Author's Note; Here's another update :) And this marks ... 2/5th of the way through with some added chapters! Honestly, if I had three more chapters, we'd only be a quarter of the way through right now. Any who, I hope you all enjoy.

Sasuke; Maybe you should add a couple more chapters.

Naruto; Yea, that way you can settle my horrible incident at McDonalds that you forgot about.

Me; Hey! Don't mention that here! D:

Itachi; Naruto's right though, you did forget about it.

Me; Is everyone against me today? :(

Sasuke; No, just trying to critique your work is all ... -whistles-

Me; ... Sasuke's whistling ... Itachi! Sasuke's sick! D:

Itachi; -feels Sasuke's forehead-

Naruto; Oh Gawd, did hell freeze over!?

Sasuke; -swats Itachi's hand away- I'm not sick! And I'm a human being! I can whistle if I fucking want to!

Chapter 20

Sasuke

I had just about enough from Naruto, and I let him leave the house and slammed the door behind him when he left. I was beyond frustrated. Yea, I knew he was going through a rough time, but what about us? We gave up everything so he could have a roof over his head, food in his damned stomach and a place to call sanctuary.

"Sasuke, don't go off on him, please." I heard Itachi say from the kitchen area. He must be done eating already, I can hear him running water to rinse off his dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

I only stomped back into the kitchen and sat at my place, forcing myself to eat, but after a few bites I wanted to throw up and just slammed everything back down on the table.

"He's so goddamn impossible!" I yelled, not realizing I was shaking with so much anger and frustration that I almost spilled the bowl of rice I was eating onto the table.

"He just needs time. What would you do if you were in his shoes?" Itachi said, sitting back down next to me as he pulled his phone out and started text messaging his boyfriend.

"Don't make me, because I would have killed the son of a bitch." I snapped, just when my phone rang and I angrily pulled it out of my pocket and answered without looking to see who it was.

"Sasuke Uchiha, what the hell do you want?" I said, and regretted it when I heard Gaara talking quickly and really pissed off. "What's wrong?"

"I got Naruto, and he's in hysterics, saying that his father has been lying to all of us from the beginning about going to a damn rehab center and shit. We're coming back to your place so he can calm down." Gaara said and hung the phone up just as both Itachi and I heard squealing tires stop in front of our house and doors slam before our front door was pounded on so hard I thought it would break into pieces.

Itachi was in a better position to answer the door better than I was, and was there before the door started splintering and Gaara rushed into the house with Kankuro, both of them acting out as crutches for Naruto, who looked completely out of it.

"What the hell happened? Sure, he and I had a small argument, but it wasn't that bad." I said, apparently Gaara never knew about our dispute a few minutes ago.

"He said his dad was at his house, talking to someone on the phone, something about more time, money, and describing someone that fits Naruto's description! Sixteen, stubborn and will listen if you force him to." Gaara said, yelling by the time he was finished, and that's when I knew his anger hit a new level.

"Look, Gaara, is Naruto sure it was his father?" Itachi asked.

"It sure as hell was, we watched him walk down the road before we pulled into the book stores parking lot to pick Naruto up. He looked as sober as you could fucking get." Kankuro answered for Gaara, who now was sitting with Naruto, trying to calm him down as best as he could.

"What in the hell does Minato think he's doing?" Itachi cursed out loud and left the room, his phone already up to his ear, and I could only guess he was calling Tsunade and Jiraiya in a conference call.

It had turned out that everything Kurama said at the hospital was the complete and utter truth after Itachi talked to Tsunade this morning. And Tsunade beat herself hard for trusting Yaguro so quickly and found out that there were many sexual harassment charges against Yaguro from many male and female patients alike that never went through.

"It's official, Naruto's not going anywhere without one of us around, are you and Kankuro with us Temari?" I said as I gave tonight's events a quick, but very evaluative thought as I looked at both of them, hoping they'd give a good answer.

"Fuck yea, anyone who messes with our little brothers' lover will never get away with it." Kankuro said with a smirk that showed he meant what he said.

"What Kankuro said, and this is low, even for a bastard that hates his own son." Temari said, crossing her arms as she nodded.

"Great, and we're going to need all the help we get, I'd like it if all our friends helped Naruto, but knowing them, they'd never help without an explanation. And that means telling them all the truth." I said, and lowered my voice in the end. What the hell was I thinking? He'd never drag everyone into his problems.

"C-Call Shi-Shikamaru." Naruto suddenly said with a shaky voice, and we all looked at him like he was crazy. Shikamaru was nothing but a lazy ass who'd rather lay down in the grass and stare at clouds all damn day. "I won't be surprised if he's figured out what the hell has been going on lately, with his brains and all."

"I don't have his number, I'd have to talk to him at school tomorrow." I said, and I doubt that Naruto did, nor Gaara, had his phone number, that was until Naruto pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialed a number and handed it to Gaara to talk.

"I'll be right back." Gaara said, kissing Naruto on the temple before he disappeared into the kitchen to talk.

"If anyone else wants to help, I don't want their help." Naruto said, and his words were cold as ice, something I never thought he was able to do, ever. "I don't care."

I think Naruto's finally seeing his father for who he truly is, and he's taking it a lot harder than anyone thought. I just hoped he wouldn't do something stupid that he'd regret for his entire life.

"Tsunade and Jiraiya are on their way." Itachi said as he came back into the living room, just as Gaara did and handed Naruto his phone back.

"Shikamaru is on his way too." He said, and I was shocked.

"Why Shikamaru?" Itachi asked, then the look on his face showed that it dawned on him, and no one else … "I see, good thinking Naruto."

"What am I missing?" I asked, then it hit me. That's right, Shikamaru is a silent fucking genius who's now the valedictorian because of me missing school and being late on my homework assignments because I've been helping take care of Naruto. "Well I feel stupid."

"Don't be, I'm the one who forgot who his father was … many times." Itachi said as he walked around the couch, putting a hand on my shoulder for a moment before sitting in the chair next to the television and let the rest of us sit on the couch, recliner and love seat while we waited. Naruto, though, was still and looked like he was comatose with his eyes open. And it was starting to freak me out.

"Is Naruto going to be okay?" I asked, that's when he finally blinked and looked at me with empty eyes, something I might have to get used to now.

"I'll be fine." He said, then looked away from me before getting up and left the room. I had the feeling he'd go to the bathroom and lock himself in there again, but I was wrong when he went to the kitchen. I was glad that Gaara followed him to make sure nothing happened. Sighing, I decided to follow the blonde and the red head into the kitchen because I wasn't ready for another heated argument, especially if I wasn't part of it. My head hurt enough as it is.

"Naruto, didn't you already take some of those earlier today?" Gaara asked, and I knew exactly what was going on now.

"Naruto, the directions specifically said only every six hours, it hasn't even been five hours." I said, taking the bottle away from him before he could open it.

"I ran away from the house, I just want my back to stop hurting." He said, and I knew he was telling the truth, he was pale with pain, but there wasn't anything I could do right now.

"Itachi said Tsunade's on her way over, we can ask her then if you can take more, okay?" Gaara said, grabbing Naruto's hand and started gently coaxing him back to the living room where everyone was waiting, and I know all of them were praying Naruto wasn't going to hurt himself again. I know I was.

It took Tsunade a good half hour to get here, and Jiraiya was with her, so I had to suspect that's why it took her so long to get here. But I wasn't thrilled when she banged on the front door as hard as Gaara was earlier. I was getting the sickening feeling that we were going to have to replace the front door tomorrow. It was already bowed in the middle where the two were banging on it.

"Sorry we're late, how are you Naruto?" Tsunade asked as she took the few steps it needed her to use to get over to the blonde and got down on her knees so she could see at his level.

"I'm fine, I took the medicine you gave me five hours ago, can I take some more? My back hurts." Was all Naruto said when he saw her face, and I knew that's all he wanted to talk about the moment she and the white haired man walked through the door. This was going to take forever and Shikamaru wasn't even here yet.

But I was corrected when there was a soft knock on the front door, for a change, and I opened it to see Shikamaru standing there like he knew I was talking about him.

"Come on in, Tsunade and her friend just got here too." I said, letting the brunette walk in with his hands dug deep into his pockets. Itachi had already gotten up and brought chairs in from the kitchen so there'd be enough chairs for everyone and offered to stand behind the couch.

"How many did you take?" Tsunade asked, and it was my turn to step in and answer.

"I gave him two, like the bottle and you said." I answered.

"Good, he can have just one, but we need questions answered before he takes one and passes out." Tsunade said, and she was right, if two pills knocked the blonde out in five minutes, what would one do just five hours later?

"I'm not answering any questions. Tsunade, you can do whatever you want with that bastard, I'm done with him." Naruto said, and everyone stared at him like he was nuts, but I, however, smiled when he finally said something that made sense towards his father.

"So I was right all along?" Shikamaru said, sitting in the chair next to me because I opted to stand while letting Jiraiya and Kankuro take the other two chairs Itachi brought in while Temari took the chair Itachi had.

"Yea, you were, and I don't care anymore." Naruto said, and he meant every word he said.

"What happened to you trying to build a better relationship with your father Naruto?" Tsunade asked. "He was genuine when he said he wanted to get clean and be a better person towards you."

"Was he really checked into the rehab center you called?" Naruto asked.

"He was, and I called them before coming out here, they said he hasn't left ever since he walked in. It's a sixty day program that he's in." Tsunade answered, and that pissed Gaara right off.

"Then who the fuck was that, that we saw walking by the book store?" He asked, well, growled.

"I don't know, but Jiraiya's seen the security footage at the place, Minato hasn't set foot outside the facility." Tsunade said.

"She's right Naruto, and I'm very good at my job." The white haired man said, that's right, he's Jiraiya. I need to remember that name.

"Until I'm convinced that what I heard was me being paranoid, I'm going to believe it, now can I please take that pill? My back seriously hurts right now." Naruto snapped, his voice so fierce that even Gaara flinched at his words.

"Tell us what you heard, please Naruto, it will help us tremendously if we only know what was said." Tsunade said, placing her hands on both of his and gripped them tightly.

"She's right Naru, we can only help if you tell us what was said." Gaara said, and that earned a glare from Naruto before he looked down at his hands that were in Tsunade's and bit his lip.

"I only heard part of the conversation." Naruto started saying after a few long minutes of silence in our living room, and he sighed before he continued. "When I got there, he was talking about asking for more time, but I didn't hear the other part of the conversation, so I'm guessing it was over phone. Then a few moments later, he was talking about how he'd have this person ready, but only if he was getting his money that he was promised. There was silence again until I heard him say loudly, almost as if he wanted to scream, about the person he was referring to as 'he' someone that's sixteen years of age, stubborn, and able to follow direct orders if they were forced upon him."

Everyone in the room knew exactly who fit that description to a goddamned T …

"Are you fucking sure that Minato didn't leave that facility?" Tsunade said through her teeth as she looked over towards Jiraiya, who looked bewildered at what he just heard. Hell, everyone was, save for Gaara, Temari and Kankuro, who heard Naruto sobbing about it in their car on the way here down the street.

"I am absolutely positive, Tsunade, and there's no evidence that the cameras were messed with either. I would have been able to spot that a mile away." Jiraiya said, and he sounded pissed off.

"Naruto, listen to this reason, okay?" Shikamaru suddenly said, I guess during his silence, he was listening carefully to what Naruto was saying, and seems to have put together a rational explanation for what just happened tonight.

"I'll listen, but if it sounds like bullshit, I'm going to bed." Naruto said, pulling his hands out of Tsunade's and crossed his arms as he looked the other way so he couldn't look anyone in the eye.

"From the way Sasuke and Itachi are acting, you must have had an argument before you left the house. I know you've been stressed out these last few days, especially since you can't do anything on your own without someone helping you. And you're still under the side effects of that medicine you're taking, which probably has more side effects than are listed, and you could have thought you heard something. I know your worst fear, besides being rejected by all of us, your friends, that you feel like your father would sell you to someone just to get rid of you." Shikamaru explained. "But, Naruto, if he truly wanted to get rid of you that way, wouldn't he have done it a long time ago? Before you turned ten?"

And Shikamaru had a major point, and that made me glare at Tsunade.

"What are all the side effects other than drowsiness and dizziness?" I hissed as I pulled the bottle out of my pocket and shook it hard. I honestly wanted to throw it at her, but I refrained myself from doing so.

"Those should be the only side effects, I made these pills myself last week." She barked as she got to her feet and stormed over to me, ripping the bottle out of my hands and opened it, pouring its contents into her hands and she stood there with a blank look before she looked utterly, beyond pissed off.

"These aren't the damn pills I made for him!" She yelled so loud that the mirror behind me cracked. Fucking shit this woman has a set of lungs.

"But, Tsunade, that doesn't explain what Gaara, Temari and I saw when we picked Naruto up!" Kankuro yelled as he got to his feet.

"Yaguro must have changed the medicines out! These are anti-seizure medication pills! He could have changed his appearance, knowing that Naruto would freak out if it was him in his own looks and decided to dress up as his father. He knows who his father is since Minato was at the hospital when he was working there." Tsunade explained, and that explained one part, but not how his medicine was changed.

"How could Yaguro get his medicine changed when he's on the wanted list now as a sexual predator?" I asked, and I knew everyone around me was too scared to ask, especially with the words I used.

"He has friends in that hospital, I'm guessing that's who changed the medicine. But even I don't know who those friends are." Jiraiya said. "But either way, they'd have to be new employees, and Kurama is out of the question, since he's undercover right now."

"Jiraiya, get Ibiki and interrogate all the new employees, including Kurama, but make it look like he's being interrogated as not to raise suspicion." Tsunade ordered, and Jiraiya was on his feet faster than anyone else thought possible and was walking out the door by the time I was done registering what Tsunade just said. I must be exhausted for my mind to be this slow.

"Naruto, I would like you to stay at the hospital tonight, just to make sure you don't have any serious problems, and in the morning if nothing happens you can go home. I don't want you at school the rest of the week. I'm signing you up for home schooling online so you won't have to leave the house as much. Sasuke, you can do the same, but I'm leaving that up to you." Tsunade said, and I only nodded before I spoke.

"I'll go to school tomorrow, but I'll think about it over night and tell you in the morning or during lunch." I said and rubbed at my eyes as I pushed my glasses up a bit .

"This won't cost you a single penny Itachi." Tsunade said as she turned to him, who looked like he had fallen asleep standing up.

"Itachi!" Tsunade yelled, and Itachi was brought back to the present with a jerk of his head and his eyes opened.

"What?" He asked. Fuck, I'm too exhausted to explain everything to him tonight.

"Naruto's coming to the hospital since these are anti-seizure medications, it's just to observe his behavior and if anything bad will happen. "Tsunade sighed heavily and rubbed at her temples. "I would like someone to stay with him tonight."

"I will." Gaara said immediately.

"Oh, and Itachi, I'm signing Naruto up for home schooling, starting as early as tomorrow so he won't have to leave here too often. I gave Sasuke the same option, but he's going to think about it and let me know tomorrow at school." She said before she forgot.

"Okay. And I'm so sorry for dozing off like I did. I really need to get rid of one of these jobs." Itachi mumbled, and I could tell he was now beyond exhausted. This might have been his day off, but three jobs was starting to kill him, and slowly.