Somebody I Used To Know

Shisui turned his back to the girl laying beside him in bed, pressing his face into the pillow and sighing discontently. The empty void that had made itself known in the pit of his stomach three years ago seemed to be opening wider every day. Despite trying to fill this emptiness, he felt worthless and unsatisfied with life, practically giving up with every effort he gave. With all of the resource available to him (Skydiving, mountain climbing, deep-sea diving), nothing made him happy. Even excited anymore. Reaching for his phone, he dialed the familiar number, pressing it to his ear as the girl next to him sat up, flipping her hair over her bare shoulder.

"That's it then?"

"I picked you up at a fucking bar, the fuck do you want from me?"

"More than a quick lay? You're a cute, funny guy."

"Great, want a fucking nobel peace prize for that suck-up job?"

"I'm not kissing your ass, you know. I do wanna be with you. I don't just sleep around."

"You should make a habit of it. It becomes a hobby."

The girl looked repulsed as she threw the covers over his head. "Bastard! Who the fuck are you calling anyways? Another girl?"

"Nope," Shisui smirked, not hearing an answer from the line. "Another guy."

"You're gay?" she shreiked.

"Like Hell," Shisui snorted. "Ever heard of being bi?"

"I can't believe you used me like this."

"You came home with me. Didn't ask for your company, baby."

"You're just a lonely bastard," she threw on her dress from the previous night. "I felt something for you."

"Was that before or after you got laid?" Shisui chuckled.

Without an answer, the girl slammed the door, leaving Shisui to his laughing fit as he pressed "Redial", waiting patiently.

-o-

Itachi flipped through the pages of his favorite book, the familiar pages comforting as he lounged boredly on the chaise in his den, the view from the windows behind him stunning, the city beneath his eye. Giving the brilliant buildings a faint glance, he pushed his glasses up further on his nose, returning his attention to the task at hand.

Suddenly, his phone rang sharply, demanding his attention. Impatiently, he picked it up, looking at the name on the LCD screen.

"Shisui".

The Hell does he want? Itachi thought irritably. He let it ring, putting his phone on silent after it was over. Thought it was over a long time ago. He never could let go of the past.

Itachi found himself with fond thoughts of his past love and growled, deigning to change his number at the first chance he got.

-o-

"I don't even fucking know you anymore!" he had screamed. "You're a stranger to me now! Like you're just somebody I used to know, or something! A long-lost aquantience that wants nothing to do with me! And I want nothing to do with him, too, when ya think about it!"

"I'm no different! It's you! Ever since you became this huge star, you're always away from me! I never see you! God knows how many people you've been with on your tours."

"You think I cheat on you?" his fist slammed into the wall dangerously close to the younger one's head. "Why the fuck would I do that?"

"WHY WOULDN'T YOU?" he screamed, getting into his face and shoving him away.

The older persued the younger down the hallway, grabbing his shoulder roughly. The younger shoved him away, continuing on.

"If I'm just somebody you used to know, why the fuck would you care? Why would you care about me at home, waiting desperatly for you to come home because I'm fucking in LOVE WITH YOU?"

"Because I thought you KNEW ME BETTER THAN THAT!"

The younger began to rifle through his stuff, shoving clothes into a bag quickly.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"Leaving. I'm sick of this. You know I can't go on tours with you all the time, and despite seeing you twice a month, I'm sorry and you'll excuse me if I can't take being away from you like that..." the younger had broken down crying into his half-empty bag, smashing his fist into the bedspread desperatly, angrily. The older raked his hands through his hair, kneeling down beside him. "Look, Itachi."

"No, YOU look, Shisui fucking Uchiha. If you're too good to take a fucking break and stay with me for once, don't let me slow you down. I get it, you're twenty-seven. You wanna keep moving before life slows you down. Remember that song? The one you wrote when we were nineteen? Before this happened? Before you were famous and suddenly too good for someone like me? Someone who isn't anything to you anymore? SOMEBODY YOU USED TO KNOW?"

"YOU KNOW I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!"

"DO I?"

Itachi collapsed, his back hitting the wall as he slid down it slowly, pulling his knees to his chest and sobbing brokenly. Shisui reached out for him, ignoring him when Itachi yelled, "Don't touch me," running his fingers through his hair and letting his hand slip down to his shoulder.

"You know I love you, Itachi. Only you."

"You make me feel so lonely sometimes..." Itachi sniffled. "Leaving me for months at a time. What am I supposed to do? Wait? I ne...I need more than that..."

"I'll quit. Baby, I'll quit everything for you."

"But you'll do it with remorse. I need something more than that. I need somebody who would do it without a second thought."

"I will do it without second thought. Fuck being a singer. I'd rather have you."

"Would you really?" he asked bitterly. "'Cause you never seemed concerned before this happened."

"I always ask you if you want me to come home."

"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY?"

"YES!"

"NO! BECAUSE YOU CAN LIVE YOUR DREAMS. DON'T LET SOME STRANGER GET IN THE WAY!"

"Itachi..." Shisui muttered, pulling the younger male closer. "Don't..."

"If you don't know me anymore then why the Hell are you touching me? I thought you had boundaries?"

"Not with you. I don't want you to leave. I love you. I do. I'll quit. Right now. I'll end everything."

"My birthday."

"What?"

"You know that yesterday was my birthday?"

Shisui stopped dead. "No, Itachi, you know I had that meeting at the record company. I didn't forget it. I knew that it was. I just wanted to surpri-"

"SURPRISE, YOU FUCKING FORGOT. You don't know me anymore," Itachi stood up, looking down at Shisui coldly.

"I didn't forget! You can call! I have reservations at your favorite fucking place!"

"Oh, really. Like you remember where that is!"

"Bella Luna, you idiot! Of course I know!"

"Oh, you remembered!" Itachi squealed sardonically, shoving Shisui away again, thrashing when Shisui grabbed him from behind.

"Will you calm down for one second?"

"FUCK. YOU."

"Itachi, you know that I love you," Shisui whispered in the thrashing male's ear.

"Does that matter anymore?" Itachi resigned to his lover, letting Shisui keep his hold on him. "I'm lonely, Shisui. I need you. I need more than you. I need your attention. You promised this wouldn't come between us. And it has. No matter how you look at it, we've grown apart."

"Don't...don't say that."

"No," Itachi slipped out of his grasp, turning to face him. "No, you know it, too. You're too proud to admit it, but I can. We aren't who we used to be. Face it. We don't know eachother. We used to know everything. Everything. But it's gone now. Fame is a killer, Shisui. Your 'idol' Kurt Cobain killed himself at your age. Heroin and a nice shotgun blast to his fucking face. Do you know how many nights I've worried you've done something stupid? People get killed every day. And when you're halfway across the world, I don't know what to think. What if something happened to you?"

"That's why I have life insurance, Itachi."

"FUCK THAT. I NEED YOU! NOT MONEY. NOT COMPENSATION! YOU DIE, YOU'RE TAKING ME WITH YOU, YOU SELFISH BASTARD."

Shisui shook his head, pulling Itachi close.

"We'll make this work, Itachi."

"No. You can try, but I have enough sense to know when to put something down and admit my mistakes and hopefully move past it with as few scars as possible. I need you, Shisui. You know that. But you didn't acknowledge it until we were too far apart to remain like this. We're so distant. Your songs are what put me to sleep at night. I would listen to you as I tried to grapple with the fact that you weren't in bed beside me. What's the point in having a fucking king-sized bed if nobody's there to share it with you?" Itachi asked desperatly, wanting so bad for Shisui to fix things. "But you can't," he said lowly, tears in his voice, "You can't fix this no matter how hard you try. This. Won't. Work," he broke down again. "I love you," he said between sobs. "You know I do...but this...this isn't working. I can't...I can't!" he said simply, continuing to pack. "I love you so much, it hurts to say this. You have no idea. I would rather gut myself right now than say this but it. Won't work, Shisui. We're through..."

Shisui was frozen as he heard the front door close.

-o-

A week later, Shisui picked up his phone, the void gaping and black and threatening to swallow him whole as he felt his insides being pulled into it, his heart saved to exert the most pain possible, to torture him as he ached.

The phone didn't even ring. Instead, Shisui dropped his phone when he heard that mocking monotone.

-o-

The sunset was absolutely brilliant. Itachi leaned over the railing of the yacht, the wind blowing his hair in the most wonderful way that tempted him to pull it free of its ponytail. He felt a pair of arms wrap around his torso and he laughed happily, wrapping his arms around his lover's neck. "I never expected this! I wanted to just spend a quiet day at home with you! We're on a fucking yacht, Shisui!" Itachi smlied, hugging his lover closely.

"Get used to it, babe. Nothing but the best for you."

"Shisui...I'm...fuck it, I'm so fucking happy right now. You really did this for me?"

"Of course. I love you, 'tachi, you're my boy. I'd do anything for you."

"Then just fucking kiss me, before I have a heart attack from being so happy."

Shisui laughed, kissing him passionatly as the sun burned a bright red behind them.

-o-

"You still talk to what's-his-face?" Hana Inuzuka asked over Chinese, glancing up at the long haired man in front of her.

"Shisui?" Itachi asked calmly. "No."

"No? Ya'll were so good for eachother."

"Things just didn't work out."

"You loved him, didn'tcha?"

"Yeah. Of course I did."

"Then how could you just leave? If you really loved him, you would've stayed, despite everything."

"Hana, I was with him for fifteen years. Eight of those years were spent seeing him, on average, 30 times in the duration of that year. I loved him desperately. Still do. But I can't take that isolation anymore. Even if he quit, I would see the remorse in his eyes every single day of the rest of our lives and know that I caused that. I can't do it to him. I can't make him quit what he loves doing. He's an incredible artist. He's so talented. I could never."

Hana shrugged, chiding through a mouthful of lo mein, "You're just hurting yourself."

"It's tolerable. I've moved on."

"Really?" Hana asked incredulously, swallowing her food. "And who, pray tell, have you moved on with?"

"Nobody. I'm content the way I am. I don't need somebody else to complete my life. I have my family. My little brother."

"Dude, you're into that?" Hana gasped. "Send me pics, bro!"

"No, good God!"

"But Shisui's your cousin."

"That's different. He isn't my brother."

Hana shrugged. "I still think it'd be hot."

Itachi rolled his eyes and returned to his stir fry. "You're sick."

-o-

Their ragged breaths filled the room, the heat between them still great, despite the fact that they had been going at it since eight o'clock. It was now three in the morning and all Itachi could understand clearly is that he wanted Shisui's lips on his again and Shisui could only comply, rolling over on top of the long-haired male again and kissing him deeply.

"I've missed you so much..." Itachi whispered desperatley. "You don't even know."

Shisui smiled compassionately and murmured, "I'm home, baby. I'm home."

-o-

Itachi looked up from his book when he heard a knock at the door, pressing his glasses further up on his nose.

"I'm coming," he called, dog earring the page and laying it on the tan designer loveseat, striding over to the door cooly. He unlocked it, opening it. "Ye-..."

"You changed your fucking number?"

"Yes, I would think I wouldn't need to tell my ex-boyfriend when I changed my cell phone number," Itachi returned, leaning against the doorframe confidently.

"How the Hell...what...why? Just...why? You've been ignoring me. You don't want anything to do with me anymore? I've known you since you were born, Itachi. I know you like the back of my hand, I knew you'd do something like this. Isolate yourself. That's how you deal with everything! Every, little, thing!"

"Shisui, please, quit screaming. I have neighbours, you know."

"Yeah, with your fucking huge apartment you live in alone? I don't think they can hear us."

"What do you want? Not to sound rude, but really."

"I wanna talk to you," Shisui sighed. "Can I come in or what?"

"We can talk right here."

"What, you're shy, now? I recall when we were fifteen you were dying for me to come over every day."

"I'm surprised you remember that, considering you can't remember me."

"I do remember you. That's why I'm here."

"What for?"

"Itachi..." Shisui sighed. "I love you. I'm in love with you. I always have been. But you...being like this. I can't deal with it. I wanna keep you with me, always. Like before. Like that promise we made. Remember?"

"Of course I remember. How could I forget?"

"I wanna keep it."

"Yeah, well, fuck it. I didn't think a famous fucking A-lister would be so keen on keeping his girlish-looking ex."

"I love you, Itachi. And I know you love me, too."

"Does it matter?" Itachi asked impatiently. "Does it even really matter anymore, Shisui? Is it worth it?"

"Always. It'll always be worth it."

"Why haven't you moved on, Shisui?" Itachi asked coldly. "You've always been stuck in the past. I never thought you'd be like this. I always thought I'd cave first, and crawl back to you. But I haven't. I moved on. What about you? You've made such a life for yourself,what are you doing with it?"

"Making it worthwhile," he answered honestly. "It isn't without you, Itachi. How can you move on so easily? I can't. I need you."

"I never thought I'd see you like this. You broke my fucking heart by isolating me from the world with your captive ways, making me stay, sit, like a well-trained fucking puppy. You made me wait for months to see you in person. Yeah, I'm proud of you. But most of the time, I thought that it was my fault that you stayed away like you did. You were never around. I always thought it was something that I did. But forgive me if I didn't want to live that way. Every time you said you'd be home soon, I was so caught on those words. Four words. 'I'll be home soon'. And here we are now. You're here, but this isn't your home. It's mine. That I live in. Alone. I never thought I'd see you here."

"I don't wanna see you here! I wanna see you at home."

"So you can run off and play superstar again? Let it go!"

"I can't."

"Shisui-"

"You can't either."

"You said you didn't know me."

"I do!"

"You don't!"

"But I-"

"I'm just somebody that you USED TO KNOW!" Itachi went to slam the door in his face, but a well-timed Doc Marten in the doorframe prevented that, Shisui pushing his way into the apartment. "I'll fucking shoot you. I can. You're breaking and entering."

"I didn't break anything, but if you don't cool it, you're gonna break something."

Itachi turned away from him, crossing his arms. "I don't want you here."

"Really?"

"Yes. Really."

"Then tell me that to my face."

"...what?" Itachi glanced over his shoulder, turning to face him.

"If you can honestly tell me that you don't want me here, right now, to my face, then I'll leave. Right now. And never come back."

"I..."

Itachi stopped, staring at the older male. At twenty-nine he looked young, his eyes holding a slight glint in them that he retained from youth, a certain heartbreak, and all of his precious smiles. Shisui watched the younger crow carefully. At twenty-seven, he looked older, tear troughs beneath his eyes, darkness in the black of his iris. He'd seen Hell and back in his life, with an abusive father like his. His lips were quirked downwards and he looked as if his smiles were far and few and never heartfelt.

"I don't...I j...I don't..."

Itachi threw himself into Shisui's arms, holding him close. "Don't leave me again!"

"I'm done with all of that, Itachi. I'm done with it. You're all I care about, all I'll think about. You're my everything."

Itachi couldn't help but press closer, inhailing deeply, the scent of tobacco and cologne, grass and that distinct scent of Shisui filling him, making him complete again. Shisui held him at arm's length looking him over carefully.

"I got something important to ask you."

"...what...?" Itachi asked cautiously, preparing himself for the inevitable heartbreak. Suddenly, Shisui was down on one knee, fumbling in his leather jacket pocket for something Itachi couldn't imagine.

"I ain't...I mean...I didn't think of anything to say...I actually bought this a year ago...before...y'know...and I had it...still...in my pocket...and it kinda...just sat there. So I remembered it was there all of a sudden, so I think I wanna ask you-"

"Spit it out, Sh'ui," Itachi mumbled, smirking at the old name he used long ago.

"'Tachi, will you marry me?"

Itachi stopped smiling, his eyes widening. "Holy fucking shit, what...? I-I'm sorry, I didn't hear you right, repeat that, please?"

"I said," Shisui cleared his throat, making a large display of himself as he coughed, "Sorry. Will you, Itachi Asako Uchiha, marry me, Shisui Mun-He Shin-il Uchiha? We won't even have to change our names!"

Itachi hit Shisui in the head suddenly, and before he could take it as rejection, Itachi was on his knees with him, his arms around Shisui's neck in a tight, dependant hug.

"Yeah...you idiot. I will. I will marry you."

Shisui smiled lightly, kissing his neck.

"Just...don't...don't ever leave me again. Never. Ever leave me again. Don't even think of it."

"Never, baby. Never."

"I'll kill you. Then I'll commit suicide. I'll kill you then commit suicide, Shisui, and you don't want that."

"No, no I don't," he laughed mirthlessly. "No. I love you. I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Shisui."

"Can we get off the floor, now? My knees hurt."

Itachi laughed, too, quietly, as they stood.

-o-

The heat between them was unbearable as Itachi whispered, "I missed you so much, Shisui. You don't even know. It aches to think about it."

Shisui ran his hands down Itachi's bare sides, wrapping his arms around his lithe, lean torso, kissing him on the forehead gently as he smiled. "I have no idea? You're kidding."

"I missed you more than you missed me."

"Yeah, right."

"I isolated myself from society."

"I proposed to you."

"...point taken..." Itachi murmured. "Just kiss me again. Before I have a fucking heart attack."

"From being happy?"

"No. I haven't had sex in a year and I don't want this to turn into an episode of '1000 Ways to Die.'"

"You're stupid."

"You love me."

"Yeah...I do."

"And I love you, too. Don't ever forget me, okay? I don't ever wanna be something from your past that you want to forget."

"How could I ever? You're a fucking psycho."

"You're the one that said that I was-"

"I know...but you're the one that pretended that we never had anything together, that we were nothing."

"Let's just pretend that never happened."

"Agreed," And Shisui finally kissed him again.

-o-