Ch. 11 – Nightmares

"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."

Edgar Allan Poe

Sasuke ducked under a powerful kick from Yoruichi. He slid on his knees and quickly rose to defend with his outstretched arms. The impact of the second kick brought Sasuke back down onto one knee but his stance didn't falter. Pushing back, he thrust with both arms but she simply glided through the air and landed gracefully a few feet away.

So far they'd been training for a majority of the day but it felt like they'd only just begun. With her speed far exceeding his own, his luck with catching her attacks was starting to grow thin. He'd already been punched in the face twice and taken a direct kick to the back.

Sasuke had gotten a few lucky shots in as well. He timed a perfect kick that she was forced to block or risk serious injury and of course she blocked him, but that didn't stop Sasuke from bragging on the inside about it.

Kisuke Urahara stood off to the side enjoying the battle in its full. Sasuke was sure he was enjoying this more than the tiny smirk was conveying. At first this training had been exciting for Sasuke, not that he'd ever show it, but now it just seemed like he was here for their amusement.

"Keep going, Sasuke, I believe in you!" The voice came from Orihime, who'd just climbed down the ladder and was yelling out to him.

A sharp kick hit Sasuke square in the jaw and sent him flying into a small rock formation.

"You should keep your eyes on me, never let them leave your opponent, keep that in mind." Yoruichi smirked as she crossed her arms.

Sasuke stood and brushed the rocks from his clothes.

"Oh sorry, Sasuke, I didn't mean to distract you." Orihime said.

A sigh escaped his lips as he looked her way before turning back to Yoruichi. "So what exactly are you trying to teach me?"

Yoruichi smirked. "Come on, kid. Isn't it obvious yet?"

Clearly not, as he didn't understand why throwing a kick was good for training. His reaction time to each attack wasn't getting better either, more like it was on a decline with his wavering energy. Though the fighting was still good for exercise and getting him used to fighting with someone who relied heavily on speed, but it wasn't training him in anything specific. Plus based entirely on his last battle with the two random thugs that blew up the building he'd been on a date inside, he could say that he was definitely faster than they were.

So speed training shouldn't be his first priority, or maybe it was to make him faster, so he could use his speed to his advantage.

"I still don't get it. But I'm not one to back down from a challenge."

"Good to hear," Yoruichi said. "But we really should take a break, we've been at this for hours now, and I'm getting tired."

Sasuke's guard dropped, and soon, so did his body. He lay on the ground and just stared up until he saw Orihime rushing over to his side.

"Are you hurt do you need healing?" she asked.

Sasuke waved his hand. "I'm fine. Just a little tired. I heard about what happened to Rukia, is she okay?"

Orihime blushed. "Oh, she's fine. Nothing to worry about, I think she just woke up actually. Ichigo was with her the whole time."

A smile crossed her face, not a strong smile, but a pretty one nonetheless. Sasuke thought he would smile back, somehow she reminded him of a girl he once knew, but he couldn't place why.

"Sasuke, you put up one heck of a fight, but you really shouldn't overdo it. You never know when you might need your strength for a fight." Urahara said as he crouched near Sasuke.

"Thanks for that advice," Sasuke said as he sat up. These training sessions were going to be the end of him, and if they didn't finish him off, then having to listen to Urahara's riddles and jokes might do the job.

The Uchiha household was silent save for the TV on in the living room. Isami sat on the couch watching cartoons with her head resting on the palm of her hand. She couldn't be more bored if she wanted to be. She tried seeing if Tatsuki was busy and she was. She went to a fighting tournament thingy, and that sounded about right.

The truth was that Isami was worried about Sasuke. He was supposed to be at the house with her right now, it was Sunday after all. But no he was off with his friends, or at least she thought he was. He could be off doing anything, but he would never lie to her, would he?

Not unless her safety was involved. Which it very well could be with how well she was informed these days, and that bothered her a lot. But not as much as Hinata being here did, especially since they were supposed to keep the contacts from the old world to a minimum. She guessed it wasn't a big deal though, not in the end, and as long as they could keep their goal in mind.

The doorbell rang and shook Isami from her thoughts. Who could it be? That was the question she was asking herself as she got up and walked towards the door. She swept the immediate area with her senses and felt no danger in the vicinity.

She opened the door to a smiling Hinata. "What are you doing here?"

"Sasuke's not around is he?" Hinata asked as she walked into the house.

"Clearly not or you wouldn't be walking in here right now, you know he's not allowed to see you right?"

Hinata touched the tips of her fingers together before speaking. "I know, but I just wanted to see how you're doing. There's a lot going on back home so I just needed to make sure you were alright."

That was kind of her, but also would be bad if Sasuke were to see her. It could trigger his memories, and with his headaches, it was already hard to keep Sasuke from forcing old thoughts and habits. His willpower was far stronger than anyone could imagine.

"I'm fine, Hinata. Thanks for worrying, but you should go, I think Sasuke will be here soon."

Hinata bowed as she made her way to the door. "Sorry I didn't mean to intrude."

"Wait," Isami grabbed Hinata's shoulder. "This has been pretty hard on all of us. You and Naruto the most, I can tell. But you need to remember that this is for his good."

Hinata nodded with a smile and then left the house. Isami stood in front of the closed door. For the first time the idea of how everyone else must feel about the sudden change of events and even the trust they gave her to carry out this mission. It was all dawning on her. The faces of those they left behind, the change was too strong, and she felt like she should cry for everyone trying to be strong.

Why hadn't she cried? It wasn't like she lost anything, not really, and especially not if she kept walking the path she'd chosen. If this worked then the world could go back to the way it should be. They could never go home, but at least life would feel right.

Isami sauntered over to the fridge, pulled out a water bottle, and headed back into the living room to finish her cartoons. It felt kind of wrong to just sit around the house and enjoy the TV. It felt like she could be off doing something productive, like Hinata, but what could she really do. The soul reapers were doing their own thing, so was Sasuke, and the ninja world had no choice but to sit back too. That helpless feeling that she could feel at that moment must have been what they've been feeling this whole time.

"Hey, I'm home," Sasuke's voice rang out from the kitchen, quickly followed by a slam of the door.

She could get up and greet him but that seemed like it would be slightly out of character for her to do. "Did you have fun today?"

"Yeah, lots of fun," Sasuke said, "So what did you do today? Don't tell me you spent the whole day watching cartoons."

"And what if I did say that? We used to watch them when we were little, don't you remember?" Isami moved over so Sasuke could sit next to her. She looked over and finally noticed a tiny scrape on his chin.

"Yeah," he said.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

The conversation was left at that as the TV soon drowned out anything they could say. The sound of Scooby Doo and Shaggy running from ghosts was enough to keep their attentions.

Drip, drip, drip, where was that sound coming from? The sound continued and Sasuke could do nothing but listen. He sat in a room, far too dark for him to see anything, and looked forward. His body was frozen in place, and soon he realized he wasn't actually sitting, but standing, more like crouching, in the corner of the room.

Something about this situation felt too familiar. Like déjà vu but to an extreme, and that feeling never left him, not even as his eyes began to adjust to the dark. If anything his sight further fueled the feeling and left him feelings lost but also like he was home. Not like he'd ever lived in a Japanese style house before, not that he could remember ever living in one. His family's last few houses were all western style, but still the feeling of home didn't leave him, not until the pain in his chest started.

It didn't feel like his home at all, more like a prison, somewhere he couldn't escape. Soon his feet began to move without his consent. He began walking down the dark corridor and into another room. It was just as dark but he could still make out the lone silhouette of a man standing in the center of the room. Hanging in his hand, it took Sasuke a second to recognize, was a sword and red liquid dripped from the blade.

That explained the dripping sound. Sasuke followed the dripping blood to two crumpled bodies on the ground. For the first time Sasuke felt it, something more than pain, more than fear, and it took him a second to realize what he was feeling. The bodies belonged to his parents, the ones he lived happily with, but there they were in a heap on the floor.

Sasuke felt his hatred, something he'd never felt before, and it was all aimed at this one man standing before him. Looking away, as it was the only thing Sasuke's body would allow him to do, he saw unfamiliar clothing on him and the family symbol on his shirt. Not only were the clothes foreign to him, but he was also no longer a teenager, but instead a younger version of himself.

He let out a small cry and fell to his knees. Sasuke lost all the control over his body once again, and before he knew it, he was running at the man standing before him. With a shrill scream of a name he couldn't hear, the man simply knocked him aside, and disappeared from view.

Sasuke cried over his parents dead bodies before running outside. The man was walking out of the area that he'd once called home, but did he ever really live here? Once he caught up to him, and with a little help from the light of the moon, he could make out the features of the man. He looked… a lot like him, but older, and like he'd had a stressful childhood. He looked more like his father and that seemed to increase the rage growing in his pained chest.

"Itachi, wait!"

Itachi, but who was that? The name that had been previously unheard was now ringing bells loud in his head, but he couldn't focus at that moment. His mind was too busy dealing with the strong feelings of hatred and pain focused into a ball in his chest.

When the man turned to look at him again there were tears running down his cheeks. His eyes Sasuke noticed had a strange symbol in the center of them. They seemed to jog his memory for a moment before Itachi turned and the world went black.

Sasuke stared into the blackness of the void he was currently floating around. That man, Itachi, felt too close to be just some random person from his dreams. He must have been an important person in his life, but when? He searched his memory but came up empty.

If he could just remember the face and name when he awoke then maybe he could try and find answers then. He floated about the void as he pondered how he would wake himself.

Soon the scene changed again and this time he stood among the ruins of a giant structure. He looked down and found that he was injured and shirtless but that wasn't his immediate worry as before him stood a hulking orange creature and in the center of it stood Itachi. The two seemed to move at the same time and Sasuke found himself backing away as the orange creature dispersed and left just Itachi walking towards him.

He felt that fear again, but not the same fear, this time it felt like he was doomed to remember these next few moments for the rest of his life. Sasuke couldn't turn, only back away, until his back came in contact with something hard, a wall.

The man that had slaughtered his parents now was going to do him in. This dream felt more real than any of the other nightmares he'd become accustomed to by now. This wasn't a dream, a past life maybe, if he believed in that sort of thing.

Itachi was too close and Sasuke's heart stopped as his hand began to reach for him. Itachi tapped Sasuke's forehead with two bloody fingers.

"Sorry, Sasuke," he stopped and smiled. "But this is it."

Itachi fell, smearing Sasuke on the way down with his blood, the blood of someone Sasuke, only a moment ago, hated. An intense sensation soon replaced the fear, two to be more exact. Regret and loneliness, and Sasuke couldn't place the feelings.

The world swam around him until he jerked out of bed. Grasping for breath and wiping the sweat from his brow, he rushed over to his bathroom. The sick feeling in his gut didn't induce any vomit, so he walked over to the sink, and splashed the coldest water possible onto his face. The dreams were over.

Sasuke stared into the mirror for a second before falling back over a pile of clothes he'd left on the floor earlier. The sight of what he saw scared him. He ventured another look into the mirror and his eyes weren't deceiving him, not this time, and that was a strange and scary thought.

Staring back at Sasuke were the eyes of the man he'd just seen in his dream. But they were his eyes, not Itachi's, but his own. They were red and glaring with an intensity he didn't know he was capable of. His vision became blurry and he feared he would pass out on his bathroom floor. He staggered over to his bed before falling face first into the covers and falling into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning he didn't wake up to a headache, nor did he have a heavy feeling in his chest. It felt like almost every other morning before it. The sun broke through the curtains he'd put up and left a line of light going across his face. He reached over to the side of his bed and found his cell phone.

It wasn't even seven yet but the sun had woken him. He couldn't go back to sleep now. Sasuke pushed up from his bed and made his way to the bathroom, curious to see if his eyes were still red. To his surprise they were no longer in that strange symbol. He felt his forehead for any sign that the whole thing had been a dream. It wasn't like checking his temperature was going to make everything that happened seem like a dream.

Sasuke stared into the mirror again. He stared for a long time, and didn't move from his own gaze. It felt too real to have been just a dream or hallucination. A reflexive muscle kicked in and soon Sasuke's eyes swirled with red.

It wasn't just a dream. His eyes were now the same blood red of the man in his dream. He didn't quite understand it, and how could he? It was too unreal. The whole night was unreal, and it apparently had an after effect.

Sasuke grabbed some clothes, threw them on, and rushed for the door. He had to see Urahara about this.

A rustling sound that came from the kitchen pulled Isami from her sleep. She had an interesting dream, but she couldn't remember it for the life of her. It was kind of ironic how memories were slipping by her now. She grabbed some clothes and headed downstairs.

After talking to Hinata for that short period yesterday it gave her a new perspective on the mission. She hadn't thought much of it but now she could see how it was starting to affect the others. They were strong, stronger than her, even with her special abilities.

They could endure not knowing whether this whole situation would even work. She couldn't put herself in their shoes, it would only make her feel the guilt, and at least she didn't inherit the hate that was so strong in the Uchiha. Especially in her father, and the path he'd chosen.

A pan flew from the kitchen and landed on the stairwell. What could be happening in there? She peaked around the corner and saw two people she was hoping not to see ever again.

"Hey, Isami, we've got to stop meeting like this."

Isami turned at the familiar sound of Lance's voice. She raised her hand but he knocked her out with a solid punch and she fell to the floor.

"Did I overdo it again?" Lance said with a smile.

"You did fine," Mason said as he walked over to her. "Ivan, carry her, we're going to be making a visit to Sasuke now. No more waiting."

Ivan picked up Isami and slung her over his shoulder.

"Gotcha, boss."