Author's note; I'm letting you all know now, I have no clue what the hell Gaara's fathers' name is, so for this fan fiction, it's Raidon! I'll fix it later if anyone wants me to correct it with the real name if they know it. I've looked everywhere and I can't find it at all :(

And so, here's the second triple update :) Enjoy!

Chapter 24

Sasuke

I was happy to see Gaara at school today so he could fill me in on Naruto's condition, but he was serious when he said he'd tell me and his siblings what went on in his room before he left during lunch so he wouldn't have to keep repeating himself all day.

All I could think about when he said that, was that he was as serious as a heart attack and it kept him in a bad mood all day. I always found it normal to sit next to him in class when we had class together, but today, you could just suffocate on the dark vibes that was coming from the red head all through until lunch rolled around. But those vibes only got worse when he skipped the through lunch line all together and sat at our usual table.

"I'm going to skip lunch too." I told Temari and Kankuro, who was standing in line with me and they nodded as I walked out of line and sat with Gaara. I was hoping we'd be able to calm him down by the end of lunch period. But knowing him it would be nearly impossible.

"Hey, Gaara, is everything okay?" I asked, taking the chair next to him as I tried to get something from him before he exploded emotionally.

"I just want to kill Naruto's father right now." He growled, his voice low so no one would be able to hear him besides me.

"You're not the only one, and you know that I know that's not all that's bothering you today." I sighed softly, keeping my own voice down.

"Kankuro and Temari are almost done, I'll wait until they get here. They're just as worried as you are, but Shikamaru should be here too." Gaara said, and that's when I remembered that Shikamaru was brought into the loop of Naruto problems and I sat up, looking around for the brunette and found him sitting with Ino, Kiba, Hinata and Shino and Sakura. Fucking great.

"I'll go get him, be right back." I sighed and got up, sauntering over to their table and coughed to clear my throat when I got there.

"Shikamaru, can you come over to our table for a few moments?" I asked when I got his attention. And the expression on his face changed from bored to serious in a heart beat as he stood up without a word and walked over to our table with me after telling the others that he'd be right back.

But as I turned, I was stopped by Sakura's hand and I had to turn to face her and that worried look on her face.

"I'll talk to you later, Sakura." I said, and left before she could get another word in.

She might be the girl that I love, but I'm not stomping on mine and Naruto's friendship over anyone. I'm going to let him tell everyone in his own time. Right now, it was the worst time possible.

"Okay, now that we're all here, I'll get started." Gaara sighed when I finally sat down in my chair and crossed my arms, mentally trying to prepare myself for the worst. But what he said next, I was never prepared for. "Naruto's having back surgery Saturday."

"Why?" Shikamaru asked, and his voice was a little loud, but wasn't loud enough to draw attention. Kankuro and Temari just stared, I was ready to rip his dad a new one.

"Tsunade had an x-ray performed while Naruto was sleeping and found that while he was recovering from that web break in one of his vertebrae, one of the shards shifted and healed where it stopped and it's pinching his spinal cord." Gaara explained. "That's why his back is still hurting."

"I should have known." I hissed and kicked the leg of the table before I sank in my chair and crossed my arms in frustration. "It had to have happened when he snuck off to work and blacked out when he had his brace off."

"Tsunade was thinking so too, but she never told Naruto her suspicions. She knows that would make him more depressed if she did." Gaara said.

"So, what you're saying, is that now Naruto's back injury got as bad as Tsunade predicted … all because of his father?" Shikamaru asked. I knew he wanted to voice his opinions and make sure he had the pieces of his own puzzle put together right, and hissed when Gaara and I nodded.

"And to make matters worse, Dad is refusing to let me go see him after school." Gaara growled. "As a matter of fact, I'm not allowed to see him anymore, period."

"What the fuck is he thinking?" I asked.

"That's what the two of us thought when Dad told us this, this morning when we left to pick him up." Temari said. "But, we're thinking it's because Gaara's grades went down this past quarter, all because he's been missing school and hasn't turned in the assignments."

"I turned those assignments in!" Gaara snapped. "They only gave me half credit, fucking cunts."

Now it was everyone's turn to stare at Gaara, all of us bewildered at the language that just slipped from his mouth about his own teachers. But I think the most surprised ones of the four of us, was his own siblings.

"Oh no." Temari muttered as I watched her physically pale and scoot away from her brother a little bit, Kankuro didn't say anything, but followed suit.

"I have questions for you two later, but Gaara, he has no right to take you away from Naruto, even if he doesn't know about you two." I said, pointing to Temari and Kankuro first before turning and speaking to Gaara, and he knew I was right.

"He strictly said that if I don't come home right after school I'm grounded from everything. That includes spending time with him after my homework is done, doing things with my own siblings and staying after school for tutoring, sports and clubs. I won't even be allowed to have my phone to get updates on how Naruto's doing." Gaara said, and my blood boiled past a new point that I didn't think was possible.

"I'm talking to your father, Gaara." I hissed.

"Well, Gaara, knowing Sasuke, he'll make your old man change his mind." Shikamaru shrugged. "I, on the other hand, can't spend much time away from home since my mother is sick again."

"Take care of your mom, okay Shikamaru? Naruto understands, you know that." I said and placed a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder, reassuring him that we're here for him also.

"Thanks, Sasuke, and tell Naruto we Nara's say hello." Shikamaru said as he patted my hand a bit before standing up and walked off back towards the table he was sitting at before.

"I hope his mom gets better." Temari said, and she sounded depressed.

"Does my sister love the Konoha's finest?" Gaara asked as he raised a brow, though I'd have to call it that, he doesn't have any eyebrows.

I couldn't help but smirk when Temari blushed bright red like when Naruto and Gaara do when they're together. Honestly, I think they'd make a pretty good couple. They're both smart as hell, and everyone already thinks they're together somewhat. But that's only because Shikamaru isn't the type to comment on other people, and he comments on her a lot.

"I'm going to go get something to drink." Gaara said after a few minutes of quiet at our end of the table and he got up and went into the cafeteria.

Now was my chance to ask Kankuro and Temari why they backed away from their brother a few moments ago.

"Are you two scared of your brother or something?" I asked.

"Sasuke … what we're about to tell you, you can't repeat to anyone! Understand?" Temari hissed at me, shocked by her reaction, I nodded and the three of us leaned closer to talk.

"Gaara's actually killed someone in his rampages, but he was let off easily because no one knew until he was evaluated in the hospital in our home town that he has major bi-polar type two added with the insomnia and he's a fucking weapon." Kankuro explained, and I think I paled a couple shades.

"He was seven when this happened, and apparently the one he killed was someone that had attacked him when he was five when the insomnia problems started." Temari added.

"Hey, Sasuke, I almost forgot." Gaara's voice said as he neared the table and the three of us broke apart, but the awkward feeling around the table never left when he sat down. "Itachi wants to talk to you when you get home. I don't know what for, but I'm thinking it's about Naruto."

"Alright, and thanks." I nodded. "And better yet, I think I'll have Itachi talk to your father, he's better at persuasion than I am."

"Either way works for me as long as it works." Gaara shrugged and chugged at his drink that I realized was a can of Starbucks iced coffee.

"You know you're not allowed caffeine!" Temari shrieked.

"Does it look like I care? If I don't drink this I'll fall asleep in the next half hour and won't wake up until Friday!" Gaara yelled, the surrounding tables becoming silent as their occupiers turned to look at us for a brief moment before going back to their own conversations.

"Then you should have gone home today Gaara." Temari whined.

"Like hell I would go home and try to sleep with that fucking bastard home." Gaara hissed, his glare hardened to the point that you felt like you were being choked to death and he crushed the can in his hand that was probably half way empty of coffee, I could only guess by how much of the coffee that got everywhere on the table and started dripping onto the floor between him and myself. I was really starting to feel sorry for him.

I was furious when I didn't see Itachi's car sitting out front waiting for me when school let out. And I had been waiting fifteen minutes and the buses were already starting to leave when Temari's car drove up and stopped in front of me.

"Gaara forgot to tell you that you're getting a ride home from us today since Itachi doesn't want to leave Naruto alone." Kankuro said when he rolled his window down.

I shrugged, all my anger forgotten about and climbed into the back seat behind Kankuro and when I buckled up, I realized that Gaara was asleep in the seat next to me.

"He fell asleep a few minutes ago." Temari said as she looked at me through her rear view mirror.

"Oh, okay." I shrugged, but was startled when Gaara suddenly stirred and sat up correctly in his seat rubbing at his eyes.

"I'm awake." He said groggily when Temari started driving off, slowly because of the buses and I could hear the sigh echo in the car. We were all hoping Gaara would stay asleep for once.

It was silent all the way to my house, and when the car was parked to let me out, Gaara was the first one out before I even had my seat belt off and was knocking on the door by the time I was outside closing the car door. I didn't blame him for being quick in seeing Naruto.

"We'll wait for him." Kankuro said when I walked by his window, and nodded before I walked up to the house and opened the door for Gaara. I found it strange, because Itachi usually answers the door, and the car was still here. Just the thought of something happened while we were at school was starting to make my chest hurt as a panic attack was starting to come on.

But when the door opened, Naruto was fast asleep on the couch, curled up with a blanket wrapped around him and Itachi was finally rushing out from the hallway, I'm guessing he had his office door closed, no wonder he didn't hear us right away.

"You two nearly gave me a heart attack." I whispered when Gaara walked in and took his shoes off before I did the same and closed the door behind me.

"I lost track of time while I was working." Itachi apologized.

"It's alright." I shrugged, "and Naruto's asleep." I added while putting a finger to my lips to keep my brother quiet.

"I just stopped in to see how he was doing, and he looks too comfortable so I won't move or bother him. Keep him safe for me Itachi, Sasuke." Gaara whispered before sliding his shoes back on with a small bow and left. I was left with a confused Itachi that I now had to explain a couple things to him.

"His dad doesn't want him seeing Naruto anymore, but it doesn't look like he knows they're a couple." I explained. "I think it's because Gaara's missed more than his usual days of school and his grades are dropping like a rock."

"I'll talk to his dad and see if Gaara can't be with Naruto these next few weeks because of his surgery." Itachi said, like he knew what I was going to ask, and I was glad I didn't have to ask him. To me, it made me sound like I was begging him.

"Thanks, and Gaara said you wanted to talk to me when I got home?" I asked as the two of us made our way to the kitchen, I went into the refrigerator and grabbed a Sprite before sitting down at the table. Itachi sat down across from me and he crossed his arms, great, I hope it wasn't something too serious.

"You already know about Naruto's surgery that's happening on Saturday, since I suspect Gaara told you." Itachi said, though I clearly knew he was thinking out loud, so I nodded. "I quit my two spare jobs today and I'm going to be working from home from now on and I think Tsunade is going to keep Naruto at the hospital all weekend and send him home on Monday when he'll officially start his online schooling."

"Okay, and do you need me here to help you out on Monday?" I asked.

"I think that might be wise, but Tsunade is letting him go to school tomorrow." He nodded, but the end is what pissed me off. "Oh, and Tsunade called me a little while ago saying that she wants Naruto in the hospital around nine in the morning to get him ready for his surgery at noon. He's also not allowed to drink or eat anything after noon on Friday. She wants him to fast for twenty four hours before his surgery."

"So, there's going to be a trick into telling him he can't eat or drink until after his surgery … that's harder than it sounds." I said, my chin now resting in my right hand as I thought of a good way to tell Naruto that he can't eat or drink, since the guy is like a bottomless pit and will eat all day if you let him.

"Yea, there is going to be a trick to get me not to eat for twenty four hours." Naruto's voice chuckled behind me, making me jump because I wasn't expecting him to be up at all.

"Goddamn it Naruto, don't scare me like that!" I hissed as I turned to look at him, Itachi, on the other hand, was laughing. "And what's so fucking funny?"

"He scared you." Itachi said, now trying to contain his laughter.

"You're a fucking jerk." I hissed, now standing up and storming past Naruto and I locked myself in my room, not without slamming my door closed.

Those two can be impossible alone, but together, it's like they go out of their way to be even more impossible. It's damn irritating.