Silent Treatment

Chapter Four: Final Prank

Naruto raced back to his apartment, as fast as his legs could carry him. He didn't care if he tripped or ran into someone. All he wanted was to go home. He couldn't believe it! How could his closest comrades not care about him? He was willing to die for them, yet they wanted him to leave.

He fiddled around with his keys until he found the right one, and slammed the apartment door behind him. Naruto collapsed onto his bed and cried into the pillows. He had to do something, though. He couldn't just hide all day. After what seemed like an eternity, Naruto sat up in bed as his tears stopped flowing. What should he do?

Suddenly, an idea came to mind. He decided to test his comrades one last time. This time, he would go past all limits. He wouldn't go easy. If his so-called 'friends' didn't care this time, he would… well, he didn't quite know what he would do.

However, Naruto wasn't one to give up hope. He still believed his comrades cared for him, despite what had happened.

Sakura said some hurtful things, but it couldn't be that she hated him… right? Well, Sakura was never actually fond of Naruto, so, despite his feelings for her, he kind of accepted her hatred. It still hurt, but just not as much as anticipated.

Kakashi had cared. Naruto knew he cared, because of the worried look in his eye and the way his expression seemed to drop. That reassured the Uzumaki slightly.

It was Sasuke he was most hurt by. Sasuke had told Naruto many times in the past that he didn't care at all about him. Naruto always believed the Uchiha was just saying that for the sake of saying it, and didn't actually mean anything. However, based off of what happened today, Sasuke actually didn't look very worried. Naruto hoped Sasuke would care, at least a little bit, about him in the next prank- the final prank.

Naruto left his apartment and headed towards the Uchiha mansion. This better work, Naruto thought. Or I don't know what I'll do.

Sasuke collapsed onto the grass, his shirt soaked in sweat. He and Sakura had tried their very hardest to take down Kakashi, but it was impossible. Maybe they would've had a chance if Naruto was there.

Today was seriously not a good day to train, let alone take a jounin down. The Sun was way too hot. He paused, gasping for air. He wanted to go home and take a nice, cold shower.

He looked up at the blue cloudless sky, and squinted at the bright evening Sun. It reminded him of Naruto- his eyes and hair. He really hoped the Uzumaki was alright. He knew Naruto was strong, but he could get a little careless sometimes.

Panting, Sasuke looked back at the jounin sensei, who was casually reading his inappropriate book, not even glancing up at them. Sakura was still trying to get a hit on Kakashi, but when she failed after five attempts, she collapsed on the grass, just like Sasuke.

After a few moments of silence, excluding Sasuke and Sakura's panting noises, Kakashi looked up, surprised he wasn't getting hit. "Well, you two sure look worn out! Heh, well, I guess we could end practice a little early today. After all, there's no point in training without Naruto."

Sasuke almost groaned at that, and Sakura sighed aloud.

"Well, let's hope our cheerful friend is back by Monday. Have a great weekend! Dismissed," Kakashi finished. Before waiting for a response, the silver-haired man disappeared in a puff of smoke.

After a few more seconds of catching his breath, Sasuke got up and started walking to his Uchiha mansion.

Sakura watched as Sasuke walked away. She had really hoped that spending the day alone with the Uchiha would get him to acknowledge her, but he showed no such sign. In fact, the entire day, Sasuke seemed to be out of focus daydreaming. This was her last chance to win him over.

"Wait, Sasuke-kun," cried a familiar voice. Sasuke turned to see Sakura sitting up behind him. "Do you want to… maybe… go out and get dinner together?"

Sasuke almost rolled his eyes. Why did she think that asking him tonight would be any different than all the other times? He just gave her his normal response, which wasn't exactly much of a response.

"No," Sasuke said emotionlessly after glaring at Sakura for a few seconds. He then proceeded to turn around and continue walking away.

Sakura looked down in sadness. She had really thought that, without Naruto in the way, Sasuke would like her more. There didn't seem to be a difference in his treatment towards her, though. Maybe it's because he's just not in the mood, Sakura told herself, as always. Today really was an exhausting day after all.

She turned around and started walking towards her house as the Sun set.

Sasuke finally arrived at the Uchiha mansion. He walked into the bathroom and took the cold shower he had promised himself. Sasuke was very quick in the shower, so he came out in five minutes. He threw on some nightclothes and went downstairs to eat something. He wasn't really hungry, so he decided to just eat a few dumplings.

Exhausted, he headed back to his bedroom and fell onto the bed. He tried hard to go to sleep, but for some reason, his thoughts kept drifting to Naruto. I wonder if the dobe is okay, he thought. I mean, of course he's fine. He's Naruto, for goodness sake! But, I'm still… worried.

Sasuke kept thinking of Naruto. He thought some reasonable things, while he also thought of irrational things. Every time he tried to sleep, his mind just wouldn't stop showing him an image of Naruto smiling in his big, goofy grin, his ocean blue eyes sparkling. Slowly, after what seemed like a decade, Sasuke drifted off to sleep.

"Sa… su… ke…"

Sasuke tossed around in bed.

"Sa… su… ke…"

The Uchiha buried his face in the pillow and covered his head with the blanket.

"Help… me…"

Sasuke shot up in bed. Naruto's voice, he noted. He sat in bed, listening closely to the silence.

"Sa… su… ke…"

There it was again! Someone was calling him, and that someone sounded a lot like Naruto. In fact, they sounded exactly like Naruto.

"Naruto!" Sasuke called. "Where are you?"

"Sa… su... ke…"

The voice sounded weak, as if Naruto was hurt. It sounded as if Naruto was seriously hurt, as in on the verge of dying.

Sasuke got up and headed downstairs, where he thought he heard the voice. "Naruto, tell me where you are!"

No response. Was this some sort of joke? Sasuke waited a few seconds before heading back upstairs. It was probably just his imagination. After all, he was thinking of Naruto when he went to bed at night. He looked at the clock- 2:03 AM. He was still sleepy, so he climbed back in bed and immediately fell asleep.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The scream was ear-piercing and it sent Sasuke shooting up in bed. That was Naruto's scream, and he was sure of it! He glanced at the time- 6:15 AM.

Sasuke got up and bolted out the door. Was Naruto hurt? That would explain why he was hearing Naruto's feeble voice a few hours ago. He looked around the yard. That was where the scream came from, he was sure.

He looked around for any clues. As he scanned the front yard, he noticed a splotch of red. Yes, there it was. And there was another splotch a little farther away from it, then another, and then another. There was a trail of red splotches. A trail of blood. Sasuke followed it to the backyard. He closely examined every single splotch. It sure looked like blood.

He finally arrived at the scene where the trail of blood ended. His mouth opened wide in shock. In front of him was a puddle of blood. It still looked fresh, just like the splotches he had followed. There was a bloody kunai just a few feet away, and a shuriken covered in blood on a tree nearby.

Sasuke saw a shimmer from the corner of his eye. He turned to look. No, this can't be true! A leaf village headband stained with blood hung around the branch of the tree with the shuriken. Sasuke almost had a heart attack. That was Naruto's headband. He could tell because of the dent in the front it had gotten from their fight with Haku.

Sasuke dropped onto his knees, his mouth open wide in surprise. This was too obvious to be true, wasn't it? But still, he believed it. There were too many clues leading towards it. Naruto had… died.

There were still some things that didn't add up. Where was Naruto's body? Why hadn't the murderer cleaned up the scene before authorities arrived? And why did it happen in his backyard? It was quite far from Naruto's apartment.

But Sasuke didn't think about any of this. He hadn't felt this sensation ever since that night when Itachi murdered his clan. He felt completely useless. He let the tears fall free. Naruto was gone, and he did nothing to stop it from happening.

Naruto watched, hidden in the trees. He honestly didn't even care if Sasuke just brushed it off like nothing. This was the last test, and he had expected Sasuke to just shrug it off, so he prepared for the worst. He was ready to face the pain when Sasuke smiled after seeing the blood and his headband, relieved that Naruto was no longer alive.

He didn't expect Sasuke to burst out crying. At first, he was shocked. He'd never seen Sasuke cry before. He always thought Sasuke was an emotionless Uchiha. After a few seconds of staring at the helpless genin, Naruto smiled.

So he really does care! Naruto thought happily. I've got him where I want him to be. Now, it's time for the arrogant Uchiha to beg!

Naruto jumped down from the trees silently, creeping up behind the weeping Sasuke Uchiha. The last part of his prank worked out quite better than he'd expected. This was probably the most complicated prank he'd ever pulled, and he'd pulled quite a lot of pranks ever since he was a little boy. This was different. This was the final prank.