AC_D6: Hidden in Shadow (Part 2)

Before we get into today's post, I want to wish you all a 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Also, this isn't the last of this year's advent posts.

Now onto this post.

This AU had the most requests for an update. And considering I only had a tiny snippet of dialogue for what came after the first chapter, it took a long, long while to make a coherent chapter for this (most of Advent actually). But I got it done, lack of descriptions and all. 

Hope it lives up to the hype.

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Still feeling the effects of that unnatural wail, from whatever Harii’s light guardian had destroyed before it disappeared, Shikaku took longer than he would have liked to process the teen’s words. “A real curse? What is that supposed to mean?”

Eyes still searching for something among the trees, examining every visible shadow, Harii glanced at him for an instant before he said, “You know.”

Shikaku swallowed an unkind retort. But he turned to Shikamaru, “Take the fawn and this deer to the Inuzaka. Ask them for a full check-up and thorough inspection.”

Shikamaru’s pale face twisted. He wanted to argue. A full inspection would keep Shikamaru out of the Nara compound for at least half a day. Shikamaru knew that. And he didn’t like it. If Shikaku was in his position, he wouldn’t like being sent away on any pretence, no matter how logical, either.

Shikaku shot him a stern look.

This wasn’t up for a debate.

Shikamaru had to be off the property until Shikaku had a better idea of what was going on. Of what they had uncovered.

“Hyūga Neji,” Shikamaru said, the fight in his eyes dimming with a weary resignation.

Shikaku appreciated Shikamaru’s logic. An extra pair of eyes, especially Hyūga eyes would be useful in the situation. And Neji, though he was the nephew of the Hyūga clan head, could visit without them having to talk to the Hyūga main branch.

Naruto, his blue eyes wide, looked between his the two of them and his cousin- who was still scanning their surroundings with his hands raised, ready to call his ethereal guardian at a moment’s notice.

“It wouldn’t make sense for him to visit when you’re at the Inuzaka,” Shikaku pointed out.

“You need a good pair of eyes,” Shikamaru stated.

“I’ll send a clone to find Neji,” Naruto interjected with a shaky grin. Before they could argue, a clone appeared in a puff of smoke and disappeared from sight just as quickly.

“And then you’ll go with Shikamaru,” Harii said, showing he had been paying attention to their conversation even if his eyes were roving the trees and its many shadows.

“Nii-san,” Naruto protested.

Harii glanced back, green eyes so serious that it brooked no arguments.

Naruto bit his lip, “Will you be okay?”

Harii nodded.

Naruto stared at him for a moment but nodded with reluctance. He bent to grab the fawn and looked at Shikamaru. “To Kiba’s place then?”

Shikamaru’s surprise at Naruto’s lack of argument was probably the only reason he actually left.

The moment they were alone, without Naruto and Shikamaru, Harii grimaced.

“What is it?”

“The more I think about it, the more I’m sure I didn’t destroy it,” Harii said. “Maybe just injured it.”

“What?” Shikaku asked.

“That wail we heard,” Harii said. “It wasn’t a dying wail. It was more of an injured wail. That thing, whatever it was, escaped when it hit us with that wail.”

“How can you even tell the difference between a dying wail and an injured wail of something like that?”

Harii turned to him with an unimpressed look. “Something happened to you when it wailed.”

“I was just shocked at the unexpected sound,” Shikaku said, defensive.

“No, it was more than that. It was something that made you send Shikamaru away, to keep him safe,” Harii pointed out.

Shikaku felt a flicker of annoyance at being read so easily.

“Also, I don’t think you noticed, but your shadow,” Harii lowered his voice, as though unsure if he should continue.

“What about my shadow?” Shikaku asked with dread.

“It separated from you,” Harii said. “Yours and Shikamaru’s shadows both separated from your bodies for an instant.”

“No,” Shikaku breathed out, even as he remembered the shudder of his shadow after the wail.

“I know what I saw,” Harii said.

Shikaku didn’t doubt the truth of his words but the thought of something being capable of separating him and his shadow was terrifying. “If it only affected the two of us...”

“It’s connected to your clan,” Harii finished the terrifying thought. “Or at least your shadow techniques.”

“How?” Shikaku asked, not expecting an answer.

With his eyes still scanning the surrounding area, Harii said, “I wonder if this has something to do with souls.”

Shikaku startled. “What?”

Harii blinked, as though realizing what he‘d said out loud. Behind green eyes, Shikaku could see a dozen thoughts. But the teen said in a careful tone, “Some people say shadows have a connection to a person’s soul.”

“And what do you think?” Shikaku asked, voice steady even though the words unnerved him. The philosophy of shadow and soul, though still heavily debated, was one of the secret foundations of their clan techniques.

Harii hesitated for a moment but said, “there are things that would happily take a person’s soul.”

“You have knowledge of those things?” Shikaku asked.

Green eyes darkened with more than just deadly knowledge. Experience lingered behind those eyes.

“Do you know what that thing is?” Shikaku asked instead.

“Even though I didn’t get a real look at it, it’s not something I know about.”

“But you think it might be similar to the things you know about?”

“I don’t know,” Harii conceded with a shake of his head. “They only affected animals until I... woke it up.”

“What do you mean?” Shikaku asked. It was better to ask directly than try to phantom the teen’s thoughts.

“The things I know about, they’re different. One has a shadow like appearance but devourers people whole leaving nothing behind. They don’t go after animals because they like the taste of humans too much. And the other,” Harii grimaced.

“And the other?” Shikaku prompted. “They also look like shadows?”

“No,” Harii said. “They’re not something you can see.”

“If they cannot be seen...”

“I can see them,” Harii interrupted with an unhappy whisper. “And even though you won’t be able to see them, you’ll feel them. If you feel unnaturally cold and start reliving your worst memories, then they’re around.”

“That doesn’t sound as bad at the other one.”

“That’s just it’s presence, not what it does,” Harii said.

“What does it do?” Shikaku asked, wondering if he’d get an answer.

There was a long silence fraught with tension before Harii whispered, “It takes the soul out of a person, leaving only an empty husk behind.”

Shikaku reared back. “That’s... you’ve seen them.” Shikaku wasn’t sure if he was asking about the things or the people who‘d been affected.

Harii’s lips pursed in a grim line, his silence a chilling answer.

“They’re not the ones behind this?”

Harii shook his head. “They also don’t bother with animals.”

“Why can you see them?”

Harii looked at him, as though searching for something in Shikaku. Evidently, he didn’t find it. “It doesn’t matter. We’re not dealing with them here.”

Shikaku bit back the multitude of questions he wanted to ask and said, “What do you want to do now?”

“You’re asking me?”

“You’re the one with the most knowledge,” Shikaku pointed out.

Harii took a few minutes to think about it. “I’d like to wake more deer. Might be safer than searching for the...”

“Okay,” Shikaku agreed without hesitation. “It looks like our extra set of eyes is here.”

Clad in his clan’s trademark white outfit, Hyūga Neji stood out on the shadowed Nara property. Stopping a few steps away from them, he bowed and said, “Nara-san, I heard you needed an extra pair of eyes.”

“Off the record,” Shikaku said, even as he questioned bringing another outsider into an unknown but potentially dangerous clan situation.

Neji nodded. “Of course.”

Glad for the easy acceptance, Shikaku motioned towards Harii, “Neji, I don’t think you’ve met Naruto’s cousin before. This is Harii.”

At the introduction, Harii stopped his narrowed eyed examination of each shadow and turned to greet the other teen. When he caught sight of Neji, his green eyes widened with wonder. If it had been any other time, Shikaku would laugh at the teenage reaction. But the look disappeared as soon as it appeared, “Nice to meet you.”

Neji nodded with polite curiosity. “Same.”

“We’ll be heading to another of the affected deer,” Shikaku said, turning to lead the way towards where he knew Suzaku would be. The teens followed in silence, Harii’s steps the warier of the two.

When they reached Suzaku, he looked up from the unconscious deer he was tending to with a questioning look at the teens.

“We’ve found a way to wake the deer,” Shikaku said.

Suzaku raised an eyebrow, wanting an explanation. His position as Shikaku’s adviser within the clan always made him want more than Shikaku said.

Shikaku motioned that he’d explain later and turned to Harii only to pause at the teen’s narrow eyed look at a distant point. “Is it here?”

Harii shrugged, “I can’t see anything but I feel like it’s around.”

At Suzaku’s look, Shikaku said, “Neji, I need you to keep a watch on the shadows.”

“Which ones?” Neji asked, the veins along his temple already bulging as he activated his Byakugan.

“All of them,” Shikaku said.

Suzaku stood, the first inklings of worry clouding his brow as he prepared his shadow for an attack.

Not reassured by the Hyūga’s gaze, Harii hesitated for a moment before he turned to the unconscious deer and raised his arm. The stag, gleaming bright with silver white light, emerged once again and headed straight to the unconscious deer with no prompting.

Suzaku’s dark eyes followed the stag and his hand twitched towards it, but a warning sign from Shikaku stopped Suzaku from doing anything.

As the silver stag lowered its head to the deer, something black flickered in the corner of Shikaku’s eyes.

He turned.

But there was nothing.

The deer woke with a soft warble.

Shikaku turned back and nodded at the shocked but relieved Suzaku crouched beside the deer.

The stag raised its head and raced past them to Harii.

Harii, who had been staring at them, turned just in time for a large black shape to jump right at his face. He fell with a pained sound but fought back, keeping the black shape from his face.

The stag, antlers lowered to attack, struck the black shape without a sound, throwing it off and away from Harii.

The black shape stood, unhurt. It turned, allowing Shikaku a better look at its form. A dog. But it wasn’t like any dog Shikaku had ever seen before.

Neji, byakugan fading to normal, stared at the scene with confusion for an instant before he raced to Harii with chakra blazing around his fingertips.

“What are you?” Harii muttered, pain lacing his words as he stared at the dog-like creature.

The creature ran straight at Harii.

But the stag met it head-on before it could reach Harii.

The wail, when it came, was worse than the last time.

Shikaku’s bones rattled and the indescribable sensation that echoed through his shadow brought him to his knees.

When the sensation passed, Shikaku opened his eyes to find Suzaku at his side, pain and worry etched on his face. Leaning on Suzaku, Shikaku stood with a grimace. “No waking any more deer until we come up with a better idea of what’s going on.”

Harii, being supported by a shaken Neji, didn’t respond.

His silence didn’t worry Shikaku until they were all seated inside Suzaku’s house.

“My apologies. I didn’t see it,” Neji broke the heavy silence over them, a sliver of unease in his voice. “Until Harii-san fell, I didn’t know there was anything wrong.”

“It didn’t have any chakra?” Shikaku asked.

Neji shook his head. “I didn’t see anything with my byakugan.”

“At least we got a look at its real form,” Shikaku reassured the teen.

“That’s not it’s real form,” Harii said.

Shikaku sat up, despite his body’s protests. “You’ve figured out what it is?”

“No,” Harii stared at his fingers. “But that shape. It didn’t have that shape before. It took that form on purpose this time.”

“Do you recognize that form?” Suzaku asked, much gentler than Shikaku could have ever managed.

“My godfather,” Harii said after a long moment. The longing in his voice was more painful to witness than the raw grief in his eyes. He took a deep breath, to try again, “My godfather had the ability to change into a dog. That dog.”

Shit.

Shikaku curled his fingers in anger at the situation.

They’d poked some unknown sentient danger awake and now it was targeting the only person who could counter it.

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Okay, I lied at the end of the previous part.

Harry actually might not be so good at dealing with curses. 

Polar