Title: Chicken Pox Fever

Rating: PG-13

Genres: Romance / Humor

Summary: Naruto’s got the chicken pox! Neither Sakura, Iruka, nor Kakashi have had them. So, who’s that leave to take care of him? Sasuke of course ^-^! *Shounen-ai* SasuNaru

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto, but I do own the idea for this story!! So, that means that nobody should steal it or use it without my permission!!

A/N: Well, this is my entry for a contest over at NaruSasu_Yaoi. It’s not very good, because I typed/wrote it all last night and this morning ^_^;; Not smart, I know. There may be a few spelling mistakes, even though I’ve read over a few times. I hope you all enjoy!!!!!

By Neko Erin

Naruto rubbed his head as he slowly walked to meet Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke.

Stupid head! Why couldn’t the damn headache just go away?! He had had it for a day and a half, and it wouldn’t leave. He had been glad that they didn’t have training or a mission yesterday; he didn’t think he could have handled it with the throbbing headache.

Sighing, he reached a hand up and scratched his arm where little red spots had appeared. They had shown up this morning, but Naruto couldn’t figure out why. He had pondered it for a moment before just shrugging and deciding it was poison ivy, or some other kind of rash.

As Naruto continued scratching, he turned the corner and noticed someone else walking a little ways down the sidewalk. He scowled as he realized who it was.

‘So, Sasuke’s late to, huh? Well, I don’t care if my head is pounding, I won’t let him get there before me!’ Naruto thought. He quickened his pace to get ahead of Sasuke.

When he had finally passed the taller ninja, his legs were weak and he felt like he was going to faint. Sasuke stared at him, finally noticing him.

“What’s wrong with you, dead-last?” he mocked.

Naruto turned back to glare at him as he itched his neck and arms. “Don‘t call me that! And there’s nothing wrong with me!”

“Really?”

“Yes, really!”

“Then why are you covered in spots? Did you get a rash or something?”

“Humph. I don’t know. Like you care anyway,” Naruto shot back. He took a few more steps before stopping and rubbing his head. He groaned as the pain increased, as well as the itching.

Sasuke stopped beside him. “What’s wrong?”

“Just a headache. I’ll be fine,”

“Didn’t you have a headache the other day too?” Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, so what?” Naruto itched his arm again, cursing it mentally.

“Naruto, do you have a fever?”

“What? How should I know?” Naruto began walking again. “I’m not sick, so why would I have a fever?”

“You could have the chicken pox, dope. If that’s so, you should go home,” Sasuke ordered.

Naruto turned around to yell at him that he was fine, but he turned to fast and his head began to swirl. His eyes closed and he felt himself falling. However, he never felt himself hit the ground.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Naruto’s eyes opened and a groan escaped his lips. He sat up and looked around, then recognizing the room he was in as his own.

He was wondering how he had gotten there when he heard a voice say, “Finally awake, dope?”

Naruto looked to the doorway and his eyes about shot out of his head.

“E-Eh? S-Sasuke?! What the hell are you doing here?!!!” Naruto screamed, jumping up to stand on his bed. However, he quickly fell back onto it when his legs went weak.

“I’m taking care of you, idiot,” Sasuke answered calmly, placing the cup of water he was holding onto the nightstand.

“Wh-What? Why?”

“Because you seem to have gotten a case of the chicken pox,”

Naruto blinked and pushed himself up. He scratched his arms and asked, “Chicken pox? What’re ‘chicken pox’?” His eyes widened and he stared at Sasuke with fear-filled eyes. “A-Am I becoming a chicken?!!!”

Sasuke stared at him in disbelief. Was Naruto actually serious? He had never heard of the chicken pox before? ‘Oh, good God. He’s more of an idiot than I thought...’

“No, you moron! The chicken pox are a sickness that give you little spots all over your body that itch like hell. However, you can’t- would you stop itching!” Sasuke commanded, pulling Naruto’s right hand away from his left arm to stop him from scratching it.

“But they itch!” Naruto complained, ripping his hand out of Sasuke’s grip so that he could itch his neck. Sasuke grabbed the hand again, as well as the other one.

“I know, but you can’t itch them, or they’ll scar and only make things worse!”

“I need to itch my arm!” Naruto pulled away his hands.

“No.” Sasuke grabbed them back.

“Yes.” Pull.

“No.” Grab.

“Yes.” Pull.

“No.” Grab.

After a few more minutes of Sasuke grabbing Naruto’s hands to stop him from scratching, then Naruto pulling them out of his grip so that he could scratch, Naruto finally gave in.

“FINE! I won’t scratch anymore!!” Naruto yelled as Sasuke grabbed his hands again.

“Good.”

“Um... Sasuke?” Naruto started. Sasuke looked at him with a look that said, “What now?” Naruto had a slight blush on his cheeks when he muttered, “Uh... Could you let go of my hands now?”

Sasuke blinked before realizing what Naruto had said. He quickly released Naruto’s hands and stood up, facing the doorway. Silence fell between the two blushing boys.

Finally, Naruto broke it by saying, “Why the hell are you the one looking after me anyway?”

Sasuke looked at him. He forced a smirk onto his lips. “Because Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, and Iruka-sensei haven’t had the chicken pox yet,”

Naruto stared at him for a second, before replacing it quickly with a glare when he saw the smirk. “So? What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Idiot. How could you not know about the chicken pox?” Sasuke asked calmly, earning a harder glare from Naruto. “If you haven’t had the chicken pox, then you can get it easily from someone who <i>does</i> have it. Sakura’s parents want her to avoid it at all costs, even though she’ll most likely get it eventually since it’s going around the village. And if you get it when you are older, it could cause more damage to the body than it would if you got it when you were younger. That’s why Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei couldn’t take care of you,”

“You’ve already had it? Can’t you get again?” Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No. You get it once and you’re immune to it. I got it when I was 5,”

“Oh.” They were quiet for a few more minutes.

‘But, why’d he agree to watch over me? He could have easily said no....’ Naruto thought. He opened his mouth to ask the question aloud, but Sasuke interrupted him.

“Here,” Sasuke held out a glass of water with salt in it. “It’s a glass of salt water. You need to gargle this for a little bit to help the spots that you have inside your mouth, on your throat,”

Naruto hesitated, but took the glass anyway.

“I’ll go make you some soup,” Sasuke said as he started to walk out of the room. He paused and turned back to him. “Also, try to keep your voice down. It may be hard, especially for you, but you need to be quiet,” He smirked when Naruto opened his mouth to protest and ask why. “It’s part of the treatment,”

Sasuke walked out of the room, Naruto glaring at his back before starting to gargle the water. His face crinkled up in disgust when the salty water hit his tongue and taste buds.

A while later, he had finished with the water and Sasuke brought him the soup, chicken noodle. It had noodles, but it still wasn’t ramen...

“Can I have some ramen instead? I don’t like chicken noodle soup. Besides, isn’t there enough ‘chicken’ stuff as there is?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “No to the ramen question, and the only other thing with the word ‘chicken’ in the name right now is ‘chicken pox’,”

“Humph, fine,” He glared at the standing black haired teen before eating a little more then half. He set it on the nightstand against the empty water glass. “Well, now that I’m finished, could I at least have some aspirin for my headache?”

“No.” Sasuke answered bluntly.

“What?! Why not?!” Naruto yelled.

“Didn’t I tell you not to yell?”

Naruto growled before quieting his voice and repeating, “Why not?”

“Because it will only make things worse. It could cause Reye’s syndrome,”

“Reye’s syndrome?”

“It’s a serious disease that is caused by giving children aspirin when they had the chicken pox or influenza. And didn’t I tell you not to scratch?”

“I wasn’t.”

“Yes you were.”

“No I wasn’t.” Naruto answered, turning his head away because he knew he had been itching. He had hoped Sasuke hadn’t seen.

“You’ve been scratching ever since I went to go make the soup, haven’t you?”

“N-No. Of course not.” Naruto lied.

“You’re horrible at lying.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes-” Sasuke stopped and rubbed his forehead. They were getting no where with this. He caught a glimpse of Naruto scratching his arm again. However, as soon as he glared at him, Naruto quickly moved his hand away. “That’s it.”

“‘That’s it’ what?” Naruto asked, staring at him with confused eyes.

“I didn’t want to have to do this.” Sasuke told him. He walked out of the room.

Naruto stared after him, tilting his head to the side. He called after him, “Didn’t want to have to do what? Sasuke?!!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“When I’m better, I’m gonna kill you,”

“Like to see you try, dead-last.”

Naruto glared up at him before trying to scratch again. However, the oven mitts that were duck tapped to his hands weren’t going to relieve the itch. He growled.

“You didn’t have to tackle me you know,” the spotted boy muttered.

“You shouldn’t have tried to run. Besides, they’re only oven mitts,”

“I know that, but it’s still annoying,” Suddenly, his eyes widened and he smirked at Sasuke, who looked back. “Wait. Don’t tell me that you had to wear oven mitts too?” Sasuke’s eyes widened and he turned away. Naruto laughed. “Haha, I’m right aren’t I? He he,”

“Shut up, jack ass. Besides, we’ve got to put calamine lotion on the spots,” Sasuke said. He picked up the tube of the lotion. He was about to toss it to Naruto, but the yellow-haired boy closed his eyes and gave Sasuke his fox grin.

“Sorry, but I can’t do it,” He held up his mittened hands. “I’ve got oven mitts on my hands, remember?” Sasuke growled. “You know, you could always take them off and I can do it. It’s not like I want you to put that damn lotion on me,”

“No way in hell. You and I both know that if I remove the tape and take them off, then there’s no way I’ll be able to get them back on,” Sasuke said. Naruto scowled.

“Fine then. Just don’t do anything like go Kakashi-sensei on me!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes before taking off the lid and starting to apply it to the spots on Naruto’s arms, legs, face, and neck. Naruto stiffened every time that Sasuke’s fingers began to rub in the lotion, bringing a small blush to his cheeks.

‘Okay, stop it dammit!! You can’t think of Sasuke in that way, especially since he most likely doesn’t feel the same way!!!’ Naruto ordered himself mentally. He sighed quietly.

When the last spot had some lotion put onto it, Sasuke ordered, “Take off your shirt.”

Naruto practically fell off of the bed. He turned his head to stare at Sasuke. “Excuse me???”

“Not that way, dope. You most likely have some on your back, chest, and stomach, and I need to put some on those too,” Sasuke answered. Naruto obeyed. He could have sworn he had seen a blush on the black-haired ninja’s cheeks as he took off his white nightshirt.

Sasuke quickly finished up putting the lotion on Naruto’s back, stomach, and chest. When they were finished, both boys were blushing like mad. (A/N: Hehe... XP This is sounding a little more pervy than I was going for....).

“Um, hey, Sasuke? How long does this chicken pox thing last for anyway?” Naruto asked as he laid back down. Sasuke sat down in the chair that was next to the bed.

“7 days. Over that time, the spots will turn to blisters, which will dry and form scabs,” he answered.

“Oh. Say, why are you doing this anyway? It’s not like you should care anyway,” Naruto looked down at his oven mitt hands. “Nobody else does,”

“That’s not true. Iruka-sensei does. So do Kakashi-sensei and Sakura. As for the reason why I’m taking care of you,” Sasuke paused. “It’s because I... I...”

“You?”

“I... I...” Sasuke shook his head. “I’m going to go to the store to get- to get something. You should sleep until then,” Sasuke stood and started to leave.

“Wait, Sasuke!” Naruto called, quickly getting out of bed. However, a sudden wash of fatigue came over him and he began to fall. Sasuke caught him and he found his face buried into Sasuke’s chest. He blushed, but clung to Sasuke’s shirt as best he could with his oven mitt hands.

Naruto didn‘t even have the strength to look up at Sasuke‘s face as his eyes began to close. “You don’t have to answer the question. Just... Please, just don’t leave me, Sasuke,” His voice faded as he fell asleep, Sasuke’s hold on him the only thing keeping him from falling to the ground.

Sasuke stood with Naruto in his arms for a while, not wanting to move. He was startled by the words that had a come out of Naruto’s mouth.

What had Naruto meant by them? ‘Please, just don’t leave me, Sasuke.’ Didn’t he mean not to leave him forever? Or did he just mean for the week that Sasuke would be taking care of him? Sasuke shook his head to clear the thoughts. After all, they were only making him more confused.

Finally, after his arms started to feel weak, he picked Naruto up and set him down onto the bed. He looked at the yellow-haired boy’s face. His features were soft and his skin would’ve looked silky, if it wasn’t for the red spots that rested on it. You could probably say that it was almost angelic.

Sasuke carefully removed the duck tape that held on the mitts before slipping them off. He placed the mitts on the nightstand, before setting one of Naruto’s hands down. He held the other as if it was fragile, like it would break with any movement.

It didn’t have any spots on it; it was completely bare. Actually, didn’t even look like it belonged to spotted boy.

Smiling slightly, Sasuke brought the hand to his lips and placed a light kiss on it, just above the knuckle. Then, uncontrollably, he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Naruto’s lips.

“Because I love you,” he whispered against them.

Sasuke stood up and covered Naruto up with the blanket. Taking one last glance down at Naruto, he turned and walked out.

The corners of Naruto’s lips crept up into a smile.

A/N: Crappy ending, I know. It just screams ‘sequel’, doesn’t it? Don’t worry! I probably am going to have a sequel for it, so be on the look out!!!

Thanks for reading!!!!