Title: Iris

Author: LadySable (LJ)/StoryBard(here)

Pairings: GaaNaruGaa

Rating: T

WARNING: This story has heterosexuality and homosexuality. If either offend you, this is not the story for you. Also, some foul language. Blame Hidan. Some graphic medical scenes?

Disclaimer: Characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto.

Summary: AU/AR Gaara adopts a pet unlike any other.

Chapter 12: Bloody Cloud Gang

"Neji, I need you to get as close as you can, and check out the situation," Shikamaru said, leaning against one of the two houses that they were between.

Neji nodded, and then disappeared around the house, heading towards the bar that Naruto was held in.

Shikamaru moved to watch Neji while the rest of them stayed as they were, waiting for Shikamaru to give them orders. Gaara leaned up against the building farthest away from the bar, facing the direction that Naruto would be in, observing Shikamaru as he ordered each member about.

This was a different Shikamaru than he was used to. The Shikamaru he knew would lay on the lawn outside Temari's house, and sigh with longing at the sky, until Temari came and tackled him, and they would roll around on the lawn together, laughing. He'd watched it with a scientific kind of observation, unable to understand their amusement, and play.

The rest of the group was silent until the long haired Neji came back, and said, "It's not good. For some reason, even though we aren't meeting them here, they're guarding Naruto closely. Naruto is in the middle, one man-he has silver hair, shoulder length, and has a scythe-like weapon-is positioned in the northern part of the building. Another man-wearing a hood, his eyes glow strangely-is positioned in the West, in front of the door. He's glaring at the silver haired man. There's-I think there's another man, but he's in the shadows of the bar, positioned in the East, and completely cloaked in black, there's not even eye holes, which is why I'm not sure if it's the shadows playing with my eyes, or if there really is a man there."

Jiraiya sighed, "There's a man there. Shikamaru," he said, his gaze intent on the brunette. "I'll take care of the cloaked man. The rest of you," his gaze fell on everyone, including Gaara. "Be careful of the other two. They can do things that shouldn't be possible. If you attack them, attack with the intent to kill because you won't win against them without trying to kill them." Then he muttered, his voice so soft that only Gaara could hear him, "And even then, you probably won't win."

He gave the white haired man a confused glance, but the man just returned it with a grim look. Then he turned back to the group, and watched as Shikamaru talked to Neji, Sai, TenTen, and nodded whenever Shikamaru said something, and then TenTen did a handspring backwards, and was gone.

"What's TenTen doing?" Gaara asked.

Shikamaru looked over at him, and said, "She's going to check out the situation, and see what else she can add that'll help us. She's helped out in hostage situations before, so she'll give me information that'll help me figure out what will be the best course of action." Shikamaru looked down, and sighed, before meeting Gaara's gaze, "It's highly probably that I'm going to need the distraction that you'll provide."

Gaara nodded, and shuffled around the two duffle bags by his feet.

A few minutes later, TenTen returned, and shook her head. "It's really strange," she said, looking in the direction that Naruto was in. "You'd think they were expecting someone to come after them. It almost feels like a trap, a setup, but, Shikamaru, you only learned of this building a few hours ago, so I don't see how they could expect it."

"They're just being very careful," Jiraiya said, stretching. "It's not that they're expecting an attack, they're just overestimating us, or Naruto."

Shikamaru scoffed, "It's nice, not being underestimated, but, man, it's much less troublesome when they do."

"Banish those un-youthful thoughts! They're challenging us! Challenges are youthful!" Lee said, his bandaged fist clenched.

"Only when you're sure everyone will come out alive, Lee, but this is reality, and Naruto wasn't looking good in there," Neji said.

"How is he?" Gaara asked.

Neji gave him a glance, pearl-like eyes thoughtful, and said, "He's not dead, but I'd be surprised if he didn't have a few broken bones. This will really hurt him at the sparring competition next month." Then he shrugged, "Naruto is the fastest healer, though. It's almost uncanny how fast he can get out of a hospital, even when he shouldn't be able to move."

Gaara nodded, remembering how Naruto had sported a black eye for maybe three days, while the bruise on his cheek hadn't faded for a week.

"All right, Gaara," Shikamaru said. "We're going to need you to be the distraction." He sighed, and then said, "Just don't get yourself hurt or killed. I really don't want my wife to be a murderer, and for our kid to have a mom in jail, okay?"

The red head gave him an indignant look, but nodded.

"Right, so when you see the first mirror reflection, that means they're in position, and that you should enter. Knock first, though. We don't want them to kill you just because you were entering without making yourself announced. If you see a second mirror reflection, get the hell out of there." Shikamaru leveled his gaze on Gaara's, and said, "I don't care if someone is about to kill Naruto, and that you're the closest person to save him, if you see that light, get the hell out of there, because if you don't, neither of you will survive."

Gaara frowned at him, "What in the world do you have planned that I would have to retreat that quickly?"

Shikamaru gave him a grim smile, and said, "You don't want to know, and, personally, I hope you don't find out."

Shikamaru gave Neji, TenTen, Lee, Sai, and Jiraiya a short nod, and the five disappeared, then he turned to Gaara and said, "In a few minutes, head to the building Naruto's in, but wait for the signal before entering."

He nodded, and, headed towards the bar when Shikamaru sliced the air with a finger after a minute.

The duffel bags swung awkwardly from his shoulders, and he walked with a swaying gait, trying to keep balanced. Money had never been a heavy burden before.

When he was only a few feet away from the door, he looked around, trying to spy a glinting mirror. It didn't take him long to see the mirror flashing from the roof. He swayed for a moment, and then headed towards the door.

He gave the door a short knock, and then opened it, only to freeze, when he noticed the tip of the scythe an inch from his neck. This man wasn't supposed to be by this entrance, what happened to the glowing-eye man?

The man in front of him chuckled, and then backed away, and said, "Oi, Kakuzu, your money is here."

He shuffled Gaara in before the red head or Kakuzu could say anything. For a moment, everything died away as he stared at Naruto.

The blond was tied to a chair, his head hanging low, blood dotted in his blond hair, on the floor, and on his clothes. The shoulder straps slid from his shoulder, and the duffel bags landed with a thud. He took a step forward, but was stopped by the man with the glowing green eyes.

The eyes weren't focused on him, though, they were trained on the silver haired man.

"How do you know he even has the money? You idiot, he could have brought in a bomb, and killed all of us in a second."

"He's here to get the blond, why would he bring in a bomb?" the other man said, crouching down, and unzipping the duffel. He held up a wad of cash, "See? Money. Don't tell me you don't like money anymore?"

The glowing eyed man growled. "Hidan," he warned.

"Fine, fine," the silver haired man said, raising his hands, gesturing for Kakuzu to back away.

Kakuzu grabbed Gaara's shoulders roughly, and eyed him up and down. The red head had a feeling the man was grinning, but couldn't tell because of the dark mask covering his mouth.

"Well," Hidan said. "I guess this takes care of our mission here. We got ourselves two boys, without even breaking a swe-"

"Shut up!" Kakuzu yelled at the silver haired man.

"Greedy little Kakuzu's getting all paranoid," he chanted. Then he smiled, and leaned back against the wall. "Really, I don't understand why you're so paranoid. It's not like they can hurt us. Compared to other places, this place is extremely weak."

Kakuzu let go of Gaara, and stalked over to Hidan, and hissed, "Keep talking, and I will kill you."

"Aww, and then you'll be my nurse, and patch me up," Hidan teased.

Gaara ignored them, and rushed over to Naruto, only for the cloaked man to step into his path. He frowned, and took a step back, eyeing the man. There was a familiarity in the man's stance, and build, but Gaara ignored it, trying to move around the man, only for the masked man to get in his way each time.

He growled in frustration, only to blink in surprise when he saw TenTen come up behind Naruto, and grabbed him, before disappearing up into the attic.

It took a second, but then there was a yell, "Where the fuck did the blond brat go?"

He didn't even have to look to see that it was Hidan yelling. The cloaked man in front of him didn't glance back, but did pause when Jiraiya dropped from the ceiling, almost getting a kick in on the cloaked man, but, for some reason, it didn't connect.

"Gaara!" Jiraiya yelled, "Get out of here! Oh, and pick up the money, too, Tsunade won't be happy to lose that much money through sheer carelessness."

He nodded, and turned around, only to be blocked by Hidan.

The silver haired man tsked at them, and said, "Not today, Jiraiya. You're by yourself, and there are three of us, and we have more experience. Well, except for the little shadow over here. He's a bab-"

Something hit Hidan, but Gaara couldn't see what it was. He took the moment to duck around the silver haired man, and was almost out the door, when Kakuzu shut it in front of him, barring the way. Gaara growled in frustration, but then Neji and TenTen dropped from the ceiling. Neji landed a kick on the man, while one of TenTen's shurikens hit him.

Kakuzu didn't even flinch, instead, he punched them both, causing both fighters to grasp their stomachs in pain. Neji ignored it, and tried to land another kick on Kakuzu, but the man dodged it. TenTen attacked from the other direction, while Neji backed up a little, trying to draw the man away from the door.

"Gaara! Watch out!" Sai yelled, and Gaara ducked instinctively, but hissed as his shoulder was nicked by the blade.

He turned, and saw Hidan sticking his tongue out to lick the blood, when the scythe was knocked out of Hidan's grasp.

"Don't let Hidan get your blood," Jiraiya yelled, as he dodged an attack made by the cloaked man. "You'll die if he ingests it."

"Wouldn't that have been nice to know earlier?" Neji said.

"That's un-youthful, Neji! The fight is uneven then!"

"It's called staying alive," Neji muttered as he ducked an attack from Kakuzu.

"I think you're getting a little too chatty for me," the man said. "We're going too easy on them, Hidan."

Hidan licked his lips, and nodded. "Far too easy if they're chatting like this," he said as he easily dodged an attack from Lee, grabbing the man's ankle, and swinging him into the wall. Gaara winced as he heard a crack, unsure if it was Lee's body, or the wall.

"And we need to get Naruto back from wherever this little miss stashed him," Kakuzu said, as he sliced his forearm against TenTen's right hand. She glared at him, and pilfered a shuriken from off the floor, and ran at the man.

Lee got up from where he'd fallen on the ground, and grabbed Hidan's hand, dragging the silver haired man into a kick, then he did a backflip, getting away from Hidan's counterattack, before heading towards TenTen, whose attack had failed, and was hit by Kakuzu's forearm, hard enough that she was knocked into a pile of tables and chairs to the south of the building. Lee was just in time to save her from getting crushed by Kakuzu's arm. However, he wasn't able to dodge Kakuzu's punch to his gut. Lee gasped, spitting up blood, his eyes turning blank. Kakuzu backed away and frowned when Lee remained standing.

There was a scream from the other side, and Gaara turned to look only to see Neji bleeding profusely from his stomach. His eyes widened as he saw Hidan standing in a strange ring, licking his lips, even while he had his scythe cutting into his stomach. His face looked like a skeletal image, not quite real, and yet real enough that it couldn't be mistaken for a Halloween mask.

He watched as Hidan pulled the scythe out of his stomach, and then used it to cut into his skin, and turned to look at Neji, only to see the same cut appearing on his skin.

"What the hell are you guys?" he whispered, unaware that he'd asked it.

The two men gave savage grins, and said, "Monsters."

Kakuzu picked TenTen up by the front of her shirt, and asked, "Where did you take Naruto?" TenTen groaned, but didn't open her eyes. He hissed, and tossed her out of the way.

Gaara took a step backwards, and then froze when Kakuzu turned towards his, his eyes narrow, and glowing with a quiet fury.

The red head backed up, trying to get more distance between himself and the man, but tripped over the money bags. He gained his balance before he fell to the floor, but it was too late. The glowing green eyed man was in front of him, and he had his arm pulled back. Gaara eyes widened, and he tried to step back, but he was too slow, and his eyes closed as he tried to prepare himself for the pain.

When he felt nothing, he opened his eyes to see the masked man holding Kakuzu's punch.

"Midnight," Kakuzu hissed. "What are you doing?"

"You were about to kill him," the cloaked man said. "That would destroy our mission."

For a moment, all Gaara could do was watch the two men, and then he turned to look over at Hidan who was lifting his scythe, sweeping it down to cut his wrist off.

"This is the police! We have you surrounded, put your weapons down, or we will not hesitate to shoot!"

Hidan paused, and then began to cut down again, but Kakuzu hissed, "Hidan, you idiot, stop. We already have more than enough attention as BCG, I don't want anyone else breathing down our necks."

The silver haired man, turned and yelled, "Damn it, Kakuzu! You fucking said I could kill this time! Do you know how weak this world has made me? I wouldn't be surprised if Jashin turned his back on me!"

"I'll let you kill someone later, right now we need to get away, unless you want to watch yourself being dissected?" Kakuzu chuckled. "I wonder how that would feel, having a slim blade cutting through your skin-"

"I get it," Hidan hissed, and moved himself out of the ring. Neji dropped to his knees, and the silver haired man sniffed, "Lucky."

"Come on, Hidan," Kakuzu said, and then they disappeared.

Gaara looked around, and saw TenTen was unconscious, and Lee ... Lee was still standing, but looking at him was painful. The man had a blank look in his eyes that didn't seem natural. Neji was unconscious from blood loss, and Sai ... Sai was checking on Jiraiya, who was sitting on the ground in the back of the bar, his right leg bent, with his arm propped up on it. He was laughing while Sai looked like a stern teacher. He could only catch wisps of their conversations, but from what he gathered, Sai was admonishing Jiraiya for taking on such a strong man by himself.

Then they were bombarded by the police.

One of them, a woman, came over to Gaara, and asked, "What's going on? Where's BCG?"

He blinked at her, and said, "They just left. One minute they were here, the next they were gone."

Jiraiya was next to him, and said, "How can I help a beautiful lady like yourself, Ms...?"

The woman frowned at him, and said, "If you say anything more, I'll file you for sexual harassment. Now, I'd like to know what's going on. How did they disappear? We have this building surrounded, and from what Sai said, you guys aren't with BCG."

Jiraiya laughed, but without amusement, "There was a trapdoor and they used it to get away."

"A trapdoor? Where? Do you know where it leads to? We can send a team there to catch them," the woman said.

"Yes. Behind the bar. No, I don't," Jiraiya gave her an amiable smile. "I believe I answered all of your questions?"

"Yes, yes," she said, waving him off, and going over to the bar, she hopped over it, and started to search for the trapdoor.

"Why did you lie?" Gaara muttered to Jiraiya in a low voice.

"Somewhat for the same reason they left, we have to keep this world as normal as possible, and if they learn those guys had powers that shouldn't be possible, we'll get a lot of backdraft as well," Jiraiya muttered back.

Gaara frowned at him, trying to figure out if there was a coded message in what Jiraiya said that couldn't be said in front of the police.

They looked over, when Sakura pushed her way through the officers in the doorway. "Let me through," she yelled. "I know some first aid, so let me help those who need it!"

Jiraiya went over and helped her through, and Gaara heard her mutter, "Jerks," as she passed by him to get to Neji, who looked to be in the most need of help.

He followed her, and asked, "How is Naruto?"

"Shush! Can't you see I'm working," she glared at Gaara as she got out the instruments to stitch Neji's stomach together. "It's bad enough that it's been a while since I did this, but you're interrupting me, and the idiot police didn't bother to call for any ambulances until I demanded that they did, which was five minutes ago. Knowing ambulances, they won't be here for another twenty minutes," she muttered as she cleaned out the wound with water for three minutes, and then used a lighter to clean a needle before stitching up the wound.

When she finished, she checked Neji's wrist, before wrapping it to stop the bleeding. "Neji's uncle is not going to be happy about this," she muttered. "They have a little over a month to prepare for that practice spar, and it's almost as big of a thing as the tournament, and these wounds will hinder his practice. At least nothing's broken."

She stood up, and disposed the gloves she used for Neji in a small bag. Then she grabbed her medical kit, and headed over to Lee and TenTen. She looked at Lee, her expression was broken between pity and sorrow for the man. She motioned over a couple of the police officers to help her ease the man onto the floor, and then checked the man out. One of his legs was broken, and his insides had been scrambled from the punch.

Gaara shuddered, realizing that the cloaked man had saved him. If he had been hit by the punch, he wouldn't have survived it. It was only through luck that Lee's heart hadn't stopped.

Sakura moved over to TenTen. One of her fingers was broken, the middle one of her right hand, and the rest were cut up. She wouldn't be able to use her right hand for a good month.

Sakura stood up and disposed the pair of gloves on her hands. "This isn't good. The ambulances should've been here by now. These guys need more treatment than I can give them with my paltry skills. I can't set bones, and my stitches were terrible."

"How's Naruto?" Gaara asked, his voice calm.

She looked over at him, and swallowed, shaking off her nerves, and said, "He's got a lot of bruises and cuts, but the worst of it is an arm that's broken," her fingers twitched.

Gaara looked out the window, and said, "Maybe we should go and stand by him? I think I hear sirens, and we don't want them to cause more undue harm to Naruto." He knelt down to pick up the straps of the duffel bags with the money in it, and winced as the strap dug into the nick in his shoulder.

"Right," Sakura said, before pushing through the officers, clearing the way for Gaara.

By the time they got to Naruto, the ambulances were pulled up next to the police cars. He was still tied to the chair, causing Gaara to raise a brow at Sakura.

"I didn't know how much damage was done, and I'm not a professional in the medical industry. It was better to leave him as is, rather than untying him, and causing more damage. Besides, Naruto is heavy, and I wouldn't be able to get him safely to the ground without hurting him."

He nodded, and then asked, "What did you mean when you said you did 'whatever the boys need me to do?'"

She looked over at him, and gave a faint smile, "I meant what I said. If they need a medic, then I'll be a medic, and I'd be happy; I like being able to heal people. Yet, they didn't need me for that, they needed information on BCG more than they needed a medic, and the only other job besides being a detective that dealt in information is being a reporter, and, sometimes, we can find things out that the police can't, because they're the police."

Then she turned to face the medic that was coming this way from the ambulance. "Please be careful with him; he has a broken arm, and other injuries that could get worse." The medic nodded, and called over two of the other medics who were heading to the bar.

The other two held Naruto up, while the first medic unbounded the blond. Then they gently lifted the unconscious man off of the chair and placed him on the stretcher.

Gaara kept a careful watch on Naruto while the medics tended to him as well as they could outside of the hospital. They had to splint his right arm, as it was broken in two different places, and they wrapped his middle as well as they could without damaging his unconscious body. They stood up when they finished, and one of the female medics turned to him, and asked, "You're a friend of this man, yes?"

He nodded.

"Would you like to come with him in the ambulance?"

Gaara hesitated, and said, "I drove..."

"It's all good, Gaara, I'll drive your car to the hospital," Shikamaru said, as he ambled over to him. "Temari and Kankuro are coming to Suna, anyway, and Temari will drive back here so I can pick up my car."

He gave Shikamaru a grateful smile, and told himself to remember to do something nice for the brunette when he could.

The medics picked up the stretcher with Naruto in it and made their way over to the ambulance through the sand. Gaara hopped in, and sat next to one of the female medics. Then they closed the doors, and they were off to the hospital.

Gaara fidgeted in the chair by Naruto's bed. The blond was dozing, now, after waking up from unconsciousness to get a full body x-ray.

He had a broken arm, and multitudes of bruises and scratches. He had a wide cut on his head, and there were bandages wrapped around the top, almost creating a mummified image. His eyes had bags under them that were dark, and stood out against his pale tan. He looked like he had gotten into a fight with a bulldozer, and had lost. Gaara would almost prefer that to what had really happened. At least he would be able to understand how the bulldozer had managed to damage his friend, and it wouldn't have any hidden meanings to it, unlike the mystery that was surrounding BCG, and Naruto.

He glanced over at Neji, Naruto's roommate, wincing when he glanced at the bandages wrapped around his middle. From what he'd heard, the doctors had inspected Sakura's stitches, but decided to leave them as they were, and just disinfected the wound some more, making sure that Neji didn't get an infection. He didn't blame them. Neji's uncle had been furious when he'd heard his nephew was in the hospital, and was threatening to sue the hospital if he so much as had a cold when he left. If they left in Sakura's stitches, and he still got an infection, they could push the blame onto her, and get away from a lawsuit.

Yet, compared to Naruto, Neji looked fine, and his wound would heal faster than a broken arm.

Gaara turned when he heard Naruto moan, and scooted closer to the bed. He watched as the blond eyelashes fluttered, before finally opening to reveal blue eyes.

"Are you awake, now? Or are you going back to dozing?" he asked with, what he hoped, was amusement.

Naruto smiled, and then yawned. He tried to stretch, but winced as it pulled on his bruised muscles.

Then he looked down, "I can't believe I was knocked out during that whole battle. I really hope that whoever got Neji was actually strong, and not that he was ganged up on. If only I'd been conscious..."

"Naruto, you were better off unconscious. You wouldn't have been able to do anything if you were conscious, except make your injuries worse," Gaara said. "I was there, and conscious, but against these guys, not even you would be able to make the battle turn in our favor."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for one, they could do things that shouldn't even be possible. The silver haired guy would cut himself, and the same wound appeared on Neji. I don't even know about the other guy. He didn't show any weird skills, except being stronger than he should be, but since he seemed like the one in charge, I'm sure he's got some skills that shouldn't be possible, too. Jiraiya went against the guy covered in black, and I didn't see what he could do, but I'm guessing he was equal with the man with the glowing green eyes," Gaara paused. "Jiraiya and Tsunade seem to have some idea as to what's going on, but I don't know what. She also said I was the same as you, and that we couldn't be killed by these guys." Gaara frowned, and looked at Naruto, "How did you know that they couldn't kill you, by the way?"

Naruto gave a nervous chuckle and looked down, "Uh, I pretended to be unconscious, and they were yelling at each other. Hidan just wanted to kill me, and get it over with, but Kakuzu, I think, said something about how I couldn't die, or their leader wouldn't be happy."

"Wait, they have a leader? They aren't the ones pulling the strings on the gang?"

Naruto paused, and said, "No, I think they are in charge of the gang. They said something about a group called Akatsuki, and that they're members of it, and that their boss in that group would be displeased. I get the feeling that the boss isn't around right now, or he wouldn't have allowed the Bloody Cloud Gang to be called that."

"If the leader's not around, then where is he? He must not have been here for over thirty years, so why would he even be interested in us? We weren't born then. You make it sound like this has been their goal this whole time."

The blond struggled to lift himself up for a minute, but got himself up straight with a little help from Gaara.

"Well," Naruto began, shrugging, "Hidan was complaining about how it'd taken them over forty years to finally get me, and that he was sick and tired of this 'world'."

"Forty years? Hidan must have a really good plastic surgeon, or these guys are defying the laws of physics," Gaara said, frowning at Naruto's snickering. "What? If they've been here for forty years, then Hidan would have to at least be fifty, or something, and yet, he looks twenty."

"I know!" Naruto said, and then he grabbed his middle, and said, "That hurt, I don't think I should laugh too much. It just seemed funny that Hidan had a plastic surgeon! From the way he acted, I don't think he'd give a damn if he was old and wrinkly. The only thing he cared about was Jashin, whoever that is, and he even cursed that guy."

The door to their room banged open, and they looked over to see Tsunade entering. She smiled at them, and glanced over at Neji before closing the door.

"Did you take care of Hiashi?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade frowned at him, and said, "That's Mr. Hyuuga to you, mister. How did you get kidnapped anyway?"

"U-Um," Naruto looked down. "I was running, and, um, they kind of stopped in front of me, and I was going to run around them, but before I got past them, Hidan stopped me, and asked me a question, I can't remember exactly what it was, but the next thing I knew, I was tied up to a chair in the back of a ... van? I'm guessing a van, 'cause it was kind of spacious."

Gaara stared at Naruto, who was fidgeting and looking away. He heard a sigh, and looked over at Tsunade whose eyes were closed, and her hand was positioned in such a way that it looked like she was trying to beat back a headache.

"Naruto ... I don't even know what to say. It was four in the morning, shouldn't you have been more suspicious of two shady men? You idiot," she sighed and sat down on the bed. "Oh, well, if you'd resisted you would have been hurt even more. So how did you see the landscape if you were tied up and blindfolded?"

"Well, I kind of somehow got them to stop and let me go to the bathroom, and while I was in the restroom, I used the wall to lift the blindfold just a smidgen."

"Did the cashier not even question you being tied up?"

"Kakuzu told him that they were filming an action movie, and that I really had to go to the bathroom, and the knot wouldn't untie, and they had to hurry. The cashier was an older man in his sixties, and he didn't care."

"Idiot."

Gaara wasn't sure if she was reiterating that Naruto was one, or if the cashier was the idiot.

"At least you're okay, for the most part," she said, looking him over. "The doctor says that you'll be able to leave today, you just have to be careful, and no practicing-or running-for the next three weeks."

"What?" Naruto yelped, and then clapped his hands over his mouth when Neji moaned.

"Do you want me to tell the hospital to strap you to the gurney for the next three weeks, or would you like to go back to Gaara's?"

"Gaara's," Naruto said with a meek voice.

"Then you can't do anything that'll harm your bones. You're lucky that you can heal faster than most people, but if you don't rest for a little while, then you can't leave."

"Mean," Naruto moaned.

"Of course," Tsunade said with a haughty voice. Then she threw a flier at him. He caught it with his left hand, and looked at it. "That's for the care and keeping of your cast. If I hear you do anything, anything that hinders the healing process, then you won't get to go to the practice spar."

Naruto pouted, but nodded.

She tossed him some clothes, and said, "Now, go get dressed, and then you can go home."

Naruto grinned, and grabbed the clothes before hopping out of the bed, making his way to the bathroom.

Tsunade watched him, a little smile on her face, and then turned to Gaara, serious, "If he so much as lifts a grocery bag, call me, I'll get him back to the hospital before he can say ramen."

He nodded, and she said, "Thank you. He's not too much of a bother, is he?"

Gaara shook his head, "I like it, having him around. He's energetic, but he, he..."

"Doesn't make it as lonely?" Tsunade asked, and he nodded. "Yes, he's really good at that. Anyway, I have to go now. I was lucky to get away from my office for this long. Take care," she said, as she walked out of the room.

Naruto came out of the restroom, then, his street clothes on. He looked over at Neji, and frowned, "I think I need to get him a really awesome get well present, you know? And Lee..." Naruto looked down, troubled.

Gaara asked, "Are you ready to go home?" Hoping to change the direction of the blond's thoughts.

"Yeah! Let's go!" The blond smiled at him, and lead the way.

Gaara was making Naruto a bowl of ramen when there was a knock at the door. The blond was in the shower, washing off the 'hospital smell,' so that left him to answer the door.

The red head strode over to the door, and stopped before opening it. Then, he cautiously peeked through the peep hole, having never done so before. He frowned, then opened the door.

"Hello," Sai said with a blank smile and a short wave. Then he handed over a bag of cookies. "I just wanted to greet my new neighbors. I've heard that you give a friendly gift to neighbors as a sort of peace greeting."

Gaara stared at the bag of cookies, then reached up to take them, when a tanned hand grabbed them before he could. Naruto was behind him, dressed only in a white towel that was wrapped around his lower waist. "Thanks, Sai!" he said, and then shut the door.

"Cookie?" he asked, leaning the bag over to Gaara.

A/N:

Naruto! Why'd you have to get a broken arm? Now I have to go and rewrite everything. =P

Also, that's my first fight scene ... ever. So, if you have any suggestions on what I can do to improve them, please, feel free to tell me. Also, that was a curb stomp battle because there was no other way that battle would turn out.

If you're curious as to why Kakuzu and Hidan still have their powers, and who Midnight is, please check out my other story, I'm With You. This story ties in with I'm With You, but it can be read alone. Please don't think that I'm forcing you to read it. I would be a bad writer if I forced you to read anything, so if you really don't want to read it, then PM me, and I'll tell you a summary of what's going on here.

Thank you for being such great readers, and putting up with the strangeness!