Isui had woken at least four times. The first time, he felt deathly tired and let the urge to go back to sleep consume him. The second time, something bizarre must have happened because he shot up out of his slumber just to be smothered by the black wall in front of his eyes. He vigorously fought to stay awake for the third time, brooding about what had transpired in the bathroom. The fourth time evoked a feeling in him too terrifying to fall back into the covers. It was the dread of extinction, sudden non-existence, never waking up again.
Isui stared blankly into the void, counting the seconds, hoping something would happen. He felt nauseous. His mind was working in overdrive, trying to make sense of the crisis he found himself in.
Where was he, and where was the voice that had accompanied him the whole day? To whom belonged that voice? What did it want from him?
The best description he found was sleep paralysis. Another question came to his mind.
Isui was still alive, was he? Kami, come and redeem him of this place, he prayed. It was punishing enough that he perished in such an unspectacular way, right?
Boruto tried not to let the worry get to him. Isui was gone for at least half an hour now. So he, Shikadai, and Inojin decided to look for their brother and friend. Instead of finding Isui, they discovered a shattered sink, several bashed-in mirrors, and the crushed hair tie Himawari had gifted Isui a while ago in a bathroom.
"We should inform a teacher," said Shikadai, who was kneeling in front of the broken shards. His sharp indigo eyes spotted multiple stains of fresh blood on the etches of the glass. It was not much crimson liquid on them. Shikadai guessed if he took the hassle and puzzled the mirrors back together, the fragments would form the pictures of fistpunchs in every frame. Such injuries were painful but not life-threatening. But he hoped that Isui was otherwise okay.
Inojin read Shikadai's expression and stated the conclusion of the black-haired boy's thoughts.
"It looks like someone fell into a rage in here."
"Hmm..." hummed Shikadai absentmindedly.
"Guys. The violet aura is here again."
Shikadai and Inojin's eyes snapped towards Boruto. They could not see his face, but he was pointing at a spot in the wall.
"Follow me."
With that, he was out the door, and the other two boys followed him hot on his heels. The encounter with Metal Lee played in the back of their minds.
A figure lit up in front of Isui. It was the back of a tall man in a back cape with black spiky hair. The man's head turned, revealing half of a porcelan facial features and one black eye.
"Otou-san." Isui breathed, disbelieving what he saw.
"Come, my son." The man commanded in a voice that brought tears to Isui's eyes. His father started walking, and Isui followed. How he did it did not matter.
"Otou-san, wait!"
Running.
Be as fast as possible.
But running also increased the danger of falling and toppling over. Inconsequetal.
"Otou-san," he cried out.
But.
No matter how much he struggled with every step forward, his legs felt shorter and shorter, and his father became taller and taller in the distance. Looming. Consuming.
No
NoNo
NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
This could not be happening. Isui's father would never... had never ignored him... he loved him... he would turn and hug him... father loved him... he missed him.
"Otou-san!" Isui saw the outstretched hands of a baby in front of him.
Time came to a halt.
His father was gone. Father is gone. Gone.
The man in front of him could not be his father. The man that gave him life was gone for years now.
Who was that imposter? Isui felt the beginnings of a fire deep within him. Was he toyed with again?
"Ah"
Pain in his head made his body stop running.
"Boruto, I need to get close to him."
"How close?"
"The improper kind of close."
"Got ya. Shadow clone jutsu."
Boruto, Shikadai, and Inojin had found Isui a few minutes ago. Or rather, the Uchiha had tried to assassinate Inojin from behind to be discovered by Boruto in time. They had been battling for a while now.
Isui picked up a kunai-sized glass shard and threw it like a kunai at Shikadai, who jumped to the side, eyes flickering from the blood stains on the glass back to Isui's hand. His best friend enveloped the Boruto's in a Taijutsu fight, seemingly uncaring of the crimson liquid running down the fingers of his main hand.
"He is not himself," Shikadai said, his head spinning back to the fight against Metal Lee. Could the incident be knotted what had happened prior? If so, Isui was not accountable for his actions.
"No shit," Boruto murmured as he evaded another punch by sliding sideways. He twisted his body so his back was not shown to Isui and unceremoniously brawled the black-haired boy's body to the ground.
"Inojin!" he shouted over his back as he managed to pin one of Isui's arms down. Two drawings of centipedes wrapped themselves around Isui, holding him down.
"There is one positive thing about the situation."
The pale blond boy earned a glare from Shikadai, who carefully closed hand signs.
"His eyes are black, and he is out of sharp objects to throw," Inojin pointed out. Otherwise, Isui would be even more of a nightmare to deal with.
"Schadow possession jutsu," Shikadai said, and his shadow stretched intending to envelop Isui. But the boy managed to wriggle himself out of the clasp of the ink monsters and jumped away in time.
"Ahh... again." Shikadai jelled in frustration.
Then.
"Ahhhhh!" Isui started to holler in front of the trio, stunning them.
Boruto gritted his teeth as he watched his brother bend his body in all sorts of directions with his hands on his head. The lilac aura swirled around him like a tornado. Instinctively, he knew Isui was suffering through a battle over his own body, alone.
"Punch me..."
"Punch me hard."