Only In Fiction Part 2 – Publication Blunders
Chapter Twenty-Nine

Note: The awkward moment when you fail to remember that Sasuke and Neji are teachers. So, to make up for things, they both took the year off teaching xD

Kiba ended up spending the night at Sasuke's place, despite Sasuke really not wanting the brunette staying with them that night. However, Naruto insisted, Gaara agreed it was for the best and in the end Sasuke was outnumbered and too tired to argue with them. Hinata, who had turned up not long after Naruto left joined them in the living room where they set up spare mattress in a star shape form (Naruto's brilliant idea) and ended up sleeping near each other.

It took Sasuke most of the night to realise why Naruto set this up for them. Here they were, three (or four if you politely added Hinata) of the most important people to Naruto. It was well planned on the blonde's behalf because he could be with everyone he loved and not have to worry about it too much. They were all safe and sound here at Sasuke's place.

Sasuke had to admit, he liked the blonde's way of thinking, but even though that should have cheered him up, he laid there awake and unable to sleep. He was restless and worried about Neji because no one knew the situation, not even Hinata knew what was going to happen to her brother.

Somehow, it was bothering him more than the rest of the group.

Ok, he'll take that back.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he heard someone sit up. He glanced quickly to see who it was, acknowledging that Gaara seemed just as restless as he was. He wrapped his arms around his knees for a moment, sighing before he stopped up and moved over to the window. Sasuke watched him for a long moment before he joined him at the window.

"Can't sleep?" Sasuke asked, opening the door quietly so they both could talk privately outside.

"I could say the same," Gaara said as they sat down on the steps, staring up at the half moon. "I'm just freaked, what if Neji doesn't pull it through?"

Sasuke wouldn't admit he was surprised to know Gaara was seriously concerned. "I know how you feel. Just sitting here waiting for the news is painfully long, but even Hinata's getting some sleep, maybe you should too."

"But how can I went all I could hear was you restlessly moving about," Gaara pointed the obvious out, making Sasuke wince. Yeah, he was pretty restless. "Why do you think Naruto brought the brunette here?"

"You mean Kiba? Well, they're best friends, Gaara, extremely close."

"Yet you don't seem to like him."

"No, it's not that I don't like him, it just he has feelings for Naruto too, basically, he's a rival," Sasuke admitted as he glanced back into the living room. The room was lit up with the brightness of the moon, and despite that, the three remaining slept peacefully. "He's caused some terror for both of us too."

"Terror?" Gaara asked, though he suddenly realised what he meant. "Ah, so he's the boy then," Gaara said with a gentle smile that startled Sasuke. It was true, Gaara did think highly of Naruto. "So, that matter was cleared up?"

"Yeah, we exposed the truth. It was sorted out and Kiba declared him is arch-nemesis and life returned to the way it was… mostly."

"Until now," Gaara whispered, clutching one of his legs. "I'm going to make him pay, Sasuke. I'm going to kill the bastard when I see him next."

"No!" Sasuke said firmly, startling Gaara out of his daze. "He's after me and the two of you have already been hurt. When Neji is awake, I want you both out of town for awhile. It's not like Neji's teaching this year, and besides, the two of you should spend some quality time together."

"But-" Gaara was about to angrily protest when Sasuke shook his off.

"Please Gaara. I don't ask for favours, but please, for you safety and Neji's, just do as you are told."

"And what about Naruto and his friend? What about Hinata-san and your editor?"

He had seen Sakura for awhile, actually. "Take Hinata with you of it's a concern. I'm going to contact Jiraiya about this and get him to get the boys out before things get worse. I don't want to lose anyone, because I don't want to feel like this."

"You're being selfish."

"I know I am, but if it's to protect you all, then hell I'll do so," Sasuke stood up and moved into the garden, admiring the roses in the moonlight.

Gaara sighed and stood up as well, joining him by the roses. "This isn't your problem anymore, Sasuke. He's directly attacked Neji. This is as much as my problem as it is yours."

"He attacked Neji to provoke me, not you. Remember, he was going to have you killed… and if I can guess what he was planning to do to Neji was to kidnap him rather than kill him. Neji dragged himself into the danger, and when Orochimaru realised this, he attacked to kill." Sasuke sighed, poking a rose sadly. "I don't know his next move, Gaara, and I'm scared that this place won't be a sanctuary anymore. He knows where I live, and he'll attack here sooner or later… I rather face him alone rather than living with the constant fear that everyone I love is in grave danger."

"I won't leave, Sasuke. Not for my sake, but for Neji's."

Oh really? Sasuke stood straight and faced him, staring into the green pools of Gaara's eyes. There was a fire to fight in Gaara's eyes, and it was clear he wasn't going to back down.

They stared at each other before Sasuke's phone rang. Sasuke raced into the room and answered it before it woke anyone up…

…Sadly, everyone stirred at it's shrill. Groaning, he answered the phone. "Uchiha Residence."

"Want the good news or the bad news first?" It was Itachi.

"I don't know, just tell me," Sasuke grumbled, giving Hinata and Naruto a apologetic look about the phone.

"Alright, I have several lots of good and bad news for you. First lot, Neji is out of surgery and he's alright. Tsunade head the team when she found out it was Neji, so everything went ok. He'll be intensive care for a long time, but that will be fine. The bad news is… he can't talk, at all."

"What you mean he can't talk?" Sasuke hissed, not wanting the others hear him say that.

"Tsunade reckons it's from shock more than anything. When he woke, we tried to get him to explain the situation, but he wasn't able to reply to us. It shocked him more than it shocked us. The other bad news is that all the nerves in Neji's leg are dead… he'll never walk again."

His heart hurt, a lot. "Alright, what's the other news for me?"

"Well, you know how we found Kyuubi and that he's recovering, well, we got some details about what Orochimaru was scheming. He sent Sai to kill Gaara but kidnap Neji as you guessed. Orochimaru was planning on bringing you out of hiding and nab you but not after killing Neji. It seemed he was planning on poisoning Neji with something, but we can't find the details of the poison."

"So you got some facts about what he was scheming… is there something else?" Sasuke asked feeling like Itachi was holding something back.

"He knows about Naruto, Sasuke. I swear to god, if you leave that boy alone I'll kick your ass because it'll just provoke his father."

"And…?"

"You've never seen him in a bad mood, Sasuke. Trust me, when he gets angry, you know you've just entered hell. Keep an eye on Naruto, as well as Gaara, Neji and Hinata, and anyone else who may be in danger. Keep everyone at your place until we work out where you can all go that's safe."

Actually, it just hit him but Sasuke wasn't sure about mentioning it… because of his father. "There's the Uchiha Clan Residence… that place is impossible to break into."
He didn't need ex-ray vision to know Itachi tensed at that. "And what are we going to do about father?"

Yeah, what about him? "Itachi, it's the safest place I know. Sure, our father is delusional and somewhat fucked up, but it is the safest place I know."

Itachi sighed on the other end. "I'll look into it, but stay put. If you need anything, contact me." And with that, Itachi hung up.

Sasuke placed the receiver down and turned about. Everyone had his eyes on him for all different reasons. Sasuke sighed and choose to sit down on the couch in front of the group before talking. "I've just got word on the situation. Itachi said Neji's out of surgery and is intensive care, and he'll be fine. Tsunade was at the head of the team." There was relief in Gaara's and Hinata's face. Even Naruto seemed grateful. "However," the room tensed again, "Neji has become mute… and will most likely never walk again.

Gaara's hand clenched, he looked upset. "What do you mean?"

"Tsunade doesn't think Neji's gone mute because of his injury, but out of shock. He's was awake for awhile and wasn't able to speak to Itachi or Tsunade at all. His leg, on the other hand, is because all the nerves in it his leg is dead. They may be hope, but I'm not a doctor, so I don't know. What it feels like to me is that Tsunade hasn't told Itachi whether it's possible that he'll walk if he has surgery on it or not."

"But he is alive and well," Hinata asked.

"He's alive," Sasuke nodded then sighed. "The other news is that we've managed to track down Orochimaru's train of thought. I'm guessing Kyuubi helped piece things together for them."

"Kyuubi?" Gaara and Hinata asked with a shocked tone.

Oh yeah, he only told Naruto that they found Kyuubi. "Yeah, they burst into where Orochimaru was hiding and found Kyuubi. Orochimaru is nowhere in sight though. However, we've pieced everything together and have some clues. However… we've got a situation."

"What is it?" Naruto asked, looking concerned.

Sasuke looked at him with deadly seriousness. "He knows about you, Naruto. He might come after you next."

Kiba tensed beside Naruto, but the blonde nodded, understanding. "What next?"
"Itachi is going to see about us all moving over to the Uchiha Clan Residence. That place pretty much has a steel barrier around it, so it would take a miracle for anyone to get to us."

There was a sudden silence before Hinata stood up, looking upset. "I don't want you going there," she said as calmly as she could. "That place has bad memories for you."

"I rather face bad memories than lose the ones I love," Sasuke countered.

"If Neji was here, he would stop you," Hinata pointed out, getting more emotional. "He wouldn't want his best friend going back to the place that started everything. He wouldn't want to see you hurt again by that man!"

"My father doesn't live there any more, just the rest of the Uchiha family. My father lives in the capital, and rarely ever goes back."

"That's a lie," it wasn't Hinata he spoke out, it was Gaara this time. "That's a terrible lie! You're father is emotionally unstable, has been for a long time. He isn't allowed to leave that place without an escort."

"That hasn't stopped him before," Sasuke pointed out, the words enough to stir horrible memories. "It never has stopped him."

"But to go somewhere where you'll be in more danger, isn't that senseless?" Hinata was really pushing Sasuke away from the idea.

However, Sasuke stood his ground firmly. "I don't want to lose anyone else!" he raised his voice, startling the group. "To lose the ones I love? You can't replace lost lives, Hinata! Neji is in hospital in a critical state. Even though we have news he's awoken means nothing! He was shot, in the chest, for crying out loud! I want to get everyone away from here before I lose someone else!" Sasuke hadn't realised he stood up in his fit of rage, hadn't realised that it made Hinata cry more.

"But isn't that just being selfish?"

Now who the hell spoke? At first, Sasuke thought it had been Hinata but instead, Kiba stood up and challenge his position.

"Isn't that selfish of you to act like you're the only one who's in pain? Everyone here has witnessed something yet you're acting like you're the only one hurt!"

"You have nothing to do with this."

"Like hell I do!" Kiba roared, clenching his fists tightly. "You prance around pretending to be on top of everyone else and fail to realise why no one wants you to go back. You think you need to sacrifice yourself for the greater good but instead of protecting people, you're still hurting them. When you get hurt, other people hurt too!"

"It doesn't matter about me, this was my problem to begin with!"

"It's never been your problem! It was everyone's problem. You selfishly dragged people into this because at the time you were trying to protect yourself, and then you shove those people away, those people who've been beside you since everything started just because you're too stupid to realise that you're hurting everyone by doing so! No one here wants you to get hurt, or die, Uchiha!"

It was strange hearing Kiba acting like this, and hearing him actually shouting made Sasuke take a step back. He stared at Kiba for a moment, feeling a little shocked that he'd lost his temper of something so trivial. He watched as Kiba's red face slowly reverted back to its normal light brown colour.

And he just stood there, feeling a little embarrassed of himself before he began to laugh.

Really laughing.

Maybe he was going insane, but he wasn't really sure what it was that made him laugh. He sat down, pressing his hands to his face, unable to stop laughing.

And then the laugh turned into sobs and he began to shake. Was he really that selfish? "Sensei…" Naruto whispered, setting down beside Sasuke and resting his hand gently on his knee. "Are you ok?"

Sasuke couldn't speak and just shook his head. "Pull yourself together, Sasuke," Gaara knelt down in front of him, gently pulling away Sasuke's hands. "Calm down, take a few deep breaths." He turned to Hinata who was brushing away her own tears. "Get a glass of water for him," he asked quietly. She hesitated a mere moment before she moved into the kitchen. "Calm down, come on, Sasuke."

Sasuke just shook his head, hating the pity. He wasn't even sure why he was crying, it just happened. There was no explanation for it. Something in him broke, but he couldn't think what it was. He could name this feeling at all.

Was it desperation?

"Sensei," Hinata had given the glass to Naruto, who offered to him. "Come on, drink something."

He was desperate… there was no explanation behind this. He was seriously afraid of losing everyone. He just didn't want to go through the pain of that a second time. How could he explain that to them when he found himself fumbling over the words in his mind? He didn't accept the drink and tried to calm himself down. Biting down on his lip, he tried to stop the sobs, but he was struggling to regain control. Was it so wrong to want to protect those he loved?

"Please sensei…"

He finally managed to speak. "I'm not your sensei anymore," there was a little humour in the tone. That wiped relief over their faces. He was settling down.

Naruto smiled gently at him, helping Sasuke grip the cup. He took a shallow swallow of the water, doing his best to calm his breathing. He needed to think straight, and crying over it wasn't going to get him anywhere. What was he going to do, really going to do with this situation.

When he found his voice again, he finally spoke hoarsely "I know you are all worried about me, but truthfully, I'm going to have to face my father one day. I know now isn't the best time, but it's the only place I can think of where everyone will be safe. It's not because I'm being selfish or anything, it's just the simple fact that I don't want to see you get hurt… not again."

Gaara looked ready to argue, but a glance from Naruto shot him down. He took a deep breath before saying "that's fine in its own right, but it's too late to be thinking like that. We're all ready to put ourselves in danger to protect you, we promised you that back then, remember? Neji knew that promise, and he would be prepared to take it to the grave. However, if you really insist on going back home, then we'll go once Neji is out of hospital… actually, we're better discussing it with him."

Sasuke laughed weakly. "It'll be pointless… he's become mute, remember?"

"That still isn't fair on his behalf," Naruto said gently, stroking one of Sasuke's hands. "Neji cares for you, and he doesn't want you to face that part of your life yet."

It was funny how even Naruto seemed to know Neji better…

…It had to be his brain, really. He just wasn't thinking right, that was all?

"…I want to see Neji…" Sasuke finally whispered. "…I want to see him…"

"Then we'll go there" Gaara whispered gently. "We'll go there to see him, together."