Chapter 56
Sasuke
I couldn't believe Naruto went off on Gaara and I like that, hell, he could have at least helped us clean up the soda that went everywhere when he threw his can on the floor. And with the fact that Itachi called Ibiki and Tsunade when Naruto hadn't slept all night, which turned out to be his fifth night in a row this week when I noticed him dozing off in classes and pieced all the pieces together with what he said. Hell, I doubt Gaara even knows that Naruto's become an insomniac like he once was, and somewhat still is. Naruto wouldn't want him knowing anyway, that's just how he is.
But still, he could have helped us clean my soda he grabbed from my fridge that he threw all over my floor. Heh, I guess I'm being bitchy today because I really don't want to do critique work on other people's writings, especially when they're the ones critiquing mine. I've always been the hush, hush writer that rarely showed anyone what I'm writing. Guess some things will have to change.
"Hey, Sasuke." Gaara said after a few minutes of helping me mop the kitchen and wipe down everything the soda landed on, which included the fridge, chairs, table and some of the cabinets under the counter.
"Yea?" I asked, now putting the mop back in the mop bucket as I tried to rinse some of the sticky soda out of the rope. God soda can be so messy to clean.
"What did Naruto mean by what he said?" He asked, and when I looked up to see him, he had paused in cleaning the fridge since he had wiped down everything else. The look in his eyes showed hurt, and I didn't blame him.
"Well, have you noticed Naruto dozing off during classes lately this week?" I asked, trying not to tell him but also telling him at the same time.
"No, I've been to worried about making sure he got all his notes so he could at least pass this semester." Gaara shrugged, and there was more hurt showing in his eyes.
"Well, if you piece together what Naruto said to him dozing off every day in each class, and with the fact that I've seen his bedroom light on every night when I go to bed and it still be on in the morning when I go over to make sure he's taking his medicine, makes me think he hasn't slept since his father came home." I sighed, now taking the mop and the bucket outside since the floor was finally cleaned and finished. I locked the door, only because I don't think anyone's going outside today; there's snow on the ground, enough to cover a few inches high on the sides of the fenced in porch. Not only that, the porch itself sat about a foot off the ground.
"Hey, Gaara, come here." I said, a small smile on my face; only because I loved winter, which helped point out that Naruto and I are most definitely polar opposites.
"What is it?" He asked, and I could tell he hadn't moved from his spot on the floor.
"There's over a foot of snow on the ground." I said, now waving him over.
"You gotta be kidding me." Gaara scoffed as I heard him get up and pad on over to my right and look outside. "Shit, you weren't kidding. Hell, this is the first time I've seen so much snow in a few years, so early in October."
"I know. I'm guessing that a winter storm went by and no one paid attention to the news or the weather before bed." I shrugged. "At least I know we can't go anywhere today unless we really have to."
"Morning boys." A female voice said behind us, and the two of us spun around on our heels to be face to face with Tsunade and Ibiki, who was standing by the front door while Tsunade was in the walk way to the kitchen.
"Morning Tsunade." Gaara and I said at the same time.
"Itachi is in a meeting, Hizashi called and suggested a phone conference instead of coming over here to talk because of the weather, so you three need to be quiet until he comes out." Tsunade said, and the two of us nodded. "I've also told Itachi this before he got the phone call, and Naruto's medicine will be taken all in the morning. The medicine is making him restless so he's not sleeping well."
"Okay." I nodded, Gaara only sighed heavily and rubbed his left elbow as he looked down at the floor.
"Gaara, he's allowed to take half of one of your sleeping pills if he doesn't go to sleep before ten tonight." Tsunade said, and she sounded much more calm than a moment ago. I guess she's just as worried about the dobe as much as us two were.
"Okay, and thanks Tsunade-sama." Gaara said with a small nod.
"Alright, well, Ibiki and I have to get going. I have an emergency surgery that called in just before I came out here so I gotta get going." Tsunade said as she straightened up. "See you boys Monday." And with that, she went to the front door and left with Ibiki. I guess they came separate and Ibiki was parked in front of her car, which turned out to be the case when we heard two engines turn on in the drive way after two car doors closed and they drove off after a minute.
"I'm going to go see if Naruto's okay." Gaara said, and he left the kitchen without another word. But I did follow him to the bedroom and stood in the door way while Gaara went in and saw that the blonde climbed back into bed and was snoring peacefully on top of the covers. And with the way he was sprawled on the bed, it looked like he fell onto it and passed out just seconds later.
"I'll be in my room if you need anything okay? My door will be open." I whispered to Gaara and I closed the door after I saw the nod he gave me and I went to my room. God, this isn't how we imagined our Saturday to fucking be.
I sighed as I walked past the closed office door, hearing Itachi arguing with Neji's uncle, which isn't something I'm used to hearing, but either way, it's none of my business unless it's something serious. So I left the door alone and walked into my room and sat down at my computer I brought in earlier just after Naruto's outburst after seeing that no soda got on it somehow and brought the screen to life. I was almost done with my short story, and I now had enough time to get it done since Gaara and Naruto were busy for a while.
We can critique each others' work later, like during dinner or something, which reminded me, I hadn't ate breakfast. Hell, no one's eat breakfast yet that I know of. So I grabbed my laptop and went back to the kitchen, putting the computer on the table and I searched the fridge for something to eat.
Naruto slept another four hours, which wasn't much, but it was something. And he did seem to be in a somewhat better mood than this morning when he woke up, yet he was freaking out that no one could read his short story, all because he said it wasn't done yet.
"How long is the damn thing Naruto?" I asked for the tenth time since he came into the kitchen with Gaara.
"It's only seven pages typed and I'm not finished." He said as he was vigorously typing on the laptop, hitting the keys so hard I thought he was going to break them.
"I'm still finishing mine up, I have at least one more page that I can be accountable for and then it's finished." Gaara said, working from his own laptop, pausing for a moment only to get a drink and a bite of pizza that we ordered when Naruto woke up. No one was in the mood to cook anything, and I didn't blame them. But it took about an extra five or so minutes for the delivery car to bring us our food. Itachi paid him extra tip because of the weather and wished the driver luck. He's too much of a softy I think.
"I'll go see if Itachi will let us use his printer. It'll be easier for us to read each others' work if they're printed off." I suggested as I saved my story, after editing it four times since the blonde woke up. I had finished an hour before they all emerged from their rooms and office so I played an hours' worth of Super Mario on the Wii with the volume off, only because I'd have it blaring through out the house if I didn't.
I only stopped playing because it was starting to piss me off.
"Okay." Naruto nodded as he paused to see what he typed while I got up and left the kitchen.
When I got to Itachi's office, the door was closed, so I knocked on it softly and waited until he said I could come in. Honestly, it was strange for Itachi to have the lights off in his office while he was in it. It was pitch black in here.
"May I turn the light on so I can see?" I asked as I stepped in and closed the door, staying close to it so I would make sure I didn't trip over anything.
"Sure." Itachi said, and I flicked the light on, earning a hiss from my brother and watching him cover his eyes with his left arm to keep himself from being blinded.
"Is everything okay?" I asked when I finally took a seat in front of him on my side of his desk and leaned forward to get a good look at him.
"Yea, I turned the light off and played solitaire but I only ended up falling asleep after maybe five games. I got a headache." He answered, whining as I watched him lean forward as well and lean onto his elbows on the table and rest his head in his hands, finger tips rubbing his temples and suddenly I felt like something was missing.
"You never get headaches." I frowned.
"I do when I drink too much coffee, and I've had two and a half pots of it this morning." He grumbled.
"You never make that much coffee in one day." I said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yea, well, I couldn't for the life of me get myself to stay awake." He said.
"It snowed last night, we have over a foot of it." I told him, in case he didn't pay attention when he answered the door this morning.
"I noticed, and I'm blaming it on this weather. It's too early for snow." He sighed.
"Naruto thinks so too." I chuckled. "I'll go get you some water and the Aleve, you look like you could use a nap." I added as I stood up.
"Thank you little brother." Itachi yawned. "I'll be in my room."
"Okay, oh, and can we use the printer for our homework?" I asked, almost forgetting as we walked out of the office.
"Sure, don't use all my paper is all. I have to go and get more." He said with a nod as I watched him go into his room across the hall from the office, and I sighed heavily when the door closed. Yea, there was definitely something else going on with Itachi, he must have gotten into an argument with Tenshi over something stupid again, not just a near over dose on caffeine.
"Yo, can we use the printer?" Naruto asked, and when I looked at him, he was grinning like the moron he truly is. I guess he finished it while I was talking with Itachi.
"Sure, go and print off, Gaara, print mine off as well. Itachi's got a nasty headache and I'm gonna get him a few things." I said as I went into the glass cupboard and grabbed the bottle of Aleve, opening it and grabbing two of the gel capsules before putting it away and got a glass filled with water. I decided to get the ice pack Naruto used to use for his back so Itachi could use it on his head.
"Sure." Gaara said a moment later as the two got up with the laptops and made their way to the office before me.
"Thanks." I nodded, following them down the hall and went into Itachi's room, closing the door behind me with my foot as soft as I could and walked over to the side of his bed where he was sitting up, probably waiting for me with his lap on beside his bed.
"Here's some Aleve and water." I told him, putting the two pills into his open hand and the water in the other. "And I grabbed the ice pack Naruto used. Might help." I added with a small shrug as he took the pills and downed the water. I'll have to make sure he drinks enough water to piss every hour for a few hours before he goes to bed so he can get some water in his system.
"Thanks, and keep it down out there too, just in case you guys argue over each others' work." Itachi said, and he had a smirk on his face as he laid down over top the covers and put the ice pack over his face.
"Will do nii-chan." I smiled, leaving the room and silently closed his door. I'm going to have a hard time keeping Naruto quiet, but it's worth a shot.
