We've Reached Chapter 10 you guys! I could never have done it without you all! I love you so much!
Hey, you guys! I have to apologize profusely, and I wish I could bow to each of you on gravel on bare knees in person for forgiveness for not updating in soooo long. I truly do. Meet me in a rock garden one day and we got a deal. Deal?
Well, I couldn't wait for Halloween, and neither could this chapter, unfortunatly. Still got a few days before it (Weeks, actually. I'm gonna die of anticipation to be Itachi! DX)
Well, here it is. I actually lost the papers I wrote it down on so it's really all my fault! Laughs
Enjoy you guys!
"Are you sure you'll be okay, Mama? I can stay home and help."
"I'll be just fine, Itachi. Your father is sound asleep from his medicine, and my knee is absolutly A-O.K. And Sasuke needs someone to take him trick-or-treating, and you've always taken him since you were a little boy."
"Are you sure...?"
"Positive. Sasuke'll be home from soccer practice in a few hours. Better go get in a nap, hm?"
"Yeah. Thank you, Mama."
"For what?"
He gave a small, obscure smile. Mikoto just shook her head and laughed. "Go on, Itachi."
"'Tachi! 'Tachi!"
His eyes snapped open when he finally regained consciousness, his younger brother's voice drawing him out of a pleasant afternoon nap.
"Yes, Sasuke?" he called wearily, his hand resting on his chest. He didn't bother sitting up, yet. His little brother bounded into the room, his hakama loosely drifting around him as he jumped onto Itachi's chest
"Nii-san, help me with my costume makeup!"
"Wha...oh! Oh, that's right! Forgive me, Sasuke, I forgot," he jabbed his brother in the forehead, chuckling when he rolled off of his chest, landing softly on the bed beside.
"'tachi! Come on! I can't get my hakama right, either!"
Itachi sat up, gazing down at his little brother, whose hakama was mussed and folded over in all the wrong places,the tie half-done and coming loose, still. "I'll say. What did you do to it?"
"Nothing!" the young boy threw his hands up into the air, motioning as if to prove a point, sitting up and hopping off of his brother's bed. The sleeves of the dark brown hakama feel around Sasuke's little bruised shoulders. "How cute..." Itachi thought, slightly amused.
Itachi neatly painted over real scars, carefully going over a seemingly permenant abrasion from when Fugaku threw him across the asphault. He remembered how the skin peeled up, how the summer's heat could've cauterized the bleeding from the nasty wound, how badly Sasuke hurt after that...a flare of anger waved up inside Itachi's chest. He blinked it away, adding fake scars and gashes with theatrical makeup and latex, courtesy of Shisui, eternally the follower of Dionysus.
"Nii-san! You're so good at this," he jerked slightly at how the cold paint tickled his stomach, "you should paint!"
"Well...Sasuke, painting isn't really my...thing, y'know?"
"Mom said you used to paint," Itachi began to wrap his stomach in bandages.
"At one time. Not anymore."
"She said you were really good!" Itachi folded his hakama neatly.
"I suppose."
"She said something happend." Itachi tied his hakama in the back properly.
"Yeah."
"Why'd you stop?" Itachi sheathed the decorative sword at Sasuke's side.
"Because that thing happened."
"What happened?" he brushed Sasuke's hair out, stroking it softly.
He answered patiently, "I went to Hell."
"You-"
The doorbell rang.
"I got it!" Mikoto yelled in that special sing-song voice reserved exclusively for Halloween.
"Go on, Sasuke. Go show Mama," Itachi smiled.
"Okay!" Sasuke pulled on the pristine white socks that he wore with his zori, running downstairs to his mother, Itachi following behind.
"Woah, Auntie, you look ho-o-ot!"
Shisui. Always so subtle.
"Why, thank you, Shisui," they heard the confidence in her tone. Mikoto loved Halloween. It was the time of year she got to be someone else.
"Oh, God, Mom!" Itachi covered Sasuke's eyes.
"Mama...isn't that a...tad inappropriate for passing out candy...?"
"It isn't!"
Mikoto was dressed up in a short ruffled dress, paired with a tight black corset, flattering her still-young figure, so short it almost revealed her little red frilly panties, gartered to black stockings, adorned with crimson lace. Her high-heels were sharp-as-knife stilettos, decorated with little scarlet vampire bats, black fishnet arm runners going up to her shoulders. To finish it off, a black and red velvet cape that pinned at her throat. Dracula's wet dream.
Itachi raised an eyebrow at her. She gave an innocent smile, her plump red-painted lips parting to reveal two glued-in vampire teeth, adorned with sparkly black crosses.
His eyes narrowed slightly. No point in arguing. "I'll go put on pants..." she groaned, dragging herself upstairs.
Itachi called up after her, "Don't you have those lace-up jeans with the crosses from that one Halloween?"
"Yeah, I'll go squeeze my fat ass in them!" Mikoto called back. Itachi chuckled. "Does she know she's not fat?" he asked himself.
It was only when he looked away from the staircase that he really noticed Shisui, fully dressed in a Kurt Cobain getup, the same outfit from their Unplugged special on MTV, his acoustic on his back. To complete it, a blonde wig, long and waved, so realistic it might've been taken from Kurt himself. When Shisui turned to look at him, Itachi noticed something that made his stomach lurch forward, his heart thudding uncomfortably in his chest. Blood, bright red blood matted the blonde wig, a gaping hole where his temple should be, half of his ear appearing blown off; so painfully realistic Itachi could've cried.
He almost screamed, when Shisui suddenly noticed him staring fixedly at it, trembling slightly. "Cool, huh?" Shisui poked at the bloody bullet hole. "Here," he handed Itachi a bag.
"You look rediculous," (see: you look amazing.) he sighed.
"Thanks."
"What is this?"
"Your costume! Come on!"
Shisui dragged Itachi into the bathroom without a further word, locking the door, wasting no time in undressing Itachi, letting his hand slip over Itachi's almost-visible ribs, watching as his body shook in a light moan.
"I will not be molested by Kurt Cobain," he glared at Shisui, earning an amused chuckle from the costumed teen.
"Oh, relax. Just put this on," he held out the bag.
"What is it?"
"A costume!"
"I know that. No."
"Oh, come on," he sighed, "You'll look great! It was either this, or Courtney Love."
"Oh no."
"C'mon, Itachi...just..." he pulled a black box out of the bag, which held the costume inside. Upon further inspection, Itachi realized it was a heart-shaped box, adorned with tin buttons. In the bottom of the bag was a pair of well-made black wings, feathery and dark. Shisui didn't give him a second to resist before he unlocked the box with an old key that was dangling around his neck on a rusted chain, an audiable click resounding, echoing off of the plaster and tile, and seemed to ring inside of Itachi's skull. Shisui lifted the lid carefully, delicately, as if it were dangerous itself, and dressed Itachi in the black outfit. A black long-sleeved button up that wasn't heavy and hot, but airy and cool, adorned him soon enough; it made him feel weightless. Black slacks, a similar material that was very light and tickled as it brushed against his theighs, the unidentifiable fabric against his legs incredibly delicate. Shisui grabbed a hairbrush from the sink and pulled Itachi back onto the toilet lid with him, sitting him between his legs and brushing out the impressive tresses, watching it flay out, the lighter strands catching the dim light from the old bulbs in their sockets; magnificent. Ethreal.
Shisui stood, leaving Itachi sitting down, and noticed Itachi's hands were gripping the edge of the lid in desperation, his legs open, his head bowed, hair curtaining his face aesthetically, shading away his eyes. He attached the wings to the back of the shirt by some invisible seam, each four feet tall and an impeccable obsidian. He delicatly took each hand in turn, painting every long nail with black laquor. As he finished each hand and released them, in turn, they returned to their anxious grip on the edge. Shisui reassuringly ran his hands over Itachi's arms, kissing his eye lightly, then skimmed his lips down to Itachi's, trembling with some unimaginable cold, craning his neck to reach them. He caressed the base of Itachi's neck lightly.
"Hey, you," his voice hushed, almost a whisper. He waited for Itachi to acknowledge him. Itachi's eyebrows raised ever-so-slightly, his eyes fixed on the floor. "Hey, you're beautiful, you know?"
Shisui kissed his lips gently, letting them skim up the bridge of his nose, kissing his eye once more. Shisui used the oppertunity to slip something onto Itachi's left ring finger. Itachi drew a small breath in surprise as Shisui slipped a smaller box into his hand, again, a heart.
"I love you forever, okay?" he whispered. "No matter what. You're so, so beautiful, Itachi. So beautiful. Not now, but soon. Soon, I'll take you so far away from here. This," he ran his thumb over the gleaming gem, pushing it further up Itachi's finger, to which he responded by suddenly grabbing Shisui's biceps, clinging on anxiously, tightly, his nails digging into Shisui's arm. He didn't even flinch, "is not for soon, but for now. This box," he placed the cold, larger heart shaped box into Itachi's lap, removing his hands from his arms patiently, bringing Itachi's hands down to it, "is a secret. It's the secret of you and me. We're a secret, and so is this. Put all of your secrets in here, and lock them up tight," Shisui slipped the chain over Itachi's head, delicately, and let it hang from his neck, "so no one will find them. Put your innermost secret," he gripped the hand that held the ring box, "inside of the heart. Keep them locked up. Never show them to anyone. They're yours. Show them to only you. I love you. I love you forever."
Shisui whispered the final words, kissing Itachi's eye once more, feeling the lashes flutter underneath his lips. Shisui smiled with his gaze, taking Itachi's face in his hands, leaning close enough to hear him think, and batted his lashes against Itachi's; a small, ticklish, endearing butterfly kiss. Itachi opened his eyes, looking up at him. Shisui silently helped Itachi stand up, taking the boxes and placing them in the bag as if they were dangerously fragile.
"Come on, let's go get some candy. Sasuke's probably throwing a fit by now."
They left the bathroom to see Sasuke waiting, surprisingly patient. His eyes widened at the sight of Itachi.
"Nii-san! You look so pretty!"
Itachi seemed to regain a touch of his consciousness, his cheeks igniting with embarassment and recognition of the fact that he was drowning in reality. Sasuke hopped up, smiling.
"Can we go trick-or-treating now?"
"Sure, Sasuke. Let's go."
They left, Itachi calling back, "We'll be home by ten, Mama!"
They wandered the neighborhood, Sasuke happily joining other kids he knew as they walked to the doors and rejoiced in a joyous chorus of "Trick-or-Treat!", and recieved candy with delightful squeals of, "Look what I got!" and grateful, "Thank you!"s. Sasuke came back to join his older brother, walking with Aimi.
"Y'know, Sasuke-kun, you're a dead soldier! You should totally join me in the afterlife and defend me forever!"
"Of course, my Goddess!"
They laughed and departed, Sasuke returning to his older brother, and they started off back down the street.
Suddenly, "Hey, Itachi?"
"Yes, Sasuke?"
"What does Hell look like?"
A contemplating silence.
Then...
"It's white."
A/N: Do you guys get it? Itachi's little discreet message? My friend Kimani actually fell asleep trying to figure it out, then she woke up, like "OH! Effing Itachi! He pulled a GLaDOS on me!"
Yeah. Newfound obsession with Portal...coincidence? Or mayhaps it be fate? So among Portal, The Crucible, and my new love for two songs by Nicki Minaj (Super Bass, Moment 4 Life)...
Yes, there will be Portal...there will be Crucible references (Shisui accusing Sasuke of witchcraft to cheer him up? I dunno. Certainly wouldn't cheer me up! Witchcraft be a hangin' error!) And there will be Super Bass. Very, very Super Bass.
I love you guys so much! Thank you! Thank you for your patience!