Naruto sighed after Gaara was driven off with a sigh. He was worried about Gaara. While he waited for Temari several men hit on him to such an extent that he preformed sexy Jutsu to keep them all away. He sighed as he saw Temari pull up and he got into her car ending the Jutsu. "Gaara is with Boss…" He said softly looking out the window with worry.

Gaara came back home the next day with a badly busted lip and tons of bruises and scratches all over his body. He smelled like liquor and weed. He threw up several time and Temari knew he had already become drunk this morning. He slurred every word and passed out. "Naruto! Gaara's home! Temari yelled. She refused to look at Gaara anylonger. He looked terrible. Even in this short time he'd lost a lot of weight and looked sick. He was frail and the smell of drugs was strong on him.
She was half afriad he might die on this mission. He already become obviously addicted to drugs. Shed seen him smoking a few times while he was at the room.

As soon as Naruto heard Temari he came running picking up Gaara gently as carried him to Naruto's room where he carefully began to patch up some of Gaara's bruises and cuts. His face was tight with worry as he tried to make the Ichibi comfortable. Naruto sat by Gaara's side stroking his hair gently with one hand as he dabbed a wet washcloth over Gaara's face.

Gaara tightly gripped the bed and them begged the blonde boy for drugs and painkillers. Temari ran to hey Sakura. A few of Gaara's ribs were broken and Temari wanted the poor boy to be healed,
Gaara groaned as pain entered his chest. He was burning with fever. "N-Naruto......." the Ginger boy went silent for a few minutes. He would occasionally let out a whimper of pain. Tears came steadily down Gaara's face. Temari got a needle and began getting fluids back in Gaara's body. It was obvious he'd been given some strong drugs that were still in his system.

Naruto frowned as he stayed by Sakura's side as she attempted to heal his ribs. "I wish I was better at this…" She said after she managed to heal the ribs quite a bit. Naruto frowned looking at Gaara's face.

"We can't continue this mission…" Naruto said shakily.

Gaara gradually calmed down after a while. He held Naruto's hand. His rinse felt better and his tempature had dropped back to normal. Kakashi walked in unaware of anything. "How is the mission g--" Kakashi stopped midsentance. "My god...." he ran to the bed. "What happened? We have to quit this mission!" Kakashi panicked.

"Yeah no shit!" Naruto growled at Kakashi. He held Gaara's hand gently not wanting to hurt him when he was already in so much emotional and physical pain. He looked down at the other gently. He then looked back at Kakashi, "What made you think this mission was a good idea!" He asked angrily.

Gaara let out a scream as more pain ripped through his body. Kankuro came running in. Temari was crying. Kankuro stared in shock. "W-What....." Kankuro stopped. He had never seen Gaara like this. Gaara looked red in the face and his eyes were rolled back. He gripped into Naruto's hand with his nails, drawing blood. "N-Naruto..." Gaara murmured. Je didn't sound like himself. He sounded like he was about to die. His voice was shrill and raspy.

((sorry I wasn't on for the last couple of days. My power was knocked out by Irene and I only got internet and cable back today))

Naruto looked down at Gaara panicked, before looking up at the others, "Someone do something! He's...he's..." Naruto's voice trailed off as he watched Gaara wanting desperately for him to get better.

Kankuro looked at Sakura who shook her head. Kankuro made a one handed sign and disappeared with a poof. When he came back he had their "boss" in the choke hold. "You!" he growled at the man. "Ginger?" he looked confused. "What's wrong with him?! I need him for good business!" the man whined. Temari slapped the shit out of him. "Buisness? He is a boy not a store item. He was with you last what did you do to him?" the man shook his head. "I sent him home with a friend of mine. He went home with him. He man have given him some drugs to make him more...sexual...how old is this poor boy? I was told he was eighteen..." Temari looked at him. "He's sixteen..." The man paled. "Only sixteen? He's still a child! Gaara clung to Naruto for dear life. He started hallucinating and screamed. "No please! No stop!" he sobbed, afriad of something only he could see. The man frowned. "Poor boy...he must be on something strong. These hallucinations are usually only caused by things no sixteen year old boy's body can handle. He grabbed a needle out of his jacket pocket. He injected it into Gaara's arm and he seemed to calm down a bit. He wa still crying, but his face turned it's normal color and he stopped screaming. "N-Naruto...promise you won't leave...p-please...." he wrapped his arms tightly as his weak body could around the blonde boy, attempting to prevent him from going anywhere.

Although Naruto felt like he was being choked to death by the red-head he nodded not moving, "Don't worry Gaara I won't...believe it..." He added softly looking down at him with a sad look. He looked so broken, so emotional. How could he ever hate Gaara?

Gaara finally opened his eyes and looked around. He screamed bloody murder when he saw the man known as his boss. Temari asked him to leave. He still was holding On to Naruto. Gaara looked at his own arms wrapped tightly around the blonde boys neck and he blushed the same color as his hair. "ooo....s-sorry." he let go quickly and laid back in the bed. He was feeling a good bit better. He went back to his normal pale color and tried to stand. Gaara fell as soon as he stood and groaned in pain. His stomach still hurt. Temari looked at Gaara concerned.
"Gaara? Whay do you need?" he looked up. "A shower..a good hot shower." he was still swaet drenched and smelled like liquor, drugs, and sex. He hated that smell. Temari looked sat Gaara and picked him up. She ran hot water. She gently undressed her wounded little brother and sat him in a large bubble bath. She went and got Naruto. "Hey! Go watch him and make sure he stays awake. I wouldn't want him drowning." Gaara washed his body, careful to be completely clean. He washed his hair also. When he finished he sighed and laid his head back on the tub. His blood red hair stuck to his forehead. He yawned. "So sleepy.." he murmured. It was impossible for Gaara to ever sleep, but he felt like he might black out.

Naruto nodded as Temari told him to go watch Gaara. He knocked before going in to let Gaara know he was coming in. Naruto blush a bit as he walked over to her red-head. "How are you feeling Gaara?" He asked gently.

He felt a littler weak, but otherwise he was fine. "I'm doing much better. He said smiling. He soaked in the nice hot water. "I'm really tired....." he felt a bit dizzy as well. He didn't tell that part. "Naruto? Do you still hate me..?" the boy looked down a bit sad and thought about how things had been between them before. He never wanted to be enemies with Naruto agian.

Naruto thought for a moment and shook his head, "No...not after all this...of course not...I couldn't..." He said softly looking at Gaara's face gently watching him carefully. He wanted to make sure he didn't fall asleep and go under the water.

Garra's eyes were hardly open and were thin slits. He smiled at Naruto lovingly. "I don't hate you either. In fact, I actually kind of--" Gaara went silent as he passed out. He had been to tired to stay awake.

Naruto wondered for a moment what the other was going to say before he pulled him up out of the water gently shaking him trying to get him to wake up without hurting him. All the while wondering what Gaara was going to say. "Come on Gaara you have to wake up…you can't sleep…and definitely not in the tub!"

Garra whined sleepily and wrapped his as around Naruto's neck and wrapped his legs around his waist, "I'm so..tired..." he was still nude and all wrapped around Naruto, but didn't care. All he could think of was a nice nap,

Naruto blushed darkly, "Ah Gaara you need to get off your all wet…and you know nude!" He said his face blushing darkly.

"Mmm...." Gaara grunted sleepily. "I can't...stay awake..much...longer..." his eyes were closing. He knew that his demon would Gi wild the moment he fell asleep. That bothered him. He didn't let go of Naruto. He only grabbed a towel and covered the backside of his body. He knew his nude body was still pressed against Naruto, but at least now he couldnt see it. "Better?" he referee to the towel that barley covered him. He yawned and rested his head on Naruto. "Take me to my room...I need to sleep." then Temari ran in. She blushed when she saw the still soaked, nude Gaara all over Naruto. "Um....I came to say we have a way fir Gaara to sleep safely. Whe got some of that junk doctors put you to sleep with when you have surgery. It'll practically knock him out, so the demon will be trapped. It's set up in his room. Just put the needle in the biggest vain in his wrist...." she walked out still looking akward. She wondered how that had happened anyway. Were they together or something? She wondered. Maybe they'd just both turned into hoes from working at that awful place.

"Yeah okay…" Naruto said awkwardly standing attempting to tie the towel around his waist to cover him and separate them a bit. He walked carefully his face dark as he placed Gaara down in the bed and searched for needle. Once he found it he found the vein and gently inserted it.

Gaara's closed almost the instant the needle hir his skin. He opened his eyes and looked at Naruto. "I love you..." he said quietly before going to sleep. Temari walked in and smiled. "Thanks Naruto..for taking care of Gaara and all..you're so sweet." She kissed his cheek in a friendly way and then checked the levels on the machine that Gaara was hooked up to. Everything was stable. Gaara would be fine..better even. This whole experience had changed his attitude for the better.

Naruto just sat there frozen. He was briefly aware of Temari thanking him and kissing his cheek. He nodded muttering something. He wasn't sure what. Maybe it was a no problem or a thanks, but he didn't know. He moved slowly looking at Gaara. "...." He stared silently. Did Gaara really just say that? Did he mean it or was it just exhaustion and the drugs talking? Maybe he didn't hear Gaara correctly. Naruto blushed darkly thinking for a moment not moving. After a while he looked at the machine wondering if Gaara would be fine alone for a little bit while he went to go eat. He was wary of leaving Gaara's side buy he was hungry and wanted to think for bit. He sighed a he slowly stood and left the room.

Gaara woke up in an empty room. He figured Naruto just stepped out for a little while. He pulled out the needle and stood. His legs wobbled a little bit, but he regained his balance. He went to the closet and got some decent clothes he could go out in. He grabbed an iPod and walked out. Temari was sitting on the couch and Gaara could hear Naruto in the kitchen. "Gey Temari?" Temari looked up. "GAARA! YOUR AWAKE?!" she said practically yelling. "Um..yeah?" he looked at her like she was crazy. "Well I'm going for a brief walk. I'll be back in thirty minutes to an hour. Call me on my cell if you need me." "ok..." Gaara walked out and explored. He needed time to think and walks helped him do that. He turned on one of his favorite songs. Silence bothered him right now. He remembered telling Naruto he loved him. He didn't know why he had said that. Sure, that was how he felt,but he didn't want Naruto to know that. What if he thought he was weird? He sighed feeling upset.

Temari went in the kitchen. "Hey..Gaara's up. He went for a walk...I think he wanted to think about some things." she knew Gaara only went on walks when he needed to think. She looked at Naruto. He seemed dazed. "Are you ok?" she wondered what could be wrong. Gaara was fine and they had been getting along it seemed. "Did Gaara do something to you?" she had noticed both boys seemed flustered. She had known Gaara for his short fuse. "Did he yell at you? I'm sorry if he did...he can be a jerk sometimes, but he cares about you." she smiled. She had no idea what Gaara had really said to Naruto.

Naruto nodded numbly then paused, "Huh? What...no...no he didn't...he didn't yell..." Naruto said softly thinking. He was still thinking about what Gaara said. An idea hit him then, as he turned to Temari suddenly animated, "Hey Temari...did Gaara...ever you know say something weird to anyone before...when he starts to fall asleep?" He asked looking at her expectantly.