Chapter 38

Sasuke

To be honest, I thought Gaara was going to start yelling at Naruto when Tsunade dragged him out of the room and down the hall to talk to Ibiki, but now was the best time to tell Temari and Gaara Itachi's plans tonight for Naruto. I'm sure that they'd tell Kankuro when they saw him, alone. Or tell him through text.

"Hey, guys, now that Naruto's out of the room, I have something to tell you." I said, sitting down in the other empty chair at the foot of Gaara's bed and crossed my arms.

"What is it Uchiha?" Gaara asked, and he sounded pissed.

"Itachi is planning a surprise birthday party for Naruto, everyone's invited." I said before I could be interrupted. "A few other people are going to be there too, and I'm going to go pick them up after going to the store for Itachi later today after lunch."

"Okay." Temari smiled, just as Kankuro walked into the room, looking confused for a moment.

"Okay what?" He asked, then raised his hands. "Before you tell me, Dad is on his way over with Gaara's change of clothes so he can go home."

"Alright, and we've been invited to Naruto's surprise birthday party." Temari said as she looked up at him while resting her elbow on the arm of the chair and rested her head on her hand. She looked bored, but the gleam in her eyes told me she was too excited to get to the party. Probably hoping that Shikamaru would be there.

"Anyway, Itachi said that the party starts at six tonight and will be over around eight or nine." I told them, dragging my phone out and reading the text message he sent me a few minutes ago along with the list of groceries I had to go and get. Fucking hell, I'm gonna have to spend over a hundred dollars.

"That's perfect, I mean, we'll probably have the blondie for a while anyway, and Gaara here probably will make us drag them to a movie and to the mall if he isn't too tired with the crutches." Temari shrugged, and earned a glare from Gaara.

"I still don't know what we're going to do Temari! I haven't made up my mind yet." Gaara said, crossing his arms as he closed his eyes and looked away. Best pouting if I ever saw it.

"Keep your voice down, Naruto might here." I hissed quietly over at the three siblings, hoping they wouldn't be too pissed off at me for getting short with them. In all honesty, I wasn't looking forward to a house full of people … my house … full of people … Fucking shit.

"Naruto might hear what?" A voice by the door asked, and when we all looked over, it was Gaara's dad. Damn, how fast did he drive here?

"Naruto's birthday is today and we have to distract him for a couple of hours." Gaara said, obviously not looking at his father, probably still pissed off at him for last week.

"Oh, okay." His father shrugged and I stared at him, slightly wide eyed that he didn't object to the fact that his sons' boyfriend was going to be with him for quite a bit of the day. I guess he finally opened his eyes and let his son live for a change. "And here's your outfit, Gaara. I tried to grab something you'd want to wear." He added as he walked into the room and handed Gaara his clothes that were in a grocery bag, folded neatly.

"I also have a coat and a scarf for you in the car." His dad said before Gaara could say anything, and the red headed teen nodded before he jumped down from the bed.

"I'll be changing in the bathroom if Naruto comes back and I'm not in here." He said and disappeared into the patients bathroom and locked the door. I was surprised he didn't look as pissed off as he did earlier when his father walked into the room.

I don't know what happened in the week that none of us really talked to this family, but it was starting to freak me out how Gaara and his father were getting along now.

"So, Sasuke, how's Naruto doing?" Gaara's father asked as he sat on the edge of the bed where Gaara was sitting a moment ago.

"Uhm, he's doing great, he's able to use crutches as of today when he leaves." I told him, and he looked relieved. This is too freaky.

"That's good, that means he's healing quickly and much better than last time." Gaara's father said, reaching up and scratching the back of his head nervously; the same thing I did when I was nervous, and wished that he'd just leave already.

I was about to say something about that when Gaara came out of the bathroom fully dressed and in shoes, the gown in his arms as he sat on the bed next to his dad and left the gown on it before he crossed his arms and looked impatient to get the day started with Naruto.

The room was getting awkwardly quiet, and I felt like I should break the silence before it made me mentally lose it, until I saw Naruto's chair turn into the room and he looked most definitely like he'd been crying when Tsunade pushed him into the room the rest of the way with Ibiki behind him, and I felt like I was going to be interrogated when Ibiki looked over at me with his arms crossed. What the hell did I do now?

"Okay, personally, Raidon, I'm going to say that Naruto spends the day with Gaara until around five … ish." Tsunade said, and I was shocked that he nodded in agreement. "And Sasuke, you have a choice, talk with Ibiki and I when Naruto leaves or tomorrow in Itachi's office." She added.

"Tomorrow." I answered without hesitation, I wanted to make sure Itachi's to do list was broken down somewhat since it seemed to be growing as I felt my phone buzz in my pocket non stop … it was personally starting to piss me off.

"Now that that's settled, I'm going to get going now." Ibiki said, "See you tomorrow Sasuke." And he was gone, leaving the room deadly quiet once again and I could feel the anger just seething off of Gaara that sat two feet away from me. What the hell did Naruto see in him anyway?

"That reminds me, Gaara, Naruto's been put on anti-depressants as of Wednesday this past week." Tsunade said, and I watched as Naruto glared at her with such intensity that I thought he was going to jump out of his chair and smack her

"I know … Sasuke told me." Gaara sighed, surprising me that he's not beyond pissed, but I Naruto's death glare redirect towards me, and I didn't have to look to know that either, as I sank in my chair as I tried to hide myself … failing miserably.

Yea, I knew I pissed him off.

"Well, Gaara, since you're ready to go, you can go on ahead and take your leave. See Matatabi for your two prescriptions that I filled out for you and Naruto, she also has your crutches." Tsunade said as she clapped her hands together lightly. "And I have to go, I'm running late for a surgery that was supposed to have started five minutes ago." And she was off.

When Tsunade left, I felt eyes on me once again and this time they didn't feel like the death glare Naruto was giving me earlier, and I looked over to him and saw that he had this sad look upon him once again. I felt he wanted to tell me something, but I knew he'd never tell me so when he spoke, I was nothing but disappointed.

"See you later Sasuke." He said.

"Yea, see ya." I said as I waved to him, getting up and leaving before Gaara even had his shoes on all the way. I had a lot of places to go, and I wanted to get them done quickly. I only had five hours to get all the shopping done and it was going to take that long, it was a feeling I had.

First off, I drove home to talk to Itachi about the grocery list he sent me … it was too damn long for only a small birthday party. And when I walked in through the front door, I was welcomed to the house decorated with birthday streamers and happy birthday balloons that I didn't even know we had and I was just dumbfounded until I closed the door and Itachi walked into the living room. And he looked upset that I was here, that was until his eyes widened and he started freaking out.

"Where's Naruto?" He asked quickly.

"He's with Gaara until the party." I answered, oops, I forgot to text him that.

"Oh, thank God." He heaved and his whole body relaxed as he threw himself onto the couch. He looked exhausted already.

"When did you go and get these?" I asked as I pointed to the streamers and balloons.

"Tenshi went and got them for me at the dollar store. He just left a few minutes ago because he had to go to work." Itachi said. "Why are you here? You're supposed to be at the grocery store."

"I came here to talk to you about that." I said, crossing my arms as I tapped my foot on the floor, not walking in any further because I didn't want to take my shoes off.

"Why?" He asked, and he looked confused.

"The list is too long for a small birthday party. We're only having at most ten people, right?" I told him.

"Well, I figured he'd want all his friends from school, that's what, 10 people there, but there's at most twenty one people on the guest list and I've already talked to everyone but your friends from school. Tenshi hopes to come tonight, Naruto wanted Matatabi, Kurama and Saiken to come, but they work third shift tonight so they're not going to be able to come. Tsunade's going to make sure her and Jiraiya are here tonight, and that's roughly sixteen … seventeen people at most." Itachi explained, and I frowned. That's too many people in my opinion.

"I'll call the others while I'm out. I have their numbers." I sighed heavily.

"You're a savior." Itachi said, and I glared at him.

"Oh, and I'm picking up the birthday cake at five and at that same time I need you to order the pizza, I have what pizza to order on the counter so when I leave you can find it. Oh, and Tenshi and I screened in the back porch area so if anyone wants to eat outside they can and won't be bothered by the few insects that are still flying around."

"You did a lot while I was gone, didn't you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and was surprised he didn't fall asleep yet.

"Yes, we did, and I'm going to take a nap while you're gone to the grocery store so wake me up when you get back so I can help you bring the food in." Itachi said as he waved me off. "Oh, and try to go birthday shopping while you're at it."

"I planned on doing that before going to the store." I told him as I dug for my keys I put in my pocket, getting ready to leave as I yawned a bit. The suggestion of a nap made me feel tired.

"Okay, see you in a bit Sasuke." Itachi said as he laid down on the couch and I could immediately hear soft snoring coming form him before I opened the door to leave and chuckled slightly at how fast he fell asleep as I walked out and back to the car and left before it got too late.

Hell, I still didn't know what the fuck I was getting the blonde for his birthday. That was, until it hit me. "I know exactly what I can get him." And I drove off towards the mall with a smirk as I pressed send for the mass text message that I sent to everyone Itachi hadn't contacted telling them about the party tonight and turned my phone on silent. I didn't want to hear about anything until I was done shopping.