Caught in the Darkness

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Essence

Hanako opened her eyes but all she saw was white. It wasn't the kind of white that dazzles when there's too much light—she was literally staring at the color white. The brunette was trapped inside a white room. No doors. No windows. She was having trouble trying to tell ceiling from ground, left from right; it was all the same.

The Uchiha stood up but got dizzy the moment she stood straight and fell back down. The girl couldn't calculate dimensions, and her balance was severely affected.

"Calm down," she heard a familiar voice and gasped. 'Was that...?' "If you keep moving around like that, it'll only get worse."

Hanako looked around, but she saw no one. "What is this place? Where am I?"

"This is the inside of your mind," said the voice again as an echo. "Basically, the point where it all connects. This is your center." Shisui finally appeared behind her. He was looking down at Hanako with kind, understandable eyes.

"Shisui!" The girl's eyes widened immeasurably. "Why are you here? Does this mean that I am—?"

"No." He cut her off before she could finish. "You're not dead, Hanako."

"Then..." The Uchiha frowned, looking down at her hands. She was perfectly clean and recharged of energy, like if she hadn't fought at any time. "What happened?"

"You just fainted," Shisui replied calmly. He approached her with short steps and looked at her at eye level. "You overexerted your eyes. You're most probably blind, back in the real world."

"In the real world?" Hanako was stunned.

"This is your mind, another dimension. Like a parallel world, if you want to see it that way," Shisui started to explain. "I have been watching you from here."

Hanako looked at him questionably. "You've seen everything?"

"Yes," Shisui smirked. "You enjoyed that meeting you had with Itachi, didn't you?"

"Shut up." She looked away, already feeling a warmth on her cheeks. Shisui chuckled.

"I'm glad you haven't lost the spark," he said. "Although, I can tell you're confused." The girl scoffed.

"Confused? About what?"

"You should know by now that you can't fool me." Shisui looked at her with an expressionless face. Hanako only looked at him but didn't say anything. The older Uchiha sighed and looked away when he couldn't take it anymore, making the younger one chuckle.

"I'm not confused. I know pretty well what I want."

"You really want to find that symbol? Are you not worried on the slightest about what you could find?" Shisui asked in a curious but worried tone.

Hanako looked at him. "No, I'm not."

"Don't lie to me," Shisui muttered, looking at her with keen eyes. "You want revenge. You want that bastard to pay."

It took Hanako too long to realize... after she saw the weird smirk in his face and the unkind amusement in his voice when he talked about murder, she knew it wasn't Shisui in front of her.

The Uchiha girl inhaled deeply. Like a work of magic, Shisui's silhouette morphed into a girl with black hair who looked at her with the same expression. It was like looking into a mirror. The girl...was her.

"You think I don't know what you're doing next?" she asked, faking her innocence as she sat right in front of her. "Deary, that's exactly what I would do. I'm always one step ahead of you...literally."

Hanako gulped. The other girl was talking to her as if she were a lost puppy that didn't know where it was standing --and she was definitely right. If she wasn't dead, then where was she? Inside her own subconscious...maybe?