Chapter 11

"Speaking"

'Thoughts'

"English"

*Sign language*

Looking back at it now, it's honestly a miracle that we ever met. If any one little thing had been different, we wouldn't have. I'm so glad we did. I can't even imagine my life without Kaida in it.

Their first meeting was an accident.

Shisui expects a lot to come out of today, he really does. It is the start of Survival Week, after all, and he's been looking forward to showing everyone what he can do. So he's expecting a lot, but he never thought that today might change the rest of his life. It's just like a regular academy day, except that it absolutely isn't, and Shisui is nearly vibrating out of his shoes in excitement. It's Survival Week! Morikosu-sensei has everyone line up and then leads the class out toward the village gate. It's as we walk past a section of forest that everything changes. He's at the back of the class, one of the perks of being tall, and as they pass a particular tree he glances over into the trees. There is an odd feeling in the air. It's like static, as if the world is holding its breath, and he suppresses a shiver. The feeling intensifies at a single point, and through the foliage there is a flash of white. And green and black meet. It only lasts a second, and then the class has moved past. In the end, it isn't anything really. Just a moment between two strangers who would never have met until they did.

And the world was never the same.

Their second meeting is a surprise.

To be honest, Shisui had completely forgotten about the stranger with green eyes in the face of Survival week. It had been rough, and everyone was feeling the strain as they made their way back to civilization. He is the middle of the group this time, talking with Inuzuka Gin, when the class walks past the forest section again. Gin had just told a jock, which was hilarious by the way, and Shisui is laughing as they pass a large tree. A peculiar sensation—almost like a shiver, but not—bubbles up through his chakra. It doesn't hurt, but it does catch his attention and he glances around to see what might have caused the feeling. There, staring out of the bushes are a pair brilliant green eyes looking right at him. He stares back and the feeling intensifies. Then the class moves past and Shisui has to either break eye contact or give away that he's seen something. He looks away. He doesn't look back until he is almost over the ridge of the road, and even then it's only for an instant.

Their third is intentional.

The next day is officially a rest day, but Shisui is up bright and early (Okay, maybe it wasn't that early) the next morning. It takes him a while to get out of the compound and away from all his nosy relatives, but once he does Shisui shoots out into the village. After two wrong turns he finally manages to find the right road. Panting, Shisui explodes over the crest of the hill and skids to a stop. Scanning the forest boundary, he searches for the spot that creates the weird shiver feeling that he felt yesterday. When he finds it, he rushes over to a nondescript bush and kneels down. Shisui carefully reaches out and moves some of the branches out of the way. There they are: bright green eyes with a pale but dirty face and topped with almost shockingly bright white hair. They are a little wide-eyed, and it looks like he caught them eating their breakfast. The two of us stare at each other for a few seconds.

"Hello," I breathe, fighting not to fidget when they don't respond. They don't say anything in response, but eventually they do wave. Shisui beams. "Hi! Oh, I'm so glad I found you again. Did you know that you feel funny? Do you know why? What's your name? Mine's Shisui. Are you a girl or a boy, 'cause I can't tell. Do you want to be a ninja? Cause you're really good at hiding, but I don't recognize you from the Academy. Oh, do you want to play ninja with me?"

A sound from behind him startles him, causing Shisui to release the branches. Half turning, he sees one of his cousins from the police force. Then a noise from the bush and Shisui can tell from the fading shiver-feel that they've run away

"Shisui-kun what are you doing?" A quick check shows that this is cousin Jin, and not one of Uncle Kaito's 5 other children, all of whom favor their non-Uchiha mother and are all on the police force regardless.

"Cousin Jin! You scared the away!" Shisui pouts, crossing his arms unhappily. Cousin Jin just chuckles,

"Playing with strays again? Well, try not to get all scratched up this time alright." Turning, the older Uchiha jumps back up onto the nearest roof, probably to continue his route.

"It isn't a cat this time, and that wasn't even my fault." Shisui grumbles lowly was he heads back home. He decides to try again tomorrow.

The fourth time was a game.

Unfortunately for Shisui, there is no one there the next day, or the day after. In fact, it is almost an entire week before he runs across them again. He's out doing some shopping for one of the older retired ninja who can't get around very well anymore when he feels the rather unique shiver-shock at the mouth of an alley. Following the feeling Shisui makes his way down the alley to a dumpster that, when he checks, shows signs of having been rummaged through.

See, Shisui has decided that when Cousin Jin said 'stray' what he really meant was 'orphan' and to Shisui it makes perfect sense that an orphan would look for cool new things in places others wouldn't. (No it really doesn't. Shut up I was 5 okay! It made sense at the time!) So, putting that together, he comes up with Green Eyes being the one who was scavenging. As it turns out, he isn't wrong. He suddenly sees movement out of the corner of his eye. Shisui turns to look, and for a second the feeling intensifies, but nothing is there. 'Hmm, I must have scared them off.' He makes plans to come back tomorrow and sets off to deliver the stuff he was sent off to fetch.

Tomorrow turns out to be complicated by the Academy, and clan training, and then Itachi, so Shisui doesn't make it back to the dumpster until the next morning. He makes sure to get there really early, because he still has to make it to the Academy in time for class. Excitedly, he peaks over the rim of the dumpster. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like anything was moved yesterday. Disappointed, he half-heartedly pokes around a little bit before heading out to the Academy early. He drops back by after classes finish and is thrilled to find that it looks like someone has come by while he was in class, but they seem to have left again. The next several days Shisui plays an intense game of hide-and-seek with his new friend, who's name he stilldoesn't know. He takes to trying to ambush the other as they collect things from the dumpster, which is made harder by the fact there doesn't seem to be a set pattern to their movements. Shisui also takes to leaving little things in the dumpster for them. It isn't mush, a pretty hair ribbon he found and some of his school pencils mostly. Things he realizes that he had kind of been taking for granted. It is fun though, playing like this. Shisui knows that he doesn't really have many friends even though he's a fairly friendly person. Even most of his cousins don't want to play with him. Only Itachi ever wants to hang out, and he always wants to train instead of play. It is nice to have another friend.

Of course, all good things must come to an end.

The fifth time is the last.

One afternoon, when Shisui reaches the turn for the alleyway he finds a large group of people gathered around blocking the area. With little thought, Shisui pushes his way through the crowd so that he can see what's going on. The shiver-static feeling pulses and intensifies as he reaches the front, and then he is out of the crowd and meeting green eyes across the circle. Shisui watches as they shoot off down the alleyway and out of sight with no one else the wiser. He has the feeling that he isn't going to be seeing them again for a while. When he gets home later that night, Shisui asks around about what had happened and finds out that a rookie patrol had spotted a drunk civilian chasing after a small child, who disappeared in the aftermath.

He leaves a kunai in the bushes near the road the next day and never goes back to the dumpster.

The game is over.