Disclaimer: Not mine
If: Wow...yesh, the poor Naru-chan... feel the empathy rolling off me! ...But anyway, I would like to hope that I've surprised y'all with this chapter. He he he...
Anon: Heh, yesh Poor Naru-chan... I'm pretty sure it was a predictable thing to do, but its necessary for the story! he he he... but anyway, thanks for the nice words, and yesh I am the Updater!
puptastic25 : Yesh, jealousy. What sort of twisted love triangle would I be writing if there was no jealousy:) But yesh, Sasuke is alive. And yesh, Poor Naru-chan... he's just so unloved.
YINGYANGBLOSSOMS : he he he... Yesh, Naru-chan needs someone to love. Poor guy. We'll have to see who gets together with him. And cheer him up? I don't know... the angst is prevalent in this fic. It just won't leave the characters alone... of course that has nothing to do with me... not at all. But anyway, we'll have to see what happens, ne?
Aokichu : Thanks for the nice review. We'll have to see what happens betwixt Sasu and Gaa and what will become of Naruto? ... I feel like one of those annoucer people for a Soap opera or something...
Jenna : Wow, now that's a strong reaction to my story. I'm glad you're so receptive to it. Its awesome to hear that you're into it so much!
It took nearly a week for Sasuke to be healed enough to be fit to leave the hospital. Gaara would come and visit after every day of school, and the two would just sit and enjoy each other's company. They would talk about the goings on at school, the over protectiveness of siblings (Itachi had shown up an hour after their confessions and had proceeded to go insane), and just the world in general. But Sasuke could tell that Gaara was distracted, that there was something his… boyfriend was worried over but wouldn't talk to him about. But other than the nagging feeling that Gaara was keeping something from him, Sasuke was as happy as he could ever be.
Gaara's siblings called him in sick the day Sasuke got out of the hospital so that he could spend the whole day together. Which was exactly what they were doing: spending the whole day together.
Gaara was there when Sasuke awoke, gently kissing his forehead as Sasuke greeted him. The doctor's let him out at noon, telling him that he had to take his medication on time, and that he had to take care of himself. Some of the nurses that knew Sasuke and Gaara were together now pulled the raven haired boy off to the side and told him bluntly to not have any sex for at least five days. Sasuke came back from being dragged away blushing as dark as Gaara's hair. Gaara gave him a questioning look, but Sasuke didn't tell him a single word of what they had said, or what they had slipped to him for "later."
They decided to walk around the park that was nearby for a while, and stopped at a nearby sandwich place for lunch. Together they enjoyed a picnic in the park. Sasuke decided that now was the time to ask Gaara what was bothering him.
"Gaara…" Sasuke started after the red head had finished his sandwich and had lain down on the grass.
"Hmmm?" Gaara had answered, gazing up at the clouds and almost realizing why Shikamaru did this all the time.
"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked, laying his head on Gaara's chest and wrapping an arm around his waist.
"Nothing's wrong," Gaara said putting an arm around Sasuke's shoulders.
"Then what's been bothering you?" Sasuke asked, poking Gaara's side. Gaara didn't reply. "You're not telling me something."
Gaara sighed. "It's Naruto."
Sasuke frowned. Naruto? Come to think of it, he hadn't seen the blonde since Gaara had gotten out of the hospital nearly a week ago. He wondered what had happened to the blonde dobe.
"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, feeling Gaara nod.
"Yeah… apparently he disappeared after the… incident," Gaara said. Sasuke frowned.
"Disappeared?" Sasuke asked. He felt Gaara nod again.
"Yeah… I heard from Neji that he and Sakura had gone to visit us in the hospital, but that only Sakura had come back, and she hadn't come back till the next day," Gaara said. Sasuke was confused.
"Where the hell could that dobe have gone?" he asked.
"I don't know… I talked to Jiraiya, Naruto's pervert guardian, but he had no idea where he had gone. He wasn't too friendly about it either… which is weird because he's never not been nice to me," Gaara said.
"That's strange," Sasuke said, deep in thought. Suddenly something came back to him from the day Gaara had gotten out of the hospital. Naruto had kissed Gaara. Sasuke's brow furrowed, what did that have to do with… suddenly it clicked.
"Gaara…" Sasuke started, suddenly unsure if he should tell this to the red head.
"Yeah?" Gaara replied.
"Um… Naruto… liked you, right?" Sasuke asked tentatively.
"Yeah… we were best friends," Gaara instantly replied, flicking Sasuke's forehead. "You know that."
"No… I meant as more than friends," Sasuke clarified, rubbing the spot on his forehead that Gaara had flicked.
"Oh…" Gaara said. "…I think he did… no, I know he did."
"What if… he and Sakura visited at the exact moment we… confessed?" Sasuke asked he felt Gaara stiffen under him.
"…Shit…" Gaara said, feeling suddenly very cold.
"Yeah…" Sasuke agreed.
"It would certainly explain why Sakura's been avoiding me like the plague," Gaara said. Guilt was washing over him. It hurt to know that he had caused his first, and most important friend so much pain that he had run away. Or maybe Naruto hadn't run away. Maybe his friend hadn't been able to take the pain and had tried to take the easy way out. What if Naruto had killed himself? What if he had jumped off a bridge, or slit his wrists or laid down on the train tracks? Would Naruto do something so rash? Would this totally and utterly destroy one of the most important people in his life?
Sasuke knew something was wrong. He had sat up and he didn't like the look on Gaara's face. Gaara looked as if his life was coming crashing down around him. Sasuke reached out to brush a hand across his cheek, but Gaara flinched away from him. Sasuke felt shunned.
"Gaara?" he asked tentatively, almost afraid of what the red head would do.
Gaara sat up, and then stood; totally ignoring the way Sasuke was looking at him with hurt and tear filled eyes. Gaara was in his own world, his world that had gone from bright and sunny to black and dangerous. He needed his sun back.
"I'm sorry…" was all the red head said before he walked away, leaving a stunned and almost confused Sasuke behind.
Sasuke felt the tears welling up in his eyes. He wouldn't be able to hold them back for long. It hurt too much. He had thought that Gaara had loved him; he had said he did, didn't he? Why would the person who said they loved him walk away from him for someone else? Why would Gaara do that to him? Was he that easy to throw away? Was he that worthless?
Sasuke broke down, sobbing and clutching his knees to his chest, curling in on himself. Sasuke let it all come out. He was hurt and breaking and the one person who would piece him together had just walked away.
"Poor little Sasuke… I guess that he didn't care for one such as you," a sickeningly familiar, slimy and hated voice spoke up from behind the breaking Uchiha. Sasuke whirled around and his eyes got wide.
Gaara couldn't even think of where to start looking for Naruto. The blonde had never just up and disappeared. Naruto was more level headed than he let on. So Gaara didn't know how to look for him.
Gaara scanned the streets for any sign of the blonde, but instead saw a head of familiar pink hair.
Sakura? Gaara thought, his brow furrowing. He was about to call out to her, but then he remembered how cold she had been to him all week. So instead, Gaara decided to follow her.
Sakura was going towards the worse part of town. Gaara watched as the buildings around him went from nice corporate buildings with an antiseptic feeling to the rundown slums that occupied the lower income class. People were looking at him with ferocious eyes. Some wanted him dead and some of them wanted to use him for his money. Gaara did his best to ignore them and just followed Sakura. Finally the pink haired girl came to a stop and went into a rundown apartment. Gaara followed her in, trying his hardest to keep from being detected.
Sakura turned down a hallway and came to a stop outside of a room. Gaara watched from around the corner as she knocked and then went in. The door closed behind her and Gaara went to the door and pressed his ear to it.
"How are you?" he heard Sakura ask the occupant of the room. There was no audible reply.
"Don't do that!" Gaara heard Sakura shout and something was knocked to the ground. Gaara frowned.
"You can survive this! You don't need to end your life!" Sakura shouted. Gaara became worried. Whoever Sakura was talking to was suicidal.
"I don't want to survive this! It hurts too much!" came the hoarse shout that answered Sakura. Gaara froze, his blood running cold. That was Naruto's voice!
"You have to survive it Naruto!" Sakura was starting to sound desperate. Gaara moved to get to a better position. All sound ceased in the room. Gaara frowned and pressed his ear closer to the door. Gaara fell forward onto the dirty floor with a thump as the door was thrown open. A growl above him alerted him to the fact that there was someone standing over him. Gaara looked up and saw the angry face of Sakura.
"Sakura? What was it?" Naruto asked wandering out of the bedroom to see what was going on. He froze, gasping and held a hand over his mouth, clearly catching sight of Gaara.
"Gaara?" he asked his voice suddenly airy. Gaara looked to the blonde and he winced. Naruto looked horrible, his clothes were tattered, he was covered in bruises and fresh bandages were covering his arms.
"Naruto…" Gaara managed to say. Sakura stepped on his back and Gaara winced, the wounds from nearly two weeks ago may be gone physically but they seemed to be aching at the moment.
"Sakura! Leave him alone!" Naruto shouted, rushing over to the red head's side. Sakura reluctantly took her foot from Gaara's back. Naruto helped the red head up. Gaara frowned at Naruto.
"Naruto… what did you do?" he asked, gently taking hold of one of Naruto's arms. Naruto quickly drew back his arm and backed up a little bit.
"What would you care about what I do?" Naruto asked in a cold voice. Gaara felt his heart sink a little at that.
"Of course I care. I've always cared Naruto. If I didn't care I wouldn't have been so worried about you!" Gaara said. Naruto scoffed and his once bright blue eyes looked away.
"Ha! You weren't worried! You were too busy snogging Sasuke to even notice I was gone!" Naruto shouted. Gaara grew angry.
"I wasn't snogging Sasuke! And I was worried! I tried asking everyone but no one would tell me anything! I couldn't find you anywhere!" Gaara shouted back.
Naruto laughed. It was a mirthless laugh, and Gaara didn't like the sound of it.
"Then how did you find me now?" Naruto asked, sneering at Gaara.
"I saw Sakura and followed her," Gaara said softly. Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Wow… and it took you this long to decide to follow her? His sluttiness must have gotten out of the hospital. So he's finally out, eh? Why the hell aren't you banging his brains out?" Naruto sneered. Gaara's glare grew cold.
"Don't say stuff like that Naruto… you know what he's been through," Gaara said. Naruto barked out a laugh.
"So? So what if I know? He's a fucking bastard! I wish he would die!" Naruto shouted. Gaara snapped. His hand moved of its own accord and slapped Naruto hard. Naruto turned his face back to look at Gaara, tears standing in his eyes.
"Don't… say things like that," Gaara said stiffly. A few tears leaked free of Naruto's eyes. Gaara felt something connect with the back of his head and then everything was darkness.
