Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride

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Chapter Fourty Five:

Sasuke and Kiba sat watching over Naruto's sleeping form. For someone who had just taken a three week long nap, Naruto had exhausted rather fast.

Sasuke was deep in thought, running 'what-if' scenarios in his head. He wanted to avoid Emi as thoroughly as possible.

"So... what do you say about going back to school?" Kiba broke the long, binding silence by bringing up a topic Sasuke had forgotten long ago and absolutely did not want to discuss.

"Now that he's awake," Sasuke gripped the hand that he'd become accustomed to holding while Naruto was unconscious, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Technically, he's not awake." Kiba smirked as Naruto made a strange murmuring sound in his sleep.

"Smart ass." Sasuke shot back with a glare.

"Come on, Sasuke. I know it's really late in the year and we only have about two weeks left before exams but you could at least come back just to say 'hi' to everyone and let them see you're alive. It'll get you started for next year anyway, since going into study overdrive to catch up probably won't even work. Who knows, you could even pull through with a couple of passes."

"Kiba, I still remember everything from before April. It's only been a month. It shouldn't be that hard. I'd more than just pass my classes even if I didn't study since most of the teachers slack during the last month." Sasuke almost sounded arrogant at that point. Sasuke was one of the smartest kids in the district. Hell he was pretty damn close to being valedictorian this year, the only thing stopping him was the fact that he was still in grade ten and not graduating.

"Awesome! You're coming back then!" Kiba grinned successfully.

Sasuke immediately frowned as he realized that he had just proven Kiba's point. Sure Kiba was stunned for the most part, but he could be pretty clever at times. With a sigh, Sasuke glared sourly at his best friend.

"Fine. Tomorrow."

"Yes!" Kiba threw his fist in the air triumphantly.

Sasuke shook his head, glancing back down at his slumbering boyfriend. He didn't want to leave him, but until Naruto was better he would be in Tsunade's hands. Strangely enough, he really trusted her with Naruto's life, as weird as she was. He supposed Naruto would be all right in the hospital without him for a few days.

----

"Sasuke! You're back!" Excited girls shrieked in delight. Having been deprived of the sight of his body for weeks, they were instantly upon him in a terrifying swarm. Hell even Kiba, who had been standing next to Sasuke and somehow managed to become part of this ambush, was afraid for his life.

Sasuke just frowned at them, looking past them with cold eyes. The girls didn't dare glomp him or touch him but they were so close that Sasuke could feel their breath make his skin crawl. He wished he'd stayed at the hospital with Naruto.

"Where have you been?" A random female voice called from the crowd.

"Are you all right?"

"What's wrong?"

"Are you coming back?"

"You're coming back to school right?"

Before Sasuke could silence this ongoing shout of questions and relieve him and his best friend from the swarm of girls, which wasn't appealing at all to Kiba despite what his dreams were telling him.

"Of course Sasuke's coming back!" An eerily familiar voice rang out above the other female voices.

Sasuke looked to see two girls that he wished he never knew push their way through the crowd.

"Oh fun, the overly obsessed twins." Kiba whispered into Sasuke's ear. "Hey Sakura, Ino."

"Inuzuka." They both snapped, giving him looks of disgust.

He merely rolled his eyes. They were two girls that he did not enjoy the company of and didn't care that they didn't find him attractive or interesting.

"Sasuke! How are you?" Sakura was all over him, quickly followed by the blonde Ino.

"What happened to you? I missed you!" Ino cried, attempting to drape herself over Sasuke's shoulder but he swiftly moved out of her path.

"I missed you so much more." Sakura countered, starting yet another argument over Sasuke with Ino.

"I missed him more than you and your giant forehead!" Ino snapped angrily.

"Shut it pig nose!" Sakura hissed.

Kiba groaned. "Fuck, are these girls always PMSing? They just don't take a break do they?"

"Why don't you take a hike!" Sakura fixed her deadly eyes on him.

"Oh I'm so scared!" He brought his hands up to his face in mock terror.

"Tuck your tail between your legs and cower away, mutt!" Ino chimed in.

Kiba merely rolled his eyes but he stayed quiet nonetheless.

"So, Sasuke," Sakura purred, as though she had never lashed out at Kiba in such a shrill voice, "do you want to have lunch with me today? I could catch you up. You know, be your temporary tutor."

"Please Sakura, your tiny little brain couldn't possibly be of any use to someone as intelligent as Sasuke. You should let me help you, Sasuke." Ino spoke her insult to Sakura in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"You're not even in that class Ino!" Sakura glowered at the blonde.

"Doesn't matter, I'm still smarter than you!"

"Only in your dreams, Ms. Piggy!"

"Just because your head is the size of a boulder doesn't mean your brain fills up that space!"

"Enough."

Sasuke's cold, even voice that wasn't even raised very loud stopped everyone instantly. The two girls who were at each other's throats immediately turned to look at him with shocked, worried expressions, hoping they hadn't upset him. The girls that were surrounding everyone stopped whispering and giggling at the pathetic fight and even Kiba turned anxiously towards Sasuke.

Sasuke never usually talked during these encounters. Normally he would silently slip away and leave them to work this out for themselves even though they had both lost the battle. Now they had also lost the war because now there was no way for either of them to win Sasuke over. His heart was gay and in the hands of the sexiest blonde he would ever lay eyes on.

"There is no point in you fighting like this other than to annoy every living soul within the area code." The raven's voice remained as calm and cool as his composure.

Everyone in the crowd was staring at him with wide, confused eyes.

"You're all just rabid fan girls idolizing someone who doesn't deserve to be put on a pedestal."

"But Sasuke, you're amazing-"

"No." Sakura was immediately cut off by Sasuke's sharp but delicate voice. "I am no more special than any other person. You need to grow up and stop clinging to every guy you find attractive. This is ridiculous and I won't be your idol anymore. All of you have to stop stalking me or whatever it is you do."

The people in the hallway were immersed in an awkward silence as they processed Sasuke's words. Even Kiba was stunned that he'd said such blunt things. Sure the girls do go overboard but that may have been pushing it.

Sasuke knew it had to be done. He hated this constant attention and wanted this chaos to end.

"Um... Sasuke... I'm sorry...." Ino was the first to break the silence. She looked like she was about to cry but she was holding it back.

"There's no reason to apologize Ino." Sasuke's tone never changed a bit as he spoke. "You just need to stop."

"But... Sasuke-"

"Sakura." Sasuke nearly snapped. He was getting fed up with these girls. Sure he was trying not to be angry and trying harder to be nice but it just wasn't going to work. He really hated the way these girls treated him. "I am not and will never be interested in any one of you girls. So you may as well give up."

The eyes of the mob shifted instantly to that of confusion.

"How do you know that?" Sakura's voice was defensive and she was nearly crying, just like Ino. "How can you be sure that you won't love one of us? You can't predict the future!"

"I'm sure because I'm gay." His voice remained flat and emotionless. He didn't even blink an eyelash as he suddenly and randomly came full fledge out of the closet in a brand spanking new rainbow queer outfit in front of all his female admirers. Or at least most of the female admirers.

If jaws dropping all the way down to the floor was physically possible, Sasuke imagined that every girl in this room would have to thoroughly cleanse their faces after putting their chins on the disgusting high school hallway floor. Hell knows what's been on that floor.

Kiba, out of instinct, had backed away from Sasuke as soon as what he had abruptly said what he'd said. Only natural for someone who was still unaccustomed to homosexuality to react that way.

Ino furrowed her eyebrows as she exchanged glances with Sakura, as though they were trying to make sure they heard what Sasuke said right and trying to process it.

"Sasuke... did you say..."

"I'm gay. Yes. I don't have any interest in girls. So you can all give up."

"Okay dude, I think they got the point." Kiba muttered under his breath. It was obvious he was embarrassed to be present at this moment but probably only because he didn't want all the girls to assume he was also gay. Or with Sasuke, because if he was with Sasuke, all these girls would most likely attack him all at once. It would be like a scene from Resident Evil when all the zombies ganged up on one person and ripped him apart and oh look they pulled his eyeball out and they're munching on his ribs like they were covered in barbecue sauce. Kiba shuddered at the disturbing vision.

"You're... you're..." Sakura was stuttering something awful and the look on her face was pure horror.

"Homosexual." Sasuke added that last little word for emphasis and to get the point across.

Sakura looked like she nearly choked on her tongue as she stood with her mouth gaped open, trying to voice words that didn't exist.

Half the girls began to move away, walking away from this warzone. Some were whispering amongst themselves and the rest were staring at Sasuke and Kiba in utter shock.

The morning bell rang, urging everyone to go to their first class of the day. But this bell did more than inform the people in this hallway that classes would start, it practically scared half of them out of their skin.

"Okay, you wanna go to math class now?" Sasuke turned to his best friend, who looked beyond awkward.

"Yeah... yeah let's go to math, friend." Kiba spoke quickly, though he didn't seem like he was entirely present.

Some more girls disappeared from the hallway, going to their first classes of the day. Sakura and Ino stayed exactly where they stood, not moving, not looking away. They were frozen in time, refusing to accept reality and the homosexuality which dwelled within the man they obsessed.

"Okay... leaving now." Sasuke muttered to Kiba as he pushed past some remaining girls to get across the school to his math class. Kiba followed him, glancing around awkwardly at the girls who stared at him. Thankfully no one was looking scornfully at him.

As soon as they were out of the grasp of that tense hallway, Kiba caught up to Sasuke's side and gripped his arm.

"Dude! What the fuck was that! You just jump out of the closet in a hot pink moomoo and don't even warn me?"

Sasuke rose his eyebrow at Kiba's choice of words but just shook his head. "I had to come out somehow didn't I? It seemed like a good opportunity."

Kiba stared at Sasuke as though he'd just lost his mind. Kiba was beginning to wonder if that was the case. Perhaps he got some sort of concussion from the incident with his older brother and temporarily lost his senses. "What part of that seemed good? The part where ravenous fan girls bare their teeth and snarl?"

"You're over reacting, Kiba." Sasuke brushed it aside calmly. He personally didn't care. He was fine with being gay and didn't care what other people thought. The only important people in his life now accepted him the way he was and he didn't care if people he didn't care about didn't accept him. That was their problem, not his. And it was a perfect way to get them off his back.

"Doesn't matter!" Kiba shouted hysterically. "I can over react if I damn well want at this point! What you did back there was madness! You don't bluntly tell those kind of girls that you're..." He paused as he realized people in the hallway were watching the scene he was making. "Well... you damn well know what you are."

"Obviously." Sasuke chuckled. "The only one that knows that better than me is-"

"Uh uh! No way! I do NOT need to hear that! You do not give me that kind of info! We are not girls and I do not need the details!"

"Kiba, the way you're acting now... it wouldn't surprise me if you were a hysterical women."

"Uchiha! You'll be the death of me, I swear! I feel like your god damn mother or something!"

Sasuke's humored smirk instantly faded but he tried not to let it show.

Kiba caught it, however, and sighed. "Damn it. You know I don't mean it like that but... dude... you nearly gave me a heart attack coming out like that. Like really! Next time, a little warning please?"

Sasuke sighed, "Fine. Whatever. I'll give you a warning next time I decide to wear a moomoo."

"Thank you." Kiba was relieved to hear Sasuke say that before he caught what Sasuke finished the sentence off with. "Ha ha very funny."

"Hot pink isn't really my color Kiba." Sasuke laughed.

"Yeah, yeah." Kiba grumbled, as they approached the door to their math class. "Damn... I wonder how Ibiki's gonna take you coming back to class."

"He'll probably be thankful that I'm back to keep you on your leash." The raven shot, not even stopping at the doorway like Kiba did and walked straight into the classroom, taking the seat he hadn't sat in for so long.

Kiba shook his head at the doorway, running his hand through his hair before walking in to take his seat as well. He was stressed to say the least, but at least Sasuke didn't have any regrets.

"Now you just have to worry about them asking who you're dating." Kiba whispered to his friend. Though he doubted Sasuke would hear over all the chatter amongst their fellow students. They were either surprised to see Sasuke back or the gay word had gotten out.

"Yeah... later." Sasuke mumbled back, leaning into his chair as he watched Ibiki come in.

For the first time Sasuke got to see Ibiki appear shocked as he did a double take back to Sasuke's desk. It took him a moment to regain his normal self and once he did, it was like Sasuke never left.

"Uchiha." He nodded to the raven.

Sasuke merely nodded back, staring back expressionlessly.

Their eyes met, Ibiki didn't seem to care, and the lecture began.

----

"You're going to let me see my nephew." The woman demanded viciously but the stern, blonde woman before her wasn't fazed at all by the danger written in her voice.

Tsunade gazed back at her with unimpressed eyes full of hate. She couldn't care less what this woman thought.

"He is in no condition to leave this hospital. I will not put my patients under any unnecessary stress."

"He is my blood! I will visit him if I please!" Emi growled, but Tsunade didn't budge.

"I don't care. You will only worsen his condition."

"I don't care what you think. I know he's getting better! That nurse over there told me he was awake and that his so-called friends have been here every day!" She pointed to a nurse across the room as she hissed.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed in on the loud mouth nurse of hers but didn't make any expression or change her strict, professional tone.

"You are to leave my hospital immediately. You are causing a scene. I will contact you when his condition has improved."

Emi glared full force at the blonde before scoffing. "You damn well better. I'll be back if I don't. You can't keep him from me. I'm his legal guardian!"

With that Emi stormed out of the hospital. Tsunade stayed exactly in the same position, watching her walk away with a calm exterior but her interior was filled with rage.

Once Emi was fully out of view of her hospital's parking lot, Tsunade made her way straight over to the nurse Emi had called out.

"You're fired." She spoke in the most professional of tones and didn't care as the nurse's eyes and mouth widened.

"But why? She's his aunt! I had to tell her-"

"You released confidential information on a patient. You are fired. Please leave my hospital immediately."

Just as swiftly, Tsunade left the nurse's side, who nearly had a nervous breakdown, and walked towards the elevator. She was going back to her office and probably punching yet another hole through her wall. Silently she cursed her old friend for leaving her to deal with this. She was just glad that Uchiha was around to handle most of the Uzumaki's problems.

----

Naruto woke up groggy the next morning, or afternoon rather, and glanced about his hospital room with blurry eyes. It appeared empty. Naruto was well aware that Sasuke and Kiba were in school, they had told him yesterday that he was returning to classes to get caught up. They were sorry Naruto couldn't go back but at the time, Naruto didn't care about catching up. He didn't care about this year. Sure he would probably go back once he was healed and write his exams, he was a smart kid after all, but he wasn't confident he would do that great.

Even though he knew his boyfriend and Kiba, who was apparently now his friend, were away for good reasons, he felt lonely and abandoned. The room felt weird without Sasuke's presence and he wanted him next to him.

Naruto groaned as he turned over. His bullet wounds, new and old, had healed for the most part but they were still somewhat sore. Sasuke was lucky that his healed relatively fast. He had told Naruto that he had to use crutches for the first little while and that he was even using one three weeks later, just to keep off the leg and let it heal. Thankfully Tsunade let him off them just a couple days before Naruto woke up.

Just as Naruto got comfortable on his side so that he was looking towards the door, the doorknob turned and Tsunade walked in.

"Hey kid."

"Hello." Naruto muttered, locking eyes with her as soon as she was inside his room.

"How are you holding up?"

"Fine. A little sore but at least I'm alive."

Tsunade nodded, "Finally they say something smart."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. He was aware that she was directing that at both Naruto and Sasuke and he wasn't very pleased that she was calling them stupid.

"You two are intelligent kids but... your common sense in lacking. Not to mention the Uchiha has a horrible habit of keeping information from you for as long as he can possibly manage."

Again Naruto eyes narrowed questioningly. He didn't know what she was talking about. As far as he knew Sasuke had been completely honest about everything... well... nearly everything... He couldn't hold the truth about his past agaisnt Sasuke because that wasn't something you could just bring up at any time. "Here's some ramen, Naruto. Oh, and by the way, my brother killed my parents and the rest of my family when I was seven." Naruto shook his head internally. That just wasn't sane. He also kept the fact that Itachi had contacted him a secret but again... it wasn't like he would just tell Naruto that his psycho older brother was coming back to kill him casually in the hallway.

"He told me as much as he could." Naruto decided that he was going to remain on his boyfriend's side no matter what this woman, who was like an aunt to his father, said.

"He sure took his sweet time in telling you." She sighed as she sat herself down on the bench-like couch that Sasuke had made into his bed for weeks.

"That doesn't mean he didn't want to tell me. Some things just can't be brought up as quickly as other things. The truth about his family isn't something you bring up on a first date like your likes and dislikes or where you live."

"You've never been on a date, boy." Tsunade retorted.

Naruto frowned, his defensive mood suddenly sullen. "Well... not an official date but Sasuke and I have had dinner together..."

"Doesn't count."

Naruto pouted as he sat up to look at Tsunade since she moved mostly out of his view by sitting on that couch. "What do you want, anyway? Did you just come here to make me miserable?"

"Your boyfriend withholds the truth and doesn't bring you on dates, how would that make you miserable?" A smirk appeared on her face as her eyes connected with Naruto. Before he could glare and scowl at her, he realized that she was teasing him. Tsunade barely ever smirked like that, she wasn't being serious, she was just trying to get a rise out of him.

"Whatever..." Naruto muttered, not knowing how to respond to her sarcasm.

Tsunade sighed, shaking her head. "I'm here to tell you that Emi was back again today and she knows that you're awake."

Naruto's heart just about stopped and his blood ran cold. Why wouldn't this woman leave him alone? Why couldn't she just accept that he didn't want to be with her. She was a horrible person who didn't want him either so why did she insist on coming back. He finally had the chance to move on to a better life and she wouldn't let him. It was as though her life purpose was to make his life miserable.

"How?" The blonde spoke in a near whisper but Tsunade caught it.

"One of my nurses. I fired her."

Naruto lifted his head with had dropped seconds before. He was astonished, to say the least, that she would do something like that over him.

"She released confidential information. It wasn't entirely personal."

Naruto held back a smile. Not entirely personal still meant it was a little personal. Tsunade really did care about him, in her own strange little way. But it still made him happy to have a female adult figure that cared about his wellbeing.

"Why can't she leave me alone?" Naruto asked out loud. Tsunade looked at him but didn't answer his rhetorical question. "For so long she just stayed out of my life. I figured, well I figured she wouldn't be coming back into my life because that's what-"

Naruto stopped himself as his eyes widened. What Itachi had told him kicked in. Gaara and his siblings had moved away from Konoha. Gaara wasn't here any longer. Emi must have heard that they'd left, if everyone else knew about their disappearance. Their promise to protect him couldn't be valid now that they weren't here. Naruto's mood fell instantly. They were good people, sure they dragged him into a horrible situation and had planned to trade him to gain superiority in a gang that his mother had been involved in and they were really only protecting him so that they could gain his trust in order to make this trade but they still protected him. Even when things went wrong, they protected him and dropped him off at Sasuke's, a place where they knew he would get good care. They had grown to care about him even though they had only pretended to at the beginning.

"What are you saying?"

Naruto jolted back to reality and looked to see that Tsunade had stood up and was staring straight at him.

"Oh... sorry... I was thinking out loud..."

"No kidding. About what?" Tsunade spoke in a very agitated voice.

Naruto appreciated her concern about him, but he didn't want to confide in her about what happened with Gaara. "No it's-"

"Tell. Me."

The blonde could have sworn that her eyes had just flashed red and that terrified him more than when he was staring Itachi straight in the eyes. "Gaara, Temari and Kankuro Sabaku promised to protect me from Emi. But they've been gone since I first came to the hospital for my first gunshots... it was kind of their fault but that doesn't matter. Now that they're gone, and for so long... Emi must have found out and because they're no longer threatening her... that's probably why she's coming back. I think she might be angry about having people threaten her and now that I don't have anyone protecting me."

"Like hell you don't." Tsunade just about snapped, startling Naruto. When she saw the look Naruto had on his face, Tsunade hastily calmed herself back to her normal state. "You have the Uchiha. I'm sure he can keep you safe."

Naruto nodded, trying to make sense of this woman's emotions. Perhaps she was bi-polar.

Tsunade exhaled once more and moved towards the door. "Anyway... don't let yourself get worked up about this. You need your rest."

"Yeah... thanks, Tsunade."

Tsunade nodded before exiting the room and closing the door behind her.

Naruto sighed as he leaned back in his bed, shutting his eyes. He wished things didn't have to be so complicated. But to be honest, even though he didn't have Gaara to protect him from Emi with whatever horrible threats they told her... he was glad that they had left because if they hadn't... Naruto wouldn't be with Sasuke like he was now. That wasn't something he would give up for anything.

Everything would work out somehow... he was sure of it.