Night time struck without a warning. Neither Itachi nor I knew how many minutes or hours it has been since we"ve both began fighting off Xavier. The man seems to be breaking no sweat whatsoever, but I"m already at my limit… I"m sure Itachi is nearing his too.

At this point, both Itachi and I are very sure that Xavier"s just tiring both of us out for… whatever reasons, and… it"s working out for him, unfortunately. We"re also pretty sure that something big is going to happen once—

My golden eye, or whatever it is, is gone ages ago and it completely drained me. It, fortunately, left enough chakra for me to avoid basic attacks coming from the man in white, but it completely made me useless whenever the man uses his Sound Wave or whatever. Itachi saves my b.u.t.t every time the mad man unleashes it now. Itachi and I have switched roles protecting each other from that attack ever since my golden eye flickered out.

I quickly flipped back (oof, gymnastics) to avoid a kunai hurdling towards me. It cut a few strands off of my shoulder-length hair but it"s nothing to worry about. I"m going to be a dead weight if I can"t protect myself, geez. I"m a ninja, for f.u.c.k"s sake.

But, then again, not all ninjas can protect themselves. They"ll more likely want to protect their home land rather than themselves. Of course, I want to protect mine as well but if I die now, I can"t protect this land later, am I right? Who knows what"s to come in the future?

I certainly don"t. Totally.

Actually, I may be one of the ones who can"t protect themselves because… I completely lost my footing upon landing from the backflip I used to avoid the kunai… and at the very end of my vision, I saw Xavier disappearing from where he was before abruptly appearing just a few feet above me.

I very well knew of what"s happening, but it seems like my body"s reaction is way too slow than my brain"s. It"s, like, my brain already knows what"s happening, so it goes on and tell my body to react, but my body is way too delayed to do so.

This is where I, for once knew, that I horribly f.u.c.ked up.

At the corner of my eyes, I saw Itachi"s expression change when he realised that Xavier finally reached me. His reaction was a bit delayed as well, probably due to his injuries and fatigue that had built up over the course of time.

Just before my mind had the chance to flash my life before my very eyes, and before my back hit the hard ground, two shiny silver arrows knocked back Xavier away from me. Another arrow pa.s.sed by me and landed a good feet from me when fell on the ground.

I quickly picked myself up and backed away from Xavier and neared Itachi, wandering my eyes around to see whoever shot those arrows. It was to my surprise when I heard a familiar voice coming from the back.

"My, my… I missed one arrow…" I turned around to witness my very pregnant mother bringing her bow down to check on us. "Are you boys okay?" She asked in her rather disturbingly sweet tone, "I suppose not because of the injuries that you both have acquired?"


"We"re a bit late, aren"t we?" Another familiar voice came in. Then, black shadows came from behind kasan and snaked its way through us until it reached Xavier, completely immobilising him. "I hope nothing serious happened while we were being held off?" Tou-san came out of the shadowy forest, his arms casually folded despite of him casting a strong jutsu to hold off the man in white.

Okay, I need to learn that. I can"t even hold off Shisui with my Shadow Paralysis for more than a minute.

Wait. I don"t need to get side tracked because… dear G.o.d, my parents are way stronger than I"ve ever imagined.

"K-Kasan? Tou-san?" I blinked, astonished to what they had just done, "Wha… how? I mean…???" We can"t even hold off Xavier yet my parent"s combined attack already brought him down.

"Oh, sweetie. We wouldn"t just let you get taken away like that." Kasan then casually strolled over to me, her free hand already glowing green as she hovered it over my fresh flesh wounds. Her chakra felt warm as it coursed through my body, healing every wound I have, piquing my interest.

Medical Jutsus really are interesting.

"As soon as Sasuke-kun arrived, he basically screamed for us to come aid my dearest son and his dearest brother." Tou-san chuckled, giving his gaze to Itachi, "I swear, Itachi-kun, Sasuke-kun will grow up with no shame at all."

Only if you knew, tou-san, only if.

"Anyways," Kasan then turned to heal Itachi, "on our way here, we were stopped by many people with masks. It was rather creepy. They were acting against their will, as if the mastermind knew that we can"t mindlessly attack since they are villagers, after all… so it took us a while to get here." She then smiled at Itachi, who just stared at his disappearing wounds, "There are people on our side coming as well… they let us go here first though." Kasan finished, just as she finished healing Itachi.

"That"s just first-aid, Itachi-kun." Kasan reminded him, "Don"t move around anymore if you don"t want two of your broken bones to stick into your lungs." she casually followed up. I found it very creepy to hear my mother say those words with an everlasting smile on her face.

"Isn"t this the one who put both you and Shisui in a near death situation, Orion?" Tou-san asked me, standing in front of the pinned down and bleeding Xavier. "His appearance matches the description of that uncle of yours. His mask"s detail is also hard to miss. So, this is Xavier?"

"Uh…" I don"t really know if I should answer his question… he seems… furious.

It doesn"t look like he"s furious, but, trust me, he is. He"s giving off such deathly aura that it"s very suffocating. It was enough to make the ones present at the scene, Itachi, kasan, and me, to suffocate in it.

"Orion." His somehow calm voice gave away that he is furious.

"Yes—" I couldn"t finish my words when I saw him raising his shadow covered hand that looked like it could erase whatever"s in the way, about to strike down Xavier. I quickly made myself appear in between him and Xavier with my body blocking my father. "Wait." I said, standing bravely in front of my father, despite of having my hands shake nonstop, "Listen to me first."

I may have sounded rude, but tou-san is literally going to kill off Xavier right in front of his child"s eyes—and that child being me, of course… and that"s just totally messed up. I didn"t know a seemingly harmless (actually, he is s.a.d.i.s.tic, isn"t he?) Nara like him could be this ruthless when it comes to situations like this. I understand that he"s very angry at the man who almost killed me, his son, but that"s just…

"Orion." Tou-san lowered his hand, fixing up his composure, "Why are you protecting him?"

I sighed, clenching my fists to hide my shaking hands. "Tou-san… you were about to kill in front of me." I emphasised his words, his eyes twitching as he realised what he was about to do. "Tou-san, as a child… do you really want me to see that? I"ve acc.u.mulated enough trauma to fear for every day… and this one"s going to be one as well?"

"Orion… I—"

"One other thing, tou-san." I brought my arms down, "Xavier saved me…" I turned around, looking at the pinned down man in front of me. He"s not struggling nor moving a single muscle. He"s just there, bleeding because of the two silver arrows stuck to his side. "I know it might sound unbelievable, but I know you"re smart enough to understand." Now I"m just plain rude, but I can"t have Xavier dying just because of a misunderstanding.

I quickly shuffled through my short"s pockets and reached for the note Xavier had thrown to me earlier before all of this happened, handing it over to my father. "He"s been secretly helping me… He"s always around protecting me whenever he could, tou-san…" I breathed.

"Itachi-niisan and I already noticed that Xavier-san is being… controlled of something much more… menacing." It"s true. We only realised it when Itachi pointed out that the strange chakra that is surrounding the man in white is in control of every inch of the man"s body thanks to his trusty Sharingan. I didn"t notice it until he pointed it out—it"s quite hard to feel or notice the strange chakra. "He"s basically just like a puppet being controlled by somebody—actually, he"s just as that."
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I then turned around to face tou-san once more, "Tou-san! Don"t kill Xavier-sa—"

I got pulled away by my father and felt a cold breeze brush over my back. My eyes widened when I realised I"m being hugged by father in a rather protective manner. I looked up, only to see that he"s looking quite cautiously to where we were before, making me curiously look back and…

Xavier broke free from tou-san"s Shadow Paralysis.

I then felt the wind touch my back. It seems like Xavier"s sudden attack had sliced my clothes open across my back. It didn"t reach my flesh though, fortunately.

"Is he really someone who"d save you, Orion?" Oh, heavens no. Tou-san"s very, very angry. He tightened his hug at me, "Because it sure looks like he"s not one for me."

"Tou-san! Look closer, please! Xavier"s being controlled!" I struggled and tried to squirm out of his grasp. I even tried my Shadow Step but for naught as he"s suppress my chakra with his, making me quite hopeless.

I then froze as tou-san narrowed his eyes when clapping echoed around. It doesn"t sound like it"s Xavier who"s clapping slowly.

My heart momentarily stopped when I heard a voice.

It shouldn"t be familiar but…

"I"m… surprised you"re still… protecting this idiot despite of him nearly killing you…"

Why is that voice giving me this… sense of… familiarity?

"Humans are… still very interesting…" There was a pause before a fit of laughter, "Oh, oh… I forgot you"re not a human… my apologies."

He"s definitely referring to me, alright.

"I can"t believe you"re helpless against this… lowly human… and is in need of protection." He sounded rather fascinated, "Have you completely levelled yourself to be a human as well?"

Tou-san"s grip loosened a bit, making me grab the opportunity to slide out from his grasp. I then noticed why he loosened his grip: he"s looking a bit horrified. I then looked at kasan and Itachi who… share the same look as my father.

I turned around, finding its cause.

My world seemingly slowed down when my eyes landed on a very… very familiar face. Why wouldn"t I be familiar of… my own face? It"s as though I"m standing in front of a mirror, the only thing is… my reflection has black hair instead of white, and has a mole under his left eye instead of his right. His hair is also rather long, matching mine"s length.

To simply put, he"s the very opposite of my being.

His golden right eye glared and glowed, sending chills down my body.

I thought I was the only one who possess this… abomination.

The longer I stared at him, the more feeling of sorrow and guilt sunk through my very being. I do not know why these feelings are in me, but they"re definitely there, nagging my heart, my mind, my body to do something about it… but I don"t know what to do.

I subconsciously raised my hand, reaching out to him. Something in the back of my head says that I should pity him… that I should protect him.

He reminds me of someone who shouldn"t be here.

"Ge—" Without a warning, we all got knocked back by this… weird force, giving me no chance to say whatever the h.e.l.l I was going to say.

I got knocked into a tree pretty hard and I"m pretty sure I"m inches into the trunk of a tree, completely stuck. I hit my head pretty hard and it"s pretty hard to stay conscious, but I somehow managed pull through and stay awake. I also managed to unstuck myself out of the tree trunk before I completely fell over to my knees.

My body completely went numb. Blood slowly leaked from my head over my eyes, making me temporarily blind in red with my right eye. I could see red in half of my vision, but it didn"t really register in my mind until someone approached me, supporting me to stand, only to sway to nowhere and land on my knees again. Only then I realised that whoever approached me is saying something, but I couldn"t clearly see nor hear them.

"Hey, can you hear me? Orion?" When I finally got my hearing back to normal, I realised that it was my father who"s helping me.

My vision is still doubled and hindered though.

"As expected, you"re still awake…" I heard a faint voice as the familiar person walked closer.

His next words sent my senses back as soon as they reached my ears, making my world utterly stop.

"… dear brother."

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