RECAP: This one's gonna be long. Sorry.

Gaara had just woken up and was in kind of a day. Gaara figured he had some loose bandages covering his left eye so it was harder to see Naruto who was on his left side but he couldn't turn his head it hurt too much. He'd been stroking his hair ever since he woke up. He wanted to ask Naruto so many questions but he didn't want to wake him up. Soon enough it was 8 in the morning. He heard Tsunade greet Sakura. He was hoping she'd pass by his room but there was a faster way to Sasuke's so she didn't. He had nothing to do until Naruto woke up.

Then he was suddenly very aware of how hungry he was and wondered how many days it had been. He saw a few nurses walk by and tried to signal to them but he was still very weak. He then saw Shikamaru, Temari and Matsuri go by to see Kankuro. He heard Shikamaru mention coming into his room to see Naruto. He let out a sigh of relief, he'd been awake for about 3 hours without anyone noticing. Shikamaru came in and saw Naruto asleep on Gaara. He then saw a hand stroking Naruto's hair and his eyes moved to Gaara who greeted him with a smile.

"GAARA!"

Gaara tried to shush him but Naruto was already awake.

"Wha?"

He felt someone's hand stroking his hair and looked up at Gaara who smiled at him. He cheered and hugged him and proceeded to kiss him which made Shikamaru slightly uncomfortable but he dealt with it.

"You're awake!"

"I sure am."

His voice sounded hoarse and raspy. Naruto was so happy he couldn't even stand it.

"How are you feeling?"

"Hungry. Very hungry."

"Shika! Will you go get him some food?"

He did.

"So memory OK?"

"Yep. As far as I know."

"OK let's test. What song did you start singing on the way into the OR?"

"You are my sunshine."

"YES! OK, how about motor functions?"

Gaara started moving all of his limbs to demonstrate to Naruto that he was fine.

"YES! And you're not blind because you can see me."

"Sure can just get this bandage off my eye and I'll show you."

"Bandage?"

Gaara immediately ran his hand over his left eye. No bandage was covering it.

"...Two outta three ain't bad. I was kinda wondering why I couldn't feel the bandage."

"Gaara..."

Naruto hugged him incredibly tight and kissed his head over and over again.

"Naruto, it's just the one eye."

"...OK, I'll calm down. Oh my God! We have to page Tsunade."

Naruto reached over and pressed a button to page a nurse. That nurse went and got Tsunade. Before she saw Gaara she was reading off the chart. She never took the time to look up though.

"Good news, Naruto. Tumor was benign, it was just a mass. Like a kidney stone for your brain. How's Gaara?"

Before she got an answer she heard Naruto and someone else cheering. She looked up from her chart and saw that Gaara was in fact awake.

"Gaara! You're alive!"

"Yes I am!"

Tsunde started the physical in a matter of seconds. Testing his reflexes and his memory among that. She got to his eyes, checked the right one and got to the left.

"Gaara."

"Yes?"

"Look at my forehead. Can you see this."

She put her finger where the left eye should be able to see with peripheral vision. Where the right couldn't see.

"I most certainly cannot. I think I've gone blind in that eye."

"I'm sorry."

"Hey, everything else is fine. Plus I've got righty over here. I'm fine."

"...We can get a transplant, don't worry about your eyes looking different the way we do it it won't change color or anything."

"Give it to someone without both eyes."

"I'll put you on the list. In the meantime do you want and eyepatch?"

"Eyepatch, I'll look like a pirate!"

"No a medical eyepatch."

"...Yeah I guess. It'll keep people from staring."

"Again, I'm sorry."

"Can I get these bandages off my head?"

"We'll do that later. I'll get your eyepatch."

Tsunade left for a few minutes letting Naruto and Gaara talk.

"So could you hear me?"

"Sometimes yes sometimes no. If I ever go into surgery again don't go into a state of depression."

"I love you."

"Me too."

"And soon you'll have your other eye."

"Naruto I'm fine with one, really."

Tsunade came back with a very medical looking eyepatch and put it over Gaara's left eye. She then said she had paperwork to fill out and left.

"Gaara."

"Mhm?"

"That is the sexiest eyepatch I've ever seen."

"You're the best."

Naruto kissed him and Shikamaru came back with his food. Naruto had never seen Gaara eat so much.

"What's with the eye patch?"

"I'm blind in this eye now. Can't wear sunglasses cause this one's fine."

"And you're not upset at all?"

"Hey, I have my memory and motor skills and the tumor was benign. I think I'll be fine."

"Want me to tell the others you're up?"

"No, not yet. I wanna see Sakura first."

"Alright, I'll keep em with Kankuro."

"OK, I'll come say hi later."

Shikamaru went back into Kankuro's room. Naruto got up to get Sakura.

"Where're you going?"

"To get Sakura remember?"

"No, I'm going to Sakura."

"'You can't walk."

"Like hell I can't!"

Gaara put on some hospital slippers grabbed his IV and started walking towards the door.

"Let me get you a chair!"

Naruto got him a wheelchair. He didn't want to admit he needed it but he was still pretty weak. He held onto his IV while Naruto pushed him. He spent his time on the way to Sasuke's room waving frantically at nurses. They finally got to Sasuke's room but Sakura wasn't there. They went to the front to see if Tsunade knew. As it turns out Sakura was in the front. Greeting Kiba.