I have nothing else to do during this quarantine period. I'm just "social distancing" with this story, I guess. Entertain me by commenting your favorite jokes and/or constructive criticism/what you think? :)
It starts like a dream. He always struggles to remember where he is when he first wakes up- or maybe he keeps reality at bay on purpose-sifting through past memories and lifetimes until he finally lands on the present time and location.
Is he at home, in Konoha, waking to Sasuke's eager hands shaking him? No. That's long gone. Did he oversleep and now is late for an Anbu mission? No. You haven't been in the Anbu for over six years. Is he on the cold forest floor, to sleep away the cough that just kept getting worse, with Kisame as a look out-
This is the point his memory always betrays his reality and he awakes, disappointed, covered in red clouds rather than a red fan. Today should be no different.
Wait. When was the last time I saw Kisame...?
"BORUTO!"
However, today is different. The present just won't present itself.
"BORUTO! WAKE UP!"
His mind isn't syncing and it won't lift the cloud of sleep that always fades by now; for some reason he can't settle on his last memory. Academy, Anbu, Akatsuki all swirl together until he can't recall the actual timeline. Was the Akatsuki before or after he left Konoha…? Because I feel like I just kissed my mother goodbye before an Anbu mission.
When did I last see my mother? The more he tries to sink into the memory the fuzzier it becomes. His mother's face is now just sand that sifts through his fingers the more he desperately tries to hold onto it; the harder he focuses on one, the less he remembers. Wait, do I have a mother? Where is she?
No. The Akatsuki. That's it. But where am I supposed to be…?
"BORUTO! WAKE UP!"
But Sasuke. Where is Sasuke? The memories of Sasuke feel especially ancient and crumbling. I wouldn't leave Sasuke. A small boy, wild grin, staring up at him in awe flashes across his mind. ...But didn't I just see Sasuke? A tall, grimacing boy slashes away the first memory with a sword and takes his place. I just saw Sasuke… Where did I see Sasuke...
"BORUTO!"
Right. It's piecing together now. He just saw Sasuke most recently. But why? The fog clouds the onset of the memory but the fringes are there, singed by fire, but there. Sasuke. He was in front of me- Where's Kisame? Where's my dad?- No, focus. Sasuke was there. He wanted something. What did he want?
"I NEED A MEDICAL NIN. BORUTO!"
He wanted to fight me… but why? Why can't I remember… FOCUS. Sasuke's face looms menacingly, in and out of focus. Wait. Didn't we fight… didn't I let him win… Ashes of memory float down from the sky and freeze on his brain.
Wait. WAIT. Aren't I-
"-DEAD. BORUTO IS DEAD."
In that moment Itachi felt his consciousness collide with the ground; the lifetimes and memories knocked into each other and breath into him again. His senses popped to life one by one: first, the muffled voice screaming names he didn't know that grew louder with each second until his ears rang from the shrill screeching; second, the frozen earth rising into his back and the deep ache in his lungs as he took the deepest breath that he was sure ballooned him like a cartoon character; third, thick, warm copper filling his mouth, choking him; fourth, smoke swirling around in his nostrils that he recognized immediately as the smell of paper bombs; fifth-
He opened his eyes. Two red eyes, shiny from tears and inches from his face, stared back at him. Red eyes. Red eyes. The sharingan?
He tried to pull away in shock to get a better look, but the girl they belonged to turned her head. "BORUTO IS ALIVE! Please, anyone, please!" she yelled into the darkness then lowered her voice as she gripped his body tighter. "Boruto, don't move. I think you broke your back, so you need to stay still. Help will be here soon."
Itachi suddenly noticed the explosion of pain in his back and didn't say anything. He laid in this strange girl's arms, pain radiating through his body, and let the situation soak in naturally. He was always a contemplator, a thinker: now would be the best time to piece together what happened since he couldn't move anyway. From what Itachi's mind, quickly calculating now, could gather of his surroundings was that he was in the middle of some sort of battle and something clearly knocked him out.
But he was supposed to be dead, that he was sure of: those memories came flooding back as soon as he hit the ground. So how could he be here now, in the shadow of the forest, taking deep breaths, trying to steady his pain? He couldn't be reanimated again- he didn't have pain as a reanimated corpse. Plus, how was it possible that the last eyes he saw belonged to his brother but he awoke to the same ones on a girl? Sasuke was last with the sharingan. Who was this girl?
"The enemy is retreating!" A second person emerged from the shadows panting. His eyes immediately narrowed in on Itachi and he grimaced. "Fuck, Boruto, you're in bad shape. We have to get him back immediately."
Boruto. They kept calling him that.
"Who…Boruto...?" he sputtered. Blood trickled from his mouth and down the back of his throat as he talked, effectively choking him and stopping him from finishing his thought.
The girl and boy exchanged worried glances at each other. "I think we need your mom."
"I agree, but how are we going to get him out without hurting him more?"
The boy turned his head to face the darkness that continually seeped in through the trees and threatened to swallow them if not for the sliver of moonlight peeking through the leaves. "Both of your dads went up ahead, but they should be coming back soon. Hopefully."
Both stopped talking for a moment as if to listen for any sounds of life in the shadows but only the soft whisper of the wind responded. "And if not…?" she asked after a pregnant moment.
"We have to get him back ourselves," he responded. "It's risky but we can do it. I can use shadow strangle to keep him in place." Shadow strangle, Itachi noted. A Nara. Then another thought burst into the forefront, clouded as though whispered, yet distinct: Shikadai. Itachi didn't know a Shikadai, yet somehow he was sure the boy's name was Shikadai Nara.
"Okay, this is going to hurt a little," Shikadai interrupted his ruminating, "so I'm sorry…" Itachi suddenly felt his whole body squeeze together and his back radiate fire. He let out a whimper and blood once again dribbled from his mouth; the girl wiped it quickly before gingerly lifting him.
"Shit, Boruto, maybe it's time to lay off the burgers," she teased as she began to shuffle forward parallel to Shikadai in order to keep the shadow strangle in place; Shikadai barked out a single dry laugh and a tired thought emerged in Itachi's mind: They're my friends. They're teasing me.
The kids moved quietly through the trees, making minimal noise but not taking enough care shinobis usually do to remain absolutely discreet; they needed to get their friend back as soon as possible and total anonymity was not the most important part of their mission at the moment. "Where is ChoCho? Or Inojin?" the girl finally whispered to break the rising tension.
"We were separated."
Silence. Itachi knew all too well what that silence could mean. "But they're okay," Shikadai finally finished, as though answering Itachi's thoughts. "I trust they'll get back safely. We just couldn't wait for them."
In Itachi's mind, sleepy shadows emerged at their names; the names sounded familiar but he couldn't quite place them, as though they were from a long-forgotten dream. Where were these memories coming from? These people weren't from Konoha otherwise I would have known them.
Though blurry, his eyes suddenly caught the gleam of the girl's headband catching in the moonlight. The leaf symbol blinded him for a moment. But they are.
He lay back, watching the girl stare straight ahead through the trees, jaw clenched, her arms wrapping him tightly to her. She looked determined and clearly knew her way through the thicket of trees belonging to the Land of Fire. These kids called the Leaf Village home just as he did, but at the same time if they were kids Itachi would definitely know them, he thought. They couldn't be much younger than Sasuke, if at all.
At that moment the girl's red eyes flashed in the moonlight and drew the thought to the forefront of Itachi's mind again: How did she have the sharingan when Sasuke was the last with it- besides Kakashi- and he just saw Sasuke so recently? He needed to find his brother to tell him about this new development. But tell him what exactly…? That he was back? He still couldn't complete the puzzle with the limited jagged pieces presented to him: he was being carried through the trees by a girl with a sharingan and being called by another name. Where did Itachi completely fit in this? And how did he have knowledge, however murky, that he didn't have before?
"We're lucky Lord Seventh came along," the girl spoke again.
"And your dad. Sasuke came as soon as you and Boruto disappeared- honestly it was impeccable timing."
Sasuke. Itachi's mind fired to life again at the name, it knocking out more dust and sleep that settled around his brain. "Sasuke…" he whispered aloud.
"Always worried more about my dad than your dad," the girl tsk-ed teasingly. "Oh, no, the moon!"
Dad? Itachi's mind fought to quickly complete the puzzle of who and where he was, the name Sarada on the shore of his thoughts. But before he could commit it to memory, another wave of pain ripped the thought in half and consumed him as the shadow strangle faltered. He battled to stay afloat, but the pain pulled him below the surface of consciousness and filled his lungs.
Again, only darkness.