The Case-Book of Kakashi Hatake

The Hound of the Uchiha {Part3}

When Sasuke Uchiha arrived the next morning with his black coach and inflated sense of self-worth, I waited not-so-patiently beside a single, packed trunk. Hatake was not in the flat; in fact, I didn't even know if he'd come home the night before, and anxiety was eating me up from the inside out. That irritating, silver-haired man wasn't even there for me to yell at and venting my frustration would have been a very welcome diversion. Anything would have been a welcome diversion.

Only the barest of greetings passed between Uchiha and I as we started out on the road. My small trunk was strapped the roof, one of the footmen closed the coach door behind me, locking me in with the surly client, and the driver cracked the reins, taking us out of the crowded, dirty city.

Several hours into the journey, I could take the muffled silence not a second longer.

"What's the Hound of the Uchiha?"

The young man blinked at me once, as if surprised that sound had come out of my mouth, before looking back out the window once more.

"My family is an ancient and important one; we have lived on the moor for three hundred years," Uchiha stated, pride coloring his words to an insufferable degree, as if he himself had lived there for millennium as opposed to twenty years. "When my family first started to live on the moor long ago, Indra Uchiha, the first Uchiha, built the manor that stands there to this day. They say that he found the most beautiful plot of land to settle on, a knoll which towered over the surrounding countryside, giving him a panoramic of the whole of the moor, making his house a dominating presence visible to all his tenants." Uchiha straightened out the lapels of his suit coat with a flourish before continuing, "That much I do believe is true. Indra Uchiha did live three hundred years ago; his grave is visible in the family chapel, and all the accounts of the time confirm that he built the Uchiha manor. However, it is the next part of the tale where I must be skeptical."

That was wonderful news to my bored mind; I knew that this had to be where the mighty and mythical Hound made his grand entrance.

"According to legend, the knoll where Indra built was not uninhabited, but was the home to a powerful spirit," the young man said, disbelief souring his tone. "A great slobbering beast who ruled over the moor with his cruelty and blood lust, a vicious Hound large as a horse who Indra had unknowingly driven from his den when the Uchiha had dug the foundation of his manor. The Hound swore revenge on Indra, declaring that he would drive the man from his home and bring his family ruin. The Hound called on all the other spirits to answer his summons, to rise in support of their lord and crush the usurper. So afraid of the Hound they were, all but one agreed. That single dissenter was the Cat, who had long hated the Hound and wished to see him destroyed and to take his place.

"The Cat kept his treachery a secret from his fellow spirits and, three nights before the attack was to occur, appeared to Indra as he sat with his eldest son. 'Take heed,' he said, 'for you have built your house upon the home of another. The Hound will soon come for you and all you have made, and in three days, he shall raze it to ruin. But I know how to stop him. Hasten beneath your home, for built within your foundation is a den. Find it and draw about it a circle of salt, for that will deprive the Hound of his spiritual essence. A mortal beast can be slain.'

"And so the Cat left, but Indra laughed, declaring that he had just had a most ridiculous dream. The son, however, was wary. He sensed truth in the Cat's words and implored his father to follow the spirit's advice and find the Hound's den. Incredulous, Indra laughed once more and proudly announced, 'I will not be scared by a kitten and a pup into digging through the foundations of my home. I do not believe in these spirits.' Retiring to his room, Indra went to bed, but still the son was not convinced.