hehehehe...maybe(!) Gaara'll be back in here!

oh and to clear up any confusion about the time;

chap 32 and 33 were both on like the fifth day of Naruto's hospitalization.

This chappie is...(yes I know it sounds extreme)...a week after he gets out from under Sakura's tyranny. This means that our little blondie has gone without Gaara(not counting the Orochi-torture-fest) for scary two weeks and two days! Poor thing!

Gin bottle still isn't empty...

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Whore Street

It was freezing. Naruto hugged himself, pulling his leather jacket close around himself. The cold, clear night was hectic with car lights and honking and low, seductive murmurs. A soft sprinkling of snow floated to the concrete, dusting the gleaming cars and frosting the whores' coats and hair.

He could see a couple others from the Konoha group, bent over windows and whispering soft promises into the warm cars. Naruto headed for one as well, leaning over the rolled-down window and making his offer. In the winter, the prices rose by one cel. Hell, they froze their asses off, it was only fair.

The customer, an unremarkable, pudgy old man, told him to get in and they drove to the parking lot, where after fifteen minutes of minimum effort Naruto had the customer reduced to a pile of sobbing pleasure. The dude paid, and he was back on the Street curb, feeling a bit warmer and also a bit stickier.

He exhaled, his breath a white plume in the air.

He had never before understood Shikamaru as much as he did now.

Naruto couldn't find any enthusiasm for anything inside himself. These days it was a Herculean feat to get to the Arcade and wash up. He slept through the rest of the day. Not even the promise of ramen could get him to eat, and though he could slowly feel the debilitating effects of insufficient nutrition, he just didn't have enough motivation to stand up and get himself something to eat.

He hid it all from the others, and he knew that though they worried about him, it was only because his masks were too obviously fake. They didn't see his listlessness, only a strange over-exuberance that had them stressing about exactly the wrong things – they thought he was too excited, too hyped up, as a result of the kidnapping.

He snorted softly

The kidnapping had absolutely nothing to do with it. Once he'd left with another client and had collected his five cel after a half hour of heavy breathing and groans, he stayed standing on the curb and remembered.

Gaara.

He'd heard of Sasuke's outburst about Gaara and his... nightly adventures..., but hadn't found the drive to talk to the black-haired boy about it. Naruto lived only for one thing now, and it was what he expended his all of his dwindling energy on.

Recalling three days.

Three days of...

...happiness.

Moisture pricked behind his eyes, his throat clogged with a painful lump.

Oh, God.

Gaara...

He was dying.

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wow. Talk about angst.

Still got some gin left, and at a quarter to five it's getting light outside! Dawn ahoy!

review!