SasuNaru

Locked Up With You

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or St. Lukes

--

It must've been just over a month since he'd arrived. The weeks had started to roll by without a second thought, the once unbearably slow days becoming a routine. He'd had a few letters from Iruka, but what was he meant to say back, exactly? There was nothing particularly exciting going on.

Until Haku moved into his room.

Then there were four of them. Haku's things took residence in one of the set of draws, he slept on the bed under Sasuke's old bed, and he and Kiba managed to somehow stay up till the early hours of the morning doing gosh-knows-what.

Naruto didn't miss the longing glances Gaara would shoot the draws Haku's things were in, wishing they were someone else's things.

Kiba told him to stop being such an 'emo'.

Gaara hit him in the face with a pillow and told him to stop being such a git.

Of course, with such contrasting people in the same room, two being schizophrenic and two being bipolar, things were never that boring.

"Haku, give me my kohl back. Seriously, I'm talking about now."

"Gaara, you sound like such a girl!"

"Shut up Kiba, I am not in a good mood today!"

Naruto rubbed blue eyes and stat up groggily, looking at the other three. Haku was fiddling with something in his hands, and Kiba and Gaara were bantering.

He recalled the first morning of his stay.

"Guys…" he whined. "I was sleeping!"

Gaara fumed, snatching his kohl off Haku and putting it back in the draws with his stuff. "Well, breakfast finishes soon, so you better get up."

The blond was out of bed in seconds.

Kiba yawned a little, the t-shirt he wore to bed still on and a pair of loose trousers. "Man, I'm starved…"

Haku nodded. While he seemed just as tired, he was more elegantly dressed.

Gaara led the way out, starting over to his corner before Naruto demanded that he kept him company for lunch. The redhead did so, sinking his nose into a book while Naruto ate, occasionally babbling on about something, well aware that the other was ignoring him very well.

"Hey, dobe," said a voice from the opposite said of the table.

Blue eyes looked up into onyx ones, and for some reason he had to force down a blush.

"Sakura said that you have a visitor later today. Just so you know," the boy said, looking down at Naruto.

"Ok, thanks," Naruto murmured, nodding slightly. There was a long pause before Sasuke finally left.

He turned to find three people staring at him, one with a curious look, one with an excited look, and one with a bored look.

"What?" he snapped, feeling a little defensive.

Kiba spoke first, curious eyes narrowing a little. "There was…something."

Haku nodded eagerly.

Gaara yawned.

"'Something', he says," Naruto teased. "Please, be a bit more specific."

The brunet fumed. "It's true! I swear, there was something in his eyes!"

Naruto's brow knitted together. "You're making no sense at all, Kiba," he looked at Haku, who seemed to be following completely. "Do you know what he's talking about."

Haku nodded, sighed dreamily and rested his cheek on his fist as he plotted his elbow on the table.

Before Naruto even asked Gaara, the redhead said a monotone 'don't know, don't care' before excusing himself to go read a book.

Kiba sniggered a little. "He just wants to go see Neji."

Naruto and Haku couldn't help the grins that tugged at their lips as Gaara's cheeks flamed lightly and he sneered.

"Shut up, dog breath," Gaara muttered, walking out with his hands stuffed in his pockets. The other three didn't fail to notice a certain long-haired male walk out just before Gaara.

"Ah, to be 'young and in love'," came a voice from behind them after a few moments, snapping them out of a small gossip about Neji and Gaara. "Isn't that what the saying it?"

Kiba's face lit up like a light bulb and he almost pushed Haku off the bench to make room for the nurse. Haku pouted and moved next to Naruto, ignoring Kiba completely.

"I heard you had a visit from someone this evening," Shikamaru said, looking at Naruto. "That's good. A month only and you're getting visitors!"

Naruto nodded. "I can't think of who it is though…"

The mute boy made a few hand signs, and Shikamaru nodded silently, wincing as pale hands slammed against the table.

"Haku, please-"

The boy simply slammed his hands again.

Ino came in, charging over. "Haku, please calm down!"

Naruto looked sharply at Shikamaru, who looked guilty.

"Everyone switches, you know I'll be back. I'm just changing jobs for a few months or so."

Kiba was up on his feet next, though this was worse. While his 'condition' was probably deemed better than Haku's, he had a voice. A loud voice.

"What do you mean you're switching?! You can't! You're my nurse!"

Shikamaru frowned. "You've had other nurses before, Kiba. This is no different."

"But it is!" Kiba argued, voice becoming a little whiney. "So totally different!"

"How so?"

"I don't know, it just is! Because I said so!"

Ino scowled at Shikamaru, leaning over to hiss in his ear. Naruto caught every word.

"See what happens when you get close to your patients?!"

Naruto found himself being guided out of the room by his own pink headed nurse, who sat him in the lounge next to a grumpy Sasuke.

She smiled softly. "I'll go talk to Kiba and Haku; you just wait here, ok?"

"Ok, see you."

Sakura was off in a matter of seconds.

When he turned around to see Gaara lounging on a chair underneath the windowsill reading, and Neji gazing dreamily out the window muttering a few things every now and then, he couldn't help but smirk. The redhead looked up, as if he felt the blue eyes, and flustered again, burying his face further into the book and snapping a reply at something Neji said. The boy looked over to Naruto, shrugged, and then went back to cloud-watching.

Sasuke then addressed him. "What was up in the lunch room?"

"Something about Shikamaru 'switching'…I don't really get it."

He Uchiha smirked. "Not really surprising, considering how dense you are, dobe."

"Don't you call me that, teme!" Naruto shot back.

Gaara groaned quietly at the sound of another round of bantering starting up.

"A 'switch'," Sasuke started in his I'm-so-much-better-than-thou voice. "Is when a nurse changes jobs. So they could work inside the hospital, or outside basically."

"So, Shikamaru will work outside the hospital?"

"Obviously- he'll be visiting the houses of people who have been discharged to check up on them."

"You know a lot," Naruto pointed out.

Sasuke gave him a blank stare, and blue eyes searched for something in his eyes. "I listen and notice things."

Naruto glared before turning his attention to the TV, seeing some random kids show flashing on the scene. "Nick Jr., Sasuke? Nick Jr.?"

The boy flustered. "Shut-up."

"Aw, is wittle Sas-u-ke embarrassed becawse of his wittle show?"

"Seriously, go bother Gaara or Neji or something."

"Send him over here and I'll make you eat dirt, Uchiha," Neji said with a voice somewhat distant as he didn't stop day-dreaming.

"I don't want him!" Sasuke said. "He's Gaara's friend!"

"I'm reading."

It was if that was all that needed to be said, as if it was the law: Gaara read in peace, and any attempt to disrupt said peace would be punished.

That would explain why the boy had never been given leave.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, looking Naruto in the eyes.

Breath caught in his throat, blue eyes caught something in onyx eyes, and he felt himself drawn to it.

"I don't know…" he admitted.

The eyes turned away.

"Then shut up and watch TV."

And he did as he was told.

--

The day went by slowly. He played cards with Shikamaru, Haku and Gaara while the others were doing some form of art. Kiba had tried to talk Gaara into helping him, but Neji simply reminded the boy what happened when Gaara 'attacked' the last piece of paper they'd let him near with a pencil.

Naruto asked him about it and the redhead shook his head and said 'you don't want to know…'.

And now here he was, sitting in a cosy room with a fireplace, a window giving a view out onto the parking lot, five chairs and a table.

Sakura was sitting with him, smiling slightly. "I hope you are happy with a visitor?"

"Most definitely!" Naruto chimed.

The redheaded nurse he'd learnt to call Karin entered the room, pushing her glasses up her nose and letting a tall man walk in, hair tied in a style similar to Shikamaru's and a scar across his nose.

"Naruto, it's so nice to see you!"

"Iruka-sensei!" the boy exclaimed, grinning and tackling the older man. "I never guessed!"

The man wore a matching grin to Naruto's. "Ah, it's so nice to see you!"

The redhead nurse left the room, and Sakura stared at the man in wonder. "Iruka-sensei?!" she asked in amazement.

"Ah, Sakura," he greeted.

Naruto looked between the two. "You know each other?"

Iruka laughed, shaking his head a little. "You two were both in my class in primary school…I can't believe you don't remember each other."

The two looked at each other.

"Sakura was the girl who exchanged because of her mother's job, remember?" Irkua said, he turned to the girl with a sympathetic look. "Had I known you were going to be a nurse…rather ironic, don't you think?"

Something clicked in Naruto's head. "I remember! You're the mean girl with the long hair and red dress!"

Sakura glared at him and pointed to a chair. "I'm in charge of this meeting, you know?"

He sat.

Iruka chuckled and sat next to Naruto, holding up a plastic bag. "I brought you some things, crisps and stuff. We're in here for an hour, right?"

"Thank's Iruka-sensei!" the blond boy exclaimed, taking the bag and shifting through it.

The hour seemed to be full of conversation between Sakura and Iruka, as the teacher was eager to know about his former student's life so far. Naruto had to say, it was nice to hear about one of his old school-mate's past, even if they never knew each other that well. All he remembered of her was that she was the pretty girl in primary school. It was especially nice that he could sit and snack.

"Tsunade-sama was your teacher?!" Iruka asked in amazement. "I couldn't ask for Naruto to be in better hands!"

Sakura giggled. "I know! I was so happy when she offered to train me. It was wonderful."

Naruto frowned. "You mean Baa-chan? What's so great about her?"

"She's one of the best doctors around, Naruto!" Iruka explained. "She's an excellent teacher too!"

"So, with Baa-chan I'll be healed in no time flat, right?"

Sakura patted his arm. "You can't cure schizophrenia, Naruto. It's there."

The blond was silent for the rest of the hour.

--

When he came trudging back into the living room, he noticed how quickly it took for him to adjust to the surroundings. It was so much nicer than his normal flat, with horrid people all around him, that one old man who lived on the floor below, always provoking the worst out of everyone.

Sasuke slumped in the chair beside him, flipping to the news channel. "What's eating you?"

Naruto flopped his head to the side. "How old are you?"

A fine brow rose in an arch. "I'm twenty…why?"

"How long have you been here?"

Sasuke let out a sigh through his nose. "It's rude to ask someone's age."

"I'm eighteen, I graduated last year. I've been here a month or something."

"I came when I was your age," Sasuke said before cringing.

"You sound like an old man," Naruto teased.

The Uchiha scoffed. "You sound like a school boy."

"Well, I only left last year."

"Why aren't you at University?"

The blond turned back to the TV. "I dropped out of school."

There was a long, comfortable silence before Sasuke spoke again. "Kiba's nineteen; he's been here for a year I'd say. Haku's my age, been here for a bit longer than me…Neji's twenty one I think, and Gaara's twenty two. They've been here for a long time."

Naruto let his blue eyes try finding the older two.

"Neji had to leave university to come here, though he started it a year early because he was so smart. He left in his last year, so I guess he was eighteen too. And Gaara…I think he had to leave high school, though he doesn't talk about it."

"How do you know so much?"

Sasuke smirked. "An Uchiha must know his surroundings."

Just then, Sakura bounded into the room with a grin, heading straight for Sasuke.

"I have great news!" she announced. "You'll be moving back into your old room!"

"What about Hyuuga?"

Sakura hummed happily. "Isn't it good?"

The swift change of topic onto medicines told Sasuke what he wanted to know. He was moving back into their room.

Without Neji.

--

Kitty: well, Neji's going to be pissed.

I haven't updated in forever, I know! School work is piling up, I have other stories to write, and family issues are reaching a critical point of annoyance.

I'll have it sorted out as soon as possible, I promise.

Ja ne

Kivea

Preview –

"Why hello there, I'm on a ward visit!"

"I never knew there was such a thing."

"You must be new; I've never seen you before!"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! And you?"

"Let's get into a more…comfortable area before we do introductions, shall we?"