The chickens are rather jumpy today.
I drag a bag of feed to the courtyard they reign over. Like a peasant servant, I pull the bag open for them to eat.
A chicken jumps up and tackles me to the ground.
Fuck! When did chickens get so strong?
The feathered creature turns its head, revealing a pair of Sharingan.
"Why didn't you save me?" the chicken — who sounds like my dead mother — demands.
The sky darkens, the sun sets in an instant.
Rain of blood pours down as the other chickens swarm around me.
"Why didn't you save us?!" they scream.
The grain sticks to my skin, soaked in blood.
The chickens peck away at their meal… and my skin along with it.
I wonder if I'm tasty?
#########
"Uchiha-san…" Chōjūrō whispers gently.
"Here," I reply instantly.
"Wo… you're awake?" he asks, eyebrows raised.
"No… I just woke up," I sneeze.
"Oh… well… thanks for the coffee," he says sheepishly.
"Thanks for drinking it," I get to my feet and look through the metal pipe that works as a spyglass. The pipe goes all the way to the top of the tree, so I can see pretty much the entire treeline.
He glances around, then heads straight to bed with a sigh.
It's 1 a.m.
The moon is high in the sky.
Smelling dust… yeah, Kankurō is looking around all right.
More like scouting the place.
I make two cups of instant coffee.
"Ehm…"
Kankurō stops moving.
"Oh… you," he says without looking.
"Dig something up?" I ask.
"None of your business."
"It is my place, you know," I mumble as I place the coffee on the floor.
I hear a sigh as he takes the cup.
Good — if he trusts me enough to drink, he might trust me enough to talk.
"So, how are you guys related?" I ask bluntly.
He turns his head. His war paint makes it look like he's angry, but in reality, he's weighing his answer. At least… that's what I think.
"Come on, you guys look nothing alike," I point out.
Kankurō sighs.
"We may have different mothers, but our father is the same," he answers.
"Oh…" Well, that was anticlimactic.
"And we were all candidates for the jinchūriki," he drops the bomb.
"Gosh! You should start with that," I almost spill my coffee.
"Why start with this when I have actual blood relation to speak of?" He goes back to reading the scroll he was trying to hide.
"Speaking of blood," he suddenly remembers. "I'm rather curious about your brother, Uchiha Itachi." He now turns his full body toward me.
I take a deep breath, sip my coffee.
"You mean my sister?" I ask as usual.
"So… he's a she?" Kankurō raises what I think are his eyebrows — though he might have shaved them off for the war paint.
"See? That's how you start a conversation," I say, putting my eyes back on the spyglass.
"I see…" Kankurō seems more curious now.
"It's… nothing complicated, really. She went crazy, went rogue, killed off the clan, and then joined the Akatsuki," I say with a shrug.
"That's it? Just like that?" Kankurō doesn't buy it.
Yeah… I get that a lot. Even the most smooth-brained person can smell the bullshit in this story.
Or maybe it's the way I tell it?
"Why did she leave you alive?" Kankurō asks the important question.
"There's some weird stuff about siblings killing each other and getting stronger Sharingan… or maybe she's keeping me as a spare pair of eyes in case hers burn out from overuse. I don't know," I say.
"So, what are you gonna do about it? Just sit on your ass until she feels like taking the spare? Don't want to avenge your clan?" Kankurō leans against the wall.
"Whoa, what's with all the pressure, man? Chill out," I wave my hands.
He raises his hands in surrender.
"None given", he says with a grin.
Geez. He kind of reminds me of Naruto.
Gosh… I miss that guy.
"I'm working on it," I say with a smile.
"Then you'd better get to it… or else someone else will beat even your sister to it," Kankurō huffs.
"You mean Orochimaru?" I say nonchalantly.
The room temperature drops. I see Kankurō tense up.
But he doesn't move. This is my place. My territory.
His body will hit the floor the moment I feel like it.
I simply approach him and grab his shoulder.
"You're not the only one with friends in high places, dude," I say with a smile, taking the cup from his hands.
"If you're not gonna rummage around anymore, may I suggest you get some shut-eye? We have a long day tomorrow," I return to bird-watching.
He never went to sleep. His puppet lay on the bunk while he watches me all night.