The next morning brought only problems with it. Sasuke returned to his brother's room to find the other still and flushed. Sasuke strode over to his brother and knelt to his side, "He does appear to be sick. But with what I can never know, no one can get like this in only a few hours... Can poison cause this?" the raven muttered to himself as his hand removed itself from heated, sweaty flesh.
Getting up Sasuke glanced down at his brother's pained, sleeping face. 'Surely Karin will be able to figure this out. 'He thought and left the room, he had to get Karin and have her assess the elder Uchiha's condition. Padding down the hall in quick strides, Sasuke rapped on Karin's door loudly. Said woman was out and looked like she was about to hit him when she realized it wasn't fish boy, "Oh, Sasuke! What is it?" she said with a weak smile.
"There's something wrong with my brother." The Uchiha stated. Karin blinked, "Well I knew he was crazy but-" Sasuke's eyes twitched, "Damn it woman, there's something psychically wrong with him!" he snapped, grabbing her arm and dragging her along towards Itachi. Karin flushed, "Oh, I got it now." she muttered meekly and heard what might have been 'stupid redhead' spoken from the annoyed teen.
They both entered the room after a few minutes and Karin got to work checking Itachi over. Sasuke stared down on his brother while Karin fluttered over to this side and that of Itachi while she pressed points, listened to certain things and other such nonsense that Sasuke never got. The redhead looked up at Sasuke with a soft frown, "I'm limited on what I can do here Sasuke but he's got a deadly fever and his respiration rate is too fast for his body's lungs." she informed him.
Sasuke nodded, biting his lip, was Itachi going to die? "Do you know what's wrong with him?" the teen inquired hopefully. Karin shook her head, "You'll need a better medical ninja then I." she said and the room fell silent for a few moments as Karin summoned up the question she wished to ask, "Sa-suke?" she stumbled. "H-have you thought to try the new... hokage? They've s-said she is the best in t-the medical-l field..." she said, poking her fingers together as she looked up at him.
Sasuke tried not to glare, "I have." he stated, he'd thought of her before Karin but that woman was the leader of his abandoned village. She'd never help, "She will certainly not help my brother." he added, there we two big things against them. A.) Itachi left the village too and B.) he'd joined akatsuki, no one knew that Itachi had been dropped from the latter though.
Karin sighed, "I think I might be able to do a few tests if you can get me tools and Juugo to help." she said, looking down on Itachi. Sasuke nodded mutely and quickly walked off, if Karin tried something now Sasuke would kill her.
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"Is he doing better?" Sasuke inquired as he stepped into the room they'd made the 'hospital room'. Karin looked up from her charge, "Yes, though I found out something you might want to know." she told him and Sasuke quickly paced over to her side to look his brother over. Karin hadn't let Sasuke even glimpse at his brother for the past three days, seeing the change in his condition made Sasuke feel better for some reason.
"What have you learned?" Karin looked up from Itachi to his almost worried brother, "Well I still don't know anything about what is causing his condition at the moment but I've found signs that he has an illness that is not connected to whatever's going on now." she explained. Sasuke raised a brow, "He has another illness? For how long?" the younger Uchiha was finally learning something about his brother, he'd never known Itachi was sick.
"I'm not sure exactly what it is, but, I've narrowed it down to chronic leukemia or a form of ulcer..." Sasuke stared at her; he didn't know a thing about whatever she was talking about. Karin waited a moment before coming up with a better way of explaining, "Okay, um, the first ones going to kill him if he doesn't have some medicine and the second is killing him faster then the first." Sasuke got it that time, "How long does he have left?" This was when Karin looked completely confused.
"That's what's bothering me." she said, nipping at her thumb nail in thought, "What do you mean?" The raven demanded, did she not know? "Well theoretically speaking your brother should be dead already if he's had either 'illness'. But he's not dead so that would lead me to believe he has medication for the former illness if that Is what he has. If it was the latter then he would have been treated soon after getting it but I can find no true wrong with him." she rambled.
Sasuke stared down, "Has he woken up since you looked at him?" he inquired, the red head nodded once, "He woke about two days ago but didn't seem to notice me at all, actually he kept saying something about a woman... after pretty much cursing out the ceiling he passed out again and his condition has been on the mend since then." she replied.
Sasuke hummed, this was rather complicated to him, "Karin go check my brother's room. If he does have medication then I want you to find it, he's probably gone too long without it." he ordered. The red haired female nodded to Sasuke's command and got up to go search Itachi's given room for anything that might be used to aid in his medical condition. Once the woman was gone, Sasuke looked down on his brother with a sort of sadness he'd never held in his gaze for his brother.
"Why didn't you say something Itachi?" he wondered quietly as his hand got a mind of its own and gently stroked Itachi's flushed cheek. Sasuke seemed to be entranced by his own hand and how good Itachi's skin that he lost track of time and before he knew it Karin was opening the screen door again. Sasuke dropped his hand like a rock was tied to it and looked up to the woman, "Anything?" he inquired.
She answered with a sack hanging from her hand; it was small and obviously torn from clothing into a rag and tied up. "It was stashed beneath the floor boards under his bed." she stated. Sasuke 'Hn'ed, he'd expected something like that from Itachi. "Oh wow." the female said, snooping in the small bag. "What is it?" the Uchiha demanded. Karin padded over and sat next to Sasuke, "Nothing really, I'm just amazed at this concoction. He was able to make this all on his own right under our noses. This stuff is the makings for his meds and its all freshly picked." she said, Itachi was a sly one alright.
Sasuke brought her hands towards him and looked into the bag to see wild plants of all kinds, some days old while the others could be a week at most. "Karin, you're a medic. Give my brother his medicine before he dies." he ordered as he let go and got up. The female huffed, that was easier said then done since she didn't know how to make it. Without speaking, Sasuke padded away to the door and opened it, then he turned back to see Karin staring his brother down like a wolf with a steak, "And Karin," he called.
The female looked up at him, the look still there. "Touch my brother inappropriately and I will hurt you in ways a woman would never want to feel..." he said before turning back and leaving the room. Karin gapped at the door and shuddered before gulping, Sasuke was not one to lie about beating someone. 'Time to get to work.' she thought as she looked at the contents of the sack.