Chapter 2

The next day, Naruto spent the morning cleaning up his apartment, and sorting out the guestroom. Since his place tended to be a mess most of the time, it had taken a while to fix the place up. He would have called Gaara over to help him, but he was in a mood with him. Naruto didn't see what the big deal was; he was doing the right thing, despite what the redhead thought. But then…Gaara had been pretty mad.

"What the hell do you think your doing?" Gaara asked him as he dragged Naruto out of the hospital and over to his car.

Naruto, forced to move, blinked innocently. "What do you mean? I'm just helping someone out."

Gaara turned round to come face to face with the blond, glaring at him. "Yeah, someone you have no clue about. What if he's some psycho, or murderer? You would have just let him into your home."

Naruto sighed. "I don't think that's the case. Come on man, look, the guy is hurt, and alone. He has nothing. Everything he had is lost forever. How could I just walk away when I have the means to help him?"

"Naruto, trust me on this, I can feel it, this is not going to end well. Just don't look back and walk away. There are other places out there he can go for help. He doesn't need you." By now his voice had turned harsh as he tried to keep from shouting; it would only make things worse.

Naruto just looked at him, eyes full of determination and sadness. "I can't. I know better than anyone what it's like to lose your whole family, your home. I managed to meet you, and you helped me out. I don't know how I could have done that alone, so please; don't ask me to make someone else do it. He needs a friend to help him get through this. "

It wasn't till Gaara dropped Naruto off at his place that he said anything else. Naruto had just reached the door, as he rolled down a window and shouted, "Your going to regret it" before driving off.

Naruto knew he would be okay with him soon enough, he just needed some time.

Naruto arrived sometime later at the hospital, having called ahead to let them know he was on his way. As he walked into the main reception he was greeted with the sight of officer Hatake, walking towards him.

"Naruto" He waved, "Can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Yeah sure, but Sasuke…"

"Will be down shortly, don't worry. Actually, he is what I would like to talk about" Placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder he escorted the blond over to a corner away from everyone else. "You see, what has happened to him was very traumatic. I'm worried it may affect him, so I want you to call me if he starts to act…unusual." Kakashi smiled through his mask.

"Will he be okay?"

Kakashi could see the concern in the blonds' expression, so he ruffled his hair to distract him. "He should be fine. This is just for precaution's sake."

A cold voice cut off their conversation. "Officer, what are you still doing here? I thought you told me you were leaving."

Kakashi and Naruto turned to see Sasuke, who seemed to be glaring at the hand still touching Naruto, although it was only Kakashi who picked up on it. Removing his hand, he held it up in gesture as if to say he meant no harm. "I was, but when I saw Uzumaki I thought I should say a hello and a thank you from your behalf"

Naruto looked between them sensing the tension that began to build around them. "So… Sasuke are you ready to go?" He asked, breaking the unpleasant atmosphere.

Sasuke smiled towards him, any trace of anger or annoyance vanished as if it was never there. "When ever you are ready, and thank you, again for helping me out"

"No problem. Now let's go"

"Lead the way"

As Sasuke followed Naruto to his car, neither noticed the pair of eyes watching them from the bushes surrounding the hospital, only moving when they were finally out of sight.

~Naruto's place~

Sasuke looked around, the place was nicely decorated in a way that was warm and welcoming, and it was smaller than he was used to, but… it had something his house never did. Looking to the blond he gave him a small smile, his house didn't have the blond angle.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, a trait he did when he was nervous. "I hope this is okay, I mean, I don't know what you're used to but…"

"It's more than I could ask for, thank you."

"You must be tired still though, I'll show you to your room so you can take a nap till dinner"

Nodding, Sasuke motioned for Naruto to lead him to his room. He was greeted with blue painted walls; a bed was placed in the middle of the room, with white bed sheets. A wardrobe and draws were against the left side wall while a desk and bookshelf occupied the area on the right.

"If you need anything just let me know, okay, so just make your self at home" Naruto started to walk away when- "It's just you here right? No one else lives with you do they?"

"Huh? No, it's just me"

'Good' "Okay then"

Watching the blond leave he looked round the room before lying on the bed. 'Home, huh? Closing his eyes he smirked as thought about coming back to be greeted by the blond, 'I could get used to it'