Tortured Uchiha [CURRENTLY EDITING]

Kaw of Insanity

I sat on the tatami mats as usual, playing a game of Shogi with myself. It didn’t really bother me that I hadn’t breathed a mouthful of fresh air for two months, but I would have my time soon enough―Kisame warned that this Tobi fellow had a strange power, that he could walk through things without making hand signs for a jutsu and Kisame speculated whether he had a Sharingan.

I didn’t know any Sharingan with the ability to move through solid inanimate objects, so I tried to talk to Kuragari about it but as usual, the Yokai was no help. Not even Hikari’s scroll spoke of any technique that granted such power. If Kisame’s reports were accurate, Tobi was a threat that had to be exterminated.

To keep me entertained while Itachi was out as if nothing happened between his weak moments on the couch, and when Kisame left, I trained up my evasiveness to get used to having both eyes. Kuragari would shoot at me, sharp beak extended to cut me at all angles but I combated it with my flat palms. Kuragari said this was a style of training used by the Hyuga clan except that I didn’t have chakra emanating around my palms.  However, after a long morning of training, I enjoyed Shogi―but I suppose Kisame questioned my bearings since I only played it by myself or with Kuragari.

I moved my Kin–Sho piece forward one space towards the middle of the board and waited for Kuragari to make his move. My crow hopped up and down and tapped his beak against the wood, Kuragari was appalling at Shogi. Kuragari ruffled his plume and nudged his Gin–Sho diagonally forward next to my Kin–Sho.

“Does Itachi know of your deal with Kisame?” Kuragari squawked when my Narigin took his basic Tokin.

“Hn,” I grunted.

Kuragari pushed his Fuhyo once space across the board, just to be taken once again by my Narigin. Kuragari always replicated the same moves, he’d always advance his Tokin as some sort of barrier between my pieces and his O–Sho and Gyoku―this tactic always made him loose and the bird just didn’t understand that.  

“Your vision keeps happening, the one with Itachi and Nezume, ne?” it was more of a statement than a question.

Kuragari was right, however. I tried staying awake most nights or distract myself with a game of Shogi but the images always flood my mind like a tide in different degrees. One night it would just be me and Shisui on the decking on Itachi’s house, the next it could be their ceremony and another night would lead to me and Shisui eating Nigiri and forgetting that Nezume is now Itachi’s wife.

“It doesn’t make sense,” my Kin–Sho takes the last of Kuragari’s Tokin. “Nezume died in the massacre along with her father, she had never interacted with Itachi before and only spoke to Shisui when he tried to ask her to the Equinox Ball…what’s happening to me?”

Before Kuragari could reply to my question, Kisame emerged once again from the darkness. At first, Kisame chuckled at the fact that I was having a conversation with my summon, and then it quickly turned into a scowl of concern.

“Not you too,” Kisame muttered beneath his breath.

I momentarily paused the game of Shogi to dismiss Kuragari, thanking him for keeping me company. Kuragari bobbed his black head before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. My brow creased when I sat up from my cross-legged position on the tatami mats. Had this happened before? Is Itachi seeing the same dream?

Kisame pulled Samehada from the sheath between his shoulders and set the blade on the couch, his beady eyes scanned the hotel room while the heat of the candles provided a needed warmth. It was raining outside and water dripped from Kisame’s blue nose, as usual, I didn’t ask what he did around the foundations of Jomaegakure.

“I think it’s time I answer your silent question,” he said.  

Kisame eased out of the darkness and grabbed my shoulder, pushing me towards the balcony that was pelted with horizontal rain. I narrowed my eyes at the ominous night and slid the glass door open before stepping out, pulling the Akatsuki cloak around me. To stop the onslaught of rain, I conjured my Susanoo. The green Aquarian creature with the lance loomed over us and used its webbed hand to shield me and Kisame from the downpour. It then occurred to me that Kisame seemed to be part shark, but he didn’t seem to mind my gesture.