Part 7

It was almost twilight, dusk had started, the sun dappling the landscape in pinks and oranges as it set. I knew Shisui would be here. I could feel it in my gut. There had been unrest within the clan lately. Ever since the council decided we should live closer to the outskirts of Konoha, there had been unrest. Really, ever since the war.

My brother and Shisui had been talking in hushed tones for weeks. Locked doors and sealed training grounds where no one could listen to them. A memory niggled in the back of my mind and I worried that I would be swept away in the torrent of hatred like so many in my clan. Shisui was my cousin, though I had rarely seen him when his parents were alive. My father could not stand my uncle. He had said as much on numerous occasions.

The point never really stood out until my mother came home crying after visiting her brother. I was maybe four years old. Purple splotches appeared on her wrist and cheek the next day. That night, father had come home with bruises on his knuckles and a fire in his eyes. We never saw our uncle again until the funeral. Shisui was always purposely kept away from us. That is until he and Itachi started training together in secret. Though, I suspected father already knew and allowed it.

Our grandfather had been on the same team as Danzo once. It was the only reason Danzo was tolerated in the compound. He scared me. One time going so far as to ask grandfather Kagami why I was allowed to live at birth if it had not been more humane to have ended me in the cradle. My grandfather laughed at him, assuming that his teammate was joking, but in my heart, I knew he wasn't.

When you grow up with a terminal illness, people treat you differently. Some treat you with unending pity, a sugar-coated empathy that is all too hollow. Others will go out of their way to avoid you. Still, some would agree with Danzo, firm believers that your life should have simply been snuffed out before it was even allowed to begin.

I could never trust Danzo. Shisui had some form of relationship with the old man, but I could never trust him. So, here I sat behind a Hashirama tree on the edge of Konoha, waiting for things to sour as I suspected they would. As a precaution, I had already set traps, paper bombs ready to blow the minute I pulled on the ninja wire below my foot. The kunai pouch I had stolen from my brother's safe was heavy against my thigh.

Chakra bled into my eyes the second Danzo reached for Shisui. I jumped out of the tree line, the ninja wire releasing the moment my foot lifted. Paper bombs exploded in the landscape as I sprinted toward my cousin. Danzo had already broken out of Shisui's genjutsu when his back was turned. A kunai was in my hand before I knew what I was doing, I had released it with deadly precision. Only for the elder to dodge the brunt of my assault.

Shisui gaped in horror when he realized who had come for him. Blood dripped down the cut on Danzo's cheek, his gaze fixed upon me. My legs quaked with the exertion it took to sprint to Shisui.

"Chizu! What the hell are you doing?!" he screamed, putting a hand around my arm and bounding back to the tree line.

I wrenched my arm from his hold. His pace was brutal and exhausting in the trees that dotted Konoha. My lungs felt close to collapsing from the run along the tall boughs. Four masked root shinobi jumped down. Another of my brother's kunai was thrown from my hand, quickly cutting the ninja wire I had suspended earlier. Sulfer filled the air when a round of paper bombs went off. Pressing my hand to Shisui's chest, I channeled every last ounce of chakra I possessed into a single tiger seal.

His chest was warm and steady against my face. My arms shook with the effort it took to move upright. Sweat poured down my back in buckets by the time my hands pressed against the tile floor as I hovered over his body. Alcohol and sanitizer and the running of rubber shoes surrounded us. I would find out later that Shisui had been poisoned by one of the root shinobi before Danzo had even lifted his arm. Black spots danced in front of my eyes, my breath was loud in my ear. My heart pounded, strong arms tried to pull me off of Shisui's chest.

My fingers rasped against the leather of his tanto holster in a bloodless grip, refusing to let go until he was treated.

"Chizu-san, you must let go. You are badly injured," a woman said from above me.

As if on cue, I coughed. Blood poured from my mouth, darkening the navy cotton he was so fond of. I wheezed, gasping for air as another cough rent through my chest.

"Him. First," I choked out. "My. Cousin."

The black spots surrounded me as darkness crept into my vision. The pants that I stole from Itachi were ripped across the thigh, I could feel my leg bleeding sluggishly. I remember thinking that he will be very put out to have such a hole in his pants. He had always been fussy about his uniform.

I could hear them talking behind me, their voices a haze of noise. A gurney was rolled down the hallway. The left wheel squeaked loudly against the polished laminate floors, cutting through the fog.

"She's refusing to let go, Hokage-sama," the woman said. I closed my eyes tightly, gasping for air. A seal was slapped onto my back and my lungs filled with air.

"What is this?" he asked gently, crouching down next to us.

"Sharingan theft," I bit out between greedy gulps for my godfather's ears alone. "Danzo Shimura."

I felt rather than saw him nod. He could see the scratches around Shisui's right eye. The bright blue shirt pointing at various ANBU agents blurred with the bland colors of the waiting room. With my godfather's lent strength beside me, I finally allowed myself to slip into unconsciousness.


With two coffees in hand, Shisui exhaled forcefully before entering the quiet hospital room. Of course, Itachi was already here, he barely left his twin sister's side. ANBU had been bringing all of his paperwork to this room. Two weeks had passed since the desperate rescue of Chizu Uchiha. Unfortunately, it seemed that his cousin had only prolonged her suffering, hooked up to feeding tubes and ventilators. Per her will, they would disconnect her from the equipment in one week.

"Hey Itachi," Shisui greeted. He held out the coffee in his hand. Itachi didn't move, his own hands steepled in front of his face. Placing it instead on the nightstand, Shisui pulled up the second chair and sat down.

"Did you know she had the sharingan?" Itachi asked so quietly Shisui thought he misheard.

He nodded slightly, sipping the hot coffee.

"She made me swear not to tell you or anyone else. Threatened my manhood."

"How long have you known?" Itachi strained, tears welling in the bottom of his eyes before he quickly blinked them back.

"Since Danzo. You know she was the one who saved me. Not the other way around. When I looked back at the scene, I found the entire place covered in trip wire and paper bombs. It's like she knew."

"Troublesome," Itachi huffed humorlessly.

"Yeah. You both have a penchant for trouble." Shisui's joke fell flat, silenced by the sterile white of the hospital room. "I thought she was you, at first. It was the way she threw the kunai at Danzo. Looked like you. It was only after I turned that I realized it was her. Your chakra is very similar. And she was using your kunai. She always liked taking your things."

Itachi gave a watery chuckle. "My bingo book too. Recently."

He furrowed his brow and carefully watched the small chest rise and fall from beneath the blankets as Itachi rummaged in his bag.

Pulling the black book out of his bag, Itachi placed it on the hospital bed. Shisui picked it up and flipped to the dog-eared page near the beginning of the book.

"I take it you don't make a practice of circling possible targets?" he asked wryly, looking at the picture of a Hidden Mist shinobi. "What was she doing with a swordsman from Mist?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I have no idea when she even left this village to find him, much less how she would have communicated with him."

'You're never home long enough to know anymore,' Shisui thought, holding the comment on his tongue.

"So when are you going to hunt him down and ask?" Shisui said.

"I thought I might wait for my sister to wake up first and ask her myself."

Shisui nodded silently in response, there was very little hope that his cousin would ever wake up. Her sandglass was almost empty as it was.


AN: Thank you so much for reading! If you have the time, please leave a comment. Let me know what you like or what you would like to see with this drabble series.