The next few weeks were to say the least different. If Sasuke had to be honest, he would say that every day varied from the other and even though it was humiliating and sometimes it even grated on his nerves far too much for his liking, it was different. Despite the fact that the whole class laughed at him when he got caught which happened less often, those pranks were a distraction from Sasuke's otherwise mundane life. And as much as the Uchiha hated to admit it, he often found himself looking forward to the small moments when he would manage to jeopardize Naruto's scheme. It always resulted in a pouting or scowling Uzumaki and a smirking Uchiha.

'How utterly ridiculous. Must my life have become so unbearable that I am actually partially anticipating the moment I would come into the classroom and be forced to look behind my shoulder after every step I make?' Sasuke thought as he was going through Naruto's test. With a small frown the Uchiha marked yet another answer that was wrong. In the end he sighed and gave up on finishing it. He looked at his watch. It read half past twelve.

'It's high time I called it a night.' Sasuke reckoned as he went into the bathroom, brushed his teeth, then came back into the bedroom, put on some pants he randomly picked up from the chair near his bed and lied down, preparing himself for another restless sleep.

Sasuke opened his eyes as a silent tear rolled down his cheek. He brushed it away furiously. He then grabbed a pillow, covered his face with it and screamed his frustration, guilt and agony into the softness of it. The strong sound collided with the poor defenseless pillow, hitting it with all its force and yet not managing to break it completely. Even the clenched hands, the knuckles of which had become paler than usual, could not shatter it into a million pieces. The force of Sasuke's heartache was not enough to knock the pillow of its balance. It only managed to use it as an anchor that would help him drown, but would always be there to pull him back up when he needed to.

A deep growl escaped the confines of Sasuke's mouth as he threw the pillow aimlessly. It ended up crashing into the window and pitifully sliding down until it hit the floor. The Uchiha glared at it for not creating enough noise in order to distract him from the lava that was burning him up on the inside. An animalistic growl filled the air as Sasuke clenched his fists, shot out of bed, abruptly walked towards the wall, unclenched and then clenched his fist even harder, aimed for the wall and hit it with all the pent up agony and guilt he had been forced to endure for another year.

"Why?" Sasuke whispered as he withdrew his hand.

The Uchiha looked at the blood that was currently oozing from the ripped skin and then back at the wall, as tough it would give him an answer. When silence fell and no answer unsurprisingly came, Sasuke growled with all the animosity he possessed, glared at the wall and began hitting it again and again and again, while his screams became louder and louder.

"Why?" He whispered.

"Why?!" He said.

"Why?!" He screamed.

"Why…" He whispered as his body staggered back towards the bed and ended up colliding with it.

"Why?" He asked as the blood from his knuckles coated the remainder of white skin.

"Why…?" He choked as tears fell and blood painted the floor.

Naruto was feeling uneasy that morning. He had woken up with an anxious feeling in his gut that refused to let him go. It was true that he was partially afraid because he had not been able to prank Sasuke at all during the past few weeks and had ended up giving the guy a break in order to rethink his strategy. And yesterday he had done it. He had come up with the ultimate prank, but was not certain whether it would be a good idea to actually go with the plan all the way through. In the end his friend Kiba had convinced him to do it.

And that was partially one of the reasons why Naruto was now fidgeting in his seat. The other reason was that his Math teacher was late. And that never happened. Mister Uchiha was the most punctual person he knew. A small chuckle escaped Naruto's lips as he thought it over. He had actually called Sasuke Mister Uchiha in his thoughts for once, but he had to admit that it did not sound pleasing, though it was the supposed right way of addressing one's teacher.

Naruto was distracted from his thoughts when he hard Kiba huff after he had looked at the clock again. Apparently even his friend was having second thoughts about the prank and that gave Naruto another reason to worry about. Kiba never hesitated. He never rethought things. His friend acted first and thought about the consequences after the damage had been done not before that which was why it was unusual to see the young Inuzuka in such distress. Naruto was about to suggest that they forget about the whole ordeal and try to prevent any damage from being caused when the door opened.

To Naruto's greatest horror it was not Sasuke Uchiha that he saw walking through that door, but Ibiki Morino – another Math teacher. Ibiki had taught Naruto for two years (in 9th and 10th grade) and if the blond had to be honest, he would say that Mister Morino hated his guts.

"Good morning class." Ibiki said in his usual monotonous tone before going on to explain what he was doing in this classroom during third period, "Unfortunately, Mister Uchiha is absent today and as a result I was asked to fill in for him."

Ibiki then walked towards Sasuke's desk and before Naruto or Kiba could react, he opened one of drawers and received a wonderful surprise – his face became the victim of the patch of flour Naruto and Kiba had put in there. A growl was heard as Ibiki tried to wipe the white pest away with his hands, but it was too much. He only managed to clear his vision enough to see a small cloth conveniently lying in the same drawer next to the empty sack of flour. Ibiki sighed in relief, bent down and grabbed it, which caused a wire to start spinning and soon the smell of burning paper filled the air. The smell soon reached the ceiling and the fire alarm was activated. Immediately water poured down on the whole class along with Ibiki. Everyone screamed and began running out of the classroom, thinking that an actual fire had broken out. Ibiki tried to escort the students and lessen the panic that had filled all of them, but he was finding it a bit difficult to do so mainly because he still could not see quite clearly, even though the water had washed most of the flour off of his face.

Naruto and Kiba both shot out of their seats and started trying to calm everyone down by screaming through the noise of the fire alarm that they didn't need to worry and that it was all a prank. Unfortunately for them, no one heard them. In fact, their screams only served to heighten the panic in the room. Naruto's eyes began to bulge as his heart rate increased dramatically. He could even swear he was hearing drums beating inside his ears. His breath hitched. His face lost its colour as he noticed that for the first time in a long time his prank had caused too much harm. Soon he, too, started panicking and was about to run out of the classroom when a voice shouted:

"What the hell is going on here?!"

Naruto and Kiba and the remainder of the students all gasped when they saw a figure dressed in black and white entering the room. They could hardly make out the person's silhouette from all the water pouring down on them. Ibiki came back and was about to reprimand that couple of students that had stayed in the classroom when he noticed that person who had just arrived. His face scrunched up along with those of the students', but soon their frowns turned into surprised expressions as gasps filled the air when the water stopped.

Naruto rubbed at his eyes furiously to make sure he was not dreaming. He knew he had screwed up. He was aware that he would probably get punished severely. He even might get expelled, but he could not for the life of him not smile when his eyes landed on Sasuke's heavily breathing figure once more. His enormous grin turned into a sheepish one when Sasuke's eyes landed on his. Naruto was about to meekly look away when he noticed how fast different emotions passed through those black depths. The blond could clearly see anger and frustration. He was certain that fury was burning inside his teacher's body right now, but what confused Naruto and partially hurt him was the pained and disappointed look Sasuke gave him which was soon accompanied by a shake of the head.

Blue eyes watched as the Uchiha made a few steps, clasped a hand over Ibiki's shoulder and whispered something into his ear. Sasuke then moved towards the few students still standing in the classroom and said:

"Class dismissed. You can all go home seeing as you will probably catch a cold if you stay here any longer."

Naruto watched as his classmates smiled, thanked their teacher for understanding and piled out of the room. The blond noticed that Kiba, too, had left, but Naruto made no move to follow them. He only saw how Ibiki and Sasuke were arguing over something, but he could not quite make out what it was.

"He needs to be punished." Ibiki said as he rubbed at his right eye furiously.

Sasuke sighed, pinched the bridge or his nose and then replied, "I realise how sensitive the whole situation is, but there is something you need to understand. This has happened only once before. I talked to Naruto and he listened to me. He has not done anything to me after the water accident."

"It was not an accident. It was an uncalled for act that should not have been left unpunished. I closed my eyes and ears then, but I shall not do it now." Ibiki iterated.

Sasuke sighed as he tried for one last time, "I know the rules, Ibiki. I have read them all and I have seen nowhere have I seen stated that a student should be punished for something they have not committed."

"What in bloody hell are you talking about?!" Ibiki nearly shouted as he laughed humorlessly before glaring at Sasuke, making the other almost flinch from the gelid stare he was receiving.

"Listen to me Uchiha and listen to me well. I will not be made a fool twice, do you hear me? I know that Naruto likes to pull pranks and that most of the time he gets lucky because they do not actually end up harming people, but today that is not the case. And I will be damned if he does not suffer the consequences from his actions again." Ibiki whispered dangerously before turning around and attempting to walk away, but Sasuke, having ignored his sudden rush of guilt and desire to empty the contents of his stomach, grabbed his shoulder. The Uchiha brought his mouth to Ibiki's ear and whispered:

"Listen to me, Morino. I do not care what you think you have seen. I know that there is no way to prove that Naruto is responsible because if there were, he would have probably been expelled a long time ago. That is why I suggest you go and clean yourself up and leave this mess to me. I can assure you that this matter will be over and dealt with before you can see clearly with your right eye again."

Sasuke then roughly let go of Ibiki and ignored the man's curses and meaningless mutterings of ways he would have dealt with Naruto had he been given the chance. The Uchiha sighed as he closed his eyes. He then pinched the bridge of his nose and reopened his eyes. He mentally cursed as his vision blurred and he lost his balance. Fortunately for him, the wall was near and he was able to prevent the fall from happening. His eyes had been closed, however, and that was the reason why he was unaware that Naruto had rushed to his side and was not standing in front of him. When the Uchiha opened his eyes and his vision refocused all he saw was a worried pair of azure eyes that were silently asking him various questions, but all that came out was:

"What happened to you?"

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A/N: Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, following and favouriting.

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~ QueenofRhymes ~