Do Epic

Chapter four

Sasuke was still curled up on his side when his mother and Itachi both returned ten minutes later. Itachi took one look and new that the side effects had already kicked in. He walked over to Sasuke's bed and sat down beside him.

"It's already started?" Itachi asked, Sasuke nodded and closed his eyes. He hoped he would be able to sleep with nausea. He groaned when he felt his stomach turn again, he really hated feeling like this. He wondered how long he would have to endure it before he finally went into remission. Or would he even go into remission? Sasuke knew that there were some cases that never even reached remission and the person ended up dying of the disease. Sasuke didn't want that to be the case with him.

"Where's Naruto?" Itachi asked noticing the blonde boy's absence.

"He's being checked over for a concussion and having a dislocated shoulder fixed," Sasuke said, opening his eyes to look at his brother.

"What happened?" Itachi asked, wondering how the boy could get so injured in his absence. He didn't think the boy was that accident prone.

"Nurse Wretched happened," Sasuke replied. "She really needs to lose her job. There is absolutely no reason for her to have treated him like she did."

"That's abuse, she should be in jail. If she caused his injuries." Itachi said.

"I agree." Sasuke moaned as he felt more bile rise in his throat. He wasn't sure where it was coming from, his stomach felt like it should have been completely empty at that point.

"I'm gonna get sick again." Sasuke moaned sitting up. Itachi stood up and went and grabbed the small trash can from the bathroom, and held it up under Sasuke's face just in time for Sasuke to heave more of his stomach contents into it.

"I hate this." Sasuke moaned, feeling miserable than he had ever been in his life. "I wish it was over already."

"Unfortunately, it's just beginning," Itachi said, his heart hurting for his little brother. He would take Sasuke's place in a heartbeat, his brother didn't deserve to suffer the way he was right now.

"Don't remind me," Sasuke mumbled, as he sat up, Itachi taking the trash can into the restroom and cleaning it out, before returning to Sasuke's bedside, where his mother was rubbing circles in Sasuke's back, and Sasuke was already half asleep from the motions. Itachi hoped that Sasuke would be able to get some rest, he clearly needed it. Itachi sighed as he sat the small trash can beside Sasuke's bed before sitting back down. Itachi hated that he hadn't been able to be here when the sickness first started. He didn't want Sasuke to feel like he had been abandoned when he needed his family the most.

Sitting back down beside the bed, Itachi grabbed Sasuke's hand and squeezed it gently. Sasuke opened his eyes and gave Itachi a small smile.

"I'm glad you're here," Sasuke mumbled. "I couldn't do this without you."

"There's no place that I would rather be," Itachi said. "I wouldn't let you go through hell alone, I will march through the flames with you," Itachi said and Mikoto smiled and continued to rub Sasuke's back gently. She had never been so glad that her two boys were so close. Sasuke was going to need Itachi and Itachi was going to need Sasuke.

As Sasuke drifted off to sleep, Mikoto's hand fell to her stomach. She wondered when a good time would be to make a certain announcement. Surely, not while Sasuke was going through chemo, unfortunately, she didn't think that they would have much choice. She would start showing and then the two boys would be angry that she hadn't told them. She sighed she didn't think that there would ever be a good time to tell them.

"Something on your mind?" Itachi asked after Sasuke had gone to sleep, he looked up at his mother to find a worried look on her face.

"So much on mind that I don't know where to even begin," Mikoto replied. "A lot of it has to do with the battle that Sasuke is facing. And that fact that by the end of the year you and Sasuke are going to be brother's again."

"What did you just say?" Itachi asked sounding stunned. Tell him that he didn't just here a pregnancy announcement comes from her lips. This wasn't the time or the place for something like that.

"I'm pregnant," Mikoto said. "And I know that the time isn't right with what Sasuke's facing but it's not like it's something I could control." Itachi stared at her, he liked the idea of being an older brother again, but how would Sasuke feel about it? He was fighting a life-threatening illness and Itachi was sure that he would think the baby would be a replacement for him.

"Wow, that's the last thing I expected," Itachi said after a few minutes of silence.

"Believe me no one was as more surprised as I was," Mikoto said. "Your father and I were happy with just you and Sasuke. We never really planned on having a big family. But now that we are expecting again, I'm kind of looking forward to it."

"It's great news," Itachi said. "I'm just worried that Sasuke is going to think that the baby will be a replacement for him? He's already dealing with the fear of losing this battle."

"I'll have to make him understand that that's not the case," Mikoto said. "Even if he loses the battle, no one could ever replace him, no matter how many times that I get pregnant."

"I really am happy for you." Itachi murmured. "How far along are you?"

"About 4 weeks," Mikoto replied. "Morning sickness hasn't exactly started yet."

"So not far enough along to tell what you're having?" Itachi asked.

"Not yet," Mikoto said. "That will probably be about 20 weeks." Itachi nodded and returned his attention to Sasuke, who had begun moaning in his sleep. Itachi placed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder squeezing gently and hoping to settle his brother. He didn't like that Sasuke had so much fear that he was dealing with. He wanted to make things easier for his little brother, but he didn't know how. He couldn't exactly take on Sasuke's treatment for him, the only thing he could do was sit and watch Sasuke suffer and that Itachi didn't like doing.

A few minutes later, a barely conscious Naruto was rolled back into the room and once Tsunade had his bed in the position that she wanted it, she locked the wheels in place. Itachi noticed that Naruto's left arm was in a sling, and he frowned. It looks like Sasuke had been right when he'd said that the nurse had dislocated Naruto's shoulder. Itachi wondered at that, what had Naruto been doing that made the nurse use enough force to dislocate the boy's shoulder?

"That nurse needs to be in jail." Itachi noticing that Naruto now had a few stitches on his forehead. "That's evidence of abuse right there."

"Jail is exactly where she's headed." Tsunade told him, "she had no right to put her hands on him, especially since he was only trying to help Sasuke." Itachi's eyes narrowed, if Naruto had been trying to help Sasuke then there was absolutely no need for her to have put her hands on Naruto at all, and Itachi said as much.

"No need to worry, she's going to pay for what she's done. She has been fired and charges will be filed against her." Tsunade said as she turned towards Sasuke.

"How is he doing?" She asked.

"Nausea has hit, he finally stopped throwing up a few minutes ago," Itachi said.

"I can give him something for nausea, it won't make it go away completely but it will help make it a little easier. I know this is going to sound bad considering he probably can't hold anything down right now, but he needs to eat." Itachi frowned. He seriously doubted that Sasuke would be the slightest bit interested in eating. Itachi understood that Sasuke needed to keep his strength up, but he couldn't see Sasuke even attempted to eat right after he had spent the last several minutes puking his guts up.

"I'll try to get him to eat, but I doubt he will," Itachi said. "He's kind of stubborn." Tsunade nodded.

"I'll be back to check on him later," she said as she started towards the door. She had to go make sure that nurse was leaving the property if she wasn't, she would be having a police escort off of the premises.

Itachi returned his attention to Sasuke who was beginning to groan again. Knowing what was coming, Itachi reached down and grabbed the trash can and lifted it just in time for Sasuke to sit up and lean over and heave harshly into the trash can. Tears formed in Sasuke's eyes as nothing but water came up, but still, his stomach continued to try to empty itself into the garbage can.

Itachi grimaced, hurting for his brother that he was having to deal with this. It wasn't fair, Sasuke deserved to be free from this hell. Itachi wondered how long Sasuke would be forced to go through this. Would Sasuke end up in remission quickly or would it be a long drawn out process that only made Sasuke suffer before it finally happened? Or would it happen at all? Would Sasuke only suffer only to end up losing the battle? Itachi prayed not, he needed his little brother, needed him to be okay.

"I'm sorry Sasuke," Itachi murmured, as Sasuke sat up, whimpering softly, pure misery in his eyes as he lay back on the bed. Lowering the trash can to the floor, Itachi reached and gently wiped the tears out of Sasuke's eyes.

"Do you think you can try and eat something?" Itachi asked knowing that Sasuke likely wouldn't want too.

"I'll only get sick again," Sasuke mumbled as he turned and buried his face in his pillow.

"Tsunade said that it's important for you to eat," Itachi said. "You need to keep up your strength."

"I won't be able to keep it down." Sasuke mumbled, "how will that do me any good?"

"I don't know," Itachi answered. "I wish I had the answers for you." Sasuke heaved a heavy sigh, thankful that his mom and brother were with him. He didn't want to go through this nightmare alone.

"I'm sorry, I'm a burden," Sasuke said suddenly, thinking about the sacrifices that both his mother and Itachi were making. They shouldn't have to always sit with him, he was a teenager for crying out loud. He should be big enough to go through chemo alone.

"You're not a burden." Itachi stated firmly "And as long as your sick, I'm going to be right here with you. There is no place I would rather be."

"Thank you," Sasuke whispered as a few tears slipped from his eyes and fell down his cheeks.

"No need to thank me." Itachi murmured. "Like I've said a million times before there is nothing that I wouldn't do for you."

"Same for me," Mikoto said softly. "You're my baby, I don't want to see you suffer. But I will do anything I can to make your battle a little easier to handle."

"I'm scared," Sasuke said. "I don't want to die, and I don't want to be sick all the time."

"I know you don't," Itachi said reaching up and wiping more of Sasuke's tears away, his own heart breaking with each tear that he saw. "Tsunade is going to try her best to get you into remission." Itachi hated cancer, hated that it was attacking his brother and making him so sick. He hated that he couldn't fight this battle for his brother because if it was possible Itachi would have done so in an instant.

A few minutes later, Sasuke had calmed down but still refused to eat. His stomach muscles were sore from the amount of vomiting that he'd done that day.

"How's Naruto?" Sasuke asked sleepily, as a heavy fatigue hit him. He felt completely drained of energy and he supposed that was another side effect of the chemo.

"Dislocated shoulder, but no concussion." Itachi replied, turning in his chair to glance at the teen who was quietly staring up at the ceiling.

"What happened to the nurse?" Sasuke asked.

"She was fired and will be having charges brought up against her for assaulting Naruto," Itachi replied.

"Good. I hope she goes to jail." Sasuke mumbled as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

"She will," Itachi said, reaching out and gently ruffling Sasuke's hair, before turning to Naruto who was quietly watching them.

How's he feeling? Naruto typed on his phone quickly before holding it up for Itachi to read.

"He's pretty sick." Itachi answered. "and I think the chemo session drained his energy because he's exhausted." Naruto frowned, he hated seeing anyone suffer.

I'm sorry Naruto typed and held it up for Itachi to see.

"It's a tough situation, but we are going to get him through it," Itachi said.

I hope you do Naruto typed, No one deserves to go through that kind of hell. Itachi nodded his agreement, he wondered if Naruto had experience with cancer. Maybe his parents or someone had gone through it.

As if sensing Itachi's question, Naruto looked back down at his phone and began pecking at the keys again before finally holding it up for Itachi to read.

My older brother Kurama was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was 19 years old. He went through three months of chemo and never achieved remission. He died four months after being diagnosed. It was hard as hell watching someone as strong as my older brother suffers through it, so I know the kind of hell Sasuke is going to have to deal with.

"I'm sorry," Itachi said his heart aching for the teen. He couldn't imagine how hard it was for Naruto to watch someone else go through the same kind of hell and not remember what his own brother had gone through. Itachi hoped that Sasuke would have a more successful try at remission. He really didn't want to lose his brother, but at this point, it was a very real possibility. Itachi had other questions he wanted to ask the teen but he figured that Naruto had answered enough personal ones at the moment and probably wanted to get a break from texting considering he was currently only able to use the one hand.

Thanks for reading and reviewing! Liz