I have no fscking idea how to use webcams or IM chatting because I don't have any of those things. Please correct the technologically-challenged person if need be.

Chapter 10: Day 6-Chat

For Sasuke, it was another day of abject misery. Even if he wasn't dying of a fever, he was still pretty miserable. After all, migraines and endless wasted tissue boxes were not fun, not to mention the amount of chicken soup and rice soup he had to eat.

Flopping back onto the bed with a sigh, he stared up at his ceiling in boredom. He had nothing to do, after all, and rubbed his arm on a whim, glad to be free of that bathrobe his mother shoved onto him. It was his father's and if that wasn't creepy enough, it smelled like cologne and his mom and that was not a road he would like to travel without the help of some very, very intense therapy. Plus, his body had been getting weird on him lately. One minute he was hot and the next, he was cold. The sooner he could get over being sick, the better.

In an effort to curb his boredom, he meandered over to the computer to see who was on. There had to be someone he could talk to and he was not going to degrade himself to ask his mother because it would inevitably lead to a conversation of why he should get a girlfriend and asking him why she didn't have any cute grandbabies yet. It was his mother's idea of harmless teasing (though he believed she was partly serious), but it still scared the shit out of him when she started crying because he always thought he was responsible for why she was crying and had the urge to go out and flag down the next woman to pass him by and ask her to get become his girlfriend just to stop his mother from crying any further. Then again, with Sakura living a few doors down, the prospect wasn't too bad. She was certainly more tolerable than the other girls he'd had relationships with, but what did he know about Haruno? She was still as big of a mystery as the day he laid eyes on her.

Grunting, he glanced at his computer screen and saw his brother was on. Strange, seeing how he went to Tokyo U, but he didn't question it. It had been a while since he had talked with his brother.

UchihaS: How's college?

BetterThanYou: Sasuke? That's your SN? How…unimaginative of you.

UchihaS: Like your need for self-reassurance is any better. Just answer the damn question.

BetterThanYou: Hai, hai. Hold on. You got that web cam I sent you for Christmas last year?

UchihaS: Yeah.

BetterThanYou: Use it.

UchihaS: Fine, fine.

Reaching up, he turned on his webcam and a few seconds later, a window popped up to show his brother: a twenty-one-yr-old with glasses and black hair tied at the base of his neck, smiling—grinning, actually. Man, college had changed him.

"So, how's my stupid little brother?" Nope, same stupid Itachi.

"I'm sick, you moron," Sasuke snapped. He always had a nasty little habit of snapping at his brother, even if he did love him (though raving lunatics driving tanks and horses would never be able pull that out of him). Then again, when your brother is good at everything (and he meant everything), you probably have a right to act a bit bitchy. You would be bitchy too if you had to live in that kind of a shadow. Itachi peered close to the screen.

"You're right. What did you do? Get into a fight with a cat?"

"No. Mom got a cold. I caught it," he commented, watching Itachi wince in sympathy. They always did have a love-hate relationship.

"Ouch. Rough. How long have you had it?"

"Four days and counting. You still haven't answered my question," Sasuke reminded.

"Well, college is okay. Lots of papers and all-nighters. Get this, my roommate has blue hair!" A figure walked across the background and suddenly, the screen was filled with screams of "Oh shi—Kisame, put some clothes on!"

Sasuke smirked deviously and chuckled. Apparently, he must have heard because Itachi's next action was to drop the arm covering his eyes and to point at the screen saying, "I heard that."

"I wasn't expecting you not to," Sasuke replied smartly. Itachi narrowed his gaze.

"So…what about you? Anything new? Any girl new?"

At this, Sasuke stiffened. Itachi, ever perceptive, caught this and smiled. "So there is a new girl…"

"Not really. Me and Naruto made a bet. Nothing much," Sasuke said, hoping he'd get off the subject. Why did he feel so jumpy about this?

"Really? How is Naruto by the way?"

"Same dobe as the last time you saw him," Sasuke said blandly. Itachi nodded in understanding.

"Invite him to Christmas dinner next time. I want to see if he's improved at all."

"Are you seriously going to challenge him to DDR?" Sasuke moaned in despair. It was so degrading, having the brother he once beheld like a god challenge someone to DDR. And as if that wasn't enough, they did it in public with him as the judge. "Why can't you challenge him to something else? Something involving guns or cars?"

"Those got boring a long time ago. Plus, DDR gives me some exercise. I barely leave my chair in college."

"Fine," Sasuke relented.

Itachi took off his glasses and rested the arm of the frame against his lip. His eyes gleamed and Sasuke was instantly reminded of the fact that besides being smart, his brother was the pretty-boy of the family. Even in looks, his brother had him beat. Itachi smiled slowly.

"So who's the girl?"

"You don't know her," Sasuke said hastily.

"You're touchy."

"I'm not touchy. It's only a bet."

"Then is she pretty?"

"What? I don't know!"

"Well, what's she like?"

"I don't know. She's smart and girly…kind-of."

"Kind of?"

"She's normal, okay?! She's a normal girl…with pink hair and green eyes."

Itachi's face went blank for a minute. "…Did you say pink hair?"

"Yeah."

"Did she dye it or—?"

"It's natural," he interrupted suddenly.

Itachi's eyes widened on the screen. "It's natural?!"

"That's what I hear," Sasuke said, shifting uneasily in his chair. Why he felt so embarrassed, he didn't know. It's not like he actually checked whether she was naturally like that or not. He just heard around the school. It's hard not to hear about a girl like that.

"…She sounds like my kind of girl."

"What?!" Sasuke screamed, gripping the screen.

"Do I detect a bit jealousy?"

Wait…think before you talk to him. Say something wrong and he'll use it against you. Calm down. Okay? Now talk.

"No."

"Really? You seemed kind of defensive. Actually, you've been kind of defensive since we started talking about this girl."

"Fine, you want to know about her? She lives down the block. She's in most of my classes. She has naturally pink hair and she rides a bike to school. There, happy?!"

"…you know a lot about a girl you don't care about. Do you like her or something?"

"No."

"Really? Denial isn't good for you, little brother."

"Goodbye Itachi."

"Hey!! Wait! Sasuke, don't—"

The melody of his computer turning off echoed through Sasuke's room. Deciding he had enough of his computer for a while, he went downstairs where his mother was preparing lunch for the three of them (his father was home today). Walking over to the couch, he sat down and looked out the window to see Sakura glide by on her bike. Sasuke sighed.

'I do not like Haruno Sakura. I don't. I don't. I don't.'