Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

Part: 10/12

Special Thanks: goes out to Kinara23, A sunny place for Sasuke, Fher34, JustFabulous, Kia-B, Starcakes, Renoa Heartilly, Guest, rao hyuga 18, Joey Klay, Dani Stark, Rose101226, and farahb for all your lovely reviews! Also thanks to everyone who's added this story to their favorites and follows lists - over a hundred on each! I'm totally blown away!

Author's Note: This was definitely one of my favorite chapters to write. After the more serious tones of the last few chapters, a return to the more lighthearted feel of this story was a relief. I hope you all enjoy it, and thanks for reading!

*~Chapter X~*

~Misery~

The pressure built, becoming more and more painful by the second, until at last the explosive sneeze relieved it, even if only temporarily.

As Sasuke blew his nose for what felt like the thousandth time, he ignored the sympathetic look Itachi tossed him from across the room. "Sorry, little brother," he said. "Looks like I did give you my cold, after all."

"Yeah," Sasuke muttered. "You can stand there and look smug, because you feel better." At least it was Saturday, which meant he wouldn't have to call in to work. On the flip side, that meant Itachi didn't have to go in to work, either, and he'd be around all day driving Sasuke crazy.

"I could call Temari and have her come over and fix you some soup," Itachi offered. Leaning in the doorway between the kitchen and sitting room with a cup of tea in one hand, the elder Uchiha looked far too relaxed and amused for the younger's peace of mind.

"She'll likely either spit in it or add in some arsenic for flavor," Sasuke said, hating the nasal tone in his voice which turned all his "t"s to "d"s. He sounded like a four-year-old. "I think my health will be far better off without her ministrations, but thanks anyway." Oh, great. Here comes sneeze number five thousand twenty-six.

"I don't think Temari hates you quite as much as you think she does." Itachi came fully into the room, settling in a chair since Sasuke was sprawled miserably along the length of the couch. "Though I can tell you have great fun getting on her nerves."

"The feeling is mutual. Love must be blind if you haven't seen that wicked gleam of sadistic pleasure in her eyes every time she whacks me with that demented spoon of hers." Sasuke rolled onto his side and tugged the blanket around him a little tighter, tensing his sore muscles against the chills ripping through his frame hard enough to rattle the couch. "Though it feels like I'm going to die, anyway, so maybe you should call her over to cook soup for me. It might put me out of my misery faster." He thought briefly of the ornamental katana which had once belonged to his father, and debated the merits of hara-kiri. A painful way to die, granted, but much faster than dying a slow and painful death at the mercy of this mutant cold.

"Or," Itachi said thoughtfully, as if he hadn't even heard Sasuke, "I could call Hinata-san to come over and cook for you. I'm sure a little TLC from her would clear that cold right up."

"Hinata!" Sasuke jerked upright abruptly, then promptly doubled over, hands clasped to his painfully throbbing head as white sparks flared across his wobbly vision. "Ow." This was absolutely ridiculous. Sasuke hadn't been sick since he was five! Why now, of all times?

His brother's face slowly swam back into focus, hovering less than a foot away. "So does that mean you want me to call her, or not?"

"No," Sasuke said firmly. "She'll be lucky if she didn't catch this from me last night. Besides, I'm sure she'd rather spend her one Saturday a month off doing things which don't-" he paused to sneeze again, pointedly in his brother's direction "-include uselessly trying to nurse me back to health."

Itachi eyed Sasuke from a safer distance, his cup of tea held carefully out of the blast zone. "Will you be better in time for the wedding?"

Sasuke honestly wasn't sure whether to be amused or insulted by Itachi's one-track mind. "As the wedding is still two weeks away," he half-growled, "I should certainly hope so."

"Good point. Excellent." Settling into his chair again, the elder brother picked up the remote and turned on the television as Sasuke sank back into his reclining position. "Our final tux fitting is Thursday of this week."

Firmly resisting the urge to throw something at Itachi, Sasuke wheezed, "Yes, yes, I remember. I'll be there, even if I'm drugged up to my eyeballs and on an oxygen tank." Not that the cold medicine Itachi had been practically force-feeding him since Sasuke got home last night had done an earthly bit of good. His fever was still sky-high, his head pounded, his nose ran, his chest and ribs ached, and his cough seemed to be trying to bring up toenails.

If this was what it was like with the cold medicine, Sasuke hated to think what it would be like without it. His sympathy for his brother, when Itachi had been afflicted with this nightmare, heightened considerably.

Tuning in on a channel currently airing a marathon of a popular ninja anime, Itachi got to his feet and headed toward the kitchen. "Speaking of medicine, it's time for your next dose. I'll get you some more soup, a cup of tea, and those pills." He vanished around the corner.

Glaring at the orange-clad figure on screen shouting about his ninja way (believe it!), Sasuke curled into a ball and wished he could just fall asleep and stay that way until this stupid cold was over.

Bzz-bzz. Bzz-bzz.

Jerking out of a nightmare about being attacked by giant bees, it took Sasuke a few seconds to realize the buzzing sound invading his sleep was actually his phone vibrating against the table next to the couch.

He shifted, dislodging the note which had been resting on top of the blanket. He noted the few words on the sheet of paper even as he reached for his phone:

Gone to lunch with Temari. Medicine, onigiri, and cup of water on the table for your next dose at three. Feel better. - Itachi

Apparently Itachi felt no more obligated to stay and watch over Sasuke than the latter did when the former had been sick. Turnabout is fair play, I suppose. Holding the phone up in front of his face, he squinted at the display until he managed to make out Hinata on the caller ID.

After nearly dropping the phone, Sasuke managed to hit the "accept" button and answer before she could hang up, or his mobile could switch to voicemail. "Hinata-san?"

"Hai." There was a slight pause, and then, questioningly, "Sasuke-san?"

"It's me." He lifted the phone away from his ear and muffled a cough into the pillow under his head. "I've got a cold. Won't be by in the morning to walk you to the train station for work." Saturday had somehow managed to blur its way into Sunday, and Sasuke had a distinct feeling he'd be calling into work come Monday. It seemed a terrible thing to do, taking sick leave only a week after starting his job. But this virus had been making the rounds, and he knew his bosses wouldn't want him sharing his cold germs with them or, more importantly, their clients.

Animals were, after all, just as susceptible to colds as humans.

"Sasuke-san, I- choo!" The sneeze from the other end of the line managed to sound delicate yet miserable at the same time. "Gomen. I called to tell you I have a cold, and to make sure you didn't catch it from me Friday night." Hinata sniffled, sounding absolutely pitiful.

Sasuke could symapthize. "If anything, I imagine you caught it from me." He swallowed, hating the grating, itchy feeling at the back of his throat while simultaneously eying the glass of water resting just within arm's reach on the table. "And I caught it from my brother, who took our mother's lesson to share a little too close to his heart, I think."

The weak giggle from Hinata rewarded the effort it'd taken Sasuke to come up with that rather sick joke. "I'm just glad Hanabi-chan, my little sister, doesn't live with me." She suddenly gasped, which triggered a coughing fit which sounded every bit as horrible as those Sasuke had been suffering.

"Are you all right?" he asked, instinctively rising up onto his elbow.

"Hai." The word sounded a little choked. "I just happened to think - I hope Tenten-chan, my cousin-in-law, doesn't catch this. She and Neji nii-san are expecting their first baby, and the last thing she needs is to be sick with this."

Sasuke didn't have any experience with pregnant women (animals, yes; humans, no), but he could easily imagine being this badly sick would have a negative effect on both mother and unborn child. "I hope she doesn't catch it, too," he said. "And, uh, belated congratulations?"

"Arigatou." Hinata sighed, sounding suddenly dreamy. "Neji is actually my cousin, but we've always been more like brother and sister, so I feel like I'm going to be an aunt. I'm excited." She sneezed again. "Gomen."

Her excitement made Sasuke think - for the first time - about how Itachi and Temari would eventually have little ones of their own. Which would, of course, make Sasuke an uncle.

The thought gratified him and terrified him at the same time.

On the heels of that thought came another: of little ones with midnight-dark hair and pale eyes running around, hugging his legs and calling him "tou-san, tou-san!" with the most adorable grins he'd ever seen in his life, aside from their mother's.

Despite the fact Sasuke was still chilling, sweat beaded along his hairline. Stop it, Uchiha! Keep a lid in your thoughts!

"Sasuke-san?" Hinata sounded uncertain. "Are you still there?"

"Hai." Glancing at the clock, Sasuke saw in relief it was after three. "It's time for my next dose of medicine."

"Oh. I'll let you go, then. I hope you feel better soon, Sasuke-san." Hinata sounded somehow disappointed.

Sasuke felt somehow disappointed. Even though he was sternly trying to ride herd on his thoughts, still attempting to run amok, he didn't want to hang up with Hinata. "Arigatou. Hope you feel better, too." He hesitated just a second, then, "We should have dinner again, when we're feeling better. At least once more, before the wedding."

There seemed to be a smile in Hinata's voice when she replied. "Hai. I'd like that. Talk to you soon, Sasuke-san. Feel better."

"You too." He hung up his phone and set it aside, but made no move to reach for his next dose of medicine.

Somehow, talking to Hinata had made him feel slightly better.

Perhaps, he thought grudgingly, Itachi had been right.

Curses.

*~To Be Continued~*

Author's Ending Notes: After the serious turn this story took the past few chapters, the return to the more lighthearted feel of the story in this update was very nice. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter (though I also felt so mean, making them both sick!), and I hope it was just as enjoyable to read. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again for next week's update!