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“Hey,” someone says, jostling Izuna. He frowns, elbows his moving below, and tries to shuffle and make himself more comfortable. He’s sleeping, what could be more important?
There’s a loud groan. “Don’t make me do this. We know neither of us will like this. Get up Izuna, come on.”
That’s Madara—surely there’s nothing important that requires Izuna actually being up though, right? There’s no battles going on and all the missions the clan’s currently running are going smoothly with only minor unexpected trouble. It’s a great day to spar and then nap in the sunshine with his brother and Izuna doesn’t want to get up just yet. Getting up means having to deal with people and the world and soon people will come ask him about this and that and he’ll actually have to think. It sounds like an awful idea and all he really wants to do right now is keep dozing for a few hours more.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Madara mutters. There’s the sound of fabric shifting and then Izuna is bodily thrown off Madara and splashes into the nearby pond.
Spluttering and now wide awake, Izuna surfaces with a scowl that could rival Madara’s own. “Nii-san! What was that about?”
From where he’s still sitting all nice and dry in the sunshine, Madara grins and looks happy—too happy in Izuna’s opinion. He considers whether it’s worth trying to splash Madara and give in to the inevitable water fight that’s bound to follow such an action.
Deciding to be a good sport about it—and maybe get Madara back when he’s not expecting it by dying his head an awful green—Izuna clambers out of the pond, squeezing water out of his hair. Thankfully, it’s warm enough that he can just wait for everything to air dry and, in all honesty, it’s kind of nice, not that he’s ever going to tell Madara that. His brother doesn’t need to be getting a bigger head and Izuna’s sole mission in life is to bring his brother’s ego down, not make it bigger.
“You weren’t getting up,” Madara says, not even bothering to try and hide his snickers.
Izuna rolls his eyes. “That doesn’t mean you have to throw me in the pond. You could’ve just let me sleep. I was enjoying the sunshine.”
“You can still enjoy the sunshine,” Madara points out. “There’s nothing stopping you. But I did actually get you up for something, I was thinking—”
“Surprising,” Izuna mutters, though Madara completely ignores him and keeps speaking.
“—and I don’t think I’ve seen Hikaku today. Have you?”
Frowning, Izuna thinks it over. Usually on their days off like this, Hikaku joins them in their spars and the subsequent nap that follows—and, Izuna can’t help but think to himself, the naps themselves are really the best part of their days off. It’s not often that Izuna can just use his brother as a pillow and ignore everything going on in the compound, and Hikaku joining in usually means that it becomes a family event.
Perhaps next time Izuna should invite Kagami too? The little brat’s wormed his way into their family, even though they’re not closely related. It’d be good to see him then as well.
Then again, Kagami is way too energetic to really sit still for that long, so perhaps their naps should be limited to adults only because naps with wriggling children are less naps and more annoying than anything else.
“Izuna? Hello? Are you in there?”
Automatically, Izuna scowls at his brother who looks seconds away from knocking on his head.
“No,” he says, only somewhat snappish. “I haven’t seen Hikaku today. Or yesterday, actually.” Of course, yesterday Hikaku’s absence hadn’t been surprising as they’d been locked in another day-long battle with the Senju, but Izuna does remember that Hikaku had used his Mangekyō Sharingan and the triage medic-nin had declared chakra strain in the post-battle check up.
All in all, it’s very likely that Hikaku is dealing with a migraine today, which explains why neither Izuna nor his brother have seen the other Uchiha.
Sighing, Izuna shoves his hair out of his face. “Shall we go check up on him?”
Madara nods.
Together, the pair of them leave the training ground and head towards Hikaku’s house. It’s one of the ones near the Clan Head house, befitting of Hikaku’s status as third-in-command.
The walk is long enough that Izuna actually dries off by the time they reach Hikaku’s house—though he has the awful feeling he smells of pond water which is never a nice smell.
When they reach the house, the windows are all shut and the house itself is largely silent, which is a pretty good indication of how Hikaku is feeling right now. Izuna grimaces at Madara.
“I’ll go get bland food from home,” Madara signs, and Izuna nods at him before easing the door open. He quickly disabled the main trap, but doesn’t bother trying to keep the door from creaking. The sound might make Hikaku feel worse, but this way he knows that someone’s home with him. Izuna knows better than to surprise a ninja, especially when they’re not feeling their best.
He finds Hikaku in one of the back rooms of the house. It’s dark enough that Izuna has to channel some chakra to his eyes to see anything more than dull silhouettes. Of course, he could just activate his Sharingan, but he’s not sure how sensitive to light Hikaku is right now and doesn’t want to make things worse than they already are.
Settling down beside Hikaku, Izuna waits for Hikkau to turn to look at him.
Hikaku shifts, little more than a tilt of his face, and opens one eye. He doesn’t speak, but offers his hand for Izuna to tap a message against.
‘Status?’ Izuna asks by indicating each letter by sketching a symbol on the back of Hikaku’s hand. It’s an easy way to communicate silently when they can’t talk aloud or sign for some reason or another. It’s very handy for situations like this too.
After a pause, Hikaku responds. ‘Migraine. Fading. Nauseous.’
‘Madara getting food. You should eat.’
Izuna feels Hikaku sigh more than he hears the other Uchiha. ‘Okay.’ After a pause, Hikaku adds, ‘Cold compress?’
Getting up, Izuna squeezes Hikaku’s hand and goes to get a cold compress to help. He might not be able to do much, but he can do this—be here, help out. After all, it’s the kind of thing you do for family.