Seven

He canceled class on Monday.

Sakura had spent the entire weekend in agony after that Friday afternoon in his office. She had been looking forward to seeing Sasuke on Monday, if for no other reason than to try and gauge his reaction to the situation. She didn't know about him, but the interaction had left her scared, but maybe also a little wanting.

The bastard hadn't even had the decency to send out an email. No, there was simply a sheet of paper tacked to the lecture hall door that read: "Anatomy & Physiology Canceled". Sakura frowned openly at the sheet of paper, feeling rather dejected as she turned to leave the building. Sasuke most certainly didn't seem the type to cancel class, that was for sure.

She didn't realize how angry she was until she had made it outside of the building. She had been looking forward to seeing him – not just to see if he seemed affected by their moment on Friday, but just because she kind of wanted to be near him. She chose to not think too hard about that little detail. Was he hiding from her? There was no way that he would actually cancel class to avoid seeing her…was there?

Foolishly letting her temper control her, Sakura whipped out her cellphone and typed out a message to him. Why'd you cancel?

She shoved her phone into her back pocket in a huff. She realized she had no real reason to be pissed at him, he was well within his rights to cancel class, but she couldn't help but be angry. The cancelation was unlikely to be related to her, she knew that to assume it was influenced by her was conceited. Sakura just couldn't shake the feeling that Sasuke was having trouble facing her after everything that had happened.

She decided to head to work and see if Tsunade would let her clock in early. If she wasn't going to be in class, she might as well make a little money instead.

It was early October now, and the air had taken on a substantial chill even in the daylight hours. Sakura pulled her sweater a little tighter around her thin frame as she hurried towards the on-campus clinic. She was not expecting the staggering amount of patients that she found upon opening the door.

"Sakura! Thank god," Tsunade waved to her frantically from behind a sea of people. "Get over here and help me check all these people in!"

Sakura did her best to stumble through the crowd towards Tsunade, mumbling apologetic "excuse me's" every time she banged into one of the patients crowding the desk. What the hell was going on? Was the plague back?

Without having to resort to crawling on her hands and knees, Sakura finally made it to safety behind the front desk with Tsunade.

"Here!" the doctor thrust a yellow mask into Sakura's hands that matched one she was wearing. "This is the worst strain of the flu I've ever seen. Looks like half the campus came down with it over the weekend!"

Sakura obediently took the mask from the older woman, fastening it behind her head snuggly. "What do you want me to do?"

"Try to get these fuckers in some semblance of a line, for one," Tsunade muttered under her breath. "Get everyone checked in and me and Shizune will tag-team assessing them." The blonde woman groaned as another wave of people came in the door, coughing and shivering with fever. "This is going to take forever. I hope you have time to stay and help?"

"Sure," Sakura nodded. "My only class of the day was canceled."

"Uchiha's class?" Tsunade quirked an eyebrow.

Sakura nodded.

"Hm," was all Tsunade said before turning to address the crowd. "Alright people, line up!"

The crowd was dense, and while it appeared some students were attempting to form a line, most of them continued to stand around like they hadn't heard Tsunade speak at all.

"Listen here, punks!" Tsunade's voice shook the room. "Those who do not comply and get in line right this minute will have their temperature taken rectally!"

That inspired the students to line up at a speed Sakura would have previously believed impossible.

Sakura stayed at the clinic for almost twelve hours. Tsunade hadn't been wrong…it really did seem like half of the campus had the flu. Students and teachers alike had swarmed in all day, forcing the clinic to remain open a couple of hours late. Sakura, Tsunade, and Shizune had all stayed and worked diligently until every last patient had been seen. Among the patients were Ino, Naruto, and Hinata, causing Sakura to groan internally. If her three closest friends were sick, including her roommate, it was only a matter of time before Sakura herself came down with the illness.

It was dark now as she walked back towards her dorm, and the evening air was sharp and cold against her face. Sakura wanted nothing more than to make a cup of tea and relax with a book, or maybe even a movie with Naruto or Ino. She was trying to decide what movie to watch when she was faced with the most pathetic site she had seen all day.

There stood Uchiha Sasuke outside of the faculty building, pale as a ghost and shivering harder than she was. He was wearing a t-shirt and sweats, puffing on a cigarette under the dull glow of the light outside his building.

Cursing herself for her own curiosity and him for his damn magnetism, Sakura approached him warily. He'd never answered her text message, it was likely that he didn't want to talk to her…

Oh well.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Sakura asked when she was close enough to speak to him, quoting his own words back to him.

Without looking at her he replied: "Pajamas."

"Why are you wearing a t-shirt? It's cold," Sakura furrowed her brow at him, putting the pieces together in her mind. Canceled class, pale skin, shivering? Now that she was closer, she could also see that a light sheen of sweat had caused his hair to stick to his forehead. "You're sick!"

"I'm not sick."

"Yes you are! Goddamn it, Sasuke! Go back inside! You're going to make yourself feel worse standing out here in the cold in just a t-shirt!" the future-doctor in her was not about to let him disregard his heath in such a way. "Do I have to drag you back inside?"

Sasuke shot her a sideways glance. "You might."

Steeling her resolve and daring him to challenge her with a sharp glance, Sakura sniffed at him. "Fine." She grabbed his hand, ripped the cigarette out of it and smashed it with her foot. Satisfied that that had been taken care of, she turned and pulled him towards the door of the building. "Key card," she asked without turning to face him, holding her hand out behind her. She was surprised when she felt the cool plastic card being placed in her palm – she would've thought he would've put up more of a fight.

It wasn't until she entered the lobby of the building with Sasuke in tow that Sakura began to become concerned that someone would see them. A student dragging her professor by the hand up to his room would probably raise some red flags.

As though he was reading her mind, Sasuke spoke from behind her. "Almost no one lives here, most of the building has been converted to office space and even that is barely used. I live on the third floor and one other professor lives on the other end of the hall."

Nodding after being reassured by Sasuke, she led him to the elevators and pressed the button for the third floor. They didn't let go of each other's hands in the elevator, although neither one acknowledged the fact. There was no point for Sakura to lead Sasuke around by the hand as he was clearly willing to follow her, but if he wasn't going to let go, she didn't see a reason to either.

"Three-o-four," Sasuke mumbled behind her as they exited the elevator.

Sakura walked to his door quickly, wanting to be safely hidden in his apartment as soon as possible. She knew now that only one other person lived on the entire floor, but she still wanted to tread carefully. It only took one person seeing them – one person getting the wrong impression – for Sasuke to possibly get in trouble. And as much of an asshole as he was…Sakura could admit to herself that she didn't want that.

Using his keycard to open his door, Sakura was met by a very clean living space. It was small, but seemed fairly updated and nice. Everything was dark and had sharp edges and lines. Even the couch – it was black leather with squared edges and practically screamed Sasuke. She led him to it and pointed, "Lay down."

To her great surprise, he complied, folding his hands across his stomach and laying his head back against the arm of the couch.

"Do you have a thermometer somewhere? Or cold and flu medicine?" Sakura asked, not wanting to snoop around in his drawers and cabinets. Well, okay, she wanted to, but she didn't think that would be a very good idea.

"In the cabinet above the sink," came Sasuke's sleepy reply, sending a jolt through Sakura's stomach. Man, he sounded hot when he was sick.

Mentally berating herself for perving on her patient, Sakura quietly made her way into the kitchen, which was open to the living room. Stretching on her tiptoes, Sakura reached for the cabinet above the sink, frowning when she found she was too short to reach. Sighing dramatically, she lifted herself up to rest her knees on the counter so she could access the high cabinet.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke's voice sounded a little more awake now, and Sakura turned to see him sitting up on the couch, watching her.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she snapped back good-naturedly. "It's too high for me to reach."

Sakura had to lean back slightly to avoid whacking herself in the head with the cabinet, nearly losing her balance and falling backwards. She steadied herself, but not before she felt a pair of fever warm hands settle firmly on either side of her hips, anchoring her in place. She would never begin to understand how the hell he was so fast…

"You're going to fall and crack your head open," Sasuke's breath tickled her ear teasingly. "I'm not really sure how I'd explain that to the police."

Sakura didn't even dare try to speak. His close proximity and the heat coming off him in waves was nearly enough to melt her into a puddle of Sakura-colored goo. She reached up again, this time held steady by Sasuke, and grabbed a thermometer and some cold medicine with fever reducer. She was about to lift herself back off of the counter when Sasuke's arms wrapped fully around her middle and lifted her gently to the floor.

Sakura's heart was pounding so hard she was sure that he could hear it. He stood behind her now, with his arms on either side of her, hands resting on the countertop. It took everything she had to resist leaning back into him. He stayed like that for a moment, maybe more, before suddenly Sakura's back was met with a rush of cold air, signaling his departure.

A quiet, pathetic sound of dejection escaped her lips before she could stop it. Blushing furiously, she sucked in a few deep, calming breaths before turning to face him. She so should have just left him standing outside on his own…

Sakura turned to find he had moved back to the couch once again, with his elbows resting on his knees and his head resting in his hands. Just seeing him looking so miserable had Sakura regretting even thinking about having left him out in the cold. He needed her help and she was going to give it to him, regardless if she had to ignore her own inappropriate feelings of attraction.

She grabbed a glass from a lower cabinet and filled it with water before approaching him with the thermometer and the medicine. Afraid to sit right next to him, Sakura chose to sit on the sturdy coffee table across from him. Her knees brushed his – maybe it wasn't the best seating choice after all…

"Here," she said, poking his shoulder gently. He looked up at her then, and she was really able to look at his poor, sick face. He had deep purple bags under his eyes, along with peaked skin and red eyes. "Put this under your tongue," she handed him the thermometer.

Never breaking eye-contact with her, he took the thermometer and put it in his mouth slowly. Was he…teasing her? Whatever he was doing, she hated the way her eyes followed the device into his mouth, like she was drawn to it.

Their eyes locked for a moment – him sitting on the couch with a thermometer sticking out of his mouth like a sucker and her perched on his coffee table with a glass of tap-water and a box of cold medicine. The beeping of the device led to Sakura nearly dropping the latter.

Without thinking, she reached out to pull the thermometer out of his mouth, blushing immediately after doing so. "Uh," she coughed gently, embarrassed and suddenly more nervous than she had been in some time. "One-hundred and two. Have you not taken any medicine today?" Her embarrassment was quickly replaced by irritation as she scowled at the man.

He simply shrugged at her, causing her scowl to darken as she quickly opened the box of medicine and handed him two tablets along with the glass of water. Thankfully, he took the pills without a fight.

Nodding after he had taken the medicine, Sakura picked up the box and returned it to the kitchen, opting to leave it on the counter instead of climbing up to the cabinet again. As much as she had enjoyed their little encounter before, Sasuke was much too sick to be carrying her around.

Snooping in his pantry, Sakura came across a can of chicken noodle soup that had a thick layer of dust along the top. Actually, everything in the pantry was coated in dust. She figured he must eat out…like a lot. Typical man.

"Have you eaten anything today?" she called out to the living room, already knowing his answer.

"Does it matter?" came the short, stuffy reply.

Sakura merely rolled her eyes as she had already begun dumping the can of soup into a pot and had it heating on the stove. "Don't be difficult."

"You shouldn't be here."

Oof. That wasn't what she had been expecting. He was right, she shouldn't be there…but she hadn't thought he would say anything about it. Now that he had brought attention to it, she felt horribly awkward and rude for invading his space without really asking. Backing away from the stove and preparing to run out his door, Sakura prayed he just wouldn't say anything else and would let her flee without any more embarrassment.

"You're going to get sick," Sasuke's voice came from much closer this time.

"Oh," Sakura stuttered out, turning to see him leaning on the wall behind her. "N-no, if I get sick it won't be your fault. I was at the clinic with sick people for like twelve hours today and my roommate and best friend are sick too. I'm already doomed."

He quirked an eyebrow at her then. "Did you think I meant something else?"

Cheeks reddening furiously, Sakura spun around under the guise of checking the soup on the stove. "Um, no."

"Allow me to rephrase," Sasuke spoke with that bored tone he used for lectures. "I know what you thought I meant. That will never be the case, or a problem in my eyes."

Damn. Sakura chanced a glance over her shoulder at him. He was still leaning against the wall watching her, and she marveled over how he could still look so incredibly attractive when he was sick. She knew for a fact that she looked like a snotty, rat-haired ghost when she got the flu.

"Why did you work so much today?" he asked her, coming closer to lean against the counter to her left instead.

"It seems like just about everyone on campus is sick," she explained, grateful to change the subject. "Tsunade needed a lot of help with all the patients."

"Ah," Sasuke scoffed, but not unkindly. "I forgot that Tsunade would be your boss."

"Hm, you know her?" Sakura asked, feigning ignorance as she scooped the soup into a bowl for him.

"Our families have an interesting past, you could say," Sasuke shrugged accepting the bowl of soup from her. "I've known her since I was a child." He looked down at the bowl of soup in his hands for a moment. "Aren't you hungry?"

"No," Sakura lied. She actually was pretty hungry, working all day had taken a lot out of her, after all. "I'm fine."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her skeptically. He stared at her for another moment before turning from her, shrugging as he did so. A shudder wracked his body then, and Sakura rushed to his side, practically forcing him back to the couch. He had a pretty high fever, he didn't need to be traipsing all over his apartment.

"Will you stop getting up?" she huffed at him after depositing him back on his couch. "You need to rest or you'll never get any better."

"Yes, doctor," Sasuke sneered at her (without any real malice, she noted).

"Geez, you're such a man when you're sick," Sakura rolled her eyes at him, not deterred by his attitude.

"What the hell does that mean?" Sasuke frowned at her, looking a little offended.

The look on his face almost caused Sakura to laugh at his expense, but she managed to keep her chuckle in check. She didn't think Sasuke was the type to enjoy being laughed at. "It means men always get a little bitchy when they're sick."

"Bitchy? Please," Sasuke scoffed, sitting up a little straighter on the couch, averting his eyes.

She couldn't tell if the color in his cheeks was due to the fever or something else.

He started coughing then, and a wave of sympathy washed over Sakura. He really was sick, she probably shouldn't be teasing him. "God, just lay down, will you? Do you have a blanket around here somewhere?"

Laying down on the couch with only half a glare in her direction, Sasuke pointed down the hallway. "In the hall closet."

Sakura nodded once at him, letting the caretaker in her take over the situation. She headed to the closet to get out a blanket for him, and couldn't help but smile when she opened the door. There were probably twenty pairs of tennis shoes in black, gray, and navy blue in the closet, stacked neatly on a little shelf. It seemed like Sasuke had something of a sneaker obsession…it was a little cute. She quickly pulled down a blanket from the top shelf and shut the door, not wanting him to think she was snooping.

"Here," Sakura placed the blanket at Sasuke's feet. "Don't cover up until your fever breaks, but you'll probably be cold when it does."

Sasuke just nodded. His eyes were squinted shut and he looked miserable. More sweat had broken out along his pale skin, and his hair was all but plastered down against his forehead. An internal debate was now raging inside of Sakura's head. Should she stay and help him? There wasn't much more she could do but…leaving didn't feel right.

Deciding to give herself more tasks while she made her mind up, Sakura trotted back down the hall to find the bathroom. Finding it across from the closet, she located a clean washcloth and wet it with cold water. What the hell, what the hell, what the hell was she doing? Those words became her mantra as she rang the excess water from the rag and returned to the living room with it.

Sasuke was still laying there, unmoving and pale in the lamplight. He looked borderline angelic. Somehow, he really just rocked the whole deathly pale look. Typical.

Approaching him gently, Sakura knelt down and bravely reached out to smooth some of the damp hair from his forehead before placing the cool rag across. His eyes had popped open to meet hers, and suddenly she realized she was far, far too close to him.

In her hurry to get away, she stumbled backwards not-so-gracefully onto her ass, legs splayed out to her sides like a child would sit. "Ah," she mumbled awkwardly. "Hopefully that helps."

He was still eyeing her, but Sakura couldn't even hope to read his current expression. It was shut-off and distant. Not cold, but not exactly inviting either. It seemed the man had absolutely perfected the art of hiding what he was thinking. At least sometimes, that is.

"Um, you said you knew Tsunade?" Sakura asked, desperate to get him talking instead of just letting him stare at her.

"Yeah," Sasuke raised his arm up to rest behind his head, finally looking up towards the ceiling. "The Senjus are…old family acquaintances, you could say."

"The good kind?" Sakura pried a little, curious about both his family and Tsunade's. Other than telling her she had known Sasuke since he was little, Tsunade had shared no more about her family.

"Sometimes," Sasuke chuckled a little before coughing some more. "Tsunade's grandfather and an ancestor of mine had a bit of a tiff many years back. They used to work together. There was a…falling out of sorts. Now the Senjus basically run Konoha and my family sort of supports it in the background, you could say."

"Hm," Sakura was genuinely interested now. "Did you always want to be a teacher?"

Sasuke scoffed at that. "No," he sat up then to face her, she had taken up sitting cross-legged on the floor. The rag fell from his forehead. "I didn't know what I wanted to be as a child. My father is a doctor, my mother is a lawyer. My brother was a lawyer as well."

Oh, dare she? "He was?" Sakura couldn't help but ask.

The brief flash of grief in Sasuke's eyes made her wish she had kept her mouth shut. "Was."

"Oh," Sakura coughed a little, now feeling incredibly awkward for trying to be nosy. "Okay. Um, did you want to be a lawyer too?"

The change of subject instantly changed Sasuke's mood, and he quickly became more relaxed. His shoulders un-bunched and his mouth relaxed from the tight line it had become. "Not really. Of course, my parents would have been thrilled about that career choice, but I saw what it did to my mother. It wore away her spirit. I never wanted that."

"Did you ever want to be a doctor?" Sakura asked, glad that he didn't seem angry with her.

"I considered that, for awhile," Sasuke tipped his head back against the back of the couch, replacing the rag across his forehead. "But only when I was a child. As a teenager, I had no idea what I wanted to do."

"How did you come to the decision to teach?" Sakura sat forward a little, figuring she better ask as many questions as she could before he inevitably clammed up.

"I didn't, really," Sasuke answered, sleepiness clear in his voice. "I got a PhD in Human Physiology because I found it interesting. The week after I graduated, I was looking into researching position, as I am aware I'm not the most…personable. The Dean of the college of Health and Sciences here at the university asked if I would consider teaching a class just for the semester, while I looked for the right job." Sasuke paused then. "I guess I just haven't found that job yet."

"Tsunade mentioned that you wrote a book," Sakura said, trying to sound nonchalant. In all honesty, she was really curious to see what he would say about it.

"Did she?" Sasuke mumbled. "Yeah…I did. I had a lot of free time at the beginning when I was just teaching the one class. Now I have a few different sections to teach."

By the time he had finished speaking, he had slumped back over to a position lying on his side, arms folded up underneath his head. The steady sound of his breathing told Sakura that he was probably asleep, or very close to it.

Standing as silently as she could, Sakura gently placed a hand on his arm, trying to determine if his fever had dropped low enough for her to cover him with a blanket. She decided he was decently cool, and so she pulled up the thick blue quilt she had gotten from the closet and settled it around his shoulders.

After one last look at his peaceful, sleeping form. Sakura crept slowly towards the door, trying not to make any noise loud enough to wake him. She turned the handle to the door quietly, cringing when the door creaked as she pulled it open.

"Sakura," Sasuke's voice came quietly from behind her.

"Hm?" she turned in the doorway to face him again.

He was still asleep.

She turned to go again, this time successfully escaping through the door. Had she imagined him saying her name? Had he said it in his sleep? Did it matter if he had said it in his sleep? She replayed it over and over in her mind on her walk back to her dorm until she had convinced herself it was nothing. It didn't mean anything.

…

Sakura.

AN: Whew! Sorry for the delay in getting that chapter out. I've been pretty busy, and I have been absolutely OBSESSED with Minecraft lately. I play for hours and hours a day…I might have a problem. I literally took a break from it just to get this chapter out.

Thank you all so much for your support in regards to the guest reviewer who was trolling me, you are all so wonderful and I got so many kind reviews and messages. You all mean the world to me! Thank you to the other authors, roraewrites and sins with tragedies for both messaging me and telling me they had looked into the issue and for being incredibly supportive. You guys are amazing people! Everybody go check their stories out :) I was so thrilled to hear from them!

Hope you all like this chapter! Let me know what you think!

~ loony