Sleeping Dogs C16

We walk through the Village gates and Sasuke immediately steers right, to the Uchiha district. Gai-sensei steps in front of him and blocks his path, "Your injuries need to be attended to. We must continue to the hospital."

Streaks of blood run from his scalp to his chin, the crimson remains of where his bangs used to hang. A deep purple bruise lines his jaw, his gait awkward and breathing hitched. The right side of my hoodie is sodden with blood, something squelching whenever I move my arm. I still can't open my left eye properly, my teeth chattering as a bolt of pain shoots across my face. The pace back to the Village had been slow, Gai-sensei forcing us to take every slow, shuddering step.

Sasuke tries to walk past Gai-sensei, but is caught around the waist as a bulky arm wraps around my shoulders, with a coarse brush of chakra we appear in the hospital. White-gowned medics surround us, hands glowing pale green as their chakra prods and probes at our systems. They try to separate us, but Gai-sensei clears his throat and announces that we should be treated in the same room.

A steel-haired medic with jam jar glasses appears, he presses his fingers around my left eye and sucks his teeth, "Oblique, rectus, levator palpebrae, trochlea - There isn't an ocular muscle you haven't torn." His chakra slips through my skin, threading around my eyeball and tugging it back and forth.

Another medic cuts the seams of Sakura's hoodie, stripping off the sodden fabric in parts. My T-shirt has ridden up revealing mottled red-purple skin and some white ceramic shard is sticking out where my collarbone should be, oh. The jam-jar medic jerks my chin up and I meet Sasuke's gaze, his expression blank. A medic is healing the open wounds on his scalp, whilst a male medic is peering under the sheets and examining him.

"Kaori!" Sakura's shocked voice comes from the doorway. She hurries in and then halts, hands flying to her mouth, "Sa-Sasuke-kun! What, what happened?" Her expression hardens, pale green chakra coating her hands as she wedges herself between the attending medics. "Have you threaded his scalp to prevent follicle damage?" She asks, the medic shakes her head and Sakura purses her lips, tapping her fingers against Sasuke's forehead.

The jam-jar medic bandages my face, swaddling up thick padding over my left eye. "This eye is out of bounds. Do you understand me?" He says, leaning in and shouting into my bandaged ear, "I have re-sewn the muscle fibres, but stitches won't hold under the load of the byakugan. You need to leave this eye to rest and recover." The other medic lifts my arm and manoeuvres it into a sling. The jam-jar medic peers at me over the rim of his glasses, "Do not make it a habit to keep straining your eyes. Surely your clan can give you some proper training."

I grit my teeth and stare at the wall.

Gai-sensei steps in and escorts the medic out of the room, "Thank you, Doctor. I'm sure Kaori will master the byakugan's secrets in her continued exploits of youth-". They step out into the hallway and disappear around the corner, Gai-sensei stooping to talk to the shuffling old medic. The other medics file out of the room, apart from Sakura who remains fiddling and adjusting Sasuke's hair.

I slide off the bed and head to the window, a jūken arrow slicking out of my palm.

"Kaori!" Sakura shouts, "You haven't been discharged, you can't-" her words cut off as Sasuke shoves past her. I jam the arrow head into the lock and break the latch, a pale hand intercepts mine and opens the awning. We climb over the ledge and drop down into the courtyard, I turn right and break into a run.

I don't make it far from the hospital before my body starts to ache, cramps locking up my muscles. I slow to a walk, but keep moving, following a meandering path into the forest and along the borders of the training fields. I walk on autopilot, completely oblivious to where I am going. At certain points it feels as if the ground swells beneath me, my chakra humming in my chest as I feel a great rush of energy and then the feeling plummets away, disappearing in another bend through the forest, a cold quiet feeling overcoming me.

I continue following this path, gaze lowered to my feet and unaware of what is ahead of me until a vicious snarl cuts across me, "How dare you come here." I look up and see Sasuke standing on the veranda of a house, set back along a stone path with faded red and white fans nailed into the walls. His sharingan spins, expression contorted into sharp lines and slashes. A distant part of my mind warns me to draw a weapon, to retreat, to defend myself against an imminent threat, but I sense the path curving to the side and I follow that instead, walking along the side of the house and feeling the warm swell of energy as the path rises up to greet me.

"Kaori." Sasuke snaps, half-warning, half-threat.

I keep walking, circling a pond and following another meandering bend.

"Kaori." Sasuke snarls, fiery chakra brushing against me like a forest fire.

Up ahead, the path skips and surfs around. I dash forwards, drawn in by the playful energy. Fast footsteps follow mine, hot curls of chakra licking against my neck. I turn and there's Sasuke, chasing me with a half-crazed look in his eye. I run faster, sprinting along the path. A huge firebush with thick roots that have cracked through the rock to drink directly from the source, creating a small gap, just large enough for a child to slip inside. An iron vice clamps down on my arm and yanks me back, sharingan eyes bore into mine, burning with anger, pain, desperation and regret. His mouth twitches between a grimace and a sneer, his right hand crushing my wrist as his scarred left shakes at his side. He's conflicted. I'm not.

I dig in my heels and haul him forwards, through the small gap between the roots and plunging down deep into the earth. The river catches us in a welcoming embrace, lifting us over the rocks and around the bend. The strong current bounces up and down, rocking us like babes. I blow out an air bubble and relax into the water, when fingers tremble on my wrist and I look back to see Sasuke's wide-eyed ghostly face. I flex my fingers and thread out an air bubble, floating it over to latch onto his mouth. His chest heaves in a deep breath and his grip relaxes a degree, but he doesn't release my wrist as we continue to sweep through the water. The river tugs on my sling and then rips it away. I stretch out my arm and the current circles around it, cold water soothing the aching muscles.

We meander around a bend and the river bed dips, the water rushing down an incline before hard rock gives way to a plain of loose silt and the singular current disperses into dozens, threads of water interweaving one another in a great big basin. We float upwards, towards the light dancing in the shallow waters, wooden beams wrapped in algae drifting past us until we surface in the centre of the Uchiha lake. I disperse my chakra, our air bubbles popping and blue light fading into the water. Sasuke clambers to the surface and looks around wildly, relaxing when he takes in the pier, the grassy bank and the backdrop of the Uchiha district. I sit on the surface, basking in the warm sun and admiring the weaving currents of the lake.

"I always thought this was a closed lake, fed by rain. But no, an underground river. Completely different system to the Konoha main river, it runs parallel," I explain, casting out my chakra and letting it drift through the water, feeling the threads flow through the lake, east to west, "And there's a tributary feeding off of this lake underground. I wonder where it surfaces…"

Sasuke kicks the surface, splashing me with water, "You dragged me underwater for that. To see how the lake worked. You're such a child."

I bristle and lurch to my feet, "As opposed to what, fight? Wanna kick the shit out of each other again?"

Sasuke sneers, gaze flickering between my right eye and my bandaged left, he winces and looks away.

He circles me, staring at his reflection in the lake. "I don't have time for this. If that man has an illness, if he's already dying… I need to… I have to become stronger. To finish him myself. I have to take my revenge. I need that power now," He says, voice deep and rigid with anger. He grips his left arm and raises it to his chest, sparks crackling between his fingers, he turns slowly and meets my gaze.

His sharingan spins and eclipses my right eye, the scarlet edges fading to black as the tomoe spin and spin, my right eye drooping as I sway backwards. When the tomoe spill into one, a dark pit opening up into the ground. A zombie crawls out of it, covered in earth and staggering to their feet. A shard of bone is sticking out of their leg and blood is gushing from a gaping head wound, they start hobbling forwards, breaking into a drunken run and gargling strange sounds. Then the zombie is laid on a bed, they're surprisingly small, barely half the length of the bed and they're speaking in a slurred voice, they slump backwards and blood spreads across the pillow. The picture tilts and there's a girl with blank iridescent eyes, veins are bulging out at the temples and her jaws are wrenched open in a silent scream. The same girl freezing on the spot and turning back to look at something. The girl stood in an alleyway, a kunai slashing towards her throat. Black tomoe spin and merge into one fanged sharingan eye. The sky bleeds red with black clouds and there's a full moon, casting spotlight on the bodies littering the streets. A woman on her back, a man strewn over her, Itachi with a sword stood over them. The picture shimmers and breaks into blue. A small child, stick thin with tawny skin, an upturned nose and large violet eyes, sat on the end of a pier and rolling a ball of water between her hands. The little girl smiles and crinkles her nose, tiny waves lapping in her palms. A girl's body under the waves, drifting lifeless.

The image shatters and Sasuke folds over, reflexively I extend my chakra raft and he kneels on the surface, clutching at his chest as his breath comes in hoarse, ragged gasps. He falls to his side and starts trembling, shaking violently. I cast around for help and see the pier, my chakra raft stirring up a current and surfing us across the lake towards it. We reach the pier and I channel my chakra downwards, lifting the water up on a sloping platform to slide us down onto the deck. Sasuke hunches on his knees, hands clawing at his chest as he sucks in short, rasping breaths.

"C'mon. Sit up," I say, tugging on his arm. His arm buckles and he goes limp with dead weight. I hook him around the waist and force him to sit upwards. His head rolls on his chest so I jerk his chin up. "Count up in prime numbers." I say, remembering an old piece of advice my lifeguarding instructor had given me, "2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19…"

Sasuke stares at me vacantly, until I grip his chin and repeat the numbers. He blinks slowly and rasps out, "2…"

"3," I continue.

"5… 7… 11.. 13.. 17, 19, 23," He says, breathing steadying as he continues the count himself, "29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 101." He stops and falls silent.

He pulls my hand away from his chin. "I can't," He says, staring at the hand gripping my wrist, "That's… I can't obtain that power. I can't defeat him…"

"What power?" I say, even as the image of a fanged shuriken forms in my mind, "Itachi's sharingan…"

"The Mangekyou," Sasuke murmurs, thumb tracing over the raised lines of my jellyfish scar. He tightens his grip on my wrist. "I can't," he says, "I won't. I won't obtain that power. I won't fulfil the requirement."

"What requirement?" I say, leaning forwards to meet his onyx eyes.

Sasuke clenches his jaw and for a long while doesn't speak. I nudge him in the side and he studies my face, before looking away at the lake. "You have to kill your closest friend." He says.

I stare at him, the words taking a moment to compute in my mind. Finally they slot into place and echo back to me, kill your closest friend.

I squint at him, "That's very specific. I mean, really specific. To evolve a kekkai genkai, why would that require a human sacrifice?" I rub the underside of my eye, "You can't establish an ability that's not already there. So why would killing a friend unlock that ability?"

Sasuke shifts beside me. "I mean, Itachi could have just made that up. Crazy people say crazy shit. But then those coils…" I continue, thinking aloud.

"Coils?" Sasuke repeats in a hoarse voice.

"Itachi had these chakra coils at the back of his eye, that he drew chakra from when he activated his mangekyou sharingan," I explain, tapping my temple, "Except they were ingrowing into his optic nerve, destroying the tissue."

Sasuke's hand flexes on my wrist, "That's why you said he was half-blind."

A thought occurs to me. I trace my right eye and channel chakra to the lens, activating my byakugan and peering into his skull. I adjust my scope to scan through the layers of brain tissue. "There," I say, tapping the centre of his head, "A cluster of inactive chakra coils at the base of your optic nerve. That's your mangekyou hardware."

Sasuke's hand brushes my finger, "My mangekyou…"

I deactivate my byakugan, "They look like Itachi's. His coils had grown out, but they weren't properly developed."

"Developed? What do you mean?" Sasuke presses.

"He was using them, but they weren't mature coils. They were juvenile chakra coils. That's why they were so ingrown and damaged, it's like getting a toddler to perform chidori," I explain.

Sasuke considers this, "If his mangekyou coils are juvenile. Then the requirement is false, He got it wrong."

"The specific requirement is wrong. But I mean, he did something. Killing his best friend… That sort of hot-wired the process I guess, maybe like a survival mechanism?" I say, turning the idea over in my head.

Sasuke stands and looks over the lake, "He was wrong. The power of the mangekyou, he got it wrong." He looks up at a fan-tailed kite gliding in a circle above us, surfing a hot current of air. "I'll follow my own path to power. And I will take my revenge." He announces, again with that deep serious voice, more suited to an adult than a child.

He turns back and looks at me, "I would never have known He was wrong if you hadn't…" There's a silent apology in his eyes, but there's nothing I need to forgive.

"Sometimes your thoughts can become trapped by events and it can become difficult to analyse things from a different perspective," I say, remembering the image of a blood red sky, bodies littering the streets, a woman on her back and a man atop of her, Itachi stood over them with a sword.

I know Sasuke had considered killing me, I had felt the murderous intent and seen the pain, grief and madness in his eyes. He was trapped and desperate for the one solution he thought might work, but then he had collapsed, physically rejecting the idea. Even then, he couldn't do it. And that's what mattered.

I look over my shoulder at the ghost town of the Uchiha district, "I can't imagine what it must be like for you. I don't think anyone can." I turn back and meet his dark gaze, "I can't understand all of it, but I want to help you in the ways that I can."

The sharp lines of his face soften, he watches me for a moment and then crouches down, reaching forwards and stroking my chin.

I swat his hand away, "I'm not a stray cat. You freak."

Sasuke blushes and grumbles, standing from his crouch.

I roll over onto my stomach and shuffle to the edge of the pier, dipping my hand into the water and casting out my chakra, the fine threads following the current and flowing to the western bank. I activate my right byakugan and scan over the far bank, discovering a narrow tributary running off parallel to the lake underground.

"Your eye…" Sasuke begins.

I deactivate my byakugan and sit up, "It'll be fine. Wear and tear, it's happened before."

Sasuke steps closer, studying me from above. I look up and his eyes are locked on my headscarf, "I remember once… Father said the Hyuuga protect their eyes. I didn't understand what he meant by that."

I grit my teeth and my chakra coils, waves rippling through the lake. Protect? This didn't protect anything.

Sasuke glances at the lake and then back to me, something sharpening in his gaze, "It's a seal. I saw with my sharingan, there's chakra running through it."

I jerk upwards, marching onto the lake.

Footsteps splash behind mine as Sasuke follows, "Back to chasing rivers?"

"Shut Up." I snap, tone tense in warning.

He blows the final fuse, "Hinata doesn't have a seal."

My chakra flares and the lake erupts, a giant dragon's head morphing out of the water and lunging at Sasuke. His sharingan flicks on as he turns to face the water beast, hands drawing into the horse sign, but then something in me gives out, the line snaps and my dragon dissipates in a shower of rain.

I turn away and step off the lake, taking a deep breath and aligning my senses. I detect the faint energy of the tributary flowing underground and follow it, tracking the stream through the forest as it trickles through the bedrock.

Sasuke stalks after me, "Poison ivy doesn't scar."

"Bad reaction," I repeat.

He grabs my arm and pulls me back, holding up my scarred hand between us. A dark anger burns in his eyes, matching the ferocity from earlier, "Did They punish you?"

I blink, bemused, "No."

Sasuke's grip tightens, "Kaori."

"It was a jellyfish," I say.

Sasuke frowns, "What?"

"I went swimming in the sea and got stung by a jellyfish. The Clan had nothing to do with it," I say and tug on my wrist. Sasuke frowns, still holding my arm hostage. I spark my chakra and his hand spasms, releasing my wrist. I continue on the path.

Sasuke strides beside me, "At the Academy, I remember how Hinata's handler used to look at you. That you always had to go back to the Hyuuga Estate at a certain time. And Sensei and I have discussed your lack of training with the byakugan."

I grit my teeth, "What else do you talk about? Knitting patterns?"

Sasuke leans in, "I know the Hyuuga Clan head gave permission for your leg to be amputated-"

Bile rises in my throat and I wretch, folding over as a slew of brown vomit with chunks of half-digested strawberry splatters onto the forest floor. I sway and nearly tumble into it, when an arm wraps around my waist and lifts me away. "Sensei stopped them," Sasuke says and there's a flicker of guilt in his eyes. I shove him away and fumble through my weapons pouch, unsealing my canteen and washing my mouth out.

"They treat you differently," Sasuke says.

I sip more water and spit, "I'm the half-blood bastard. What do you expect?"

Sasuke frowns, "It's more than that."

I chuck the canteen at his head and he dodges, the metal flask clattering against a tree and spilling onto the ground. My body aches and I slump down, leaning back against a tree and drawing my knees up to my chest.

Sasuke crouches in front of me, "Will you be punished for talking about it? The seal?"

My mouth twitches in a humourless smile, "Hardly. The Hyuuga's practices are common knowledge. Even Haku knew about it."

Sasuke shifts and then sits down, "Your cousin. When he's around Hinata, I've seen the look in his eyes. I know that look."

I look up at the clouds, "He doesn't hide it very well, does he?"

The sky darkens, the clouds merging into the wooden panels of my bedroom. I'm watching through the walls a spar between Neji and the heiress. She flinches at every strike, Neji batting her around like a cat playing with a mouse. She flops to the floor and something vicious crosses Neji's face, his fingers dart towards her neck. Hiashi-sama raises his hand and Neji ScReAmS, clutching at his head and clawing at his eyes, he froths at the mouth and urinates. I deactivate my byakugan and crawl under the bed, pulling down the pillow and shoving it over my face. "2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19…", counting up in English and willing myself to believe I'm in another world.

A sharingan eclipses my eye, tomoe spinning and drawing the forest back into view. "Kaori! Kaori!" Sasuke's face hovering before mine, pressure on my shoulders. I slowly come back to myself, focusing on the hum of my chakra and using it as an anchor.

"Kaori-" Sasuke starts, sharingan studying my headscarf.

I knee him in the chest and grip onto the tree, hauling myself up. I stumble over and collect my canteen, "I've got to water Naruto's plants."

I storm out of the forest and cross the lake, flinching when there is a sudden burst of light above me. I look up and see the eerie white glow of a streetlamp, when had night fallen? A warm hand brushes my wrist and gently pulls me away, steering us through the streets and up the stairs to Naruto's apartment.

The front door's still wide open and the balcony door hangs at an odd angle, snapped off one of its hinges. I collect the watering can and pour away the contents, refilling the water and spooning in the plant food. Sasuke hovers at the front door and then closes it quietly. He crosses the room and draws a kunai, using it to unscrew the balcony door from its hinges entirely. I wander around the room and water the drooping plants, as Sasuke threads some ninja wire through the hinges and rehangs the balcony door.

I finish watering the plants and look around for something to do. "Dinner," Sasuke says, locking the balcony door. I nod and turn to the cupboards, finding stacks and stacks of instant ramen. "Idiot," Sasuke mutters, retrieving a packet.

"No wait, I can…" I say and bite my thumb to draw blood. I perform the signs and press my hand down onto the table, chakra-ink formula spiralling out. Ukemochi, could I bother you for a free dinner? My spiritual chakra rings the message through the summoning portal, there's a two minute pause and then a huge puff of pink smoke as the table is laden down with kelp noodles, grilled squid, filleted salmon, shucked oysters, chopped eel, boiled lobsters and a couple of cracked crabs that appear to have been recently bashed in by a rock. I sit at the table and start picking at the kelp noodles.

Sasuke scans over the seafood feast, "You signed a summoning contract?"

"Yeah," I say and slurp up some noodles, "Otters."

"Otters?" Sasuke repeats. He blinks, something dawning in his expression, "The Land of Waves. I remember there were lots of them hanging around the bay." He chucks the ramen packet onto the side and sits at the table. "I thought it was mating season," He murmurs in quiet afterthought.

I snort into my bowl and Sasuke glares, "Hn."

He picks up a squid skewer, "The jellyfish sting, did you visit their realm?"

"Yeah. I had to complete some challenges before they'd let me sign the contract," I say.

Sasuke considers this, "The last D-rank mission… Ino filed the report alone. She made up that stupid story so Naruto wouldn't pester her about where you were." He smirks, a glimmer of respect in his eyes.

"Yeah, she covered for me. The otters showed up not long after you guys bailed." I stir my noodles, "You can't tell anyone about the contract. I don't know how well documented the otters are, but they've been around a long time. And their speciality is fuinjutsu."

I look up and am caught off-guard by the sheer relief in Sasuke's expression, he sits back and a tension that has been hanging in the air since the forest finally releases. He twirls his squid skewer and smiles at it pleased.

I pick up a lobster and crack the shell, "Otters, toads, dogs. It's rather lame that you don't have a contract."

Sasuke nods, "I've been considering it myself."

I chuck the lobster tail at him, "Though really, what animal would have you?"

Sasuke pelts a piece of eel at me, I manoeuvre and catch it in my mouth. He shakes his head and snorts, "Dork."