Disclaimer: yaddayadda don't own
Reviews are always welcome. If you get sad, i want to know it. enjoy.

Shisui paused as he walked on the path that was up the hill from the large pond and the wooden pier that was a classic practice point for Uchiha. There was only Sasuke there today, his small, eight year old frame standing on the edge of the wooden pier, handsigns flashing as he worked to practice and perfect his jutsu.

He looked down at his small cousin, his usual smile gone, even though he held in his hands two sticks of dango. In fact, a dark frown had pressed its way onto his mouth. When he looked at Sasuke, all he could see was his brother, Itachi, in the darkness with that man, the man with the long black hair and the twisted smile.

In his ears were the half whispered words Mangekyo and You will need it for the massacre, and his heart clenched in his chest. He could still see Itachi's pale face, looking up at the man with lips pressed firmly together and eyes dark with understanding. The death of one closest to you, of one you care greatly for, the words were poison in Shisui's veins.

He knew who Itachi would pick. He knew it, deep in his bones. There were only two people the thirteen year old boy could choose from. There was himself, Itachi's best friend, his possibly more than best friend, and there was Sasuke, his round faced baby brother who adored his every word, and mimicked his every action.

Shisui had already decided that it would not be that way. He painted the smile on his lips and headed down the hill, down the path towards Sasuke. "Hey! Sasuke!" He called out to the child.

Sasuke looked around, smiling at first and then giving a little pout and said, "Oh, it's just you, Shisui."

"Just me? Is that what you're gonna say to the cousin who's brought you some delicious dango to eat?" Shisui waved one of the sticks to his cousin. "Take a little break from training and have something to eat, squirt."

Sasuke continued to pout, but he took the treat and bit off the first dango. Shisui laughed and sat down at the edge of the pier. After a minute or so, Sasuke joined him, kicking his legs over surface of the water as he ate his dango. Shisui smiled to his cousin, keeping his eyes half closed as he activate his mangekyo sharingan. He had a lopsided smile as he ate from his own dango stick. "Haven't you always wanted to swim in this pond?" Shisui asked softly, twirling the half eaten stick.

"Mhm, but it's too deep," Sasuke mumbled, his mouth half full of food.

"That doesn't matter though, does it?" Shisui spoke, ever so softly, with his mangekyo whirling under his mostly closed eyes and the red tears collecting in the corner of his eyes. "Even though you've forgotten how to swim, that doesn't matter." He glanced out of the corner of his eye and watched as Sasuke got that dazed expression that someone got when he used his mangekyo on them. "If you want to go swimming, you should go for it."

"Should…go…" Sasuke mumbled.

Shisui nodded and closed his eyes, focusing for a moment on Sasuke's mind. He picked and pulled at the memories of Sasuke learning to swim until they were nothing more than useless threads. Then he redoubled Sasuke's desire to go into the large pool of water. When he finished, Shisui rubbed his forehead at the beginnings of a headache. Sasuke blinked and shook his head before eating his last dango stick.

The eight year old boy tossed the stick towards the water, but Shisui snatched it out of the air with a grin. "Ah ah, don't litter." He waved the pair of empty sticks and then stood.

"Shisui? What's wrong with your eyes?" Sasuke looked up at him. "Are they bleeding?"

Shisui reached up and touched his eyes. The bloody tears had fallen, even with such short usage. "You know what, I'll go get this looked at, why don't you stay here and train, hm?" He ruffled Sasuke's hair and smiled, walking off.

Sasuke gave an annoyed shout to him when Shisui ruffled his hair and frowned at his cousin's back. As Shisui ascended up the hill again, Sasuke turned back, looking at the large pool of water. He looked down into the water, leaning farther and farther over until…

The splash put only a slight hesitation in Shisui's step. He didn't look back and he didn't go any faster as he walked away, twirling the dango sticks in his hand as he walked down the path.

Dinner time came as dusk settled over the compound. Shisui had a package to deliver from his mother to his aunt Mikoto. As he was headed into the house of the Head family, Itachi was headed out. He smiled to his somber cousin and walked over, "Hey Itachi!"

"Oh, Shisui," Itachi gave a slight smile and nodded back to him. He stopped, though he glanced over his shoulder, looking out towards the exit of the compound. "Have you brought something to mother?"

"Yeah, just a little something from mine." Shisui said, "You headed out somewhere?"

Itachi nodded, "Sasuke is not back for dinner yet, I am going out to find him."

"Well all right, I'll see you later then," Shisui gave him a little wave and walked past and into his house.

He knocked on the door and was greeted by a worried looking but smiling Mikoto. She let him in and offered him something to drink for his trouble. "We're not starting dinner until Sasuke gets here," She said in explanation at the set table, the food all out, but neither her nor Fugaku eating.

Shisui sat with his elbow on the table, smiling and drinking the tea. Fugaku paid little attention to him and was flipping slowly through the pages of a book while Mikoto spoke with her nephew. By the time that Shisui was ready to go, his tea finished, the sun had set completely. He stood and stretched out his back, "Thank you for the tea, Mikoto-san, have a good night!"

She stood as well, "Thank you for coming by again, and thank your mother for me." She walked with him to the door and just as he'd put on his shoes again, the front door burst open.

Itachi stood in the doorway, soaked from head to foot, his long black hair pulled free of his ponytail and his red eyes wide open with the red tears of his new mangekyo dripping down his face. In his arms he held his eight year old brother, his skin ashen grey and his lips blue. Sasuke's hair and clothing were plastered to his face and body from being submerged in water.

The two inside the house stared at him in slack jawed awe as Itachi said with a hoarse voice, "Sasuke. Sasuke is dead."

The night was moonless.

Shisui stared up into the cloudless sky and waited, hands in his pockets, in a dark corner of the compound. He could hear the people falling around him. The screams cut short. The cries arching into the night and then shattering into silence. The moans torn out of throats. It all ended in silence eventually.

He closed his eyes when he felt the last living form of the compound, the last chakra signature came close to him. There were two footsteps and then he was no longer alone. He let his eyes open to see his younger cousin standing before him. Itachi's pale skin glowed in the starlight and the blood on his clothing was as red as his spinning sharingan.

Shisui smiled, tilting his head to the side, "There you are, you about done?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly, "Shisui…"

"What?" He asked, "You think I didn't know?"

Itachi frowned and his hand tightened upon his ningato.

"Of course I knew, do you think I'm an idiot? I was supposed to spy on you, I did spy on you." Shisui declared, "I saw you talking with that man. I heard how you had to get the mangekyo, how everyone had to die. What did you expect from me?"

"Why didn't you stop me?" Itachi asked, bewildered, "If you knew, why didn't you stop me?"

"Because, I wanted to be with you. I wanted to leave this place with you. I don't want to fight you."

"But I killed everyone," Itachi cried. "Your parents, my parents, everyone!"

"Not Sasuke." Shisui replied, his eyes darkening. "You couldn't have killed Sasuke, not even to get the mangekyo."

Itachi stiffened, but he said nothing.

A dark smile crossed Shisui's lips as he gestured wide with his hands, "I know I'm right. You would have never been able to kill him, even if you got the mangekyo in a different way."

"Yes." Itachi replied curtly, "But he did die and I did get the mangekyo that way." He frowned at Shisui's smile. It made his stomach churn unpleasantly.

"If not him, I know you would have picked me," Shisui murmured, stepping closer to Itachi, "It would have been my death to fuel that new sharingan of yours." He reached out a hand and cupped Itachi's cheek, wiping the blood away with his thumb, "But it doesn't matter," he whispered, "See, I took care of all that for you, so you wouldn't have to choose between us."

"What?" Itachi took a half step back, pulling his face from Shisui's hand.

"I chose for you. I did what you could not." Shisui murmured, "I killed Sasuke."

Itachi's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Hellooo, Itachi, didn't you hear me? I took care of him, you took care of the rest of them, now wherever you're going, I am going to follow." Shisui grinned to him.

Itachi looked at him like he was crazy, but even as he did, his eyes widened like he was crazy. His blade twisted in his hand and suddenly Shisui's eyes widened and his smile was gone. He staggered back, pulling the blade from his belly and stumbling back against the wall. "Itachi…"

Without a word, the thirteen year old boy stabbed his cousin again and again, each time running the blade deeper and deeper into his chest and stomach. Shisui leaned against the wall, blood staining his chest and dripping down his body. He reached out for Itachi, but as he took a step forward, he stumbled down onto his knees and then flat onto the ground.

Itachi stared down at his dead cousin, shaking so badly the ningato dropped from his hand. He fell to his knees and lifted Shisui's head onto his lap, "Shisui," he whispered, "I'm sorry. That was a stupid joke you told me and I overreacted," He laughed weakly, "Haha, stupid joke. I'm sorry." He bent over, burying his fingers in Shisui's hair and sobbing into the back of his neck, "I'm sorry, Shisui."

"Please…." Itachi sobbed, alone in the dark, "please… don't leave me alone."

end