Sasuke woke up the next morning and was filled with relief when he once again woke up with no pain. He took his time waking up and getting ready.
By the time he was finished, he walked down the stairs only to find an empty kitchen. He frowned as he looked for his brother but couldn't find him. He walked back to his room and texted his brother.
A minute after he sent the text, a phone call came through. "Hello?" He answered quickly.
"Sasuke," Itachi replied. "I forgot to let you know, I wouldn't be able to take you to school today. I had an important business meeting to attend to this morning."
Sasuke let out an impatient sigh. "Okay."
"I'm really sorry."
Sasuke could feel himself getting annoyed and he scowled at his bedroom floor. "Yeah, whatever." He hung up the phone before getting up and beginning the walk to school.
Twenty minutes into his walk, he heard a car horn behind him. He stopped and looked over his shoulder to see Naruto waving at him from the back window of a car. "Need a ride?"
Sasuke blinked before giving him a smirk and walking over to the car. "Thanks."
"No problem, Sasuke!" Kakashi smiled at him through the rearview mirror.
Iruka turned around in his seat and smiled at the raven. "How's everything going? He was good yesterday right?"
Sasuke nodded. "Good. And yeah, no trouble."
"Hey! I'm right here you know." Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
The car ride was filled with minor chit chat until they reached the school.
"We'll drop you boys off here so we don't embarrass you." Iruka said as Kakashi pulled over to the side of the road.
"Nonsense! If anything, they'll embarrass us!" Kakashi began to laugh. Iruka shook his head while Naruto and Sasuke gave each other looks.
"Alright, see you guys later!" Naruto closed the car door and watched them drive away. "Damn, talk about embarrassing." He sheepishly laughed, rubbing the back of his hand.
"Hey," Sasuke grabbed his arm, pulling it closer to himself. "That's a pretty cool wristband."
Naruto quickly took back his arm, nervously twisting it around his wrist. "Uh, thanks."
"Everything okay?" Sasuke asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, of course! Come on, let's get to class!" Naruto quickly dragged Sasuke away and into the school building.
"Naruto!" Kiba called out once the pair walked into their homeroom class.
"Kiba!" The two gave each other a fist bump and Neji rolled his eyes as Sasuke sat down.
"What did we start, hm?" Neji asked, going back to some of his last minute homework.
"Hn." Sasuke replied, too busy staring at Naruto. He looked at the wristband on his wrist.
"Right Sasuke?" Kiba directed a question to the raven and Sasuke shook his head to give his attention to Naruto and Kiba who were looking expectantly at him.
"What?"
Neji snorted. "You seem out of it."
Sasuke glanced at Neji before looking back. "What was your question?"
Kiba stared at the raven. "I was saying, it's a relief that Sakura has those meetings this week."
"Uh, sure. I don't really care." Sasuke replied as he turned in his seat to face forward.
"I don't know. She seemed nice to me." Naruto replied with a shrug. "Anyways, let me tell you about this great idea I had last night!"
Sasuke tuned out of their conversation, thinking about the past two days. He was happy that he wasn't in any pain but it raised some concern for his soulmate. He hoped everything was okay.
"What's on your mind?" Neji whispered to him.
"Just hope everything is okay with my soulmate." He kept his voice low, not wanting to involve Naruto and Kiba.
"I'm pretty sure it is. You would feel something if it wasn't."
"I'd hope so."
The two fell into silence and soon the bell rang for the next class to begin.
For the rest of the day, Sasuke felt himself going through the motions. Thankfully, Naruto didn't seem to pry into his business, instead filling the silence with his own voice talking about things that weren't really important.
At the end of the day, as he was saying his goodbyes to Neji, kiba and Naruto in the front of the school, Kakashi and Iruka appeared.
Neji and Kiba politely said their goodbyes, leaving Naruto and Sasuke alone with the two teachers.
"You want a ride home, Sasuke?" Iruka asked the raven.
Sasuke looked over to Naruto who shrugged in response. He faced the brunette. "Yes please."
"No need to be so formal, Sasuke. We're people too." Kakashi laughed.
Naruto snickered as Sasuke's cheeks slightly slushed. "Yeah Sasuke, teachers are people too."
"Shut up." He hissed.
The car ride was quick and Sasuke thanked his teachers for the ride before saying goodbye.
He walked up the stairs and into his mother's room. He sat down in the chair and stared down at her.
She seemed to be looking up at the ceiling, not in her usual comatose state but a more so not really here look.
"Not much really happened today, mom." Sasuke started, grabbing her hand. "I'm more worried about my soulmate though. I haven't woken up in pain these past two days, and it's been a long time since this has happened. I'm getting worried. Neji said not to because if something did happen to her, I would've felt it. Kind of like you." He paused but didn't see any reaction. "But I'm really starting to like Naruto, I think we're going to be friends." He smiled to himself and then looked over at his mother.
His eyes widened.
She was smiling up at the ceiling.
Sasuke quickly stood up and hovered over her. "Mom?!"
She glanced at him briefly, the smile still on her face before it slowly started to disappear and was once again replaced by a void look.
Sasuke quickly scrambled down the stairs just as Itachi was finished setting up the table.
"Oh good, I was just about to call you down." Itachi said. "I made burgers."
"Itachi, guess what! Mom-"
Itachi cut him off with his hand. "Let me at least start my dinner before you start with this."
"But Itachi,-"
"Sasuke!" He gave his little brother a glare.
Sasuke snapped his mouth shut and sat down in his seat, waiting for his brother.
He watched impatiently as Itachi set up the food and began to eat. He refused to touch his plate.
With an impatient sigh, Itachi set down his burger. "What, Sasuke?"
"Mom smiled at me! She actually smiled!" Sasuke stated, practically flinging himself across the table,
Itachi closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. "Like I've told you before, Sasuke. It was just a-"
"No!" Sasuke slammed his fist on the table. "I was telling her my story and she smiled at me. She was staring at the ceiling and smiling and when I went to look down at her, she looked me in the eye!"
"Enough!" Itachi snapped, standing from his chair. "I'm fucking sick of hearing about this, Sasuke! She's not coming back from this! Doctor's have tried everything and nothing works! When the fuck are you going to grow up and accept the fact that that woman in her bed is not our mother? Huh?! Stop this fucking nonsense, Sasuke!"
Sasuke was taken aback at his brother's outburst. He didn't say anything as he left his unfinished plate on the table and slowly walked into his room.
Once he was on his bed, he allowed himself to let out tears he was holding back. He took out his razor from his nightstand. He stared at the metal object before making the first cut.
The physical pain was a relief from what he was feeling inside. He cut himself a few more times before placing it back in its place and cleaning up.
He decided to skip his homework that night and went straight to sleep, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day.