Characters: Itachi, Kisame
Prompt: Night terror, not a nightmare(they are two very different things). Obviously, screaming, plus for combativeness, struggling, having to be physically subdued, and/or crying.
Rating: PG
Warning: none
Night Terrors
A rustle of sheets.
Kisame looks over to Itachi's sleeping form, which lies motionlessly on the single futon of the inn. They take turns keeping watch; they are high-profile missing-nin and can't afford to let down their guards at the same time.
In the darkness of the room - barely illuminated by the lantern shining down on the sign in front of the inn - Kisame can hardly make out Itachi's outline. He relies more on his ears and his nose to tell him what is going on, especially since his sight isn't that good in the first place. Well, during the day it isn't. During the night his eyes are on the better end of the night vision spectrum, but he has learned long ago to pay more attention to his other senses.
His nose alerts him that a low stink of terror is seeping into the room. As a predator, Kisame has practically specialized on that one particular scent. It is a bit unusual though to smell-taste it from his partner, a man so stoic that absolutely nothing fazes him when awake. Maybe that is the price to be paid for such equanimity?
Kisame's ears tell him that Itachi must have twitched again, skin rustling against cloth. Itachi's breath comes faster and turns into choked gasps. His limbs tremble and flinch, a stark contrast to Itachi's normally motionless sleep.
This is not a nightmare. For one, Itachi has been asleep for less than an hour. For another, neither has he entered the stage of rapid eye movement, nor has sleep paralysis taken hold. This is something deeper, something more primal that takes place when the sleeper is practically dead to the world.
Being a rightfully paranoid ninja, it is not often that Itachi lets himself relax enough to sink to that stage of sleep.
Kisame isn't very surprised when all of a sudden, Itachi starts flailing as if he was being drowned. Kisame should know what that looks like, being drowned, because he has put many people into a watery grave. Not even all of them during his time as missing-nin - his suiton skills had been legendary even before that.
Itachi though looks as if he was drowning on dry land. The only thing missing is any kind of wetness bubbling in his throat and a cyanotic tinge to his lips. He isn't really drowning or suffocating, but he is fighting as if he were. Due to his flailing, Itachi hits his hand on the tatami, his foot on the chest at the foot end of the futon. The sheets threaten to trap him, making his thrashing more pronounced. Still, Itachi doesn't make a sound beyond panicked hyperventilation.
All of a sudden, he shoots up to a sitting position, his hands twisting between aborted seals and defensive taijutsu and weapons pouches he has taken off before going to sleep. The terror in the air is so thick that Kisame could choke on it, yet he does nothing. Despite having his eyes open and moving in a somewhat coordinated fashion, Itachi isn't awake yet.
This is experience speaking. Kisame has seen his partner suffer through similar episodes before, and he has never reacted to words or touch. Short of inflicting physical pain, Kisame won't be able to wake him up. And those few times he had roused Itachi, his partner was disoriented, slow to find back to reality, and unable to remember what had happened. No, it is much less of a hassle to leave him asleep.
So Kisame does nothing but watch, listen, and smell as his partner fends off apparitions only he can see. Not too successfully, judging by the mindless panic of frightened chakra suffocating the room.
The fear spikes to new heights, making Kisame practically feel the rabbit-like vibrations of Itachi's heart. If there was more light, he probably would be able to see the rictus of terror on a normally mask-like face. As it is, he can hear the scream bubbling deep in Itachi's throat, fighting and pushing to be let out, to make its agony heard in a high-pitched wail as terrified chakra stabs deep into his skin and Samehada hums -
The only sound emerging is a low moan that somehow tells of more pain and desperation than any scream could have. It is the noise of a mortally wounded animal that can't get out of a trap and is waiting for death to claim it.
If he hadn't heard that very same sound so often, Kisame would probably feel concerned.
Itachi though is done for now. Whatever demons he goes through have broken together with the vocalization, allowing the fear to make way for a deep-seated emptiness. The same emptiness his partner shrouds himself in during his waking hours.
Itachi lies back down and curls up on his side, breath and heartbeat slowly normalizing as the sweat on his skin dries. The waves of his tormented chakra ebb away, until the cloying scent of fear turns stale and cold. It is only broken by the salty smell of tears trickling into the pillow.
Kisame returns his gaze to the window. Tonight was a fairly harmless episode. Itachi didn't damage anything; neither did he wake up half the town. It was brief, too, barely five minutes when it could have lasted thirty minutes.
He doesn't think that Itachi ever wakes up during those night terrors. He also doesn't think that Itachi remembers them. Then again, Itachi is a consummate actor. Kisame wouldn't put it past him to feign ignorance. But as long as those episodes don't happen out in the field or endanger their current mission, Kisame won't confront his partner about them. Every ninja is entitled to their own personal demons.
Behind him, Itachi's motionless form heaves a nearly inaudible sigh. Then everything is quiet again. Not even the sheets rustle as the tears dry slowly.
