Summary: Kakashi takes care of a sick Sakura

Curing sickness

Something jolts him out of his doze, and he nearly falls off the couch as he rolls over, suddenly remembering that he was on the couch in the first place, instead of his own bed.

Blinking in the dark, Kakashi barely gives his eyes time to adjust before another sound, the one that had most likely woke him, has him scrambling off the sofa. He stumbles through the living room, bangs his shin on the coffee table as he goes and mutters a curse under his breath.

Flinging open the bedroom door, he rubs at his sleep-deprived eyes and makes his way over to the bed. "Sakura?" His voice is rough from sleep and he clears his throat.

The lamp is on beside the bed, illuminating his wife's miserable face.

She's sitting up in bed, noisily blowing her nose on a tissue that is soon discarded among a pile of others in the small bin beside the bed. She coughs, sniffs, focusing goopy, bloodshot eyes on her husband.

"You need anything, sweetheart?" he asks in a genuine, caring tone. He knows he's not always good at this kinda stuff, but he tries.

Sakura coughs, blows her nose again using the Kleenex box on her lap, then looks over toward the nightstand that'll take just too much effort to reach. "Cough medicine," she whispers raspily, wiping at her snotty nose.

Kakashi nods. He's still half-asleep as he scrambles to open the child-proof cap on the bottle of Nyquil and pour the syrupy liquid into the little plastic cup.

She watches him through bleary eyes. Sakura knows he's had little sleep himself, that he's been up all day and night taking care of her as best as he can. She feels bad, but she's glad he's there for her. She thinks he looks cute with his eyes half-open, hair sticking out in all directions even more than usual. A soft giggle escapes her lips as he hands her the little plastic cup of cough medicine.

His brows furrow and he eyes her questioningly with confusion. "What?"

"Nothing," she softly replies, smiling gently at him and downing the icky-tasting medicine. As he replaces the cup on the nightstand, she leans her back against the headboard and manages another smile as he takes a seat on the edge of the bed. "I'm just glad you're here, Kakashi."

The sincerity in her tone makes him smile back at her lovingly. He places a hand on her knee gently. "Well, with you being sick, I managed to wrangle a few days off and I got Naruto to watch after your 'duckies' for the time being." He grins cheekily at her and is pleased when she laughs softly, shaking her head.

"'My duckies', huh?" She grabs another tissue and wipes at her red nose. Kakashi always referred to her genin team as her little ducks. She didn't protest it though; she found the name rather cute.

"Uh-huh," Kakashi smirks and lightly squeezes her leg.

Sakura notices that he's trying very hard to keep his eyes open, and looks as though he wants to lay down beside her and go to sleep right there. She knows the couch isn't being kind to his back, but Tsunade would chew them both out if he got sick too.

"Go back to bed Kakashi, I'm okay," she assures him in a soft, raspy voice, reaching for his hand and lightly stroking her thumb over it.

He raises his head a little, nods, but doesn't get up. "I'll wait until you fall asleep," he assures her, and gestures that she lay down.

"Okay," Sakura agrees, because she knows he won't leave until then anyway. She's starting to feel sleepy, her eyelids fluttering as the Nyquil starts to kick in.

Kakashi helps adjust the pillows at her back so that she's lying in a reclined position that will allow her to breathe easier as she sleeps. He lightly brushes the hair from her face and places a kiss on her forehead.

xXx

He's still there when she wakes as sunlight filters through their bedroom curtains in the morning. He's slumped uncomfortably on the armchair in the corner of the room, his head dropped sideways against his shoulder. He's snoring softly, and there's a wet drool stain on his t-shirt.

Sakura smiles and sits up, suddenly realizing that her throat isn't sore anymore, her head feels a whole lot better, and her eyes aren't caked with gunk. Her nose still feels all sniffly and she's certain she's got a cough coming on, but all in all she feels ten times healthier.

"Kakashi," she calls to wake him, her voice still a bit raspy. She winces sympathetically at how fast his head jerks up at her croaky call, and she feels bad because he's been attending to her every need since she got sick.

"Sakura," he chokes out sleepily, clears his throat. "You okay?"

She nods, scooting toward the edge of the bed and slowly flinging her legs over the side. Her skin feels sticky with the sweat of her fever, but she doesn't feel like she's got an elevated temperature now. She's just longing for a shower. Reaching for a tissue, she blows her sniffly nose. "I feel a lot better, Kakashi," she assures him, smiling.

He nods, blinks sleepily and rubs at his eyes. Straightening from his slump in the armchair, he rubs at the stubble on his cheek where he can feel dried up drool, and groans as his back cracks when he stretches.

Sakura gets up, takes the next two steps until she's right beside him, and lightly runs her fingers through his mussed-up hair. "Thank you for taking care of me," she whispers with a genuine smile.

Kakashi appears more awake and less confused now. He can tell by the sound of her voice that she's truly feeling much better, and he's glad. He hates seeing her suffer, and she knows it too. He also knows it goes both ways. "Always," he promises in a low, affectionate voice, standing slowly.

She steps into him and wraps her arms around his waist, tilting her chin as she kisses the stubble on his face. Her head then rests against his chest as his arms wind around her back, and they're holding each other close.

In that moment Sakura knows she's the luckiest woman in the world to have a guy like Kakashi Hatake, and what warms her heart even more is that she knows he feels that same way about her.