A/N: In which Itachi passes out a lot. Chapters will be shorter from now on, sorry. 3

Yeah, God love your soul and your aching bones
Take a breath, take a step, meet me down below
Everyone's the same
Our fingers to our toes
We just can't get it right
But we're on the road—All Fall Down-OneRepublic

I never trusted good-looking boys. -Frances McDormand

Itachi kept trying to teach Sasuke how to swim without getting in the water with him.

The water of the river was deep green shot with golden light from the sun. Sasuke floundered in the shallows under Itachi's direction, often dunking himself under water and coming up spluttering. He kept asking for Itachi to get in the water, but Itachi didn't want to. There was something in the water, and while it would leave Sasuke alone, it would grab Itachi and drag him down. Itachi called encouragements as Sasuke went under again.

Sasuke stayed down to ten seconds. Fifteen. Itachi stood up from the bank and, with only a moment's hesitation, waded into the water. It was frigid, though Sasuke had assured him that the water had been warm and the sun burned down from the sky with a summer fury. Itachi reached under where his brother had gone down, searching for his brother's shirt. Itachi's hand he fabric, and he grabbed Sasuke's shirt. He pulled Sasuke up and found himself faced with an older boy, wild hair plastered to his face, feral grin breaking his face in half. He grabbed Itachi around the neck and shoved him down, cracking his head wide open on the water.

We're going to die together, let's enjoy the trip.

Itachi opened his eyes and found he was shivering so hard he'd knocked his head on the side of the boat. Shisui lay across from him, making feeble movements with his hands, his eyes fluttering open and closed as his mouth moved. Itachi thought he could make out his own name in the motions. Shisui was probably cursing him. Itachi smiled at the thought and told himself it was time to get up and get them back to shore. He'd fall asleep again if he stayed still—the cold was doing that. And the chakra exhaustion, and the poison. What had Shisui used? Itachi needed to get them to shore before they died.

Itachi blinked, but forgot to open his eyes.

Someone was singing an old lullaby. It had to be his father because his mother had only sung happier songs to him. This was a song about battle and death, the kind men and children growing up in wars learned to hum in the trenches. Itachi remembered this one. It was about fire and suffocation and the hand of a comrade clasped in your own as it went limp and cold. It wasn't his father's voice. No, this voice was clearer, not half muttered to lull a child to sleep. This voice—he half knew it. He felt it familiar.

"Maa, maa, what have we here?" Kakashi grabbed the side of the boat, pulling his own closer. The jarring motioned shook Itachi from his daze. He wondered how long he'd been lying here listening to some voice in his head sing. Shisui didn't react now, huddled in a shivering pile in the bow. The shivers weren't as hard as they had been, and Shisui's lips were blue tinged. Itachi started to pull himself to his feet. It was chakra exhaustion more than the poison or cold, he still told himself. His body ached like he had a fever, and his vision swam.

Kakashi leaned over and hooked an arm around Itachi's middle, pulling him easily over into his own boat. Itachi sat unsteadily in the low seat and was given a flask and a chakra pill. Itachi stuck the chakra pill under his tongue, shuddering as the wind gusted and knifed through his wet clothes and plastered them to his skin. They wicked away the heat in an instant. The flask proved to have some kind of strong liquor in it. Itachi almost choked on the bitter taste, but managed to swallow it. It burned and then burst into fire in his stomach, which made him feel bother better and sick. Itachi took another very small sip as Kakashi leaned over and looked at Shisui.

"Are you injured?" Kakashi asked as he reached over to check Shisui's pulse. Shisui's only response was a small twitch and opening of his eyes.

"No—yes, a small puncture wound. The weapon was poisoned, but the water diluted it." Itachi reached up and touched the slightly swollen lump on his neck. It felt hot to the touch.

Still using one hand to keep the boats together, Kakashi leaned forward and pushed Itachi's hair up to get a better look at the wound. Even through his gloves, Itachi could feel the heat of his hands. It took great will not to lean into that warmth. "Looks like you're having a nice reaction to it. Let's hope he can tell us what he used," Kakashi mused, leaning back and looking at Shisui. A harsh gust of wind shoved down on them, and Itachi shuddered, folding over as the cold stabbed at his joints.

"First, we should get both of you out of your wet clothes," Kakashi decided, his voice calm and unhurried. He motioned for Itachi to steady the boats, then leaned over and dragged Shisui into their boat. Shisui landed in the bottom with a thump that shook the boat, only shifting to pull himself into a tighter ball. Kakashi grabbed three little packs from Shisui's boat and set them in their own.

"You were right. He was running." No surprise, just the same calm confirmation he always seemed to use. Itachi didn't know if that meant he expected Itachi to be right, or if Itachi was right about things Kakashi felt were a matter of common sense. Kakashi offered Itachi his own cloak, then motioned to Shisui. "See if he has dry clothes."

Itachi nodded and dragged one of the packs to him. It didn't feel like clothes, so he tried another. This one had blankets on top and clothes underneath. Itachi slid down into the belly of the boat, sitting on the spine as he looked at Shisui. His own fingers sluggish, Itachi began peeling Shisui's clothes from him. Kakashi looked Shisui's boat over then calmly knocked a hole in the bottom of the boat. It began to sink slowly, rocking deeper and deeper beneath the waves. Itachi wished Kakashi hadn't done that. It seemed like a bad omen.

Shisui's body was covered in scars. Some were old enough Itachi could barely see them; some were young enough to still be red or pink. The wound on his right arm was already scabbing, but the removal of his clothes set it flowing again. Itachi's strike had gone straight through Shisui's arm. Itachi wouldn't be surprised if there was bone damage involved. He hadn't meant for that to happen.

Shisui stirred as Itachi worked, eyes slipping open as his head lolled around a bit. His eyes widened, but Itachi wasn't sure what Shisui saw. He grabbed for Itachi's hands, finger cold and clumsy-weak but hindering. It was hard to strip someone when his muscles were locked up and quivering. Itachi reached up to rub at his own burning neck. It tingled and spiked pain under the pressure, weeping blood and fluid down his neck. The cold air was making it harder to breathe. Kakashi tipped his head to the side as he paused in rowing to the shore.

"Ask him what poison he used," Kakashi suggested. Itachi blinked, fumbling with the words. He caught Shisui's groping hands and folded them back against the boy's chest. He honestly had no idea how lucid Shisui was.

"Shisui, what was on the senbon?" Itachi asked as a sudden, prickling wave of heat washed over him. Itachi took a short breath and his lungs felt stiff. No, no, it wasn't the cold that made it so hard to breathe. It was the poison. His throat was closing up.

Shisui blinked heavily as Itachi shook him, and the string of words he let out meant nothing to Itachi. They did chill him to the core. Itachi hadn't brought anything but a mild all-purpose antidote with him. Would Kakashi have more? Itachi took a deep breath and felt the rasp in his throat—the constriction of his lungs.

"Shisui…Shisui you need to tell me," Itachi leaned forward and pitched his tone to coaxing. Shisui opened his eyes, gave Itachi something between a leer and a smile, but no words. He needed words. Itachi shook Shisui again, but he didn't get a response.

"Use a genjustu." Itachi gave Kakashi a wide eyed look, and the man pulled against the oars. Where had he learned to handle such a small boat on a rough sea? Kakashi cleared his throat. "Use a genjutsu to find the name of the poison."

Itachi nodded and looked back down at Shisui. The man's eyes were closed. Itachi dragged up the last dregs of his chakra and formed the signs slowly. He laced the lines of genjutsu over his tongue and in the tips of his fingers. He leaned forward over Shisui's body, feeling the unsteady drain of chakra from a body that had almost none to give.

"Shisui." Itachi whispered the name laced with power and almost fell on top of Shisui. "What did you use?" Itachi could feel Shisui fight. He pressed the genjutsu snare deeper, felt it catch. He only needed one word. One word…

But he felt Shisui fighting him. He felt the screaming indignity of so personal an invasion, and Itachi almost recoiled on principle. He paused and licked his lips, feeling his own burning body and pressed the sensation onto Shisui. he shared the feeling of suffocation, the choked feeling of his throat.

What did you use?

Shisui struggled harder, kicking and mentally screaming as Itachi pressed with his feeble strength and tried to compel the man. Shisui bucked under the pressure, and Itachi felt the waves of scorn coming off him.

Please don't let me die, Shisui.

Itachi didn't know if he were speaking these things aloud now, or just thinking them into Shisui's mind. All the same, he felt the give of Shisui's will under that plea. He plunged down into something deep and dark that tasted like salt water taffy and sounded like waves crashing against rock.

"Ocean belladonna…" Itachi looked up at Kakashi, wobbly weak and suddenly sick. He could hardly hold his head up, and the chakra pill accidently slipped from under his tongue and fell from his mouth. It left a sticky red trail over Shisui's cheek. "Does that…does that mean anything?" He would have to try again if it didn't. He could do it again. He was the Uchiha genius. Shisui shivered beneath him, still only half clothed. Itachi should finish dressing him.

"Is it a poison?" Itachi asked as Kakashi rummaged in a pouch. Kakashi's lips moved to answer, but Itachi never got to hear the words.

The rocking of the boat was making him sick. Itachi peeled his eyes open and found himself snuggly bundled up with his back pressed to someone else's back. He heard someone singing in a deep baritone, and the rough kiss of the waves against the hull of the boat. Itachi pulled the blanket from his head and looked up at Kakashi. The man paused in his singing.

"Ah, just in time." The man's visible eye smiled. "It would be easiest to decide what to do with our friend before we reach the shore."

Their friend? Shisui, yes. Itachi sorted through his thoughts as Kakashi watched, feeling groggy. His mouth tasted disgusting, probably from whatever antidote Kakashi had forced on him. Hopefully, he hadn't puked again. If he had, then Kakashi had cleaned it up and Itachi wasn't ready for that kind of humiliation. Itachi swallowed and decided against sitting up. He was still shivering, as was Shisui. Itachi wondered if Shisui was awake, and if he could hear what they were saying. If he was, he gave no indication.

"What do you mean?" Itachi almost bit his tongue off trying not to shiver.

"We need to decide if it's more beneficial to the mission to keep the informant around, or…" Kakashi casually shrugged his shoulders. "He has already told you a good deal."

"I'm sure there's more he could tell me." And killing him seemed a very sorry repayment. No wonder Shisui had such a low opinion of them. "Now that I know who he is, there are other ways he could be useful. He knows the island much better than we do." He'd wanted to know if there were any secret accesses to the castle, any sea caves they could use. Shisui would know.

"That's true, but…" Kakashi paused to pull on the oars. "He has also proved himself to be combative even when approached on his own terms, dishonest about his terms, and he did try to kill you." Kakashi looked more speculative than offended. Itachi felt the slight ache of the wound on his neck now that he was warmer. It felt like Kakashi had already dressed it.

"He-" Itachi's teeth jarred together. "He wasn't expecting it to be me." That much was clear, but Itachi didn't have the why. "He knew I was Uchiha. He doesn't trust clanners."

"No one from Mist does, but the Mist clans were always especially ruthless," Kakashi mused. The man looked completely unconcerned with all of this, which made Itachi feel far more nervous about defending Shisui. Kakashi's blasé nature was harder to read and counter then the normal stern disapproval Itachi encountered in his clan. He didn't want to defend Shisui too vigorously, but he didn't want Kakashi to kill him either.

"So he won't work with you." Itachi stiffened at Kakashi's words.

"No, no I think he will. I can convince him to." He knew Shisui, right? He should be able to figure out what the man wanted. In fact, he thought he knew what Shisui wanted. He just had to figure out how to make Shisui see it was both what he wanted and that Itachi could give it to him.

"He could easily reveal our purpose to the villagers, or Shishio," Kakashi observed.

"He wouldn't." The words came out with a solid conviction Itachi had no right to. How well could he really know a man that had just tried to drown him? Shisui had been playing a con all this time. Itachi could not know him at all. The doubt crept in like creeper vines, wiggling under his confidence with sharp pangs of self-derision. He was so young, and his experiences were so narrow. How could he guess what someone else thought?

"That is a big risk to take for someone you've only known a week." Kakashi's visible eye seemed to focus a bit more on Itachi. Itachi sat up a little more. The wind over the sides of the boat seemed to freeze his hair to his head.

"If he wanted to sabotage our mission, he wouldn't do it by revealing us that way. He'd find some other way to undercut us." Shisui was a ninja. Itachi could see that now. As much as he rebelled against the secrecy and the drive to be unnoticed, he embodied it. "I don't think exposing us was his aim. He simply wanted to escape. He only came after me when I pursued him."

"But he refuses to work with us. Would letting him run free be wise?" Kakashi asked, and Itachi felt as if he were on trial here. The question was simple: did the benefits outweigh the risks? Itachi lowered his head out of the wind and took the time to think the question over.

"He knows the island. He grew up here, and we can use that…" Itachi pulled the blankets tighter around him and felt the thump of Shisui's heart against his back. The sudden, fierce feeling of possession that washed over him alarmed him, but gave his words hard conviction. "I can handle him. I know what he wants, and I can give it to him. He will help us. He just needs to be brought to heel."

Kakashi didn't speak for a while, his eyes wandering from the ocean to Itachi, languid darkness that told Itachi nothing of what the man thought. The conviction drained away, and a hundred tiny anxieties took its place, along with a shivering weakness that stole everything from him. He'd hit his limits, pushed past them, and felt he'd come up short.

Itachi heard the sound of another boat, and of men shouting. Kakashi's eye crinkled. "Ah, our helpful fisher friends." Itachi struggled up and saw that they had come around the island, probably following a current, and were now in sight of a group of fishermen. Even with the darkness of the sky, it seemed too late in the morning for them to be out fishing.

"Our story will be we were out scouting, and you saw your friend take a tumble into the water. You jumped in to save him, against my advice, and were almost drowned by the rough water before I could get to you." Kakashi raised a hand and waved to the boats. "Does that fit the character you've been cultivating?"

Itachi nodded weakly and lowered himself down. He closed his eyes and pressed his back to Shisui's, feeling the shiver shake of the cold through the other. Kakashi's querulous voice rose to explain to the boats bobbing around them what hadn't happened, and Itachi found he didn't care about the lies. He just wanted to sleep, and the steady beat of Shisui's heart was an irresistible lull.

Itachi allowed himself a half hour of rest, and then he forced himself out of bed. His head swam, and all his muscles ached like he'd been beaten. Itachi became aware of Kakashi watching him like a cat as Itachi wobbled to his feet and almost pitched forward onto his face.

"The bathroom is in the other direction, Itachi-kun." Kakashi had his mask over his face, muffling the tones of his voice and making it that much harder to read the man.

"There's something I want to check," Itachi explained. He sat down at the table, shaking like a fever patient and thinly ill. "Before Shisui wakes up." The name tasted tacky on his tongue, or maybe it was the fever. Or the poison residue, since he didn't really have a fever.

Kakashi gave Itachi a level look that Itachi had no problems interpreting. Itachi sat up straighter, which made the muscles of his back scream. He wanted to be sick. He felt all color drain from his face, but he didn't waver.

"I think that would be…ill advised." Amazingly, Itachi could see the word "stupid" slotted into that pause. Kakashi continued. "Given Shisui will be up and running in another hour or two, perhaps I could check this?" The raised eyebrow said we're partners.The tone said Itachi was likely to fall on his face as soon as he broke out of a staggering shamble and he would never get anywhere ever with a two hour start on Shisui. Itachi felt smaller and more useless than ever, but Kakashi's suggestion sent a spike of alarm through him.

"No." Almost a snap, and Kakashi sat a little straighter as well. Itachi couldn't explain the sudden sense of violation that came over him at the thought of Kakashi doing what Itachi had planned. He wanted to see where Shisui lived and figure out all he could before he had to confront the man again. He knew Shisui had played him before, and he didn't want to fall victim again to Shisui's silver tongue and agile hands. Reason said that Kakashi could do just as good a job as Itachi could on this, perhaps even better, but Itachi's stomach turned at the thought. He knew Kakashi's intrusion wouldn't be forgiven. Did he think Shisui would forgive him? No, but he wanted to see for his own eyes what kind of man Shisui was. Itachi breath rasped.

Kakashi shifted, not nervously, but just shifted and was suddenly standing. "Your throat's getting tight again, isn't it, Itachi?" No honorific, and the look the man gave him was flat. Now that Kakashi mentioned it, Itachi could feel the tight, panicked flutter in his chest for what it was. It made his thoughts hectic and manic at the edges. Kakashi rattled around in their packs as Itachi tried to breathe normally and failed. He felt his heartbeat picking up.

"It wouldn't be a good idea for you to go," Itachi managed to speak normally, if softly.

"He lives in a sea cave on the east side of the island." Kakashi calmly measured something out of a small glass bottle and into a syringe. When he turned to confront Itachi's startled look, his visible eye smiled. "Or that was the best guess of the fisherman who told me what trouble we were bringing back to them." If Itachi were well, he could make the trip in a half hour. Like this…he didn't know if he could walk down the stairs.

Kakashi could make it, and they needed that information.

Or did they?

Itachi allowed himself to frown as Kakashi approached him. Itachi automatically rolled up his sleeve and allowed Kakashi to push the needle under his skin. He'd forgotten to ask what it was. More antitoxin? Something else? It could even be a sedative so Kakashi could do what he wanted. The injection site burned, and the soft sunlight seemed to dance on the floor.

Shisui had run because Itachi was an Uchiha. Shisui had been willing to talk to Inari and even trust the boy with his secret. Every time before, Shisui had removed the memories of those who tried to force anything out of him, or tried too hard to bend him to their will. He didn't want to be trapped. He already felt he'd walked into Itachi's trap, one Itachi had not set at all. He'd only be more suspicious of every other attempt to persuade him to help them.

Shisui didn't need to be persuaded. He needed to know, first and foremost, he could trust Itachi. That was what they needed. Trust. Real trust, like the kind that existed between mission partners.

The idea struck him as so backwards from what he'd always been taught that he laughed. He thought his head might split open, but breaking into Shisui's home while he was recovering from Itachi's attack would only make him more distrustful. He needed to see that Itachi wasn't just doing this for himself, but was trying to help Shisui as well. The more he thought of it, the more certain Itachi became that this would be the only way to get Shisui to work with them.

But he could genjutsu the man, and there were dozens of other ways he could get Shisui's assistance. Itachi had been taught them all by his clan and his other teachers. He didn't actually need trust—the real kind, but it seemed the only acceptable option. The reason behind that fractured out into Itachi's mind, and he pressed the heel of his hand to his aching head as he looked up at Kakashi.

"What did you give me?"

"More antitoxin. Our informant got lucky. Your body is having a hard time fighting off his poison." Because Itachi was small, low enough on chakra to drag his immune system down, and still metabolized poisons as a child did. Which meant, Itachi mused, he could crash suddenly. Did Kakashi worry about that? The man didn't look worried. He didn't really look anything. What was he thinking?

Itachi felt himself sway a bit. "Perhaps it is time to lie back down?" Kakashi's tone phrased it as a question, but when Itachi nodded and stood, then almost fell, Kakashi steadied him calmly. He trailed Itachi back to bed, where Itachi found himself shaking harder and feeling even more light headed.

As Itachi let himself lower down onto the bed, Kakashi spoke. "Should I go canvas the contact's cave?"

Itachi looked at the man and wondered what he was testing now. Did he want to see if Itachi could be logical while his mind crumbled under the pressure of thought? Did he want to see if Itachi trusted him? Did he simply want to know what Itachi thought to be the best way to proceed? Did he already know the best way? Could this entire Shisui situation be a set-up? Would they laugh at him over drinks as adults were wont to do, with Shisui's laughing mouth and quick fingers? Itachi wondered if Shisui would lean in close as he always did with Itachi, and something burned in his gut.

"No." Itachi fumbled the covers up over his shoulders. Cold. So cold. He felt guilty for trying to freeze Shisui. "It's not the way to do it." Itachi didn't want to explain his trust theory to Kakashi. It felt naive and risky, but it felt right hoarded up in his chest. If he laid it out for Kakashi, he would see how stupid it was, and how he should never trust anyone. You couldn't trust a ninja, because ninja were never quite real. They were always playing some part, and you couldn't blame them. You couldn't trust them either, not to act in your best interest, or truly share your motivations or views.

"The antitoxin is harsh," Kakashi added, and Itachi felt the blankets tug tighter around him. The man pulled one of the chairs from around the table to the bedside and sat down, whipping his orange book from nowhere. "But you shouldn't need another dose."

Itachi wondered how harsh this was supposed to be, that Kakashi watched him from behind those pages. It seemed suddenly too real, too intimate, and Itachi wanted to hide. He pulled his knees to his chest and closed his eyes, the fragile feeling of failure hovering over him. How had he let himself get into this position? Why did he allow anyone to see him so weak?

But he hadn't found that suppressed scorn in Kakashi's eyes, just a matter-of-fact interest and concern. Itachi could still feel his father's chastisement. An Uchiha must always be strong, especially when surrounded by outsiders. Itachi was their genius, and he was supposed to be the epitome of what an Uchiha was.

He'd never felt less like someone carrying on the fierce, bloody legacy of his clan, and the pain in his body made it hard to care.

Itachi woke to feel someone brushing his hair back from his neck. He expected it was Kakashi checking the wound. The man proved to be just as odd in his wound care as anything else, never asking Itachi's permission before he began poking and prodding things. Itachi let his eyes stay closed until he smelled sea brine and something else. He felt the presence leaning over him, and he knew it wasn't Kakashi.

As soon as he opened his eyes, Shisui had a hand clamped over Itachi's mouth. Itachi still felt too weak to even activate his Sharingan. He'd been feverish all night, and now he felt cold and clammy, his hair disgustingly still clumped with salt and snarled from the fight.

Shisui stared at him intently, turning Itachi's head and prodding the wound he had left there. Itachi felt something seep out of the puncture, and tried to pull away from Shisui's touch. It hurt, not badly, but the ache that told him it wasn't healing the way that it should. Shisui tightened his grip on Itachi's face, hand retreating from the wound to rummage in a pouch at his belt. Itachi tried to open his mouth to bite Shisui's hand, but the hand was so spare and expertly placed, Itachi couldn't get his teeth near enough to bite.

Itachi reached up with a weak hand, tugging at Shisui's wrist with more insistence then force. Shisui's eyes flashed to Itachi's face, and then he pressed something sharp into the swollen wound on Itachi's neck. Mouth open, Itachi made an almost unconscious noise of pain, and he swore he felt Shisui's hand falter. Itachi tugged harder at Shisui's hand and felt the buzz of chakra sticking Shisui's hand over his face.

Itachi responded with one of the only options left to him. He worked his mouth and throat enough to get a mouthful of saliva and then smeared it all over Shisui's hand with his tongue. Shisui's hand tasted like salt and other things Itachi couldn't name, mainly disgusting, like eating salty garbage. Shisui's hold didn't lessen, but he made an awful grimace. Now he pressed something cloth to Itachi's neck, and Itachi could feel it soaking up something warm.

Itachi twisted his body, still unable to move his head, and Shisui planted a knee on Itachi's chest, this one buzzing with chakra as well. Itachi decided Shisui wasn't here to kill him, not when he removed the cloth then smeared something over Itachi's neck that burned like fire and smelled terrible. Itachi dug his fingernails into Shisui's hand and wrist, struggling with the effectiveness of a five year-old.

Then he caught a tiny, tiny bit of Shisui's palm between his teeth, and snapped his teeth down as hard as he could.

"Squidbits!" Shisui hissed and yanked his hand back, grabbing and handful of Itachi's hair rather than risk getting bitten again. That wouldn't do. Itachi threw and elbow up at Shisui, which was easily blocked, he tried to roll himself out from under Shisui's knee, which didn't work. He kneed Shisui in the hip, got his hand grabbed. The very muted, pathetically one sided struggle only went on for three minutes, but it ended with Itachi's heart pounding, hardly able to breathe as he found himself neatly and expertly pinned by Shisui.

Itachi realized Kakashi must not be in the room, but why the man had left Itachi alone while he was in the state was bewildering. Obviously Itachi couldn't fight anyone off, much less Shisui, and he was now about to pass out.

"Are you done?" Shisui hissed, leaning closer to keep his voice low. Itachi thought of biting Shisui's lips—those were tender, right?—and then decided he'd only miss and look more a fool. It didn't seem worth it either. "Floppin' around more'n a landed fish, yeh brat." Shisui grumbled, grabbed another fistful of Itachi's hair to turn his head.

Itachi rapped a symbolic elbow against Shisui's arm. "Stop grabbing my hair." The words were weak and breathless. Itachi could see in Shisui's eyes that the boy was getting ready to yank just because Itachi had told him to stop. Itachi was used to dealing with bullies. He just hadn't thought Shisui to be one.

But anyone would bully if they felt themselves betrayed, now wouldn't they?

Shisui finally just let go with an eye roll to declare Itachi inordinately demanding. Then he slid his fingers along Itachi's hairline to the wound. There he rubbed his fingers, working whatever burning salve Shisui had placed there into the skin and the cut Shisui had made. Itachi closed his eyes to the pain and tried to decide why Shisui was here. Remorse? Itachi had already cancelled the debt of attempted murder by almost killing Shisui. They were ninja. Such things shouldn't matter between them.

As Shisui worked, the wound became numb, but Itachi could still feel the rasp of Shisui's calloused and scarred fingers circling over and over his skin. The dizziness was passing, as well as the tightness in his chest. Shisui pressed one hand over Itachi's chest, feeling the slowing heartbeat. The fingers stilled, now cupping the curve of his neck. Itachi felt the depression of the pillow by his head, then the heavy weight of a forehead on his own. He felt the tickle of Shisui's eyelashes on his face and wondered why as he felt and smelled Shisui's hot breath, heavy with some medicinal scent and maybe seaweed.

Itachi moved, suddenly aware of how Shisui hunched over him: the clasp of Shisui's knees on his hips, the elbow in the pillow by his head, the heavy weight of Shisui's forehead on his own. He should feel smothered. He didn't like being touched, and only tolerated Sasuke's clinging because Sasuke was Sasuke, his baby brother and turning that affection away meant hurting his feelings. He should feel cornered and trapped as the man who'd tried to kill him knelt over him like this.

Instead he felt safe.

Shisui stiffened and yanked away from Itachi. Itachi opened his eyes, but Shisui already perched on the window sill. He glanced back at the door as Itachi heard footsteps coming up the hall. Shisui's face twisted—anger, dislike, annoyance—and then he was gone, window closed and locked behind him.

Kakashi opened the door, carrying a tray of food. Given he'd piled it with soups and plain breads, Itachi would guess the food had been procured for him. Itachi shifted himself up slowly, inching into a comfortable position. Kakashi toed the door shut behind him and set the tray in Itachi's lap as the boy stopped moving.

"The morning gossip is Shisui had a row with the apothecary right before dawn and left without paying and possibly put a curse on him." Kakashi stroked his chin, looking thoughtful. "And the cook's daughter seems to be pregnant." Kakashi took his normal seat in the windowsill. If he saw the smear of ointment on Itachi's neck or smelled it, as he must, he gave no indication.

"The merchants in town are causing quite a stir. They almost burned down Susano's Cup last night. Evidently people don't take kindly to outsiders here," Kakashi continued to talk as Itachi picked through the food, eating what he could keep down. Itachi sifted through the information, knowing that anyone listening would think Kakashi a harmless gossip. The man used that as part of his façade, along with his affability. Truthfully, Itachi didn't find it that different from the man's normal persona, except for the cowardice, but he began to think Kakashi was always acting some part.

But they all were. Everyone pulled a mask over their trueself for whatever reason. Ninja just prided themselves on their dishonesty. Itachi gingerly ate the rice, and the most important thing he gleaned from Kakashi was what he already knew. Shisui had left.

Itachi took another day to fully recover. He ate, slept, and ate more. The festering wound on his neck, that had been what Shisui had lanced, resolved itself slowly. Kakashi speculated that the poison, while intended to kill, had a component that caused the wound to fester if the subject didn't die.

The wound would probably leave a scar. Itachi made certain he scrubbed it thoroughly. Since he took two hours to get his hair sorted, he had plenty of time for that, and more time to think. Kakashi had handed the problem of their contact completely into Itachi's hands. This, Itachi knew, was a test. Having the agent who'd already fought with your contact continue to deal with him probably wasn't the approved method. Why did Kakashi let Itachi continue to muddle around? It couldn't be because Kakashi thought Itachi would do a good job.

No, this was a test, and one he couldn't fail.

Two days after Shisui had tried to kill him, Itachi prepared to leave the room. Kakashi passed him a map with a small red circle on it without a word. Itachi fingered the paper and bowed before heading out. The circle was the best guess as to where Shisui's home base was. Itachi made his slow way out of the village, assuring those who asked he was fine, just fine. As long as he hid his shaking hands, everyone would believe him.