Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Naruto anime/manga series.


A Moment is an Eternity

Chapter 7 - Burning Fever

'I have been sick a lot lately. What is wrong with me? This is the third time in two months.'

A stream of tears ran down Naruto's dull blue eyes. He clutched his heart tightly.

"Sniff…sniff…"

'Why does it hurt so bad? I fucking hate this, I hate the feeling, the feeling of being useless and depending on other people.'

The room was now filled with a small sound of sobbing, its heartbroken sound could be heard by a woman outside the room. Her eyes filled with tears as she heard the boy crying.

'Am I dying….? Sasuke….'

Tsunade wiped away her tears with her a napkin then knocked gentle on Naruto's door.

"Naruto, can I come in?"

Naruto quickly wiped his face with his blanket, then laid back on bed and spoke weakly.

"Auntie Tsunade…"

The door opened. Tsunade walked in with the stethoscope around her neck then closed the door.

"Hey kiddo," the blonde woman said gently as if Naruto would break any minute if there was loud noise present. "how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay…" Naruto tried to grin. Tsunade noticed how red and puffy the boy's eyes were.

"Lift up your shirt and let me check you for a bit." He complied. After a few minutes of moving her stethoscope around, she found nothing wrong with the boy.

"You're fine kiddo, maybe it just a yearly symptom. Do you remember the last year and the year before?"

Naruto didn't reply her, it scared her a bit but she took to boy's hand into her.

"Tsunade…"

"What is it brat?" She could starting to see tears fallen down his cheeks.

"Why does it hurt so bad? Sniff…sniff…" Tsunade didn't care anymore, her eyelids gently let those tears rolling down. She pulled the boy up and put him in a tight embrace.

"I don't know kiddo, sniff…, I don't know…I've failed you…"

"No you didn't, sniff…"

A knocking sound on the door interrupted the boy and his surrogate mother's tearful moment. They both quickly let go of each other and wiped their tears away.

"Naruto…" Iruka spoke through the closed door. "Someone is here to see you."

"Okay Iruka." Naruto replied. Tsunade stood up and walked over to the door, she opened and let the dark-haired boy come in.

"I'll leave you two alone." She said.

"Thank you Dr. Tsunade." Sasuke did a bow. She nodded in return. Sasuke's attention was now on the boy in bed. Sasuke sat down on the bed, he put a hand on Naruto's forehead, then cupped the round cheek with it. Naruto closed his eyes and put his hand on Sasuke's hand.

"Your fever is down a little bit. You were burning hot the other day." Said the boy with the dark eyes. "I brought something for you."

"I told you to not buy me anything." Naruto opened his eyes and turned them into a disappointing look.

"I didn't you total-moron. Mother made you your favor soup, she said she put some extra herb to help bring the fever down. Naruto's eyes widened, he never thought that someone else that he hardly know actually cared for his health. He was glad and grateful for the lovely lady that Sasuke called Mother, her personalities were a lot different than Sasuke.

"Please tell Mikoto I say thank you for me." The sick boy grabbed Sasuke's hand.

"I am sure she already know how grateful you are. Now sit up." Sasuke commanded. A minute of struggling with Sasuke's help, Naruto sat with his back against the pillows, he looked at Sasuke to see what the bastard is doing. Sasuke removed a large thermo cup out of its case. He slowly opened the cap, the aroma of the stew crept up to Naruto's sensitive nose.

"Smells good."

"Mmhmm." Sasuke replied as he took out a spoon from the case. Slowly he stirred the soup, he could tell Naruto is hungry. "Open wide."

"WHAT?! I can feed myself, give me the damn spoon." Naruto said upset.

"No, now open wide." Naruto wanted to protest more further, but he got almost no strength in this body, so he sighed in defeat and opened his mouth slowly. Sasuke took a spoonful of soup, he blew on it gently then moved it into the waiting mouth. "It's good huh?" Naruto's cheek glowed a soft pink color. He nodded then reopened his mouth again, wanting for more. The dark-haired teen smirked.

After ten minutes, Naruto'd finished his soup, Sasuke took the cup downstairs to clean it up. When he returned, he helped Naruto lie back down on the bed. Sasuke placed a soft kiss on the blond's forehead, on his nose, then his lips. Sasuke plopped down next to Naruto. They both were staring a the ceiling now, Sasuke took Naruto's hand into his, he gave it a gentle squeeze, just to feel the other boy's return the squeeze back.

"Sasuke.." Naruto called out to his boyfriend, the voice was almost a whisper.

"Yeah?"

"Do you…" A pause. "Do you believe in heaven?"

Silence.

"I don't know Naruto…" Sasuke broke that silence, he locked his eyes into Naruto's always bright blue eyes. "But, I do know what heaven tastes like…"

"What?" Naruto gave the boy next to him a curious look.

Sasuke pushed himself up then leaned over to Naruto, they both kissed for a few minutes before Sasuke let go. "Heaven tastes like that…" He smiled down to the blond angel. Naruto had to hold himself back from choking on tears, he gave the boy above him his best real smile as he pulled Sasuke down for another kiss.

"I haven't got a chance to thank you." The taller teen said between kisses.

"For what?"

"Completed my poem, I love the ending you'd added in. You're smarter than you act." A smirk appeared on the handsome face.

"You're welcome you bastard." Naruto punched playfully on Sasuke's shoulder, he pulled Sasuke down and wrapped his arms around the boy tightly, he whispered into Sasuke's ear. "Stay with me tonight please."

"Okay…"

Sasuke pulled the blanket to cover both of them before he wrapped his arms around his sick boyfriend's waist. He kissed the boy on the nape, Naruto knew what would happen when Sasuke kissed his neck.

"Err…Sasuke?"

"Shhh"

Naruto felt a slightly cold hand underneath his shirt. "Sasuke…don't..I'm sick."

"I know." Sasuke put his hand on Naruto's chest. "Just let me feel your heartbeat, Naruto." The blond boy didn't let Sasuke see tears were softly rolling down his blushed cheeks.

'So nice…'

Naruto clutched onto the hand with his two arms tightly into his chest, not wanting to let go. They stayed like that for a while, just listening to each other's heartbeat. It was in synch. Soon sleep took over them both.