His body feels like a mess when Shisui wakes up sprawled on the ground. He tugs his mask onto his forehead, with a loud gasp and scrubs the blood from his eye. Badger is sitting on a convenient remnant of Bear's earth release pillars. "Is everyone alright?" Shisui asks.
"Talk about yourself," Bear snorts, hovering a glowing green hand over Shisui's temple. "You're the one the most badly injured among us and that's grade 2 concussion and a cracked rib."
"What are you talking about? I saw Wolf got-" he turns and sees Fuuko squatting among the branches, clearly acting as their lookout. Shisui knows he hadn't seen wrongly. There are several trees in a row all snapped neatly in a row like something had been thrown through them. He knows that the large grey skinned ninja had tossed Fuuko through the trees like she weighed nothing. Hell, he knows for the size of those trees, how much force is required to break them and how much pain would be inflicted. Shisui hasn't trained with Gai without being tossed like a ragdoll through trees that were half the size and half the number of those. Her spine should have snapped. She would have-
Shisui shoves the rest of his mask away, emptying his stomach on the ground next to him. The image his mind conjures would haunt him for the next few weeks, this he already knows. "Concussion's a bitch," Bear comments, lifting his hand off Shisui's ribs. "Okay. I've healed the rib but it's a little fragile, so be careful."
Badger nods, motioning a gather up and Wolf hops off the tree like she's perfectly fine, standing over his supine form. As far as Shisui's eyes can tell, she looks hale and healthy.
"What about the mission?" She crouches beside him and Shisui can see the rips in her uniform where there should be injuries. Something isn't adding up in his mind and he's certain it isn't his concussion talking. His stomach rolls irritability as he pushes himself off the ground.
Bear holds up a scroll with smugness that Shisui can practically feel it radiate off him. "Switched it in mid-fight. We'll be far out before they even noticed that they got a fake scroll," he rolls his shoulder, his fingers twitches that suggests his want to stick his senbon between his teeth.
Shisui can feel her chakra buzzing within her instead of the calm placid signature that he is - was familiar with. "Wolf?" She tilts her head towards to indicate she heard him. "Are you alright?"
"I am fine," Wolf replies, her tone short and clipped.
And there is again. The Fuuko that Shisui doesn't know. Shisui pushes himself upright, sliding the kunais and shurikens that Bear has retrieved into his pouches.
"Mission complete. Let us return to Konoha," Badger says.
Wolf brings up the rear and she doesn't say anything. There is a twinge of frustration biting at him. They should have tried harder to get her to drop out of Anbu. Anbu swallows everyone up, Shisui didn't have a choice in joining Anbu but Fuuko did. Shisui shakes himself out of his reverie, focusing on the rhythmic jumping and landing through the trees.
He'll have to pull her back to them, to him, get her to open up to them. It is clear that there is something bothering her. Oh why did Gai have to be out on a long-term mission. Shisui would do anything for the exuberant Gai to be here.
They only have a limited time left, after all with the way the clan is progressing, Shisui isn't sure if he can get out unscathed.
-/-/-/-/-
Shisui slips through the dark hallway and into the stifling room, taking his seat beside Itachi. Fugaku gives him a sharp look but thankfully says nothing.
"They refused to let Kissaki be promoted to Jounin," Elder Shinogi says loudly to an argument that clearly Shisui had missed from his very late arrival. "Kissaki is one of our promising chuunins whose strengths far surpasses what is required for Jounin. And not just Kissaki, Nakago and Yokote." His wrinkled hands slaps the dark mahogany table sharply, looking evenly back at Fugaku. "It's a blatant snub against the Uchihas."
"How much more are we going to take this lying down?" A female calls out.
The long dark haired man that Shisui recognizes as Uchiha Inabi snorts. "Are we forgetting that they only nominated Minato and Orochimaru for the Fourth. They didn't even consider Wicked Eye Fugaku or Dancing Devil Sayami. Both of which had contributed largely to the defeat of Iwa nins."
"That's enough," the small petite woman cuts his rant off. "Your talk on the Fourth is an old subject. I never had the interest of being a Hokage to begin with and this talk about not promoting. Surely you must have noticed that Kissaki has a temper issue, Nakago is great at following orders but his leadership skills lacking and why are we even talking about Yokote?"
"Sayami-san, they are Uchiha members, you're being too harsh-"
Her face and voice is empty of emotions when she says lowly, "These are their lives we talk about. We are not going to push for their promotions because we want more Jounins in our clan. Has the years in military police addled you or have you forgotten how much harder Jounin missions are? Are you so keen to have more Jounins that you are willing to pack them into tiny cypress* boxes?"
Shisui watches the woman draw herself up and in spite of her short stature, her sheer motion seems to fill the pregnant silence.
"Ridiculous. All of you-"
"Sit down, Sayami-chan**," Elder Shinogi orders her.
She turns around to Shinogi and Shisui can see only her three spinning tomoe proclaiming her anger. "Don't try to condescend me with my age, Shinogi-san. I have not been a young girl for decades. You talk about moving with time, showing a force of power. Do you hear yourself speak? Ridiculous." Tapping the side of her temple with a finger, Sayami's mouth twists as she continues. "What I think is the general population of Konoha has seen how crazy you all have become."
"Sayami," Fugaku says. His face impassive as always but Shisui can now see the hints of worry for her on the Uchiha clan head's face from his increased interactions with the Clan Head. It is strange though that Fugaku might be the clan head but in the end it always seems like he is bowing to the Elders' decisions. Shisui wonders if the Elders would finally strong arm Fugaku-sama into supporting the 'show of power'.
"Che-" The Jounin clicks her tongue loudly and sweeps out of the meeting room, the sliding door slamming loudly behind her. Shisui wishes he had the strength like her to refuse the Elders' orders. The Elders have gone down a path he wishes to have nothing to do with. Power, honor, for the clan, with the clan, yet they don't seem think for the people in the clan.
Elder Shinogi turns to one of the Uchihas and suggests in a way that Shisui knows it's not a suggestion. "Perhaps Gunto-san should watch Sayami-san and make sure she's alright."
Gunto squares his shoulders and nods curtly at the suggestion. Fugaku subtly bristles under the Elder's insinuation that Sayami needs watching. It's blatant disrespect for the clan head's niece.
"For the clan, with the clan," Shisui murmurs inaudibly to himself. All too power-hungry that they are blinded by their own faults.
Itachi is waiting for him in their usual spot near the Naka river later that night.
"They asked you to spy on me, didn't they?"
Shisui doesn't deny it because they did and it isn't in him to lie to Itachi. He's never enjoyed spying on Itachi since from the beginning and has spent his years deflecting the Elders' suspicions. Itachi finding out has always been a thing Shisui knew would happen. It's not too difficult to put two and two together especially after how the Elder had ordered Gunto to 'watch' Sayami.
"I didn't tell them anything."
"I know." Itachi nods and extrapolates at Shisui's mildly surprised look. "The Elders would have acted if they had known how we had been spying on them for Konoha. And I've seen your reports."
Shisui wonders if Itachi had doubted his loyalty, doubted the ability to trust him enough to sneak into the records room and read his reports.
"What do you think we should do?" Itachi asks. The clan has put out a clan wide 'reminder' to sharpen their kunais and shurikens. How much longer can Fugaku dance the dance around the Elders or has he been on the Elders' side the whole time?
Shisui plays with the kunai he pulled out, spinning it around on his finger as he considers his opinions. "I have Kotoamatsukami," he offers. Shisui has never told anyone that he actually knows his mangekyou's abilities. The clan records tell him that Kotoamatsukami is a very dangerous ability and the lesser people knew of it, the better it would be.
"Kotoamatsukami?" Itachi repeats as though tasting the word.
"It is a subtle mind-controlling genjutsu ability." It goes unsaid that Shisui doesn't want to use it but if it comes down to it, he will. The idea of putting his own clan members under a mind control leaves a bad taste in his mouth.
"For the clan, with the clan." Itachi echoes his words, a mockery of the claims belief.
Shisui's face goes serious. "For the people who live in the clan."
-/-/-/-/-
"Nii-san!" she zipped past the front line, ducking around the enemies that tried to stop her. The sword that tou-san had given her danced across the battlefield like a bolt of lightning.
"It's the White Lightning!" The Iwa-nins cried out.
She sidestepped the rain of shurikens, throwing back the explosive kunais. Slashing her sword into one of them, sweeping him off his feet. They were all taller and bigger than her, but she didn't let them stop him.
Kakashi was just several yards away, dodging and spinning away, his hands flashing seals as he copied and spun their jutsus back at them. His chakra was almost exhausted and from the sneer of the Iwa-nins, Fuuko could tell that they too knew.
She feinted left, kicking one of her pursuers in the throat, dispatching the other two. Shunshining in front of Kakashi, her sword slicing through the kunai and the man's throat.
"Imouto?"
She whirled around, grabbing him by the collar, dragging him into the trenches where they would be momentarily safe. "Damnit, nii-san! You can't leave me alone, you promised."
His shoulders shook but no tears fell. He wasn't the sort to cry, nii-san hadn't even cried during tou-san's funeral. "Why am I still here when Obito-kun and Rin-chan is gone? Why don't you just let me join them?"
"Are you abandoning me too?"
Kakashi placed his head on his knees, his fingers curling tightly into the fabric of his pants. "Don't try to guilt me. You still have Shisui-san. I have no one! Tou-san is dead, Noujou-oba is dead, Kouuki-kun is dead, so is Obito-kun and Rin-chan! Why isn't it me?"
Fuuko circled her arms around him. "Am I not someone? Am I not worthy enough to live for?" She knew it was wrong to make him dependent on her, to guilt him into remembering the way their father had abandoned them but the way he was spiraling, she wouldn't have much time left to stop him from following their father's footsteps.
Kakashi's arms move to grip the back of her shirt tightly, he tucked his head in the crook of her neck. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"Shusssh, it's okay." Fuuko ran her hands through his hair, murmuring quietly. "Just remember, I'll go anywhere with you, nii-san. Even in death."
Fuuko blinks, her muscles slack from her trained conditioning despite her mind whirling in discord. The dream, the memory isn't something she is certain she wants to remember so vividly. It feels almost like her subconscious is reminding her of how low Kakashi once fell and whatever that means, Fuuko isn't sure. She sits up, feeling the apartment empty of any chakra signatures.
'Nii-san is out again,' she thinks.
All the better for her, Fuuko firmly tells herself before the worry could set in. Is he here for her or for Root, part of her wants to believe he's really there for her. The original Fuuko had a good memory even as a baby. She remembers Kakashi carrying her to the engawa while he practiced his katas in the early morning sun, catching her when she tried to follow him up the walls. When they 'played ninja' with Noujou-oba, he had carried her across the trees. Fuuko remembers Kakashi's cold hands that night of their father's funeral.
'I'll go anywhere with you, nii-san. Even in death,' she told him once upon a time. She trusts him, their bond is stronger than the orders Danzo might have given.
Fuuko grips her knee tightly, taking comfort in the pain that her knee is registering. Could she tell nii-san?
'Nii-san, I broke my spine in my last mission,' she tests the words in her mind and thinks it sounds as ludicrous as she thought at the beginning. Perhaps she thought she broke her spine, she is walking now after all. How can someone who had broken their spine walk?
Fuuko pushes herself off the bed and relishes at the cold wooden floor. "Why are you so happy?" the low baritone asks and she spins her head up to see Itachi is sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of tea so silently that she hadn't noticed him. His dark onyx eyes tracking her movements across the room as she pads towards him.
"I thought you two were on a mission," she deflects, attaching her shuriken pouch to her thigh and slips on the kunai pouch at her hip. Fuuko never thought she could get used to the oddly familiar and unfamiliar weight on her yet now it comforts her. The way her body moved during the fight with Kisame, it hadn't been her, but if it wasn't her then who had it been?
"He is." Itachi nods to the still steaming teapot and she pours a cup for herself. She knows he isn't fooled by her obvious deflection nevertheless is thankful that he accepts it.
"But you're not."
"Solo mission."
Anbus don't do solo missions. Duos, yes but never solo. Something pricks at her, screaming at her that it's not right. Was it Danzo? Was it Root? Fuuko tries to imagine what kind of mission would require Kakashi to be alone. She knows that nothing would happen to Kakashi, at least not until the Fourth Ninja war. Still, knowing this doesn't ease the disquiet in her, like she knows something very bad is going to happen. Her last words to Kakashi were less than amicable. She just hopes that whatever ripples her existence had created, this is not one of the things that would change. Belatedly, she realises that just because she doesn't trust him, doesn't mean she doesn't love him.
"He'll be fine," Itachi assures her.
"Well then, why are you here?" She asks, sitting across him.
He slides a paper to her. It's an agreement that if anything happens to Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sayami and Uchiha Shisui and they are unable to care for Uchiha Sasuke, the guardianship of Sasuke would fall to her instead of the clan. The idea of one of the Uchihas willingly letting their clan members be taken in by 'outsiders' befuddles her. In spite of that longstanding reputation, the paper is signed by the five mentioned Uchihas. The paper outlines what her guardianship would imply and would overlook and is six papers long.
"Why?"
Though Fuuko knows exactly why - she has to be a fool to not notice the increasing terse interactions with the Uchiha and the rest of Konoha - she still needs Itachi to say it explicitly, to feel the other shoe drop.
"Things are happening in the clan. If anything happens, we would like to be certain that Sasuke would be in good hands." The implication that none of the five trusts the clan enough to leave Sasuke's fate to them goes unsaid.
"Why me? I know you think I'm unstable."
"I do not think you are unstable, Fuuko-san."
"I saw the reports, Itachi-kun. I recognize your handwriting, I know you have been keeping an eye on me. Don't think I didn't notice your crow following me," she spits the caustic words that she had been holding back since she woke up.
Itachi slaps a security seal on her table, his usually impassive face contrite. "We needed you out. Safe. After everything that had happened, it was a convenient excuse to pull you out of Anbu. It is easy to go missing in Anbu, but if you were only a jounin, your disappearance would notable."
"I'm capable of carrying my own weight," Fuuko sniffs unhappily. "That's not in though. If you thought I was weak then you wouldn't be sitting here trying to convince to sign this paper. You needed me out so that if things went south and Sasuke was handed to me, we'd be in full view of everyone."
Itachi tilts his head, allowing the corner of his lips to curl and she huffs, reluctantly signing the paper. "You owe me so much dango," Fuuko tells him. Already, she is planning on eating the Uchiha head clan out with dango.
"We are forever in your debt," he stands and bows deeper than she's ever seen him done before.
Notes: And hello again to another chapter. There's a lot of plotting. There are a lot of random Uchiha OCs in this chapter. To be clear, they're all OCs (with the exception of Inabi), because I needed Uchihas to world build. We have a theme song for this chapter and a fan art of Fuuko - (luna-orlha tumblr com/post/155619568916/hatake-fuuko-from-bones-beneath-her-feet) just add dot to all the spaces
In regards of this arc, I had to say that this arc is fairly dark. I'd love to make it all chirpy and happy, but let's face it: child soldiers, Uchiha massacre. I don't think I could make it chirpy and realistic.
Log bless my beta, the-anime-sage, for sitting me down and talking me through the Uchiha intrigue and basically letting rant.
Also, I'm sick. Again. This is so frustrating.
*cypress is usually used for coffins
** chan is often attached to children's names when calling them by their given names. It may also be used for babies, young children, and teenage girls , lovers, close friends, or any youthful woman. But since Shingo is neither, he's emphasizing the age gap here.
