Cutting like blades across the earth's floor, the shadows of trees laid across the paths underfoot of the two men that disturbed the silence of a clear night. Quickly the cool air passed between the two as it heaved in chests and brought them swiftly along the current of the chase, the chase for one life. Dying leaves brushed past and fell in the lead's wake the blind scramble forward. His feet pounded with effort against the soaked dirt that stretched ahead like a dark mass ready to swallow or trick him into the way of the pursuer's blade, for it only felt just inches from the open nape of his neck.
'Who's after me?' The only frantic thought that raced along with him. Hope seemed to have prevailed as a clearing in the forest looked only strides ahead. The dark leaves overhead became dotted with tiny stars. But even the stars held no salvation as his legs began to tire out beneath. He glanced over his shoulder, the presumed killer only seemed closer with every take. 'This will be the end, if he catches me...' And that end surely came with the clearing that left the hunted man exposed in the pale blue light that washed over the undergrowth that grew up from the sand. It snagged the loose end of his clothing and he tumbled onto the ground. The wild damp grass slicked itself against his cheek as he made his way back up on his feet, slowed by his swaying vision and the blood pounding through his ears. As he began to move again, he was halted by the sight that presented itself when all came back into focus. The shinobi fell back onto his seat as the shadowed presence had now stepped out of the trees. His light feet barely dented the illuminated blades of grass as they moved across. Small shoulders draped in a cloak that held a high collar but did not obscure the familiar face of his friend.
"Oh..." The relieved young man breathed, a wide smile ripping at the corners of his mouth. "Izuna...I'm glad to see it's you."
But the identified friend did not mirror a similar response as he pulled out a black shining kunai from the air, causing the unease to rise back up in the man on the ground.
"Izuna?" he asked again, searching the boy's solemn expression for any kind of recognition. "It's me, Daisuke! Izuna...!" But as Izuna stopped in front of Daisuke, the blade was not lowered.
"Daisuke..." Izuna began, his lips barely parting as he addressed his dear friend. His expression didn't changed as eyes darker than the dotted heavens shined. "Stand up and face me."
"W-..." Daisuke stuttered, his conception still whirled from their prelude of a chase. The dark trees, the sky that merged into them, the cool ground all seemed to move around the fixed point of those black eyes. "Face you...?"
"Face me." Izuna repeated as the patience prepared began to diminish from his supply. He whipped the blade across his fingertips as his anxiety grew over the confused opponent.
Daisuke finally got to his feet, his height casting over the shorter male. "Are...are you going to kill me?" His question was neither frantic or inquisitive. His disbelief hung around his shoulders like a soft blanket, something the blade dancing in Izuna's hands could easily slash through. But this had been going on too long for Izuna as his originally calm exterior began to crumble.
"You're going to fight me, Daisuke. You're going to die, but I want you to die fighting." His dark eyebrows creased his smooth pale skin that swam in the moonlight, and what little of it showed under his long sleeves and pant-legs. Daisuke could only look at the Uchiha as he still questioned the moment. With every second in the silence of the blowing leaves, Izuna's fingers twiddled towards the larger weapon at his side. A large lump had formed in the back of his throat, making him clench his hands tightly around the handle of his sword.
Daisuke saw this motion and Izuna's calm exterior deteriorating "Please. I'm your friend, I--"
The plead of his friend was what caused the bigger blade to un-sheath and send the point straight back through the open mouth of Uchiha Daisuke. The blade scraped and haulted against the bone as it flew through the soft beating tissue, blood dribbled from both sides of the mouth as a result from Izuna's panicked and premature attack. As Daisuke gagged, Izuna quickly pulled back on the handle of his sword and Daisuke uttered another horrible choking noise. The whites of his eyes exposed as they rolled back into the sockets. And Izuna with a small cry as his chest heaved for air, re-administrated the blade into a more affective blow straight across the throat and finally through the heart, the blade only went a little rigid as it passed through his ribcage. The blood splattered across Izuna's face before Daisuke fell onto the dirt with no more of a cry or any kind of struggle. All was quiet as the blood formed into a hot, dark puddle around him, soaking into the dirt and the soles of Izuna's sandals.
Unable to retrieve the blade from the corpse, Izuna could only take in the deed that had been done, leaving him shaking as the warmth of his best friend's blood invaded and made its way in-between his toes. He had not been able to give the warrior a chance before ending his life in the impulsive blow. Instead he was to die without truly knowing what reason or motive that was willed behind his friend.
But Izuna's remorseful feelings were cut short as a presence made itself not so masked from behind. A derisive tone broke the silence and the Uchiha quickly sheathed the sword to his side.
"Well done, Izuna-chan..." the demeaning honorific made itself most prevalent from the mouth of Madara Uchiha in Izuna's worst moments. "I was betting whether you would have chickened out. But I'm glad to see you stuck it through..." The elder brother approached the body and smiled at its bloodied presence. "And quiet literally..."
Madara rolled it over with his foot, the open jaw snagged along the grass before finally resting awkwardly on the ground.
Izuna's vocal chords tensed as he went to object against his brother, but he swallowed down his words as he only wanted to leave the scene in the clearing. The late summer night was only growing progressively more beautiful to mock him. The crickets went back to chirping and small animals went back to scurrying in the undergrowth. Izuna pulled his sword from the body and sheathed it.
"Well?" Madara questioned his younger brother. "You don't expect me to clean up your friend's mess. Get back here and clean this up. We don't want Uchiha territory looking like some kind of dump. As a matter of fact, you can put little Daisuke's body next to my own friend's just over there..." He smiled wide, canines gleaming under slitted red eyes of the activated sharingan. "Spend some quality time dumping these bodies before they start to stink."
Walking with his soggy footwear back to his brother's side, Izuna crouched down onto the ground and wrapped his arms around the waist of the dead body and lifted the weight over his shoulder. His ankles shook under the heavy body as the cooling cheek of Dasiuke met his flushed and near feverish own. Weak tears broke away as they ran from the silent Izuna's eyes and around the clotting blood of the fallen friend. He had entered the forest with only half of a hope of claiming a victory as he knew his skilled friend could easily maneuver out of a situation as such. But now he walked on his way out with a death of close one and the birth of a new and strange power that burned at the source of the Uchiha's tears. It was soon to overtake the dark, winding route that lead the two brothers on the way out of the trees and by a large stream that cut the lands of the clans, dappled with stars as it reflected the sickening night.
'I can feel the new presence developing inside of me... But can I hold this as a blessing bestowed or a curse condemned?' And Izuna let the body slide off of his shoulders and into the stream of starlight, the body caused a disturbance and break in the waves and shining ripples to rebounded off of the murky edges. The current carried the last of Daisuke off and Izuna knelt at the bank. He wanted to wash off the blood that seemed to only cling to his skin, soon to stain the soft ivory wrists.
"You have no time to mourn." Madara interrupted, urging Izuna along as he grabbed one of those wrists and pulled him along now, the route of their home. But refusing to be pulled along like a child, Izuna reclaimed his arm and walked at his brother's side.
'The Mangekyo-Sharingan holds the promise of the peace that one day, Daisuke...I'll be able to live in just like you...'
"And May his rotting body snag across the river's weeds..." Madara concluded. "Now off to home and bed, we only have more training now to do in the morning."