Rating: M (for swearing)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 7

BUSTED! / Money problems

Naruto was never the one to be frantic about hair. To be honest he could care less if it was brushed or not. When he went to school before the Cancer, he's put on that headband with the swirl on and tossled his hair every which way. He could go days without brushing it and it would still look good. But just because he dind't care how his hair looked, doesn't mean that he didn't care if he didn't have any. Naruto had lost all of his hair. There was nothing left. He felt concious and embaressed about himself now. He felt so...bare.

"Here, Naruto." Kyuubi smiled, handing Naruto his cell phone.

"Sasuke's on the other line." He smiled.

"Hello?" Naruto asked.

"Hey, Naruto. How are you?" Sasuke smiled, asking on the other line.

"...Mhmmm...Tired." Naruto yawned. He hated these tests and chemos. It made him loose his hair and he always felt tired after them. With all the sleep he's been doing, he guessed he would start to sleep his life away.

Sasuke smiled sadly. "True, but whatever's making you tired should be helping you." Sasuke encouraged. "Besides I-"

"Sasuke, my mom says I can't...talk anymore." Naruto said. "I'm sorry."

"No, no it's fine." Sasuke smiled. "Call me when you feel better"

"Thanks, bye"

"Bye." Sasuke hung up the phone and sighed. Things have been boring in his life since Naruto moved away. Boring and lonley. He sat on the couch turning on the TV. There was nothing better to do in his mind. The doorbell rang and he gave a curious glance at the door, standing up to answer it he was surprised to see the pinkette-Sakura Haruno standing at his doorstep.

She smiled. "Hello, Sasuke-kun."

"Oh, hey." He said, being polite. "what's up?"

She blushed. "Oh, nothing I was wondering if you'd like to hang out today. My Kaa-san doesn't need help at her store and Ino's busy."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Not once did she mention Naruto.

"Did you try calling Naruto-san?" He asked.

"No one was answering." She lied.

"Oh," Sasuke said. "Well, I don't know my parents' are at a meeting and Itachi-nii-san is out with some friends. I'm not even supposed to have anyone over too."

"Oh, please?" She begged. "My house is far away and I don't have anyway to get home."

"Then...how did you get here?" He asked.

"I was at the Shopping Mall. We should go, it's not far." She smiled. Sasuke couldn't help but notice the way Sakura was dressed, she had on white flats, not made for winter, more or less snow. And she had on white tights and what seemed to be a sparkly purple skirt he noticed under her coat. He sighed, he knew that this was Naruto's girlfriend, he guessed Naruto would want (or expect) him to make sure Sakura wasn't sad while he was away. Sasuke was a boy, he thought of girls like any normal boy would, but not Sakura, in his mind she wasn't his type. While walking to the Mall, Sakura "forgot" her gloves and asked Sasuke if he would keep her hands warm by holding them. Sasuke nuged her, handing her a pair of his mother's gloves. The trip to the mall was a drag for Sasuke. He felt annoyed seeing Sakura trying on all these flurty dresses and shoes. Sakura on the other hand felt like she was on cloud nine. She thought Sasuke would smirk everytime she came out in a big poofy dress or that he'd blush seeing the make-up she'd put on. But even though that wasn't the case at all, Sakura didn't mind.

"I had a fun time, Sasuke-kun" She blushed.

"Yeah...I wonder how Naruto's doing? He must be in pain." Sasuke frowned.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Why are you so worried about him? He's going to be fine."

Sasuke looked up and stared at the pinkette. "What?"

"I mean, it's Naruto. He'll be fine, he aways is-"

"Haruno! Didn't you see him clearly last time? He has no hair, he was thin! Almost aneroxic because of the diet he's on! Imagine how hungry and miserable he is!" Sasuke boomed, Sakura held up her hands in defence.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry...why are you so worried about him?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "What...?" He slowly asked, accept his tone was dangerous and daring. Sakura sighed, not seeing the warning signs.

"I mean, what's there to worry about? It's not the end of the world if he gets cancer-" She hadn't finished talking because a snowball his her in the face, she looked up shocked and alightly scared. Sasuke glared at the pink-haired pre-teen.

"That's my best friend!" He yelled. "Don't ever say that! I don't care if you're a girl or your my best friend's girlfriend, I'll beat the shit out of you if you ridicule my friend!"

Sakura was close to tears. "Sasuke...Kun-"

"Don't call me that!"

"Why are you so mad at me?!" She yelled.

"Oh, come'on!" Sasuke yelled. "It's clearly obvious you don't care about him! You never talk about him when he's brought up, and when you do-it's somthing horrible and mean! Why are you even dating him?!-"

"I hate him!" She screamed. Sasuke remained silent but with a disgusted look on his face. "I hate him! He's annoying, he wouldn't stop flurting with me while we were in school, so I figured that when he had cancer I'd pretend to like him so he wouldn't die in vain!" She yelled.

Sasuke was fumming now. "Tell the truth..." he demanded quietly. "THAT'S NOT ALL! TELL ME THE GODDAMN TRUTH!"

"I...I just thought that after he died we-"

"Would be together?!" He smiled, still yelling. "Did you honestly think that would happen?!"

She began to cry. "Sasuke...you're being a jerk."

"Oh, I'm the jerk...I'M THE JERK?! WELL IF BEING A JERK PUT YOU IN YOUR PLACE, THEN I'M THE BIGGEST MOTHER FUCKING JERK ON THE GODDAMN PLANT! MY BEST FRIEND IS DYING AND YOU GO OFF AND DO THIS TO HIM?!" He screamed. Sakura was blubbering tears now. This wasn't supposed to happen, she thought. Sasuke should be hugging and kissing her, not screaming at her.

"You're an ugly...ugly person, Sakura" He spoke.

"Stop." she begged.

"I hope your rot in hell, and you're gonna' get it next field trip we have in two weeks. I'm gonna' confess this all to Naruto-"

"Please don't!" She cried.

"-and when I do, it's not me you'll have to worry about, but his over-protective brother and parents!" He yelled, walking away.

"Sasuke, please come back!" She sobbed.

"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

Naruto sighed, currently he was on the floor on the rug carpeting waiting for some instructor. Kyuubi was with him looking around.

"Looks like a gym, but better." He encourage. He was right. There were yoga balls, small two-to-five pound weights a few hula hoops and jump ropes. This was the Rehab. gym. Chiyo and Tsunade signed Naruto up to try and strengthen himself (but for more personal reason, try to make him feel good about himself) and his body. Kyuubi saw how glum Naruto looked and decided to try and be funny by standing on a big purple yoga ball, but it popped, making Naruto jump and Kyuubi frantically tried to hide the scraps.

"Welcome, Naruto!" A voice called. Naruto turned around to see someone walking towards him.

"I'm Yamamoto...A friend of Kakashi, your old guidance teacher back in your middle school. He and I went to school together and he's told me about you." The brunette smiled.

Naruto didn't smile back, but continued to look at the floor.

"I'm going to help you strenghten your body back, much as possible. Everyday for two hours we'll do some streches." He smiled, trying to be polite. Naruto huffed, just wanting to get this over and done with so he could go back to bed. Kyuubi sighed sadly. Naruto looked to be in pain. He was sitting normally on the floor, but Yamamoto wanted him to try streching his arms to the sides and above his head. Naruto would wince in pain from his muscles popping or Yamamoto would try a different position. Although Naruto did try his best, but he gave up.

"I can't do it!" He whined. "I can't!"

"Naruto...don't feel bad, most patients your age can't do it well either, most adults with cancer can't make it past the excersizes-"

"Then why am I doing this?!" He yelled.

Kyuubi sighed, patting Naruto's back.

"It's to try and help circulation." The brunette replied. "Naruto...I think that's enough for today, good try though" He smiled, helping to boy up.

"I just wanna' go to bed." Naruto sniffed. Yamamoto nodded.

"Kyuubi, can you carry him? I think his leg muscles are weak." Kyuubi didn't need to be told twice, he scouped Naruto up and showed the trainer where Nartuo's room was. Naruto was gently laid on the bed while Yamamoto talked to Minato and Kushina. Naruto couldn't sleep, even though he was exausted. The small family returned home much later than they usually did and the snow kept falling. It was almost Christmas time, Kushina relized they hadn't boughten any presents yet nor had they went out to get a tree, all of this was coming at her so fast. She didn't even know how much money they had left in the bank account. she was currently piled up with old bills, a few notebooks with recordings and a calculator. She sighed.

"Minato..." She frowned.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"We've only got five-hundred left." She sighed. "That and sixty-five dollars and twenty nine cents"

Minato nodded. "I've got a friend who works for the newspaper up here, she said she could try to squeeze me in."

"She?" Kushina raised her eyebrow.

"My old secertairy, Rin. You remember her." Minato smiled. Kushina nodded, but was confused.

"I thought she went into the medical field after she quit." Kushina asked.

"She found it boring, I guess, but she left because of Obito, who I may add is married to her." Minato smiled. "I've never seen him so happy to be with Rin. I knew he liked her and would always think about her and talk about her but when it came to literally talking TO her, he froze and became squeemish, quite funny really."

"So, you're sure you'll get the job?" Kushina asked.

"Pretty sure." He smiled. Kushina sighed in relief.

"But until then I'm guessing we're on a budget, but I still have to go shopping for Naruto. Since he can't eat processed or most factory foods, it's the Organic isle I'm going down. It's not that I don't mind, because I don't, but Minato...the stuff he needs and the medical needs are so expensive!" She sighed. "I'm scared we won't be able to afford the care he needs."

She felt hurt. She felt worthless. She couldn't even hold back her tears, what made her feel horrible, more than anything in the world, is not being able to provide for her children. Minato smiled, reassuring her, putting a hand on her cheek stroking it.

"Kushina...we'll be fine." He smiled, hugging her tightly. Though, he wasn't so sure himself.

"It looks like he has a cold." Chiyo spoke. Kushina gulped. Today it was just her and Naruto while Minato left for an interview with Obito. She kept Kyuubi home (with difficulty) asking him to clean and disinfect the house for Naruto. Naruto gulped. His cold had come back. Now what? What were they going to do to him? Chiyo talked about two Chemos today and he didn't like the sound of that. What he really didn't like was the streches he was forced to do after his Chemo. It hurt his hips to sit on the floor and his legs felt numb, he almost fell twice and he felt light headed. His mouth felt yucky because he dind't brushhis teeth, compaling that the floss and bristles made his gums bleed and he ran out of special salt so when he bathed last night it made him feel nauceus.

Kushina didn't like the sound of what she was hearing on how they were going to keep Naruto over-night to check and see if he would be stable enough to be taken home or not. What really irked her was, she wasn't allowed in the room while they did the tests. Taking his blood, checking for ear infections and everything else under the sun. She knew her baby wasn't a baby anymore, but Naruto was sensitive and still very much like a child. He was still so innocent. She pulled out her cell, calling Minato.

"Thank you so much, Rin-san. You have no idea how important this is" Minato smiled. He didn't even need an interview once Obito saw him and heard how Naruto had cancer he automatically gave Minato the job. Especially after hearing how he needed to quit his pervious one being Mayor.

"Oh, it's no problem." Rin smiled. Obito wrapped an arm around her. "How's Kakashi-kun?" He smiled.

"Oh, he's doing fine, he helped make arrangements so Naruto's old classroom can send him mail each week. That really helps a lot." Minato smiled.

"Also I-"

Buzzzzzz, buzzzzzz.

"Oh, excuse me." Minato smiled, answering his phone.

"Hello?"

"Minato...They're thinking about keeping Naruto over night in the Cancer Center." It was Kushina, she sounded like she was crying, and she was. Minato frowned.

"Why? I thought he didn't need to have to stay the night, since we have some equiptment at the house-"

"He's got a cold and they don't want to take any risks. I think maybe I'll stay the night with him here. There's a couch I can sleep on and I'll be right with Naruto."

"It's fine Kushina. I should be over there any minute now. Oh, hey I got the job" He smiled.

"Really?! Oh that's great! Tell them I say 'thank you' and they have no idea how much this means to me!" She was happy now. Minato smiled.

"Hey, can I talk to Naruto?"

"No, they're checking him and I can hear him crying Minato, I'm gonna' bust down the door if they won't let me in!"

Same old Kushina...

"Well, don't do that Kushina, just be patient and wait. Don't break any doors."

Rin and Obito gave each other a look. Break down doors?

"Okay, I love you too, Bye." Minato hung up. "I'm sorry, that was Kushina. Naru-chan has a cold and they're keeping him over night to make sure nothing happens."

Rin smiled sadly. "I'm so sorry to hear that, Minato-kun."

"If there's anyway we can help, we will." Obito said.

Minato shook his head. "That's fine, this job was actually a really big help. Thank you so much."

"50,000 dollars?!" Kushina nearly ripped the bill in half, but her anger went down emencly when she heard Naruto wimper in his sleep. She sighed. The bill had came and the total: fifty-thousand big ones. They didn't have the money to even pay off half and that's with insurance! She set down the billl and covered up her small one. She couldn't think about bills when Naruto is needed.

It's not illegal if they don't pay it right away, but these bills will add up and Kushina had a feeling it wouldn't be paid off right away. Tsunade and Chiyo had referred them to financial-aid and help, but Kushina only listened halfway threw. The other half was her staring at her sleeping boy, worried and doubtful. She knew it wouldn't be right to show weakness, she had to be strong for Naruto. She had to be.

FLASHBACK:

"Kaa-san!" A cry came from another room. Kushina looked up from her book and saw Naruto running into the room crying. Her leaped into her hold and she held him tight. A huge clash of lightening followed by thunder came and NAruto hid his face in her arms.

"It's only thunder Naruto." She soothed.

"Scawy!" His childish tone blubbered. She kept him close.

"I'll protect you Naruto." She smiled. "I promise, nothing bad will ever happen to you..."

FLASHBACK DONE.

"Naruto...you have to survive, for Kaa-san." She cried.

It was still snowing outside. And it fell quietly.

Uh...*silence* Sakura's gonna' get it?

*reviewers scream for joy*

R&R to find out how ^_^