DISCLAIMER: All characters in Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
A/N: Well, first of all, I first thought of this story as one shot but then an idea came to mind so I hope you guys like it. To those who read the first chapter before today (09-01-2020), I changed a few things so you might want to read it again.
Again, I'm not very familiar with writing Itachi because he's such a complex character, is kinda difficult for me to understand him sometimes. Also this is my first time writing Shisui, so I can just hope I did him justice because he's one of my favorites along with Itachi and Sasuke.
The ones who kindly left a review: Thank you so much!! I'm very touched by your comments and I'm happy you liked it. Also, I'm sorry if I made you cry.
I think that's about it, I hope to add at least 3 more chapters so you enjoy your reading and please tell me what you think!
~ 0 ~
There were times when he truly hated what he had become and tonight, was one of those times. He had just finished his mission of delaying Team Kakashi so Deidara and Sasori could capture the Kazekage and seal the one-tail. Technically, it was not really him fighting them but a body-double, but it was the same thing because he was the one deciding what to do and controlling everything. And one of those decisions was to torture that hyperactive blonde who claimed to be Sasuke's best friend.
He hated having to do that. To be honest, he held Naruto in high esteem, because at the end, all the kid was trying to do was to repair what he had done to Sasuke. So after torturing his little brother and then having to also torture his best friend, it was safe to say that Itachi was not exactly thrilled with what he had done. He felt like scum for taunting Naruto with his failures in protecting Sasuke and the ones he cared about. He did not enjoy doing any of this but he knew he did not really had a choice, he just had to keep going.
He entered the room he was staying in and instantly felt another presence in it. Whoever it was, certainly chose a really bad day to mess with him. Faster than most of the more talented shinobi, he was in the blink of an eye, behind a dark figure who was slightly leaned against the window. He held a kunai to the figure's throat, hard enough to cause a minor cut and draw a little blood out of it.
"Who are you?" He said in a deadly low tone.
Much to his surprise, the figure just chuckled. This distracted him for just a second but in that instant, even faster than he was, the visitor grabbed the arm Itachi was using to threaten him and flipped him over his head, making the latter land with a loud thud on the floor. Then he proceeded to put a knee on Itachi's chest and grasp both of his arms, pinning them to the sides of his head. Being in this position…was embarrassing, to say the least, and it did not help that this person was still laughing, louder now. 'Who the hell is th-' but Itachi could not finish his train of thought as the person above him spoke.
"Geez Itachi-kun, should I feel hurt because you did not recognize your favorite cousin?".
'What did he say? Cousin? Itachi-kun?'.
In that moment, his attacker leaned down just enough so the little light coming through the window lit his face, revealing his identity. 'This can not be true, is impossible' he thought in shock as he felt his eyes widening. There, hovering above him with his cheeky smirk, dark eyes just as his own, and unruly curly raven hair, was…
"Shisui?" His voice was barely audible but Shisui managed.
"The one and only" He grinned.
Itachi's mind stopped working for a second. His cousin, his dead cousin, the one who had jumped off of a cliff after giving him his remaining eye, was now basically sitting on his chest, looking at him somewhat amused. He quickly shook his shock off him and a menacing glare took place on his face. He pushed Shisui off of him and jumped at him, another kunai in hand aiming at his throat, but despite his speed, he only managed to hit the empty floor. He hastily turned around but he could not see Shisui anymore. He got up and before he had a chance to even take a step, his cousin was behind him with Itachi's tantō pressing at his neck.
"C'mon Itachi-kun, I was the one who taught you that, remember?" He said smugly.
"You are going to die for daring to use his face" Itachi hissed.
Shisui sighed and let Itachi go. As soon as the latter was free, he immediately activated his Sharingan, determined to make the impostor suffer from doing something as stupid as to use his best friend against him. However, although seeing the threat in his cousin's eyes, Shisui remained unfazed.
"You know that does not work on me right?" He inquired, activating his own Sharingan to make a point.
Upon seeing this, Itachi could not stop the gasp that left his mouth. "What are you?".
"It is not polite to ask those things Itachi-kun" Shisui fake scolded him.
Itachi stared at him unamused.
"You seriously need to work on your sense of humor cousin" He shook his head in defeat.
"Who are you?" Itachi tried again with less patience.
"How come you did not question Izumi this much?" He asked, then he seemed to think about it better. "Or questioned her at all?".
Unconsciously, Itachi took a step back. "How do you know about that?".
"Because she told us?" He sort of questioned at the end as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Itachi's mind registered two things wrong with that sentence: The first one was that it was impossible for Izumi to have told him anything since he was sure that night was just a figment of his imagination, provided by his tortured and exhausted mind. The second one was when he processed the word "us". Despite himself, he felt his mouth utter the biggest question that wandered his mind in that moment.
"Who is us?".
Shisui rolled his eyes. "Who else do you think?".
Since Itachi did not supply any sort of answer beyond a blank look, Shisui just sighed and gave him back his tantō.
"Your parents and I, of course".
'Fatal mistake' Itachi thought as he snatched his sword from Shisui's hand in an instant and pressed it against his throat, sharingan activated and a warning tone in his voice.
"You are lying" He said dangerously through gritted teeth. "I will give you one more chance to tell me who you are before I end your life".
Just like before, Shisui remained calmed, kind of amused if anything. He raised his hands in a sign of surrender and a hint pain crossed his eyes before it quickly disappeared.
"I was hoping not to get to this but I guess it is necessary, knowing just who you are" He sighed before continuing. "The last thing I did before jumping off a cliff was give you my Mangekyō Sharingan and tell you to protect the village as well as the Uchiha name".
Itachi felt the ground disappear from beneath his feet and the air leave his lungs. There was not many times where Itachi Uchiha was left surprised by anything but today was apparently an exception as shock was written all over the face of the raven haired man.
"Shisui?" He mumbled stepping away from him.
Shisui just nodded and went to sit on the chair by the bed, while Itachi just stared at him, his mind refusing to believe what his eyes were seeing. But even when his instincts screamed at him not to be fooled by this, his heart desperately wanted him to be real, he missed his best friend. Slowly, he sheathed his tantō and warily made his way towards the bed, sitting on the edge of it.
"Long time no see cousin" Shisui smiled, but this time it was a sad one.
"Why are you here?" He asked glancing at him, still not fully convinced.
"It seemed to me like you were having a hard day".
Itachi looked away, shame washing over him. "So you know".
It was not a question but an statement. Shisui knew everything he had done to Naruto and his team today, and if he knew that, he probably knew all the things he had done until this very moment. He blanched. He never wanted his cousin and best friend to see what he had become, to see the monster and traitor he was now. Guilt took over him as he reminded himself he was supposed to carry Shisui's will but all he did was ruin everything.
"Indeed I know" Shisui said calmly.
"You must be disappointed at me, I can not blame you". He refused to meet his cousin's eyes.
After a minute of silence, he dared to look at Shisui, only to find him staring back at him in disbelief, then he shook his head before speaking.
"Why would I be disappointed in you?" He inquired gently.
Itachi furrowed his eyebrows. "I could not carry out what you asked from me. I sullied the Uchiha name with what I did".
It was the truth. Shisui had asked him to protect the village and the Uchiha, and while he succeeded in protecting the former, it was at the cost of the latter. He annihilated his entire clan and stained their name when he betrayed the village, something that was only furthered by Sasuke's actions, when he too defected from the village and joined that vile snake of Orochimaru. Now the Uchiha name was nothing more than the name of traitors, and it was his fault. So he could not really blame Shisui if he was disappointed or even if he hated him.
"You truly believe that, don't you?" Shisui narrowed his eyes in contemplation.
Itachi was puzzled at this point but the sense of remorse was stronger. "I do and I am sorry".
Shisui expression shifted to a serious one, something that still managed to unsettle Itachi despite of the years that had passed. But there was something else too, and if he did not know better, he would say it was guilt.
"No Itachi, I am the one who is sorry" Shisui said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Now Itachi was confused. "What?".
Shisui sighed. "I am sorry that I put such weight on your shoulders and then left you alone".
"Shisui you-"
"Yes, I asked you to protect the village and the Uchiha name, but I was too naïve to think both could be saved" Shisui pulled his hand away.
Itachi clenched his jaw. "Both could have been saved, there is always another way but I-".
"Yes, there is always a way and maybe there was another way where both could be saved but at that time, it was the only thing you could have done to avoid a civil war and maybe even the beginning of a fourth great war" Shisui interrupted him.
Itachi knew his cousin was just trying to make him feel better, and part of him really wanted to believe him, to believe that what he did was the right call, a flawless plan. But the more time passed, the more he thought he could have done things differently, could have done things better. He clenched his fists.
"Still, there are more things I could have done to prevent many others".
"Not even the prodigy Itachi Uchiha is perfect you know, despite what others would like to think" Shisui chuckled.
"Shisui…" Itachi shook his head.
"You did what you could cousin. You saved the village…even if it costed us the clan".
Shisui was tense and Itachi could tell that by just looking at him. He knew how Shisui felt towards the clan and how loyal he was to it, and it was not as if Itachi himself was not, he just did not held them so high, acknowledging there were more important things than his clan's interests unlike basically the rest of them, whose pride always came first. So he knew that saying that was rather difficult for Shisui.
"You do not really believe that". It was not a question.
Shisui smiled bitterly. "Actually I do. You know, I always forgot the fact that you were years younger than me".
Itachi scowled. "What does that have to do with this?".
"When I left you on your own, I knew you were strong, you have always been Itachi, even than most adults were at the time, but you were only thirteen years".
"So?".
"You were just a kid!" Shisui said kind of exasperated. "Hell, even I was still a kid, a teenager. We were not supposed to be carrying the future of a clan, let alone of a whole village, but we put that weight on our shoulders".
"We were capable-".
"Aa, yes, we were prodigies and ahead of our age, but kids nonetheless. We lacked life experience and neither our clan not the village elders wanted to acknowledge that" Shisui cut him off.
Itachi just stared at him, processing everything that his cousin was saying. His most stubborn side wanted to refuse what Shisui was saying but his rational side just knew he was right. 'But still'.
Seeing that Itachi was not saying anything, Shisui spoke again. "You did what you thought was best and the only choice at the time and I could not be prouder of you".
"But".
"Like I said, you managed to save an entire village while just being a child and even did what not most adults would dare to do" Shisui paused, thinking about what he would say next. "I knew you would walk a dark path…I guess I never imagined it would be this one. I just hope you can forgive me".
Itachi was dumbfounded but he recovered soon enough. "There is nothing to forgive Shisui".
Shisui smiled at him, one of those smiles of him that usually made Itachi feel like everything was going to be alright. They stayed in comfortable silence for a while, enjoying each other's company.
"He will be alright, I'm sure Naruto will understand" Shisui said confidently after a while.
Itachi was startled by the sudden change of subject, momentarily not knowing what Shisui was talking about, then it hit him. Today's mission and him torturing Naruto and his friends. He grimaced.
"Understand what?".
"Why you are doing what you are doing" Shisui shrugged.
"He will not know my reasons Shisui, neither him nor Sasuke" Itachi said flatly.
Shisui just chuckled at his best friend's stubbornness. He was just clueless.
"Sooner or later everything will come out to the light my friend, whether you want it or not" He said crossing his arms behind his head and closing his eyes.
Itachi could not help but notice the similarities between what Shisui had just said and what Izumi told him the other night. For some unknown reason to him, they seemed to believe that the truth behind everything he had done would be known to rest of the world.
"Do you know something I do not Shisui?" He questioned suspiciously.
Shisui smiled and leaned forward him, then with two fingers, he poked Itachi's forehead.
"I know a whole lot more than you can even imagine my dearest cousin".
Itachi rolled his eyes but allowed himself to genuinely smile at Shisui. It had been quite a while since he did so and it felt good. He let his cousin's words wash over him and reassure him that what he did was the right choice. He felt lighter having his best friend by his side.
Even if it was just for one night.