-1Disclaimer: I do not own any of the incredibly hot male shinobi of the anime/manga series known affectionately as Naruto. Or any other part of it for that matter.

Summary: Set before the Chuunin exams. Pure SasuSaku fluffiness. Sasuke comes down with the dreaded chicken pox and is nursed back to health by none other than his (secretly (come on, we all know it)) beloved Sakura-chan.

Cure For The Itch

In the privacy of Uchiha mansion, the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan massacre howled in frustration as he continued to scratch away at the evil affliction of numerous red dots that covered his body. Blasted red spots! No matter how many times he scratched at them, they never ceased to be painfully itchy. And they were all over him! What in the world was happening to his body?!

'Dammit, I can't show up for training looking like this! That dobe will laugh until he wets himself if he sees me scratching at these stupid things like a dog scratching at fleas!' And though he did not think it to himself, though we all know he secretly did, he couldn't stand the thought of looking like an idiot in front of a certain carnation-haired teammate of his. Not to mention what Kakashi would think.

'Think, Sasuke, think! They're obviously not going away any time soon, and it's not like I can just not show up for training. I'll just have to cover them up.' So Sasuke dove into his closet, where he kept his sadly undiversified wardrobe, searching for the most modest clothing that he owned.

"Where in the world could Sasuke-kun be?" Sakura wailed to herself. It wasn't like him to be late, in fact he was usually there before herself. Not that she hadn't tried to beat him to their usual meeting spot on the bridge. She hoped eventually to be the first there and welcome him with open arms. Which he would of course ignore with a "Hn" at her squeals of delight at his presence. But now he was even later than Kakashi-sensei, and that was really saying something.

"Hmph. I'm late and I get lectured. But if Sasuke-teme's late, everyone cries and mourns. This sucks!" The hero of the story, but not this fanfiction, kicked at a rock in front of his foot. Naruto's face contorted into an expression halfway between a scowl and a pout. Not that it did any good. Sakura ignored his whining, as she was too busy worrying about whether Sasuke had fallen down a well or some other hole. His sensei, however, let out an amused chuckle at the blonde's antics.

Kakashi was vaguely surprised at his brooding, dark-haired student's absence. Some grave misfortune must have befallen the preteen that caused this delay in his presence. Either that or he had hit the snooze button one too many times. Or maybe all his clothes were in the laundry. Or quite possibly he had run out of his preferred hair gel that he used to make his raven hair spike up just so. In any case, Sasuke still wasn't here and Kakashi was quite happy not to have received a shouting lecture from his other students this morning. It had saved him the energy of remembering the excuse he had prepared for this morning. Kakashi had long ago come up with a giant list of excuses in one sitting just so he'd never have to take the time to think one up. He always prided himself on his ingeniousness.

Finally, after another fifteen minutes of stress-filled waiting, the long-awaited Uchiha heir arrived for training.

"Sasu...ke-kun?!" Sakura's eyes widened in obvious confusion. If she had been worried about Sasuke before, now she was just flabbergasted.

Sasuke had finally found a temporary solution to his problem. He arrived for training dressed in something just slightly different from his usual attire. He wore a navy blue (big surprise) hooded sweatshirt emblazoned with the Uchiha clan fan and baggy white sweat pants. He had the hood pulled over his head and his black bangs were brushed down as far as they could go to cover the red blemishes on his face. Needless to say, this confused the heck out of his rival and sensei, and distressed his female teammate.

Kakashi cocked his visible eyebrow. "Interesting choice of wardrobe this morning, Sasuke. But not very appropriate for training." He received a "hn" as a response, as was expected. So Kakashi just went back to reading his beloved X-rated orange book. Naruto, however, refused to just let the subject blow over. This called for a merciless teasing on his part.

"Yo, Sasuke-teme, what's with the sweats? Are you retarded or something? It's the middle of summer!" But Sasuke ignored the jibe and situated himself at his favorite spot of bridge. Naruto snickered, thinking he had gotten his rival good that time. Sakura, however, hadn't found it very funny. In fact, she found it so un-funny that she felt the need to connect her right fist with Naruto's face. Which she did.

"Not funny, Naruto! Leave Sasuke-kun alone. If he wants to dress weird, then he has all the right to!"

Which of course Naruto did not have that same right.

Sasuke twitched beneath his hood.

Several hours later, Sasuke was sweating bullets in his heavy clothing, but he refused to lose to Naruto just because he was too hot. He had another problem, however, that drove him to great distraction from his sparring match. The stupid red dots would not quit itching! But being stubborn as he was, Sasuke wouldn't scratch a single one. It seemed that because he wouldn't scratch the one, five more had to join in and start itching too. It continued in this fashion until they were ALL itching, and Sasuke's eye was having a spaz-fest.

He growled in frustration several times, making Naruto think that his rival was losing. He puffed out his chest in typical Naruto-like arrogance and pointed at Sasuke.

"Ha! Tired already? Man, I must be awesome if I can tire you out so quickly!"

Kakashi rolled his visible eye. Sakura threw a rock with deadly aim at Naruto's head, thus ending the sparring match. Sasuke secretly thanked her, that angel of mercy. Now to take care of that other problem.

"I'm hungry," he muttered, wandering off in the direction of Ichiraku. Sakura immediately decided to join him, and even Kakashi decided that lunch would be good (provided that somebody else paid for it). Naruto, as though sensing the general migration toward ramen, suddenly regained consciousness and vowed to be the first one to his beloved ramen shack.

Sasuke was aggravated. He hadn't really intended on getting ramen. What he REALLY wanted to do was go home and scratch until the cows came home. But no. That would be too suspicious. So he resigned himself to another hour of agonized itchiness. Stupid teammates.

He couldn't concentrate on Sakura and Naruto's mindless chatter. He was seriously going to crack any minute. He couldn't hold out much longer! His eye was twitching of its own accord and the sweat was rolling down his forehead. The sweats he was wearing were swelteringly hot in the blistering Konoha sun. He had to itch…just one teensy tiny scratch…maybe if he could rub up against the counter. No…no! He must not show weakness towards this disease that was consuming his body.

Sakura, while arguing with Naruto over which flavor of ramen was more delicious, was watching Sasuke out of the corner of her eye. He looked ill, she decided. He was pale and sweating and his eye looked as though it were going to twitch itself right out of his head. Knowing Sasuke-kun and his pride, she deduced that he wouldn't admit anything was wrong if she asked him in front of all of these people. So she made up her mind to get him alone and ask him if he was alright.

Sakura stood up and stretched. "Well, that was great. Thanks for lunch, Naruto!" And she took off. Kakashi smiled behind his mask. He was rubbing off on his students more and more every day. "We should do this again sometime. Thanks for lunch, Naruto!" And Kakashi poofed away.

Naruto looked outraged.

"What? I never said anything about paying for lunch! Hey, teme, give me a hand with the bill, will ya? Teme? TEME!? NOT YOU TOO!" Naruto had looked over to where Sasuke had been sitting only to find his bowl empty and his teammate gone as well. Ayame approached him and handed him the bill. "Have a nice day, Naruto!" She smiled and walked off.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Naruto, not having any money, was forced to spend the rest of the day doing dishes.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, wait up!"

Sasuke sighed in exasperation. Were they EVER going to let him go home and deal with this infernal itchiness in PEACE?! Apparently not. Sasuke turned around, his expression clearly annoyed. Sakura, ever exposed to his moodiness, ignored it.

"Sasuke-kun, I know you like to pretend you're invincible, but are you okay? I mean, first you were really late to training today AND you show up in winter clothes in the middle of summer. You've been acting strange all day, and you look kind of pale. Are you sure you don't have a fever or something? You should probably see a doctor or something. Just in case."

Sakura's eyes were full of worry and she was fiddling with her fingers, much like Hinata's nervous habit. Sasuke scowled. He hated it when she was so observant. And he hated it even more when she worried about him. She had so many better things to worry about. Like training. Or maybe he just didn't like to see her so worried. That thought was shoved into the 'Unmentionable' thought cabinet in the back of his brain. He scowled even more fiercely.

"I'm fine," he mumbled. Sakura, however, wasn't buying it. She marched up next to him and put her hand against his forehead. Sasuke, surprisingly, didn't push her away. Instead, he stood there blushing like an idiot and trying to pretend he wasn't. Sakura, oblivious, took it as another sign of illness. That's when she saw it. A small red dot hidden under his obsidian bangs.

"What's this?" She poked it. Sasuke snarled and pushed her away. "It's nothing."

But Sakura was grinning like the cat who'd swallowed the canary. She giggled. Sasuke stared at her in annoyance and embarrassment. It was bad enough that she'd touched him and made him blush, but now she was LAUGHING at his deformities. Some friend she was.

"Sasuke-kun, don't tell me you've never had the chicken pox before!" She was wiping tears of laughter from her eyes now. Now Sasuke was mad. She was making fun of him, and nobody EVER made fun of the Uchiha and got away with it.

"The what?" he growled. Irritatingly, she giggled again.

"The chicken pox, silly! Don't tell me you've never heard of them! Every one gets them, but most people usually get them when they're small children. It's uncommon for people to get them when they're older, and it's usually worse. But it's not unheard of."

Good old Sakura, the reliable human textbook. Well, at least now he knew what was wrong with him. And if everyone got them, then they couldn't possibly be deadly. That was a load off of his shoulders. He frowned again.

"So…how do I get rid of these things?"

Sakura took hold of his wrist and started dragging him. "I'll need to pick up a few things from the grocery store, but I'll have you cured and ready to train in to time, Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke, rather than pull away, allowed himself to be dragged off. But it was a ONE TIME thing.

"No."

"Sasuke-kun, don't be stubborn! This will help, I promise."

"And this is the only way?"

"Yup."

"…"

She looked way too cheerful, standing there and suggesting he bathe in oatmeal. They were standing in his bathroom in his home at the Uchiha compound. He'd gone along with her weird request that he change into swimming trunks. But when she told him he had to bathe in OATMEAL of all things, he balked. This time it was Sakura sighing in exasperation.

"Sasuke-kun, this is the only thing that will help. If you'll just do this, I'll make you some tomato soup, okay?"

Sasuke considered. On the one hand, bathing in oatmeal was completely ridiculous. On the other, Sakura made the best tomato soup ever. He knew this because one time he and Naruto had stayed out in the rain for hours training and had ended up with the flu. Sakura went into nurse mode and introduced them to the Haruno family secret recipe for the tastiest tomato soup he'd ever eaten.

…Oatmeal…tomato soup…oatmeal…tomato soup…

Oh hell.

"Fine," he grumbled impetulantly.

He eased his itchy body into the large marble tub, feeling gross as he sank down into the oatmeal infested water. The water was nice and hot, though, and was kind of nice. Sasuke stiffened instantly as he felt something on his back.

"What are you doing?!"

"Scrubbing your back with some medicine. Now just relax."

The Uchiha boy grumbled some more to himself, but acquiesced. She was gently scrubbing his back with some kind of loofa, and he reluctantly admitted to himself that it felt pretty good. In fact, it felt so good that he sound found himself closing his eyes and leaning in to her touch.

Sakura was smiling softly to herself. It wasn't every day that she got to scrub her crush's back. She knew it was moments like these that made putting up with all of his grumpiness and 'hn's worth it. She applied more medicine to the loofa and resumed scrubbing in gentle, circular motions.

And if she wasn't mistaken, and her powers of observation were pretty darn good, there was rare small smile of contentment gracing the normally bitter boy's face. He allowed her to scrub his back, neck, shoulders, chest, and arms, but he insisted point blank that he do his legs himself.

Several minutes later, he emerged from the tub a bit pruny, but thankfully feeling less itchy. His 'personal nurse' instructed him to change and get into bed, and she would bring him the soup in a few moments.

He lie back in bed, thinking about nothing for the first time in a really long time. How long had it been since he'd truly relaxed? He couldn't answer that. Itachi had always been foremost in his mind since the massacre. But today…it was not to think of him. It was nice to let someone else to take care of him for once, even if that someone was an annoyingly pretty female teammate of his.

Left alone with his thoughts, he didn't notice when Sakura entered with the soup. A few seconds later, his olfactory senses went into overdrive as he caught a wiff of the delicious soup he was currently craving. Sakura smiled at his obvious excitement. She lay a tray across his lap, laden with a large bowl of her special tomato soup, crackers, and a glass of milk. Hey, he was a ninja, and ninja need strong bones.

Sasuke forced himself not to down the soup in three swallows. It was far too scrumptious, so he forced himself to take his time and savor it. And oh was it worth it. Minutes later, the tray was completely clean and Sasuke lie back on his pillows and closed his eyes. Sleep was overtaking him and he didn't fight it.

He felt fingers brushing his bangs out of his eyes and out of nowhere, a kiss on his forehead.

"Good night, Sasuke-kun. I hope you feel better." Sasuke cracked his eyes open a smidge to see Sakura making to leave. He grabbed her wrist as fast as a reflex.

"Stay," he mumbled sleepily.

She smiled, a real smile that made her look beautiful, he noticed. How could he have missed that before? Maybe he should be nice more often…he liked it when she smiled like that. He reached over and pulled her down onto the bed and under the covers with him. She snuggled into his shoulder and he didn't protest.

Minutes later, the two were asleep.

Awwww. Yay! I just had to get that out. I don't ask for many things in this world, but I would absolutely love it if you reviewed. I really want to know what you think or I wouldn't ask. So preeeettttyyyyy please?