Summary

Itachi's bedside manners weren't the best, but it was better than being sick at home alone...

A/N: A small continuation of the small One-Shot in Chapter 4. Enjoy!

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Reaching a hand out, Itachi grimaced at the warmth emanating from Kagome's forehead and grit his teeth. If the ridiculous woman hadn't been out without an umbrella, she never would have ended up like this. As it was, she'd been trying to sleep off her fever for the past several hours, waking only to take the required dosage of medicine that he managed to force down her throat. Apparently, the small female disliked treatment as much as him.

'Reckless. That's what she is.' With a muffled sigh, he rose to his feet and shuffled out the door, intent on grabbing a rag and some cold water to help reduce her internal temperature a little. It was strange, but he actually felt a twinge of worry every time he had to administer another dose of medicine to her; which, of course, should have been impossible, as he wasn't supposed to be attached to anyone. If this was how it felt to care about someone after all these years, he really wanted little to no part in it all.

For some reason, though, he couldn't seem to pull himself away and leave. Reaching over by the bedside table, he picked up her medicine again and poured out the correct dosage before leaning over and giving the sleeping girl a gentle shake to wake her up.

"Wake up. You need to take this next dose." Kagome retaliated by slapping his hands away and groaning softly. He could feel the corner of his eye twitch minutely as he reached over and flipped the girl onto her back.

"Guuh! Whu the hell?!" the stubborn woman gurgled out, snapping awake when her 'caretaker'- and she used that word lightly- pulled her into a sitting position and shoved the hated medicine down her throat for the umpteenth time that day before letting her go just as quickly. For some reason, Kagome got the distinct feeling that Itachi enjoyed making her suffer like this.

"Damn it, Itachi! What's wrong with you!"

"It is not I that is the one stuck in bed sick," the former heir ground out, giving her a deadpan stare before reaching out to steady her when she swayed, "You need to stay awake long enough to eat something. Here." With that, the stoic man set a tray with soup and toast across her lap and leaned back to survey the shocked expression on her face.

"You... made me soup?" Kagome stammered, gazing down at her tomato soup. Surprise quickly melted into adoration as she picked up her spoon and carefully dug in. "And it's not ramen?"

"You specified that you did not wish for ramen."

"... That is so sweet of you. Thank you!"

Itachi grumbled under his breath about not being sweet as he hauled himself to his feet and started out the door. "You must finish all of that before you go back to sleep."

"Wait! Where are you going?" the priestess asked, giving him a confused look that made his heartbeat kick up a few more notches. His body really shouldn't be doing that...

"Downstairs." 'Away from those eyes...' He disappeared. Kagome sighed quietly before a small smile made it's way to her features. Itachi could act as cold as he wanted, but this proved that he was a nice guy.

'Really deep down in there,' she thought, grimacing in rememberance of the cool glares he had the tendency to send everyone. Maybe she could coax it a little closer to the surface.

Only time would tell.

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A/N: Really long ass hiatus. I've been physically and emotionally drained over the past several weeks, so I can't say for sure if I'm completely back yet. And it's hard for me to transition back to Itachi when I've been working with Byakuya for a while now. I hope this didn't completely suck.

Anyways, please review and let me know what you think!

Until next time!