Reality Bites

Team 7 gets a lesson in the mortality of their jinchuuriki. All friendship/no pairings. Purely team 7 loving the hell right out of poor, tortured Naruto.

A/N: Only three things you need to know for this fic: it's set in some sort of perfect world where Sasuke chooses not to defect the village, they're still twelve, and it's common knowledge among Sakura and Sasuke that Naruto is the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

Part One

"I'm not gonna train today. I'm sick," Naruto admitted tiredly; his team looked to him in surprise. He looked like actual hell – or at least straight from it. "So – see ya."

Before any of them could interject something in response, the clone before them disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving a short moment of a stunned silence in its wake.

If Naruto was known as any one thing aside from the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, it was tough as balls and just about indestructible – at least it seemed that way after hours of trying to knock him out during any given training session.

No matter how many times Naruto ate dirt, he always seemed to get up for more.

So none of them second-guessed that he wasn't feeling well; everyone got sick once and a while and Naruto would be just about the last person to fake it. If anything, they were surprised he even considered staying home.

Either way, the rest of team seven arrived at the general consensus – and with Sasuke's inspired dictation – that their littlest counterpart was too much of an idiot to take care of himself.

So they made their way in the direction of Naruto's neighborhood and when they arrived at Naruto's apartment a quarter of an hour later, he must have been asleep; both Kakashi and Sakura tried softly knocking before Sasuke went for the doorbell to ring it several times in a row.

After no response, Sasuke laid his thumb into the bell and rode it until Naruto answered the door, looking half-asleep and wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, a wrinkled t-shirt, and an unamused look directed tightly at Sasuke.

"What?" he snapped, voice heavy with sleep. "I said I was sick."

"Yeah, as if we couldn't tell from the shape of that clone you sent," Sasuke mentioned callously.

"We're here to check on you," Kakashi explained; the news didn't sit well with Naruto who tried to swing the door shut in response – but Kakashi stuck his foot out to stop it, pushing it open and letting himself in instead.

"I'm sure I'll be fine by tomorrow."

"Doubt it," Sakura guessed casually while she and Sasuke followed Kakashi inside. "If whatever you've got kept you home from training, I'm surprised it didn't kill you."

"Why?" Naruto asked cynically while he flopped back onto his mattress, rolling to face the wall. "Cuz I'm too stupid to know what to do when I'm sick?"

There was a bowl next to his pillow, and he grabbed it quickly to catch the vomit he'd been fighting down; Kakashi watched his student with a sympathetic furrow at his brow.

"Yeah, we all figured you were too stupid to know even that," Sasuke confirmed easily; Naruto felt agitated but too spent from throwing up to bother showing it.

"Just – shut up, Sasuke," he breathed tiredly in response.

"Have you kept anything down?" Kakashi asked, ignoring his students' argument.

"Yeah," Naruto bit back caustically, "I've been so hungry and eating a ton."

"I mostly meant water," Kakashi corrected flatly, unamused by Naruto's quip; it was uncharacteristic. Kakashi got attitude like that from Sasuke – he expected it from Sasuke, but not as regularly from Naruto.

Kakashi placed a firm hand on Naruto's hot and clammy forehead and felt his heart race a little at the heat assaulting his palm; his young student's bad mood suddenly made a whole lot more sense.

"Do you have a thermometer, Naruto?" Kakashi asked neutrally, earning an equally as neutral "no" in response. "How 'bout anything to treat a fever?"

The boy responded with an unsure shrug which said no as clearly as if he'd said it out loud.

"I'm tired," Naruto admitted slowly; he didn't want to appear ungrateful that they'd come by to check on him, but he felt far more exhausted than afraid of sounding rude. "Can you guys just…leave?"

"Sasuke and Sakura are leaving," Kakashi reassured looking over at the pair and nodding for them to head for the door. "Sasuke, can you wait a minute for me outside?"

Sasuke shrugged indifferently before turning to head out, Sakura close behind after offering a gentle "Feel better soon, Naruto." Naruto would probably never say it, but Kakashi could tell he felt better without an audience of his peers.

Kakashi followed them out to address Sasuke once they were in the hallway. "I want you to grab some things from the pharmacy for me," he explained while he pulled out his wallet and handed over several bills to his student.

"Fine," Sasuke agreed while he pocketed the cash. "What do you want?"

"Just bring me a thermometer and some Tylenol."

"Ok."

"And if you can find something to drink with electrolytes in it, bring that too."

"Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of," Kakashi determined slowly. "If I think of anything else, I'll just send you out again once you get back."

Sasuke responded with a dry, stilted laugh that spoke of how unentertained he felt as he headed down the hall for the stairwell while Kakashi turned back for the apartment door to check on the occupant inside.

By the time he returned, Naruto was either asleep, or attempting to get there, and Kakashi didn't bother waking him up until Sasuke returned with everything he'd asked for a quarter of an hour later.

"Need any help?" Sasuke asked plainly; he didn't want to sound assertive, but it not like he had anything better to do – training with Naruto absorbed a good majority of his time. He could train on his own, but somehow, today it seemed like a waste.

"Thanks for the offer," Kakashi acknowledged with knowing, smiling eyes, "but you can head home for the day."

Without arguing, Sasuke nodded, heading for the door to leave Kakashi alone with Naruto who was, by now, so deeply asleep he hadn't even been bothered by their conversation – something that would have probably woken him up any other given day.

"Naruto," Kakashi tried quietly while he gently nudged at his student, "wake up for just a minute."

Naruto blinked tiredly back at him in acknowledgement. "I thought you left."

"I'm going to take your temperature so open up," Kakashi prompted, waving the thermometer in his hand at Naruto who complied by reaching out to grab the thermometer from Kakashi to stick it in his mouth himself.

He didn't need Kakashi to do everything for him because he wasn't a child.

"Keep that in for three minutes," Kakashi reminded while he returned to the kitchen where he'd left the Tylenol and the blue colored sports drink that Sasuke managed to find.

Kakashi popped off the lid of the drink and the smell of artificial sweetener assaulted him at once, so he looked for a cup among the half empty cabinets and filled it with a mixture of water and the blue drink to cut down on the flavor.

He checked the face of his watch to confirm it'd been at least three minutes before pulling the thermometer from Naruto's unsuspecting mouth to read it.

"Here, Naruto. Take these," Kakashi instructed, dropping a pair of capsules into the palm of Naruto's hand and setting the cup down on the side table, "and drink as much of that as you can without making yourself sick," he finished while he examined the reading on the thermometer.

Kakashi expected a fight, but Naruto tossed back the pills and drank half a cup before tossing himself back into the pillows and blankets atop his bed. "Can I go to sleep now?"

"Sure, Naruto, go to bed," Kakashi accepted, turning the thermometer in the light to make sure he read it right. Naruto had a fever–no doubt–but at the moment, it didn't appear to be unmanageable. "I'll come see how you're feeling later today, ok?"

Naruto hummed in acknowledgement but didn't offer any other response.

"And take two more of these at noon, ok?"

"Whatever."

"I'm serious Naruto," Kakashi pressed on firmly while he shook free a second set of pills and placed them on his bedside table. "If you can't agree to that, I'll be back at noon to supervise."

"Obviously I'm gonna do it."

"Well, it wasn't obvious."

"Sorry," Naruto mumbled back stiffly. "I don't feel good."

"I know," Kakashi reassured while he capped the thermometer and set it on the table beside the cup of watered down sports drink. "Get some rest, try to stay hydrated, and I'll be back to check on you later."

Naruto raised a tired hand in acknowledgement before Kakashi turned to leave, heading out the front door and locking it behind himself.

Naruto would be ok – he was feverish and nauseas, but Kakashi suspected it was nothing more than the flu or food poisoning – it would probably be a few days, but Naruto would be ok. Team seven would make sure of that.

A/N: Yep, another generic fanficion about so-n-so being sick with something. All I can promise is that it isn't the flu or food poisoning. Stay tuned if you please :]