It was a beautiful day outside in Sunagakure; the first rays of sunlight penetrating Kichiru's bedroom and slowly bringing the young boy out of his slumber. It was only days after he had finally passed his exams alongside his two friends, Yanjirou and Hansame. His memory of the events, oddly enough, were a bit hazy, as if he had been recovering from a striking fist that sent him reeling. Shrugging it off as simply a symptom of morning grogginess, Kichiru jumped out of his bed, knowing that if he were to dress quickly enough he might just manage to beat his father to the first pieces of bacon. Those were always the best; the perfect balance of crispiness and tenderness. With an eager grin he pulled his shirt over his head and tied the headband he would always keep within arms reach tightly around his forehead before running out of his room toward the kitchen where his family would always eat their breakfast together before going off to complete their respective duties for the day.
"Hah! Early bird gets the wo-" His gleeful shout was cut short as he entered the kitchen only to see a far too familiar face already seated at the table, their hand reaching forward to grab that piece of bacon Kichiru so desperately craved after a good night's rest. He laughed out "Darn Kas, I thought for sure I would have beaten you and father!" as he sat down across the table from his elder sister who smiled towards him as she took the first bite of her meal. "Going to have to be fastest than that Kichi. You didn't think becoming Bashar means you can beat your big sis, huh?" She teased as Kichiru watched longingly as that first piece of bacon was quickly devoured. He let out a sigh of acceptance as he looked over towards his mother at the stove "You'll let me have the first one of the next batch, right mother!?" He pleaded half-jokingly with a puppy-dog face that had worked for as long as he could remember on his parents. The figure at the stove turned around, Kichiru's face turning a ghostly white as he was met not with his mother's face but with.. Well.. Nothing. It was as if someone had taken an eraser and erased all of his facial features, leaving only a blank soulless canvas that seemed to gaze piercingly through the young boy.
"What's.. Going on!?" He cried out, closing his eyes for a moment only to open them a second more with his mother's hand atop his shoulder. "Whatever do you mean, sweetheart?" He hesitated to look up towards the figure, however when he mustered the courage his gaze was simply met with the reassuring eyes of his mother that he knew fondly. "I.. It was nothing. I guess I didn't get enough sleep is all!" His mother continued to look down towards him with concern in her eyes "Oh, you know you don't have to exhaust yourself training every night. We're both very proud of you for passing your exams. No need to push yourself so hard!" He laughed out and rubbed the back of his head as he agreed "Yeah.. I guess you're right!" which would only be met with a confident "Mhm!" from his mother before she returned to the stove. However, as she did so she let a rolled up piece of paper fall onto the table in front of Kichiru.
"Huh..?" He looked confusedly towards his mother as he reached forward towards the note. Kasumi's voice seemed to come from nowhere, stopping Kichiru from unraveling the note, "So! How about we do that training you've been asking me about?" His confused expression quickly turned into one of happiness as he replied instantly "Yeah! For sure Kas! Right after breakfast!" whilst unraveling the note, which only read a single word that didn't seem to be written in any sort of ink. Instead, it was as if someone had burned the letters into the paper itself... Yet they were still emitting light as the flickering embers of a dying flame would. As if his brain were fighting against him, Kichiru struggled to process the word in front of him. Instead, he stuttered each letter out until he could read the strange note his mother had given him "R...Re..Rem.."
Remember
A tremor shook throughout the kitchen as the voice echoed throughout his mind, yet it seemed as if he were the only one to react to it as the shelves of their kitchen flew open, dropping plates and cups and such onto the floor, shattering them instantly. As they hit the floor they exploded into bursts of a thick black gas that quickly seemed to fill the room. As a child Kichiru likely would have been frozen in fear, unable to escape from the situation and hoping that Kasumi would save him. However, he was no longer just a child. He was a shinobi of Sunagakure, and therefore he should be able to react appropriately to any situation, no matter how strange. Just as he was about to run towards his mother he felt a grip tighter than any he had felt before pressing him down into the seat. His hands quickly moved towards where his belt pouch should have been, yet met nothing. Instead he turned his head without any weapon to defend himself against... Kas? Confused, he shouted out "Kas! Let.. let go of me! We have to save mother from..." She seemed unfazed by the words he spoken and instead tightened her grip slightly before speaking with the same voice he remembered. "No, Kichiru. We have to stay. You want to train with me, with your big sister, right? I'll protect you. You just have to stay."
Her words seemed to have an almost numbing affect on his body, his mind slowly drifting into a more clouded state as the black smoke seemed to twist and turn throughout the room, blocking out the rays of sunlight that should have been brightly illuminating the room by now. Instead, where there was once light was now masked by this twisting darkness. Kasumi's released her tight grasp of Kichiru with a smile as Kichiru seemed to slump back into his seat, not reacting in the slightest as the darkness beneath his feet coalesced into shifting tendrils that began to wrap around the young boy's legs. His entire body sat motionless as the dark tendrils slowly enveloped him. One might expect such a fate to feel cold, yet that couldn't be further from the truth. Instead, Kichiru felt warmth. As if he were being held lovingly in his mother's embrace. With a love that could only be as pure as that between a mother and her child. Kichiru accepted this. Why would he want to deal with all the pain of the world? All the evil that seemed to lurk past each and every street corner? Instead he could stay in thsi warm embrace with his family.. With his mother.. With his father.. With Kasumi.
The thought of his sister caused the letters on the note, which now sat unraveled on the table which had long been cast into darkness, to flare up brighter than before as they began to shift into a new configuration. The light from the new words pierced through the void and met Kichiru's gaze, causing the voice of his mother to enter his mind once more.
"Please.. Wake up Kichi.."
Kichiru shook abruptly, casting the dark tendrils off of his body as he stood up from the chair, his eyes locked directly on Kasumi, who stood at the other end of the table barely illuminated by the light breaking forth from the words. Fighting back the confusion that tried to force him back into submission, Kichiru choked out the words "Kas.. You're.. You're.. "
"Right here, Kichiru. See me. If you sit back down we can be together. You and me. Don't you want that?" She spoke softly towards him, yet in Kichiru's mind he now sensed a sinister undertone to the words, causing tears to well up in his eyes as he shook his head defiantly.
"You're.. You're not real. Whatever you are. You're not Kas!" Emotions welled up inside Kichiru as the figure in front of him twisted and turned, as if it were deciding upon a new form to greet the child. With a low chuckle, the darkness throughout the room instantaneously shot forward towards the figure, leaving forth not the kitchen he had spent nearly every morning of his life in, but instead a gray void that seemed to extend forward in all directions. They were surrounded by nothingness as the illusion seemed to fade, instead leaving the two face to face with only a few meters of distance between them. The figure had finally chosen a form to take, a form which left Kichiru stunned as he stared into the eyes of the man known only to Kichiru as Akashi.
“No.. That's impossible.. None of this is real. Genjutsu.. A nightmare.. Something!” He shouted out towards the figure, charging towards it with his fists reeled back, only to be met with a chuckle as the man spoke“You accepted this, child. You stared into the void; now It comes for you. He decided to show you mercy. I won't be so foolish.”<i></i> The words seemed to hold Kichiru in place as the man simply circled around the young boy as a predator might do around its prey.
“Give up and you will feel nothing. Resistance will only be met with torm-”<i></i> The figure stopped in his tracks as his eyes stared at a small light on the boy's back.“Oh? And what is this?”<i></i> That wicked voice laughed out as a clawed hand scratched at the back of Kichiru's shirt, revealing the source of the light, which seemed to be.. coming from his skin?
Sweetheart.. If you can hear me.. Wake up.
Much to the figure's shock, the light erupted into an intense blue flame which began traveling in different directions across the boy's back as if it were following a fuse. “No.. That fool!” <i></i>The figure barked out in anger as the flames met together in the shape of a star. More specifically, the shape of the seal that Akashi had placed on Kichiru in order to save him from an assassin's poison that wracked the boy with an intense pain that soon would have left him dead. This should have simply faded over the course of a few days, however, either due to error on Akashi's part or a sliver of Toyoda, the man whose body Akashi had seemingly taken over in some sort of strange ritual, the spiritual flames had left a lingering mark on Kichiru's body. They had created a seal that contained a great deal of spiritual chakra which had become a source of both power and pain for the young boy over the past few months since their encounter. Regardless of why such a seal lingered, it would now be Kichiru's savior.
“Mother..”
The figure screamed out “No!”<i></i> as he tried to tear his claws forward through the boy's chest, only for all of reality to seemingly shatter in an instant, leaving only blackness in it's wake.
“Kichiru..!? Yes, it's me! Please, wake up!”
Slowly, the boy opened his eyes to see his mother standing over him in tears. Weakly, he managed a smile as he looked around him to take in his new environment: A hospital room. His mother looked towards Kichiru, half in happiness but also in shock, before shaking to the realization and calling out “Nurse! Nurse, come in here! He's awake!”
The next few hours seemed a blur to the young child as countless doctors, nurses, and friends came in and out of the room to greet the child who had been seemingly lost for a few years in a deep coma that took Kichiru in the middle of the night only shortly after his Bashar exam. Doctors from across the country had come and tried to awaken the boy, each one of them met with failure. He was stable, however they all came to the conclusion that he would likely remain in a comatose state and that it would be best to let the boy die peacefully rather than be tormented by whatever strange machinations the mind may create in such a situation. However, even as months upon months passed, Kichiru's mother never seemed to lose hope that he would one day awaken from his slumber. And so he did.
After a few hours, Kichiru had managed to convince his mother to go back home and get some rest as he would likely be allowed to return home the following day. While he did worry about his mother, he also needed time to think over what he had experienced. Was it real? Any of it? He was back with his sister in that world. But he knew in his heart that refusing that temptation was the right thing to do. In that world he could make no difference. He would simply be living in a lie meant to tempt him into selfishly leaving his friends and family behind for happiness. Yet that thought made him anything but.
Now the boy simply had to wonder...
What did I miss.. And how the heck can I get out of here!? I've missed so much training!
[MFT]
"Hah! Early bird gets the wo-" His gleeful shout was cut short as he entered the kitchen only to see a far too familiar face already seated at the table, their hand reaching forward to grab that piece of bacon Kichiru so desperately craved after a good night's rest. He laughed out "Darn Kas, I thought for sure I would have beaten you and father!" as he sat down across the table from his elder sister who smiled towards him as she took the first bite of her meal. "Going to have to be fastest than that Kichi. You didn't think becoming Bashar means you can beat your big sis, huh?" She teased as Kichiru watched longingly as that first piece of bacon was quickly devoured. He let out a sigh of acceptance as he looked over towards his mother at the stove "You'll let me have the first one of the next batch, right mother!?" He pleaded half-jokingly with a puppy-dog face that had worked for as long as he could remember on his parents. The figure at the stove turned around, Kichiru's face turning a ghostly white as he was met not with his mother's face but with.. Well.. Nothing. It was as if someone had taken an eraser and erased all of his facial features, leaving only a blank soulless canvas that seemed to gaze piercingly through the young boy.
"What's.. Going on!?" He cried out, closing his eyes for a moment only to open them a second more with his mother's hand atop his shoulder. "Whatever do you mean, sweetheart?" He hesitated to look up towards the figure, however when he mustered the courage his gaze was simply met with the reassuring eyes of his mother that he knew fondly. "I.. It was nothing. I guess I didn't get enough sleep is all!" His mother continued to look down towards him with concern in her eyes "Oh, you know you don't have to exhaust yourself training every night. We're both very proud of you for passing your exams. No need to push yourself so hard!" He laughed out and rubbed the back of his head as he agreed "Yeah.. I guess you're right!" which would only be met with a confident "Mhm!" from his mother before she returned to the stove. However, as she did so she let a rolled up piece of paper fall onto the table in front of Kichiru.
"Huh..?" He looked confusedly towards his mother as he reached forward towards the note. Kasumi's voice seemed to come from nowhere, stopping Kichiru from unraveling the note, "So! How about we do that training you've been asking me about?" His confused expression quickly turned into one of happiness as he replied instantly "Yeah! For sure Kas! Right after breakfast!" whilst unraveling the note, which only read a single word that didn't seem to be written in any sort of ink. Instead, it was as if someone had burned the letters into the paper itself... Yet they were still emitting light as the flickering embers of a dying flame would. As if his brain were fighting against him, Kichiru struggled to process the word in front of him. Instead, he stuttered each letter out until he could read the strange note his mother had given him "R...Re..Rem.."
Remember
A tremor shook throughout the kitchen as the voice echoed throughout his mind, yet it seemed as if he were the only one to react to it as the shelves of their kitchen flew open, dropping plates and cups and such onto the floor, shattering them instantly. As they hit the floor they exploded into bursts of a thick black gas that quickly seemed to fill the room. As a child Kichiru likely would have been frozen in fear, unable to escape from the situation and hoping that Kasumi would save him. However, he was no longer just a child. He was a shinobi of Sunagakure, and therefore he should be able to react appropriately to any situation, no matter how strange. Just as he was about to run towards his mother he felt a grip tighter than any he had felt before pressing him down into the seat. His hands quickly moved towards where his belt pouch should have been, yet met nothing. Instead he turned his head without any weapon to defend himself against... Kas? Confused, he shouted out "Kas! Let.. let go of me! We have to save mother from..." She seemed unfazed by the words he spoken and instead tightened her grip slightly before speaking with the same voice he remembered. "No, Kichiru. We have to stay. You want to train with me, with your big sister, right? I'll protect you. You just have to stay."
Her words seemed to have an almost numbing affect on his body, his mind slowly drifting into a more clouded state as the black smoke seemed to twist and turn throughout the room, blocking out the rays of sunlight that should have been brightly illuminating the room by now. Instead, where there was once light was now masked by this twisting darkness. Kasumi's released her tight grasp of Kichiru with a smile as Kichiru seemed to slump back into his seat, not reacting in the slightest as the darkness beneath his feet coalesced into shifting tendrils that began to wrap around the young boy's legs. His entire body sat motionless as the dark tendrils slowly enveloped him. One might expect such a fate to feel cold, yet that couldn't be further from the truth. Instead, Kichiru felt warmth. As if he were being held lovingly in his mother's embrace. With a love that could only be as pure as that between a mother and her child. Kichiru accepted this. Why would he want to deal with all the pain of the world? All the evil that seemed to lurk past each and every street corner? Instead he could stay in thsi warm embrace with his family.. With his mother.. With his father.. With Kasumi.
The thought of his sister caused the letters on the note, which now sat unraveled on the table which had long been cast into darkness, to flare up brighter than before as they began to shift into a new configuration. The light from the new words pierced through the void and met Kichiru's gaze, causing the voice of his mother to enter his mind once more.
"Please.. Wake up Kichi.."
Kichiru shook abruptly, casting the dark tendrils off of his body as he stood up from the chair, his eyes locked directly on Kasumi, who stood at the other end of the table barely illuminated by the light breaking forth from the words. Fighting back the confusion that tried to force him back into submission, Kichiru choked out the words "Kas.. You're.. You're.. "
"Right here, Kichiru. See me. If you sit back down we can be together. You and me. Don't you want that?" She spoke softly towards him, yet in Kichiru's mind he now sensed a sinister undertone to the words, causing tears to well up in his eyes as he shook his head defiantly.
"You're.. You're not real. Whatever you are. You're not Kas!" Emotions welled up inside Kichiru as the figure in front of him twisted and turned, as if it were deciding upon a new form to greet the child. With a low chuckle, the darkness throughout the room instantaneously shot forward towards the figure, leaving forth not the kitchen he had spent nearly every morning of his life in, but instead a gray void that seemed to extend forward in all directions. They were surrounded by nothingness as the illusion seemed to fade, instead leaving the two face to face with only a few meters of distance between them. The figure had finally chosen a form to take, a form which left Kichiru stunned as he stared into the eyes of the man known only to Kichiru as Akashi.
“No.. That's impossible.. None of this is real. Genjutsu.. A nightmare.. Something!” He shouted out towards the figure, charging towards it with his fists reeled back, only to be met with a chuckle as the man spoke“You accepted this, child. You stared into the void; now It comes for you. He decided to show you mercy. I won't be so foolish.”<i></i> The words seemed to hold Kichiru in place as the man simply circled around the young boy as a predator might do around its prey.
“Give up and you will feel nothing. Resistance will only be met with torm-”<i></i> The figure stopped in his tracks as his eyes stared at a small light on the boy's back.“Oh? And what is this?”<i></i> That wicked voice laughed out as a clawed hand scratched at the back of Kichiru's shirt, revealing the source of the light, which seemed to be.. coming from his skin?
Sweetheart.. If you can hear me.. Wake up.
Much to the figure's shock, the light erupted into an intense blue flame which began traveling in different directions across the boy's back as if it were following a fuse. “No.. That fool!” <i></i>The figure barked out in anger as the flames met together in the shape of a star. More specifically, the shape of the seal that Akashi had placed on Kichiru in order to save him from an assassin's poison that wracked the boy with an intense pain that soon would have left him dead. This should have simply faded over the course of a few days, however, either due to error on Akashi's part or a sliver of Toyoda, the man whose body Akashi had seemingly taken over in some sort of strange ritual, the spiritual flames had left a lingering mark on Kichiru's body. They had created a seal that contained a great deal of spiritual chakra which had become a source of both power and pain for the young boy over the past few months since their encounter. Regardless of why such a seal lingered, it would now be Kichiru's savior.
“Mother..”
The figure screamed out “No!”<i></i> as he tried to tear his claws forward through the boy's chest, only for all of reality to seemingly shatter in an instant, leaving only blackness in it's wake.
“Kichiru..!? Yes, it's me! Please, wake up!”
Slowly, the boy opened his eyes to see his mother standing over him in tears. Weakly, he managed a smile as he looked around him to take in his new environment: A hospital room. His mother looked towards Kichiru, half in happiness but also in shock, before shaking to the realization and calling out “Nurse! Nurse, come in here! He's awake!”
The next few hours seemed a blur to the young child as countless doctors, nurses, and friends came in and out of the room to greet the child who had been seemingly lost for a few years in a deep coma that took Kichiru in the middle of the night only shortly after his Bashar exam. Doctors from across the country had come and tried to awaken the boy, each one of them met with failure. He was stable, however they all came to the conclusion that he would likely remain in a comatose state and that it would be best to let the boy die peacefully rather than be tormented by whatever strange machinations the mind may create in such a situation. However, even as months upon months passed, Kichiru's mother never seemed to lose hope that he would one day awaken from his slumber. And so he did.
After a few hours, Kichiru had managed to convince his mother to go back home and get some rest as he would likely be allowed to return home the following day. While he did worry about his mother, he also needed time to think over what he had experienced. Was it real? Any of it? He was back with his sister in that world. But he knew in his heart that refusing that temptation was the right thing to do. In that world he could make no difference. He would simply be living in a lie meant to tempt him into selfishly leaving his friends and family behind for happiness. Yet that thought made him anything but.
Now the boy simply had to wonder...
What did I miss.. And how the heck can I get out of here!? I've missed so much training!
[MFT]