CHAPTER FOUR ; THIRD EYE BLIND

❝ HOW DOES ONE GAIN POWER WHEN THEY ARE SIX FEET UNDER ? ❞

SHISUI IS ALONE.

THE void is so silent it hurts. He's unsure on where Mononoke went when there is nothing here, nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. She must have the ability to leave this dimension then, fluctuating like the icy tides underneath a waxing moon and she flits about whispering devilish words with cherry lips. Ethereal, dark, dangerous, poetic; so little of interactions yet he can feel himself succumbing. The Will of Fire is long gone. It disappeared as soon as he signed his life and death away to Her, his new Testament, Bible, Deity, God.

It's maddening to be alone where even silence is too loud.

Shisui doesn't know how long he drifts there for, forcing his mind away from the entity that showed him the memories of his loved ones. Stuck in this womb, an unmarked grave of everything he used to hold dear, his Uchiha pride becomes silent too.

All for control and revenge. He is Nothing.

A sigh escapes his pale blue lips. Sometimes he can still taste the water, muddy and tangy with the taste of moss and blood. As Shisui begins to spiral into an never ending despair, he briefly wonders if the moss can get stuck between teeth like stringy, overcooked meat he sometimes was fortunate enough to have during his blurred jōnin missions.

A glimmer in this void catches his attention, far away and indiscernable. It's glowing gently, bobbing up and down. Curiously, Shisui begins to walk through the air, hair floating around him but he can't marvel at the wonder— it reminds him too much of submerging in water.

An eternity passes, yet at the same time, only a fraction of a millisecond. He peers down at the object, fingers reaching for it with childlike curiosity. The acorn, faded yellow and rich brown, rolls around in his palm.

Droplets land on his palm and the acorn and he doesn't even realise he is crying until a puddle pools around his head and hands. What was it about this single acorn that made him so?

It's a sense of nostalgia, things that could-have-been. A wooden park bench, a swing, shouts of hyper children as their feet thud against the ground, racing towards the shops.

It takes his entire will to force himself out of his reveries. A little bit of his childhood had trickled back into his soldier boy heart, but soldiers never find peace. Ignoring his tears that still caress his jaw, he considers the reasoning to why this acorn is the only thing here apart from himself.

Perhaps this mononoke's dimension is still incomplete. Shisui is a well educated man, rigorous in all studies as a perfect Uchiha would be. He has still yet to figure out how she came to be and why his afterlife is intertwined with hers, but the old and dusty books always said that the older a divine being is, the stronger. Then is Mononoke a young, inexperienced one full of many fatal flaws, or is she toying with him even now?

A single root sprouts from where his tears land on the acorn, exponentially expanding and tangling between with his fingers. The grey brown ropes lacing around his wrist, and beginning to thicken into leafy green.

Shisui already can feel his sanity slip little by little, stuck in the isolated murky dark with only a demon for occasional company. He has nothing here except his own mind, but even that is being taken from him. This acorn, is it a manifestation of himself or the Devil?

The little sapling continues to grow in his hands, spiralling out of control. He rips at it, eyebrows crinkled and nose scrunched. 

"Little human."

He blinks, and once again, he finds himself in Her presence without anything else. No sapling, no leaves, no acorn. Mononoke doesn't seem to acknowledge noticing anything. He decides that he's getting used to the whole strange, supernatural business now. Really, expect the unexpected. 

"Where did you go?" He turns to face her. It's not the first time that he's seen her, yet her regal posture and presence still sends a shiver down his spine. 

"Missed me?" She chortles.

"How are you planning to help me exact my revenge? Why would you? Why me?"

"You know that you were the most powerful Uchiha of your period. Well, that pretty boy's father- the one who was the head of the clan- is worthy too, but you, you are pitiful and greedier." 

"Stick with one argument," he spits. 

She throws her head back and laughs, her golden horns and red eyes gleaming. 

Red eyes. 

"Tell me where your eyes are, little human," she coos. "That way I can restore you to your capabilities."

A cold shock zips through his entire body as he processed the sentence. His precious, precious eyes of wrath and fear and heritage and power?

"No."

"Good boy-" she does a double take. "What do you mean, no?"

"No means no in every context," he snaps back.

"Are you denying me?"

"I don't trust you."

She bristles. "You want your revenge yet you refuse to give me your eyes? I am your only link back to the living, petty human. I am the only way your eyes can be restored."

He wonders if she already knows that one is lost to a power hungry man and the other is in the hands of his treasured cousin. After all, she somehow had access to the memories of the dead Uchiha. Shouldn't his mind be exposed to all the gods and demons alike?

"Why do you need my eyes, Mononoke?"

"Until I return your bloodline eyes to you, darling Uchiha, you will never be able to atone for everything your Uchiha Pride has destroyed. Danzō will never fall by your hands if you do not have your sharingan."

"How do I know you won't take them for yourself?" He hisses.

"You are delusional if you think I desire trifling mortal things."

"I don't believe you."

"Then wallow in your despair in this tomb of your sins."

"How would you bring me back to life in the first place? Prove it, Mononoke. Prove it." 

"It's about time you asked," she giggles. "Oh darling, prepare yourself." 

And with that, she straightens her hand and pierces his chest. Fingers clenching around his heart, Shisui can only spit out blood. Shooting pain zips through his entire body as she rips it out and he stumbles back, back back back into nothingness. 

"When you wake, you will feel the Curse of Hatred of your entire clan weigh upon your shoulders. Poor little Uchiha, this will be a testament to the accumulation of your ancestors sins and virtues. I wonder, will you slay yourself with your own hand?" 

And then he's falling through the sky. 

***

MERRY  (early) CHRISTMAS !!

This chapter is dedicated to yungsclub for the constant support and the AMAZING fanarts, and cxtuwu -kaelin- for the support and all the lovely comments!

The glowing acorn is symbolic of the gentler parts of his childhood: he still has part of this goodness in him, not all is lost... yet :)

anyways are we surprised that i have writers block LOL