Cleaver sword

[Been another 48 hours, gonna skip and claim the hit on the water clone.]

Seeing as the water clone had done nothing to dodge or even block the sword, it would smash through him and embed itself into the soft dirt. From there, Darui's clone would take note of the rain and sense that Kouse's presence was seemingly gone. Leaning over he placed his hand on the back of the blade, and with a tug popped the hunk of steel from the dirt. He allowed his arms to rest, hanging from the weight of the blade which was sitting at his waist. The clone would then wait for Kouse to show himself, or for the boy's chakra to run out.

Darui himself would begin to back up once more, once again putting enough distance between him and the fight that was about to take place so that he would be out of the rain. The man, or apparition of a man, or whatever kept sensing the area for chakra signatures just in case.

'He opened his eyes'.

Kouse would unintentionally deactivate the hiding in the rain technique...he would stand 25 meters away daruis clone. Kouse would begin to walk towards said clone with sword drawn and held but long forgotten. His eyes glazed over with his lips in a weird smile, like his mind was no longer part of this world.


Couple of minutes ago--

"So you've got no other tricks up your sleeves?". Skipton communicated to kouse through telepathy.
"You can read my mind Skipton, what do you think".
"That's alright....the way things are now 'we'll' get killed soon enough".
Kouse couldn't help but take notice of the word 'we'. "Well it's not going to be 'we' if you leave me right now and go. Soon enough you'll find another companion which I hope would be much better than I was".
"Well thanks for the offer but I'll pass, it's always been the two of us ever since we met and do you think I'll leave you now when you need me the most?".
 
Kouse's eyes fluttered open in anger "So what, you choose to die along with me? When you've got every chance in the world to escape death?. That doesn't make any sense".
Kouse's mind was filled with laughter...from Skipton. "Like you previously pointed out, we are connected, and any arguments between us are pointless. We know everything about each other, the reasons for every action we make, so let's just make this as pleasant as dying can possibly be". 
"Thank you Skipton, for everything until now".
"No..it's me that should be grateful for the memories you've given me...close your eyes now...lets begin our 'journey' early......let's get lost in our memories".

Once his eyes were shut closed Skipton who all this while was inside Kouse's body attached her tentacles to his insides...filling his mind with all the happy memories his life so had experienced and also accepting the ones kouse sent to her.
The moment the link with Skipton and kouse was created, Kouse's mind was flooded with memories he previously thought had been forgotten.
         
From the day he decided to become a ninja, to the day his father walked him to the ninja academy. Learning the substitution and transformation techniques. Having his first crush. Meeting salzem...and then hikari. Going on his first mission with risako and Cole.
Meeting the scary stein and kisuke. His first meeting with Jason. Joining his first and last team which comprised of salzem,hikari and cole. Finding Skipton. Meeting and going on a mission with draconis and hikari. 
Kouse's lips twitched a little as memories of the dates he went on with hikari began flooding his mind. The letters and gifts his mother gave him, all passed down from past generations. Going on a mission with kotzosoi and kisuke. His trip to sunagakure to get sal to come back to konoha..........
'Hey kouse, why are you keeping your eyes so tightly shut?, is there something wrong?'.
Kouse's eyelids moved a little but remained shut. Yes why was he keeping his eyes shut?. He'd forgotten.
'Cmon lets get going already. Salzem and cole are waiting for us. It's our first mission together after sal came back from suna.'.
It was hikari's voice...it sounded just as it always did...so full of joy. Making kouse forget his past experiences and focus on the now.

'He opened his eyes' to see hikari smiling at him with an arm offered to him, with salzem not looking at him but waiting for kouse to get himself together.
With a quick smile at them all...Kouse Uchiha would accept the arm offered and walk slowly together with them into the bright light just ahead.