A/N: This is dedicated to my lovely Beta MistyMi! Some light Itachi/Shisui that I hope everyone can enjoy!

Thank you all for reading!

Assuming We…

Extra - Shisui & Itachi

Shisui's POV

My last day at my hometown had been spent in a dazed state. I was almost nineteen and on my way to attend college in Tokyo, and while the perspective of finally being able to be free enough to live life the way I wanted to was overwhelmingly exciting, there was a weight in my heart that I couldn't let go of.

I don't know what I'd been expecting, to be honest. Because I had always been an outstanding student and a child evaluated with an exceptional IQ, all my life I had been dealing with the pressure that I was supposed to become someone great. For years I had allowed myself to go with the flow while indulging my parents' fantasies of all the well-accomplished paths I could pursue in the brilliant future ahead when, in the end, I had absolutely no fucking idea of what the hell I wanted to do with my life.

Getting an amazing scholarship and going to college was merely an excuse for me to go away and see for myself what else the world had to offer because I really didn't have anything in particular that appealed to me.

By no means did I have a difficult childhood, no. School was nice, I made friends easily and could afford to be laid back in my own way. My parents were good people who made sure I had everything I needed and all those who carried the Uchiha name were tight, so the concept of a big 'family' and 'love' was something I grew up with. I had no complaints at all.

It was just that I felt completely detached from the image everyone had of me. I was expected to do amazing things, but all I wanted was to not think about the future.

All I knew, really, was that I was in love with two very different things - music, and my cousin and best friend, Uchiha Itachi, at the time, almost four years younger than me.

Filled with a somber sense of longing for something not yet lost, I spent that day completely alone by the riverbank, my acoustic guitar with me as I played song after song until my fingers started to hurt. I didn't want to feel emotional, so it was easier being alone.

Even if I had grown up in that lively town, what made me feel sorrowful was not the idea of leaving but something completely different that I wasn't sure if I should deal with. Avoiding it felt wrong, and it was killing me.

When I looked at the time, the sun was setting and it was past dinnertime. I grabbed my bike, intent on going home but my feet seemed to want to pedal towards a different direction and I decided that it was time to stop running away.

It was already dark by the time I stopped in front of the familiar house and knocked on the door.

"Shisui!" My aunt, Mikoto, greeted, smiling openly even though she seemed surprised. "We weren't expecting you, honey!" She stepped aside, the action inviting. "Come inside! We finished dinner a while ago, but there's leftovers..."

"That's okay, I don't want to bother," I politely refused, rubbing the back of my neck with an embarrassed smile. "I was just wondering if I could talk to 'Tachi? I just want to go for a walk with him; we'll be back in a minute."

My aunt seemed a bit taken aback by my request. "Don't you have to get up early tomorrow?" She asked.

"Yeah, but…" In spite of my stupid self, I found myself blushing. "I just wanted to see him for a bit."

Her eyebrows rose but she ended up chuckling. "I understand," she said, with a soft nod. "He's reading in his room; let me go get him."

"You mind if I leave my guitar here?" I asked, stepping inside the house and closing the door behind me.

"Of course not," my aunt said dismissively, before stepping out of the genkan and making her way up the stairs. I took my cue and made the strap of my guitar slide up my body before carefully setting it on the floor, leaned against the wall.

I didn't know why my hands were sweating and why I felt so fidgety, but it was a persistent feeling that had been nagging me for a while now and I wanted to do something about it.

It didn't take long for my aunt to come back down, Itachi trailing behind her wearing a dark red t-shirt and black shorts, his shoulder length hair tied in the back in a tiny ponytail as loose strands of hair framed his face. As usual, his expression was impassive, but his eyebrows quirked up inquisitively at me.

I swallowed hard before smiling openly at him. "Wanna go for a walk?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Sure. Let me just put on my sneakers."

000

It was still summer, so the night was hot enough that we didn't need to be wearing jackets.

Itachi had been acting strange with me for a while now, so things had been strained between us, especially when I had announced the date of my departure to Tokyo.

As we slowly walked side by side down the street where he lived, the silence was heavy and yet, having him beside me provided the feeling of comfort and relief I had been craving for the whole day. Still, I couldn't help but feel slightly restless as I watched him from the corner of my eyes - the way his lips were pressed tight together, his hands shoved inside the pockets of his shorts.

At fifteen, my best friend was an odd character - a paradox of constant contradictions that I had always been fascinated by. He wasn't particularly well built back then, but his features had already been handsome, a mature seriousness to him that always made him feel slightly unapproachable. At school, he was polite and well behaved, the best student of his year, a class president and the top notch of the student council. As if this wasn't enough, he studied the piano, was in the photography and archery clubs, and whenever he could, he would help at his parents' bookstore.

It seemed impossible to think that he could ever have free time in his hands, and yet, he somehow always managed to find some space in his busy schedule to both play with his little brother and hang out with me. I often wondered if he even slept.

But then, Itachi had another side to him that he kept only to the people closest to him. He was a boy who possessed an unshakable calmness and was probably the kindest person I knew, loving and giving beyond measure, always miraculously available to everyone who needed him. That was why everyone took a liking to him.

I often looked at Itachi, my cousin and best friend, and thought that he reminded me of myself at his age. However, if not for me, Itachi would've been this bookworm kid with no personal hobbies and no room for being a normal teenager, and this wasn't because of any imposition from his parents - it was just the way he was.

One could say Itachi was the typical nerdy school prince. He had always been popular, yet didn't consider anyone as a close friend, regardless of how nice he was to basically everyone.

Only with me could he be the type of kid who could be considered remotely normal. Or rather, I had forced him out of his shell by making sure he lived a little.

I often wondered how happy he was that I was part of his life.

"You look so sloppy," I pointed out to ease the tension, teasingly tugging his ponytail and making him finally look at me with a reproachful look in his eyes. "Look at this mess; it's not like you to be so careless."

His hair had never been short like mine, but it had started growing out during summer vacations and he hadn't really bothered to go cut it.

"Stop it," he retorted, slapping my hand away. "Don't touch if you don't like it."

"I didn't say I didn't like it," I corrected, with a grin. "It suits you. I'm sure you'd look great with long hair."

Itachi merely sighed.

I couldn't help the wave of sadness and fondness that filled my chest.

"What were you reading?" I asked, conversationally.

"The 'Iliad'," he replied.

"Figures you'd go reading such boring stuff," I mocked, affectionately. "Although, aren't Achilles and Patroclus kind of like you and me? Besties all the way."

At this, a small smirk appeared on his lips. "Well, I certainly hope neither of us ever has to die for the other," he retorted. "Alexander the Great liked to compare himself and Hephaestion to those two and it didn't end up well for either of them, either."

"Historical gays always have such devastating endings," I lamented, with an exaggerated sigh. Itachi snorted softly but didn't reply.

For a moment, I watched him as I chewed on my lower lip. He was usually so open with me, so easy going and yet, I could tell he was angry at me, even if he didn't say it, or openly show it in his expression.

It's not like I hadn't considered Itachi's feelings on this, or my own. Our age gap had never been an issue before, but as life progressed it became obvious that, for a while, our paths would diverge, and even if this didn't make me happy, it wasn't exactly something I could avoid.

I had a great desire to make sure our worlds could meet again, at some point, and for sure, Itachi knew, even without us talking about it.

"You're leaving tomorrow, right?" Itachi then asked, casually.

"Yeah, early in the morning," I said, feeling a little sheepish. "That's why I wanted to come and see you."

Itachi didn't say anything for a few seconds. When I was opening my mouth to speak, he interrupted me. "Took you long enough."

I couldn't help but feel myself tense at that. Of course he knew I had stopped myself from seeing him.

Sometimes, because he was younger, I liked to pretend that he wasn't as sharp as I knew him to be.

"I'm sorry," was all I could muster, and he didn't bother to acknowledge my apology.

We fell into a sort of shared solemn silence as we walked through the streets, the warm night considerably silent. I could hear a cricket somewhere in the distance.

After a while, we ended up automatically reaching the basketball court and I couldn't help but stop in my tracks, looking at it through the metallic fence. Itachi and I had played there many times throughout the years, sometimes one on one, others joined by other kids, and the nostalgia warmed my heart.

"Ah, it would have been nice if I had brought my basketball with me," I said, smiling at Itachi desolately. "We could do a match for old times' sake."

Instead of commenting, Itachi turned away from the fence and leaned his back against it. "Do you have a smoke?"

"Yeah, I only have one left, but you can have it," I replied, taking my pack from the left pocket of my jeans. I pushed the lid backwards and extended the pack to him.

"Or we can share it?" he suggested simply, with a hand taking out both the last cigarette and the plastic lighter there.

"Okay, let me just throw this away."

There was a trash bin nearby, so I made sure to make a quick travel towards it to throw the pack away before walking back to Itachi, who had already lit the cigarette. He extended me the lighter as I leaned my back on the fence beside him, and as I accepted it back, I couldn't help being too self-conscious of the fact that our fingers brushed softly. We were close enough that our arms were pressed together but, as expected, neither of us felt uncomfortable about the fact.

"Will you come live with me in Tokyo once you graduate?" I asked, looking at him as I shoved the lighter inside my pocket.

"I don't know," he said, before taking a long drag on the cigarette. He leaned his head back against the fence, closing his eyes as he expelled the smoke. "I don't know what I want to do after graduating yet, but I know I don't want to become a doctor nor a lawyer, at least."

I smiled, my eyes taking in the relaxed expression on his correct features. "You should tell that to your dad."

"I will when I have my own convictions to back me up," he guaranteed, reopening his eyes and looking up at me. Silently, he raised the cigarette to my lips, and I leaned in to take a small drag. I noticed him observing me calmly in that firm calculating way that made him seem so much older than he was.

"We are so very similar, you and I," I said, expelling the smoke and locking eyes with him. "You think we're bound to be the family's disappointments? The prodigies who didn't want to pursue mighty careers?"

"Who knows," he said, with a careful shrug of his shoulders, bringing the cigarette to his lips again. "You're the smartest person I know, so I'm sure you'll do just fine. As long as you're happy, that's all that matters to me."

"I feel the same way about you," I muttered, unable to keep the affection from my voice.

"I know." For a few seconds, we merely eyed each other before he spoke again. "I'm not thinking stupid things like we'll never talk to each other again or anything, if that's what you're thinking. I know you wouldn't do that. Besides, we are family."

"Yet, you're angry," I pointed out, softly. "Why? Will you be lonely without me?"

"No," he denied firmly. "I have Sasuke so, with you gone, I can spend more time with him."

"Ouch," I said, bringing a hand to my chest as if wounded by his words. "You're harsh. You can't possibly tell me you won't be missing your best friend when I know I will be missing you."

Itachi stared at me unblinkingly without saying a word, his beautiful eyes narrowing. Patiently waiting, I allowed my eyes to travel over his features again, wondering when exactly, had I started to think of him as something beautiful and unmistakably irreplaceable. I wouldn't tell him this, though, neither would I ever tell him that it pained me to leave him behind.

But it did. I was never a quiet, reserved guy like him, but he had always been the single person that I had felt completely comfortable around, and the only person who knew me as well as I knew myself. He had always been privy to sides of me I never wanted to show to anyone else.

All my feelings, my fears, my desires - he knew them all without reservations.

Which was why I was certain that he had always known how I felt about him, as well.

"I am sad that you're going to Tokyo," Itachi finally said, carefully, dark eyes scrutinizing again as if trying to read my expression. "But I'm happy for you, too. You're a reliable person, so I know you'll do just fine and finally do things the way you want to. you don't need to worry about me, Shisui, or my feelings. It's better if you don't think about it at all."

There he was, talking down on me as if he was all grown up and I was the one being immature about this. But, how could I not think about it? Even if I knew he'd be fine without me, and even if I knew that, thanks to Sasuke - his beloved younger brother that always seemed to be his number one priority - he wouldn't feel lonely, I couldn't bear the thought of him being sad.

It's impossible to love someone for so long, always having them by your side and not feeling devastated by an impending separation.

We had been together ever since we were kids and we saw each other almost every day, and even if he had been younger than me and I had felt the need to guide him and somehow protect him, I had never once looked at him as someone inferior or too young to keep up with me.

Biting on my lower lip, I moved so I was standing in front of him, the fingers of my left hand curling around the metal of the fence next to his head, my other hand picking up the cigarette he was holding and letting it fall to the ground, taking a mental note to pick it up before leaving. Then, I reached out and touched the tips of my fingers to his cheek. Itachi's expression didn't change, but his eyes seemed to sharpen up in awareness as he tilted his head up to look at me. I vaguely noticed that I was leaning over him and that our faces were too close. It was almost odd how much shorter he was than me at that point but that was, strangely enough, not something I had ever considered before because Itachi had always seemed so much more mature than me even.

For some strange reason, the anxiety I had been feeling before seeing him seemed inexistent now, the awkwardness that we had seemed to share in the last few minutes having vanished. Looking at him closely, I pushed my somber thoughts of sadness and loneliness away to focus on the empathy I felt towards him and on how comfortable I felt, even invading his space in such a demanding way. To my glee, Itachi seemed perfectly comfortable with my touch and the unexpected proximity.

Leave it to him to never lose his composure, I thought, proudly.

"I like you," I said, my voice firm and full of conviction, surprising even me. "Not just as a friend or a younger brother. You know that, don't you?"

His reply was one I already expected. "I do."

I took a sharp intake of breath through my nose, my thumb brushing over his jaw in a gentle caress. "Is that okay with you?"

Itachi didn't move away, nor flinched, instead eyeing me, evaluating, before his gaze softened. "That's a stupid question," he said simply. "I don't really mind being liked by someone like you."

I hesitated slightly. "I don't understand what you mean by that," I muttered.

This time, he did blink a few times as if processing my words. "It means I acknowledge your feelings," he explained, his voice having dropped a few curious octaves. "I don't appreciate those kinds of things coming from other people, but if it's you, then it's fine."

"You don't find it weird?" I couldn't help but ask, wetting my lips with the tip of my tongue.

I felt my t-shirt being grabbed over my chest with one hand. Then, using the other hand, Itachi's fingers came to wrap around my wrist and, for a moment, he nuzzled his cheek against the palm of my hand as he closed his eyes. "I'm okay with your liking me," he confirmed in a whisper, but with an open honesty that made chills run down my spine.

I was almost nineteen and yet, I found myself blushing violently at that fifteen year old smartass as my heart started beating wildly inside my chest.

I felt my t-shirt being tugged down forcefully and before I knew it, Itachi was capturing my parted lips in his, the feel to them causing a wave of relief to wash over me as electricity seemed to course through my body.

Itachi kissed with an easy fluidity that was unfit for someone his age. The way his tongue indulgently slid inside my mouth was teasing, his fingers releasing the fabric of my t-shirt to move upwards so they were curling around the hairs at the back of my head meaningful as if he knew I wanted him to act possessive of me. His other hand let go of my wrist, so it was coming lower and slipping inside my t-shirt, touching my navel underneath, making me jolt slightly at the sensation before leaning towards the touch. I didn't feel like I was the older one at all, instead releasing a soft moan against him as my entire body felt as if it was melting. He made an appreciative sound with his throat and I all but pressed my body to him, pinning him against the fence as his arm hugged me around the waist under my clothes. Itachi's guts and curiosity never ceased to amaze me.

By no means was this the first time we did this. We had been each other's first kiss - I had made sure of it - three years previously and from then on, it had happened a few times in some spontaneous moments that Itachi had indulged because it had probably felt good for him. We didn't make it a habit of talking about it, just like we rarely ever spoke about our feelings for each other or where it might lead us someday, if it ever led us anywhere at all.

I knew Itachi enough to not make the mistake of wanting to bind him to me. I would never ask him to be mine in no shape or form, and he knew that I wouldn't ever ask it of him - maybe that was why this was so easy between us.

Still, even if he was young and I was moving away from him, I wanted to carry with me the certainty that our bond would prevail and that, no matter what, I would always be someone special to him. Even if I knew that I didn't need to ask, I was fine with him accepting whatever he saw fit amidst all that I wanted to give.

We didn't need to talk about it, though, or waste time imposing terms or conditions - we both knew, even then, that we would always be there for each other.

Itachi had always been a strange person, his love quiet but clear and the few people that he did love were sure to feel that exclusiveness intensely. I knew I did.

I can't say that I desired him then - that was something that would come later, with his maturity and my own, too. Eventually, these kind, mild feelings of longing would burst into something less complicated and considerably more feral as I would be the one to openly show him what the world had to offer - what I could offer, as well, without restraints or demands, for as long as he wanted it.

But then, even if I was close to becoming a man, my feelings for him had always been strong, caring, highly protective as an older brother would feel for his younger brother and yet, I liked it when we kissed, and I longed for his touch, his love in all manners of comfort that it could provide. I knew I loved him, and knew he loved me, but his love would always allow him to only go so far, even at such a young age. Knowing this was both painful and fascinating.

I vaguely wondered if I'd ever be able to be privileged enough to have him all to myself, but it would take long for me to realize how way over my head that dream was.

We kissed for a while before I pulled away, short of breath. My body felt hot, and looking at him I could see that his own cheeks were a little red. When we looked at each other again, I could finally see a flash of sadness in his eyes that made my very soul ache.

With a sigh, I kissed his forehead before pulling him to me and putting my arms around him, letting my nose nuzzle his temple so I could take in that familiar, nostalgic scent that I hoped I could take with me and never forget.

I felt him hugging me back tightly, his face buried in my shoulder. "I'll wait for you," he said, his voice low, muffled.

I understood the meaning behind his words well, and I knew those weren't meant to be some corny love confession nor a promise - those were things Itachi would never do lightly. Still, I knew he meant it, and I could only smile.

"You don't have to," I whispered in his ear. "I'll always give you anything you want, 'Tachi, whenever you want it. All you have to do is ask."

He merely shook his head from side to side. "I will," it was all he said.

As we stood there, hugging each other and knowing that it would take a while before our paths would cross again as they once had, I was somehow certain that Itachi was my soulmate, and that I would never love another person how I loved him. Even back then I knew these were just frivolous and childish thoughts of a very intelligent young man who, at the end of the day, still knew nothing about the world, or love, but who allowed himself to be consumed by such deep feelings of a devotion that he knew wasn't one completely one sided.

Even if I knew that I would always be the one to give more, I was willing to wait, too, because there was no-one else for me but him.

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