Although having a girlfriend who worked in a hospital could be a bit hard, considering long hours and grumpy people that rubbed off on said girlfriend, there were perks to it, too. Mostly, the in-home healthcare that came free of charge (so long as he wasn't severely sick). So whenever he came down with the flu, or caught a bug that was going around, he was almost always guaranteed that he'd be chained to his bed until he was better, and force fed every kind of food and drink that would help and be made not to move until everything was back to normal.
Though he complained about it, he really did love that Sakura went the extra mile to make sure he would get better.
But there wasn't a lot of times when he was allowed to return to the favour—she never seemed to get sick, and typically tried to push away his attempts at taking care of her. So the Monday morning when she woke up with a high fever and throwing up, he knew he would finally get his chance.
"Sakura, you need to take it."
"Sunshine, I know what I need to take," she growled at him from her curled up position in their bed, "and that shit isn't it." He stood with the bottle of pink liquid in the doorway, arms crossed.
"You made me take it last weekend when I was sick with this," he reasoned, looking rather unconvinced. She lay silent for a moment, and made a grumping sound before she tugged the covers up over her head. "Sakura-chan, please?" he asked, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. The roseate grumbled something that he didn't quite understand, and he tugged down the blanket until he could see her face. "Please just take it. It's not that bad."
"That's a fucking lie and you know it," she croaked, and suddenly got a very wide-eyed look about her. Shoving him away, she tore out of the bed and towards the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time to vomit up what little was in her stomach.
The sour taste in her mouth brought tears to her eyes, and she almost didn't notice when she felt his cool hands holding her hair out of the way, or the soft consolations he was voicing right behind her. Resting her forehead against the seat, she groaned, and one of the hands ran up and down her back.
"I hate being sick," she whispered, closing her eyes against the intrusive blinding light of the overhead.
"I know," he replied sympathetically, not stopping his movements.
A long minute passed before she was sure she was ready to move away from the toilet, and she tried to stand with a groan. Her world spun, and she swore she should have fallen, but the blonde was there to catch her. She buried her face in his shoulder and groaned her protest.
"I'm gonna pick you up, okay?" she heard him say somewhere into her hair. Nodding her agreement, if only because she didn't think she could make the trek herself, she was well prepared as he secured one arm around her shoulders and one at the crook of her knee, leaving her to wrap her arms around his neck and keep her face into his shoulder. He moved as smoothly as possible, setting her gently back into the bed.
"Please take it now," he pleaded, and held out the pink bottle he had left on the nightstand. Still sitting up, she glared at him and the bottle, but knew she couldn't really fight him after her last reaction. Grudgingly, she took the Pepto-Bismol and chugged back two mouthfuls, guesstimating the dose, and tried not to choke on the awful tasting stuff as it went down. Naruto took the bottle back, and pressed a glass of water into her hand immediately after.
"I hate you," she told him after she had washed down the medicine, but was partially interrupted but a shiver.
"I know. Cold?" he questioned, pulling up the covers as she lay back down, eyes closed.
"Freezing," she replied.
"I'll get another blanket."
By the time he got back with the blanket she had almost dozed back to sleep, and just barely felt the heavy material drape over her.
"Naruto, can you call my—" she started, but was cut off as she felt his warm body press close to hers as he slid under the blankets with her, immediately alleviating some of the cold swore she felt centered from her core.
"Just go to sleep. I already called in for you earlier," he informed her, much to her surprise. "Just shhhhhhhhhh," he repeated, softer this time, a hum in his chest more than anything.
"M'kay Sunshine," she mumbled under her breath, and despite the feeling of sheer awfulness that was still permeating through her, she smiled a bit as she felt his arm around her close, protecting her with the only way he knew how—with his whole self and body, the only way he knew how to show he cared.