"Shisui..."

Shisui looked over at his best friend, curious. Itachi had been strangely withdrawn these past days. He wasn't very talkative to begin with, but this was strangely quiet, even for him.

"Yeah, Itachi?"

Itachi turned and looked at him, and Shisui was surprised when Itachi drew him into a hug.

"You are my most important person."

Shisui was startled by both the physical contact and what Itachi had said.

"What?"

Itachi let him go enough so that they could look at each other. "You are my dearest friend, the one I hold most dear."

"Ummm...Itachi..." Shisui was slightly alarmed at the gentle, sad, violating look in Itachi's eyes. He tried to pull away, but found that he was unable to move too far, Itachi's arms still around his waist. The boy was stronger than he looked. Shisui supposed that was another effect of being an ANBU at age 13.

"Shisui, I want to get stronger."

"You want me to help?" It was odd. Itachi was fairly self-sufficient. He didn't ask for anyone's help, ever.

"Yes. I need you to help me get stronger."

"Do you want to train together?"

"There's another way that you can help me get stronger."

"Oh? Besides training? I don't know any jutsu that you don't, I have no prominence in the clan...I doubt that you need any help with getting smarter. So what's this other way?"

The smile that Itachi gave him was alarming. He suddenly found himself falling backwards, Itachi on top of him, binding his hands and arms together as they fell from the high bridge they had been standing on. It was one of their favorite places to hang out; there was no way to tell the time there, and it was mostly hidden. A perfect place for two tween boys to plot mischief.

And, apparently, the perfect place for murder. Shisui found his vision begin to darken as Itachi used a free hand to clamp down on his throat, slowly suffocating him. They hit the water beneath the bridge, and whatever air was left in Shisui's lungs disappeared, and he instinctively breathed in; and only water met his exhausted lungs. He felt himself dying, and managed to mouth one word;

'Why?'

"To become stronger," was the soft, dangerous purr of an answer in Shisui's ear as everything faded into darkness, as he disappeared.

He had thought he would die in a glorious battle, thought he would die for the village, for the sake of a friend in battle.

Here, he was dying for the sake of a friend, but he had never thought he would be murdered by that friend.

Itachi dragged himself and the very dead Shisui out of the water, and shuddered.

There. There was a difference in him, a fluctuation in his chakra that was intoxicating. He had grown in strength. He had achieved the Mangekyou Sharingan. He was now the second in all of Uchiha history to achieve such a level of power. It was...wonderful. He pushed back the damp hair from Shisui's forehead and kissed the dead boy's forehead, feeling as the flesh cooled beneath his lips.

Had it been worth it?

Yes. It had.

Now, to make it seem like suicide.