Author's note; Helllooooo! Another update :) I'm not sure if I'm updating tomorrow, but it's probably highly likely that I will. Any who, I hope you all like this chapter! I swear, after this one, I think that Naruto's chapters will be longer ... -I don't remember!- And review if you think you like how the story is going so far or if I need to change something :)

Naruto: I hate you! Meany -cried a little.-

Sasuke: Why are you putting him through so much pain! And why are you making me so OOC?

Itachi: I think you're better this way ...

Sasuke: You have no say in this Aniki!

Naruto: Shut up! All of you!

Me: ... On with the chapter? o..o

Chapter 16

Sasuke

I was forced awake when I heard someone screaming someone's name. I growled angrily and looked at my alarm clock to see that it was after midnight. Then someone with red hair barged into my bedroom and shook me until I was fully awake and I glared at Gaara with the promise of death if he didn't explain to me in a calmed voice why he was waking me up so late.

"Calm down and tell me why the fuck you woke me up after midnight Gaara." I hissed and rubbed at my eyes when he finally let me go.

"Naruto is fucking gone!" He screamed, and now I knew why he was in such a frantic mood. All I could do was pale and stare at him.

"How is he fucking gone?" I asked as I jumped out of bed and went to look myself.

"He must have left while I was in the bathroom!" Gaara said and I could tell he was bewildered that Naruto would just up and leave like he just did.

"When did you go to the bathroom?" I asked, I wanted to get a clearer picture of when Naruto could have possibly left as I put both of my hands on Gaara's shoulders to try and calm him down before he had a mental break down.

"The clock read around eleven forty when I heard him get up, I was half asleep and standing outside the bathroom about ten minutes later and I went in when he was done. I thought he went back to bed but when I went back to the living room to lay back down, I saw that the front door was cracked open. I just went to his room to see if he was in there and he wasn't." Gaara said in one breath, the anger growing in his eyes as he spoke.

"What time is it now?" I asked, not remembering what the exact time was.

"It's fifteen after midnight." Gaara answered. "Where in the hell could he be at this time of night?"

It took me a moment to think about where the stupid idiot could have gone before it dawned on me. Midnight. Friday … "Oh my God! He went to work!"

"But I don't even know which McDonalds he works at." Gaara said, and he sounded more worried than angry again and I ran to my laptop which was plugged in in the kitchen and turned it on.

"I have the number, we should be able to find out which McDonalds it is by the phone number." I explained when my computer booted back to the log in screen and I input my password and waited another minute before everything was up and running. It was only quick at turning on because I had put it to sleep than turned it off completely. I mentally patted myself on the back for not turning it off like I usually did and went straight to the internet and used the yellow pages website to find the McDonalds.

"I'll look while you call your brother." Gaara suddenly said as he took the computer from me and typed the phone number when the site was fully loaded. I wanted to say something, but considering the mood he was in, I let it slide and quickly called Itachi while I went and put my shoes on at the front door, ready to leave once Gaara had the address down.

Itachi answered the phone in two rings and he sounded exhausted when he spoke, "Is everything alright Sasuke?"

"No! Naruto is gone!" I yelled into the phone on accident.

"I'm just down the street, be outside waiting with the address to his work." Itachi said, and he sounded like he was beyond pissed off when we ended our conversation.

"I got the address." I heard Gaara say as he left the kitchen and came to the front door and slid his socked feet into his shoes. I was only wearing sandals because I didn't want to look for socks, we didn't have time for that.

"Itachi's about to pull into the drive way now." I told him, and as soon as we got outside, Itachi pulled into the drive way and we were inside the car within seconds before Itachi took off in the direction we pointed him to.

When we got to the McDonalds that owned the number we called earlier, there were cars everywhere, and when Itachi found a parking spot after five minutes of looking for one and the three of us got out of the car, but Itachi told us to stop before we went inside.

"Wait a moment, I'm calling Tsunade, I want her here to help us talk Naruto into going home." Itachi said as he pulled his phone out and called Tsunade, though I never knew he had her personal number. I guess they exchanged numbers earlier in case something like this happened.

"Tsunade, yea it's Naruto. We're at the one by the bank … yea, we'll need you for this." Itachi said into his phone, and I could tell Tsunade wanted to yell in his ear for waking her up, but the conversation was over quickly and Itachi leaned against his car with his arms crossed. "She's on her way here now. Five minutes and we can go inside."

"Alright." Gaara said, and I could tell he wanted to go inside and rip Naruto from where he stood and throw him into the car for making him worry like this.

"Gaara, I'm sure Naruto's alright." I said, putting a hand on his shoulder, and he seemed to relax a little bit at the reassuring words I was telling him.

"Not when Tsunade is done with him." Itachi said, and I wished that he kept his mouth shut, but he did have a point.

Gaara only nodded, but I could tell he got nervous at the mention of Tsunade reprimanding him once again. That's when I knew to be quiet, because I knew anything else about Naruto and Tsunade in the same sentence might make Gaara lose it completely, and like she knew we were talking about her, Tsunade drove into the parking lot and parked in the middle of the drive area. She wasn't going to be here long, and we all knew it.

"Alright, lets go get the idiot." She said once she got out of the car and slammed her door shut. Yea, she was beyond pissed off at the moment.

We all only nodded and followed her inside and forced our way to the front of the counter. Itachi knew better than to say anything and all three of us let Tsunade do all the talking.

"Where's Naruto?" She asked, straight to the point and I only hoped that Naruto was doing okay. The place was filled to the brim with college aged customers because Konoha College was down the street and around the corner.

"He's busy right now, is there anything I can help you with?" The girl at the counter said, I could tell by just the sound of her voice, she wasn't who I talked to when I called.

"I don't give a rats ass if he's busy, he's not supposed to be here. And I want to talk to your boss, where is she?" Tsunade said.

"She's clocked out for the day, and like I said miss, Naruto's busy, is there something I can help you with?" She said, and she was even starting to get me pissed off.

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you as deaf as that bitch I talked to earlier?" Tsunade asked, her voice dripping in venom as she leaned over the counter, her face calm and that was never a good sign. "But I told her that Naruto is suffering from a back injury and is unable to work for a couple months. I'm his doctor and behind me are the people that's taking care of him right now and would like to take him home."

"Miss, you're as blonde as our boss said you were and said Naruto's not leaving until his shift is done at five o'clock Monday morning." She said, and now I was ready to rip her head off, but Gaara beat me to it when he pushed Tsunade to the side, reached across the counter and grabbed the girl by her hair and pulled her to him.

"You better send Naruto out here right now before you say good bye to your hair, your teeth and are going to be in the hospital in a coma." He threatened, his voice quiet but dark. "Because I'll scalp you where you stand."

"Gaara, you and Sasuke go in the back and get Naruto, Itachi call the police." Tsunade ordered, but it took Gaara a moment before releasing the now frightened girl from his grasp and the two of us went through the employee entrance by the bathrooms, Itachi was already handing Tsunade the phone when he was done dialing the number. He knew better than to talk himself, so he let Tsunade have her way.

"Gaara." I said before we walked through the door and I pulled him to me, hugging him as I spoke. "Calm down, okay? It's not going to do Naruto any good if we go back there and yell at him right now."

"I know, I just want to get him out of here and home so he can get better." Gaara said as he hugged me back, and I'm shocked at what I'm doing now, anyway, this was all new to me and I honestly don't know when I got so caring in the first place.

I remember that I used to just pick up the little things that Naruto dropped when people purposely bumped into him in the hallways and sometimes helped him pick his stuff up if he was late to class. He must have rubbed off on me faster than I realized he could.

"You can let go of me now Sasuke." Gaara mumbled and I realized I was still hugging him and backed off quickly.

"Sorry, lets go get Naruto." I said to try and help myself forget the little 'hugging too long with your best friends boyfriend' bit and the two of us went through the door and into the kitchen area of the restaurant.

"Naruto!" Gaara called out before I did.

"I'll look in the food storage area." I told Gaara and went off towards the fridge and freezer, only to find nothing, but I could hear Gaara yelling up where the sandwich station was and rushed over to find that Naruto was on the floor and Gaara was trying to wake him up.

"Wake up Naruto!" Gaara screamed again as he kept tapping Naruto on the face.

"Gaara, he's not wearing his back brace." I said, realizing that it was missing when I looked Naruto over and found it on the floor by the door we just walked through.

"I'm going to kill that fucking bitch!" Gaara said, and I could tell he wanted to make it a promise as I went to go get it and he took it from my hands before I helped him lift Naruto and helped him put it back on the unconscious blonde.

But he wasn't unconscious for long, because Gaara and I both noticed his eyes flicker open for a brief second and mumble something we both almost missed him saying.

"Is it Monday yet?" He asked, and I could see Gaara pale more than he usually did.

"It's Friday night still Naru. We're here to take you home." Gaara whispered as he and I tried to get Naruto to his feet, but all it did was make Naruto cry out in pain and we had to lay him back down on the floor.

"I'm getting my brother, be right back." I told Gaara and rushed out of the kitchen and to the front where we saw Itachi and Tsunade talking to a couple policemen. Shit. "Hey, Itachi, we need your help."

"I'll be right there." Itachi said a few seconds later, and I ground my teeth together.

"We can't get Naruto off the ground." I said, and Tsunade was the first person to stop talking and stared at me in horror.

Then Tsunade muttered something to Itachi and he nodded before he came jogging after me and followed me to where Gaara and Naruto was.

"Gaara found him, and he wasn't wearing his back brace. He was talking just before I came out here and he was asking if it was Monday." I told Itachi, and I hoped he could help somehow.

"We didn't bring his chair did we?" Itachi asked, and I knew we forgot something.

"Fucking hell no." I hissed.

"I'll carry him on my back." Itachi offered and I looked over to Gaara to see if it was alright with him and he was already trying to get Naruto up again. I nodded a little and helped him get the blonde onto Itachi's back before he stood up and then the door behind us opened and closed. I realized when I turned around that it was the employee entrance and saw a teal eyed woman with orange hair standing in front of the door in evening wear and staring at the three of us.

"What the hell are you doing back here?" She asked, and I recognized that voice and found myself smirking. And I got an idea to help get her away from the door.

"I was looking for you, and wondered where we could have a moment to chat." I said as Gaara and Itachi left the kitchen and up to the front where Tsunade and the police were.

"What would you like to talk about cutie?" She said as she smirked, and she didn't have to be close for me to know she was at a bar, I could smell the cigarette smoke and alcohol from here.

"Lets go to the bathroom, there it will be quiet and no one can interrupt us." I offered, making sure that the word 'bathroom' sounded like 'back room' because I knew there was a camera near by and I let her lead the way to the hallway before I grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the front of the restaurant.

"Hey, Itachi, this is the bitch I talked to on the phone." I said and tossed her in their direction, her heels clicking loudly on the floor until they were muffled where there were rugs up by the cash registers and she glared at me.

"No wonder I recognized your voice!" She hissed. "Officer, I hope you're here to arrest him, he was back in the kitchen probably trying to rob the place." She said as she turned to face the two police officers, who just looked at each other before grabbing her and hand cuffing her.

"Miss, you are under arrest for forced labor, endangering an injured employee and public intoxication." One of the officers said, and I couldn't help but smirk when I saw how shocked she was. It was hilarious. "Plus hiring an underage teenager also."

"And Jiraiya, take good care of her while I go and see if Naruto is alright." Tsunade said as she looked at the taller officer that had long white hair. Honestly it made me wonder if he was a cop at all. "And, bitch, if Naruto is in a worse condition than he was when I released him yesterday, I'm going to make sure he sues you and this company for all the bills that will have to be paid. And you probably pay him little to nothing anyway so you'll be paying for how ever long he's worked here also." She added and stormed out of the restaurant and towards Itachi's car, that's when I realized that Itachi and Gaara were outside with Naruto, and I waved at the officers before I followed her.

When I got to the car, Tsunade looked like she could tear someone in half, and she probably wanted to tear me in half since I was the one that promised to make sure Naruto didn't leave the house and failed. And to make matters worse, I was right.

"You said you'd make sure he wouldn't leave the house!" Itachi yelled at me before Tsunade could.

"I'm sorry! I went to bed early because he was sleeping when I went to bed." I said, truthfully.

"He's right Itachi, and if anyone should be blamed, it's me, I let him leave because I took forever in the bathroom after he used it." Gaara said, and it was weird for him to defend me, but he was also beating himself up so much that I thought he was going to have a depressing episode kind of like what Naruto had yesterday.

"Either way, he still managed to escape after having two people look after him." Tsunade said, apparently she calmed down after hearing our explanations and rubbed her temples in frustration. "He's going to stay in the hospital for the rest of the weekend. I'll get him his own room but I'll take him, you guys go home and get some sleep. Come visit in the morning. I'll also make sure he doesn't wake up again tonight so he can get some rest."

"Thank you Tsunade. We'll be there first thing in the morning when we get up. And I know this is asking a lot from you, but can you explain to my bosses that I have to be home for Naruto? You know what they said to me last time." Itachi said, and it was unlike him to beg someone else to help him explain why he needed time off work. This was all a little too weird for me right now.

"I will, and if they don't see reason, I'll make them see reason." She promised and Itachi helped put Naruto in the front seat of her car and buckled him up before she got in behind the wheel. "Be good Sasuke, Gaara, see you guys in the morning." She said and drove off, somewhat under the speed limit.

"Lets go home, we all had a very, very long day and I want to get home before I pass out." Itachi said, and I didn't blame him.

"Hey, let me drive for you. I do have my permit." I suggested.

"Great, thanks little brother." Itachi yawned and climbed into the passengers' seat and I climbed in behind the wheel. It had been a while since I was given the chance to drive, so Itachi had to remind me a few small things before I turned the car on and drove home.