Sarcasm

Isui's eyes fluttered open. The pitch-black pupils contracted and flitted around from left to right and high and low, scanning the white privacy curtains drawn around his bed before they connected with an identical pair of dark eyes as his own. The only difference was that they were framed by red-rimmed eyeglasses. He sat up straight. "Where am I." He asked Sarada. She was sitting on a rolling chair, her left thump stuck in between the pages, serving as a bookmark for the book in her lap.

"Academy, Nurse's Office." Her reply was brief. "It is a little after four." She added in an afterthought.

Isui looked Sarada over. Relief flooded him as he could not find any tearstains on her face. She looked just like always flawless jade-like complexion, shiny straight black bob of hair, and a little growl around her lips. He nodded towards the book. "Were you here the entire time?"

"Was I here the entire time?" Sarada cut Isui off with a huff. A vein popped up on their forehead. She clicked her tongue. " If you mean that I was here when Boruto brought you in then yes of course I was here and stayed here waiting for you to wake up. What else do you think I would do?" she snapped. Sarada jumped up and dashed the book over his head. "You stupid fool."

"Ow... Nee-san." Isui's hands came up to his head. He felt a ruff fabric brush against his left ear. Curious he held his hands in front of his face, inspecting the bandage tied around his left palm down to the wrist. What happens, he asked himself.

"What happened indeed, otouto?" repeated Sarada in a stern voice.

Isui realized he must have voiced the question out loud. He let his hands fall into his lap and recalled the events that happened just a few hours prior, trying to find the right words to phrase it. "It started with a strange voice in my head. I got a headache and felt myself getting dizzier and dizzier. It was when it tried to lure me into agreeing with it that I realized that a strange chakra had invited itself into my body. I fought it. First, while I was in the bathroom and then in my mind space." Isui spoke slowly. Not because he thought his sister would not be able to follow his line of thought but because his brain had sprung into action painstakingly tearing apart every bite of information. He distantly remembered that he damaged a sink, surely his teachers would want a better explanation than a few loose sentences. " Please forgive me Nee-san." He shook his head. His shoulder-long hair swayed from side to side. "I will need more time to process the situation." Looking down, he clenched his fists.

Silence fell between them. Isui felt his sister standing next to him. Her gaze rested on him. Sarada was not done with him in a long shot. After a while, she sat down again, apparently resigning herself to wait and allow him the time he requested.

"Thank you," Isui said.

"Hmpf," she snorted " None needed."

The corners of Isui's mouth lifted slightly as he basked in his sister's presence. She was always a balm that burned while applying it to a wound, but once it settled it was stupidly effective. He fell back into the covers.

About half an hour later, time Isui spent meditating, while listening to the turning of the pages of Sarada's book, a door behind the curtains unlocked, and light footsteps neared his bed. The privacy screen was opened by a light blue-haired woman.

Isui sat up.

"Sarui-sensei" Sarada stood up and greeted the woman with a polite bow.

Isui figured that Sarui was the nurse who was watching over him and inclined his head as deep as possible to show his respect.

"I see that you are well, eh... boy." Sarui's speech was drenched in the kumogakure accent. She looked Isui over and nodded to herself. "Your friends are waiting in the cafeteria for you. You all are to go to the principal's office. Hush now." She waved her hand and disappeared again.

"Charming," Isui noted as he climbed out of the bed.

"You should have seen her how she catapulted Boruto-nii out of the room..." Sarada trailed off snickering. "Your bag." She shoved Isui's bag into his arms and slung her own around her back.

Both left the nurse's office and headed to the cafeteria. From afar they heard a loud shout.

"Shinobi Bout, dattebasa."

Five people were sitting around a table. Four really, since Boruto was standing above them a fist in the air.

"Nice to know that you have so much fun," Isui said with a sarcastic undertone. Ten sets of eyes fell on the twins. The carts sewn across the table were forgotten.

Boruto grinned. " You rather want me to weep in a corner."

"Glad to know I mean so much to you, Nii-san." Isui arrived at the table and nodded to the others, before bowing his head. "Thank you, guys. For helping and waiting on me "

" You should now even deeper. Thanks to you we all are invited to the principal." Inojin remarked. But Isui pointedly chose to ignore his words.

"Glad that you are okay," Shikadai said he rounded the table and put his hand on Isui's shoulder the indigo eyes intense with quiet questions sprouting out of them.

"I will explain when we are talking to Iruka-sensei," said Isui as he put his bandaged hand on Shikadai's and lifted it off his shoulder as he turned to the other two persons.

Denki and Metal both gave him the same look. Welcome to the club. Denki was the first to step up.

"Metal and I have decided to share our experience with the headmaster to help you with the case."

"Ah," Metal nodded in confirmation "As the saying goes one chase can be a coincidence, two chases are suspicious, and three are a pattern, right?" He clenched his fist in front of Isui's face. The coal eyes burned with passion. " We got to find out what is going on."

"Yes, but first we have to face the sensei's."

"Eep!?" Metal ripped his head around to face a smirking Inojin and stalled like a defective motor. His body stiffened up into the material he was named after.