Gaara struggled to breathe.
"Come on, Gaara, don't fade on me now, you wuss," Naruto tried to antagonize him. The redhead's eyes fluttered and he slumped over. "Gaara? Gaara, snap out of it!" Maybe Tsunade should check his ribs as well. "Gaara!" This seemed to snap Kankuro out of his stunned reverie. "Gaara!" the eldest Sabaku brother ran forward and gently pulled Gaara from Naruto. At first, the blond fought, but he realized that Kankuro could probably support him better and they might go faster. He let Kankuro take his younger brother and they began to walk faster. "Where are we going? Why aren't we calling 9-1-1 or something if he's this damaged?" Kankuro asked.
"Because-"
They were interrupted by hasty footsteps. "Gaara! Naruto, I... Kankuro?" Temari gasped. "Temari, why didn't you tell me?" Kankuro yelled at her.
"I-I was trying-"
"To protect me," Kankuro said, voicing what she'd said earlier. "Why would you do a stupid thing like that?"
"Me stupid? You're stupid! How come you never noticed-?"
"Listen you two, you can argue about which one of you was the most of an asshole later, okay? We need to get to my house, call Tsunade and have her check Gaara," Naruto snapped, breaking up their "bitchfest" as he called it in his head.
"Tsunade? Our principal?"
"Who else?" Naruto snapped. The blond usually wasn't the easiest to piss off, but right now he was worried about a friend and he was worried Tsunade wasn't home.
"What good what Tsunade do? 'Cause if you wanted to tell someone, you could've just called the police."
"We're not as stupid as you, Kankuro," Temari snapped venomously. All of their tempers were frayed and they found themselves yelling at each other. "Haven't you noticed how many times we've moved? Because people began to find out. Because they began to discover what you just found out. They actually used their brains. And when there was even a hint of suspicion, we'd move. You believed everything Dad told you. Everything. That his job required him to move every year? You idiot, he's the owner of Sabaku Industries, he can be wherever he wants to be, do whatever he wants. Why would he have to move? You know, in the end, I think you're not stupid, you're just naive! Believe everything Dad says, don't you?"
"Oh and I suppose you're any better, Temari! You kept it to yourself! Why? Do you even care about him? Apparently, even to me, the oblivious idiot, you've let it go on forever! What do you say about that, huh? What's your excuse? My excuse: I'm an idiot. What about you?"
"Hey! I'm tired of you two going at it, believe it! Look at yourselves! You care more about biting each others heads off than Gaara. Now come on, my house is close now!" Naruto yelled.
With murderous glares that soon faded to concern, they made their way to the blond's house.
Naruto was relieved. Jiraiya wasn't home. How hard it would've been to lie to the old geezer he didn't want to think about. He told Kankuro to put Gaara down on the couch, then went to his phone. "Naruto! What are you going to say?" Temari asked cautiously. "Um, I'm gonna- Hey Tsunade, listen it's an emergency, I swear, I'm not prank-calling you. Listen, my friend's hurt. He's really hurt!"
Temari listened anxiously to the conversation she could hear. "Gaara Sabaku! Um, Kankuro, you know Kankuro right Kankuro Sabaku? His brother? Yeah, so um, Kankuro was practicing a football move on him and, there was an accident and now Gaara's busted up pretty bad!" Naruto paused as Tsunade began to speak. "He's not going to a hospital because... uh he doesn't have health coverage. And, uh, he doesn't like hospitals, don't tell anyone, it's embarrassing."
Tsunade had to admit, Naruto sounded convincing. He sounded upset and excited, but also worried. He didn't sound tense or guilty. He just sounded worried.
But then, Temari thought, he was worried.
Geniunely.
"Okay, great, thanks so much! Just come over immediately okay?"
Pause.
"No, it wasn't me, I swear, Kiba put me up to it- no, I mean he did it! Look,does it really matter, I have an injured friend! Don't you have some obligation to treat him or something? Like, the Hippo-something oath?"
Naruto hung up the phone, annoyance on his face. "She hung up on me!"
"Whatever! She's coming, right?"
"Yeah, jeez, I'm not deaf, woman."
I will not be able to update for another two days. Sorry for the wait, but finals, you know? Thanks to those who have reviewed/read this.
See ya.'