Beyond The Veil Of Sleep

[Tsu]

Ozaku broke through the cathedral doors with a sharp, echoing thud as each door hit its respective walls. Light from the outside world would enter the room as if divine light had, for the first time in uncountable years, pierced the unholy darkness. If enough attention was paid to the temple's features, the rouge Uchiha would notice the once crystalline ceiling had all but blackened from some ominous event. Numerous pews that an entire congregation could have used were rotted and broken, some even looked as if they had been thrown across the length of the massive structure only to smash further. As the boy would walk into the room, he would be able to see scorch marks along the floors and what was left of the decayed tapestries.

With all of these obvious signs of abandonment, an obvious question would undoubtedly cross he mind...'Why was he sent to this place?' Almost as if answering some unasked question an ethereal voice called fourth, the doors behind the man closing starkly, making the once lighted room, once more dive into the depths of blackness. "Itsy bitsy Uchiwaaa...Why do you come here?" The voice held all the signs that parents use when talking to infants, sing song and with drawn out vowels. Not only would this be 'creepy' in normal tones while in the dark, but the marble walls of the place made the voice skelter from one wall to the other, echoing in omnipresence.

A shimmer of flickering light displayed itself now reflected off the tile in some, closed off, spiraling staircase. The voice came again in the same eerie tone, "This place isn't meant for little ol' you..." If he tried to move at the point in any direction he would find it quite impossible to move any part of his body more than a half inch or so, only allowing the Sharingan wielder the knowledge that he was constrained by some unknown force he couldn't break free off.

[Cellar Door]

??Who??

??What??

??Why??

Uchiha Ozaku entered the cathedral, slamming open the once grand double doors with audacious force of own who assumed the had a purpose in the ancient house of prayer. Black bangs swayed at each side as Zaku scanned the mouldering pews, his crimson eyes taking in each detail of the battered and abandoned structure. Brows furrowed in curiosity. Only moments before the double doors had slammed open, each splintering against their hinges and sliding to the floor, then, Ozaku had pressed forward his purpose firmly ingrained in his mind. Now he was blank, mystified with the sights within the church, an ominous feeling creeping up his neck, causing his hair to stand on end.

"What's going on?"

The Uchiha boys mind screamed for him to flee.

"Itsy bitsy... you motherfu-fu... shit."

The mind of Ozaku would have formulated a powerful and even more colorful insult for the disembodied voice that taunted him from it's unseen location had he not been startled to find his body incapable of any motion more than a wiggle.

"Alright, I'll bite."

The dark haired youth acquiesced, his voice heavy with annoyance.

"Who is this place for?"

Zaku tried to carry himself with an air of confidence, proving to himself and this menacing voice that he was not afraid of what was in store for him. His attempts were feeble, as sweat dripped from the brow of the boy. His breath came in quick grasps, every part of his body tensed and ready to fight or run should the situation warrant it.

"If only I could move..."

[Tsu]

Cruel cold laughter broke out breaking the childish tones for a moment before resuming near the end of the giggle. Each sound sliding casually from pillar to pillar still penetrating the ear drums of the immobilized man. "Who...Who...Whooo..." The giggle caught in every note of the verbal menagerie, "Whoooo...are you..." The voice was obviously imitating an owl with their response. "Mumei.. Ohh Mumei I don't think his eyes can see them...." The name the child's voice had called meaning 'Nameless' would normally instill a haunting curiosity in most people, but for Ozaku, who knew what he would find interesting?

There was a pause after those words silence finally stilled in the room, but alas it was broken in mere seconds, the speaker's tone changed drastically giving signs that it was a male speaking. "Boy...you will find out exactly what is meant for this place if you don't shut your damned mouth." there was an isolation in the voice that made the tones seem as if it was already reverberating before the sound waves hit the walls and echoed. Was it just because the words were strained or for another reason?

"I want to play with him Mumei, its been so long since I've gotten to play with anyone....Oh please can I... can I? The last one didn't play with me for near long enough...." The voice was breaking in and out of the childish voice to its second signature. "Shut the hell up!" the more adult voice criticized the first one. Was this all an act or did that one speaker really have two different voices? "You can play with him later Shira, I have some question of mine own."

As the echoes would die down, the strangulated sound of a voice came from behind him in almost a whisper, "Have those eyes shown you...the way of the world Ozaku..." The Uchiha man would noticed in that instant that the the figure which had previously been in the stairwell had ceased to be.

[Cellar Door]

"They aren't as great as one might think..."

Ozaku called to the disembodied voices that found it so amusing to torment him. His eyes, were they so special? Apparently even the freaky creatures that go bump in the night thought so.

"They come in handy in a fight though... if you'd like a demonstration, that is."

That's it. Keep up the charade. Be brave and maybe they won't see the fear percolating in your gut.

The Uchiha was scared too. Talk of

playing

with him had reminded the boy of all the scary films that he'd ever seen while in Konohagakure. He could tell that these voices meant him harm, but his muscles could not move to flee. They were held by some unseen bonds. These same muscles would not flee, as they were held in place by something even stronger than whatever power these apparitions held over him,

pride

.

"Genjutsu!"

That must've been it. Whatever had him locked in their little fun-house must have ensnared his mind into a cleverly wrought illusion. The powers of the Sharingan were many and varied. It could forge some of the most monstrous Genjutsu, but it could also break them. Ozaku strained every inch of his being, as he tried to see the reality of what was unfolding around him.

[Tsu]

The black abyss that Ozaku was trapped in would be all by silent apart from his own voice, more quite than it had been previously. The atmosphere seemed to be so tense that it would have kept a man in place alone, even without whatever force had stilled the man. As his eyes strained all he was see was the shifting shimmer of dull light against the walls of the room, rippling as water showing every detail of the room itself, just not the people within it.

Withheld anger was obvious in the man's voice, it was more shaky than before, but by no means weaker or strained. "Oh Uchiwa baiting me into a fight...how reckless of you..." Footsteps would be heard from just behind him until the sound reached around to the front. The Sharingan eyes were effected greatly by the sense of darkness the almost blind perception, but two things could be made out in the face he could now see. A skeletal white face as if half of the mans face had been torn off, and the blue eyes set with golden pupils.

"Mumei I can't hold it in anymore..." the child's voice was swiftly cut off, "Quite! Our friend here is about to find out everything, but I will be the one to tell him." This exchange would allow Ozaku to see the struggle it took between exchanges. what the hell was staring at him?

A cold hand made its way towards the Uchiha's face, brushing his bangs to the side and pressed against his skin, when it reached its destination. The thumb of the cloaked figure pulling down Ozaku's lower eye lid so the eye itself could be gazed upon almost fully. "He hoped to have eyes like this...The eyes of a killer." this last bit trailed off near the end, putting particular emphasis on the word killer.

[Cellar Door]

"Yeah, well... I'm not known for my pragmatic nature." That even made Ozaku blink in confusion. "Why am I egging this freak on?" The Uchiha boy's mouth dropped it's alotted inch in mute horror at the ghastly face that appeared near him. What Zaku assumed was a man had eyes that were absolutely astounding, and unnatural. The youth couldn't form words in his mouth or his mind that could aptly describe this creature that accosted him, stopping only to argue with a still unseen figure.

"Oh wonderful, new light to be shed on my ever deepening wishing well full of ryo and questions." Zaku hoped sincerely that the creature couldn't hear what he was thinking, as he continued his snippy inner rebuttles to each statement the monstrous figure uttered.

Then a pale white hand stretched out, poking and prodding Zaku's face as if her were some under-ripe fruit to be tested and squeezed. "Who's he you freak?" He questioned, becoming more and more agitated. "If you're going to try and steal my eyes at least give me a fighting chance."

[Tsu]

At the words 'a fighting chance' the figure jumped backwards into the total darkness once more concealing himself, at least that's what it would have seemed like in that moment. The child's voiced called out, apparently released from his silence, "Onii-san!" The voiced seemed to giggle into it's older more harsh voice before crying out in both tones "Katon; Goukyaku no Jutsu!" At first only a spark emitted from the clasped fingers as they were brought up, to who Ozaku should have realized by now was named, Mumei's mouth before errupting larger. The blazing bubble of exhaled fire would be aimed straight for the blackened crystal ceiling.

It only took a second for the massive fireball to collide shattering the surface and bringing light into the room, showing that the hooded man had his back turned to Ozaku, and if the Uchiha tried to move he would indeed find that he could move once more, only to have to avoid millions of red hot, super heated, foot long shards.

"I taught him the Goukyaku, that I did, its how we became men, so i thought he deserved to be one too Onii-sa...", the voice called out again. The voice croaked, obviously shut up my the other systemic voice. "I don't want your eyes boy, there is something more precious to you that I wish to take."

Edited August 5, 2009 by Tsu