My Ex Want To Marry Again

Part - IX

4rd Nov, 2023
17:50

Shikamaru entered Gaara's office, and closed the door. "What happened?"

Gaara had been throwing nuisance lawsuits and injunctions at Sasuke right and left for the past three months. In retaliation, Sasuke had decided to try to force Naruto to sell his share of their company, but Gaara had been stonewalling, refusing to even broach the topic with Naruto and threatening to escalate matters. Even for Gaara, it had seemed overkill, and Shikamaru knew that something must have happened to trigger this overprotective stance Gaara was taking.

Gaara glared at Shikamaru, then tossed the man a file. Shikamaru opened it up, and blanched. It was Naruto's medical report from the hospital. "Naruto... overdosed on sleeping pills?" It went against everything that Shikamaru thought he knew about his friend. It was completely inconceivable. He would have been much less surprised if Sasuke had been the one to do this. Naruto had always seemed... so solid and stable. No matter what life had thrown his way, and it had thrown absolutely truckloads of shit at the man, Naruto had always seemed to be able to bounce back. He read on, seeing the report of severe weight loss and potential liver damage. "Oh my god."

Gaara was seething. "I have been toying with various ways of destroying Sasuke, but he seems to be doing a pretty good job of that on his own between drinking himself to death and being unable to focus on his company long enough to retain a suitable replacement for Naruto and keep the company on pace." There was a question buried in that statement that Shikamaru addressed.

"I still don't know why Sasuke ended things, and Sasuke has refused to talk about it with anyone. But I know that he is miserable. I know that he is hurting. And I know that he is not even looking for another relationship anymore."

Gaara nodded. He didn't look exactly appeased, but he also didn't look as close to homicide as he had earlier. "Make him back off Naruto. Distract him, drug him, lie to him, I don't fucking care... will leave him alone, if he will do the same. But in the end, I am on Naruto's side. And if he hurts Naruto again, I won't be sympathetic to whatever personal angst Sasuke is inflicting on himself in the process."

Shikamaru accepted the olive branch, and the warning. Despite what some people thought, Gaara was not sadistic. He was loyal, and he didn't pull his punches in defense of things or people he cared about.

But he also didn't kick people when they were down. Shikamaru sighed, feeling annoyed with himself for getting pulled into this mess. Why was he working with someone as high maintenance as Sasuke again? Oh, right. Childhood friends. There must be easier jobs out there. Or easier friends. Too bad he was too loyal to ever consider looking for either.

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The doctor had told Naruto he needed to stay in the hospital for at least two weeks. Naruto stayed two days. He waited until the doctor confirmed his vitals were stable, and there was no permanent liver damage due to his rapid weight loss. He refused the psychiatric evaluation, and the robust return of his appetite and renewed interest in his personal hygiene convinced the reluctant doctor to discharge him. Either that or it was just the fact that Naruto had simply pulled out the IV, dressed in his clothes, and headed to the nurses station to have the doctor paged before leaving the hospital.

It had been three months since his marriage had ended, and Naruto had decided it was time to start putting the pieces back together instead of just laying in the rubble. He needed his own space to accomplish this, so despite Jiraya's extreme misgivings, Naruto packed up his suitcase, rented a car, and drove to Andalusia. There was something about the atmosphere there, with the different cultural influences and vibrancy that resonated with Naruto's soul. He needed this. He rented a small apartment near the heart of town, and spent his days and evenings exploring the city mostly on foot. He had always been good with languages, and Spanish was similar enough to the English and Italian that he had already studied that he found himself picking it up quickly. There is nothing like total immersion to learn a language, after all.