I'm sick today so of course, Sasuke is sick too. This is a just a drabble I decided to write in bed, bored out of my mind. Feel free to leave reviews!

Of course, given Sasuke's rotten luck, he had to be assigned a reconnaissance mission in the middle of a ghastly summer typhoon (the Hokage was doing this to spite him, he thought murderously to himself). And of course, as further evidence that someone in the universe was conniving to make sure Sasuke was as miserable as possible, he had to tail his target for two days without rest through the howling gale before he had finally caught up with the missing-nin from Suna and forced him into submission with his Sharingan.

The upshot of all of this was that by the time Sasuke returned, he was drenched to the bone, his hair was matted into an unbecoming tangle with dirt and leaves, and he could fill the comings of a massive cold-in-the-making.

So it was no surprise when the next morning, he woke up to a miserable headache, a throat coated with sandpaper, and a fever.

Now ordinarily, a little cold was nothing to Sasuke. He had endured life as a missing-nin, had been caught in the explosion of Diedara's idiot suicide-bombing attempt, and had nearly been killed by his own brother's doujutsu, for god's sake. A cold should be nothing but a tiny blimp on the radar of physical discomfort.

Of course, that was all before he had met Izumi.

His brother's live-in-girlfriend was all but intolerable, and Sasuke often wondered how someone as calm and serene as Itachi could have picked such a boisterous, annoying girl to be his partner.

It was like having a second Sakura around, but unfortunately, this one carried the surname Uchiha. Which meant she was privy to their bloodline limit, privy to their compound, and of course, privy to being considered the most suitable candidate for marrying Itachi and partaking in their clan's restoration. (Sasuke tried really hard not to think about the last point. In fact, he made sure to choose a room as far away as possible from Itachi and Izumi to ensure he never, ever heard a single sound from their bedroom antics.)

In short, she was loud, uncouth, and unrefined. And if Sasuke had to be honest with himself, he only bothered staying in the Uchiha compound out of familial devotion to his older brother. If Izumi and Sasuke had been the last living Uchiha on the planet, he would have run as fast as possible in the opposite direction.

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He had awakened at the crack of dawn to Izumi's cat—which, as far as he was concerned, was hellspawn from the devil itself. The cat had taken a liking to pouncing on Sasuke's toes while he slept, and today had been no exception.

He awoke to the pain of sinking claws on his right foot, and swearing belligerently, he had shaken the cat off, dumped it unceremoniously outside of his room, and dove under his covers once more.

His sore throat made it hard for him to fall asleep, and it felt like he had just sunken into a blissful slumber when promptly at 6:30am, Izumi had thundered past his room, shouting a friendly greeting down the hall to her friend, who had stopped by the compound.

"Hinata-chan! It's so good to see you!" her shriek could be heard reverberating through the entire compound. There was the rattle of a rice-paper screen door followed by a slam, as Izumi departed from the compound with her friend. Her loud giggles could be heard slowly receding as the two kuniochi mercifully left the compound.

The noise had awakened Sasuke for the second time, and had done nothing but aggravate his pounding headache.

He turned to his other side and covered his head with his pillow.

Just when he had drifted off into sleep once more, he was awakened by quiet footsteps padding towards his room, and ok this was the last straw. If she was going to pull another prank on him—

"Izumi," Sasuke snarled, sitting up with a kunai ready in his hand. "Leave. Me. Alone."

But to his consternation, it was Itachi who poked his head in, looking slightly taken aback by the murderous fury in Sasuke's eyes and the kunai he weld threateningly in one hand.

"Nii-san." Sasuke placed the kunai back by his pillow, abashed.

"I heard you had returned from your mission, Sasuke." Itachi entered and sat down quietly beside him on the bed. "I wished to inquire as to how it went."

"Well enough," Sasuke muttered, averting his eyes. He sneezed and it made his head throb uncomfortably.

"You're ill." It wasn't a question. Itachi always had sharp eyes and an even keener sense. "You have a fever."

"It's nothing."

"I'll have Izumi look in on you later. She knows some great herbal remedies."

Sasuke bristled. "No. Nii-san, I do not want Izumi coming anywhere near me."

Itachi raised his eyebrows. "She cares for you, Sasuke."

"Like hell she does," he muttered sullenly.

Itachi was silent for a beat, and Sasuke was worried that he may have offended him, but then he spoke again.

"It's no matter," he said finally. "I'll have some breakfast prepared for you downstairs. Come down when you feel marginally rested, and we'll leave you alone for the rest of today."

He rose quietly and turned to leave, but then turned back to Sasuke.

"And one more thing." His hand reached up, and Sasuke tensed, expecting him to poke his forehead, but Itachi merely reached into his hair and pulled something loose from his tangled bedhead.

"You didn't wash out all the leaves from your hair yet."

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As Itachi had promised, there was a small plate of eggs and toast waiting for him when he finally made his way downstairs, and he gratefully scarfed down the breakfast. The rest of the day passed by uneventfully, much to Sasuke's relief. He whiled away the day in his room, taking turns between napping and catching up on his reading.

Izumi did not come up to check on him, much to his relief.

It was only much later in the evening, when Sasuke was just about to will himself to get out of bed and make the trek down to forage something from the fridge for dinner, that he heard a soft knock on the screen door.

Curious, he slowly rose, and parted the screens, but there was nobody in the darkened hallway.

A wonderful smell made him glance down, and he saw a dinner tray prepared for him, complete with warm soup, a bowl of rice, and an assortment of side dishes.

There was a pink note beside the food. He reached down and picked it up. It read:

"Dear Sasuke,

Sorry for waking you up earlier! Itachi told me you were in a sore mood and that I should leave you alone. I hope you enjoy the food. And don't worry! Itachi didn't make any of it (we both know what a menace he is in the kitchen).

Get better soon.

Xoxo

Izumi."

Sasuke smiled slightly to himself.

It looks like he needed to revise his opinion of Izumi, he thought to himself, as he carried the tray back inside his room. Sometimes, living with her as a housemate was not as bad as it seemed.

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