An Unexpected Visit
Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto, and I never will!
The last chapter is up. Thanks for the great reviews so far, and please enjoy the conclusion of An Unexpected Visit...
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At first, things had gone very well. After a brief fight and a round of name-calling, Sasuke had finally persuaded Naruto to eat some of the ramen (ok, so maybe the kunai being held to the younger boy's throat helped; Sasuke was still trying to get the hang of this "nurse-maid" thing). He had also coaxed his friend into taking a warm shower, hoping the steam would help the congestion in the blonde's chest.
However, soon after the shower ended, things began to fall apart. Sasuke first noticed something was wrong when Naruto's cheeks remained a rosy and heated red, even after being out of the warm water for over twenty minutes.
The blonde had of course waved off his inquiries, swearing that he felt fine, well enough to beat Sasuke in a spar if the older boy wanted proof. The Uchiha let the matter drop.
However, Naruto's condition had continued to plummet before the older genin's eyes, and now his eyes were taking on an almost glassy edge.
"Naruto?" Sasuke asked hesitantly, wondering if he should remove some layers off of "Mount Blankie", a towering structure that his teammate had insisted they build on his bed due to how cold his house was (even though, Sasuke noted again, the house was not cold at all).
"What is it now, mom?" the kyubi container groused irritably, tired of his friend's mother-henning. Honestly, one Mai was enough…
Grinding his teeth and refusing to acknowledge the insult, Sasuke forced a tone of nonchalance and patience into his voice, "Are you sure you're still feeling alright?"
He received no answer accept some dark, muffled grumbling about "overbearing, know-it-all Uchihas who had nothing better to do than harass innocent Uzumakis" before Naruto turned under Mount Blankie and faced the wall, pointedly ignoring the other boy in his room.
Resisting the urge to wring the blonde's neck, Sasuke forced his clenching fingers to dig into his own knees instead. He had once believed that it was impossible for his teammate to be anymore obnoxious then his usual self, but sick Naruto was proving his theory very, very wrong. Not only was the boy annoying, but his pride refused to accept any help, regardless of how badly he needed it.
Checking the thermometer in his hand, Sasuke cursed under his breath as the flashing numbers read "102.1". The fever was still refusing to break.
Trying not to panic as worry crept into his mind, the youngest Uchiha wracked his brains for something, anything, that could help bring the fever down. What had his own mother used to do when he wasn't feeling well?
A light blush rose to his face as images of his mother singing to him and placing soft kisses on his forehead came to mind. Well that defiantly wasn't going to happen.
Wandering into the kitchen and then the bathroom, Sasuke returned several minutes later with a wet washcloth. Placing a hand on the unresponsive blonde's shoulder, he attempted to turn his stubborn friend over so he could place the cool compress on the sweating forehead.
Naruto resisted his efforts weakly, batting the offending hands away and glaring venom that impressed even Sasuke. "Leave me alone, teme! I don't want your help, or your pity; I can take care of myself!"
"Yeah, that's obvious," the older boy snapped, "since your fever hasn't stopped rising since you woke up, you can barely get yourself to the toilet with falling over, and I practically had to force feed you breakfast!" The brunette's cheeks were beginning to flush a matching shade of scarlet, frustration beginning to get the better of him.
"I bet you just love this, don't you, teme?" Naruto latched onto Sasuke's wrists, restraining him from placing the washcloth on his forehead, his eyes glittering feverishly, "Loud, obnoxious, dead-last Naruto is falling to pieces in front of you, and you get to sit their and rub it in his face. Looks like Uchiha Sasuke once again proves he is superior!" The last sentence was almost spat out, full of anger, frustration, and resentment.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed even more, his teeth forming a snarl as his friend's words stung deep. "Baka," he ground out angrily, his usually carefully planned words spilling out heatedly, "I'm not taking care of you to prove I'm stronger, I'm here because I'm worried about you!"
Both boys continued to glare at one another, both breathing hard, Naruto's breath coming out in ragged wheezes. Sasuke's last statement hung heavily in the air between them, and slowly Naruto's eyes lost their angry spark and his hands loosened on the brunette's wrists, falling limply to the bed beside him.
"Oh fine, just put the stupid thing on then." He was still grumbling, and refused to meet Sasuke's eyes, but all of the fight had gone out of him. He flinched slightly as the cold, moist washcloth came into contact with his fevered face, leaning towards the blissful coolness despite himself.
The older boy sat back on the barstool he had pulled beside Naruto's bed from the kitchen, watching his teammate carefully. Every so often he would reach out and flip the washcloth to a cooler side, or go into the kitchen to rewet it, but for the most part he just sat observing, lost in his own thoughts as Naruto sank into an uneasy sleep.
An hour later, Sasuke cursed softly to himself as he tucked the blonde securely into bed, ignoring the boy's slurred rambling about "dancing ramen bowls" as he tossed and turned, sweat dripping off his face and soaking his unruly gold curls. With one last look over his shoulder, the brunette sprinted from the house, racing as fast as he could towards the home of Iruka. In his clenched hand, the thermometer flashed "104.2".
Iruka, although clearly shaken by the news a slightly breathless Sasuke had delivered after pounding hard enough on his old sensei's door to blow it off its hinges, sprang into action quite efficiently. The older man quickly reassured Sasuke that everything would be fine as he walked briskly to his bathroom, opening the medicine cabinet and pulling out various bottles of pills, herbs, and salves.
Within minutes, student and teacher were speeding back towards Naruto's apartment, Iruka leading and taking several shortcuts.
When they arrived, they were greeted by a clone of Sasuke who had been standing guard in front of Naruto's unlocked door, attempting to look as intimidating as possible. Sasuke undid the jutsu wordlessly, dissipating his clone and pushing the door open to usher Iruka inside.
Iruka went straight to the bedroom door, disappearing inside. It was obvious the man had been to the apartment many times in the past, as he knew his way around very well. Placing a hand on the feverish boy's forehead, Iruka's eyebrows creased with worry at the heat radiating off of it. "Oh, Naruto," he spoke softly, rubbing soothing circles on the young boys temples as he attempted to kick of his blankets, "you're a mess."
After that, it became very quiet, except for the random outbursts from a hallucinating Naruto. Iruka set to work immediately, forcing the unresponsive boy to swallow several different colored pills before beginning to combine small pinches of various herbs together.
Sasuke eventually left the bedroom and seated himself on the sofa, unable to do anything but get in the way. The minutes slowly crept by as he snuck furtive and frequent glances at the bedroom door, a knot of worry tightening in his gut.
The young Uchiha hadn't known what to do when Naruto's fever began to spike. He had no medical training past basic first aid, Mai wasn't due back for hours, he didn't want to risk carrying the boy to the hospital, which was some distance away, and Kakashi was on a mission. The only person he could come up with had been Iruka, and as soon as he had thought of the gentle academy teacher, he had sped off as fast as possible, hoping this was just another problem his old teacher could easily produce an answer for.
But Iruka had been in the bedroom for almost an hour now, and Sasuke was trying not to panic. Naruto couldn't die. He just couldn't.
After his clan had been murdered before his eyes (thanks to Itachi's sharingan) the young Uchiha had closed himself off from everyone surrounding him, refusing to allow anyone to get even remotely close to him. The closer they got, the more it hurt when they left. But somehow, despite all of his best efforts, the dobe had managed to slip under all of his defenses and walls, connecting with him not through kindness and sympathy, but with insults and rivalry.
While the younger boy annoyed his teammate to no end, reaching new heights of obnoxiousness on a daily basis, Sasuke had to admit that he was the only individual he could stand being around for more than a few minutes. He had started as an annoying pest that simply poked at the stoic boy, refusing to let him seal himself off and forcing him to acknowledge another individual in his world. The annoyance had become a rival worth competing with, and now…
Now Sasuke suspected that that rival was becoming more than a teammate, more than a comrade. That annoying little pest of a baka had become his friend. His best friend. And with this unexpected realization, Sasuke suddenly knew that he simply could not lose him.
Standing up, he squared his shoulders and began marching towards the silent bedroom, determined to find a way to help. However, just as he was reaching to open the door, it swung open, and a tired looking Iruka stepped out.
Wiping at his brow, the teacher gave Sasuke a reassuring smile. "He's going to be fine."
Relief poured over Sasuke, almost overwhelming him, as he continued to latch onto Iruka's heartening words. "There wasn't really anything seriously wrong with him, besides the fever. I'm not sure what triggered it to take off like that, but it finally broke thanks to the pills I gave him. He'll be as good as new in a few days, maybe even tomorrow knowing Naruto. He's an unusually fast healer."
Something glittered deep in Iruka's eyes, mixing with the relief that also shone there. He placed a hand gratefully on Sasuke's shoulder, staring into his student's eyes as if trying to convey something. "I know Mai does her best to look after him, but if you hadn't been here, Sasuke…" he trailed off, his eyes growing watery as they both knew how that sentence ended. The hand gave a gentle squeeze, "Thank you."
Sasuke nodded, his cheeks flushing uncomfortably at the praise. He was becoming lightheaded with relief, and nauseous at the thought of what would have happened if he had given into his earlier pride and left Naruto alone.
Removing his hand and clearing his throat, Iruka gave Sasuke another smile. "Well, he is fine now, just give him some of this tea tomorrow when he wakes up," he handed Sasuke a small bag of mixed herbs. "I have to go, normally I would spend the night with him but with the current shortage of jounin lately, many of the chuunins have been forced to accept larger work loads. That on top of my school responsibilities…" The man trailed off helplessly, obviously feeling guilty for abandoning his favorite student.
"I'll stay the night," Sasuke offered immediately, already having made the decision to stick by his friend until he was sure for himself that the boy was ok.
Iruka nodded again. "Thank you," he said softly, before gathering the few things he had brought with him and heading back to his own house.
Alone once again with his teammate, Sasuke quietly entered the sleeping boy's room, breathing a sigh of relief as he took in the blonde's peaceful sleeping form. Iruka had already changed the sweat soaked sheets with fresh ones, and Naruto looked comfortable enough, his breathing much less strained and his cheeks a normal color.
Sasuke felt a small smile tug at his lips as his mind once again brought up the image of his mother singing to him as a young child. There was no way that was going to happen, but…
Leaning forward, the older boy placed a soft kiss on top of a mountain of unruly curls. Before slipping quietly out of the room, he gave his best friend one last glance. "Goodnight, dobe," he said softly, leaving quietly to make up his own bed on the couch again.
After the figure in his doorway left, the dozing blonde allowed one heavy cerulean eye to crack open and a small smile of his own to creep over his lips. "Goodnight, teme," he whispered softly, before closing his tired eyes and drifting off to sleep.
-Owari-
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Yes, that's all folks! I know I probably could have taken this story a little farther, but I originally wrote it too be just fluff, and fluff it shall remain! If you are looking for something with a little bit more plot, check out the other story I'm currently working on, It's All in Your Head. Thank you all very much for your reviews, and let me know what you thought of the end!