The Last Week
Disclaimer: I don't own Shisui or Itachi or Naruto or whoever…
Chapter Two: Moansday
Don't break my achey-pachey heart
'Cause its just so small
But it's got enough space for you!
-Anushaya, friend.
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"Shisui?" Ayako frowned, alarmed that her son was up so early, "Where are you going?"
"Ita-hime's got a mission, I wanna have breakfast before he has to leave!"
"Why?"
"It's the week we became friends, so we're celebrating it…long story kaa-chan, tell ya later!" he yelled as he shot out of the house.
Ayako sighed. What had happened to the days when she'd had to shove him out of the house to go to school?
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"What? Already left!?"
"Before even his father woke up," Mikoto smiled. Sasuke ran out and into Shisui.
"Shisui
nii-san!"
"Hey there Sasu-chan!"
The ten year old scowled. "Don't call me Sasu-chan! I'm going to start the academy next week! I'm all growed up!"
"All growed up, huh?" Shisui laughed, "Ok, Sasuke-taichou, I'll remember that."
The little boy beamed at him, and Shisui ruffled his hair affectionately.
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"Rui! Dara! Get up!" Shisui hissed, scrambling in through their window.
Rui, who'd easily grown up to be the most handsome, arrogant one in the group, curled deeper into his sheets. His twin, who'd come up in the shallow end of the gene pool, had become an awkward, scrawny adolescent who hadn't yet unlocked his sharingan.
"Doom upon he who wakes us at such an ungodly hour," Dara mumbled, "Go away before I set you on fire!"
"…" Shisui sighed. He should've known better than to try and wake these two up anyway. He raced to Tsuki's house, reflecting on the past years. While Itachi had quickly graduated and become chuunin, jounin, and then ANBU, the rest of his friends had progressed at a more…normal pace. Izuki had dropped out four years ago to become an author/mangaka. Her parents had opposed her choice, understandably, but when she'd submitted a manuscript to her uncle (a publisher in Tokyo) it had been a hit. Of course she worked under a penname, so she was only famous in Konoha. The penname, much to Itachi's chagrin, was Ita-hime.
Tsuki had shown a natural talent for genjutsu and ninjutsu that her taijutsu couldn't match, and had passed the graduation exam the same year as Itachi. Determined to compete with him, she'd worked hard and become a chuunin two years ago before finally acknowledging that he just couldn't be caught up with.
Rui and Dara had goofed their way through it all and had finally graduated six months ago. They were on a team with a girl from the Inuzuka clan (Hana) under a jounin called Genma.
Shisui had graduated four years ago, and had become a chuunin four months ago. His dream was to eventually pick up after his father as commander of the Uchiha Police Squad, but that dream was far away in the future. He could afford to take his time. Uchiha was eternal.
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"Tsuki?" he whispered in the darkness of her room. She stirred in her bed. "Who's it?" she mumbled.
"It's Shisui, let's go!"
"What? Where? Go away, today's my first day off from missions in a freaking month!"
"Man, did I wake up early on a Monday for no good reason? No one wants to come with me!" he grumbled. Another head poked out from under Tsuki's sheets.
"Why are you up so early anyway?" Izuki asked.
"I was going to meet Ita-hime but he left on a mission. And…why are you two in bed together?" he raised his eyebrows and placed his palms together, "spending some quality 'girl time' together are we?"
A pillow hit him square in the face.
"Maaa,
girl, maaa," he drawled, "You don't have to get so
violent."
Izuki yawned hugely and crawled out of bed as he told
them about his idea of celebrating the 'Week of Friendship'.
"You two better not ditch us on the first two days of the Festival," Tsuki warned him, "Other than that, go on and knock yourselves out."
"Yeah, yeah," he sighed, "What should I do today?"
"Pack a picnic and surprise him on his mission," Izuki suggested from the bathroom.
Shisui grinned. "Brilliant! I think I'm going to kiss you for that! Incoming!!"
She
shrieked and locked the door just as he leapt to open it. "PERVERT!"
Tsuki yelled, throwing another pillow, "Get out!"
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Shisui hovered around his father in the kitchen, raring to go but knowing better than to interrupt Uchiha Sado in the cooking process.
"Why can't kaa-chan pack lunch," he muttered, "She'd finish faster."
"Did you say something?"
"Nope, nothing at all," his son said sweetly.
"Well, here it is," Sado declared proudly, "Go, have fun!"
Shisui nodded and walked away. Have fun…how far did his father mean that? The words of Aarai, the deputy commander floated through his head again. "Its exactly because we believe he will betray us…"
Shisui shook the disturbing thoughts out of his head. He trusted Itachi with his life. It didn't matter what others thought—Shisui knew Itachi was always right.
He just was.
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Itachi had been quiet. Well, he was always quiet, but that quietness had been so fiercely held today that his teammates hadn't even dared to speak in his presence.
He kept up a cool composure on the surface as he always did, because no one must guess that something was wrong. But just beneath the surface, his emotions bubbled and boiled and crushed him with their intensity.
Yesterday…the time he'd spent with his best friend had been heaven. He hadn't thought of this awful mission, of what must be done to gain the mangekyou without which he could never fulfill his true duty. What a cruel twist, that this week would be the week to receive those orders! Itachi pushed away the thoughts, those dark, frightening thoughts, and told himself that as a shinobi he must show no emotions, but it was pretty useless. Shisui's smiling face kept haunting him, daring him, daring him to freeze his heart enough to…enough to…
Enough to…
Itachi couldn't even think it. How was he supposed to do it? If there was anyone he might love more than Shisui, it was only Sasuke. Shisui was his best friend, his sanctuary. Shisui understood him perfectly, better than Itachi understood himself.
Could he even live without the boy? Was it even possible for him to go on breathing after he stole Shisui's life? Could he survive?
"Itachi!"
"Shisui?" Itachi frowned, "What're you doing here?"
"I brought lunch! You're done with your mission, ne?"
Itachi looked at his team, who gazed blankly back. "Yes, but—"
"But nothing," Shisui said bossily, "We're having lunch. You can report to Sandaime-sama later."
"Ossou," Itachi smiled, and his teammates nearly fainted. Dear lord, the boy smiled? He was capable of something so human?
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They found a secluded glade, and Shisui laid out the food. Itachi couldn't meet his eye. He hated himself for it, but every time he tried, he could only think of how those grey-black smiling slivers of trust would look in death, how they would look at him with hatred and disgust.
"Ita-hime, you okay man?"
"I'm fine," he said quickly.
Shisui's gaze bored into him, inescapable. "Ita-hime?"
"I'm fine."
"No you're not. I just called you Ita-hime twice and you didn't react. What's wrong?" he asked, scooting closer to his friend.
Itachi looked down at his chopsticks. "Nothing," he lied.
"I'm not stupid, Itachi. Since when did you hide things from me?"
"I'm not hiding anything."
Shisui placed a hand on Itachi's cheek. "They think you'll betray them," he said softly, "Did something happen? Does Danzou-san suspect you?"
Itachi's heart was screaming again, and it felt as though a silver knife was cutting it clean in half. Shisui cared so much, so genuinely, believe him so completely and blindly…Itachi was going to betray that trust—betray them all.
He took a deep, shuddering breath. Shisui's hand moved to his shoulder.
"Itachi," he said sadly, "Sometimes, I wish you weren't so talented. They would never have made you do this if you weren't. They would've found someone else, and you and I would never have secrets between us."
Itachi agreed with him wholeheartedly.
After that, they ate in silence, then returned to Konoha. And Shisui could no longer deny it: something was wrong, very wrong in his world.
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DUN DUN DUN
Heh, I have fun ruining the moment.