Who: Sharon Carter and Itachi Uchiha When: Early June Where: The Beach What: A Random Encounter Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete Upon Posting
Early mornings at the beach was, admittedly, Itachi's favorite time of day. There was something peaceful, and serene about being out there all by himself, for the most part usually, and listening to the sounds of the waves and the cries of the seagulls. He wasn't in his usual spot, instead he was seated on a bench close by a jogging trail, with eyes closed.
His vision was fading. There was no ifs, ands, or buts about it. With each Dream his eyesight kept deteriorating and there was nothing anyone could do about it. He wondered, idly, if he would become fully blind before all of it was said and done, and if it would be a permanent change. He would learn to adapt if that was the case, however, he did hope that it wouldn't end up that way. The best part about his dreams was the new abilities that kept coming with them. His senses had heightened, among other things, and he heard someone approaching. Slowly he opened his eyes, unaware that he'd activated his Sharingan until he actually looked over at the woman and he could see her.
Blinking his eyes shifted from red to their normal dark brown, and everything went fuzzy again.
Sharon didn’t have a whole lot of free time. Working full time, and single parenting meant that Sharon was a busy bee. And she was trying her best to work off the remainder of the baby weight (not helped at all by her penchant for snacking on goldfish and graham crackers with her daughter) in her spare time. She’d dropped off Viv with her mother this morning (ridiculously early, so both baby and grandma pretty much went right back to sleep) and headed to the beach for a jog. She didn’t have to work for a while, so she was aiming for a full 5k this morning. It’d been a while since she’d run one. Getting back in shape was taking more time than she’d suspected it would.
She turned to glance at the other guy on the trail, and noticed his eyes… went funny. A weird color? And her position at the Agency meant she was supposed to keep an eye out for this kind of thing. After a moment of consideration, Sharon slowed and took a breather, standing nearby. “Morning!” She called out to him, being friendly.
"Good morning." Itachi replied with a small inclination of his head in her direction, a small smile pulling up the corners of his lips. He had a sneaky suspicion that she'd seen his eyes shift, but of course, Itachi wasn't a hundred percent on that one. It was probably his imagination, if he was being totally honest, and it wasn't as if he'd done anything wrong.
Even in his dreams, where he was supposedly a bad guy, he had only done as he was ordered and in order to save his brother and village. There were days when that burden was heavy to bear, but he'd managed to do it so far. "It's a good morning for a run." He spoke, still looking in her direction although all he saw was a vague outline of her.
No, he’d definitely done nothing wrong. Sharon was curious, though, and wanted to check out and ascertain if she’d seen correctly. If so, she should probably make contact. She nodded, still smiling and breathing a little harder than normal--because of the run. She had a water pouch hanging from her side, so she sipped once. “It really is! Are you a runner?”
"No," Itachi spoke, lips turning up slightly at the corners, "I just enjoy sitting near the beach and listening to the sounds of the ocean." Prior to his eyesight failing, Itachi had enjoyed spending his mornings at the beach reading, and practicing his new found gifts before anyone else was there. Of course, he'd learned most of the jutsu's from his dreams now. Some he was better at than others, but he hadn't had the heart to practice too much these days. Instead he focused on helping others with their skills, since it was the least he could do. "Do you come to the beach often to run?"
“Most mornings when I can get away from my other obligations.” Sharon replied. She didn’t need to go into the details of being a single mom of an infant, with a more-than-full-time job. It was a complicated mess, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. “It’s nice to sit and meditate, too, though I normally have to pick between the two.” She never had enough time for both.
Itachi understood all too well about obligations. He had plenty in his life, although with school over with at the moment his obligations weren't that many. "Either is good for the body and mind." Itachi offered her a soft smile, and closed his eyes slowly for a few moments before finally opening them again. "Sorry, I've been having some vision issues lately." He wished that they would go away, or the dreams would stop. He honestly had no desire to keep dreaming at this point, but there was nothing that could stop them.
Well, the smile was nice. Sharon returned it, giving a knowing nod as well. “Both,” she added, “in turn.” Then she cocked her head to the side, giving him a curious look, then nodded. There were things that were none of her business, but the way his eyes had shone? That seemed like something she should investigate. “What’s wrong with your vision?” She asked, sounding concerned more than curious.
That was the question of the year. Itachi wasn't sure how to answer it to someone that was a stranger. If it was someone from the Network it was easier to explain since they all knew how the dreams worked there. He let out a soft sigh, "They're not sure still. They've been running all sorts of tests though, so hopefully they'll come up with something soon." It'd been happening to him for nearly a year, Itachi was surprised he'd lasted this long to be quite honest. "I'd say I was cursed in another life, but it'd be silly to think that dreams of some place, of some time else would affect you here, wouldn't it?" He waited to see her reaction. If she was one of the dreamers then he thought she'd understand what he was really saying.
"Oh, it would be silly. For some people." Sharon agreed with him. She'd wondered if he was one of the Dreamers, one of the Valarnet folk. Because how often did she just happen to come across people with glowing eyes while she was on her morning run? She didn't know him by name or by face, though. (How could she possibly know them all?)
"There are some of us who understand how realistic certain Dreams can be. And that sometimes they bleed through to reality." It sounded absolutely crazy, but Sharon was confident he'd understand.
"I take it you're a part of Valarnet then?" Itachi glanced over at her, a light smile tugging up one corner of his mouth. It wasn't odd to run into other Dreamers, but Itachi had to be certain before he said anything otherwise they might lock him up for sounding crazy.
Of course, that wasn't how it worked in reality, but he'd really rather be safe than sorry. "But yes, that's what all of this is really. It's just a shame that I'm losing my eyesight because of them." It'd be hard to do his job at the library and well, he'd have to figure something out before the new term started. No one wanted a blind librarian.
“Yes.” Sharon replied. Sometimes she felt a little out of the loop when it came to Valarnet stuff. Her Dreams were a little unusual, sure, but they didn’t leave her with huge scars or strange powers. She had no bleedover that caused problems, not like so many. Her struggles were minimal compared to others. “Part of my job is protecting Valarnet users from the world, and protecting the world from them.” That was a good way to put it. Hopefully it wouldn’t scare him.
“What is it about your Dreams that’s causing you to lose your eyesight?” She asked.
"Who watches the Watchmen." Itachi's lips twitched up into a soft smile, "Makes sense to me, especially considering that many of us come from strange places in our dreams. He knew that in his own dreams that his world would be considered strange here.
His partner that he worked with was basically a shark. Itachi let out a long breath. There were many ways that he could explain things, but he thought the simplest way was the best. "I have a special ability in my dreams called the Mangekyō Sharingan. Overuse of that ability in my dreams has caused me to lose my eyesight as it puts a lot of strain on the user’s eyes." Itachi closed his eyes for a moment, and when he reopened them they were red and the pupils appeared to look like pinwheels. "Like this I can actually see, but it puts too much strain on my body."
Sharon quirked an eyebrow. “Is that a comic book thing? The Watchmen?” There’d been a movie with a giant, naked, blue man. She remembered that part. And a guy whose mask kept moving? Sharon wasn’t really big into that sort of thing, so she hadn’t actually seen it. But it’d made the news--there were people upset about the rating of the film, or something, she’d seen it on the television.
“Oh. Wait, so, if you use your ability to see, it makes you go blind?” She asked. That sounded a little counter-intuitive, but she trusted that he knew more about it than she did. “Is there anything you can do to slow the process?”
"Yes, it is." Itachi replied with a small nod. He'd actually preferred the comic over the movie as it'd left a lot to be desired. Of course, that was just his humble opinion.
Itachi closed his eyes, deactivating the Mangekyō Sharingan. It took several moments for him to re-open his eyes, although he spoke while his eyes were closed. "No, there is not." At least there wasn't a way that didn't involve stealing his brother's eyes, and he knew that Sasuke wasn't dreaming. Even if he was, Itachi would never entertain the idea of doing something like that to his brother. "But yes, it will eventually make me go completely blind. Well, at least I'm assuming that it will if my dreams continue the way that they are." It was hard to explain to someone that didn't share his dream space, and as far as he knew only one other person from his world was there; the Fourth. He'd yet to speak to him, although he thought that he might need to do so at some point. He'd been so young when he'd died though, but he knew that Minato knew his family.
"It's always been this way for my clan. Once the Mangekyō Sharingan is awakened in a person it slowly makes you go blind the more you use your special abilities that come with it, and well, just having them activated puts strain on the eyes."
Sharon stepped forward, watching as the man put on his power and took it off again. She knew all about this kind of thing--the Dream kind of thing, not the specifics to this man’s situation--and she wanted to help. Of course, there may have been no way to help, but Sharon wanted to try. She pulled a business card out of her pocket and held it out to him.
“Here. My card. Please contact me and I’ll see what we can do for you.” She said.
Itachi heard her remove something from her pocket, and then waited until she spoke before he reached out. He missed the first time, but the second time his fingers closed around the small piece of paper. "Thank you." Itachi stated, holding onto the card tightly in his fingers. He would put it away into his wallet once he got up, for now, however he was still content to sit there on the bench and just enjoy the warmth of the day.
"I do appreciate it, and I'll be in touch sometime." Itachi didn't know what the dreams had in store for him, or how quickly his life would possibly change. All he knew now was that he might have a little bit of hope in the world of the waking, but in his dreams he knew that the end was coming for him.