lostmoonchild: Thanks for the review! Sleeping Beauty was honestly the only story that came to mind when I wrote this chapter then suddenly I heard Naruto making some comment/question regarding how parents could read that crap to their kids so it needed to go into the story cause how many people honestly see him able to go through a princess story without making some comment? So yeah, I've got two or three chapters done ahead of time but haven't gotten farther than that due to a bunch of drama that took most of last week and killed the urge to write for a while.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto so don't sue.

Chapter Four

It seemed like the more time he spent trying to help get the damned Uchiha back to Konoha, the more time he spent wondering what exactly the female population had seen in him. There was just no way that someone as smart as Sakura could have been so blind to the Uchiha's true colors. Now her eyes were open and he couldn't have been more pleased.

Sai was silent as he stared at his newest sketch, seeing the tenderness in Naruto's eyes that had shown so clearly since day one. It was almost amazing how one orphan that hadn't known kindness was capable of showing kindness to strangers. What was even more remarkable was the absolute trust a clearly terrified child placed in one person that had done what any human being with morals would have done.

"Sai?"

The raven turned and saw a still drowsy Sakura standing near one of his older works, her pink hair tousled. From the bags under her eyes, he could safely assume that it had been a long night at the hospital. "Shouldn't you be sleeping, hag? You look awful." Sai told her.

It had bothered them to allow Sakura to go home late at night by herself when she was weary from a long day at the hospital and they had all but forced her to agree to crash at his house during the rest of the night or day so she could sleep. The time she spent sleeping really depended on how busy she had been and even what time it was. "Screw you." Sakura responded as she opened the fridge. "Taking a page from Naruto's book. Never argue on an empty stomach."

"Long night?"

"You have no idea. Add Hisoka to the mix and you've got two prejudice medics thinking that she's like Naruto."

Somehow he could have seen that one coming. "Is she?" Sai questioned.

"No seals."

"But…"

"The Kyuubi's chakra is somehow getting into her system. It's like she's becoming the new Jinchuuriki while Naruto's still alive."

There was stress in the woman's voice and when Sai glanced over at her, he could see the weary look on her face. She was worried and was trying to find an answer as to how when it was clear that Naruto was completely unaware of what was going on. "Is it helping her?" Sai questioned.

"Not hurting her either." Sakura sighed softly as she curled up on the couch. "It's just there. Not helping but not hurting either. It's like it's benign or her body just has a natural immunity that the rest of the human population other than the Jinchuuriki lack."

Sai stared for a moment before inwardly sighing. She was going medic on him and he could almost see the wheels turning in her mind. Distantly he remembered hearing something similar happening in another country but he couldn't be completely positive. For all he knew at the immediate moment was that Sakura was just over thinking things and he was beginning to do the same. Then his attention went to the fact that she had found a pair of his pants and was currently wearing them along with one of the shirts that she had gotten him as a present.

Closing his sketchbook, Sai turned to face the woman. "I know you've been told this already, hag, but you need to learn when to keep hospital issues at the hospital."

A small smile spread across Sakura's face before she threw a pillow at him. She couldn't deny that her boys had told her to keep hospital business at the hospital but she just couldn't bring herself to leave the one particular case alone. "So what's going on that found its way into your sketchbook?" Sakura questioned. "You looked upset over something."

He had looked… upset? "I was thinking about duck-butt-sama." Sai responded calmly.

"Ah." There really was no point in getting upset over Sai's nickname for Sasuke, especially now that she was upset at the latter.

"I hope your tastes have extended past traitors and people that want you as well as everybody else that you know dead."

If she weren't somewhat tired still then she would have punched the raven. "Sai, shut up." Sakura sighed. "Sasuke was a crush. Nothing more."

If she didn't know any better, she would have said that Sai was jealous of Sasuke. Sai didn't get jealous though. He may have had the emotional range of a rock but Sai just did not get jealous for any reason. Sakura wasn't even sure that he knew what jealousy even was.

Sakura squirmed a little when dark eyes focused on her. She knew he was trying to determine if she was lying but there was something in his gaze that made her uncomfortable. "You should keep clothes of your own here." Sai told her patiently. "I read in a book that when a male or female stays at another's home for extended periods of time then they keep clothes at the person's home."

They stared at each other for a moment, Sakura's brain reeling from what he had just said. While it would make things easier, she was fairly certain that Sai had gotten his hands on yet another relationships book. If he had gotten it from Kakashi then the pinkette swore she was going to burn the Jounin's precious Icha Icha right in front of him. "Sai." Sakura said calmly as she rubbed her forehead.

"Yes?"

"Please tell me that whatever research material you got that from didn't involve sex."

"If it does?"

"Then you will return it to whoever you got it from before I stay the night again."

Knowing full well that she'd check his stash of books, Sai nodded in understanding. "I stopped by the library earlier today. You won't believe what I saw."

Suspicion crossed her features. "What?" Sakura asked warily.

"Naruto was in the library."

"What?"

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)

Fear pounded through her body as Hisoka sat quietly in the dark room. Everything hurt and she wanted somebody to come to help her. She wanted what the people in the cages talked about. A home, someone to love them, but most of all she wanted to stand outside and feel the sun on her face. They all said that the sun was warm but she didn't know what warm was.

Her voice had long ago vanished and she didn't dare try to bring it back. All she knew was that she could see in her mind what it was she wanted. She wanted someone to come and tell her that everything would be okay. She wanted to go to that place that the others called home.

She stared silently at the door as it opened and felt a twinge of fear as she stared at the man that had entered. She knew his name and also knew that he had a temper if she didn't do what he wanted. From the look on his face, it was clear that he was in a bad mood.

Inwardly shivering in fear, Hisoka forced herself to smile at him. If she smiled then maybe he wouldn't do anything but the look in his eyes said otherwise. Without saying a word, he knelt down in front of her and brushed his fingers over her matted hair before she saw the sparks and felt the unbearable pain in her stomach.

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)

Ibiki hadn't been expecting anything remotely interesting to happen until after Naruto arrived and the girl began attempting to please the blonde by going along with whatever scheme that had been thought up. While the things he came up with so far were harmless, it was clear that he had been thinking very hard about the meaning behind each action.

The man said nothing as he watched the girl suddenly wake up and saw her mouth was open in a silent scream. Her eyes were wild as she frantically looked around, searching for anything that she could use to defend herself from the nightmares that haunted her before spotting Naruto's jacket that lay at the foot of the bed.

Suddenly she grabbed the orange monstrosity before covering her head with it only to duck under the blankets. After several minutes she poked her head out from the blankets and kicked them off before taking Naruto's jacket from her head. Ibiki watched as she breathed in the blonde's scent before tucking the jacket under her pillow.

Her actions were careful as if she were afraid of getting caught. Ibiki knew that Naruto would see where his jacket had gone and as soon as the girl was sound asleep he would simply leave something else behind to soothe her. It was actually almost unnerving how easily the blonde could tell what the girl wanted without her having to say a word or even motion for what she wanted.

The more Ibiki watched her, the more he could see that she really wasn't a threat. She was psychologically damaged to the point where she was too afraid to refuse to do anything regardless of if it made her uncomfortable. There was no refusing to do anything for the nurses when they needed her to do her exercises, no intention of doing harm, or even any intention of gaining independence. It was almost as if she were just a living doll that strived to keep herself safe by going along with whatever whim someone around her had.

The scarred man watched as the girl's demeanor suddenly changed to that of an excited child and watched as Naruto came into the room with something behind his back. There was laughter in his bright blue eyes as he chatted happily to the girl and watched as she reached for him. It was clear to even the most oblivious of individuals that Naruto was the girl's entire world and that she wanted him to stay with her forever. "Your hair's a mess." Ibiki heard Naruto comment. "Hold still and I'll brush it out for you."

There was a look on the girl's face as Naruto brushed her hair that told Ibiki that she enjoyed the attention Naruto was giving her. "Grandma Tsunade says that you'll be able to start going outside in a little while." Naruto told the girl. "Not for long of course since we're still not sure where your immune system stands but it'll do you some good since I guess your bones can get messed up if you don't get enough sunlight. At least that's what Sakura-chan says."

Ibiki did nothing as he watched the scene play out before him for a few hours before going to make his report to Tsunade. In due time the girl would leave the hospital and once she did, he knew that they would see the extent of her damaged psyche.

lostmoonchild: Also couldn't resist the whole "at least what Sakura-chan says." comment since I don't really see Naruto really understanding the whole sunlight produces vitamin D which helps bones thing. So yeah, umm... that's it for this week and I'll see you next week!