~Chapter 19~

The Prank

Sasuke slowly hauled his way down the stairs, rubbing his sore eyes. He had found no sleep, just a couple of stages where he'd gradually begin to doze off only to reawake a half hour later to some memory of his past. Kinata's face had also appeared several times, causing his stomach to coil at the groggy image of her now. She sat at his kitchen table with chopped fruits set accordingly in the center. She was drinking orange juice. She hadn't acknowledged him, as she was so concentrated on biting through an apple.

Sasuke didn't mind however. He stretched his upper muscles as he made his way over to the fridge. If she were to see him so unusually exhausted, her curiously stubborn nature would never quit. Then again, Kinata never really had high energy in the mornings. She had always been more awake at night. He sighed, pouring the water too fast and spilling some. He really was out of it.

Kinata's face, despite having slight under eyes, had a shimmer to it, like she'd just washed it and had put on some lotion. Her cheeks were already a pink hue, not a blush, just a natural coloring from temperature change. Sasuke mulled over these thoughts…he unconsciously kept picking out small details in her features that attracted him to her.

When he took his seat across from her, she looked up from her almost eaten apple. Her lips were swollen on the bottom, most likely a cause of her biting down on it. He frowned as the glistening from her saliva still visible on her lips that formed into an upwards curve.

"Morning." She said curiously, snapping Sasuke out of his trance. He frowned, turning away.

"Yeah. Sure." He had a flat tone.

She dropped her smile, arching an eyebrow. What's his problem? He'd been acting weird all last night, and it seemed much hadn't improved with his mood. She had gone to train, figuring he had too much going on in his head to want company…so had she. Kinata had figured he'd be better by morning. So much for that.

"Something wrong?" She questioned, gaining his attention back. He eyed her, his fists clenching. She lowered the apple, waiting for his answer, trying to read past his mysterious thoughts.

"We need to establish rules." Her eyes widened at his dead serious tone.

"Uh, okay." He gazed passed her, jaw set.

"No more talk concerning our past." He took a drink of his water, his hands white from his grip. She looked down to her own hands, which clung on to the deteriorating apple.

"I need to focus on the future. So should you." Her eyes were still cast down by the time Sasuke turned to see her. He gulped, slightly nervous to hear her response. Of course, his expression was composed in an indifferent way.

"You had a hard time sleeping last night too, huh?" Her voice was hushed, though he still heard her clearly. His heart sped up, startling him. Why was he so anxious all of a sudden? Kinata snapped her head up to pin him down with her eyes. He could just tell in her dark lined pupils…torment.

"Yeah." He was clipped with his response but she took no mind to it, only nodded. Kinata stood up, tossing her apple in the trash.

"Alright. No more trips down memory lane." She washed her hands, not waiting for a reply as she passed him to go up the stairs. Soon, they would have to leave for the Academy.

Sasuke was left sitting in his chair, grateful she'd left, as he had no smart response. That had been way too easy.

And it left the Uchiha boy unsettled.

Half way to their destination, the two ran into Naruto, who in turn gave a disgusted grunt towards Sasuke before giving Kinata a cheesy grin. He was way too pumped up.

"Hey Kinata! You're up!" Sasuke rolled his eyes, beginning to walk away, already irritated that the blonde had showed up.

"Of course idiot. She's up because we all have class." Naruto's eyes twitched as he went to yell something back at the Uchiha, but Kinata intercepted.

"Hi Naruto! What're you doing over here? You usually take the Southeast way up to the Academy." He instantly lost interest with Sasuke, stopping to make a dramatic announcement.

"I've come up with the ultimate prank! It'll be the grand finale before we graduate!" Kinata smirked, crossing her hands and giving him a look of disbelief. Her pause made Sasuke halt, begrudgingly of course. It was clear he wanted nothing to do with Naruto.

"Oh? Is that so?" She eyed the blonde.

"Yeah! Believe it! But uh…I'm uhh, gonna need some help." He scratched the back of his head, giving her a pleading look. She sighed.

"But Naruto, I've already skipped class last week." He shot up his arms, startling her by his rapid movements.

"You have to help me! Please! I thought I could lift the barrels, but they're waaaay too heavy for me alone. Come on Kinata, you're my last hope. It'll be worth it, I swear!" She bit her lip, taking in his puppy eyes.

"Barrels?" She questioned, curiosity, as usual, getting the better of her.

"No." Sasuke's adult-like tone snapped both of them out of their adventurous stupor. Naruto glared at him while Kinata gave him a frustrated glance.

"Ignore him. He's tired and moody today." Kinata's smooth dismissal pissed Sasuke off, especially as it made Naruto laugh.

"Alright. I'm up for it." Naruto cheered, pumping his fist high up in the air, feeling victorious. She smiled at his excited expression, her previously sheepish mood replaced with anticipation. A prank? And Naruto was extremely clever when it came to these things, so if it were his best yet, she'd really be setting herself up for a sight to see.

"Are you really going to waste your time with him?" Sasuke's irritated voice invaded their happy mood yet again. She turned to him, hands on her hips.

"Look, no one said you had to come along. If you'd rather play it safe and go to class, that's your choice." Naruto's grin practically glowed, making Kinata feel even more confident against Sasuke's glare.

"Fine. I'll go. We return right after lunch though." Naruto and Kinata both paused at his authoritive and accepting comment. She eyed him up and down.

"What if we can't because the prank takes up too much time?" She asked in defiance.

He frowned.

"Doesn't matter. We'll be back for the second part of class." She huphed but ended up shrugging her shoulders, turning to a now grumpy looking blonde.

"Kay. So, what's the plan Naruto?" His attention quickly turned to her. He smiled coyly, waving her into a huddle. Sasuke reluctantly followed.

Sasuke couldn't believe he was going through with this. He had to admit, for a dense guy as Naruto had always proven to be, the prank was rather thorough, besides covering their own tracks, which Sasuke had pointed out, and now had to do. It was why he was walking up to the guards at the border of Konoha with a shadow clone of Kinata next to him.

They gave him wondering looks.

"Ah. Sasuke Uchiha. Shouldn't you be at the Academy?" They gave suspicious glances at the girl who stood innocently at his side. He shrugged.

"Usually, yeah. Today is a memorial to my clan. I wish to honor them. I'll be back to class for the second half." Their faces immediately became solemn and sympathetic, the first nodding, but the second giving a wary expression towards the girl.

"What's with the girl though?" Sasuke let his hand massage his neck.

"She's coming with me…for support." He made himself sound slightly embarrassed, hoping they'd fall for it. They did, giving him a wave to pass. He nodded his thanks.

Sasuke's other shadow close had already disappeared, one that had taken on Naruto's appearance. That one had remained in Konoha though, arriving to the Ramen shop to announce that he had to make a delivery and then go to class later on.

Basically, Sasuke's mission was to buy all three of them an alibi, while the other two set up the beginning steps to their prank.

Once he made it to the borderline, he snuck back through a passageway he'd known from his clan. Sasuke met up with Kinata and Naruto on a tall building, standing next to a barrel the size of them.

"Did they fall for it?" Kinata asked, finishing up the set to a triggered trap, which had a wire already tensed up to it. He nodded, observing her refined movements. She was especially skilled with these contraptions. He realized it was most likely why she'd been able to detect his own trap long ago.

"Yeah! Then all we have to do is finish the other one." Naruto's smile passed over to Kinata, who gave him an encouraging thumb up.

"How do we test this?" Sasuke's somber words made the other two halt.

"Oh…didn't think about that." Naruto mumbled, scratching the back of his head in slight shame. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Of course you didn't." Naruto's face turned red as he was suddenly in Sasuke's face. Kinata was still in the midst of rewiring the trap, but she stopped, unsure of how to calm the boys.

"Shut up Know-It-All! You should've said something earlier!" Sasuke glared.

"I figured you would have planned that already. But I should've known better."

"You jerk! There's a reason I didn't want you here. You ruin everything!"

"Guys!" Kinata's loud voice, with utmost seriousness, broke through their childish argument. They both snapped their heads in surprise to her.

"Enough. It'll work. I believe in our skills. There's no need to test it." She'd had a defiant glare set on both of them, but ended her speech with a soft smile. It seemed to calm them down, as Sasuke let out his typical 'tch' and Naruto smiled bright back, nodding.

Kinata finally stood up.

"Alright, it's set. Let's hurry and work on the second one. It'll go faster now that Sasuke is here." She gave him a praising look, secretly boosting his ego. Naruto rolled his eyes this time.

"Yeah, whatever." The blond mumbled, as they went to the roof of the second tall building. It overlooked a podium and an arranged area in which the Hokage and jounin would be meeting at later on tonight. Naruto's prank centered on that conference, and it was definitely intricate.

*A spraying device had been placed on top of the lids to the huge barrels. One was filled with green paint and the other one with orange. Two planks were set and triggered to tip at the right pressure of an outside force, which tipped the barrels over the side, so that the paint would spill all over the audience from the top of the buildings. A trap, which was connected to an extremely long thin wire, had been the most complicated mechanism in their prank. It wound down the building, over the door, to the other building, in the same fashion, back up to the other barrel of the second trap. It was set so that it'd move an inch above the ground to move backwards a good 5 feet, hopefully tripping enough jounin to cause slight chaos. This would ensure that there'd be some shinobi to be covered in pain, just in case they reacted too swiftly, avoiding the mess.*

After Sasuke had been informed of Naruto's idea, he had stood beside Kinata in slight surprise. He hadn't expected the moron to be so creatively keen. Kinata had immediately started to elaborate on his plan, adding little details that the blonde had overlooked. The two seemed to have a routine down for executing such schemes.

Sasuke frowned, backing up from their huddle. Naruto had caught Kinata's interest from the moment she'd entered the Academy. It was now showing through the ease at which they communicated now. She suddenly laughed at whatever Naruto had just said, causing Sasuke's fist to clench. She couldn't take her eyes off of Naruto's bright blue ones. Sasuke grit his teeth. She absentmindedly brushed her hair to the side, her neck exposed, still focused on Naruto.

Sasuke froze.

What the hell was he doing? Sure he had never been able to figure out why someone like Kinata would carry on any kind of relationship with an idiot like Naruto, but it never bothered him as much as it did now. Or more so, how she reacted around the blonde.

Finally, she turned away from the two-person huddle, giving Sasuke an excited smile. She was completely oblivious of his annoyed mood, too distracted about the prank. She grabbed his arm, eyeing him mischievously.

"Let's go paint!" She chimed, pulling him to follow Naruto to the main location. Sasuke let her.

He couldn't help the smug feeling that Kinata would choose to hold onto him rather than Naruto. Then again, it hardly troubled the boy, who whistled happily in front of them. She continued to hold his hand, only for the fact that Sasuke had loosely grasped onto her fingers, enjoying the sensation of her soft skin against his. Sasuke refused to look her way however, irking his sudden (usually dormant) sense of anxiety. She was getting to him AGAIN, and was driving him mad.

Yet…it was instinctively what he wanted.

Sasuke shook his head, pulling his hand away just as they crept up to one of the buildings. It was the Medical Center, only a few blocks away from the Hokage's office. None of the medical shinobi would be paying attention to a bunch of kids.

Kinata walked over to the wall, refusing to go inside.

"We climb up. It's too risky making it up to the roof if people can recall seeing us go up the stairs. Besides, this is part of the fun!" She recklessly jumped on a questionably unstable pillar, looking down at the guys. She smirked at Sasuke's raised eyebrow. Naruto grinned, jumping at the same time as the Uchiha boy. They roughly knocked into on another mid-air. Kinata had already leapt up onto a border connecting the sector rooms. She heard the crash and quickly turned around. On the ground sat both boys, rubbing their heads and appearing furious. Kinata sighed.

"What were you thinking!?" Naruto practically screamed. Sasuke glared intensely at him, causing the blonde to shrink back a little.

"Clearly I was next." His cold words brought a dark red hue to Naruto's face.

"Enough guys. We don't have time for childish arguments. You're both trying to become shinobi, but shinobi don't do argue like this, right? So why are you both doing it?" The two stopped moving and talking, staring up at Kinata who stood on the pillar again, frustration written all over her face.

Sasuke was the first to act, standing up to dust off the dirt, scoffing.

"Whatever." He said, giving Naruto one last glare, who stuck out his tongue. Sasuke held back from rolling his eyes again, leaping up to the pillar that Kinata had just jumped off from. Naruto followed after, mumbling his critical comments about Sasuke to himself.

After they had scoped out the area and maneuvered some tools that Naruto had already placed there, they'd sent Sasuke out to create the alibis, only after the Uchiha had mentioned how coincidental and thus suspicious it would seem if they weren't at the Academy – even if for just the first part. So Sasuke had halfheartedly left the two to set up the first trap, somehow feeling left out. He wanted to see how the mechanism would work and if he could improve it to impress Kinata.

He thought back to how ridiculous it all seemed, just as they finished the second trap. He really had acted childish…but then again, they were only 12. Sasuke rarely dreamed of being a child, since such days were officially gone. He bit his lip, a habit he hadn't done in a very long time, after realizing that the two who stood in front of him had little hope for a real childhood too. This prank was as close as it would get for any of them. It was why, perhaps, they all aimed to be shinobi. They could all handle it, based because they had and still experienced loneliness, and thus independence.

He stared harshly at Kinata, who gave Naruto an affectionate pat on the back, congratulating him on his ingenious prank.

Sasuke noticed how strong she was…not necessarily physically, but emotionally. Even mentally she'd fascinated him. He couldn't help admiring her a bit, now that he saw her as she was…a loner, like him…but not by choice.

Kinata's sudden hands around his neck made him tense. Naruto was no longer on the roof. He stood unmoving in one spot for the second time today.

"Thanks for helping. There's no way we could've pulled this off without you!" She said this into his neck, causing Sasuke's breathing to hitch. He felt warm air from her mouth on his skin. His thoughts slowed, his arms wrapping around Kinata's waist. He calmly stood there, not sure how else to act.

When Kinata began to pull away, Sasuke's grip tightened. They were both now staring at one another. Kinata's cheeks were red from a small blush and her eyes were wide in wonder. She'd never seemed so…exposed. Sasuke brought his lips to her forehead, raising his right hand to dig into her hair so as to hold her head still. He could feel her chest against his and her breathing that came in and out rapidly.

Sasuke pulled back, at a blank for why he'd do something so rash. Kinata was in pure shock. He was too. Just last night he had sworn to keep his distance from the distracting girl. But here he was, kissing her. She defied his logic and unconsciously encouraged him to go against his own stubborn decisions. She took a deep breath, opening her mouth to speak.

"Uh, I um, we should, I think we should head back, you know, to class." He gulped as soon as she tensed away from him to the direction of the Academy. Sasuke frowned. He had never before heard her at such a loss for words and he was able to hear a sort of uneasiness in her voice. He followed silently behind her swift and agile form.

Kinata's mind couldn't stop spinning. She's had so much fun setting up the prank with her two friends, despite how the boys hardly got along!

And then Sasuke…sure she'd been bold when she'd decided to embrace him, but she had also seen how jealous he had acted with Naruto being alone with her earlier. She figured she owed him a one-on-one. It had never occurred to her he'd return it. In reality, Kinata had expected him to tense (which he had) but to push her awkwardly away. She walked hesitantly up to the entrance with Sasuke trailing right behind her. She could practically feel his body.

Naruto was already inside. The second term was just starting and Iruka-sensei was beginning to organize their worksheets. Sasuke and Kinata explained their absence according to the alibis that Sasuke had given them. They sat next to one another in the front row, closest to the door. It made Kinata feel uncomfortable. The girls were staring daggers at her again. She'd hoped they would have been over her spending time with the popular raven-haired boy, but then again, she had just come in flustered with Sasuke directly behind her. Kinata sighed. Yeah, it definitely looked bad.

Throughout class, she couldn't get her mind off of Sasuke's lips on her skin, even if it was just on her forehead. He had made the whole moment intense and special. It had to have been on instinct. Kinata had never seen Sasuke so confused or lost, even surprised, all at once. So many emotions had passed in his eyes within a split second that Kinata had been left speechless. Not even because of the kiss, but because of his own genuine response. She had known him to have such self-control…what had happened?

His expression…it had tugged at some odd sensations inside of her. Sasuke hadn't tried anything weird in class, helping them both to have clear minds by the time they left the Academy. Of course, they had to meet up with Naruto, who was oblivious to the awkward tension between the two. He was too eager to care.

The closer they got, the more the mood of all three naturally brightened. They all wanted to see how successful their traps were, and therefore the overall prank. As the Hokage began the tedious task of reporting new post recruiting, a small snap could be heard from above. Naruto had just pulled the small looped trigger. The three hid around a fruit stand, overlooking a good portion of the jounin. Another snap sounded a few seconds after and Naruto began laughing at the sight. Numerous shinobi were now colored in bright oranges and greens, while some were puzzled, lying on their ass – but only for a few seconds. Sasuke stood smirking, leaning against the front of the woodwork of the stand. Kinata was covering her mouth, as muffled laughter slipped out.

Naruto was about to dart off just as Kinata grabbed his collar.

"Woah…ack.." Naruto yelped. She let go, then pulled him quickly over to Sasuke. She shook her disapprovingly to the blonde boy.

"They'll know it's you for sure if you take off like that. It's too suspicious. Just walk with us."

Sasuke bit back a rude remark. If it got Naruto going, it would avert everyone's attention from the hilarious scene to the three of them. So he, in a grumpy mindset, strolled to the left of Naruto, wishing the two could've gone without him.

"So where we going?" Naruto questioned eagerly. Kinata smiled.

"To Sasuke's house." Said boy snapped his head to her, glaring.

"What?" He demanded. She shrugged, looking ahead.

"I want to make us some mochi! To celebrate our success." Her pride shined through her tone.

Sasuke's glare softened at Kinata's expression. He couldn't stand Naruto, especially the thought of the idiot entering his home, but for the sake of the brunette standing next to him, he would silently accept her proposal and brood in the meantime.

Naruto hadn't really cared for the idea either but he was afraid to argue at the cost of losing out on a girl cooking him food. He eyed the Uchiha. Surprisingly the boy followed Kinata closely behind, her excitement having quickened her steps, putting her in front of both of them.