Chapter 2

Shisui's sleep was anything but restful. The final words of his clansmen haunted him.

"Mommy, help!"

"Stop, you're one of us, why are you doing this?!"

"No, not my daughter! Please, spare my daughter!"

"Why are you doing this, Shisui?!"

"Don't kill my son he's only three! He's innocent he's just a three-year-old little boy please-!"

"No, I don't wanna die!"

"What's happening?! Ack-!"

"Shisui! What's happening, where's mom and dad? Who could do this-"

He woke up abruptly, bolting upright, as he slashed Sasuke's throat open. The six-year-old had looked so relieved to see him and ran to him expecting safety and comfort and he killed him.

He could scarcely breathe through the stabbing pain in his chest as his lungs screamed for air. It took several long minutes, feeling like he was about to faint, before he was stable. Even so, the headache and chills and general feeling of fatigue and lack of energy didn't fade. Some of his lacerations from the mission were throbbing painfully, worse than yesterday, too.

Is this an infection setting in or do I just need to eat? I don't think there's another town for days. I'll have to resupply from the forest itself, there's barely any ration bars left.

He walked slowly, feeling weak and tired and chilled despite having slept in, judging from the sun's position in the sky.

Gotta find that river again.

Fish was his safest option right now and it would be the easiest to prepare, store, and eat if he really was falling ill from an infected wound.

Once there, he spent a long time catching fish and roasting them by the fire. When they were all cooked he put the majority of them in the empty ration bar storage scrolls to eat later. He ate two while he cooked and watched the fire.

Where did the jutsu take me? I've never seen or heard of beings like that before, and the only human I've seen wielded a stick of all things.

Is it even safe to find a village? I'll die of sepsis out here without medical treatment though.

Up at the castle, Severus was in his office at his desk looking at his pensive.

"So, he speaks Japanese, does he?"

He had spent the entire morning trying to figure it all out. First, he had to put the memory in the pensive and then he had to go to the library and find the right spell to use in the pensive and translate it. Now he just needed someone to charm something that would enable him to speak and understand Japanese. He would worry about getting something ready for the boy after he was rescued and recovering in the hospital wing.

Fillius could do it easily. But involving him is risky if that boy can't prove that he has at least one magical parent. He's too old to withstand the punishment. Salazar, is even bringing the boy here safe? Maybe St. Mungos would be safer.

It was a lot to think about. If he left the boy out there he would die, but if he brought him here he would be interrogated for information before he was even given time to heal. And if he was a muggleborn, he would end up in Azkaban. It was possible that the Carrows would keep him here as a target practice, as well.

I never imagined it would end up like this. Why was I such an idiotic, foolish boy?

Meanwhile, Shisui got sicker and sicker. He had been forced to abandon his slow but steady hike through the forest to try to find a village and stop to rest in a cave. He didn't know how long he'd been in here, it felt like time had stopped. He was going in and out of consciousness, running a fever, could barely breathe, and his heart was beating fast despite his being almost motionless.

Damnit I'm so thirsty.

He had drank the last of his water in the unsealed canteen a long time ago and had yet to muster the energy to get up and unseal another one.

I've gotta try though. Come on!

Slowly, he moved his arms to support his weight and push his upper body into a sitting position. He had only barely pushed himself up onto his elbows before he was panting with exertion and his arms were shaking from the strain. Dizziness overwhelmed him as the room spun around and he felt like he'd be sick. He had to stop for a moment.

Is this how Kaito-kun felt in his final days?

When he felt like he wasn't about to simultaneously pass out and throw up, he resumed the agonizing motion of trying to sit up and shift his body up so he was propped up against the cave wall instead of lying on the floor. He had to stop and nearly passed out by the time he'd managed it, and he hadn't even got the scroll out of his jounin vest yet.

I don't even know if I can mold chakra right now.

He fell back asleep like that and woke up again later, slouched over a bit against the cave wall. It took him a moment to remember what he'd been doing, and it was only because he noticed how uncomfortably dry his mouth was.

Water.

He propped himself back up again and reached into his jounin vest to get the scroll out. He unrolled it and picked up his empty canteen with his other hand to seal it up before unsealing a full canteen. His heart skipped a few beats with the strain and he winced, hand going to grab his shirt above the pain, gasping.

Fuck, if that hurt then I barely have any chakra left.

He laid his head back against the cave wall and dropped the scroll beside him. His head was spinning and he felt faint but he forced himself to open the cap and drink some of the water he'd worked so hard to unseal. Then he put the cap back on and let it clatter to the floor. He was completely spent.

Am I gonna die here? Is this what I get for failing everyone? For killing everyone? Dying on an unknown, unexplored island. Getting dissected for study by the locals when they see the fan on the back of my shirt.

He fainted again and let the darkness claim him.

Back up at the castle, Fillius sent one of the Hogwarts elves to Severus' personal chambers to deliver his new snake-shaped cufflinks charmed to translate Japanese and enable him to speak it.

Severus accepted the gold cufflinks from the elf without a word and it popped away while he was putting them on. He grabbed a potions bag he had prepared several days ago for this trip. It was full of all the different potions he thought the boy might need after being stranded, starving, for a week and a half now.

Now to go find the boy.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!