CHAPTER 18

That's it. I don't want to see anything else. I don't want to feel anything else. I've had more than I can handle but this can't be a reality.

Kakashi. You saved me from the darkness in my soul and in the end, this happens. I'm so sorry.

"Misaki! Snap out of it!" Tetsuya yelled.

Misaki didn't register her brother's words, in her mind, there were no sounds or anything visible other than Kakashi's lifeless body.

"There's nothing you can do now, Tetsuya. Your sister will become my sister's vessel and then Kaguya and myself will strip this planet of all its chakra." Urashiki said.

"Why the need to bring Kaguya back? You know she created the army of White Zetsu to combat the rest of your clan, right? She wanted to keep all the chakra for herself and you think that just by freeing her she'll change her mind?" Tetsuya questioned.

Urashiki's body tensed in response but then he closed his eyes as if to calm himself. The moment he opened them again, Misaki's body was suspended in the air. Her back was arched back, her long dark hair and arms falling back. The Otsutsuki was about to start the process to revive Kaguya.

"I won't let you do that!" Tetsuya yelled while charging against Urashiki but Misaki appeared in front of him.

"Oh, yeah? And how are you planning on doing that?" He answered with a smirk on his face. Tetsuya froze, eyes wide, his first a few inches away from Misaki's face. "You do realise you'll have to go through her before you can even attempt at touching me, don't you?"

Tetsuya's brow furrowed before he took a deep breath and looked deep into Misaki's eyes. There was no recognition behind them as they stared ahead but seeing nothing.

"I'm sorry, Misaki. I can't let him revive Kaguya, please get back to your senses before… before it's too late." He whispered so only she could hear although he was aware that those words would fall in deaf ears.

"So be it." Was his answer to Urashiki's threat. He then started attacking Misaki whose body automatically reacted but her face was void of any emotion, even when she received a hit.

"Oh my, I didn't think you would have it in you to attack your own sister." The Otsutsuki said, crossing his arms.


Konoha, 15 years ago, 7 aNb

Misaki was back from the ANBU mission that caused the Amaterasu incident with Itachi. The burns on her skin took a full day and several medical ninjas working on her non-stop to heal enough for her to go on the urgent mission Sandaime had requested her to do.

The mission itself had been simple and gone without a hitch. The trip to Amegakure (The Village Hidden in the Rain) had been long but she made it in time to arrive on a Sunday, the only day in the week that had the chance of no rain. The reason why this happened or why she had to avoid the rain was unknown to her but she was lucky enough to arrive on a non-rainy Sunday. Infiltration in the village posed no major obstacles and managed to reach the highest tower where she had to determine the number of the black-and-red cloak organisation members known as the Akatsuki located in that village. Three had been the number and a puppet.

That was the end of the mission, no other information required. Why Itachi had thrown a fit after knowing the details of her mission had been a mystery. He knew she had the best infiltration skills due to her chakra control and speed which allowed her to move without being sensed and run away for the rare cases she made a miscalculation and ended up being spotted visually. Amegakure had been no different and she had left the village the same way she came in.

Misaki wasted no time in sensing Itachi's location in their usual sparring spot by the cliff. She also sensed Shisui with him but she would give Itachi a piece of her mind nonetheless for what he had done regarding her ANBU mission that had turned out to be a piece of cake. Having Shisui there was also an advantage since he would take her side.

Itachi and Shisui seemed to be in deep conversation when she spotted them. And whatever they were talking about didn't seem to please either of them.

Shisui noticed her approach first, he looked at her briefly and stopped talking but made no other movement. That was followed by Itachi letting out a deep breath before he teleported his ass out of there.

Coward. Misaki thought as she stopped walking and her left eyebrow lifted. Was he trying to provoke her? It wasn't like he could hide from her, he knew she could locate him anywhere in a hundred-mile radius in a blink of an eye.

"Misa," Shisui called out to her just as she was going to make her move to where Itachi was.

Misaki rolled her eyes before looking at him with a pout and put her right hand on her hip. She wasn't in the mood to hear whatever reason Shisui would use to stop her from following Itachi.

Shisui imitated her lifted eyebrow before he burst out laughing at her current pose.

"Stop it!" Misaki complained and crossed her arms which made him laugh even harder.

"You guys are hilarious…" he said before he continued to laugh. Misaki just waited until the laughing fit passed.

"Ok, ok, sorry… ahem. Okaeri, Misaki." He finally said sweetly which she couldn't help but smile in return.

"Tadaima."

"I guess your rare tantrum is due to how easy and quickly you managed to complete your mission which proves how wrong Itachi was for worrying about it?"

"Well, duh." She answered like a ten-year-old.

"Misaki, even though I agree that Itachi's actions were too extreme, I was every bit worried about this mission. Just because it went smoothly, doesn't mean it wasn't a highly dangerous S-rank ANBU mission and one little miscalculation could've been fatal. I'm proud of you for your achievement but most of all, I'm completely relieved to see you back alive and in one piece."

"Glad someone is…" she muttered.

"Hey," Shisui was suddenly in front of her, his fingers lifting her chin so she would look him in the eye. "Itachi has been so worried and restless since you left, he hasn't slept at all, he barely kept it together and even made a few mistakes in his last mission for how absentminded he was.

I think he would've gone to you if the mission took a few days longer. I don't think you're aware of how dangerous the Akatsuki are. He knows and that's why he was able to finally breathe when he realised you were back. He hoped Sandaime would cancel your mission while you were in the hospital..."

Misaki took a deep breath to stop the fury building up inside of her. As charming as Shisui was painting Itachi's worry, burning her alive was unacceptable in anyone's book.

"So what were you guys discussing before?" She asked, forcing herself to change the subject.

Shisui let go of her chin and turned around.

"The clan's issues." Which was code for none-of-your-business. This was the only topic they wouldn't share with her. Anything else was always shared, even top-secret missions' details they shouldn't talk about. Itachi had even confessed to Shisui the reason for his masochist actions which Shisui didn't waste time to share with her.

But the clan was taboo. The clan, the clan… always something going on with the clan.

"You know, Uchiha or not, I would help you with anything if you guys ever decided to ask me, you know you can trust me."

Shisui turned around and his eyes bore into her. Uncertainty darkened his expression. He seemed to start considering something before he stopped himself.

"You don't need to worry about the clan. It's got nothing to do with you."

That stung a bit. While she considered the Uchiha as her extended family, it seemed the feeling was one-sided. She spent most of her time in the Uchiha compound and she always felt welcomed and never treated as an outsider. Not until now.

"There's obviously something going on with the clan. I don't know what you guys won't count on me but I would do anything to help you!" She felt a bit better by venting some of her anger.

"Would you, really?"

Misaki was taken aback by the question. She thought helping Shisui and Itachi with anything would've been a given considering their past together.

"Of course I would. What kind of question is that?"

"So you would fight against Fugaku-san if I asked you to, wouldn't you?"

"Why would you need me to fight Itachi's dad of all people?" She asked.

"It's a yes-or-no type of question," Shisui answered matter-of-factly.

"B-But why-"

"Yes or no!?"

Misaki stayed silent for a few seconds.

"Then I'm guessing you wouldn't attack Mikoto-san or Naori-obachan…"

Her eyes widened but she answered quickly. "Of course not." Why would there be a reason to attack the old lady from the bakery shop?

"Exactly."

Misaki frowned. Shisui wasn't making any sense, there was no way he would ask something like that. The Uchiha were kind, cheerful and loving people… The compound had been a bit less lively lately but-

… the police force run by Fugaku had a few incidents with the use of extreme force and uncalled anger towards the people of the village.

The village. The Uchiha.

She always saw the Uchiha as a clan belonging to the village but she could now realise that the Uchiha were very distant and a separate entity from the village and yet the most powerful clan in Konoha. If they ever decided to take power, it would be very difficult to stop them, maybe even impossible and many lives would be lost.

Would she be able to fight against them? Would Shisui and Itachi be part of the coup?

Realisation hit her like a 10-tonne boulder.

With wide eyes, Misaki took an involuntary step away from Shisui. No, it was not possible, they would never be part of it. She refused to believe that because that would mean she would have to fight them and she had no chance against the two most precious people to her that turned out to be both Uchiha.

"So you would fight against Fugaku-san if I asked you to, wouldn't you?" He asked earlier which means…

"Shisui, you need to stop Fugaku-san. You have the power to do that, don't you?"

"What makes you think that?" He asked, surprised.

"Your Sharingan. It's different from the rest of the clan. I can sense it every time you use it, the power it contains, it's… I don't know how to put words to it but it's much more than the enhanced perception and the ability to read other's chakra… it feels like you could do anything you wanted."

Shisui stared at her for a few seconds.

"Have you been sneaking into the Uchiha's secret room?"

"And look at the stone tablet? You know I can't read it although now I can guess what it might say." She said with a smirk. Shisui laughed again.

"Ah, Misa. Your perception is really something. Yours and Itachi are on par, you're like two peas in a pod minus Itachi's bored attitude, at least yours come with a smile. I wish we could all learn how you look at everything in such a positive way."

"Fine. Just let me borrow your Sharingan and I'll deal with it." Misaki said jokingly but her smile faded when she noticed Shisui's serious face staring at her.

"I guess that's an option." He said matter-of-factly.

"I was just kidding, you know?" She suddenly felt uncomfortable with Shisui's change of tone. "It's not like you can just swap eyes, right? That would be gross."

"With the help of medical ninjutsu, it is possible. A Sharingan in a non-Uchiha would deplete the user's chakra quickly, that's why Izumi can't control hers due to being only half Uchiha. However, your chakra reserves are larger than mine, right? You would have no issue."

"Huh? Thank you but I like my eyes where they are, plus I can't even touch them, it's… yuck!"

"Is it?" Shisui's face was right in front of her, his eyes wide open and his index finger about to touch his right eye.

"Stop it! That's disgusting!" She said running away from him. "Keep it, keep it! Or give it to someone else!"

"Why? Think of the power you'd have with it, you'd be unstoppable!"

Misaki stopped running and turned to look at him over her shoulder.

"I don't want it. That much power is bound to corrupt the user."

"You think I could be blinded by the power I have in my hands and fail to see a solution? You could be right, maybe this power is meant for someone else to use." Shisui was deep in thought and rambling at the same time.

"Huh? That's not what… what I meant was… eh?" Misaki couldn't understand Shisui's words. "You only think of others so I know you could always handle it but I wouldn't want to become someone I would despise."

"But it's because you think like that that I know you would be okay with this power. I just hope it doesn't get to a point that you'd need it or that I would have to give it to you."

"What could I do that you couldn't?" She asked.

"Ah, you never know." She heard him say although he had whispered it while turning away.

"Shisui."

"Yeah?"

"I…" Misaki didn't know what to say but it felt that something big just happened only she didn't have a clue of what it was.

"It's okay," Shisui was suddenly in front of her, his index and thumb holding up her chin, his handsome face only a breath away. Her body froze while her pupils dilated and her breathing became uneven.

"Like I said, this is a clan's problem, Itachi and I will deal with it." He answered, seemingly completely unaware of the effect the touch of his fingers was doing to her body.

Misaki's lips parted to gather the oxygen that apparently had disappeared from this area. Shisui's eyes zeroed on her lips. In response, his nostrils widened and his Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped. Maybe he wasn't so unaware now.

"What…" Again, she couldn't form coherent words out loud. What the hell was happening, why was her heart fluttering? That kind of flutter had only happened when she was with Itachi and shouldn't occur with someone she considered as an older brother, right? But the truth was, Shusui was not related to her at all, he was handsome, tall, charming, intelligent, funny, caring… so could she really blame her hormones when this guy was looking at her like that?

A shiver ran through her body and it spread like a tingling all over her skin.

She shook her head and the contact was broken. The spell or whatever that was slowly fading away.

"Don't do that again, please. You know you're like a brother to me." She lied.

"You already know that's no longer true." He countered in a serious tone.

"Get out of my brain." She muttered but he heard.

"I know you love Itachi but you also love me a little bit." He said playfully this time, he even winked!

Misaki opened her mouth then closed it, she repeated it one more time which she thought would make her look like a gaping fish.