Chapter 36: Naruto

I breathed heavy as Gaara restitched the wound on my back. It hurt. I didn't want to go back to the hospital, it was too stuffy and clean there. My sightless eyes wandered around the room, trying to get their bearings. I could tell Gaara was getting freaked out. Earlier he'd called someone, I don't know who but he sounded urgent. The door slammed open at that moment.

"Naruto are you alright?!" Neji yelled, rushing over to me. He sounded tired, not physically no but emotionally.

"Neji? Gaara called you?" He slowed down a couple of steps.

"Yes Naruto, I want you to look me in the eyes." I lifted my head and tried in vain to find them. I just couldn't see. "Naruto, that's my chest," he choked out. Something strange happened then. My vision began to get better, slowly, at the edges. Everything was fuzzy and out of focus. Eventually I was able to see, though a haze was around everything.

Neji had bags under his eyes, his hair disheveled. There was an energy about him that made him seem haggard. He was glaring at Gaara.

"Seems like your keeping your word…" he growled.

"What do you mean?" Gaara continued to stitch.

"I've had one thing happen to me right after another as soon as you'd left me alone," he glowered. "You're making pretty good on your promise."

"It's called karma jackass…" Gaara growled back.

"Calm down you guys. I'm okay now…"

"No you're not okay… Your stitches have re opened and you can't see a thing…" Gaara mumbled.

"But I can see." I smiled up at Neji. With a final tug on the stitching on my back, Gaaras work was done.

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked as he rebandaged my torso.

"I've gotten by eye sight back, though it's not exactly up to par…" I grinned up at Neji, who was the cause of me getting my eye sight back, I was sure. Gaara finished up and Neji helped me up.

"Good, I'm glad you can see again… It would have sucked if you couldn't see…" Neji mumbled. I glanced down at him just as he glanced at his watch and yawned.

"You okay Neji?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Do you mind if I stay the night tonight? I'm exaughsted; I don't think I can drive all the way back home. And besides you live pretty close to the school anyways so I can get more sleep." I laughed and nodded. He went outside to call home. Gaara took my arm and squeezed it as soon as Neji was out the door.

"Don't do that again…" He growled.

"Sorry. Blame… Itachi," I flinched. "He hurt me…" I shook my head. "I can't believe this…" He patted me on the shoulder, telling me it would be okay.

"I have to go. Its late and my siblings will get annoying." I nodded and he left. I glanced at my calendar, counted the days until Neji's announcement ceremony. Only a couple of more days left. And a couple of days until I was expected to be a father… Seems I had gotten it wrong earlier. Days not weeks. How time flies.

Neji walked back in, an angry expression gracing his features.

"What's wrong?"

"He's a fucking bastard!" He hissed.

"What happened? What did he say?"

"He told me the only reason he's letting me marry my cousin at all is because my father wanted it! Otherwise I would have been thrown out years ago with the other trash! That bastard! He's the one that wants me to marry his daughter! If I didn't he wouldn't have a proper heir!" He growled.

"Don't think on it to much Neji, he's just being a prick. I don't think he really means anything by it." He glared at me. "Hey, it's just a thought!"

"So where can I sleep?" An abrupt change in subject.

"I was thinking with me. Unless you fancy the couch," he smirked at me.

"Alright, but I warn you now, I move a lot." I laughed.

"I'm not worried." I threw an arm over his shoulder and leaned heavily on him. "Just don't hit my wounds." Neji rolled his eyes as he struggled to get me to my room. An anxious pounding began in my chest. I really didn't want to see Neji get married or even engaged for that matter. But I would stick it out because Neji trusted me. I sighed.

He flopped me on the bed and I shimmied over to one side. He took his shoes off and climbed in after me. I turned the light out and settled down.

"Hey, Naruto?" His voice floated over to me from the darkness.

"Yeah?"

"What happened to your mirror?"

"It fell over…"

"Oh…"

"Good night…"

"Night."

End Chapter