これは全て...最初から何も見えない少女に課せられたバツだったかもしれない。3rd Tomoe flashback

Its finally done!! Oh man this took far too many drafts and far too long to finally complete >_>. But in any case - this tells gives a window into how Kagami's brother was killed, how she was forced to kill her rival-now-turned-renegade, and how it's come to affect her.

Of course, in nowhere near enough depth to fully do that issue justice, but it probably won't be the last time I return to this period in her history either.

But, without further ado~ 

Uchiha Kagami blinked. The nineteen year old kunoichi knew full well that her crimson sharingan never missed a beat, that their perfectly attuned sight always picked up the faintest of details, and that even distortions in the fabric of reality were easily identifiable. But the sight of her younger brother Shinji, clawing at the hand clenched around his throat, struggling to breathe, legs thrashing as the life slowly slipped from his lungs, was simply too horrifying to be real. 

She blinked. Her eyes were still adjusting to the dim light cast by the few streaks of twilight that had managed to pierce the thick canopy of leaves blotting out the sky. Was she still trapped inside his Genjutsu? Deep down, the girl knew she was no longer trapped in the phantom world her had banished her to. That her rival, Amagi Hikaru’s genjutsu had long been dispelled, and the horrific visions of death she had been subjected to had gone just as quickly as they came, and the writhing figure in front of her was her real younger brother, being killed by that very man, but her body was still paralyzed in fear. 

How could this be happening? 

* * * * * 

Shinji’s hand went numb, the mug of steaming coffee slipping from his fingers and shattering on the rocky bank of the river the Sukai ninja had made their camp. He stood in shock as his sister trembled, hunched over their radio, its receiver clenched so tightly in her fist it sounded like it could break at any second.

“… what do you mean… Hikaru has defected…” Each word hung in the uncomfortable stillness of the night air. Her voice trembled.

“Theres no mistaking it, he killed three of our scouts last night, and this morning he was spotted fleeing fifty kilometres south of your position.” The voice from the other end of the radio crackled with static, but rang clear as a bell. “Two hours ago, our pursuit team engaged the renegade, and suffered casualties. Its the Sukaikage’s order that your team abandon your mission, pursue him.”

Kagami knew what they would say next. She had known it from the start, but even the thought of it terrified her. She hated him. She loved him. She fought with him. She saved him. She… 

“… and kill Amagi Hikaru.” There was a long pause. Kagami’s elite team of shinobi crowded around her, but none dared open their mouth.

“… Roger… Kagami over and out.” Kagami practically had to choke the words out of her mouth. With a metallic click, the radio signal cut out, and the buzzing static left the damp air of the river bank. 

* * * * * 

Silently, the four shinobi broke flew through the forest, hundreds of feet in the air, landing gracefully on the thick branches of the ancient oak. The slivers of amber light peeking through the canopy reflected off the Ritsuko etched headbands adorning their gear. The four of them had been travelling at full tilt for the better part of three days now, and despite the exhaustion that had long overtaken them, they forged ahead. 

Suddenly, the small kunoichi leading the formation threw her arm up, motioning the team to stop. 

“Did you pick up his trail, Kogane-chan?” Shinji, standing no taller than their lead sensor-type ninja landed next to her.

“Its faint… but theres no mistaking it. Its him alright.” The short blonde turned to her remaining two team members who landed close by. “Kagami… are you sure you’re -“ 

“I’m fine.” She was fine. She needed to be after all, she was their squad leader, she and her team were the only shinobi capable of stopping… that traitor from escaping. She was fine, she had a grip on the situation, she was perfectly capable of carrying out her mission, she was a ninja. But deep down, she knew that right now, none of that was true. 

* * * * *

Kagami stood in the glass-walled shower and let the hot spray pound down her back. She’d soaped and scrubbed every inch of her body, but he could still smell traces of blood on her body. She could still feel the hot pain behind her eyes as she watched her brother’s lifeless body slip from Hikaru’s grasp and plummet hundreds of feet to the forest floor. It had been two years since that day, but Kagami still couldn’t get the stench of that traitor’s blood from her skin.

The water began to cool. The old-fashioned boiler had finally run out of hot water. Kagami turned off the spray. She was as clean as soap and water could make her. She sighed and slid the shower door open. She reached for a towel and scrubbed down.

Kagami picked up her leather gloves. She slid her left hand into the fine leather and smoothed the sleeve up her forearm. She flexed her fingers. It was nice having full use of her hand again. She pulled the other glove up her right arm in a similar fashion, paying the scars etched across her pale skin little more than a passing glance. Raising a foot to the edge of the still-wet porcelain tub, she slide her black stockings up her legs and fastened the smooth black leather leg-guards overtop. She stepped into her simple black underwear and tight athletic shorts ,coving only slightly more than the layer below them. Fastening her equally simple black bra behind her back, she threw on her white sleepless stiff cotton kimono dress, feeling its hem rub against her upper thigh as she tied it shut. She hastily wrapped her black obi around her slender waist, unceremoniously tying it and shifting it into place. 

She smeared the steam from the mirror on the back of the bathroom door. She paused as her reflection stared back at her; chocolate brown hair, soft pale unblemished skin, white outfit, scarlet eyes -- her usual appearance. No visible changes. It was as though nothing had happened.

Quiet wafted through her, easing the tension in her limbs, soothing her mind, calming her heart - except for one small corner that ached. She turned her back on the mirror. It would go away, eventually.

She threw a pastel pink towel over her shoulders, her hair wasn’t completely dry, and opened the bathroom door.

Ritsuko was sitting on the edge of Kagami's bed facing the bathroom door. Early morning sunlight poured through the window on the right, turning her neatly braided blond hair to soft gold. She was dressed in loose black sweatpants and a simple blue tank-top. She'd clearly just gotten out of bed. However, her brows were low over her sea-foam green eyes, her lips were drawn in a tight thin line, and her arms were crossed. "Welcome back.”

Kagami stiffened only slightly. She picked up the towel around her neck and set to scrubbing at her damp hair. “Thanks.” She’d hoped that Ritsuko hadn’t heard her get up so early in the morning. 

Kagami very nearly smiled. Wishful thinking on her part. The two women shared the tiny apartment, with barely enough room for two people, let alone two with such drastically different living habits. They had known each other for what seemed like their whole lives, coming up under the same sensei, fought together more times than they can count, but for better or worse, Ritsuko just didn’t know how to mind her own business. 

Ritsuko’s lip curled. It wasn’t a smile. “Care to tell me where you’re going so early in the morning?”

Kagami strode to the foot of her bed and picked up well-worn brown leather kunai holster, idly checking the straps, refusing to meet Ritsuko’s angry green stare. She slid the holster around her right thigh, tugging the buckles as tight as they would go. “Not really, no.”

Ritsuko dropped her chin and her eyes narrowed. “No?”

Kagami picked up another leather pouch from the bed, flipping up the envelope-style flap to check its contents. She knew there were exactly fifteen shuriken and twice as many caltrops and metal ball bearings inside, but she looked none the less, hoping her roommate would just walk away and leave her be. Her gaze flicked to Ritsuko’s then dropped. She fastened the pouch to the back of her obi and shook it slightly to make sure it was held in place. “Out… thats all”

“Out…?” Ritsuko choked. “Kagami, I know you think you’re fine and all, but treating your body like this isn’t even close to healthy. At this rate…” Her words were soft, but vehement. “Please, let me help you. Don’t shut me out like this.”

Kagami walked over to her over-filled vanity and grabbed a hairdryer. Flicking it to its loudest, she tried to drown out the disapproval that lingered in the air.  “Like I said… out. The end.” She could see her friend’s stare quite clearly despite the smudges on the vanity mirror, but pretended like she didn’t. Hopefully Ritsuko would take the hint that she didn’t want to talk about it.

“Damn it, Kagami…” Ritsuko lunged off the bed and paced along the side of the bed on bare feet. Her movements were smooth and economic, almost feline in nature. If she’d actually been a cat her tail would have lashed angrily. She stopped and glared. “This has got to stop” Her voice grew louder. “I don’t have to be a medic to know that you haven’t slept in what… three days? I know you think throwing yourself into your training like this is helpful, but it’s only preventing you from dealing with whats really going on here.”

Kagami sighed. Ritsuko was clearly in the mood to be stubborn and wasn’t about to take hints. She walked past her roommate and grabbed her crimson haori coat from over the brass knob at the foot of her bed where she had thrown it before getting in the shower. “Ritsuko, I know you think you’re helping right now… but just let it go, ok?” Kagami bit her lip. She hated doing this to her oldest friend, shutting her out, slipping off in the night, fighting until her body broke, then getting up an doing it all over again. She threw her arms into the coat and hugged it over her narrow shoulders, the Uchiha crest emblazoned across her back.

“Kagami…”

Kagami simply left the room, knowing full well her roommate was following her. She slid her feet into her black leather ninja tabi, still caked in muck from the day before. She should have gotten into bed. Rested. Acted like a normal, respectable member of society. But every time she lay there, staring up at that ceiling, she could hear the sounds creep through the deepest corners of her consciousness. “I’ll be back later tonight, don’t worry.”

Not giving Ritsuko a chance to respond, Kagami had slipped through the front door and shut it behind her. After all, Ritsuko wasn’t there, the day she had failed her team, failed her brother. The day she watched as the man she had come to love murdered everyone around her. The day she killed him in a crimson fury, the day her eyes burned so hot she nearly tore them out, the  day everything was dyed red. 

Those images had burned so deeply into her mind that whenever she closed her eyes to sleep, she could almost feel the hot pitter patter of blood raining down on her face all over again…

* * * * *

The air was finally silent. The two shinobi who had been locked in combat for most of the night had finally stopped moving, bodies propped against one another in a deadly embrace. But as Kagami’s muscles started to give out, and her right arm fell limp and she let Hikaru’s fist slip from her grasp, what was left of his shoulders and head slipped past her and fell from the trunk of the tree they had affixed their feet to. 

Hikaru’s lower body soon followed, the chakra stored in the running dry, having been cut off from the main source, and gravity overtook them. 

Kagami blinked. It had all happened in an instant, but the same scene kept playing over and over before her eyes. She blinked again but it wouldn’t go away. Her left hand still hovered in front of her, where her rasengan had been some moments before, pressed up against Hikaru’s rib cage, before it tore his body to shreds.

Drip. Drip. Drip. 

Kagami felt a hot shower of blood drip from the boughs overhead, the blood of her rival finally falling back down on her after being forcefully ripped from his body. She stood as still as a statue, unable to move anymore, as her entire world slipped into a sea of crimson. Her body had been fighting on autopilot for longer than she could possibly know, but every single millisecond, every single movement of every leaf, of every drop of sweat that fell from their bodies, every twitch of every muscle in HIkaru’s face as she ripped him in two, was engraved in her eyes. Branded into the back of her head with a searing heat. 

Her sharingan never missed a beat. There staring up at the crimson rainfall, the kunoichi’s eyelids finally fell over her fully matured eyes. Her body grew limp, and she fell towards the dark forest floor, unconscious.