Another update! Sorry if the things I said down here aren't right, but I do not really have any knowledge about this. Just a tiny bit and that was what I used!

I would also like to warn that I may suddenly disappear for a while. I just have some personal issues going on and sometimes I will just not feel the mood to write. I apologise for it and I do hope it won't happen, but just in case. I actually really love this story, so that may motivate me enough and of course the support of the readers helps a lot as well! Thank you all for loving this story as much as you do.

Now enjoy this bit!

...

'How the hell can you let him go through with this?!'

Well, this was a strange start of a lovely afternoon with his boyfriend. Sasuke found himself slammed against the wall of the hallway leading to Naruto's room, green eyes glaring up at him and teeth bared at him as if the redhead was about to rip his throat out. Apparently Gaara was not agreeing with Naruto's decision and blamed Sasuke for it. It wasn't like Sasuke was happy with the decision, but he wasn't going to stop Naruto from making it.

Reaching up for the hand currently constricted around his neck, he lazily pulled it off and pushed Gaara a few feet away, not wanting to be so close to the redhead and his apparent anger. 'It's not like I can force him to make another decision, Gaara. So you can be angry at me, but at this point Naruto needs our support.'

'But you didn't even try!' the redhead accused him, the anger only being fired up again. What was Gaara's problem? Didn't he kind of hate Sasuke or at least not like him? And now he forces him to fix this and stop Naruto from going through with the surgery? Apparently his blonde hadn't been listening to Gaara then and maybe that was why the redhead was so angry now. It wasn't like Sasuke hadn't been angry before, so it wasn't all that strange.

Sasuke sighed softly and turned to the side, proceeding his way towards Naruto's room, but was stopped once again when his wrist was grabbed. Another sigh left his lips and he stood still then. 'I did try, Gaara. We fought about it, yelled stuff at each other we shouldn't have and I stayed away for a full day. But in the end it doesn't matter how we both feel about it. Naruto wants this operation and we should support it. It's already hard enough on him.' Black eyes glanced over at Gaara for a moment, but when he noticed the redhead had released him and was just blankly staring at the floor, Sasuke continued his way towards Naruto's room.

And was stopped again. 'But does he even realise what he's doing? What if something does happen?' He clamped his teeth down together for a moment, trying to calm down. 'I am certain you don't want to lose him, so I just don't understand how you can just let him do this! You can stop him! He will listen to you!' Gaara was really sounding desperate now. Why did this mean so much to the redhead? Naruto could still die even without the surgery. Maybe their time together would be longer, but also filled with more pain and in the end Sasuke didn't really want to see Naruto at his weakest point.

Sasuke was about to respond, but then the door beside him opened, a sleepy looking Naruto stepping out, dragging along his bag of medication. 'You know I can hear you guys or well, I can hear you, Gaara. But I think this is something you should discuss with me in the room, instead of outside of my room. This is still about me.' And with that said Naruto turned back around and disappeared from the doorway, leaving the door open for the other two to enter.

Reluctantly Gaara moved inside, knowing Naruto wouldn't be very pleased with him. Sasuke followed after, walking over to the bed and sitting down in the spot Naruto had left for him. 'Hey,' Sasuke murmured, leaning down for a soft kiss. 'Sorry I'm a little late. Had some extra work and then I walked into your friend on the way over here,' he said with a smile.

'Don't worry about it,' Naruto replied and then looked around Sasuke to meet Gaara's eyes. The redhead was sitting in the chair, keeping his gaze averted at all times. That was until Naruto actually wanted his attention. And the look on his face didn't mean anything good. 'And next time you don't agree with my decisions, I expect you to come to me and not try to get my boyfriend to change my mind, thank you,' he spat, making the redhead cower down and avert his eyes again. Shifting back in his seat, Naruto got comfortable next to Sasuke, grumbling something under his breath.

There hung a tension in the air Sasuke wasn't very comfortable with. He had come here to just spend some time with Naruto and actually not think about the surgery, but Gaara had kind of ruined that moment. Why was he even still here? Usually he would be gone before Sasuke even got here. That was why he thought Gaara hated him!

'Sorry, Naruto,' Gaara said softly, his hands fumbling with the hem of his shirt uncomfortably. 'I just worry about you and didn't seem another way to solve that,' he admitted. Like it was even solved now. Gaara had almost ruined his friendship with Naruto by going behind his back.

If it was something Naruto didn't like, it was people talking about him without him knowing about it, especially when it were important things like these. 'I know you worry,' Naruto said softly, his voice still holding some tension. 'But that doesn't mean you can just decide things for me. I've been taking care of myself for a long time and that won't change now.' He shifted again, almost pushing Sasuke off the bed, but at least his mood seemed to cool down. 'Tsunade will stop by soon and explain some things about the operation since both of you don't know much about it yet. Thought it would be a smart move.'

And it was, or at least in Sasuke's opinion. He had looked up some stuff, but he would trust Tsunade's words a little more. Hopefully she wouldn't go in too much detail, because it wasn't like he remembered how all the parts of a human body were called. 'Thank you. That is considered of you,' Sasuke replied softly and was granted with a big smile from his blonde. At least the mood had changed a little now, because it was definitely making Sasuke uncomfortable.

And then Naruto's attention was back on Gaara, the smile disappearing. Wow, Naruto really was angry at the redhead. Sasuke was glad he wasn't at the receiving end this time, because last time had been horrible enough. Although being angry yourself did help with being scared of an angry Naruto. 'And you better behave, because otherwise you can just leave,' he spat and with that said, Tsunade actually walked in.

She looked around for a moment, taking in the moment and then just shrugged it off. Tapping her file against the bedside, she got everyone's attention, not that it was needed. 'Okay, I don't know what's going on here, but I am just going to explain what is happening to Naruto. Are there any questions?' The three males just kind of stared at her, a bit flabbergasted at the sudden outburst. 'Good! Then we can start. First of all you are both aware that Naruto is suffering from stomach cancer. This means he has a tumour attached to the stomach wall and it needs to be removed.'

Gaara and Sasuke nodded, having heard this before already. But this was also as far as Sasuke's knowledge went. He knew what was going on. He knew the tumour was getting smaller slightly due to the chemo, but that was it. Strange he never had asked more about it, but maybe he was just trying to ignore the whole problem. Now he did need to be aware of the situation, so he was listening intently to what Tsunade had to say.

'Unfortunately the chemo isn't doing as much as we had wanted it to. The tumour is only slightly reacting to it, but not enough. Now the second option we have, and we had discussed this with Naruto before he was taken into the hospital, is removing it through surgery. The problem here is that the tumour is very close to the artery and we have to take it out very carefully. If Naruto loses too much blood, we will lose him. That's why the risks are so high. If the tumour had been somewhere else, it would've been easier and we would've chosen for this option sooner, but now it seems we have no other option.' Tsunade glanced at Sasuke first and then at Gaara, noticing the slightly paler faces.

Slowly Sasuke opened his mouth, eyes averted to the ground as he thought longer about his question. 'How will it happen?' he asked carefully, not wanting to think about the losing Naruto part and all the blood loss that could happen.

'First we will make a small incision right here.' Tsunade had walked forward and pointed it out on Sasuke's own chest and the raven followed the finger as it slid down slightly. 'Then we will open up the stomach itself and take a look at what it really looks around inside. Once we found the tumour and have it clamped down in a vice to stop the blood flow towards it, we burn it off slowly, trying our best to avoid the artery. Once it is out, the place the tumour was in is already burned closed. The stomach will be closed up again and then close the body completely. If everything goes well, Naruto will heal in a matter of days. We will keep him here after that for about two weeks afterwards to see if everything goes alright and when the last tests would come out clean, Naruto could go home. But this is all when everything would go alright, so don't get your hopes up yet,' she warned, tapping Sasuke on his nose and making the hope seep away.

'So do you think you understand now?' Naruto asked, smiling up at Sasuke and taking his hand in his.

Of course he understood what was going to happen now and it all sounded very easy, but he knew it wasn't. You needed good surgeons to be able to do this right. Steady hands that would not accidently cut into the artery and would pull Naruto through alive. Slowly he nodded, looking up at Naruto and giving him a slight short smile. 'Yeah, I get everything or at least the things I should understand.' He then stayed silent for a moment, his eyes moving back down. 'It's just all getting a bit too… real,' he admitted reluctantly. 'Isn't the surgery already in like a week?'

'Next week's Thursday,' Tsunade replied with a nod, making Sasuke wince. This really was going fast. What if this was his last week with Naruto? They needed to do something fun and special, but what could they do? Naruto wasn't even allowed out of the hospital, so he didn't have much room to play with. But this week needed to be special.

A hand squeezed around his, pulling him back to reality. 'I know it's going fast, but I promised I would be alright, so there is no need to worry. I will be out of here before you know it.' Naruto's voice sounded so soft and reassuring that Sasuke just had to believe him. He needed to.

'Naruto,' Gaara suddenly said, standing beside the bed, his eyes still pointed down. 'I need to go. I'll be around again in a few days. I'm sorry.' And with that the redhead disappeared in a hurry and Sasuke understood exactly how he felt. It was all getting too close and having confirmed that Naruto might die by the surgeon herself, made it even worse. So he just needed a moment to himself. Sasuke wanted one, but he should stay here and support Naruto. He would think about all this when he got home. Everything to keep Naruto from stressing.

They watched Gaara go in silence and then Tsunade left as well. 'Just the two of us again,' Naruto said softly, staring at the closed door. 'I kind of like it better like this,' he admitted, smiling up at Sasuke once again.

'Well, once you get out of this damn place, we will have a lot more moments with just the two of us,' Sasuke whispered back and leaned down for a kiss.

'I'd like that…'

Characters © Masashi Kishimoto

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