Just as we found Itachi, the pain suddenly peaked to a new intensity, and I winced, quickly closing my eyes.
"Nora-chan?" Sasuke asked, a note of concern making his voice squeak as he voiced the question.
"Hmm. A headache." His brother stated as he appeared in front of us kneeling. He reached his hand up and pressed it against my forehead. "And a fever. I see."
Not too far away, I could hear my brother calling, "Guys! This way. I can smell Nora."
"Brother! We want to employ you!" Sasuke exclaimed in a whisper pitched voice.
"Consider it done. Get on my back." Itachi crouched down, letting Sasuke monkey up onto his back, then he scooped me up in his arms, and in an instant we found ourselves high in the trees, flying through the branches at an overwhelming speed that just made my headache and accompanying nausea all the worse. So I closed my eyes, bit my lower lip, and held on to a chunk of Itachi's shirt, all the while willing myself to keep down breakfast.
He finally came to a stop after a few minutes, dropping down on the opposite side of the training ground from where we had been just seconds before. Sasuke hopped off his brother's back, laughing loudly as he spun around. "That'll confuse them for sure." I managed a weak chuckle at Sasuke's exuberance, but I had little else to offer as I concentrated on keeping my breathing even.
Itachi sat down on the ground, settling me on his lap. "Nora-san?" I cracked my eyes open but otherwise barely moved as he pressed his cool hand against my forehead once again.
Sasuke returned immediately, leaning over Itachi's shoulder with a frown that matched his brother's. My vision swam with not only their current motions and gestures but also with the overlay of what each of them was about to do. When we had been looking for Itachi, I was seeing a shadow of the past, and now I was seeing premonitions of the future. I saw Itachi's lips begin to move and a few minutes later reality seemed to catch up with my double vision, and I was seeing the past again as Itachi's words overlaid a repeat of Sasuke and Itachi giving me their twin frown from a moment prior.
I couldn't concentrate on Itachi's words at all, and I winced, closing my eyes again. My voice sounded hoarse to my ears as I whispered, "Sorry, I- I think -" I cleared my throat and swallowed to keep down a rising lump, "I might throw up."
"Nausea, too." The elder Uchiha muttered under his breath.
"She tripped in a weird spot earlier," Sasuke chirped. "That's when she first said she was getting the headache."
"I think Shikaku is right," Itachi muttered above my head.
"Right about what?" Sasuke asked.
"I'll explain it to you later. Sasuke-kun, can you keep watch?"
I cracked my eyes open just as the youngster frowned up at his older brother for being denied an answer. "I guess I could. Why?"
"I think I can help with Nora-san's headache, but it will take most of my concentration."
Sasuke straightened up, his frown melting into a grin. "Mmm. Okay, big brother. If I hear the other team I'll warn you."
"Good. Go." Itachi's dark eyes followed his younger brother for a moment as the child took up a position behind the trunk of a tree, then his gaze flicked back down to me. "You're seeing something more than others - aren't you?"
I jerked at the question. "Yes." I pouted up at him, "But how'd you know that?"
"It was obvious. You tracked me with your eyes. The exact details of what you saw are secondary to the fact that you could do this." Itachi smirked faintly and quirked a brow as he added, "Though I confess to being curious. Furthermore, the Uchiha have a dojutsu called the Sharingan. When we first awaken it, until we adjust to the ability, it can cause similar problems. Headaches, nausea, and misjudgments on the exact positions of people and objects. The symptoms are not dissimilar to yours."
He offered me a small smile before he continued, "Shikaku took note of your habits and symptoms, then drew the conclusion that you might be experiencing something that was somehow related. That is why I am here. The Hokage felt that someone with more intimate knowledge of dojutsu should look into your situation."
"Mmm." I offered that single noise as acknowledgment of his words, letting my eyes slip closed again. "If yours is the Sharingan, what is mine then?"
"That, I do not know. It is not the same, that much I can say for certain. For instance, it seems you can't control turning it off and on - at least not yet."
"I'd freaking love to be able to turn it off," I grumbled.
"Then, let me try something. Look at me."
I slowly opened my eyelids, meeting Itachi's suddenly red eyes. So that was the Sharingan. The thought brushed across my thoughts, and then, in an instant, we were no longer under a tree but sitting in a field of flowing grass. A soft, warm breeze whispered around me, but, more importantly, I felt almost instantly better. The pain began to recede, turning into just a dull ache, the nausea eased, and, more importantly, I wasn't seeing two Itachi's at once.
"Oh! That's much better." I blinked, opening my eyes wider as I felt the malaise slowly lift. Glancing around me, I chewed on my lower lip, "This … is a genjutsu?"
"Yes." Itachi grinned, his eyes squinting closed. "It seems it worked. I'm still learning how to effectively use it, but I'm a bit pleased that, at least in your case, it can have some practical use beyond what is normally intended."
"But - what about the game?" My mind had snapped right back to what I was supposed to be worrying about, now that I didn't feel terrible.
"I doubt they'll catch up. They'll probably run out of time. It should be fine." Itachi shrugged, "More importantly, no one can listen in on whatever we say here since, effectively, we're inside your head."
I gaped a little at the older boy, "That's kind of neat."
He chuckled and gave the top of my head a pat, "I guess it is. Shikaku's said that you haven't really talked about what's going on except in the vaguest terms. Like you're hiding things. So, will you tell me about this ability of yours?"
Puffing out my cheeks, I tried to find where to begin my explanation. "I don't talk about it because I don't want Mommy or Hana to worry and because I know that it might be bad. What I see, it's really weird, Itachi-san. At first, I thought I was seeing … um, like, memories or something. Almost as if I had lived or seen something before." Which still seemed to me like it could be part of what was going on, but, at this point, I was also certain there was more to it than just that. After all, my previous life wasn't in Konoha, so why could I see specific things like the Kyuubi attack? Or why could I track Itachi using what was essentially an afterimage of his passing?
Taking a deep breath, I held it for a moment before blurting out, "Sometimes, I see things from the past, but other times the things I see look like the future. Or maybe they're not the past or the future but something else. The best way I can describe what I see is to tell you that I can see the present and this other vision - like an overlay, an echo, double vision, a layer on top of reality."
"For example, if I'm playing shogi or something similar, I can see the next move of the game: mine or my opponents. It's not always the correct move, but it's like the world is saying 'this is the path we anticipate'." I took in a deep breath, glancing up at him before I continued, "On other occasions, I see the echoes of the past. Like when I was following you earlier. Um, another example. When I'm near the place where the Kyuubi attacked, I can usually see it. The attack unfolding, buildings collapsing, people dying…"
I shuddered at what I had seen as it played through my memory again, "I can even smell and taste the scent of the attack on my tongue: dust, blood, and smoke. It- it's really terrible."
Though he kept his face straight through most of what I said, Itachi grimaced at this final revelation. As I hesitated in my explanation he murmured under his breath, "It was terrible. A truly horrible day." Pressing his lips together for a moment, the older boy sighed, "Though I can understand why you've hesitated to speak of this. I'm having trouble envisioning what you're speaking of." He paused and suddenly added, "But you could show me - as you just did with your memory of the Kyuubi attack."
"Eh?" I tipped my head at the statement.
"With my dojutsu, I can see your memories. With mastery I don't yet have, I could look myself, but you can also just recall them for me to see. I want you to think about how you followed me earlier. I was watching from a distance, and each time, without fail, you chose without so much as faltering where I had been previously. Pull up the memory, I will be able to see it as you did."
"O-okay." I closed my eyes and let out a breath, letting my mind step back a few minutes into the past. I didn't try to remember every step I took, but I did remember each place where we paused and then found that trace of Itachi once again.
As I followed the memory to the final location, that huge tree, Itachi spoke again, "Enough. Good." I opened my eyes again, looking up at him as he gave me a small nod, "I think I understand now. It seems like you might have some kind of unique sensor-type dojutsu. Maybe you can pick up on past chakra marks in an area. Or perhaps you're also sensing fluctuations in chakra around you. That might be why you sometimes feel like you're seeing the future. Something similar can happen with the Sharingan in which it seems like we can see the opponent's move a few seconds before they act upon it. Though for us it's more due to being able to process visual input extremely quickly. Yours is different."
"What about trees and rocks?" I found myself asking. "I mean, I can accept that explanation of chakra for a person, but you saw it, too. Even the trees and the rocks were subtly different. It happens with just about everything."
"Yes. I did notice that." His brows drew together, deepening the creases near his eyes as he considered my question. "If it's a sensor-type ability…." Then suddenly his eyes widened and he whispered, "Natural energy! If you can sense nature energy, then trees, water, rocks - anything with nature energy might leave an echo of that energy behind for you to see."
"Nature energy?" I tipped my head to the side and wrinkled my nose.
"Never heard of it, hmm? I'm not surprised. Think of it as nature's chakra. That will be the easiest explanation for now. Hmph. This all poses more questions than answers."
Pressing my lips together, I sighed, "Is having this dojutsu a good thing?"
Itachi paused and looked down at me again, seeming to seriously weigh the question. Then, he offered me a sad smile, "A good thing? I'm not sure. As with most unique skills, whether it's good or bad likely depends on how you use it." Then he paused and his smile faded away as he muttered softly, "I guess it does mean that you're exceptional." The way he said exceptional, however, made it sound like a status that was not to be envied.
"So, is being exceptional bad, Itachi-san?"
Sighing, he offered me a slow shake of his head, "That, too, likely depends. If I figure out a better answer, I will let you know, Nora-san. Ahh, it seems time is up."
Just then, the genjtsu seemed to fall away, like curtains being dropped, and suddenly I was back in the training grounds. In the distance, I could hear Shikaku's whistle sounding the end of the round.
"Did it work?" Sasuke was asking as Itachi stood, setting me on my feet as well. "Is your headache gone?"
I tipped my head to one side and glanced around me as I blinked rapidly. No double vision, no nausea, no headache. The fact that I had begun to feel better wasn't simply limited to the constraints of the genjutsu itself.
A smile tugged at my lips as I gave Sasuke a sharp nod, "It is!"
He beamed at me and offered his hand, "Good! Come on. It's our turn to hunt."
A/N: These last two chapters were a doozy. More uncomfortable revelations and some light hilarity coming in the next chapter.
