I do Not own Naruto.

Finally, a new chapter. It's done in JUST Naruto's point of view. First day out of the hospital. From now on, I may randomly throw Deidara and Itachi in because I just fell in love with how I made them. Haha.

"Finally, freedom." I whisper, dropping that happy-go-lucky attitude when I step into my apartment. Gaara's eyes had been watching all day. If it wasn't Gaara, it was a nurse. Mainly, though, Gaara was the one watching. Now, the door is closed. I can go back to what I was doing. Someone has bothered filling my cabinets. Without a second thought about the money or time taken to get the food, I throw such temptations out. Then, the mirror becomes my best friend.

When I stare into it, part of me screams about how tiny I've gotten, how that's not muscle, it's bone. A bigger part screams about how sickenly fat I am. The hospital pumped me full of food-like things and I gained weight. How could I be so stupid as to be found out?

A knock on the door brings me to my senses. When I answer it, it's Sasuke who just pushes his way into the room. "I heard what happened. I can't stay long, but I was near and wanted to make sure you ate something before I left, so..." He actually goes through my trash, finds a tub of strawberries, washes them off, and sets them on the table. Here's my ex-best friend/ex-lover and a traitor to the town fixing me strawberries. Sighing to himself, he goes searching for a knife to cut them with. "Your house is a mess."

"Thanks. I spend hours cleaning it and messing it back up." With that, he turns, on heel, and looks at me. Those dark eyes steal away at my soul like always and my heart starts beating just slightly quicker. Then I remember Gaara. The way he's been there since day one, encouraging me to be better soon.

"You're really sick, Naruto. Like this, you'll never be as strong as I am." Looking away from him, I almost admit that that's how it started. Training so much I forgot to eat and then wanting something more came in.

"I know." I mutter and pop a strawberry into my mouth. Chew. Chew. Chew. Okay, now...you have to swollow, Naruto, and not puke it up later. You have to get better. If not to be stronger than Sasuke then to keep Gaara from worrying.

"Good, you're eating. I have to go." With that, he's out the window. I put the strawberries in the sink so that I don't have to look at them any longer and it looks like I tried eating something. Gaara walks into the apartment, though, not long after I put them in the sink.

"Hey, Naruto." He kisses my forhead. "I know you said to not come in without knocking, but the door was open, so I figured you were decent." Then he goes to make my dinner. "How would you like soup?" He's making himself comfortable in my kitchen when he sees the strawberries. "Were you eating these?" When he asks, he turns. When he turns, he looks at me with huge eyes.

"I had a forth of one."

"Good, because I don't want you to eat too much before dinner or you won't be able to eat dinner. The doctors say that your stomach is quite small."

"I know."

"And they want you on a nearly liquid diet with a little bit of food thrown in."

"Yeah."

"You're trying to get better, right?"

There's a long silence. I honestly have to think about this. Before this, I had dreams, I think. Hokage, right? To beat Sasuke, right? Now, food consumes my life, even if I don't consume it. Gaara doesn't look at me while I think of an answer.

"Yeah. I wanna be hokage!" I say it with a huge grin on my face even though he's not looking at me.

"Then you have to eat. That way you can get stronger. Remember, I'm Kazakage and it's really hard." He's cooking and it smells great and I wonder to the table. If he cooks for me everyday like this, I may just become a "normal" person after all.