Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Shinobi and The Miko ❯ Nightmare ( Chapter 24 )

A/N: Sorry this chapter was so long in coming. Canon seems to move so slowly sometimes. I think I'll have to go to biweekly updates so I can get more material. As it is, this chapter is completely made up by me. I apologize if Sasuke seems a little OOC, but I've kinda had to extrapolate on his underlying motives a little, so…

 

Also, I still don't own Naruto. So sad panda for me. Enjoy, and this one's for Avonda and Beth! Also, please review. I love concrit and hearing from new people and repeats alike!

 

WARNING: This is considerably more graphically violent than most of what I write. I'm probably edging into M territory here, but I don't think the whole story deserves that rating, so I'm not changing it. This chapter is probably not for the squeamish.

 

Sasuke's dreams were feverish, shadows dancing across his vision in grotesque replays of the worst moments of his life. The night-ghasts were accompanied by roiling sensations of pain, both physical and mental.

 

He was standing outside his childhood home, on a night very familiar to his nightmares. He looked down at his hands. They were small; the fingers still the short and ungraceful digits of a child.

 

Sasuke looked back up. The house appeared exactly as it had on that night, exactly as it still did. The surrounding area was eerily quiet. He shuddered. This dream was all too familiar. Through that door lay the bodies of his family, and beyond there, the rest of his kin and clansmen. As much as he wanted to turn away, he knew that he would have to open those doors and look into the empty eyes of his mother and father.

 

Slowly he advanced, forcing one foot in front of the other in deliberate, halting lurches. After what seemed like hours, but could have only been seconds, he was before the front door of his home. With trembling hands, he opened it and stepped inside.

 

His parents lay in the home's great room. His father was sprawled near the entrance, where he had obviously fought the intruder. His mother was a little further in. Usually, this was the part where the child part of him yelled coarsely and ran to his fallen parents. Now, however, Sasuke just stood there, detached in a way he had never been able to manage before, a niggling sensation at the edge of his mind distracting him from what had so often before consumed him.

 

:There's something I have to find. But what?:

 

The footsteps behind him caused him to turn, and his eyes met Itachi's. Rather than turn away as he had done in the past, he held the gaze.

 

“What is wrong, Sasuke? Do you not love them anymore? Do their deaths not grieve you?”

 

Sasuke didn't respond, just held Itachi's eyes.

 

“Well? This is the part where you run away. Or am I wrong to think so?”

 

“No. I'm done running from you.”

 

“Oh? Do I not frighten you anymore, little brother?” Itachi's tone was devoid of emotion, as though he couldn't care less.

 

“You're dead.”

 

“And yet I stand here before you.”

 

Sasuke found himself growing impatient rather than afraid, and chose a different tactic. “Where is it?'

 

“Where is what?”

 

“What I'm looking for. You know what it is, don't you?”

 

Itachi was silent for a long moment. “Perhaps. But you have not yet proven yourself worthy.”

 

With that, Itachi's features blurred, morphed, and Sasuke found himself staring into Madara's one visible eye instead.

 

“You,” Sasuke started, but stopped abruptly when the environment began to change as well. The colors of the house began to run together, blurring with the slick darkness that was his family's blood and the colors of their clothes, until none of it was recognizable.

 

“You failed me, Sasuke. I gave you a simple task, and you could not complete it. Would you like to know what happens to the unworthy?”

 

The colors that had been moving aimlessly across his field of vision resolved themselves once more, solidifying into another place he knew well. He stood in the middle of the practice field where he had first passed Kakashi's test with Naruto and Sakura. Strewn across the once-green field were the bodies of all the ninja he had known in his time at Konoha. There were Iruka and Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba. The Hyuga cousins had had their eyes removed, and everyone had bled out onto the ground, which was still slick with gore. He looked away, trying to focus on anything else, and then spotted something at the far end. Moving closer, he passed Anko and Tsunade. Both appeared to have fought hard against something, like his father had, and showed numerous deep gashes that oozed with something he didn't want to think about.

 

It was at the end of the field, however, that he saw the worst of all.

 

The three were bound to the posts where Naruto had been tied up for cheating. This time, though, they were not moving. Naruto and Sakura wore expressions of pure agony, denied peace even in death. Kakashi's Sharingan had faded, leaving only a blank white eye in its socket. Livid red stains ran down the posts and pooled at their feet.

 

Sasuke's eyes widened, and he fought hard to suppress the bile that rose to his throat at the scene. “No…” he managed in a choked whisper. Surely he was not truly seeing this. He thought he had hardened himself, thought that he had been ready for this possibility, and yet the sight of it rendered him barely able to think.

 

“It's what you wanted, isn't it?” Sasuke whipped around; Madara's voice was at his shoulder. “To wipe out the entire village? Come now, don't tell me you've lost your nerve. This,” he gestured expansively at the field, “is the end to your revenge.”

 

Sasuke backed up, stumbling over his own feet. “You- this isn't real.”

 

“It will be. Drink it in Sasuke. This is what you and I will achieve together. Or did you think it would be different? That you could get away with killing only the guilty? Surely you aren't that naive, are you?” Madara laughed, a hollow, pitched sound, and the world once again began to change, going entirely dark.

 

“No!” Sasuke ran towards Madara, trying to escape the encroaching blackness. The further he ran, the farther away Madara seemed to get. :Damn! Why can't I- I have to escape!:

 

But the darkness would not be stopped, and soon he found himself completely surrounded. Sasuke lifted his hand to his face, but could not see it. :I'm completely blind.:

 

“It's a shame the Sharingan is useless for night vision, isn't it?”

 

Sasuke whirled around to face the voice behind him and struck, only to have his fist caught easily by an unseen hand.

 

“Easy now, Sasuke. Or have you forgotten me already?” The voice sounded nonchalant, lightly amused, perhaps. Only one person Sasuke had ever met could carry off an attitude like that at a time like this.

 

“Kakashi.” Somehow, Sasuke felt relieved. Regardless of where they stood on the sides of conflict, he knew that his former teacher would not harm him.

 

“You know, you could use a lesson in respect. Naruto and Sakura still call me sensei.” His tone was gently chiding, but there was no anger in it.

 

“Naruto and Sakura still have the right to.”

 

Kakashi gave a resigned sigh. “Are you going to tell me about it, or do I have to guess?” At his student's silence, Kakashi continued. “Okay, then. You're feeling guilty about following Madara, but you believe there's nothing else you can do at this point because there's no way Konoha's going to take you back with Danzo in charge. And then there's the part where you attacked the meeting of the Kages, and made yourself into an international criminal. So, at this point, Madara's the only option you've got. Do stop me when I'm wrong.” He released Sasuke's arm and took a step back. “Plus, you still feel as though you need to fully master your Sharingan, and Madara's the only one left who can teach you how.”

 

Sasuke was silent. He heard what Kakashi was telling him, and knew somewhere inside himself that his teacher was right, but the larger portion of his personality couldn't bring himself to accept it.

 

“And then there's Kaguya.” At this, Sasuke's breath halted; he had to remind himself to exhale. “You feel responsible for whatever happens to her and guilty for keeping her ignorant of what you're doing. You would have to; there's no way she'd agree to let you do any of this.”

 

Sasuke struggled for a retort; finding none, he settled for something customary. “What's your point?”

 

He could almost imagine Kakashi lifting an eyebrow as he spoke next. “That's for you to decide. I am, after all, but a figment of your imagination. I can tell you only what you already know: you're wallowing in darkness, and it has to stop.”

 

As Kakashi spoke, Sasuke noticed a point of light appear an undetermined distance from the two of them. “Ah. She's here already. Well, go on, you were looking for her, weren't you?”

 

Sasuke was confused; he knew he'd been looking for something, but he couldn't remember what. Still, the light seemed more promising than any other option he had at this point.

 

:Isn't this what they tell you not to do in these situations?: The thought brought a slight quirk to the corner of Sasuke's mouth, but he continued forward anyway. As he walked, the light became larger, and he swore he could hear voices in the distance. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but as he got closer he knew he recognized at least one of them.

 

Sure enough, he heard Kaguya murmur a word of thanks to someone else and was vaguely conscious of a soft hand on his forehead. The connection was light, but definite. Sasuke exhaled deeply, and allowed himself to sink into dreamless unconsciousness just as he reached the source of the light.