NO OWNY…..Enough said.

"You basically asked. '…and how do you feel about that?' That's just too Cliché!"

Tsunade just rolled her eyes. Trust Jiraiya to dramatise even the most serious of discussions. If only she had never allowed the man to take up writing porn as a hobby, or writing full stop. There quite enough nut jobs in here. As luck mat have it, a lot of them were writers too. Writers always wanted to live out the acts they portray in their novels. Pre-emptively she hit him in the head. That would be for whenever he decides he wants to act out a scene from his book and attempt to molest her.

"What was that for?" the old man exclaimed clutching the back of his head.

"Doesn't't matter, just tell me what the brat said." she demanded

Jiraiya hung his head once again. His sombre attitude fully reinstated from the reminder of their previous subject.

"Basically there is one word that sums it up…."

"What word?" Tsunade prompted when she saw her friend pause.

"….."

/

"You're a little late you know."

"Well it's not my fault they have been chasing me every which way for about three months. There was nothing I could do about it."

"That's no excuse!"

"I'm Sorry."

"We have to get rid of him. He could ruin everything for us; him and that little red demon."

"Yes sir."

"I need you to get in contact with that worker from the medical exams; she should be able to get a handle on the situation."

"…but don't they know she is connected?"

"…not anyone that matters. Besides he was just a boy when he met her how could he remember a thing… especially after what he went though."

/

Chapter Five

"Naru, you need to get out of bed now!"

"I don't want to."

The little blonde haired boy clung to his bed sheets as hard as he was able.

"But I don't want to….its too early, and too cold."

"Too bad you have to, its Ino's birthday today and we have to be there." the girl pulling on his foot informed him.

"Yes I know that," he complained. "But why do we have to be there at five in the morning? We aren't even supposed to be up yet, we'll get in trouble with the handlers. I bet you even Ino isn't awake yet."

Sakura stopped pulling on his foot to wipe away the hair in her eyes. She turned to look at the doorway irritated. "Kiba, come and help me get him up."

"Why? It's funny….and don't forget I'm still angry at you for getting me up early as well." The brunette bounced up and down on the spot, excited to see Naruto giving the girl so much trouble. In his mind his tail was wagging, and though was tempted to turn around and see if it was he wouldn't let himself be pulled into that trick again. People always laughed at him when he tried to see his tail. It wasn't his fault if his tail had a mind of his own and kept hiding from him every time it turned around. Unbeknownst to Kiba he had started growling and grumbling softly under his breath. This had made both Sakura and Naruto stop their arguing and give him speculative looks.

"Are you angry at your tail again?" Naruto asked.

"What?" Kiba asked his face becoming immediately confused. "How can you tell that's what I was thinking?"

Sakura giggled and Naruto grinned, "You just had that look on your face." he laughed knowingly.

In the first couple of week that Naruto had been here Tsunade had told him that he wasn't supposed to reinforce anybody's 'delusions' including Kiba's. This meant that he was actually supposed to be informing Kiba that he had no tail. Though Naruto couldn't do that to his friend. It wasn't like the dog loving boy would believe him anyway; the boy was here for a reason after all. If the psychologists couldn't convince him that he wasn't a canine, what made them think Naruto could?

"Just come on Naruto, you're already awake anyway." Sakura growled and with one strong yank sent Naruto sliding off the bed and onto the floor.

"I really dislike you sometimes you know that right?" Naruto glared at her.

"…and I hate you all the time. Now get the fuck out of my room you assholes." A growl from the other bed occupying the room echoed through the air.

All three of the teens turned to the person who spoke, attempting to ignore the evil vibes radiating off the second bed.

"Sorry Sasuke." Sakura simpered immediately. "I forgot that you were here as well."

The three boys all rolled their eyes at her behaviour. Really you would think that she would act the same around all the boys, especially seeing as Sasuke didn't even show any interest in her. She persisted though. Naruto frowned even though he was complaining about having to get up so early, it was still more enjoyable then having Sasuke telling him off. It wasn't even like it was his fault in the first place, Sakura had come barging in here of her own will and he had nothing to do with it.

"Teme" he grunted before standing up.

"Wait outside; I just have to get changed. It's too cold to be walking around here in just my pyjamas" he instructed his friends.

Once the door was closed and it was quiet again Naruto turned to look at his roommate. He frowned even more when he saw the dark, angry eyes staring back at him.

"I'm sorry about them." he apologised rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Sasuke grunted and rolled over on his other side, facing away from the blonde. "Don't worry about it." he lifted one arm lazily as if waving the subject away. "Just tell them not to do it again."

This made Naruto smile slightly again, over the last three months Sasuke had become more and more civil towards him, although sometimes he could still be a bitch.

/

As soon as Naruto left the room Sasuke turned back around to face the centre of their room. He sighed a little before closing his eyes once again. After a moment he lifted himself on his elbows, and opened his eyes. He punched his pillows a few times harshly before relaxing back onto the bed. It was exhausting for him to be around the blonde he had noticed. He would not be able to get back to sleep now though and he knew it. For some reason unknown to him his interest was sparked. Whatever the blonde boy was participating in he had the urge to know about it. It was strange, and not just because he disliked the boy, it was because he really did not even care. It was a simple compulsion and nothing more.

Soon enough he heard footsteps walking down the corridor, and the opening and closing of doors. He waited until his own door was opened to look up. In his doorway he saw Asuma, his handler on Monday mornings.

"Its time to get up Sasuke. It's already eight. Usually you are up by now, is there something wrong?"

Sasuke almost started, he did not expect it to be that late, and it seemed like almost a moment in his eyes. However he stopped himself from showing his surprise, as Asuma was watching him suspiciously.

"Hn." he just said. This seemed to satisfy the handler, and he was soon left alone.

Not for long though apparently.

"Sasuke!" he heard him coming before the door even opened. "How are you this morning?" His friend asked.

Now Sasuke uses the term friend loosely every time, he does use it. When he says friend he means that he is able to tolerate for sometimes extended periods of time. One would not think so but Sasuke was kind enough to actually admit that he didn't hate everyone. Whether other people knew this or not was another matter. After all he had a reputation to uphold.

"Hn." he grunted at the other boy.

"I take that to mean that you are happy and well." the boy smiled happily.

"Where have you been?" Sasuke asked quietly.

This made the other ecstatic. "Did you worry about me Sasuke-kun?" he cooed.

"Haku…." Sasuke growled in warning. Just because he considered the brunette tolerable did not mean that he was going to take his bullshit.

"Fine." the boy said pouting. "I was out with Zabuza."

"You went out with Zabuza for Two and a half months?" Sasuke asked sceptically.

"Well…" Haku started. "When I say 'out', I kind of mean I was kind of going for some special treatment in China."

Sasuke smirked. "Does that mean that you are more unstable then you were before?" That was generally the only reason someone was sent away to a specialist. If they got any worse, or so that the open-unit could no longer support them.

Pouting once more Haku looked away. "No, I think they just wanted to give Zabuza a holiday, and you know him…he couldn't leave me behind."

Sasuke remembered that Zabuza was Haku's handler, and personal psychologist. He had been ever since Haku had come two years ago; he was paid for by the state, as Haku's parents had been very important ambassadors at one point in time.

Sasuke let the subject drop after a quick nod. Once Haku started talking about Zabuza in depth you couldn't get him to stop, he had a very extreme case of hero worship towards the man.

"Its Ino's birthday today you know." Sasuke quickly changed the subject seeing Haku's mouth about to open again. As the possibly of him talking about his handler again was high, Sasuke preferred to stop him before hand.

"Really?" he asked excitedly

Ino had not been at the institute for her to have a birthday here yet. She and Sakura had only come in about nine months ago. They had come in a few weeks apart from each other at the time. That was what Sasuke though made them such good friends now, they had both been feeling lonely and it is admittedly hard for people to connect at first in a mental health institution.

"Do you know how old she is?" he asked interrupting Sasuke train of thought.

Sasuke just gave him a look asking 'does it look like I know?' Before standing up and stretching his arms out and back. He winced when he heard a few sharp pops from his joints.

"Doesn't that hurt?" he was asked.

Shaking his head, Sasuke headed for the cupboards and pulled out some clothes for the day.

"You'll get arthritis when you're older you know." Haku chided him on his behaviour.

Sasuke just smirked a little. "At least I won't be stiff and uncomfortable now though."

Haku ignored the comment and walked up to him. Holding the clothes Sasuke had grabbed up against him, the long haired, brunette grimaced.

"How do you always manage to do that?"

"Do what?"

"Everyday you just pull out the first thing that you see in your cabinet and it always turned out to be the perfect outfit for the day. It takes me hours to pick out what I wear each morning. It's not fair!"

Sasuke simply smirked. "I am just that awesome." he stated before snatching up his clothes and heading to the bathrooms.

He made sure to lock the door behind him this time. He had been caught more than one person trying to sneak a peek at him in the shower, and not all of them were girls.

/

"Come on Ino. Rise and shine!"

"Why do you do this to me?"

Naruto laughed at the screaming pair. Even being the best of friends they were always arguing. Though at the moment Naruto knew exactly what the other blonde was feeling.

"I should be able to sleep in it's my birthday!"

Sakura just gave her protesting friend an evil smirk and said; "Well too bad it's already nine, and we all went to the trouble of getting everyone else up early to prepare something special for you."

"You mean you went to the trouble of waking up everyone else to do something special for her," Kiba felt the need to add in his two cents.

"I think…." Ino began. "…that everyone should just go back to bed and sleep until the handlers come and wake us up themselves."

Everyone in the room nodded their head in unison, except of course for Sakura. Annoyed that nobody was following her orders, she immediately flung the quilt off of Ino and onto the floor. Seeing Ino curl up on the bed from the cold she grabbed one of her feet and yanked her out onto the floor without any mercy at all. Naruto laughed at how similar it had been to his own awakening.

"But it's my birthday!" Ino whined from her place on the floor.

Not ten minutes later all the patients from their ward were sitting in the canteen area having breakfast and talking up a storm. They were also enjoying the food. It had turned out that Sakura had organised Chouji's father to come in and actually make them a proper meal.

"Nobody deserves to have that hospital slop on their birthday" Sakura explained.

Chouji was one of the other kids on their ward; he was best friends with Shikamaru and very good friends with Ino as well. Though his being friends with Ino was quite ironic as their reasons for being in the institution were in a sense opposite. Ino was diagnosed as an exercise bulimic as well as anorexia nervosa, while Chouji was diagnosed with a nervous personality disorder, as well as a small amount of autism. As a result of these problems, Ino would not eat enough, and Chouji ate almost too much. They were the extremes at either end of the spectrum. Despite how these problems had affected them negatively in the outside world, they seemed to both be doing rather well under the care of the therapists and handlers at the institution.

Naruto was currently sitting next to Sakura and Chouji and was directly across from the birthday girl herself.

"So how old are you turning today?" Naruto asked Ino once he had finished consuming the massive amounts of pancakes and English muffins stacked onto his plate.

"I'm sixteen today." She grinned, picking up a piece of rockmelon from her fruit salad. She had obviously decided she could splurge on eating today seeing as it was her birthday, and had asked for a fruit salad, as well as an apple juice and a piece of toasted bread, with egg on top. Not that she had eaten it all, but she was working her way slowly through it.

"How old are you?" she asked in return once she had finished thoroughly chewing her food.

"I'm not quite sure." Naruto said before turning his face down, attempting to hide the shadows that marked his face at the question. "Iruka and I have decided that I am around fifteen though." he added looking up again and smiling brightly. It seemed to fool Ino though she looked shocked.

Deciding that it was best to drop the subject Ino slid a smirk onto her face. "Soooo…. Did you get me something as a present?" she asked Naruto slyly.

In reality she really wouldn't care if she got something or not. She could acknowledge how hard it would be in a place like this and she didn't want to put anybody out of their way.

Naruto reddened, and soon his face became ashamed.

"I'm so sorry!" he said. "I helped Sakura this morning but I really didn't think about anything else."

Ino just shook her head smiling fondly at the boy. "I don't mind really, its okay." she said, concerned about making him feel guilty.

Another smile took over her face as she thought of something. "I know something that would not cost a lot of money, and that you would not have to go out of your way to get me." she said happily.

Naruto immediately brightened. "What?" he asked excited to be able to give the birthday girl something.

"Well…"Ino started. "You just have to lean forward a bit and close your eyes…."

As she looked around as he did this noting that there were a number of other people starting to watch what was happening. She just winked at them as a signal to keep quiet.

"Make sure you keep your eyes close" she instructed in an almost whisper.

"Okay…" Naruto consented a bit dubiously. Trusting the girl and dutifully following her instructions to the letter.

Seeing as she had kept everyone waiting in suspense Ino decided to take her gift now. Hoping that Naruto would not take it the wrong way, she just meant it as a friendly gesture she leaned forward as well. Pursing her lips slowly she pressed them slightly onto Naruto's a light kiss.

Immediately Naruto went stiff as a board, his eyes shooting open and he flung himself back and off of his chair.

Everyone looked at him in shock, standing, or sitting and just watching. Ino looked at him in confusion. "What's wrong?" she asked slowly.

Naruto started to shake and shiver eyes glazed and distant.

"Naruto!" Ino stood up slowly. Now worried she looked around for a handler or any adult to help.

At that moment Sakura ran forward to the blonde and knelt in front of him. Naruto seemed not to see her and she reached a hand forward. Hesitantly, and almost as if she was scared of touching him when he looked so scared, she extended her hand slowly. Then as it got close she shot it out as if to get the deed done. For a second there was silence and then Naruto's eyes widened. In an instant he was starting back from her and he started whining.

"Naruto." Ino came around the table and leaned down to the boy who was on the floor now his hands thrown out protectively in front of him.

Sakura shuffled forward a little and reached out for him again. This time as she came within touching distance of him he shot forward and bit her hand. His teeth bit hard into the flesh and refused to let go.

Seeing this, some of the boys watching, shot forward to help. Kiba tried to pry Naruto's clamped teeth off Sakura's hand, and Chouji tried to wrestle him back.

Lee had run off looking for a handler, and the rest watched on. Gaara was being held back by Neji as he seemed to possess a crazed look in his eyes.

"Let me go!" he screamed, trying to reach Naruto. "I can help" he shouted.

Neji was not sure if this was a ploy to get out of his arms or if he genuinely wanted to assist.

As soon as Naruto had been grabbed he started flailing and crying out in panic.

"Let go! Let Go!" he screamed desperately.

Naruto shuddered as another hand grabbed him, he was pale as a sheet now and despite the adrenalin in his system, he was becoming tired. Chouji was after all significantly more sized then he was himself.

"Let go of him." A voice said hurriedly. Naruto could sense no recognition towards the voice however in his panicked state he could not be trusted to know who was friend and who was foe.

"I said…let go!"

The voice said urgently as he fought all the more hard.

The weight lifted off his body for a moment and was replaced by a warmer embrace and a soft whispering in his ear.

The rest of the children remained as onlookers watching the strange events in fascination and a scared awe. The frenetic energy had been slowly drained from the room and Naruto settled down.

At the first whisper from his new captor Naruto has released Sakura's hand from his mouth and she was cradling it now to her bosom tears running down her face. Ino and Kiba dragged her back a little so that she wasn't in the danger zone.

As the amount of fear lessoned, the tension Naruto had been holding was slowly released. He recognised the voice now, as soon as it had whispered in his ear he did.

"Calm down Kyuubi." was what he had heard, and it was wringing in his mind even know. The voice made his eyes widen more if that was possible. Tears were running freely from his eyes now and he turned to clasp the red-haired boy in his arms. Gaara had been successful in his escape from the Hyuuga, once he had convinced Neji that he could help he immediately ran to the other boy's side. He collapsed onto his knees and buried his head into the nape of the blonde's neck, nuzzling into his hair.

"Shhhh." he hummed out into his ear.

"I'm here now. You remember me don't you? Everything's alright, he can't hurt you here."

Naruto sook still and stuttered out a word only the other boy in his arms could hear.

"Sh-Shukaku."

/

Sasuke watched the events happening at the time they occurred. At first he had not been interested; but once he saw everyone staring at Ino, and understanding what she was about to do, he could not help but to watch as she leant forward towards his roommate.

The outburst although startling, and definitely not what he was expecting, was interesting.

Being the attentive observer that he was, Sasuke saw that this behaviour was deeply ingrained within the boy. He sighed; things would only get harder for him now with the boy as his roommate. He realised that Iruka had been right when he had talked to him in therapy the other day. After a particularly harsh criticism of his roommate Iruka had responded;

"Sasuke, you need to watch over Naruto." Iruka had said. "He is not as normal as you seem to think he is. He's not innocent, or naïve, or anything else you just described him as being. He just wishes he was like that."

Sasuke sighed again, he was tempted to say all this was troublesome, and he would if it would not make him sound too much like Shikamaru.

Even he jumped though, as he was pulled from his thoughts by Sakura's yell. He stared on shocked at her hand in the boy's mouth.

Despite his emotionless façade, he felt the twinges in his stomach and chest, which he recognised faintly as pity. Though there was something else there that he did not recognise for a moment before it too disappeared. He watched as the usually stoic Gaara took Chouji's place holding back the blonde. Although Gaara seemed able to calm Naruto down more effectively as he whispered in Naruto's ear. The sight of this made another unknown feeling well up within Sasuke and he desperately tore it down. He had had enough and walked out of the room. Although he seemed to become more and more depressed as he walked away from the scene. He watched as Asuma, Lee and Iruka came running down the hallway towards the Canteen and walked away at a slower pace. He looked back towards the room and it felt as if he was making a big mistake by walking away. He rubbed at his eyes tiredly and sighed once more. Without noticing he had stopped walking. He now stood in the hallway that separated the cafeteria and the room Naruto and he shared. He was still glancing back down the hall towards where he had come from and he was swaying on the spot. He rubbing his eyes gain he noticed how tired he was and the feeling he had before seemed to arise again slowly. He grabbed at his head with one and at his chest with the other before he swayed more drastically to the left and collapsed onto the floor.

Haku's voice calling his name being the last coherent thing he heard.

"Sasuke!"

/

Rei; "So tired…."

Sasuke; "Shut your trap and stop complaining."

Rei; "But its soooo much effort."

Sasuke; "No, you're just lazy."

Naruto; "He's right you know. You're probably worse then Shikamaru."

Rei; "I'm not lazy it just takes a lot of time and effort to think of anything to write."

Sasuke; "Right….that and you have brain issues."

Rei; "Well that too."