Itachi threw one leg over his motorcycle, starting it up, the engine roaring to life in the cold of the air. The growling of the bike was cold and numb and Itachi couldn't really hear it anyways, the grey of the morning sedating and anesthetized.

"Nii-san, where are you going? Can I come?"

Itachi's eyes widened slightly. Apparently, Sasuke had heard the motorcycle start, running outside in time to see Itachi pull on his leather jacket, helmet inbetween his theighs. "Maybe next time, Sasuke," Itachi poked Sasuke's forehead apologetically, backing out of the driveway and taking off down the road, leaving Sasuke behind in a fog of exhaust.

-o-

The river was calm and cold, the wind frigid as fog settled sparsely, lightly over the bank. Itachi pulled his leather jacket closer around his shoulders, sighing out a visible breath. He felt the freezing wind on the nape of his neck, shivering, bringing thoughts of that room, of his father to his iced-over mind.

God, it was cold.

"I knew I'd find you here."

Itachi didn't look up, hearing the click of a lighter as a cigarette was lit between familiar lips. Sucking in a drag through the filter, Shisui absently blew a stream of grey smoke into the air, settling down beside the long-haired teen. "You kinda left Sasuke in the dust."

"What are you doing here?" was all Itachi offered as response.

"..." Shisui took another contemplative drag, thinking. He began to speak, but stopped himself, as if unsure.

Suddenly, "Why are you isolating yourself, Itachi? You're becoming so..." Shisui's nose scrunched up a bit. "Distant...You lie compulsively, even when you know I know the truth. You barely give your little brother the time of day, don't even pay attention to him, Hell, you don't even pet Ichabod anymore! I moved in to be with you. Not to have you isolate yourself from us. What is this about? Fugaku? You want him to think you don't like us anymore so he'll stop bothering us or something? Because let me tell you, Itachi Asako Uchiha, it hurts a Hell of a lot more to have you ifnore us. You..." Shisui raked a hand through his hair, taking a drag and expellingt the smoke, taking a breath. "...you always do this. You always try and fight your own battles when you have an army at your disposal! Don't be stupid, Itachi. I know you're not. You know I'm here to fight beside you. Against anything! It's what I wanna do, so don't restrict me from doing so...Just tell me how I can help."

Itachi muttered weakly, "I have to die, Shisui."

"What?" Shisui blinked in confusion as Itachi lifted his head suddenly, hair falling from his shoulder.

"I have to die, Shisui, he wants me to die!" Itachi's voice trembled as he swallowed hard, staring at the icy river.

They sat in silence for a while after that, neither speaking as the reality of the situation washed over them like the frigid water slowly consuming the bank.

"Well..." Shisui said after a while, "...fuck."

To his surprise, Itachi snorted in laughter, looking at Shisui incredulously. "Really?"

Shisui laughted too, hitting Itachi on the arm lightly, recieving a shove in return. Back and forth it went between them as if they were children until Itachi shoved Shisui hard, standing quickly, only pausing to laugh at his best friend laying in the tall, dewy grass. He began to dart away until a hand wrapped around his ankle, catching Itachi off-guard and taking advantage as he hit the ground, his leather jacket breaking the fall. Shisui crawled over the long-haired teen, pinning the pretty crow with his knees on either side of Itachi's theighs, his hands beside Itachi's head as he watched the crow laugh, disolving in mirth as the smiling pink lips flushed and parted in happiness, his breath coming out in crystallized clouds with each exhalation, a light flush beneath the happy crescents, those perfect butterfly eyelashes making fluttering shadows on those lovely cheekbones. Shisui smiled langurously at the sight as Itachi opened his eyes, wrapping his arms around Shisui's neck. Shisui fell to the side to lay equally with his pretty lover, the wet, freezing grass tickling their faces as Shisui pulled Itachi impossibly close, the both of them smiling as they pressed their foreheads together, the tips of their noses brushing lightly, cutely. Itachi sighed contently, lacing his arms through Shisui's to pull him closer, if possible. He felt Shisui's lips on his neck and smiled lightly, running his fingers through Shisui's hyacinth hair as they lay among the dismal, grey fog, the only color reflecting in Shisui's smile.

-o-

"Where's Sasuke?" Itachi glanced around as they entered the house.

"I brought him to Kimmi's before I found you."

Itachi smiled fondly. "She liked my paintings," he mumbled softly.

"Everybody loved your paintings..." Shisui assured. "...besides Fugaku," he added as an afterthought, elicting a light laugh from the teen.

"He sent me to an asylum for them, Shisui, of course he didn't like them. In fact, like is a nice word for it."

Shisui snorted in laughter, pulling Itachi down with him on the couch. "You should start painting again."

"Imagine what he'd do to me this time," Itachi rolled his eyes as he allowed Shisui to pull him back onto the couch, laying his head against Shisui's shoulder.

Shisui kissed the top of Itachi's head, wrapping an arm around Itachi's thin waist. "So...how is dying gonna help us beat him?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I have to 'fight him on his own level' or something. He wants me to kill myself. Shoot myself in the head, like I did him."

"Jesus Christ..." Shisui mumbled. "You're not gonna do that. No way in Hell...right?"

"How else am I gonna beat him?"

"..." Shisui remained silent as Itachi combed his fingers through Shisui's soft, curly hair, smiling. "You don't have to beat him, you know."

"He'll hurt you-"

"It doesn't bother me-"

"And Sasuke," Itachi finished. "And Ichabod."

Shisui rolled his eyes, kissing the top of Itachi's head. "We can-"

"I am not moving in with Uncle Madara."

"What's wrong with Uncle Madara?" Shisui questioned.

"Did you know he used to dress me like a girl when I was younger? Because he wanted a granddaughter!"

Shisui examined Itachi's face for any sign of joking. When he found none, he burst out laughing. "Is that why he calls you 'effeminant nephew?!"

"..." Itachi grumbled, "...yes."

"Nice," Shisui snorted in laughter. "That's great."

Itachi sighed. "I'm surprised he didn't show you pictures."

"He has pictures?!"

"I swear to God..."

-o-

"Shisui-nii! Tadai wa!" Sasuke called as he came inside, closing the door behind himself, only to hear "Okairi" in return from none other than Itachi.

"Oh...hi, Nii-san..." he returned quietly, eyes downcast.

"...Come here, Sasuke," Itachi coaxed gently, reaching his hand out to the child, who walked over hesitantly to his older brother, only to be pulled into his embrace. "I'm sorry I've been neglecting you, Sasuke. A lot has been going on. But there's no excuse...Forgive me?" Itachi poked Sasuke in the forehead playfully, smiling at the scowl he recieved, replacing the site of abuse with a gentle kiss.

"It's okay, Ani...as long as we get to be together once and a while."

Itachi nodded lightly, running his fingers through the feathery black locks that fluttered behind Sasuke's head, kissing his forehead again. "I love you, Outoutou."

"Love you, too, Ani..."

-o-

Itachi went to check his email that night, expecting nothing but realizing he had not checked it since the whole ordeal began. Everything else was pretty basic. Spam was deleted, updates from various things checked. But the last email subject made his heart skip a beat, his palms going sweaty in fear.

-o-

A/N: I am so sorry for the Hellaciously long wait for this chapter...No excuse. No excuse at all. All I can offer for appeasement is the fact that I have been flooded with over twenty story ideas in the past week and AP classes have been kicking my ass. ^_^" But I've had the chapter written for a while. It just needed to be edited.

The last part of this chapter wasn't originally there, believe it or not. But I spent my time inbetween paragraphs reading CreepyPastas...FML, is the scariest picture I've ever seen.

So...yeah. Enjoy!

And tell me what you think! Um...reviews...eh...I'm running out of these.

Oh! Lemons in the future chapters if I get reviews . . Do it~

Love from the Nakano~