saw that in your file, but … I didn't think that …" She said, and she seemed to be at a loss for words this time around.

"I was molested and raped in the last office on this side of the hall … and the bedroom that Tsumi has now used to be my room." I tell her, but my throat's starting to feel dry so my voice cracked just a bit.

"I'll still talk to Tsunade about letting you leave in four days. We'll also talk with Tenzo and Kakashi too. We just want to make sure you'll be alright when you leave." Rin said, and I nodded. I know they're just doing the possible add on to my sentence here to make sure I'm okay, but being away from here also means that I might be able to move on from here. That's just what I need, I think.

"Okay." I said, now sitting up and chewing on my thumb again.

"Well, there's one step in the healing process taken care of." Rin said happily, and I frowned at her. "What I meant by that, Naruto, was that you were able to tell me about it, of your own free will. That in itself is a good step towards healing."

"You think so?" I asked, my hopes rising in my heart but in the pit of my stomach it was falling.

"Yes, now, go eat some lunch and I'll talk to Tsunade, Tenzo and Kakashi today after group." Rin said, and I nodded before quickly leaving her office to go to the rec room only to see that everyone's sitting at one table, well, excluding Karin since she eats in her room anyway, but I frown at this and go to her room without knocking on the door and stand in the door way.

"What do you want Naruto?" Karin asked, and she sounded upset about something.

"Get out of here, you're eating lunch with us." I said, a trademark grin on my face as I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"No thank you." Karin said in a huff, and I frowned sadly.

"Sasuke's eating with us." I tell her, and her head snaps up to stare at me. "But, you know you're not allowed to sit next to or across from him, so … I'll let you sit between me and the new guy Tsumi."

"Thank you so much Naruto." Karin said as she got up with her food and hugged me. "Ikuzo!" She added happily and dragged me to the rec room and we sat where I suggested.

But all I could do was stare at my food, wishing it wasn't there to begin with. At least it's ramen, and I know I can eat at least half of this before I feel sick to my stomach with it telling me I'm eating too much.

"Itadakimasu!" I say happily before slowly munching on my ramen. I'm lucky to even have it, since Tsunade doesn't like me eating it here anyway. I guess she thought it might help cheer me up or something.

But if this was done without her knowledge, I'll find out about it later anyway.

"Maybe we should just feed you vegetable ramen until you're back to your regular eating habit, Naruto." Sasuke chimed in as he ate his salad he picked up from the cafeteria before we went upstairs.

"Maybe you should be more than a rabbit." I teased him between bites. "At least eat some damn meat once in a while besides chicken and fish."

"I'm a semi-vegetarian you dobe." Sasuke said, and I only chuckled a bit as I slurped up some more ramen. But after a few more bites, I couldn't eat anymore. As a matter of fact, I feel like throwing up everything I just ate.

"Are you okay Naruto?" I heard Sasuke ask, then felt all eyes on me, well, everyone's eyes excluding Tsumi that is. Just great. "You look a little pale."

"I'm fine …" I say, but then my stomach churned again and I had to get up and run to the closest bathroom I could get to and not even a second later after I've knelt down in front of the toilet, everything I just ate comes right back up.

Why? I was doing so fucking fine without throwing up for a while. Hell, I haven't really thrown up since I got sick! But why damn it? Why can't I just eat for once and not feel like this? Not vomit because my stomach can't handle it for some stupid ass reason.

"Naruto, are you okay?" I hear Saiken ask behind me before I feel a hand on my back, rubbing small circles and I'm still trying to get my dry heaving to stop and calm down enough for me to cough for air. And it's a few moments before I'm able to calm down over the initial purge and at least breathe without coughing. God, my throat hurts so much.

"You going to be okay?" Saiken asks, and I nod as my answer. I'm not ready to talk as of yet. I want to wash my mouth of this nasty aftertaste that always comes with puking and he helps me up and keeps me steady as I lean over the sink and take in some of the water, swishing it around my mouth before spitting it out.

I do that a few times before I drink some to help that nasty taste go back down my throat before I turn the water off and stand up straight.

And just to add to the list of my problems, I feel exhausted now.

"I can't skip group to lay down for a little bit, can I?" I asked Saiken as I looked at him in the mirror, and he shakes his head no, just like I thought he'd do.

"But, you can take an hour nap after group." He assures me, and I nod. At least I'll get a nap in sometime today to calm down some. "And Sasuke said he had to go, but won't leave until he says goodbye okay?"

"Alright." I sighed and left the bathroom to go to my room and pick up all the books but the Breathing Series before going back to the rec room, only to see that everyone's cleaning up lunch and my fellow patients starting to gather in a circle at the couch. It's only then that I see Kakashi -who isn't looking at me by the way- and I scowl at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow okay?" Sasuke said before he puts a hand on my shoulder. "Be good, and don't go off on Kakashi, he seems to have something on his mind at the moment."

"Fine, I won't go off on the jerk." I huffed as I gave him his books, but I then, in turn, give Sasuke a bone crushing hug before letting him go. "Bring Itachi with you next time."

"Will do." Sasuke smirked before he left the floor and I sat down in my usual place across from Kakashi. I haven't sat on the couch in ages, and I don't care.

"Alright, now that everyone's here, why don't we go around and tell each other what we're grateful for today." Kakashi says, and I can tell that everyone is giving him glares filled with poison daggers for suggesting such a thing to talk about.

Either way, Tsumi started off for some reason and I saw him out of the corner of my eye -since he was sitting on my left- shrug at the suggestion.

"I guess I'm grateful that my older sister came home and found me … because if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be alive." He said, and I blinked at him. There has to be something else wrong with him if he's suddenly grateful that he isn't dead … I know I personally felt like a failure for a while after my failed attempt.

"I'm grateful that I'm no longer lusting after someone that's obviously gay for someone else." Karin says, and I know she's looking at me. But, I know she's talking about Sasuke, obviously, but who is it he likes? I'm gonna say either Gaara or me … he doesn't talk much to anyone else but his brother anyway.

"I'm grateful that I'm not wanting to kill people for now." Gaara says, but then he adds something else. "I'm also grateful that my family is coming to pick me up tomorrow."

I felt my heart sink into my empty stomach and I could even feel it churn unpleasantly. Like I wanted to throw up again, but it's just a feeling this time at least as I turned my head to stare at Gaara, who's sitting next to Kakashi on the couch on the perverts' left.

"So … you're going home too?" I asked him, my voice much calmer than I would like it to be.

"Yeah." Gaara nodded. "I was given a forty-five day stay and I went over already by three weeks. And Tenzo and Kakashi feel like I'm ready to go home."

With those words, I glare white hot daggers into Kakashi, and I can tell he's already sinking back. No wonder he was out of it a few moments ago.

"What are you grateful for, Naruto?" Tsumi asked, and I glared at him too before I stood up and spoke.

"I'm grateful that my two closest friends here are going home while I'm stuck here, feeling like I'm so useless and pretty much a failure because I pretty much don't see myself going home anywhere in the near future …" I say, and I turn to leave the group, but after a few steps, I stop because I have something else to say, something I've been needing to also get off my chest and hadn't found the perfect timing until now to say it.

"Maybe Orochimaru was right … I'm nothing but a failure that's meant to stay here and be used like a fucking doll … That I should just let go of everything and become an empty doll. I'm better off that way anyway, according to that fucking pedo-snake." And with that -making sure I hiss out his given title that everyone thinks he deserves- I go on back to my room and I go straight to the bathroom and close the door.

Yes, I might have just extended my stay here with those words, but, I truly do feel better for saying them. They had been haunting me since he told me during the first few days he was my therapist when I refused to acknowledge anything I felt towards what he was doing. To be honest, that's when I started doubting myself and actually listened to him.

God, I feel like such a fucking loser.

Growling at myself, I turned the water on in the shower and step in, clothes and all, and I lean back against the back wall of the shower before sliding down to the floor. Letting the cool water fall on me and relaxing me in a way that doesn't make me want to get up any time soon.

I don't care that my clothes are getting wet, I have others to change into when I get out anyway. Oh, and I'm glad I learned a new trick with the shower, if you wait five minutes after your shower goes off, you can turn it back on. The shower only runs for twenty minutes, so I'm going to be turning it back on for a while … I feel like a nice, long shower is gonna calm me down for a while.

xxx xxx xxx

I'm jolted awake by a loud banging sound on my door. And when I tried to move, my whole body hurt, like I laid down on concrete for a whole night or something -and I've done that before, it's not fun to wake up from- and I groan loudly from the pain my body is in.

I vaguely realize how cold I am, mostly because I feel slightly numb for some reason.

"Naruto, open the door please." I hear someone say, and I groan loudly again.

"It's not locked damn it." I grumble, curling tighter into myself as I refuse to get up from where I'm laying, mostly because I'm now slightly aware of how cold I really am and that I'm shivering so hard I can barely move. Honestly, I'm surprised I could say anything clearly because now I can hear my teeth clattering against each other.

A moment later I hear a door open and then someone rushing away. But I can't concentrate on what's going on, I'm too cold.

Then it hits me like a brick wall; I fell asleep in the shower in wet clothes. No wonder I'm cold and uncomfortable.

"Naruto, what happened?" I heard someone ask, and this was a different voice than last time. But right now I can't depict who anybody is at the moment.

"I want-ted t-to take a warm sh-shower … t-to calm d-down … m-must've fallen as-sleep." I say through clenched teeth, mostly because I couldn't stand hearing them clatter against each other anymore and suddenly I'm lifted off the floor. And by God, the body holding me up is warm. And I mean warm!

"We need to get you out of these wet clothes, okay Naruto? Do you mind if Saiken and Gaara help you? Or would you just like Saiken and Kakashi help you?" The person asked, and I just realized it's a girl speaking to me. Girl … no, doesn't sound right. It has to be Fuu, who else is a female here besides Rin and Karin?

"Fuu?" I find myself asking, only have my answer given to me by someone else grabbing me, that's also really warm.

"Yeah" she says. "Would you like Saiken and Kakashi, or Saiken and Gaara to help you get out of these wet clothes?"

"Saiken and Kakashi." I find myself muttering. God, I'm so cold, and honestly, I don't care who helps me get these wet clothes off, I just want it done.

"I'll take him Gaara." I hear someone say, and it doesn't sound like Kakashi, so I'm going to say it's Saiken taking over. But, truthfully, I wish I knew it was Gaara helping me stand up, and I was going to say something about that until I heard footsteps walking away and a door close before I feel hands lifting my shirt up and over my head.

That's when my eyes shot open and I could only see a mass of dark colors and a blob of gray at the top of it. It's Kakashi helping me get the wet clothes off at the moment.

Blinking a few times, I'm able to clear my vision enough to see him clearer and he actually looks mixed between pissed off, worried, sad and just downright scared shitless at the moment.

"K-Kakash-shi …" I muttered through still clattering teeth, but he rose a hand to silence me.

"I'm going to put a hospital gown over you before we take your pants and boxers off." He said, and I forced myself a small nod before I'm helped into those useless hospital gowns that I hate the most before I feel hands pull my pants down, and this is where I start freaking out.

"St-Stop." I whined, but by the time I got the word to leave my mouth, my pants and boxers are already off and I'm being lowered into something hard.

"Naruto, clam down okay." I heard Kakashi say, but it's already hard to breathe because of how cold I am." I'm going to help get your feet into your dry boxers, and I'll put them up most of the way, but I need to know if you can pull them up the rest of the way."

I quickly nod at his suggestion, knowing that it's probably better that way. I don't need to attack Kakashi or Saiken over a misunderstanding that my body thinks is anything but what I'm told.

But as Kakashi helps guide my shaking feet into my boxers and pulls them up to my knees, I can't help but bite my tongue so hard it bleeds, and I can't help but flinch when Saiken helps me stand as I pull them up and I manage to let Kakashi put a pair of pants on me before they help me get into bed to lay down.

"I'll go get the heating blankets." I heard Saiken say and before I could say anything about letting Gaara come back into my room, Saiken's already left. Leaving me alone with Kakashi.

"You want Gaara to come back in?" Kakashi asked, almost like he could read my mind. And I nod, not really in the mood to force myself to talk at the moment.

"I'll be right back then." Kakashi said before he got up off the side of my bed and left my room too, but I can tell he didn't go very far since I could hear him talking to Gaara right outside my room.

I gulp loudly, swallowing some of the blood that came from my tongue and I know some of it managed to escape my mouth since my lips are quivering still, but I don't care, they'll clean it up later, I'm just glad that a few moments later, Kakashi walks in with Gaara and all I see on the red heads face is guilt.

Great, now I feel guilty, and I should feel guilty for what I said.

And when Gaara comes up to the side of my bed, I don't give him time to say anything, because a second later, I grab him and pull him down onto the bed, clinging to his warmth before he can even pull away or even try to.

"Na-Naruto …" Gaara said, but I just bury my face in his chest, hoping he'd not talk anymore.

I can feel him turn to look at Kakashi, but no words are spoken before he turns back to face me and wraps his arms around me. I completely welcome the warmth from him and it's not long before I fall asleep with the feeling of someone throwing a couple blankets on me and everything just kept getting warmer.

xxx xxx xxx

I wake up feeling like I'm on fire, and it's hard to move and it's only when I move my head to move it from where it was to breathe better, that my face is buried in something warm. My pillow is never this warm, nor does it move.

My eyes snap open and I'm face to face with someone's chest, and they're wearing a burgundy colored shirt, and I only know one person that wears burgundy in this place.

Dear fucking God! I'm clinging to Gaara! What the fuck happened?

By now, I'm starting to hyperventilate as I try to get his arms off around me and kick the hot blankets off me at the same time, but I only manage to get the blankets off because Gaara's arms tighten around me and I want to kick him, but I can only get my knees to dig into his groin, which successfully wakes him up and loosen his grip around me. I take advantage of that and push myself as far away from him as I possibly can, but I manage to fall out of bed with a loud thud and curl into a ball on the cool floor that feels amazing at the moment.

"Naruto! I'm sorry, I must have fallen asleep while waiting for you to wake up." Gaara said, and I couldn't help but not answer him because I'm trying to steady my breathing at the moment. "Hold on, I'll go get Saiken." He quickly added and I couldn't tell him not to leave me because he's already up and out of the room.

A few moments later, I hear a few pairs of feet rush into the room and I'm assaulted with the sight of Saiken, Gaara and Kakashi. I don't know why Kakashi showed up, but I'm not going to complain about it. And after they helped me off the floor and into my bed, Saiken took the heating blankets off my bed and placed them in an empty chair while Kakashi took the other and Gaara sat at the foot of the bed.

"You feeling better Naruto?" Kakashi asks, and I nod my head, not sure what to really say at the moment since I'm still shocked to have woken up in Gaara's arms. I'm not sure at the moment how that happened anyway.

"Do you remember what happened?" Kakashi asked this time, and I shook my head no. "Well, about an hour after group, we went looking for you to find you asleep in your shower with wet clothes on and near hypothermia."

Oh, that's right, I said some pretty nasty things at the end of group when Gaara said he was going home … now I remember. I sure did fall asleep in the shower, something I wasn't planning on doing in the first place.

"Sorry." I say, and I realize then that my voice is raspy and my throat hurts. I might have gotten sick from doing what I did … oh well. "But, why was I in Gaara's arms when I woke up?"

"You pulled me into your bed and fell asleep the moment the heating blankets were over you. I think it was you trying to say sorry for what you said and I was something to warm you up. You weren't letting me go anyway." Gaara says, and now I remember that too … I sure as hell did drag him into my bed. Maybe Kakashi thought the heat I was getting from him was more important than dying of hypothermia or something or he would have had Gaara out of my bed.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"Just under two hours." Kakashi answered. "I was about to come in and check up on you when Gaara ran out of your room, saying you woke up and started hyperventilating."

"I … forgot what happened, I don't even remember falling asleep to be honest, nor much after I left group." I say truthfully. I must have been really out of it for that to happen.

"It's understandable." Kakashi nods. "Now, you're lucky, your father had just arrived five minutes ago, and was about to leave until you woke up. How about having a visit with him, Tsunade, Rin, Tenzo and me?"

"What's this about?" I ask quickly, and not really wanting to be in the same room as everyone at the same time. "Please tell me I'm not being moved across the city."

"No, you're not, but it's going to be either Rin or Tsunade that tells you, I'm not allowed to answer more on the matter than that." Kakashi said before pinching the bridge of his nose a little bit. "And how about a glass of water? Your voice doesn't sound too good."

"Yes please." I nod and Saiken goes to get me a cup and a pitcher of water while taking the blankets out of the room. "And my Dad can come back here if he wants."

"Alright, you want to go get him Gaara?" Kakashi asks the redhead, and though reluctant, Gaara nods after a moment and leaves my room too.

"I didn't mean to say what I said during group." I tell Kakashi, and I can't bring myself to look at him now as I stare down at my lap where my hands are busy picking at my nails.

"But, you were able to talk about something, though I do wish it was with Rin, but you spoke of something that inhuman piece of dirt said to you." Kakashi says, and I like how he named that pedo-snake, fits him perfectly. "And I really mean that Naruto. It's hard to talk about stuff like that."

I nod in agreement, though it's because I'm not in the mood. All I can think about is how I've possibly screwed up every chance of going home in four days with what I said, then what I ended up doing after that. There's no doubt in my mind now that I'm definitely not going home until sometime around Halloween or Thanksgiving.

"Hey Naruto." I hear my Dad say as he walks into the room and I can't help but smile back weakly to his wide smile, he seems happy about something, and I wonder what he's so happy about. I also notice he's got my water and he's handing it to me.

I grab it quickly before I drink all the water and hold it out for more before I start speaking, though my throat doesn't feel any better to be honest.

"Where's Mom?" I ask Dad, because now they usually come and visit me together, and she's not with him this time.

"She's in therapy right now." Dad says before sitting down beside me on the bed, but it's just now that I realize that Gaara's left the room. I need to talk to him later.

"Oh, okay." I nod, sipping on my water. "So, how've you been Dad?"

"Been doing okay, nothing serious at the moment since no one's died in the last few days." He says, and I feel grateful that there hasn't been a murder in a while. But that doesn't mean that karma can come and kick our asses and kill a few people. "Just a lot of paperwork and arresting drunk people."

"Drunk people are funny though, if you get the right ones." I said.

"True, but I've had a couple angry drunks this week." Dad says and I frown. "Don't worry, none of them could lay a hand on your ol' dad."

"You just called yourself old." I snickered, earning a evil grin from him and I chuckle a few times before letting it drop as I drink more water. "I think I'm catching something." I add a moment later when my throat is still hurting.

"Probably …" Kakashi says, and that, in turn, earns a look from my Dad to tell him what happened before he goes off. "Well, after group today, we found Naruto sleeping in the shower with wet clothes."

"You did what?" Dad asked me, and he didn't sound too happy.

"I … I kind of reacted badly when I learned Gaara's going home tomorrow." I tell him as I scratch the back of my head like I normally do when I'm nervous. "I said some things and decided a warm shower would help me relax and calm down, I didn't plan on falling asleep."

"At least you didn't resort to anger and violence like last week." Dad sighed heavily before rubbing his face a bit. I really wish he didn't bring it up, and from the look on Kakashi's face, he thought the same thing I did. At least someone's on the same page as me for once. "Anyway, lets have Fuu take a look at your throat before we go see the others."

"Good idea." Kakashi nodded and got up, leaving my room and leaving me alone with my father, whom for some unknown reason, I don't want to be alone with right now. Maybe that's my paranoia -caused by a pedophile freak- starting to get to me because I don't feel comfortable alone with adult males … at least I was able to be somewhat comfortable with Kakashi in the room, I know he won't hurt me without cause because it's his job.

"Is everything okay Naruto?" I hear my Dad ask me a moment later, which makes me tense up and hold my breath. Fuck! I should not be afraid of my father! He's never laid a hand on me before, I shouldn't be afraid of him!

I'm snapped out of my thoughts when a hand touches my shoulder and I jump back so far that I'm almost falling out of the bed and I can read the exact emotions my fathers' showing on his face and in his eyes; fear, anger, confusion, worry, shock and surprise. How he can feel all of those at once and not explode is beyond me, but he's showing them nonetheless.

"Alright, lets take a look at your throat Naruto." I hear Fuu say before she walks into the room and suddenly stop to stare how I am sitting on my bed. She can practically see the fear in my eyes before she turns to my Dad and see the same thing in his own eyes along with other emotions.

"Is everything okay?" She asks, and I nod quickly.

"I just … I … Yeah, everything's fine." I tell her all while nodding quickly in the end and I force myself back to where I was sitting a moment later. She's in the room with me now, I'm not alone with my father. No! I'm not afraid of him!

"Okay …" She said slowly and took a look at my throat with a small flashlight after telling me to open my mouth wide. She had to use a wide stick to hold my throat down, but after a moment, she takes a swab of my throat, surprising me and making me lightly choke before she pulls back and she's done. "Sorry for the surprise, but works when I have patients that need their throats swabbed. Mostly because the faster it happens, the less likely they'll retaliate."

"It's okay." I tell her, my voice cracking and I take a drink of water before sigh heavily.

"Your throat is definitely red, so you might have strep, you also look pale and feel slightly warm. But I'm going to ask that you try to rest after talking to the doctors, okay?" She said, and I nod. I guess I am picking up something.

"Okay, lets go on back and talk to them. We're going to Rin's office." I hear Kakashi say, and I jumped slightly because I had no idea he was in the room to begin with, and I get up out of bed and follow him out of the room and down the hall with Dad right behind me. I just can't seem to get it out of my head that he hasn't said a word since I totally freaked out on him.

By the time we get to Rin's office, I'm nervous and fidgety. I can't help but think that nothing good will come out of this. I still think that I'm about to be sent across the city and it makes me panic slightly. But I manage to hide it this time as Fuu opens the door and gently ushers Dad and me into the office before closing the door and I see that my usual spot on the couch is free so I take it, sitting down on the piece of furniture like I normally do and I'm somewhat glad that Dad doesn't say anything. In fact, I had wished he said something about it, but he doesn't as he sits down at my feet and sits there quietly. I just know he's going to talk to them when they're done with me.

"How are you feeling Naruto?" Rin asks, and I look at her for a moment before I find the right words to answer her.

"I'm coming down with something because I fell asleep in the shower in wet clothes after group, but other than that, I'm … alright." I tell her, though I'm not satisfied with how I said it.

"Alright, and I heard what you said during group." Rin said with a nod. "I'm glad you opened up a little bit more, but … not the way it happened." She says, and I feel like it's being repeated to me like I'm a child being scorned.

"Kakashi said the same thing." I grumbled before messing with the hem of the gown I was wearing. I need to change into my own clothes when I leave this office.

"Anyway, we all talked, and we've come up with a decision, Naruto." Tsunade said, this time saying something. I wondered when she'd start talking, because she hates being silent in most conversations, and this is one of them.

"And that is?" I ask, though I'm mentally freaking out and wished they wouldn't tell me.

"We're going to be sending you home in four days." Rin says, and my head shoots up and turns towards her so I can stare at her with wide eyes. Did I just hear her right?

"Yeah, Naruto, and when you get home, we're going to do something special!" My Dad finally speaks up.

"Your Mom is also going home in a few days." Tenzo adds in his piece of the conversation, and I stare at him too.

This is a dream, it has to be.

"This isn't a dream Naruto, you're really going home in a few days." Kakashi says, which in turn makes me look at him too before a few tears fell from my eyes and I quickly turn my gaze to my knees where my hands are while I chew on my lip hard.

We're going home as a family … that's all that keeps repeating in my head as I try to calm myself down. I don't need to have a nervous breakdown right now.

"I have just one question though …" I hear my father say, and I tense up, knowing that he's going to bring up what happened in the bedroom and I really wish he didn't.

"What's your question Minato?" Tsunade asks before the others could. I guess she sounds shocked because I know they talked to him before he came to visit with me for a few.

"Is it possible that Naruto might … be afraid of being alone in a room with someone?" He asks, and I was fucking right

"What do you mean?" Rin asks. "He's perfectly fine being alone with Kakashi and me, and Saiken."

"What about older people in general? Like older men?" Dad asks, and I now feel like I'm going to suffocate because I can't get myself to breathe right. Why did he have to bring this up now!?

"That could be a possibility." Rin says, but it sounds as if she's in her own little world. Something I picked up on when she's thinking about something. "It is possible, but I'm going to be honest with you Minato … I would have to see what happens in order for me to understand how to help him. Only because I have yet to see. I'm not doubting what you say, but-"

"I was thinking of him." I say quickly, making her stop talking about it because I don't want to hear it anymore. I really don't. And I'm going to make myself believe it too.

"Are you sure Naruto?" Rin asked, and I nodded quickly, making sure I didn't make eye contact with anyone that was looking at me.

"Oh, and before I forget" Tsunade says, "I'm prescribing Naruto some medication and an emergency inhaler, because he's so thin, his normal exercise routine is just way too much for him, so he'll have something there with him if his asthma kicks in."

"Thank you Tsunade." My Dad said, and I felt relieved that the conversation was over with. "Is there anything else I need to be aware of? Like medication times and stuff?"

"You'll be told all of that when he leaves, but, I'll give you a small list of what he's taking before you leave." Rin tells him. "I'll still wish to be his therapist while he's out, if you don't mind me asking?"

"That's fine." I say. "But where will we meet?"

"There's Good Will Therapy set up a couple blocks from here where my other office is." I hear Tenzo say, finally … I wonder why he was so quiet until now. "There's open office space for you there."

"That'd be perfect, it's only a half hour from my apartment anyway." Rin said with a smile, great, now I'm gonna have to drive by this place a couple times a week. "We'll set up the rest in four days before you leave, okay Naruto?"

I only nod and it seems that we're done in here because I'm allowed to go back to my room. Dad tells me goodbye and gives me a hug before he goes and visits Mom.

When I get to my room, I plan on changing into better clothes to sleep in and I want to write in my journal, something I haven't really done in a couple days. But I feel like I'm ready to write in it again, I can't just stop writing in it until it's filled up completely, right?

"Hey, Naruto …" I hear someone say before I make it past the rec area and I stop and turn to see that it's Gaara walking towards me from the couch, and he looks troubled. I hope I didn't do anything wrong. "May I talk to you?"

"Sure, come with me to my room, just make sure your back is to me because I'm going to be changing into something more comfortable, though I think I'm running out of comfortable clothes." I tell him and he only nods as he follows me and into my room. I take the furthest corner from the door as I start changing and he stands in the doorway with his back to the room. I know I can trust him, he's considerate of others, but I wonder if it's only for a select few people in his life.

"Alright, you can come in." I tell Gaara once I'm in my black flannel night pants and my last orange tank top that I even own. I still don't know what the hell happened to that one I was wearing over a week ago … I'm just guessing that Kabuto did something with it and it'll be lost forever … I need to get more soon.

"So … I wanted to talk to you about group …" Gaara started, but I put a hand up to stop him. I don't deserve his apology.

"Gaara … don't apologize, I overreacted like I always do. I'm glad that you're going home." I tell him as a wide grin takes over my face. "Because, now that I know you're going to be leaving, you're going to give me your number and mailing address so I can invite you to my birthday party."

"R-Really?" Gaara asked, apparently I shocked him too much, but he was able to regain his composure within a few moments before he grinned back at me. "I'm just letting you know now, you have to see my family before I leave."

"I plan on it." I smirked. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm bored out of my mind."

"I'll help you finish your homework." Gaara offered, obviously he'd say that, because he knows I still have a lot of it to finish up. "Tsunade said we can hold off on science because she's still looking for replacements for those two pieces of garbage."

"Good … is she still here?" I asked quickly as I gathered all finished homework and the science stuff.

"I think so, I'll go tell her you want to give her your stuff before she leaves." Gaara says before he leaves my room and I follow a moment later, noticing he's talking to her and realize that I'm truly going home.

Yes, it finally dawned on me that I'm really going to be leaving this place soon, and when I stare at my arms to have something to look at, I see the edges of the ace bandages wrapping around my forearms peeking past the papers and books I'm holding.

I can only think that they're not healing like they're supposed to be, and I frown as I stop walking a couple feet away from Gaara and Tsunade. Honestly, why aren't they healing like everything else has before?

"Naruto, are you okay?" I hear Tsunade ask, and I use this opportunity to ask her what's been bugging me for a while.

"Tsu-baa-chan, why aren't these cuts on my arms healed yet?" I ask her, and now her face turns from worry to a very serious worry.

She then starts walking over to me and takes the stuff out of my arms and hands them over to Gaara. After grabbing a pair of gloves from Fuu, she's leading me to the couch for us to sit on, she takes off the bandages and gauze and carefully prods at them. They're half healed at least, but they look horrible and it's making me sick just looking at them.

"There's a couple possibilities; your weight since you're not eating right your metabolism has slowed down quite a bit, you've been sick and I can tell you're sick now with that nasty voice you have so try not to talk a lot for a couple days. I saw that Fuu did a tonsil swab and it's positive for strep so I'm going to give you some medication for that as well. I didn't say it in front of your father because your voice seemed to sound fine for a few minutes, but I can see it isn't, and lastly, stress. Hell, I think it's all three, you'll just need to take good care of these and I'll have Fuu stitch them up because it looks like they may need them to heal properly." She says, and I really wish that nothing she says is true, but it's so obvious that it is. "If not, you'll have some really ugly scars that you cannot hide and I don't think that'll be healthy for you mentally."

"I can live with scars, remember?" I tell her, but she sighs heavily like she's annoyed with me or something.

"I'm going to have Fuu fix these up okay? You don't need to be reminded of how you got these every time you look at your arms. Think of it as a step forward in recovering."

"Okay." I pout, but I'm grateful she suggested it, now I have less of a chance remembering them.

"Gaki." She says with a smile before ruffling my hair, earning a small grin from me as she got up and gathered the trash -leaving the ace bandages- and throws it all away in the biohazard bag on the other side of the glass doors with her gloves. By the time she's walking out, she's rubbing sanitizer on her hands and Fuu is behind her putting on gloves with a kit resting between her elbow and her side. I guess Tsu-baa-chan wasn't kidding when she said she wanted them taken care of.

"Naruto, there's some bad news too, we might have to make you a little loopy while we get this done, since your skin is healing over we need to take off most of the scar tissue." Tsunade says, and I glare at her for not telling me until now. "But, we will be using the stuff dentists use to make you loopy, we won't inject you with anything."

"Yea, like that makes this so much better!" I grumble as I look away from her, but I'm glad they're not injecting me, to be honest. And I love laughing gas, and I don't think either of them missed the smirk on my face either.

"Alright, we'll move to your room while Tsunade-sama grabs the equipment, we shouldn't do this out here where the other patients are." Fuu says with a small smile, which reminds me, we're leaving Gaara stand there with all my finished homework.

"Gaara, you wanna see what laughing gas does to me?" I ask him as I smirk while I watch him hand Tsunade the papers to put on the nurses desk while she's in there grabbing the tank she needs, and he just stares at me before I drag him back to my room. I honestly don't remember how I acted while on laughing gas the last time, but Dad says it was comical. I just need someone elses' opinion on it to make his statement true.