A/N: So I'm updating quickly for once! Yay! I got bored again, and I was going to do the chapter after this right away (Still might) but I wanted to read your comments. Anyway, the chapters will be getting longer now, as I'm on chat number 5 of 35 and already on chapter 13. Anyway, this chapter makes up for last chapter. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything to do with it. I also don't own a boxered-Sasuke clone, and if I did, I would have been killed by now by random fangirls.

-------

Breathing heavily, Sasuke entered Itachi's room. "H-hey, oniisan." He sat, ignoring the wound he had gotten from being stabbed. When silence greeted him, he smiled to himself. "I guess you're asleep, then." Moving over, he sat in the chair by Itachi's bed, noticing the bed the nurses had brought in for him. Sighing, he laid down on that.

"Sasuke….is that you?" Itachi asked, waving his hand in the air. "Have you returned?"

"Huh?" Sasuke looked up from the bed. "Yeah, I have, Itachi."

Itachi grunted and sat up, looking over at his brother. "SASUKE, YOU'RE BLEEDING!!" he sounded close to hysterics. "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?"

"Hn?" Sasuke looked down at himself, noticing the blood. "Oh. I guess I am."

"Yes, NOW EXPLAIN!" Itachi shouted. Turning to the buttons on the side of his bed, he hit the "Call nurse" button.

Sasuke noticed. "I'm fine, Itachi. Really."

"No you're not." Itachi shifted in his bed.

"I just fought the leader, that's all."

"No….You need to get looked at." Itachi's face was filled with concern.

"It's just a little wound! I mean, my shirt's not even drenched."

"I DON'T CARE!" Itachi yelled. Suddenly, he winced, arching his back severely. "GAHHHH!"

"Itachi?" Sasuke's expression changed quickly. "Itachi! You alright?"

"Ahhhh!" Itachi moaned. "My back…my back!"

"Itachi!" Reaching over, Sasuke started hitting the "Call Nurse" button over and over again. As Itachi's breath grew more and more ragged, Sasuke turned back to him. "Dammit, Itachi! You've gotta stop doing this to me!"

Itachi opened his mouth. "You…worry about yourself."

"I'm not the one having spasms!" Sasuke yelled.

"You're getting looked at first." Even in pain, Itachi was a stubborn man.

"NO!" Sasuke threw the buttons to the side. "You're falling over in pain! I've just got a little stab wound!" He clutched the edge of Itachi's bed.

"Do not argue with me." Itachi's voice was suddenly commanding. "All I care about right now is your safety."

"ITACHI!" Sasuke was suddenly grabbing his brother by the shirt, pulling him so they were face to face. "I'm not letting you get hurt just because you think I'm in danger! You've got to think more about yourself! I'm fine! I'm all grown up now and I can handle myself. It's you that needs help, not me! So stop arguing with me and shut up while I get help!" Breathing heavily, Sasuke threw his brother back down.

"GAHHHH!" Itachi yelled. "YOU FOOL! YOU THREW ME DOWN ON MY BACK!"

"Whoops." Sasuke had completely forgotten about Itachi's back problems. "NURSE!"

Suddenly, a nurse burst in the room. She was dressed in a tight hot pink uniform, had long flowing golden hair and blue eyes. Her entrance had caused a large amount of Shojo rose petals to fall from the sky.

"I'll make it all better, Itachi-sama," she said, her Mary-Sueish features catching the light perfectly.

Sasuke's face was horrified. Brushing rose petals off of his head, he scrambled over to Itachi. "OTHER NURSE!" he shouted, shielding his brother from the fangirl nurse. The Mary Sue fangirl shuffled out just as a male nurse with a slight limp and a cane made his way in, walked over to Itachi's bed, shoved a shot into his leg, declared, "There. He's cured," and walked back out.

"Dr. House?" Sasuke asked, tilting his head to the side. Shaking his head, he turned back to Itachi. "Itachi? You better?"

Silence greeted him.

Turning around, Sasuke slammed his fists into the wall. "I'm so useless!" His angst mixed with the flower petals, creating a sort of emo scene.

"Sasuke?" Itachi moaned.

"Angst!" Sasuke noticed his brother. "Yes?" He turned back to him.

"I don't ever want to hear you call yourself stupid or useless again." Sasuke turned to look out the window. Itachi sighed and laid back down. "Look at me."

"Why?'

"Because I said so." When Sasuke didn't comply, Itachi barked, "Now!"

Turning slowly, Sasuke looked at his brother.

"Sasuke," Itachi started. "You are very strong. Don't ever say that you're not, that you're useless or stupid. You are an Uchiha. We are not any of those. You are very precious to me. That's why I was concerned about you."

"But…I failed," Sasuke's face was hidden by an emo shadow.

"No…why would you say that you did?" Itachi crept backwards in his bed, attempting to hide from the advancing emoness.

"I've failed in so many things."

"No, you have not." Itachi was now on the very corner of his bed.

"First, I couldn't protect my clan, then I couldn't get stronger than Naruto, then I couldn't beat Orochimaru's curse seal, I can't beat you, and I can barely beat the Leader." Sasuke's amount of emoness and angst was now setting a world record.

"That's okay," Itachi reassured him, partly to get the emoness to abate and not swallow Itachi whole. "You will get strong. And someday, you will surpass me."

"Only if I manage to kill Naruto."

"No. You've already killed the Leader. Do you honestly say that you like it?"

"I doubt that I killed him." Sasuke was apparently the world's biggest pessimist, too. Somewhere off in the distance, Eyore cried.

"And I don't like it, it's just…I have to in order to get the Mangekyou, and without that, I'm useless." Sasuke's self esteem was now at floor level.

"You could, and no you're not!" Itachi shook his head. "But you'd better get used to that feeling. If you join me, you'd better like killing. You wouldn't believe how many assassination orders we get."

"It's not necessarily a bad feeling. Just weird." Sasuke shook his head, too. "I'm an avenger, though. Of course I know what it feels like."

Itachi nodded sagely. "Yes, I will agree that it was weird for me at first, but then it became second nature to me."

"Yeah," Sasuke's tone was suddenly harsh. Maybe killing off a clan could help with that…" He sounded like he was forming an idea, and Itachi didn't like it.

"…Yes…and it helped me obtain my Mangekyou…"

"I would go after the Hyuugas, but you know. They all look like girls." Suddenly, as if by a miracle, the emoness abated and Sasuke's face was visible again. "And without the Mangekyou, as I've stated, it's pointless…It's just my luck that my best friend's a demon." Just then, the emoness was back and creeping up on Itachi again, threatening to eat him alive.

"You never told me how Neji's party went!" Itachi declared, trying desperately to get rid of the emoness.

"Heh." Itachi waited, but Sasuke didn't continue. Instead, he closed his eyes for a few moments, and then shot them wide open. Moving over to his bed, he picked up the pajamas the nurse had left him and took off his shirt.

"Are you ready for bed now?" Itachi asked from his bed.

Sasuke turned to look at him, his eyes narrowed. "No, Itachi. I'm just taking off my shirt for no good reason."

"Ah. I see, I see," Itachi mused.

"SARCASM!" Sasuke shouted, waving his arms.

"I know, I know," Itachi replied.

"Sheesh. There's no Neji around here. I don't act like that."

Itachi shook his head, attempting to ignore that remark. "Well, I assume you don't want anything to eat or drink?"

"No, I'm good," Sasuke replied, taking off his shorts. Reaching over, he started undoing his random bandages.

"And first thing in the morning, you're getting checked out. As soon as I'm back from my mission," Itachi informed him, watching as Sasuke threw the pajamas across the room.

"Ug." Sasuke flopped on his bed, dressed in his boxers. "Please tell me you're not actually going on that."

"I have to." Itachi turned to face his brother. "There's no choice."

Sasuke opened one eye and looked at his brother. "Isn't he supposed to be dead? You know, the leader?"

"Yes," Itachi responded. "But still. It is my duty to do all the missions that have been assigned to me. But I only have them to the beginning of next month."

"Ug." Sasuke looked over at Itachi and smirked. "By the way, nice paper smock," he said, referring to the one issued to all hospital patients. "Veeeerrry stylish." He untied his headband.

"Thanks," Itachi said, laughing. "I'll be sure to get you one as well."

"No thanks," Sasuke put his hands behind his head. "Boxers are good enough for me."

"They refused to let me wear my robe…" Itachi complained.

"I wonder why," Sasuke said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. A few silent moments passed, and then Sasuke sat up. "I can't wait until the nurse walks in here in the morning."

"Why?" Itachi asked.

"She'll be like-" Sasuke got off of his bed and did a very disturbing impression of the Mary Sue nurse. "Tra la la la laaaaa!" Jumping onto the bed, he yelled, "RANDOM BISHI IN BOXERS!" Jumping off, he put his hands to his cheeks. "OMG!!!! –fangirls-"

Itachi smacked his hand to his forehead.

"What?" Sasuke asked, lying back down. "You've gotta admit it would be funny. Really, just make a clone so you could see it."

Itachi smirked and raised an eyebrow, looking at Sasuke. "He he. Yes, it would be."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Itachi. "Ew. Gross! Are you checking me out?"

"No!" Itachi scrambled away from his brother.

"Better not be," Sasuke replied.

"That's gross!"

Sasuke smirked. "But you looooooooove me, oniisan!"

Itachi shook his head, laughing. "Yes, I do." Sobering, he turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke, come here for a second."

"Hn?" Sasuke moved to the side of his bed that was closest to Itachi's.

"I just wanted to say…thanks." In one motion, Itachi wrapped Sasuke in a hug. "Goodnight my brother."

Sasuke's following expression has been dubbed as too hard to put into words. The World's Scholars have decided it is best described as O.O.

"Um…good night," Sasuke said, noting the odd sensation experienced when you are hugged by your brother while wearing only boxers. Sasuke shivered.

Itachi laughed. "Yes, that was weird, wasn't it? But it was only for a second."

"Still…" Sasuke shivered again.

"Yeah. I shivered, too."

Sasuke's face contorted into overdone disgust. "If you had glomped me or cuddled me, I would have freaked out."

"Well," Itachi replied. "I wouldn't do that anyway."

"Good." Sasuke turned back onto his back. "That'd be weird."

"I would freak too," Itachi admitted, cuddling into his pillow.

"Really?" The expression on Sasuke's face made Itachi suspicious.

"Yes…"

In one swift movement, Sasuke made a quick hand sign. Immediately, a puff of smoke filled the air and a shadow clone of boxered-Sasuke stood before them. In an instant, he had run at Itachi, and glomped him.

Itachi sweat dropped.

"I'm so glad I can't feel that," Sasuke said, laughing.

"He he," Itachi replied sarcastically. The clone Sasuke was now snuggling up against him. "That's enough. Lights out!" Clapping, Itachi watched the lights in the room shut off.

"Ug. Fine." Sasuke released his shadow clone. A few silent moments passed. "Hey, Itachi?"

"Yes?" Itachi had almost been asleep.

"Bet you just freaked out madly, didn't you?"

"Uh-huh," Itachi nodded vigorously. "You know it."

"C'mon," Sasuke rolled over to face his brother. "It can't be that bad having a shirtless/pants less brother cuddle up against you under the covers when you're in a paper smock!" He paused. "Oh, wait. It can."

Itachi yawned. "Yes, it can."

"Well, night, Itachi," Sasuke said, rolling over back onto his back and sinking under the covers. "Eat a good breakfast before you go. And have fun on your mission."

Itachi laughed again. "Alright. I will. Sleep tight and sweet dreams."

Sasuke closed his eyes and in an instant was asleep.

-------

A/N: So that was a LONG chapter. Yay. The next one's hilarious. It really is. The real Itachi (the one this is based on) keeps on walking up to me and saying "Did you get to that chapter yet?" Nooo. But now we will! Yay!

Well, please review!