Hey everyone! I know this can be a very busy time for everyone, I know it certainly is for me as well. But in case any of you wanted something to read (as a way to escape any troublesome or dare I say annoying family members) I wanted to put this tiny chapter up to tide you guys over until the Thanksgiving ordeal is done and over with.
It is basically just a simple continuation of the previous chapter. This tells about the morning after, when Naruto wakes up.
It's not much but please enjoy it! :D
Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! Thank you for reading! Please review, I always love so much hearing what you guys have to say about a chapter. It is on many days the light of my world. :)
Now, please enjoy chapter 7 of JAJ!
Love FanggirlX

Naruto woke up feeling warmer than usual. His head was throbbing and his body ached but that was not unexpected. However, the arm draped over him that he was actually hugging like a clingy girl was really unexpected. Reeeeeally unexpected…

The hand he was holding prisoner was pale and thin. Naruto squinted at it. It kinda looked like…Sasuke's hand.

Biting back a gasp Naruto blushed a bright red. But why would he and Sasuke be in bed together? He'd left the night before hours before Naruto had gone to bed…

Naruto went numb for a minute as his brain caught up with the rest of him. He had gone to bed last night. Then his cell phone had rang. He'd thought it was Sasuke calling to say something bad had happened. So he'd picked up immediately, only to find that it wasn't Sasuke. It had been Gaara, just calling to…talk? That didn't seem right but his brain insisted it was the truth. So…was this Sasuke…?

Naruto gulped quietly, why did his heart flip flop at that thought? How weird was that? Or was this hand's owner Gaara? Naruto felt a chill run up his spine, whoa…those were not usually good…

The blonde could not decide which would be more awkward really. He was either with his best friend, a guy he just started getting to know, or on the off chance a random hobo invaded his home, a stranger he didn't even know.

Not sure what to hope for, but leaning most toward not wanting an invading hobo, Naruto glanced over his shoulder at the warm body pressed against him.

His eyes locked with the blazing aqua green eyes of Gaara.

Wow. Naruto wasn't sure what to say now… how did…something like this happen?

Gaara narrowed his eyes at him, "Normally, when a person wakes and sees they are holding a hostage they release them."

Naruto noticed three things instantly.
One, Gaara was looking him in the eye and talking to him. Later, when things weren't so awkward for him, he'd relish this small victory.
Two, it had sent yet another chill through him to have that intense Gaara gaze directed at only him.
And three, that was possibly the most he'd ever heard Gaara say at once.

Naruto let go of Gaara's arm and sat up, moving to get away all in one fluid motion.

Suddenly, he was hit with a rippling wave of pain starting in his head behind his eyes and working its way down his neck and through his back. It hit so suddenly it caused a bout of nausea.

Naruto doubled over, simultaneously clutching his stomach and head.

Gaara didn't reach for him or ask what was wrong. He simply slid off the bed and left the room. But, before Naruto could really get into the good insults about the evil redhead who left people high and dry to die; Gaara returned.

He'd brought back a glass of water, which he handed to Naruto, also picking up a medicine bottle by the bed and handing that to him as well.

Naruto, staring at Gaara in a daze, took them slowly.

"Take two." was all Gaara said before he picked up another glass of water that was sitting by the bed and left with it.

Naruto took out two pills and then read the bottle to see what this medicine was for. It was just basic aspirin. So he downed them quickly.

Gaara was back, leaning against the bedroom doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. The clothes he was wearing were rumpled but intact.

So at least Naruto's headache shouldn't be from a hangover or anything. He hadn't gotten drunk in…years. He'd hate to hear that he'd fallen off the wagon just to have some random night of gayness.

As if Gaara were reading his mind, the goth said, "Nothing happened."

Relaxing a bit at the news, Naruto leaned back against his headboard. "So…what did happen then? I…don't really remember. Why were you in my bed? Actually…why are you in my house period? Weren't we…weren't we talking on the phone? Or was that a dream? Kinda a weird dream to have…just talking to someone on the phone…"

Gaara let out a long breath and shook his head, "No."

Naruto looked up at him, blue eyes wide with confusion. "No…?"

Gaara felt his throat tighten and he quickly looked away, scoffing. "Not a dream. You passed out."

Naruto's eyes grew wider, "Wha-? Really? Oh god, I'm sorry. That's why you're over here… because we were talking on the phone and I passed out on you? But…how'd you know I hadn't just fallen back asleep?"

Gaara gave a half shrug as he replied quietly, "You passed out mid sentence."

"Oh…I guess that would be a clue, huh?"

"And dropped the phone. I heard you collapse." Gaara added, his voice sounding more than a little grumpy.

Naruto felt bad he'd troubled his new friend. "I'm sorry for all the trouble, Gaara. Thanks for coming to help me though. It was really nice of you."

Gaara shrugged, "We were going to skip today anyway."

Naruto nodded, a shy smile on his flushed face, "Eh heh heh, right…but I hadn't intended for it to go like this. Sorry it can't be more fun."

Gaara shrugged again and turned to leave, giving one final order. "Stay in bed."

Naruto wanted to protest, but his voice failed him. So he tried to get up and follow. But his body was too weak, he must have been really sick last night…Naruto's legs got caught up in his covers and his wobbly arms gave out from under him and he fell, skidding off the edge of the bed. His face hit the floor of his room and he lay there with just his tangled legs still in the bed. The blonde sighed heavily.

This…was embarrassing… at least Gaara had left before he'd seen him do something this stupid…

"What are you doing?" Gaara growled.

Of course…

Gaara was back in his doorway. Life hated Naruto. It refused to ever give him something he wanted. Even if it were something small like cutting him a break and not letting his new friend see him look like an idiot.

"I was trying to get up." Naruto said, trying exactly that once again. Instantly, Gaara was at his side. With surprisingly gentle hands he untangled Naruto's legs and then scooped him up like he weighed nothing.

Naruto protested, feeling like he'd die from embarrassment, "Gaara I can-"

"Quiet." the redhead snapped softly.

Naruto obeyed, looking sheepishly at his hands clasped in his lap.

Gaara settled him back in the bed and then gave Naruto an icy glare, "Don't. Move."

With a sigh of defeat, Naruto nodded, "Ok, ok… you win. I'll stay in bed…"

Naruto looked up into Gaara's intense eyes and said with a sad whine in his voice, "But I wanted to come with you. It's gonna be so boring here at my house, sick all day. I promise to take it easy, so can I come with you and have fun skipping?"

Gaara's brow furrowed with confusion as he stared at Naruto, trying to understand what the blonde was asking.

Finally, Gaara looked down at the sheet and answered, his deep scratchy voice soft with an attempt to sound kinder, "I'm not leaving. So rest."

He pushed slightly on Naruto's chest to make him lie down. Naruto, once again staring at Gaara in a daze, obeyed.

"You're staying? Here?" he asked, bewildered.

The redhead nodded and stood up.

"But you wanted to skip school… why waste a skip day on hanging with a sick person? I won't be much fun today… when I actually let myself feel sick… I get whiney and grumpy and well, as you saw this morning, cling to anything warm…" Naruto rambled on quietly, tears filling his eyes, "And I get emotional, like this." he laughed ruefully, scrubbing his eyes before the tears could fall. "I can't help any of it… it just happens and I'm too damn tired to fight it anymore."

Gaara growled and stalked back over to where Naruto lay, wallowing in his pity party mud hole.

"Is this why you let yourself get this way?" the goth seethed, his eyes burning with fury. "Because you wouldn't be fun?"

Gaara turned his head and spat, "Idiot."

Naruto shook his head, "No, you don't get it. I just don't want to be a burden to my friends. If I-"

"Death is quite a burden." Gaara stated, his voice now eerily calm.

Naruto blinked his wide shocked eyes. Was Gaara threatening him? But…why?

"If you continue to fail in taking care of yourself, you will probably die. Will you not burden your friends then?"

Naruto stared at the angry goth and stammered, "I, I wouldn't die…Gaara, that's a bit dramatic."

Gaara glared at him, eyes fierce, voice hard, "If they are your friends, your health should be important. None of their own problems should compare to your well being. Just because your company will not be fun, just because you may become an annoying troll who holds arms hostage, doesn't mean you should hide how you feel."

Naruto, blushing at the arm hostage comment, shook his head, "No…it's not that they don't care…"

Gaara huffed and put a hand to Naruto's forehead, testing his temperature. It didn't seem the aspirin was bringing the fever down much at all. Perhaps, a bath could help…?

"If the problem is not them. It is you." Gaara said absently as he reached for the thermometer, wanting an exact read on Naruto's fever.

"But-" the thermometer being forced into his open mouth shut him up, however, Naruto did manage to muster up a pretty decent glare at Gaara.

Gaara turned his head to stare out Naruto's window. "It's ok to be human. You have nothing to prove to anyone. Perfection is not necessary. You can be weak. You can be emotional. You can be boring." Gaara turned his gaze back to Naruto and swallowed, forcing this out before his throat squeezed shut from looking into those blue eyes, "You can be yourself. It's fine. You're fine."

The thermometer beeped and Gaara took it out, frowning at the tiny screen that was telling him Naruto's temperature had not improved at all since last night. The blonde needed to sleep and he needed to relax.

Sighing, Gaara stood and headed for the doorway.

"Gaara…" Naruto's quiet voice called from behind him.

Turning to look at the blonde, Gaara waited to hear if there was more.

Naruto's teary blue eyes looked up at him. "I…uh…that was…" Naruto shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. He wanted to say this right.

Gaara rarely spoke, so for him to waste the effort to say all that…meant a whole lot. He deserved a proper response, not some half assed one. Naruto took a slow breath, "Thanks, man. That's…that's seriously the first time I've ever been told that…actually…I've…I've always been told the opposite really…by everyone…even my best friend…they all said I should change…somehow…no one has...no one ever said I was fine as is…as me."

Gaara nodded and turned to leave but then glanced back at the blonde, "As you say; no worries."

Laughing a little, Naruto nodded, "Yeah. No worries. Thanks. Gaara."

The redhead left.

Naruto stared at the doorway where Gaara had been standing and he wondered if perhaps, instead of Gaara being his project…had he somehow just become Gaara's?

Hope you all enjoyed it! Sorry it was so short but I hope it'll do for now.
:) I just wanted to say once again, have a great week everybody! See you soon! Love you guys bunches!
FanggirlX