Slightly Ill
"It's not supposed to be like this!"
"You're being so ridiculous, un!"
"I'm not going to tell him…would you-"
"Heck no!" The blond jerked up from his previous position leaned against the tightly barred door. "I'm not going to be a freaking envoy for you guys, un!" He rolled his one visible eye and absently blew at his bangs.
"It's just so weird…he's going to be extremely unhappy. He might even apply for a different partner…"
"Okay, you are losing it, un,"
"just to get away from me because I'm…tainted-"
"YOU'RE LOSING IT!"
"and he'll hate me because he trusted me and-"
"LO-SING-IT!!"
"and I'm failing him!"
"LOSING IT, UN!!!" the blond was standing with his hands over his ears, directly across from the door and shouting to drown out the wails of despair that dwindled to pathetic coughs.
"It's not my fault I feel like this…is it? Can you choose this?"
"Itachi-san, you're 18 years old. You're a genius and you're level headed. Quit freaking out, un. It's not like your going to die because you have-" he stopped his comfort speech. The skritch of the door sliding open and the sound of sandaled feet bearing an immense weight cut down the hallway.
"No…" came weakly through the door.
"Kisame! Itachi has-"
"NO!"
"-something important to tell you, un." Deidara marched down the hallway to meet the swordsman halfway. Casting an exasperated glare back at the door he said, "Beware it might 'change the way you see him forever' because he has 'tainted' feelings, un."
Kisame hesitated then took his sword off and leaned it against the wall.
Uh oh…
"Itachi?" he halfheartedly asked. A silence broken by a fragile cough, made awkward by Itachi's attempt not to let it escape, and a soft "Damn it" ensued.
"What?" Itachi eventually said.
"Are you okay?" Kisame felt slightly ill.
"I'm fine…" Kisame gave him three minutes to finish his sentence, "It's just…well, you probably never expected to hear me say this to you but…"
"Itachi, we have a mission…"
"I know. I'm really sorry this happened now…that it happened at all." Kisame was torn between running as far away as he could and going to comfort his desolate partner. "It's just that…" Kisame swallowed, prepared to hear what he knew was coming, sliding the door open. "Kisame, I'm so sorry. I can't go on the mission. I have," Itachi turned his sorrowful black gaze to his partner, "chicken pox." Silence.
"Oh."