Author's Note; I'm ... very behind. I know. But, here's the good news! I'm posting six chapters today, five chapters tomorrow and the last five chapters on Friday :)

Now, I'm going to warn you all that here on out, is going to be very ... depressing and very ... I don't know, but even I was starting to forget that I only changed Minato for the fact that it's only for this story. Yes, I'm getting the feeling that I'm going to have many people angry with me for destroying the image of Minato.

Also, you'll notice that I changed some stuff with the tapes and had Naruto mention that they were his birthdays. This is a first draft! I will change before the tapes are listened to so that everyone knows, without Naruto having to say anything about them, that they were the times of his birthday like I did a couple chapters ago.

I hope everyone enjoys the updates, review+follow+favorite if you so desire.

Chapter 42

Sasuke

I woke up at six this morning, and I couldn't get back to sleep at all. And it was all because I had this great and amazing idea for a new book; an abused child who lives with his mother and father … It's kind of like the same story with Naruto except that I'm starting this off when his mother is alive. The main character, that is.

My main character also has depression, OCD and bipolar disorder. I seem to be sticking well with main characters that have that odd combination so I'm sticking with it and changing up the depression and OCD every time I make a new story.

Oh well, I was on such a good roll this morning with the book that I didn't realize an hour had gone by and I hadn't gotten myself anything to drink yet.

Coffee … yea that sounded good, and I think Itachi's up because I can smell the fresh pot being brewed. And when I looked at the clock, it read a little after seven in the morning, so yea he'd be up making coffee … or it was Gaara, one of the two.

Sighing, I set my laptop to the side, since I was sitting on my bed, and got up after sliding my uncovered feet into a pair of socks and walked out of my room, closing the door behind me and stretched as I walked down the hallway and saw both Itachi and Gaara in the kitchen sporting a cup each and watched as Gaara turned to look at me when Itachi saw me walk into the kitchen.

"Good morning Sasuke." They both said, and I grunted my good morning. I hated talking this early. It was too much of a chore.

"Ibiki's going to be around lunch time, and you're both going to be occupying my office with him, so I'm going to be working out here if I need to. But since it's Sunday, I might just make this a day off." Itachi said before he sipped at his coffee and I went into the cupboard by the fridge and grabbed my favorite coffee mug and filled it up with coffee and put some milk in it.

I like some cream in my coffee, but I'd never put sugar in it … never like Naruto did. God, I thought my teeth were going to fall out when I accidentally grabbed his cup instead of mine one morning when he first started staying here.

"Alright." Was all I said before sipping at my coffee. Pumpkin spice … awesome.

"I figured you'd want some of that this morning, and Gaara likes it so I made it. I'm starting to become accustomed to it, so it's an alright coffee. Tastes best when there's a little bit of sugar in it though." Itachi said, and I didn't blame him. He liked straight, black coffee and we usually had a flavored coffee like Highlander Grogg, but I guess we were out of it.

"Now remember, both of you, no matter what you hear in that room today … don't go off on him. He's already stressing enough over everything that's going on between him and his father." Itachi said. "He doesn't need you two to go off on him, it'll make him think you won't be his friend, or boyfriend, anymore." Itachi added, pointing at me first before pointing to Gaara.

"So it's about his father, isn't it?" Gaara asked.

"I'm not going to say it isn't." Itachi said, sipping at his coffee and reached a hand out for the sugar bowl, and I gladly gave it to him. "And I'm not going to have him have another mental break down in my bathroom."

"We understand." Gaara nodded, and I nodded too, sipping at my coffee as I looked down at my mug. Was Naruto really that stressed out? I knew there was something odd with him last night, but is it really that bad.

"Go wake up Naruto, Gaara, he needs to take his medicine." Itachi said and I left the kitchen to go back to my room and work on my book.

When I got to my room, I moved my laptop to my computer desk after putting my coffee down and sat on the computer chair. I needed to get some of my work done to get my head cleared for later today. I don't think I'd be able to stand it if it really is about his father if I didn't.

"Hey, Sasuke, it's after nine, Naruto wants to talk to you." Itachi said through my closed bedroom door and I looked over at my alarm clock behind me on my night stand, and sure enough, it was after nine in the morning. Only two hours had gone by.

"I'll be out there in a few minutes." I told him.

Sighing to myself, I saved what I typed and minimized every window I had pulled up and closed my laptop before I got up out of bed and went out into the living room where I saw Naruto and Gaara occupying the couch. Gaara was sitting on the side closest to the hallway and Naruto was laying down with his head on Gaara's lap. He looked like he was ready to fall asleep, but knowing Naruto, he just had his eyes closed for a moment.

I went into the kitchen and into the fridge, pulling out one of the left over plates of three we had from last night and shoved it into the microwave. It was vegetarian, of course, and there was only two slices of meat lovers' pizza left and it looked like Naruto didn't eat it yet like I thought he would.

"I'm going out for a few minutes, okay? Naruto asked if I could go over to his house and pick up a couple things from his room." Itachi said as he walked into the kitchen behind me, getting into the fridge for a couple of soda's that were probably for Gaara and Naruto.

"Okay, we'll be here." I yawned when the microwave went off, telling me it was done and I pulled out the plate of pizza, went into the fridge for a soda and made my way out to the living room and made myself comfortable on the recliner next to Gaara.

"Morning Sasuke." Gaara said. "You've been up for a while?"

"Yea, woke up at six and needed to get working on a novel I'm working on." I answered with a nod before taking a bite of my pizza.

"I wish you luck on it." Gaara said, and I thanked him with a small grunt from my throat because there was still food in my mouth.

"Sasuke …" Naruto mumbled, and when the two of us looked down, Naruto was most definitely asleep, and he was already dreaming. God that knuckle head can fall asleep quick.

"Not you too …" He kept on mumbling and there was a small tear falling from his eye that I could see from my angle, and that got us both questioned looks on our faces.

What the hell was Naruto dreaming about?

And as if it was on que, Naruto's eyes snapped open and he forced himself up into a sitting position. I just realized that he was still in his pajamas and wearing one of his new sweaters he got from the girls yesterday. He was also breathing heavy.

"Are you okay Naruto?" Gaara asked as he petted Naruto's hair off of his face. I could see the small beads of sweat on Naruto's forehead, Gaara didn't have to see them, I could tell he felt them when he moved Naruto's hair.

"I'm fine … just a nightmare." Naruto said as he slowly sat up and got up off the couch, limping a little bit out of the room and down the hall to his room, but he didn't close the door.

Gaara and I just looked at each other once Naruto was out of our view and we were both shocked by how Naruto's acting compared to yesterday.

"Did you say something to him this morning?" I asked.

"No, we barely talked all morning. I woke up at five to find him out of bed and laying down on the couch in the living room with the television on and the volume off." Gaara said. "I don't know how long he was up, but when I saw him sleeping there, he was probably there for a while."

"It must have to do with what we're talking to Ibiki today … but I wonder what the hell it is. It seems to be driving Naruto batty just thinking about it." I sighed, eating a few more bites of pizza before I lost my appetite and opened my soda, sipping at it as I watched Gaara think about something.

"You must be right, but then if that's the case, then it's something really horrible and I'm getting this feeling that if it's about his dad, I'm going to kill the son of a bitch." Gaara said, growling by the end and I wanted to sink in my seat. He's right, but he doesn't understand that I'll feel the same way too. But all I'll do is yell at Naruto for his stupidity, probably.

"Okay, I'm back … and where's Naruto?" Itachi said as he rushed into the house shivering. I didn't think it was that cold out today.

"He went to his room … after waking up from a nightmare." Gaara said, and from the tone of his voice, he sounded a little hurt.

"Did you check up on him?" Itachi asked as he brought over a bag and set it down on the couch where Naruto was. I didn't even think about it until I saw the color from Gaara's face drain to the shade of my normal skin, and that was a lot.

Itachi was the first one down the hall, but he looked calm as Gaara and I got up and when all of us got to Naruto's room, the light was on and Naruto was sitting in the computer chair with the laptop on and he looked like he was extremely frustrated with the laptop.

"Teme, what the hell did you make the password when you set this up?" He asked, and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Dobe." I said, and he looked offended. "I swear, that's what I made it. All lower case."

"Thanks Sasuke." He said, and he looked calmer too.

"You working on Iruka's homework?" Gaara asked, I had forgotten about the full on book report that's due tomorrow. I gotta type that shit up too.

"Yea." He nodded as he navigated the home screen and found Microsoft Word and opened it. I guess he knew how to work it pretty well.

"I'll help you change the password later, okay?" I said.

"Okay." Was all he said and the three of us took our time going back to the living room and sat down, me back in the recliner and Itachi and Gaara on the couch.

"What did he want you to get from his house?" I asked Itachi, now that I remembered the bag that was sitting on the couch between the two.

"He asked me to go and get some stuff he left over there; a few notebooks and some sketch books he had over there. They were all under his bed under a floor board so I guess he had them hidden there so his dad wouldn't find them." Itachi answered, remembering about the bag as he stood up with it in his hands.

"Okay." I shrugged and sipped at my soda again. Today was going to be a very, very long day indeed.

"Say, Sasuke, could it be possible that I stay another night and maybe get a ride to school with you if it's possible?" Gaara asked.

"I'll try, only if your father doesn't disagree. I don't think Itachi would mind though." I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

"And didn't Itachi say that Ibiki would be here around lunch?" Gaara asked, his gaze now towards the window.

"Yea … why?" I asked as I looked outside too, and my question was answered when we both saw Ibiki get out of his car and walk up towards the house.

"What time is it anyway?" Gaara asked as he pulled his phone out.

"It's about ten, I think." I said, and Gaara nodded just as there was a knock on the door.

"I'm coming." I said as I got up and went up to the door, opening it for Ibiki.

"Good morning Sasuke." Ibiki said as I let him in and watched the teacher take his shoes off and walk into the living room just as Itachi came back from Naruto's room.

"Oh, Ibiki, I thought you wouldn't be here for another hour." Itachi said, apparently he didn't know Ibiki was coming early either.

"I know, I was going to wait another hour when I got a call from Naruto. From the way he talked, it seemed it was urgent so I came early." Ibiki said, and Gaara and I looked at each other.

"We had no idea he called you." The two of us said at the same time.

"Hey, Ibiki." Naruto's voice came from my left, making me jump because I had no idea he was even there.

"Hey Naruto, is everything okay?" Ibiki asked.

"I'll tell you in the bedroom." Naruto said, and he looked as depressed as when I saw him wake up from his nightmare and go into his room.

"Alright Naruto, I'll be there in a few." Ibiki said, and Naruto walked back to his room. Again, I noticed he wasn't using the crutches. Tsunade's going to have a fucking cow when she finds out he's not using them. "I'll see you two when I'm done with Naruto, okay?" He added, and the two of us nodded as he went back into Naruto's room and closed the door softly.