Chapter 28

Sasuke

I was beyond pissed off when Gaara's dad dragged Naruto out of that chair from his hair, and I wished I had been fast enough to stop Gaara's father before any of this happened. I was just recovering from the shock of Naruto pushing Gaara's dad out of the way to get into the room and sat down on the chair that Temari happily gave to him. But when he started screaming, it was what dragged me out of my stupor and finally drag Gaara's dad off of him.

But even then, I was still too late, and I wanted to throw up because I was so pissed when I stomped on Naruto's right leg twice and nothing happened, I just hoped I didn't break his leg when I stomped on it … that's all I hoped on my part.

When Tsunade came in, I was more than ready to make sure Gaara's father took the blame for everything that happened.

"What the hell is going on in here?" She asked, apparently she couldn't notice Naruto was on the floor, crying, in pain and when Gaara's father, was standing in front of her, moved and she screamed Naruto's name so loud that I thought something was going to break … like all of our ear drums.

"Why the fuck are you on the floor!?" She yelled a moment later and looked up at me, and pointed at Gaara's father. "What the fuck did you do to him?"

"I did absolutely nothing, he did this to himself."

"That's a fucking lie you fucking bastard!" I screamed.

"Yea Father, you dragged Naruto out of the seat over there by his hair and didn't give him a chance to get his proper footing!" Temari screamed after him. God, why couldn't this just be over with? "You knew he had a bad back!"

"Did anything happen to your back Naruto?" Tsunade asked as she knelt next to Naruto as she tried to soothe him while I left the room, dragging Gaara's dad out. Tsunade didn't have to tell me to go and get a gurney for Naruto.

"Get your hands off of me Uchiha." Gaara's father growled as he finally ripped himself from my grasp once we were down the hall from Gaara's room.

"You are so close to having me kick your ass in public." I growled as I pinned him against the wall with my arm underneath his chin, pressing up against his adams apple and I didn't care if I was close to choking him or not.

"You seriously hurt Naruto, now how is your son going to act now that his only reason to be alive is in so much pain that Naruto probably wishes he didn't have to feel anymore?" I asked, my voice low so no one else would hear. "You're so centered around your own ego and self image that you probably don't care how your son feels. Now sit down in the waiting room and if you move, I'll tell the cops you laid a hand on an injured patient and now he has to have emergency surgery."

And with that I let Gaara's father down and pushed him towards the waiting room before I went to the nurses station and asked for Saiken and Matatabi.

"Yes Sasuke?" Matatabi asked when she heard me ask for her name.

"I need a gurney, Naruto's on the floor probably unconscious because of the pain in his back. Tsunade is with him now and they're all in Gaara's hospital room." I told her, just as Saiken came from the doors behind the station and I'm guessing she heard me because her and Matatabi rushed to get an empty gurney from the hall to my right and followed me to Gaara's room a moment later.

"I'm back with Saiken and Matatabi." I said when we reached Gaara's room and I let Saiken and Matatabi past me and I stood in the hall because there was absolutely no room for anyone else to stand inside Gaara's space. And from the looks of it, Temari and Kankuro were trying to calm him down.

"Thank you Sasuke." Tsunade said, turning her head to look back at me for a moment before she put all her attention back on Naruto. "Okay Naruto, we're going to roll you onto your side so we can put a back board underneath you, to lift you off the floor okay?"

"Okay." Naruto said, lowering his hands from his face Matatabi and Saiken went on either side of him and helped him guide his hands across his chest before he was rolled onto his side. I could tell Naruto bit his tongue hard by the time he was on his back because there was a small trickle of blood escaping the corner of his mouth.

"Okay, Saiken and Matatabi lift by his head, Temari, Kankuro, lift by his feet and listen to what I say to get him out in the hallway." Tsunade said and Kankuro and Temari left their brother and moved to Naruto's feet and got ready to lift him up. I just hoped he didn't jerk around.

"And stop biting your tongue Naruto, please." Tsunade said before Naruto was lifted off the floor and I could tell he couldn't get himself to relax no matter how hard he tried.

"Okay, stay here Sasuke and I'll let you know the progress, and I'll have him sent up here to stay in the same room okay?" Tsunade said, and I glared at her.

"No." Naruto whined. "Let him come."

"Are you sure Naruto?" I asked as I walked up to the side of the gurney and looked at him with worry filled eyes.

"Where's Gaara's dad?"

"He's in the waiting room with the police." I answered with my arms crossed, though I didn't know if the police detained the bastard or not.

"Oh …" Naruto sighed and closed his eyes again, and I could see the tears forming. "This is all my fault."

"No it isn't Naruto!" I snapped.

"If I had just listened I wouldn't be hurting, Gaara wouldn't be freaking out and his Dad would be with him." Naruto cried and buried his face in his hands once again.

"Stop that, please Naruto." I begged, and it sounded weird because I never beg. "I'll go with you only if you stop blaming yourself for everything."

"Why can't I get any pain medicine?" Naruto said loudly. And I knew he was trying to change the subject, hoping that Tsunade would hurry up.

"Hey, Naruto, I'll be down in a few minutes. I'm going to talk to Gaara when Tsunade takes you down, but I will be there, okay?" I told him and he nodded.

"Okay, Naruto, lets go down okay?" Tsunade said as she went over to Naruto's side and I forced I could see him forcing himself to smile as I turned and went back into the room.

"I'm so sorry about my father." Temari said, rushing over to me as she spoke quickly.

"It's alright." I said and walked over to the side of Gaara's bed and sat next to him. He looked like he calmed down, but I could tell he was far from it.

"Gaara …" I said quietly.

"Yea?" He asked, and his voice was too calm for words.

"Naruto's back surgery is being moved to the next half hour … I'm going to go down and be with him until he's moved up here okay?" I told him, and I know he shouldn't be kept from this information either, no matter how pissed off he'd get. "I already reprimanded your father, but I don't know what he's going to do now … I'll leave it up to you if you want him back in here, okay?"

"Okay." Gaara said, still in that same calm voice, but I was sure he'd do the right thing as I stood up.

"Tsunade said he's coming back up to this room when his surgery is over with." I added before I forgot. "So I'll be back up when Naruto's either done with surgery or brought back up here."

"Thank you Sasuke." Gaara said, and he went quiet, and from the sound of his breathing, he fell asleep, and I'm glad he did. He looked beyond horrible.

"I'll be texting you when I can." I told Temari and Kankuro as I walked out of the room with Naruto's things and headed to the nurses station.

"Oh, Sasuke, Tsunade asked me to take you downstairs where she took Naruto." Saiken's voice said before she appeared next to me, startling me because I didn't even know she was still up here.

"Oh, thanks." I nodded and followed her downstairs in the most awkward silence we could possibly be in.

Naruto's surgery took forever, but I knew it was a tedious process because of where the problem was. I had only hoped that Naruto would be better after this and would keep walking. I don't know what he'd do if he was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. And I shuddered at the thought of having to help him get dressed and bathe when he wasn't getting help from Gaara. God, I think he'd be more embarrassed than I would be.

And when Tsunade came out to the waiting room where I was sitting, waiting patiently, she sat down next to me and sighed heavily.

"We were successful, but he's going to have a long ass recovery ahead of him. Learn how to walk again, but other than that, he'll be running, jumping and doing everything he used to in a month or two." She told me, and I couldn't help but smile.

"That's good, now, what is he not allowed to do until he's fully healed?" I asked, knowing I should ask to make sure nothing else happens.

"If he walks, tell him he'll be paralyzed for the rest of his life. It might not be true, but it could also be true." Tsunade said without hesitation. "And, when it comes to bathing and changing … baths are okay. He can wash himself up, he'll just need help getting in and out and probably drying off too, and he'll just need help with changing for two weeks."

"Great." I mumbled as I rubbed my face with my palm and groaned. I was probably blushing too, but I didn't care.

"I know it's embarrassing, but it has to be done." Tsunade smirked.

Then it hit me, I completely forgot about Itachi.

"Fucking shit!" I yelled and jumped up to my feet, digging for my cell phone as I held a panicked look upon my face.

"You didn't call Itachi!?" Tsunade yelled at me.

"I forgot! Hell, I've been too worried about the stupid idiot all evening." I argued back once I found my phone and stepped off to the side and called Itachi with speed dial.

"Itachi Uchiha speaking …" Itachi said once he picked up two rings later, and he sounded like I just woke him up or something.

"Itachi, it's Sasuke … Uhm … don't be pissed off with me okay …" I mumbled, scratching the back of my neck as I spoke nervously.

"Get on with it Sasuke, it's one in the morning. Wait, where the fuck are you and Naruto? I thought you two were coming home after visiting for a few hours." Itachi said, now fully awake once he realized what time it was.

"That's the problem … uhm … Gaara's dad made it so Naruto had to have his surgery tonight … I was so pissed off with him that I completely forgot to call you." I said, and braced myself for his harsh words that I knew would come.

"What the fuck? I'm on my way now!" Itachi screamed in my ear and hung the phone up before I could tell him anything else and sighed heavily. I deserved every one of those words … and more … I knew I'd hear more of it from him when he got here.

"He's on his way isn't he?" Tsunade asked when I sat down with her again and sank in my seat.

"Yea, and he's beyond pissed off. But I don't know who he's more mad at … me or Gaara's dad." I said.

"I think it might be equal, but I'm not sure, this is Itachi …" Tsunade said as she leaned back in her seat.

"Well, I need to go up and tell Gaara the good news about Naruto." I yawned, standing up and stretching before I picked up Naruto's bag and slung it over my head since it was more comfortable to carry it that way than just over one shoulder.

"Okay, I'm coming up when Naruto's going up. I have another surgery that's quick and painless so he should be ready to move by the time that one is done and over with." Tsunade said as she too stretched and cracked her knuckles.

"Good luck, Tsunade." I waved as I walked towards the elevators.

"Bye Sasuke." She waved back and I headed upstairs on the flights of stairs. I needed the exercise, I had probably ten cups of coffee while I was waiting for Naruto to get out of surgery because I was that nervous, and it was starting to get to me already. I couldn't stop twitching and I had slight muscle spasms once every few minutes. I'm just praying that I'm not having a caffeine over dose problem. I didn't need that added to the list of problems for today.

"Sasuke!" I heard Gaara scream at me once I walked through the door to his room and I froze, thinking that something terrible was wrong, but it was just Gaara jumping out of his bed and pulling me into the room some more so hard I thought I was going to fall flat on my face as soon as the door was closed. "Tell me Naruto is okay!"

"He's perfectly fine!" I said, panic evident in my voice when Gaara had picked me up by the collar of my shirt and pinned me against the wall behind the door. "I just talked with Tsunade and she says that he'll be up and about like his good old self in a month or two."

The next thing that scared me, was that Gaara pulled me into the tightest hug he ever gave me in his life and started crying into my shirt. I did the best thing I could do and I held him in my arms and let him cry. He needed the frustration he was holding inside of him to be let loose or he was going to mentally lose it completely. And I think he knew it as well, too.

"I'm so glad that nothing else bad happened." Gaara said after a few minutes of calming down and he let me go just as the door opened and Itachi walked in, with a pissed off look on his face and I felt threatened for the second time since I walked into this room.

"You didn't tell your brother anything, did you?" Gaara asked me.

"I forgot to call him earlier." I admitted with a loud gulp.

"You should be asleep Gaara." Were Itachi's first words to me when he walked in and closed the door behind him.

"I refused to go to sleep until I knew Naruto was alright … and I woke up half an hour ago anyway." Gaara said, looking down at the floor because he knew Itachi was right.

"Want me to go get Matatabi or Saiken to give you some sleeping aid?" Itachi asked.

"If you want … I don't think I can go to sleep on my own again anyway, even with this fever I still have." Gaara nodded.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Itachi nodded and left the room before I could say anything to him. Hell, if he was planning on ignoring me … he was doing one hell of a job.

"I think he's more pissed off at my father, than he is at you, Sasuke." Gaara mentioned before he climbed back into the hospital bed and covered himself up with the thin blanket he was given.

"I don't know, he's giving me the silent treatment." I sighed.

"Well, ask him when he gets back. I'm sure I'm right." Gaara suggested, and I was going to take him up on it. And it was then that I realized that Temari and Kankuro weren't here …

"Where's your siblings at?" I asked.

"I think I told them to take Dad home … I don't remember." Gaara said. "I'm hoping they rip Dad a new one before I do."

"I think I sent him the message earlier." I chuckled. "And he was scared of me too."

"I'm glad." Gaara smirked as he crossed his arms. I could only smirk back because seeing his father scared of me was something I was trying to accomplish. No one messes with my best friends the way he's doing … and Naruto's father was next.