Hihi! After writing chapter 4 I had this scene stuck in my head so I decided to go ahead and add it as the next chapter, though it isn't that long of a chapter I think its still pretty sweet.
Sasuke is back but Gaara isn't totally off Naruto's mind.

Thank you everybody for reading! And oh my god! :D All the wonderful kind reviews I've already gotten! Thank you! You guys are the best! I am so happy you like my story so much!
Please enjoy this next chapter! I hope to hear what everyone thinks of this one as well. :3
Love FanggirlX

Naruto woke up the next morning stiff as a board and in not the best of moods.

He wasn't in a bad mood because of the stiffness, but because of the banging on his front door. Add to the mix that it was just five thirty in the morning and stir. The product was a very grumpy Naruto.

With a soft grunt the irritable blonde pushed himself up off the couch and went for the door.

Peeping out he saw through the tiny hole out into the bleak dreary darkness of five thirty, an angry Sasuke.

Naruto immediately opened the door for his best friend.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" he asked with concern, even though he was yawning.

Sasuke frowned as he entered the small house.

"Last night was awful." the raven haired boy muttered as he walked to Naruto's couch and collapsed onto it.

Naruto followed after him, "Why? What happened?"

Letting out a heavy sigh, Sasuke, rolled over from his stomach onto his back so that he could glare up at the blonde sitting on the arm of the couch.

"Did you, like, die to the world last night?" Sasuke snapped.

Answering with a deep blush on his cheeks Naruto said, "Kind of…sorry, man."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

Naruto knew the reason for one half of his buddy's anger. He'd needed Naruto last night and when he'd called he'd gotten no answer; leaving Sasuke to deal with his alcoholic father alone.

Naruto fought to not smile at his thought on what was the cause for the other half of Sasuke's anger. Which was the fact that Sasuke was angry he'd even needed Naruto. Any sign of dependence made him feel weak and vulnerable, thus pissed him off. However, Naruto couldn't help but feel happy that Sasuke had needed him. Every time he called or came over out of no where it gave Naruto a little thrill. He was needed.

"Sasuke, I really am, man. I was just worn out. I mean, I didn't even stay awake during Friday the 13th, leaving Gaara here to fend for himself. I was just a really bad friend all around last night." Naruto slouched into his sulk and glanced at his friend.

Sasuke looked angrier…

"Gaara? The freak at school? Do you mean the next Bundy Gaara? That Gaara?"

Naruto nodded, finally beginning to wake up. He frowned, "Sasuke, he's not really that bad. He's not actually psycho…just shy."

Sasuke ignored Naruto's statement as he demanded, "Why was he in your house watching movies with you, Naruto? Why was he in your house period?"

Shrugging off his friend's anger Naruto replied, "He gave me a ride. So I invited him in. No big. And again, Sasuke, he's actually pretty nice."

Sasuke scoffed, "Yeah, sure. Charles Manson was probably 'pretty nice' too."

With a sigh, Naruto attempted to change the subject. "Anyway. What's your dad do last night?"

For the moment, he'd have Sasuke vent. Then his anger would fade and his pal would quit making needless insults at his new friend.

Sasuke's entire demeanor changed, he practically deflated as he let out a slow weary sigh.

"We fought again. Big time."

Naruto frowned, "That sucks."

With a nod Sasuke continued, "Yeah…he actually threatened me again. Hasn't done that in months… said if I disobeyed him again my ass was his." Sasuke laughed ruefully, "Problem with that is, he never talks to me. For anything. Never tells me anything. Not anything to do, or not do. So how the fuck do I disobey orders I never get?"

A tight pain settled in Naruto's chest. "I dunno, Sasuke." A grim thought entered Naruto's mind, "Did it get physical again?"

Sasuke's face stayed perfectly blank, "Yeah."

"Where? How bad?" Naruto asked, instantly worried. "Are you alright?"

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at him, "Do I not look alright?"

Rolling his eyes, Naruto answered, "No." he shook his head, "Actually, you don't. I'll get you some aspirin, wait here."

The blonde scurried off.

Sasuke settled more comfortably into the couch, relaxing. He could always relax better at Naruto's.

He knew he couldn't really be mad at Naruto for not answering his cell last night. Hell, he'd kept the moron up for about three straight days now. No wonder he was out cold asleep.

Though…it was a bit disconcerting that idiot'd had Gaara over here.

Something about the gothic redhead bothered Sasuke; he couldn't place it, but he knew that Gaara rubbed him the wrong way, dude set off all kinds of warning alerts in his head. And anyone who did that really was not company a gullible naïve idiot like Naruto should have around him. Especially alone in his house.

Naruto came back with three aspirin for Sasuke and an icepack.

Somehow, he'd known. He always knew.

Sasuke sat up to take the aspirin with the glass of water Naruto offered. He then took the icepack and laid it on his side as he eased back down into the couch cushions.

Naruto yawned and sat down on the couch arm.

Sasuke closed his eyes and focused on keeping his breaths shallow. Hit hurt less that way.

His old man had taken a few swings at him last night, just as Naruto had guessed. One prime swing had landed on Sasuke's ribs. The black haired boy knew from experience they weren't broken or cracked, but they were definitely badly bruised.

Naruto shot Sasuke a goofy grin, "Wanna skip today? You, me, and Call of Duty. All day. Wha'd'ya say?"

Sasuke tried to return Naruto's smile, he'd say that sounded great.

Nodding, he agreed, "Sure. I'll even order us pizza for lunch."

Naruto's grin widened, "Sweet!"

The blonde yawned again.

Sasuke noticed and felt a pang of guilt for Naruto's exhaustion.

He closed his eyes and mumbled, "But right now let's just sleep. We both could probably use more."

A sleepy smile was Naruto's answer. He got up and went over to the closest chair and began to get comfortable in it. The blonde felt an icy chill stab his back and he glanced at Sasuke. The black onyx eyes of his friend were glaring intensely at him.

"The hell are you doing, moron?"

Shrugging, Naruto replied, "Getting comfy. Duh."

Sasuke sighed. He knew exactly what Naruto was doing. The numbskull was staying close by, instead of going up to his much more comfortable bed. The blonde knew that after a really rough night, like last night, Sasuke couldn't sleep without someone he trusted near by. It was like they were standing guard over him. A childish need, but one Sasuke had nonetheless.

And considering that the black haired boy could literally count the people that he trusted on a single hand…that didn't really leave much opportunity for Sasuke to have a good sleep. It was one of the many theories Naruto had as to why Sasuke was always so grumpy: lack of sleep.

So Naruto was trying to give him a chance to have it right now.

Deciding he was too tired to truly try and convince the blonde he'd be fine without him, Sasuke just settled back into the couch.

Naruto watched Sasuke carefully get comfortable, minding his wounds of course, and the blonde allowed himself a secret smile of victory.

Sasuke was going to try to sleep. Because he had Naruto near by.

Being needed like that made Naruto feel like the ultimate awesome. Being needed…was sometimes the only thing that kept Naruto going as opposed to curling into a ball of depression and just giving up on a life that seemed to have given up on him.

So…he'd suffer with a bit more stiffness. As Naruto laid his head back onto the chair he winced when a pain knifed deep into his neck.

Naruto inwardly chuckled, and he could suffer through the inability to turn his head.

With a little work, and strategic body part placement, Naruto was comfy enough he could finally drift back to sleep; however, this time he'd make sure to stay on alert for incase Sasuke woke up.

A few minutes passed by and yet Naruto couldn't drift away to blissful sleep.

Why?

His mind was keeping him up, but with what? It refused to settle and slow down, but why?

Was he forgetting something important? Had he left the refrigerator door hanging open again?

With a slightly sad sigh, Naruto got to his feet and went to check. He couldn't afford to replace his groceries if they spoiled. Plus, just maybe he had, and this was what the tiny tingle in his mind was. He would never get to sleep if he didn't get rid of the reason for this tingle.

Upon entering the kitchen, though, Naruto saw that his refrigerator was closed.

Frowning, Naruto did a little turn, looking for anything that could be the reason why he was being kept up.

His electric blue eyes landed on the two glasses and big popcorn bowl in the sink.

Gaara.

The feeling was about Gaara.

He was skipping school, right after spending a day with Gaara.

The redhead may take this in a wrong way, which given his shy personality, could be really bad for their budding friendship.

Naruto fetched his phone and then frowned.

He'd never bothered to get Gaara's number…

Then Naruto thought of pink and grinned, Sakura was fearless; if he asked her to deliver a message to the redhead, she totally would.

He pressed the button to go to his contacts and then gasped quietly. The first name on his list was Gaara's….

The goth had even added a little asterisk to the front of his name so that he'd show up first in the contacts list.

With a soft smile on his face Naruto selected Gaara's name and chose the send message option.

He could tell Gaara himself.

Using his thumb, he typed out his message to Gaara.

Hey. Thanks for closing up last night. Sorry I fell asleep. Let's try a movie night again when I'm not so sleepy so I can actually watch the movie too lol. (that means I'm laughing) I'm skipping school today cuz Sasuke had a rough night so we're just gonna chill. Didn't want you thinking my absence was your fault or anything. Its not. I had fun. No worries. Anyway have a good day and call me or text sometime we'll make plans. If you want.

Naruto hit send and was shocked to see he'd wrote so much it was two messages long. Wow. That hardly ever happened to him. Maybe it was because he'd spelled every word out right. He just hadn't been sure if Gaara would know what the abbreviations were.

Feeling much better, Naruto returned to his chair and went through the small ordeal of getting comfortable again.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke and saw that he'd yet to fall asleep.

He'd been waiting for Naruto.

He offered his friend a smile and closed his eyes, truly touched that even with him just a few feet over in his tiny kitchen it was too far away for Sasuke to feel secure enough to sleep.