Title: BLUE SAVANNAH
Disclaimer: I make promises I never keep. Anything you recognize is not mine.
Summary: Sometime after the deaths of the infamous Zombie Combo, Obito sort of has an epiphany and Kisame finds himself with a new lease on life- at a cost, of course.
Warning: I dreamed the start of this all up after a couple days of sleep deprivation. I don't know where this is going, it just is. My apologies in advance if the writing style is mind boggling. Perspectives tend to... jump around. I HAVEN'T WRITTEN IN FOREVER.
Also, I recommend finding out all the intricate details of how everyone's favorite band of murderers died in canon before you read this, if you don't know already. It will all be so very confusing otherwise.
...
For the first time in a long time, Obito dreamed of a living, breathing Nohara Rin.
Rin, who looked just as young as when Kakashi had obliterated her heart. Rin, who knew how to smile and did not bleed until all he could see was her lack of life. Rin, who was walking right up to him, glowing like an angel and-
"OBITO, YOU IDIOT!" Jabbing him with all the might her lovely, radiant fingers could.
"W-What?" He uselessly raised his hands to hover at her shoulders, too scared she'd become dead again if he touched her. She glared up at him with those olive eyes of hers. Obito, stupid fool that he was, thought she looked adorable.
"Rin," he breathed. At the sight of her, the heart that he thought was gone broke yet again.
"Obito," Rin said imploringly, "You need to stop this madness." Obito frowned.
"Wha-"
"This Moon's Eye plan, Obito! Tsuki no mei. You need to STOP IT!" Obito's useless hands then gripped her shoulders. Towering over her, he attempted to intimidate the one girl he'd never wanted to intimidate when she was alive. But this was a dream Rin, surely. This was a Rin who should know what she was demanding of him.
"Don't you see, Rin? I can't! I can't and I won't! Not until I've brought peace to this world. Not until I have y-"
"I'M ALREADY DEAD, OBITO!" Her small hands fisted into his shirt as she screamed.
Obito felt his broken heart shatter to dust.
Rin started crying, and numbly he felt her embrace him. Her small stature meaning her head barely reached his chest. She began speaking to him again, voice muffled by the cloth of his shirt and the tears in her throat.
"I'm already dead. I have been for a long time now. You can't bring me back anymore, Obito." He vaguely felt her dig her skull into him. "You're hurting Kakashi-kun, and his students, and everyone else back home! ...And yourself."
"..."
"Obito, look at me." Reluctantly, he met her eyes. This Rin still glowed, so different from the dead, lifeless Rin he'd grown used to seeing whenever he closed his eyes. This Rin's soft eyes with her tear-stained cheeks showed emotion he didn't think he'd ever see until he finally captured Minato-sensei's son.
"Rin," he breathed again. Her voice came out gently.
"Obito, you're hurting yourself the most. I can't fix you up anymore, and it hurts me so much to see you doing this to yourself!"
"Ri-" She shook her head vigorously.
"I'M SERIOUS, OBITO! You have to stop this plan, before-"
"Rin." Gently, Obito pushed himself out of her embrace. "I can't stop now, Rin." Her beautiful eyes widened, and Obito wished he could stare into them forever.
"No! Obito, you're not liste-"
"Once I complete Tsuki no Mei, no one will ever have to lose a loved one again." He began walking backwards, and grinned. "I'll bring you back! And you and Kakashi-bastard can be together!"
"Obito!"
"I'm sorry Rin," he smiled. "I'm going to wake up now."
Shock took over her delicate face and she began to run to him, but before she could reach him Obito pulled out a blade and stabbed his own hand.
Obito sat crouched beside the corpse. He mumbled to himself incomprehensibly as his hands flew through various combinations of seals, repeatedly tapping the dead man's forehead to no effect.
"Tobi. What are you doing?"
"Ah! ...Ah heheheheh!" He jumped back. Obito ruffled the back of his head, other hand waving nonsensically. "Nothing, Zetsu!"
"What are you trying to do to that body? Don't play with my food, Tobi."
Quick as a blink, Obito scrambled up onto a boulder and whined. "Awww, you're no fun, Zetsu!"
"Is it safe to eat? If this thing is poisoned-"
"Don't worry, Zetsu! The worst that could possibly happen is that maybe you turn into a cat." Obito giggled.
"A... cat?"
"Yep!" Obito nodded, swaying his hands and arms pointlessly. "I had another dream about Rin-chan a few weeks ago. She told me to stop with our plan-"
"What-"
"BUT! But-but-but-but, I'm not going to listen to her! So instead I'm working on a kind of permanent cat transformation!"
"...That line of thinking makes no sense."
"Doesn't it?" Obito tilted his head, and didn't stop. With a shout, he fell headfirst into the stream below.
Nonchalantly, Obito skipped from branch to branch as he hummed a lullaby he vaguely recalled his grandmother once singing to him. Two shuriken shot toward him and he caught them almost absentmindedly once they passed through his jugular.
"Now now... Didn't your mama tell you it's dangerous to play with knives? But ya know, you have really good aim!"
"Wh-what... THE HELL ARE YOU?"
Pausing, Obito gave the question some serious thought. "Hrmmm..." Waving his arms, he squealed, "Tobi is a good boy!" then flopped backwards onto a toppled tree trunk. "So a human, I think?"
Suddenly the man stood beside him, summoning two giant axes from a scroll. "LIKE HELL YOU ARE!"
"Ohhhhh! Those are huge-" With a crash the two axes slammed into Obito's sternum, splintering the tree trunk below.
Panting, the kusagakure shinobi waited for the dust and debris to settle, certain he'd hit his mark. An explosion reverberated through the woods and the man turned panicked eyes to his left. "Sayuri!"
"Don't bother yourself. Senpai's already blown her up to bits!" The man turned back, eyes going impossibly wide. Before him stood the Akatsuki member in the orange mask, completely unharmed. Obito raised his hand, the two star blades from earlier in his grasp. "Hey Mister! Can I keep these? You take really good care of your weapons."
"...!"
Obito tilted his head, whining. "Is that a no?" With his other hand, Obito pointed at the giant axes still stuck in the dirt. "How about those? They look so cool-" Instantly the man vanished, gouges left behind in the ground where the axes once lay. "Eh? Where'd you go, mister?"
"Right behind you!" The giant blades slid into Obito from behind, intent on cutting him into three parts. Quickly he grasped the man's wrists once they'd fully passed through his torso, both blades now facing outward at his sides. Two loud snaps and the axes fell to the ground with a thud as the man behind him screamed. Giggling, Obito looked over his shoulder.
"Thanks for telling me! I could have almost died!" Crossing the doomed man's arms over his head Obito pulled the shinobi up into the air and slammed him on his back, stunning the man and temporarily paralyzing him.
"You...you shou- should have died!" The man wheezed.
"Really?" Obito leaned over him, apologetically rubbing the back of his hair. "Sorry, but death sounds painful!" Crouching, Obito began a pattern of hand signs.
"Wha-what are you do-" With a tap to his head, the man disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"...Perfect," he whispered.
"That's an ugly cat, yeah." Obito looked up.
"Senpai!"
Taking note of the signs of a scuffle, Deidara crouched down next to Obito, looking at the cat with interest. "So you turned him into a cat, yeah."
"Ehhhh! How did you know? Senpai you're so smart!" Hands to his cheeks, Obito gushed.
"Shut up, Tobi! It's obvious, yeah." Deidara lifted a mangled paw. "And you broke his wrists." He grinned wickedly. "I'm gonna blow it up, yeah!"
Raising his hand, Obito shielded his eyes as he stared at the bright ten kilometer light show that was his now deceased pyromania-cal partner.
"Whoooo, what a spectacle! Senpai sure knew how to go!"
The light faded, revealing the gaping chasm of desolate destruction courtesy of Deidara.
"I wonder if Itachi's baby brother survived that."
With a whine, Obito thumped his head onto the tree beside him.
"I wanted to turn senpai into a cat! Why'd the stupid kid have go and blow himself up like that?"
Bending down, Obito picked the fluffy corpse up by the scruff, lifting the animal's sightless brown (transplanted) eyes toward his own. Tiny specks of rust-colored sand steadily poured out of the small black creature's gaping maw. Resting his left hand to his waist, he sighed.
"To think, that you were already rotting from the inside out."
Slowly, the animal's silky fur began turning brittle, before flaking off into dust.
"You've truly amazed me, Itachi-chan."
Not even three hours later, the body had fully disintegrated, leaving behind nothing but dirt and dust.
Obito stared down at the emaciated body and its red head of hair.
"Zetsu." The plant being shifted out of the ground beside him.
"Yes?" Without turning to look, Obito handed him a small cylindrical container.
"Have these waiting in the lab for me."
"Ohhkay." With barely a sound, he retreated back into the earth.
Raising his now free hand to his chin, Obito pondered.
"Now then..." Quickly his hands flew through an already familiar pattern. Keeping his left hand in tiger position, Obito stretched his right toward the head of hair. He stopped, then sighed. "This won't do, Nagato." His hands fell to his sides. "You betrayed me."
Turning on his heel, Obito walked, disappearing in a whirl.
Silently standing upon the branch, Obito leaned his foot against the trunk of the tree as he stared at the unassuming earth below.
"What are you going to do with him? I can't believe you actually gathered all his parts."
Juggling the last limbs for a bit, (decapitated head and left foot,) Obito let the pieces thump into the sack beside him. From the trunk below, Zetsu frowned.
"Do you want his scythe? I know where it is."
Twisting the bag, Obito threw it over his shoulder to carry.
"Madara-"
"There's no need, Zetsu. His soul is gone, so he's useless to us now."
"...Then, what are you going to do?" Obito scratched the back of his head.
"Well, unlike Kakuzu's decayed corpse this one still seems to heal itself so... Call it morbid fascination." Obito wiggled his wrist, miming a puppet hand. "I want to see what a zombie cat is like, hehehe!"
"..."
"I'll be taking my leave now. Be a good boy, Zetsu."
With a whirl, Obito disappeared.
Soundlessly, Obito sat down, crossing his legs as he stared at the soggy, bleeding body before him.
"Wake up, Kisame. It's just me."
With a lurch, the blue figure lifted himself up on his arms, hacking out the blood that had been pooling in his mouth. Patiently, Obito waited for the man to right himself up. Kisame sat back, one arm resting on the cloth of a bent knee, and grimaced when he met his eyes.
"Go ahead and bleed, Kisame. Wouldn't want you to choke on your own blood now, would we? Don't worry, this place is a dimension of my own making. Clean up is easy."
With a grin, Kisame parted his serrated teeth enough for the blood from his tongue to flow freely. For a beat, Obito stared at the morbid display before continuing what he knew was to be a one-sided conversation.
"I was worried you'd actually bitten your own tongue off for a moment there, but it's still barely hanging in there, isn't it? A shame you lost Samehada to the hachibi... Sorry I can't heal it for you. I truly have no talent in any healing techniques. Well anyway, you caused me quite a bit of grief back there with that stunt you pulled! I'm quite proud of myself, you know. I had to switch you out with white Zetsu at just the right moment so no one would notice anything was off."
Kisame's gruesome grin widened. Obito nodded.
"And yes, thank you for that. You truly are the most loyal shinobi I've ever met, that's why you've always been my favorite. As a final parting gift, I'll tell you what I'm about to do with you, and even show you how."
Kisame's brows lowered, confusion evident in his grisly frown.
"That's right. You will not see nor hear from me again after this. My apologies, but I do not plan for you to be here to see my plans for this world come to fruition. You asked for a world of honesty, but I cannot give you that. I seek peace through false means." Obito raised his hand, palm faced toward himself as he grasped air. "To be honest, I had originally planned to do what I will do to you to everyone in our organization. But as it turns out, my technique only works on fresh tissue. And incidentally, whatever body I work with must be the true, unaltered human form the being was born with. And within our gloomy organization, such requirements are excruciatingly hard to meet." Obito paused, tilting his head. "Forgive me, Kisame. But I can't say I've ever had the privilege to meet another Hoshigaki aside from you. Is that body your original?"
Ruefully, the bleeding man grinned again, tilting his head and flicking a hand as if to swat a fly.
"Then that's good. My technique will still work." Leaning his chin on a fist, Obito continued. "I'm going to physically remove you from this universe, and place you in another. Though to be honest with you, I don't know if you'll actually wind up in another reality, or simply die without a trace." He shrugged. "Though I'm sure that doesn't bother you. You were already willing to die anyway. To do this, I'm going to manipulate your body into a...smaller form. That way it'll be much easier on my abilities to transport you to wherever I end up transporting you, as I am incapable of moving large bodies within this particular technique. Also, because this particular form humors me... call it Uchiha bias."
Instantly, Kisame's features took up a look of annoyance. Obito grinned behind his mask.
"That's right... Itachi-kun was rather particular toward ravens, wasn't he? Worry not, he was the only Uchiha that was." Deciding he was tired of sitting, Obito stood up. "I really do appreciate how keen you are, Kisame. It makes explaining things go by very smoothly. So no, I'm not going to turn you into a bird. I'm going to turn you into a cat instead. However, this technique is of my own devising, so don't mistake it for a simple transformation trick." He raised an index finger. "Think of it like a nin-neko curse!"
Kisame scoffed, an eyebrow raised in either bemusement or curiosity. Perhaps both.
"You will be the only being in all of this world that will not be controlled by my Infinite Tsukuyomi! But this will come at the cost of being a cat until the end of your days... That is, until you discover purpose. Until you discover a true purpose for yourself, Kisame, you will live a lie as a cat. This curse... is my gift to you for being the truest shinobi I have ever met. You can say that I even think of you as a friend. Now watch closely Kisame. Who knows, you might find this knowledge useful."
Clearly sensing the end to his extended reality, Kisame's brows knit in uncertainty even as he grinned viciously. Slowly, Obito performed familiar hand signs as he stepped closer to the beastly man's seated position. Ending with tiger and stretching his right hand down toward Kisame's head, he paused one last time.
"Once, I was called Uchiha Obito. And if only so that I have not done this all for naught, I sincerely hope that you do not die after I send you where even my own Kamui cannot follow. This transformation will knock you out, so... Farewell, Hoshigaki Kisame." With that said, Obito tapped his palm to the man's forehead and the Poseidon of Kirigakure disappeared in a cloud of mist.
As the fog dissipated Obito found himself staring at the sheer size of the cat, its wet fur the dark shade that was Kisame's hair.
"...My my. You're by far the most exotic one. This really shouldn't surprise me." Noticing the blood leaking from the animal's mouth, Obito knelt and pried open the cat's jaws. "I lied about not knowing basic healing techniques." Carefully he placed a gloved finger to the tiny muscle, green glow lighting up the small cavern. "But it's much easier to do this when you're out cold and drastically less menacing... There, done."
After placing the smaller, unconscious figure away from the blood soaked area, Obito stepped back. Then, he took a deep breath.
"Mukou Kamui."
The day had started out bright and warm, not a cloud in the sky. It had continued in this pattern within the hours as classes continued and passed with time. Truly, a typical, beautiful spring day. With how stable the weather had been the past few weeks, it should come as no surprise that Hyūga Neji found the sudden onslaught of heavy fog that had descended into the forest surrounding their home during their walk back to be mildly disconcerting. So heavy was the chilly vapor that condensation gathered on the biotic life within the forest, precipitating from the leaves.
It was practically sprinkling.
The bridge leading to the family estate was nearly obscured thanks to the dense clouds. And the flow of the Kiyoi river below could be heard, but not seen. Neji chuckled, directing his voice to the young woman walking beside him.
"The usually tranquil bridge looks rather spooky like this. Don't you agree, Hinata-sama?" At her lack of response, he turned.
His gentle cousin has paused a few paces back. Her narrowed eyes were focused at a point high up beyond the wooden railing of the bridge, above the river.
"Hinata-sama?" Following her gaze, Neji gazed out into the thick expanse of whiteness.
When he noticed it, time seemed to slow to a crawl. Meters away, something... was falling. It's shape was blurred and gray through the fog, but it seemed to be an animal of some sort. The sound of Hinata's book bag hitting the ground was the catalyst to setting the flow of time back into order, and before he could blink, she had run and launched herself off the railing. Impossibly, her outstretched arms managed to catch whatever creature it was before her indigo hair disappeared into the clouds. Shortly after, great splash cleaved the air and Neji ran to the railing, white knuckles grasping solid wood as he tried to spy his cousin.
"HINATA-SAMA!"
Seconds passed before he cursed, tossing his shoulder bag to the floor. With a splash, Neji followed after her into the Kiyoi river.
...
Monologues are so tiresome to write. I really didn't enjoy all those italics. But how else does one show the transition from one voice change to another, especially when voice change is such a dynamic feature in the original characters?
No. Don't even think of looking up a map of Japan. I can't be bothered to actually reference actual reality. So from here on out, everything is written from a whim of fancy. Though, I do reference Nihongodict, a dotcom site in case you are curious.
Review any questions or comments!
Love,
Saamon-sama
(formerly Lostpuppy-EYES -who apologizes sincerely to all her followers for not writing what she initially promised to write, ever.)