Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Yeah, it's been a while. Late November I had been officially been diagnosed with insomnia and the accompanying induced depression from being unable to sleep. Since my case is more severe than most, I've been testing different prescriptions to find something that works, but for a couple of months there, things weren't working. I'm finally feeling more like myself now—though I'm still afflicted with being unable to sleep—so I'm back with my writing. Hope y'all like it.

Onwards with the chapter

Tsunade frowned as she looked out the window.

It was pouring rain outside, and the area was expecting a thunder storm later in the evening.

While that in itself was not necessarily a bad thing for herself, she was worried about what it meant for her favorite patient, Naruto.

The boy did not like rain at all, much less thunder storms.

At first, when she had noticed it when she was occupying his room for therapy, she had not thought much about it. It had only stormed twice during that time.

For the first storm, Naruto had not opened up yet to her. She had not thought much about it when he refused to do so much as to peek out from under the covers of his bed. Back then, though, Tsunade had not placed any significance with this behavior; Naruto had rarely moved away from his bed at that point.

It was the second storm that had alerted Tsunade to the boy's aversion to such weather.

At that point of Naruto's therapy, he had allowed himself to speak with Tsunade, and even had accomplished the greater feat of tolerating Kakashi's presence in the room. He was no longer on constant watch, but rather throughout Tsunade's work hours since he had asked to be allowed to sleep on his own; something that had been immediately granted to him.

When Tsunade had entered his room that day, having been late because traffic was hell whenever it rained, she had been shocked to see that essentially all of Naruto's progress had flown out of the window.

At first, Tsunade thought that Naruto had left his room. She supposed that he could have gone to the bathroom, the common area, or to visit some of the other members he had come to the hospital with.

Tsunade had almost left the room to go search for her patient, but then she had heard a feint whimpering that had been near inaudible over the sound of the rain slamming against the window in the room or the sporadic rumbles of thunder. It had taken over five minutes of searching for Tsunade to discover that Naruto had been hiding underneath the bed, wrapped up in his blankets.

It was devastating to see her patient in such a state. It was worse, still, when she had attempted to coax him from his hiding place and had caused him to panic. She had inadvertently made things even worse by forgetting to declare temporary solitary treatment so no one else would enter the room.

An hour after Tsunade had calmed Naruto down enough to peek his head outside of his blankets and to stop straining to distance himself any more than he possibly could, Kakashi had knocked on the door.

As soon as Naruto heard the noise outside his room, he became inconsolable. His hands had desperately grasped his head before covering himself in his blankets again, rocking himself back and forth while he begged to not be hurt. His voice cracked many times in his desperation between his sobs and feeble gasps. The only other word Tsunade had been able to discern was 'monster'.

Nothing Tsunade had done had any positive effect on her patient. It seemed like all she had done was worsen the situation.

Kakashi seemed to have some foresight on things, as he had gathered the others in that group that had stayed at the hospital: Gaara, Killer B, Utakata, and a girl named Yugito.

He did not announce that they were coming in, having avoided knocking on the door. It had worked for the purpose of not scaring Naruto anymore with noises from outside, as the boy probably could not hear much over his pleas to be left alone, but it had definitely been a surprise for Tsunade.

Before she could ask, or say, anything, Kakashi had pinned her with a hard warning glare and had pressed a finger to his mask to let her know to be quiet.

Kakashi had also silently ordered those who he bad brought with him to replace Tsunade in Naruto's room. None of them had left until the storm had passed, only opening the door long enough to ask for food and to receive it.

Neither she nor Kakashi knew what had happened after the two doctors had given the group privacy. The four that had helped Naruto refused to give any indication about what was wrong or any useful information. The most they would say was simply that Naruto did not like the rain and that he hated thunderstorms even more.

The memory made the scowl on Tsunade's expression deepen. Yes, she understood that those who had been kidnapped only trusted each other, but was it too much to ask that they at least share the method they used to calm Naruto down?

She sighed for what felt like the hundredth time since the forecast had called for rain.

Tsunade knew that it was selfish of her to demand or to even ask about what those eight had gone through. When Kakashi had told her about what he had learned about their confinement, she—

…She still felt nauseous even thinking about it…

Looking to the side, Tsunade could see that it was around mid-afternoon.

A large pile of paperwork covered her desk, making Tsunade furrow her eyebrows with annoyance.

There was a meeting between the heads of the different wings of the hospital earlier in the morning and had only ended a half an hour ago. These things were probably 'necessary', seeing as they discussed budgets and other stuff that was most likely important, but Tsunade had not paid much attention to it. She had been worried all morning about how Naruto would react during the storm.

When the meeting had finally let out, her assistant, Shizune had told her that there was 'only a little' bit of paperwork for her waiting on her desk. Before Tsunade could ask anything specific, though, her assistant had run off.

Right before Tsunade had opened her door, and right before Tsunade could strangle her assistant for such a blatant lie!

The window suddenly started to rattle with the force of the wind, causing Tsunade to transfer her scowl from her desk to the window.

Her scowl was shortly wiped off her face when she saw that it was not only the wind that had picked up, but there was also some sleet mixing in with the torrential rain!

Paperwork be damned!

Tsunade needed to check on Naruto!

Grabbing her I.D. so she could get by checkpoint—why the hell did she even need to deal with that formality?! She was the fucking head of this branch of the hospital—Tsunade rushed out of her office.

Along the way, Shizune walked out of one of the rooms holding up another stack of papers that had almost tipped out of her grasp with the speed Tsunade was walking down the hallway. She had been so close…. Next time she'd definitely knock over the papers.

"Hey!" Shizune called after her. Judging by the other echoes of heels that were not her own, Tsunade assumed that her assistant was attempting to follow her.

She had no time for that.

"Shizune!" Tsunade called out in her authoritative tone she usually reserved for the other heads of the hospital.

It must have worked, because she could no longer hear an accompanying echo of footsteps.

She did not wait for her assistant to say anything as she called back in the same tone of voice, "It just started to sleet!"

"Understood!" Shizune called out.

Tsunade did not acknowledge the response since she had just turned around the corner. She did not need to, though, because she had made sure that all staff working on the floor understood the simple rule of 'do not disturb the patients when it rained'.

Although Naruto was the only one she herself had witnessed having a strong negative reaction to the rain, she had been informed that it had applied to all of those who had been taken by the Akatsuki.

However, it had also been made clear that Naruto had the worst reaction of them all.

Tsunade frowned as she stopped in front of the elevator, waiting for it to reach her level so she could travel down to the patients' floor.

She wished she knew what the connection was between the patients and the rain.

Kakashi had not mentioned anything about the weather when he had recounted the information he had learned about their entrapment. In fact, Tsunade understood that those who had been kidnapped had been kept inside….wherever they were.

But that hardly mattered, Tsunade decided as she decided to forego the elevator completely and continued down the stairs.

While she traveled down, she wondered what she should do first. She knew that she should visit both Naruto and Kakashi.

Her decision was made instantaneously—to visit Naruto first—but she had made a mental note to assess how Naruto was handling this weather. If he was relatively calm, then she would just visit Kakashi afterwards.

But in the more likely event that Naruto could not handle this sleet and rain with the promise of a full blown storm in the near future, she would make Kakashi gather the rest of Naruto's friends at the hospital. She was relatively sure that only the three other boys were left here as well, and that the girl had gone home after she had gotten over her spout of night terrors.

Tsunade could not recall much about how those others had reacted to the weather during the last storm—since her attention was focused solely on her patient—but she was fairly certain that only the girl had cried when she heard thunder. It was not as clear as Naruto's reactions in Tsunade's memories both in part of because the boy was her patient and because the girl had been relatively easy to calm down.

She was a little out of breath when she had reached the doors for the residential ward, but she refused to let it show. After all, it would help no one, least of all the patients, to see her have difficulties in breathing.

Besides, she kinda sorta seemed a wee bit ballistic the last time she came to this ward out of breath with Kakashi…

Not wanting to repeat that, she straightened her jacket and made herself more presentable before she opened the first set of doors.

Her I.D. was already in her hand as she smiled at the nurse behind the station.

The nurse blinked a few times before she nodded and she pushed the button to unlock the doors.

A little worried, Tsunade asked, "Are you feeling alright?" If the nurse was feeling sick, then she should really be at home. The last thing these patients needed was for an illness to start spreading.

The nurse shook her head before she—unsuccessfully—tried to hold back a yawn.

"I'm fine," she said as she rubbed an eye, "Just a bit tired."

"Are you too tired to continue working?" Tsunade asked; it would not do well to have a nurse asleep on the job in this ward. It could be all too easy for the patients to misinterpret a hazy inattentiveness as targeted ignoring of a patient.

The nurse's eyes widened as she said, "Oh no, Ma'am! I can work!"

Tsunade's eyebrows rose with surprise. Then she realized that the urgency in the nurse's tone was out of fear for being fired.

But before she could assure the nurse that her job was safe—and that she would simply be relocated for the day so that she did not have to directly deal with the patients—the nurse had spoken again, "All I need is another coffee!"

Tsunade was about to explain herself more properly, when the nurse explained, "It's just a case of the Mondays, you know?" she paused to yawn. She gave a sheepish grin and said, "The rain doesn't help much, either."

The head doctor wanted to curse the weather. Not only was it most likely detrimental for her patients' mental health, but now it was causing the nurses to come down with a worse case of 'the Mondays'.

Confident that the nurse had finished, Tsunade said, "Yes, that's what I want to talk about." She didn't have much time to spare; she needed to see Naruto as soon as possible to assess his condition.

"Ma'am?" the nurse sounded confused.

Sighing, Tsunade realized that in her haste, she had not properly said anything.

But she didn't have time for this.

Realizing that she was still in the little locker room, Tsunade gestured towards the door.

The nurse jumped a little before pressing the button, blushing a little with embarrassment.

Once Tsunade was through the door, she ordered, "Because of the storm today, I need you to tell everyone that we're going with the rain procedures. Ask Shizune to explain things to those who don't understand."

Tsunade glanced at the nurse's I.D. badge for her name and said, "I'm counting on you, Tsuki."

She did not stay long enough to receive any response. But she did not need to, as she fully trusted Shizune to enact proper procedures in her stead. She wished that her two murses were on duty all day, but they mostly worked nights.

Maybe she could rework things so they should automatically need to work on rainy days. They were her more practical muscle, since it would reduce her soothing feminine demeanor with the patients if they saw her unleash her strength.

Ah well, Shizune will take care of things.

But right now, Tsunade needed to see Naruto.

Walking down the corridor, she saw that things were quieter than usual, though doors were kept open. Usually, patients enjoyed their privacy.

Curious, but overall nothing Tsunade would worry about.

When she finally reached the end of the hallway, she saw that Naruto's door was also wide open.

That was a good sign…maybe…she hoped.

If she was being honest, Tsunade would admit that she actually had no idea what to expect. Naruto had made grand leaps in recovery since the last storm. But the heavy rain, current sleet, and promise for a fast-approaching thunderstorm might make all that progress be nullified.

But luckily for the head doctor, she would not be honest with herself.

If she acted like she knew exactly what was going on around her and knew several ways to handle everything, then that confidence and calm will translate to the patients, and they in turn will be calmer.

It was standard procedure.

Next to the door, standing by the wall, Tsunade hesitated. Should she knock on the door?

It had been detrimental when Kakashi had done so months ago. But what if not announcing her presence right away would hold the same effect?

After debating a bit, she decided that she would quietly look through the door and assess things from there. She used to go things by the fly all the time back when she had regularly dealt with patients before becoming head. She shouldn't have too much trouble.

With a quick breath to calm herself down a little, Tsunade walked forwards and entered Naruto's room.

Naruto was sitting on his bed against the headboard. The blankets were covering his legs and he had not seemed to change out of his pajamas. Though he was wearing a sweatshirt as well. He seemed to be awake, as he was sitting upright, albeit hunched over with his knees up; but Tsunade could not see his face since he had it buried against his little stuffed Kakashi that was resting on his knees.

He was sitting still, and Tsunade could not tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Naruto?" she called out softly, pitching her voice a little higher than usual to ensure he would not assume a man was in the room as well.

The blonde shifted his head a little so he could see Tsunade, but had not taken it off of his doll on his knees.

"Hey, Granny," he greeted. His voice was not strained like she was expecting, but it was obviously subdued from the usual tone and volume the boy would normally speak with.

Usually being called 'Granny', as he was apt to do, would annoy Tsunade because she was certainly not old enough to be anyone's grandmother…but at the moment, the name brought her joy. Her little boy was doing so much better than she had expected; or even hoped to expect!

Smiling gently, Tsunade asked, "Can I sit with you?"

Naruto did a slight jerking motion with one of his shoulders while he turned his face around to bury itself in the doll's fluff again.

Taking that as an affirmative gesture, Tsunade walked forwards and lightly sat herself down at the edge of Naruto's bed.

She made a bit of a show while she situated herself. After she was seated, Tsunade straightened out her doctor's coat, as well as smoothing out the blanket she was sitting on.

Although Naruto seemed to be remarkably unaffected by the weather—at least in comparison to his previous reactions to storms—Tsunade was not going to assume anything.

After she had finished, she turned her head to the side to see Naruto asked, "How are you feeling today, Naruto?"

He didn't answer at first, and even though Tsunade was anxiously waiting for an answer, she knew not to rush him.

Taking in a deep breath, Naruto quietly answered, "I'm fine."

Tsunade scrutinized her little boy. Although he appeared calm, she had noticed that he was breathing heavier than usual.

It was obvious to her that he was struggling to control his breaths. She herself had been the one to teach him how after he had started to trust her. Suck in for ten seconds, and then breathe out for the same allotment of time.

Though Tsunade had recognized what her little Naruto was attempting to do, she could also see that he was failing in that regard. He was able to breathe in for five uninterrupted seconds, but was too quick to exhale.

Then without looking up, Naruto spoke up, "Can you please stop staring at me, Granny?"

Tsunade jumped a little, not realizing just how long she had been staring at her little boy.

Acquiescing to his request, she turned her head to face the doorway in front of her. Smiling a little, she asked in a light tone, "How did you know I was looking at you?" She laughed to herself a little as she recalled one phone call from Jiraiya when the man had been babysitting his godson. The two boys had been playing hide and seek at the moment when Jiraiya had called her, claiming that he couldn't find the little boy, even though she could clearly hear Naruto's giggling over the phone.

When Jiraiya had called her again after the kid went home, he had explained that little Naruto absolutely adored the idea that he was invisible whenever he challenged people to play hide-and-seek with him. But Jiraiya had ALSO mentioned that Naruto was absolutely terrible at the game!

The little boy, for some reason, had gotten it into his head that if he can't see anyone, then no one could see him.

Little Naruto had always found it hilarious whenever Jiraiya would playfully—or seriously, in Naruto's mind—call others for help in seeking the little rascal.

The comparatively elderly man would always have the young blonde within sight whenever he would make these calls, thus making it hilarious for both him and the other person on the phone. Naruto had no idea, and it had taken him years to realize just how bad he was at the game.

Tsunade missed those days.

Naruto took a sharp breath at her question; instantly gaining Tsunade's complete attention.

"It's…" Naruto paused and the doctor felt him tense his muscles against the bed. He took another breath and whispered in a strained voice, "… It's hard feeling to forget."

His answer wiped any trace of a smile off of Tsunade's expression.

The Akatsuki.

Thinking quickly, Tsunade said in a firm voice, "You are safe, Naruto. Do you understand?"

Naruto shifted a little, but Tsunade could not tell what he was doing. She had felt it through the bed moving minutely, but true to her patient's request, the doctor was not looking at him.

"I am not looking at you," Tsunade reminded the boy in the same firm, but sympathetic tone, "so I need you to cooperate with me. I can feel it if you press down on the mattress. So one push for yes, and two for no. Understand?"

Tsunade could feel her own muscles tense, but she strained to keep herself still so she could feel the—any—movement on the bed.

A pregnant pause.

Then a sigh.

"I understand you, Granny," Naruto mumbled.

Oh thank the lord! Tsunade unconsciously sagged her muscles as she sighed in relief.

Discreetly wiping a stray tear from her eye, she scolded her little boy in a carefully light tone, "Don't call me 'Granny'."

"But you're as old as one," Naruto countered, as he always did. His tone was still reserved. It was obvious, however, that he was making an effort to hide how subdued he was.

"Shut up, I'm only twenty-nine," Tsunade continued to say.

There was a pause before Naruto's snort. He compensated for the pause by hurrying to repeat, "Twenty-nine?"

"Yes, twenty-nine," Tsunade subtly added in more irritation than usual to her tone.

"How many years have you been twenty-nine?" Naruto asked, failing to add in the normal level of mischief in his own tone.

"It doesn't matter, because I am only twenty-nine," Tsunade finished their ritual with a more-forced-than-usual huff. If Naruto wanted to act as if nothing was wrong, then she would play along.

Now she understood what Kakashi had meant when he said how Naruto's ultimately detrimental self-defense mechanisms were helping him to recover…for the moment.

Naruto shifted again.

Then he asked, "So 'sup, Granny? I wasn't expecting you today."

"Mm? You were expecting someone else?" Tsunade asked, leaning back into the bed a bit as she made herself comfortable.

Naruto snorted quietly to himself and mumbled, "You're starting to sound like Kakashi."

Tsunade snorted even louder at that, mimicking Naruto a bit, and said, "You mean he is sounding like ME. Don't forget who hired that scarecrow."

"He told you what his name meant?" Naruto asked, a little louder than before. His voice was no longer muffled, meaning that he must have stopped pressing his face into the doll atop his knees.

"Nope," Tsunade smiled, keeping her facial muscles openly relaxed and stress-free, "I've known that for a while now." Jiraiya had told her while he was recommending the newly certified doctor to her new wing of the hospital.

Pushing past that before it anything could show on her face in case Naruto was looking at her like she had suspected, she said, "But more importantly: he always reminds me of the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. He's a fool and an idiot, but there's a brain SOMEWHERE in there."

Naruto chuckled at her joke.

Tsunade closed her eyes while she smiled a bit wider. Her little boy certainly was a typical teenage boy; drawing amusement from good-natured insults on people he knew.

Wanting to keep things going, Tsunade continued to say, "Did you know that man has never worn proper work attire since coming to work here?"

"For really?" Naruto asked, lightly incredulous, "Even on his first day?"

Tsunade shook her head, "On his first day, he wore his black sweats and a green vest."

Naruto chuckled again.

Smiling wider, Tsunade continued to say, "He was also wearing the strangest accessories."

"What? You mean like some necklace?" Naruto asked, the volume of his voice rising to just below his usual level everyone had come to expect with him.

Her eyes still closed as if looking back on the memory, she smiled wider and said with a slight chuckle in her voice, "Nope. He wore fingerless gloves—"

"—Like Ash Ketchum?" Naruto interrupted her with a sudden excited vigor.

Tsunade opened her eyes—with a controlled speed—and looked over, openly confused, at her little boy and asked, "Who?"

Naruto flushed a little, and looked away, allowing Tsunade to quickly assess his physical demeanor in her peripheral vision. He was still sitting up against the headboard, hugging his knees. But his arms were wrapped loosely around his legs, as if simply holding them in place rather than squeezing them in comfort. His shoulders were no longer tense.

Blues eyes returned to Tsunade. She silently applauded herself for keeping her own eyes on his face so he could not tell that she had been, using his previous term, 'staring' at him.

"Ash Ketchum," he repeated, his voice steady since his attention was focused on passing on this information, "He's the main character in Pokémon!"

Tsunade made a show of raising her eyebrows and nodding as if she understood what he had just said. Poke-ee-mon?

Naruto smiled when he saw that she understood what he was talking about; squinting his eyes and rubbing the back of his neck as his blush receded.

Nodding as she closed her eyes again, leaning back further against the bed until she was fully lying down on her back, Tsunade continued what she was saying, "Kakashi wore fingerless gloves, his mask, and even a headband."

"Like Sakura?" Naruto asked curiously.

Picturing her young employee, proudly showing off an assortment of headbands, Tsunade shook her head. Sakura enjoyed feminine accessories, ranging from simple pink to elaborate gold.

"Kakashi's headband was black, and it was more of a sweatband." She opened an eye to peek at Naruto, who seemed confused, "Which is basically a thick headband worn around the forehead during workouts so someone's face isn't dripping with sweat."

Naruto nodded his understanding, so Tsunade closed her eye and continued to describe Naruto's doctor's strange first impression to fellow staff on his first day of employment.

"Except he was not wearing his sweatband like one normally would. Instead, he wore it like an eye-patch," she recalled with an exasperated chuckle.

Naruto laughed; honest to goodness laughed. "Whoa! For really?" he exclaimed.

Tsunade laughed as well, for Naruto's laugh had always, always been infectious. She could only respond with a nod due to how hard she was laboring to breathe between her laughs.

It took a while to be able to breath properly again, but Tsunade did not mind in the slightest. In fact, she even made herself start chuckling again to incite Naruto to laugh even more; which had succeeded four times.

After things had quieted down, Naruto had relaxed enough to stretch out his legs.

"You never told me what you're doing here," Naruto reminded his first doctor.

Tsunade shrugged, not wanting her patient to know just how worried she was about him. So instead, she said in a carefully light tone, "There was a meeting between the heads of the different wings of the hospital. After it finally ended, Shizune made me do paperwork. So while she was busy, I slipped away, so now I'm hiding."

Naruto laughed lightly, "You can't hide form work forever."

Tsunade pouted in a purposefully immature way, "I can try."

Naruto laughed again, and fell into silence.

This silence was peaceful, though, so Tsunade made absolutely no effort to interrupt.

Perhaps all Naruto needed to remain in control of himself and his emotions today was company. The boy always was rather social; Jiraiya had often complained about large numbers of people dropping by to visit whenever he was babysitting the little boy.

The boy was also the favorite of the residence ward because of just how talkative he was. Her little boy could hardly go three minutes without starting up with someone new to talk about; no one was exempt from becoming a part of his conversations.

After someone had been a resident for two days and Naruto could feel safe, then he would be chatting their ears off.

He was a regular fixture in the resident common room; often preferring to hang out where people would congregate. He'd watch movies with the new residents, no matter how many times he himself had already seen those only movies they had available.

The boy was often the first person there after therapy and was the last one to leave before curfew. The blonde was there more often than not when he was not in his own room.

Naruto simply thrived when he was surrounded by people. So maybe all he needed to survive for the day and through the upcoming storm was if he had company?

…But that did not explain the boy's peculiar behavior the last two times it had stormed during his stay…

Immediately Tsunade stopped those thoughts in their tracks.

She would NOT think about that. Not at all.

If she did, then Naruto could pick up on that; patients always were a too receptive towards whatever doctors were feeling. She did not want to risk Naruto thinking about the storm at all.

But, unfortunately, none of that was up to her.

Thunder was starting to sound from outside.

It was a soft rumble; merely a warning of sorts. There was no crack from lightning, nor was there any flash. The sound could have been easily mistaken for a large piece of furniture being moved somewhere nearby. In fact, the sound was so quiet that had the two occupants of the room been laughing as they had been moments ago, or even having a nice conversation between themselves, they probably would have missed it completely.

But they had heard it.

The start of the storm.

Naruto had reacted immediately. His knees had shot up once again and his arms wrapped around himself.

Tsunade, though, made sure that she did not react. The doctor remained where she was: laying down at the foot of the bed with her eyes closed. She was going to ensure that she would remain calm and hope that her calm would translate to Naruto.

Not wanting her patient to become self-conscious of his actions, Tsunade asked in a carefully drowsy tone, "Mm? Did you hear something?"

She would base her next actions on how Naruto would respond to the question.

When he did not reply, Tsunade peeked an eye open, and stole a glance at him.

He was hunched over his legs, much like when she had first stepped into the room. But unlike then, his head was not pressed into his doll of Kakashi, though the doll had returned to its stop. Instead, he was looking out the window with wide, afraid eyes.

Naruto started to shift his head, so Tsunade immediately shut her eye.

The room was tense. There was a stagnant pause, and then Naruto finally answered.

His voice was once again muffled, as he said in the same strained voice, "Yea."

Tsunade waited for a moment, before tentatively asking, "…What did you hear?"

"…Thunder…" Naruto whispered.

He had spoken so quietly, so quickly, that the doctor could not decipher much from his tone. All she could tell was that he was most definitely tense. It sounded as if he was trying very hard to keep his mind off of whatever hell the storm had reminded him of, but was quite the struggle.

Tsunade opened her eyes and could see that Naruto had indeed buried his head back into the doll on his knees.

This was not the demeanor of someone who wanted too many people around. But maybe he needed one or maybe even two people with him. She could not tell for sure, though.

"Naruto?" Tsunade asked softly, but in a firm voice. She was going to be his strong, confident, and calm doctor who could help him deal with everything he needed help with.

Her patient did not reply right away, but he shifted a little after a pause.

Tsunade sat up properly again, but she did not look over. She was going to respect her patient's request.

"Is there anything you need?" she asked in the same tone of voice as before.

Naruto did not reply.

Undeterred, Tsunade reminded him, "One push for yes, two pushes for no."

It took a moment, but Naruto eventually responded with a single push onto the mattress.

"Humor me for a bit," Tsunade commanded, "while I ask you some dumb questions." She didn't want him to focus on her worry for him but hopefully rather assume these were standard procedure.

Naruto pressed onto the mattress once to show that he understood what his doctor was saying.

Tsunade nodded, even though she knew full well that her patient was not looking up at her, and asked, "Do you know what building you are in?"

One push onto the mattress.

"Do you know what floor of this building you are in?"

One push onto the mattress.

"Do you know what room of this floor you are in?"

One push onto the mattress.

"Do you know who is in this room with you?"

No push onto the mattress.

Tsunade tensed. Did Naruto think that they were not alone in the room? Did he believe that the Akatsuki was there? Did he believe that no one was there? Did he believe that he was alone?

She waited for two seconds…three seconds…four seconds…

Before she could repeat her question, Naruto shifted a bit in his place.

There was a shaky intake of breath, and then her patient whispered, "I know you're here with me, Granny."

Tsunade smiled widely, and quietly scolded, "Don't call me that."

Naruto did not tell her that she was old, like he usually did.

That was fine, though. Tsunade knew that he did not need to keep up any pretenses with himself at the moment. All he needed to do was continue reassuring himself of his safety.

The doctor was worried, though. Naruto had never shown this version of himself to her; he himself had probably never been aware of this side of himself. As a consequence, though, Tsunade did not know the best option to take.

Tsunade was confident, however, that they would be able to figure something out.

Clearing her throat, Tsunade repeated in her firm but gentle tone, "Is there anything you need?"

She heard Naruto's head shifting a bit against the cotton of the Kakashi-doll, and assumed that meant that he had shaken his head no.

She amended her question, "Is there anything you want?"

Thunder rumbled outside.

Tsunade looked worriedly over to the window—and saw that it was raining harder out there than it had been when she first entered the room-before turning back to her patient.

Naruto huddled closer to himself. The he whispered, "C-can…" he took a breath, "…can you bring me another blanket?"

"Of course," Tsunade replied immediately. His wish would be her command.

She waited to see if he was going to request for anything else—his favorite snack, perhaps—but he remained silent. Thunder rumbled outside again.

Keeping herself from looking at the window, so it would not incite the same reaction from her already weary patient, Tsunade frowned to herself. Naruto was obviously bothered by the storm, though he was handling things remarkably well. There was no way that she was going to abandon him.

"How about I get someone else to get you another blanket?" Tsunade suggested, allowing herself to look at the window. It was clear to her that her patient was not going to be lifting his head up from the doll anytime soon.

Thunder rumbled again, making her internally curse at the window. Can't the storm tell it is distressing her patient?

"No, that's fine. But it's getting cold," Naruto mumbled the last part, looking up to meet Tsunade's eye, who had turned to face him.

She could tell that was an excuse; but she did not know what it was an excuse for. "I don't want to leave you alone," she told him outright.

Naruto's eyes softened while his eyes were still locked with her own, but they soon disappeared after thunder rumbled outside again.

"I won't be alone for long," Naruto said in a soft, but unwavering voice, "Kakashi will be here soon."

She should have known. After their uneasy start, the doctor and patient had truly become close.

Smiling, Tsunade asked, "Alright. Should I get him a blanket too?" Kakashi might understand why Naruto was asking for a blanket and be able to do something with it to further help the blonde.

Naruto shook his head, still hunched down, but no longer leaning against the doll. He answered, "It's fine. Kakashi is only coming by to supervise while Sasuke is visiting, and that bastard doesn't need a blanket."

Tsunade's eyebrows shot up in surprise and she struggled to regain a calm façade.

She had no idea what Kakashi was thinking, but she would definitely put a stop to it.

"Are you sure?" Tsunade burst out, unable to stop herself, "I can cancel the visit if you want."

Her little boy had enough trouble with new people on normal, NON-storming days! What was that idiotic excuse for a doctor thinking?! HE had been the one to receive that phone call, from whomever, about Naruto's trauma!

HE SHOULD KNOW WHY NARUTO COULDN'T HANDLE THIS!

Brilliant doctor or not, that man was going to be fired.

Naruto surprised his doctor, though, by shrugging.

It was not all that expressive, but it was most definitely nonchalant. There was no mistaking that nonverbal expression of not caring. It was certainly not something that Tsunade had expected from him…ESPECIALLY not during a thunder storm.

She was still speechless when Naruto began explaining himself, "I promised Sakura I'd get to know the bastard better."

When Tsunade did not respond, Naruto continued to give context, though he did not look up or speak in any louder volume, "She passed by him when he was leaving and she was coming into my room. Apparently that dick is cute, so she wants me to learn more about him and then introduce her."

"Isn't…" Tsunade struggled to find words, "isn't he around your age?" With this question, hopefully she'd be able to fool Naruto into thinking that her shock is purely centered on Sakura, and not in actuality focused on him.

She could not believe he was offering to see someone. He was offering to see someone new. He was offering to see someone new during a THUNDER STORM.

Naruto shrugged again, "I'm pretty sure. But she says that age is just a number."

He did not bring up that Tsunade herself had used those very same words in defending herself against the nickname Naruto had bestowed upon her. That meant that he was not as relaxed as he would have her believe.

Recognizing his avoidance of anything to do with the storm, Tsunade decided to drop the whole new-visitor thing.

She stood up, and made a show of smoothing out her jacket in case Naruto's eyes were on her. It was essential that he understood that she was simply standing up and not in any hurry to leave him alone. Today he would be more sensitive to things like that.

"Alright," she said in a light tone, looking back at him. His eyes were down, though he was merely hunched over. "Is there any blanket it particular you want?"

"An orange one," Naruto answered, leaning his forehead against his Kakashi doll once again.

"Of course," Tsunade answered, turning to leave. She walked with more force than usual, but that was so Naruto would be able to hear her heels as she walked away.

She would get Naruto his blanket, but she would take a few moments more to deliver it than he might have been expecting.

She needed to speak with a certain idiotic excuse of a doctor.

Hell

Sasuke was suspicious.

Everyone was acting weird today. He knew that not many people liked thunder storms—Hebi being the exception—but this was ridiculous.

When Itachi had picked him up from school, and all during the drive to the hospital, the older Uchiha had been way tense.

Sasuke could understand things to an extent; storms used to be a bummer. Hebi had taught him how awesome things could be in a storm, and they totally had the best time it had stormed since they had climbed onto a phone pole and played chicken. But before he had met Hebi, he would spend most of the days inside thinking about his parents.

But seriously, Itachi was taking things to an extreme.

The younger of the two had never been one for small talk, but things were getting too silent in the car.

Lately, though, Itachi had been starting up conversations and shit during their drives. It was annoying, but in a comforting kind of way. Especially since his older brother was beginning to act like his old self…

Sasuke didn't mind the silence in the car at all, though. All those questions about how his day or how school was were seriously getting annoying. Too much like things had used to be...

When he had brought it up before entering the hospital, Itachi had given a fucking non-answer.

"Thunderstorms aren't pleasant," his older brother had said.

Bullshit.

Sasuke was tempted sigh from it all, but had to restrain himself since he had no idea how much longer he would be alone in this room.

Kakashi had been in the room earlier, but he had stepped out for a bit. More importantly, though, was that he too was suspicious today.

Of course, the psychiatrist was hiding things from the Uchiha. He was acting like he usually did in their sessions, right down to showing up late.

But was strange, though, was his demeanor before the session started.

Usually, Sasuke would be glaring off at the wall while he waited for his idiotic excuse for a doctor to show up to their scheduled appointment. Today, though, he had been staring at the door while he waited. He hadn't forgotten how his doctor had agreed with him last session about hating Itachi and had wanted to continue on that; especially since his older brother was acting stranger than usual today.

When his doctor had entered the room, though, Sasuke's attention had been diverted.

Kakashi had entered the room with a slight frown. Anyone else, that would not have been a problem. Hell, it would have been expected to an extent; it was well known that anyone who had made an Uchiha wait would leave the experience mentally scarred at best.

But Kakashi had seemed exempt from that rule. In fact, Sasuke had rarely seen the guy in any other expression other than his non-expression of not caring; the only other time he had seen that frown was when the other had agreed with him about Itachi for some reason last session.

Sasuke's attention had been immediately diverted to this, and he had been intent on making Kakashi spill his guts. But all the man had said on the subject was that he did not like it when it rained. He had given bullshit answers, saying things like he couldn't wear his favorite hat in the rain, that his socks felt sad when the sun wasn't out to greet them, that his doctor senses kept tingling when it was raining.

SOMEHOW, though, through some sort of psychological magic, Kakashi had successfully shifted the focus from himself to Sasuke's memories of the rain, and the two had been comparing stories.

The Uchiha had no fucking clue how it happened.

So Sasuke had recounted times from childhood, how his mother would take him and Itachi out for a walk after it had rained so they could splash through puddles in their back garden. It had been nice, and something that he had actually missed. He used to get so excited…

But then Kakashi had said that he and a friend had once incited a mud-wrestling competition in high school.

It was on.

This man had no idea who he was dealing with.

Uchihas never lost.

Sasuke had described a few memories of Hebi playing out in the rain while Sasuke had enjoyed watching on. He may have embellished and had said that he himself was joining in on things, but it wasn't that much of a stretch. He had been there, and he had had fun. But an Uchiha would never be caught naked mud-sledding.

Kakashi had countered with a memory spent with his apparent mentor or something. It was vague, but Sasuke guessed that it was some sort of superior…who was a real pig. Apparently the man had taken advantage of a summer rain and had claimed discounts at a local hot spring and had used the downpour to his advantage to hide within the women's side of the bath boarders. Kakashi had apparently been the one to 'rescue' him, but the perverted doctor had proudly accounted that he had copped quite a few feels while he accepted the ladies' thanks for protecting them from some creepy grandpa voyeur claiming his spying was actually 'research'.

The Uchiha had been one story away from winning: he was about to account how last storm it had been Sasuke to suggest climbing up phone poles and playing chicken—to which he had won—but they had been interrupted by a blonde woman in a lab coat that did nothing to hide her enormous rack.

Kakashi was annoyed as well, but he had hidden it well after he had explained to Sasuke that the one who had interrupted them was in fact the head of this wing of the hospital. After doing so, the two had stepped out into the hallway and closed the door.

That in itself was not suspicious; he and Itachi had witnessed quite a few arguments between their parents where their mother was scolding their father for interrupting other families' quality time together while their father had defended that he was their superior so his time was worth the most.

What was suspicious, though, was his doctor's superior's expression when she had interrupted them. She was slightly frowning, but her eyebrows were furrowed differently.

Sasuke had been called into that dumbshit school counselor's office enough times to recognize the expression of someone angry yet concerned.

Kakashi had seemed to expect it, though. Or, well, he seemed to not be surprised by the expression. The visit, yes, he had been almost caught off guard when the door opened—without a knock—yet when he had seen who it was, he definitely had no sign of questioning the expression.

The Uchiha might well be able to recognize the expression, but he could also tell that something was a bit off with it. The problem was, though, was that the only thing he could think of that was off about the expression was that the concern part did not seem to be aimed at his doctor.

But that didn't make any sense. The concern and anger should be focused on the person they are being glared at. That's how it worked; someone does something stupid, but the reason for it all is all sad and shit. Angry glare of concern.

Everything was suspicious, and when that doctor of his walked back into the room, Sasuke was going to get answers.

He was not going to let himself get sidetracked. First Itachi, then Kakashi, and now Kakashi's superior. All of them were acting suspicious and it was more than a simple case of not liking the rain.

Sasuke allowed himself a huff of frustration. Things were taking too long.

He took out his phone to check the time. Phones were not permitted when he was in session, but after his doctor showed up late consecutively for every session and then revealed that he himself had ignored the rule, Sasuke had decided that he could overlook such a detail. Kakashi had seen his phone in earlier sessions, but never commented on it. The Uchiha supposed that it would only be a problem if Sasuke had outright started to text while the other was present.

Twenty-four minutes left of the session.

Well that sucked. That meant he only had about sixteen minutes to interrogate the guy since they went to go visit Naruto during the last ten minutes of his session.

Thinking of the blonde, Sasuke wondered what else he could get from the guy. Hebi had yet to try out their blackout plan since their next convert was this weekend.

If everything worked out great—which it should, that darkness shit was tight—then Sasuke would definitely be digging through the blonde's brain for more.

Naruto had refused to talk about his nightmare, and had compromised by saying something else that he had been afraid of…which meant that whatever he had been dreaming about was way scarier than just being in the dark for a while!

Sasuke was going to find out what happened in that nightmare.

The thought was cut short because there was movement on the other side of the door.

Black eyes focused on the doorknob, which was turning slowly. He was no expert or ninja, but he was fairly certain that the one opening the door was distracted. It wasn't like how his parents would enter a room, but more like the kind he and Itachi would do when they got caught up debating with one another as they opened doors in the Manor. Well, he had never seen it from the other side of the door, but that's what he was going with.

Sure enough, when the door did open—slowly—a crack, Sasuke was able to see Kakashi's hand on the knob and the man's masked face turned not towards the room, but rather towards his big-breasted boss.

While Sasuke could not see his doctor's expression because of that weird, ever-present mask and eye patch, he could see Kakashi's boss's expression.

She was still angry-concerned and all, but the anger had ebbed away. A glare was still in place, but her eyebrows were definitely furrowed in a worried kind of way. She also glanced a few times down the hallway as if to gesture towards something.

Attention shifted back to Kakashi as the man nodded at her. Then he turned his head around and opened the door wider to full arm's length and said, "Hey, kiddo. It's time to go visit Naruto."

Sasuke glared at the term 'kiddo', and pulled out his phone. There were twenty-three minutes left in the session.

"Why so early?" Sasuke asked, looking up at Kakashi and ignoring the woman's slight scowl at this phone.

"Why so serious?" Kakashi countered with an uncaring shrug.

The man then let go of the door, causing it to start to close. It was weighted or whatever that made it close slowly rather than right away, forcing Sasuke to rush a bit to catch the door before it closed all the way.

Once he was out in the hallway, the two adults started walking towards their destination; which Sasuke assumed as the residency ward. Kakashi's boss probably just needed to check something real quick and his doctor most likely decided to take the conversation on the go rather than waste any more time in the session that he had already arrived late to. The woman would almost certainly walk and talk until they reached the residency ward and then move on to talk with other doctors.

Sasuke grabbed the opportunity of walking behind them and out of their peripheral vision to get a good look at the woman who had interrupted his session.

He knew that she had a rack on her bigger than her head, it seemed, but that did not translate to her ass. It was surprising, considering how her breasts had sagged in a way that suggested that they were natural, which seemed to not have applied to her backside. It was shapely he guessed—he had never been all that interested in older females' figures—but it was nothing for Sir Mixalot to rap about.

She was wearing the standard white doctors' coat that ended right above her knees. Her green dress was visible two inches or so below the jacket's cutoff. Sasuke remembered from his frontal view that the dress seemed like the design was modest, but her enormous breasts made that impossible.

The woman was also wearing heels. Her shoes kept making noises as they walked through the hallways. Sasuke wondered if the noisy footsteps was the exact reason that she wore such shoes because all hospital personnel who heard her approaching immediately moved out of the way, as if second nature.

What had caught Sasuke slightly off guard was not what she looked like, though, but rather what she was holding: an orange blanket.

The blanket was certainly not standard for a place like this. Hospital issued linens were typically hard, thin, a bit scratchy and not all that comfortable: quantity over quality was the main factor. Orange was also never standard, seeing as it was a completely obnoxious color and only idiots would claim it to be their favorite. Hospital issued linins were supposed to be bland colors to appease the masses.

Rather than being bland, hard, thin, or a bit scratchy, the blanket in the woman's arms was almost the complete opposite. It was that idiotic, obnoxious color. The material was fluffy and appeared to be soft to the touch. It was most likely bought from a store—an expensive one at that—and brought here.

Sasuke mentally shook his head. It was a blanket, not some puzzle. It was probably for someone in the children's ward and she would drop by there to drop it off after finishing her talk with Kakashi once the two men reached the residence ward. There was no point in looking any deeper into it.

He pushed the matter out of his mind when they reached the doors to the residency ward.

Kakashi opened the door for them, and Sasuke was internally surprised to see the woman enter the small locker-room place with them.

It usually took a few minutes for Sasuke to transfer everything to a locker—what with his piercings and accessories and all—so the doctors probably figured their conversation could last a while longer while Sasuke took his time.

The room was always quiet since the two doorways in and out were so thick, so Sasuke could hear their murmurs while he bent down to unchain his pants.

"—all the doors?" he heard Kakashi ask quietly, just above a whisper.

There was a pause, which Sasuke assumed was because the woman must have nodded her head, before she answered in the same discreet volume, "All the ones allowed. The blinds were pulled up all the way into the nurses' station as well. The only rooms blocked from vision are the bathrooms."

"They would probably appreciate that, though," Kakashi said. A slight pause, then he said, "Tell the murses to place a wedge, though, to keep them open a bit. Not enough to see inside, but enough to show that they are empty. The lights should be kept on as well."

Sasuke was surprised to hear that his doctor was giving commands to the man's boss.

Even more surprising, though, was that the woman was seemingly okay with it as she did not contest the shift in authority but rather said, "Shizune called them in, but our murses won't be able to come for another hour at the earliest. They worked the late shift last night and weren't expecting to come in. Plus, they said that city traffic in this weather is hell, so their half hour commute would probably take a while."

"No one expected the storm to be this bad, so we assumed they would be able to sleep in. You should give those two a raise," Kakashi ruefully chuckled, "or maybe we should listen to them and stop calling them murses."

Tsunade chuckled a bit as well while Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows a bit as he moved onto removing his piercings. Murses? What the hell were they talking about?

Kakashi then ordered, "Then tell the nurses on the floor about the wedges. They should also pass the word on to each other and other residents to only let the doors shut completely when the bathrooms are being used."

"What about those four?" Tsunade asked, again not contesting the shift in authority.

Kakashi must have made some sort of head gesture in a slight pause before saying, "They would probably use their own bathrooms."

The conversation ended there because Sasuke could no longer draw out his removal of accessories and piercings anymore without arousing suspicion. He had to stand up after he collected everything from the small pile of things he removed.

Once he stood up, the adults stopped talking and Kakashi knocked on the window to the nurses' station.

The girl behind the glass nodded as she slid the key to the locker Sasuke regularly used to his doctor. Her eyes glanced over towards the woman, who was getting something from her pocket.

Kakashi handed the key to Sasuke, who then opened the little locker while he dug through his own pocket. He had been here enough times for opening the locker to become muscle memory so he did not need to look at what he was doing.

After the locker was opened, Sasuke deposited his phone. He always found this part of things to be the most annoying, but begrudgingly saw the logic. He had only seen Naruto, but this was the loony bin, so no doubt Kakashi was telling the truth when he said that some people in there wouldn't think twice about tackling normal people like Sasuke and grab their phones and such.

He grabbed a small plastic bag from his pants pocket and dumped his accessories and piercings into it before depositing the bag into the locker as well. Grabbing individual piercings and repeatedly checking to make sure he didn't leave a chain behind or anything got annoying and tedious fast, so he came prepared now.

When everything was inside the locker, Sasuke turned around and handed the key back to Kakashi; their wordless signal that he was ready.

It had taken a half moment longer for Kakashi to accept the key, but that was because the doctor's attention had been on the woman, who was placing something back into her pocket.

Sasuke was thoroughly surprised, though, because after he handed the key back to Kakashi, who in turn slid it back to the nurse, the nurse had pressed the button to unlock the residence door and the woman had not left them, but rather SHE was the one to open the door and walk in before the two men!

Kakashi had not reacted with any surprise whatsoever, and had seemed to expect this, so Sasuke made sure that he himself had not outwardly reacted.

That would be unbecoming of an Uchiha.

Following Kakashi into the residence ward, he soon came to see that the doors thing two doctors had been talking about was actually about this ward.

Every door in the hallway had been opened wide. Sasuke may not have paid much attention at all whenever he would walk through here to visit Naruto, but he was certain that at least a few doors—which he assumed were bedroom doors—had been closed. Having everything be exposed was a bit of a shock.

Indeed, though, as the two had said earlier: the only doors not opened were the bathrooms. It made perfect sake—it was the bathroom, for fuck's sake—but with everything else like this, those closed doors seemed out of place right now.

As they approached Naruto's room, the woman slightly raised an arm, making Kakashi and Sasuke as consequence stop in their tracks.

She turned around and whispered in Kakashi's ear. It was too soft for Sasuke to hear. His doctor nodded, though, before the woman turned around again and entered the room by herself.

Suspicious activity all around.

Sasuke didn't dwell on that for long since the woman inside the room started to talk.

"Naruto?" she had called softly.

The Uchiha was confused; though he would never let it show. She was talking to Naruto, right? The blonde might be in the loony bin and too wired up, but the guy wasn't a baby or in any need of coddling.

"Hey, Granny," Sasuke heard Naruto reply to the woman—Naruto's grandmother?—in a meek voice.

Sasuke's confusion grew. The guy was always shouting when Sasuke visited… The Uchiha had never heard the blonde use a tone as weak as this before.

Suspicious.

"Don't call me 'Granny'," Naruto's grandmother chastised, still in the same comforting tone as before.

There was no reply.

"I brought you that blanket you asked for," Naruto's grandmother then said. This time, her tone wavered a bit and was full of concern; almost nauseatingly so.

There was a long pause.

Then, while there was nothing verbal said, there was shifting around that could be heard.

Sasuke's attention was then turned away as a nurse—thankfully NOT that pink-haired cougar creep—had approached him and Kakashi. She looked stressed, but she had made an effort to hide it and had flashed Sasuke a weary smile as part of her act.

"Sir!" she addressed Kakashi, making Sasuke raise an eyebrow. This was the first time he had witnessed anyone call his doctor anything like that.

"Yes, Tsuki?" Kakashi turned so he was fully facing the nurse and leant against the wall.

"Sir, I was wondering something about today's procedures," she had blurted out. She wasn't all that good at hiding her stress…or how tired she was.

"Ah, yes," Kakashi answered lightly in a calm, nonchalant tone, "Anything in particular?"

"Well…to be honest…Shizune didn't tell us what we should do when interacting with the patients today. She just kept telling us to not bother them," the nurse grabbed a loch of her hair and started to twist it, "but she said nothing about what to say to them or anything! We need to check up on the patients soon, but no one seems to be doing anything!"

Kakashi placed a hand on the nurse' shoulder and ordered, "Calm down."

Remarkably, she did as she was told.

Maybe Sasuke's doctor wasn't so much of an idiot after all.

"You're confusion is understandable, since it's basically our fault after all." Kakashi removed the hand and shrugged as he placed both hands into the pockets of his sweatpants, "All us doctors are stressed today, and we're doing a shitty job at hiding it."

Sasuke's other eyebrow rose to join its brethren. If Kakashi was stressed, then he was making one hell of a performance. But did he really just speak profanity in the hallway of the residency ward?

The nurse noticed that too, as her eyes widened as she whispered, "Sir! We're not supposed to curse out in the hallways! A patient might hear us!"

Kakashi shrugged again and said in a blasé voice, "I didn't say anything worse than B does on a regular basis."

The nurse tried to hold back a giggle—unsuccessfully—and agreed, "I guess not."

Kakashi smiled before returning to his normal, seemingly bored expression and ordered, "The reason Shizune kept telling you to not bother them was because today's procedure is mostly for us doctors. We will be the ones doing your scut work today."

The nurse still looked confused, but noticeably less stressed.

Before she could say anything, Kakashi continued, "You all will still be on the floor, of course. And when you see patients, you should be welcoming, but let them dictate things. So just think of today as a lazy day." He then gestured towards his only visible eye and said, "But not so lazy that you appear to be sleeping on the job."

The nurse jumped a little and blushed as she tried to hide the bags under her eyes.

"Sorry," she said, "Just a case of the Mondays with a side of rain."

Kakashi nodded and said, "Ah yes, the dreaded curse of a new week. But since protocol is easy on you nurses today, you should take some time to take care of this problem so the patients won't think they are the ones tiring you out."

The nurse nodded her head furiously and smiled gratefully at the doctor before rushing off.

Before the man could turn around, Sasuke asked, "Protocol?"

Kakashi peered down at him with his visible eye and said with a shrug, "Patients here don't like the rain."

Sasuke wanted to shout or huff or wildly gesture with frustration.

Don't like the rain? DON'T LIKE THE RAIN?

What kind of shit answer was that? It sounded exactly like Itachi's excuse for storms not being 'pleasant'.

A shit excuse to avoid the real answer; whatever the hell that was.

He did not have much time to dwell on this, though, as soon after Kakashi had told that lie, Naruto's grandmother from inside the room called out to them.

Kakashi quickly responded by pushing himself off the wall he was leaning on and walked into the room. Sasuke trailed behind him.

The Uchiha's eyes widened minutely before he could reign himself in.

Naruto was sitting up on the bed, leaning against the headboard. His knees were covered with hospital-issued blankets already on the bed, and were drawn up so he could wrap his arms—covered in some sweatshirt—around them and lean his head against something on his knees. The orange blanket Naruto's grandmother had been carrying was wrapped around his shoulders.

Naruto's grandmother was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking quite conservative as she stared ahead of herself rather than at the blonde on the bed. Weird.

"Hey, kiddo," Kakashi greeted the boy. He walked over to the side of the bed and leaned against the wall, staring ahead of himself too.

Naruto did not reply right away, and neither did he even look up from pressing his forehead against something on his knees. When he did reply, with a simple, "Hey, Kakashi," it was with the same meek voice Sasuke had heard earlier.

Sasuke was surprised. He hadn't thought that not liking the rain had meant THIS!

Kakashi seemed undeterred and had said, "I know it's a bit early, but I brought Sasuke."

The Uchiha internally jumped when he heard his name. A quick glance, though, showed that his reaction was not noticed. Neither adult nor Naruto had turned their heads towards him.

Overall suspicious and creepy, but at the moment the Uchiha was somewhat grateful.

When Sasuke's name was mentioned, Naruto moved a little. He braced his shoulders before lifting up his head to face the other still by the open doorway.

When they faced each other, blue eyes dilated with what could only be described as fear.

Naruto gasped harshly before burying his head back into that thing by his knees.

He tugged his knees closer to himself and had started to rock himself.

Sasuke's own eyes widened.

What the hell was that reaction?

The two adults reacted as well. Naruto's grandmother stood up and walked over to Naruto, while Kakashi quickly pushed himself off the wall and went to the window as if to distance himself from the blonde boy as discreetly as possible.

Sasuke was still in a slight shock.

What the hell caused such a reaction?

"Should…" he faltered in his speech for the first time since the funeral, "Should I leave?"

Both Kakashi and Naruto's grandmother looked up at him after he asked his question.

He didn't have any time to look over at his doctor, but Naruto's grandmother's eyes were slightly widened, as if surprised that Sasuke was making such an offer.

She looked like she was about to agree with Sasuke, but she was cut off.

"No," Naruto had said.

He had not looked up from whatever was on his knees, nor did he make any effort to uncurl himself from his sitting fetal position. Naruto was not speaking in the same meek voice as he had been before, though.

Still not looking up, the blonde said, "No. I promised Sakura that I would have a proper conversation with you. And Naruto Uzumaki always keeps his promises. That's my way of life."

And that was the chapter.

As some of you know, I have insomnia, and have had it all my life since it's genetic. Quite a few of you had suggested natural remedies for this affliction and believe me, it gave me ALL the smiles, but alas they were moot as my case is the most severe out of my family and natural remedies are rendered obsolete against the dark side of this sleeping disorder of mine. Ahhh, but after 21 years it was finally causing me to snap so my parents took me in for an official diagnosis in order to get a proper prescription. My doctor had never met a case like mine, though, so I'm currently a bit of the practice's guinea pig until I have the time to go to a proper sleep clinic when I return home from my out-of-state college. Sooooooooooo that's why I've been gone for so long.

Thanks to those who favorite/alerted this story! And an extra thanks to those who review! I can honestly say that I wouldn't have done this story first if it wasn't for you.