Chapter 2
He followed nurse Sarah to the elevator and down to the first floor, where he was taken out to the lobby.
He quickly surveyed everyone in the room, instantly picking out the dark-skinned couple who had been put in charge of him as they locked eyes and stood to meet him at the front desk. A serious, muscular man in a short sleeve t-shirt stood with his arm wrapped around his wife, a baby bag slung around his shoulder. His wife was wearing the same nurse scrubs as the others, had taken her baby from her husband and was now holding a smiling, giggling baby.
"Hello, dear, I'm Savannah Morgan, and this is my husband Derek and my son Hank. You probably don't remember me, but I work here in the ICU." Said Savannah, looking at him with kind brown eyes. Her voice did indeed sound somewhat familiar.
"Hey, kid. I'm Derek Morgan, and I work at the FBI Academy." Her husband said.
"Yo! I'm Shisui Uchiha." He replied, sticking his hand out to shake.
He shook Savannah's hand first, then Derek.
"Hi, Savannah! Oh, is that Hank? He's adorable!" Sarah said, smiling. "Do you guys have the paperwork with you, just so I can confirm?"
"Yes, we do." Savannah said, turning to her husband. "Derek?"
"They're in the bag in the right side pocket." Her husband, Derek, replied, taking the baby bag off his shoulder and holding it out for her.
She looked in the pocket, removed some documents, and presented them to Sarah.
"Alright, looks like everything is in order. You're good to sign him out and take him home." Sarah replied, once she'd taken a moment to read through everything.
"Yes, ma'am, thank you." The husband replied.
"How is he? Will we need to schedule a follow up visit with the family doctor? Does he have any medications he needs to be taking?" Savannah asked.
Sarah looked through the paperwork the doctor left. "It doesn't look like he left him with any prescriptions or orders to schedule a follow up. He's got a clean bill of health!"
"That's good to hear. Thank you, Sarah." Savannah replied, handing Hank back to Derek.
The two nurses bid each other goodbye, and Hank began crying and reaching over for his mom.
"I've got to get back to work, baby. Call me if you need anything." Savannah replied, kissing her husband and son goodbye before heading off back to work.
Hank started wailing when his mom walked away, so Derek started to gently rock him and pat his back to try to console him.
"Mama! Mama!" Hank wailed, reaching out in the direction she'd left.
"Shhh…it's okay…mama's gotta work, she'll be home tonight…" Derek said quietly, before turning his attention back to him.
"Is that all you have?" Derek replied, gesturing to the clear plastic bag they'd given him containing the toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, lip balm, and hospital socks that Sarah brought him after he woke up.
"Yeah." He answered, watching as Derek signed him out.
"We'll swing by the grocery store on the way home, alright?" Derek replied, as Hank continued crying.
"Okay." He said.
"Come on, let's get you home." Derek said. "Let's go bye-bye, son."
"Go bye-bye?" Hank echoed, hopeful.
He followed the him out the door, noting the slight tension that had appeared in Derek's shoulders.
I wonder if they had a choice in this.
He had studied enough tv programs to know to hop into the passenger's seat while Derek opened the back door behind the driver's seat to the baby bag down and buckle Hank into his car seat.
"Remember to buckle in, okay?" Derek said, looking over to check on him as he put a pacifier in Hank's mouth.
"Yeah, I know. I saw it on tv at the hospital." He replied. Derek laughed.
They must've been informed I'm not familiar with this era.
It took him a moment, having only the basic concept of what to do from the tv at the hospital and the Japanese-to-English dictionaries he had used his sharingan to memorize.
"We'll go to Walmart and get you some clothes first. You can pick out dinner tonight and whatever snacks you want, too. We already have your bedroom ready for you. I have to pick up some diapers and baby food anyways." Derek said as he hopped in the drivers' seat, put the car in drive, and backed out of the parking spot.
"Alright, thanks." He replied.
They drove to a huge parking lot in front of an even larger store. It was big enough that several houses could have fit in the space the store and it's parking lot took up back home.
Wow. Everything's so spread out here.
Derek got out some kind of blanket or mat, slung the baby bag over his shoulder, and picked Hank up before shutting and locking up the car and leading him into the store. Hank kept looking over at him, staring, not sure what to make of his new big brother. The blanket mat thing was put over the front seat and handle of the shopping cart he picked out, and then Hank was placed in the seat and buckled in.
"Dada?" Hank asked, pointing at him.
"That's Shisui." Derek replied. "He's your new big brother."
"Shishi?" Hank echoed, looking confused.
He smiled and waved, and at first Hank did nothing but look at him with the most serious expression on his face.
"Are you gonna wave? Here. Say 'hi'." Derek demonstrated, prompting Hank to wave back at him.
"Hi." Hank said, waving shyly.
Derek laughed. "There you go, you got it."
He followed Derek into the store, noting how the people here used big shopping carts instead of smaller shopping baskets. They were available, but he only saw one person grab one. The noise was familiar to him, it was like walking around in the village, and it made him relax a bit.
Derek pushed the cart and led the way to the mens' section.
"Pick out whatever you want, kid. You need at least a good week's worth of clothes. There's plain t-shirts, graphic tees, button up dress shirts, blue jeans, black jeans. Socks and underwear are over there." Derek said, pointing to the displays as he named them.
"Got it." He said, immediately walking over to the inexpensive plain t-shirts.
Even though he had watched a lot of tv at the hospital, he still had no idea what most of the graphic tees referenced. He picked out almost one of every color before finding some shorts that were most like the ones he had on and a few pairs of pants just in case. Socks and underwear, too.
"Do you want to get some new shoes, Shisui?" Derek asked. "Yours look really worn out."
He looked down at his battle-worn standard-issue shoes. "Yeah, I guess they are. Then again I did wear them through the entire war with Kiri."
He could tell Derek thought boots with open toes were just plain weird.
"Do they have good running shoes?" he asked.
"If you want good work out shoes, I'll take you to some stores in the mall. I wouldn't buy work out shoes here." Derek said, finally looking comfortable talking with him about something.
He picked out some sneakers for now, and then he picked up some basic hygiene stuff like shower stuff and a toothbrush and toothpaste to replace the tiny one from the hospital before heading over to the grocery aisles. It was an entirely new experience, having everything under one roof like this.
"What do you like to eat, Shisui?" Derek asked.
"Honestly, I'm not picky, I'll eat just about anything." He replied, not wanting to be demanding.
"What do you usually eat at home?" Derek asked again, elaborating. "You'll be cooking a lot of meals yourself. I work 9-5 everyday teaching self-defense, and Savannah works inconsistent shifts at the hospital and is often called in on emergencies."
"At home I just make something that's quick and easy. Cup ramen, eggs and toast, omelet rice, rice with some simple meat or fish dish. Sometimes me and my old squad would go out for barbecue after a mission."
"Barbecue's good." Derek replied. He looked relieved hearing familiar suggestions.
Derek let him pick up whatever he wanted, so he got the sort of things he normally would at home. Bread, eggs, milk, ramen, rice, soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, mirin, and ginger without question.
What do I want to eat? Nitsuke, curry, gyudon, yakitori…I haven't had anything normal in such a long time.
"You can cook? That's really impressive." Derek commented as he looked between the beef and the fish, debating between whether he wanted to make curry or nitsuke for lunch tomorrow.
"Yeah? I guess so. I had to learn though, cause toast, eggs, and ramen got boring." He replied.
Derek looked at him thoughtfully as he said this, but didn't say anything.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but you know how to use a stove, right? Ours is electric." Derek asked instead.
"Yeah. Back home I have a two-burner stove with a fish oven, a rice cooker, and an electric kettle." He replied.
He picked out the food he wanted, Derek picked out some things he wanted to make and other things Savannah had asked for, as well as the baby supplies he said he needed. Toilet paper, laundry detergent, bags of little pink crackers, boxes of pouches containing something that looked similar in consistency to yogurt, diapers, baby wipes, a pack of water bottles, and more all went into the cart.
They checked out and left the store, with Derek and Savannah having a couple hundred less in their bank account. They arrived home at their house and he helped them carry all the groceries in while Derek got Hank out.
"Wow, nice place! It's huge." He exclaimed, opening the door for them, as many bags as he could carry in his arms.
The house opened up into the living room, straight through which was the kitchen and door to the backyard. A hallway off to the left just off the kitchen led to the rest of the house.
"Yeah, thanks, it's nice." Derek commented, setting Hank down on the living room floor, still buckled into his car seat. "Leave him buckled in until we shut the garage door. He's learned how to open doors."
He nodded and left Hank behind in the living room to help Derek bring all the bags in. It didn't take long, and soon all the groceries were brought in, the big garage door shut, and Hank was let out of his car seat to follow them around the kitchen.
"Dada, buberry?" Hank asked, looking up at his dad, one hand on the fridge door.
"Give me a minute, son. I'll get you some blueberries." Derek replied, putting away what was in his arms and going to the cupboard to grab a tiny bowl out of it.
He washed some blueberries and put them in a bowl for him, got him a cup of juice with a lid on it, and took it out to the living room. He turned the tv on, and Hank stayed and watched tv as Derek returned to the kitchen.
"How much will I need to chip in for rent? I can go look for a job once I get settled in." he said,
"Don't worry about that, we got it." Derek said, looking surprised at his question. "Did you have to help your parents with bills back home?"
"No, I'm just used to having my own apartment. I've been on my own for years." He replied.
"You lived by yourself? But you're fifteen." Derek replied, looking concerned.
He shrugged. "Where I'm from, you're a legal adult once you graduate the ninja Academy. My generation started at 5 and graduated at 9 on average because of the Third World War. Most kids live with their parents until they're higher in the ranks. If you're an orphan or your parents die before you reach the age of majority or become a jonin, you have to get your own place."
He could still remember finding their bodies on his way back home after the Kyuubi attack, after a long day of leading other genin in search and rescue. He had to ask a retired police officer down the street for help removing their eyes and sealing them away into his crows for transport to the Nakano Shrine. He had to cremate them with a katon jutsu and file the death reports and Memorial Stone Engraving applications out himself in sloppy hiragana. He was promoted to chunin the following week.
"I'm sorry, Shisui. I lost my dad when I was ten. I at least had my mom and aunt, though. Both me and Savannah are here for you if you need anything, all right?" Derek said, understanding the subtext and giving him a sympathetic look. "And about working, I recommend waiting. Give it time. You'll stick out too much."
He nodded, throat constricting a bit. He cleared it.
"Thanks, Derek."
Eventually, everything was unpacked and put away except for the bags containing his clothes and personal items. Derek went around putting safety devices on all the doorknobs.
"Here, I'll show you your room." Derek said, picking up some of the grocery bags full of clothes and leading him down the hall.
"First on the left is the coat closet. Across from that first on the right is the basement door. Make sure you keep it closed and locked at all times so Hank doesn't fall down the stairs. There's not much down there right now, it's just a second living room. The laundry room is down there too. Second right is your room, and the bathroom is right across from it. Third left is Hank's bedroom, and Savannah and I's bedroom is right across from that." Derek said, gesturing at everything in turn.
"We had it set up as the guest room originally, so almost everything is left over from that, but we can repaint it or order some decorations if you want. It's all yours now." Derek said.
Derek pushed open the bedroom door and let him walk in, watching his reaction.
It was surreal, walking into a bedroom all his own for the first time in seven years. It had the same hardwood that ran all throughout the rest of the house. The walls were a plain white and the furniture was all from the same matching set except for the desk. Because the house was set up a bit on a hill, the window on the far wall across from him looked out to the driveway and the street below. A bed made of dark wood was up against the left wall in the center, flanked by two matching nightstands with matching lamps on top. An alarm clock and coaster sat on one of the nightstands. A matching dresser sat on the wall across from the window and a desk in the upper left corner, with random desk essentials on it like a pencil cup and a small desk lamp. A closet was built into the wall, like all homes seemed to have here.
"It's a really nice room, thanks Derek." He said, putting his bags on the bed.
Derek put the rest of his bags down on the bed after him.
"I'll leave you to get settled in." He said.
"Okay." He replied.
He left the room and shut the door to let him unpack. He put all his new clothes away in the closet and dresser respectively, and put his hygiene stuff in the bathroom. His weapons weren't here, either.
I wonder if they confiscated them.
He laid back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.
I wonder what happened back home. Did they go through with the coup? Are Itachi, Sasuke, and everyone else still alive? I was such a fool. Lord Danzo had a good point. Removing Lord Fugaku would have just given us another delay.
He could feel his breathing become labored with anxiety, and he was too mentally exhausted to stop it.
Everyone's going to die, and I left Itachi to bear it all alone.
He turned to face the window, away from the door, curled up on the bed, hands fisted in his hair, and hyperventilated until he wore himself out and fell asleep.
He didn't know how long he slept, only that he woke up panicking, trembling, his heart racing, clutching his right eye.
He panted, hyperventilating as present and past folded together. He could still feel Danzo's gnarled fingers pushing his eyelids back, back, back. He could feel his gnarled old fingers push past his eyelid, into his eye socket, his fingernails scraping on the sensitive nerves and tissue, as he fought to move. Move, move, move! Legs, hand, sharingan, something! But he couldn't move. He couldn't move and Danzo's fingers were in his eye socket, wrapping around his eyeball and kneading chakra.
His left hand clutched the blanket tightly, his only real anchor to the present, as he tried desperately to gulp down air.
'Come on, Uchiha, breathe!'
He forced himself to take a slow, measured breath, hold it, and release it, and his whole body shuddered. He had trouble maintaining the simple pattern as Danzo's hand kept dancing in front of his right eye. It took ages for him to slowly regain control of his breathing and reign his thoughts in.
'Name 5 things you can see.'
It had been Shiba-sensei's advice to cope with the nightmares after a nine-year-old girl on another genin team was blown up right in front of him on body retrieval duty. The naming technique, he'd called it.
Nightstand, lamp, window, desk, dresser.
He went on down through the list. Name 5 things you can see. Name 5 things you can smell, or like to smell. Eventually, his breathing evened out and his heart stopped racing and Lord Danzo's fingers were miles away in another world back where they belonged and out of his right eye socket.
He got out of bed and left the bedroom to go to the bathroom to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. Instead of going back to his room, he followed the sounds of voices out the hall into the living room, where Derek was sitting on the couch watching Hank play with a pile of toys on the floor while watching the tv.
"Hey, kid. You alright?" Derek asked, noticing the haunted look on his face.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, shrugging off Derek's concern.
He was nice, and he appreciated the question because no one ever asked him that, but he only just met him.
"Okay. Well, come sit down then. We need to talk." Derek said, patting the space beside him on the couch.
"Alright." He said, sitting down on the couch a safe distance away.
"I don't know how much you were told, so I'm just going to tell you everything they told me. You appeared, half dead, at a restricted site monitored by the FBI dubbed Area Zero. Ninja with headbands just like yours have been appearing there, dead or dying, for decades." Derek said, pausing to accept a toy train from Hank.
"Percy!" Hank exclaimed, handing him a green toy train. He was holding a blue train in his other hand.
"Yeah, it's Percy, thank you." Derek said, watching as the toddler walked back to the pile of toys.
"So, you're not the first survivor, but you are the only one to make a full recovery. Most of them show up maimed and too far gone to save. Forty years ago one appeared and survived. He gouged his eyes out in the hospital and lived the rest of his life in a wheelchair in a safehouse being taken care of by an FBI agent in hopes he would tell us something." Derek explained, absentmindedly fiddling with the toy train in his hands, turning it over and over.
Shisui's gaze fell to the couch, thinking hard. He couldn't help but be suspicious.
Who else but an Uchiha would gouge their eyes out? Maybe a Hyuga?
"What is it?" Derek asked.
"It's nothing. I apologize for the interruption, please continue." He replied, quickly collecting himself and turning his gaze back to Derek.
"Okay. So, because he refused to talk, we learned what we could just by observing him. He came from a place where modern technology wasn't developed yet, a place that used swords and knives instead of guns, a place where he'd never heard of any of the seven continents or major world powers, and spoke Japanese." Derek said, as Hank came over and took Percy back.
"Thomas!" Hank said, handing him the blue one this time.
"Thank you." Derek replied.
"Over the years, medicine and technology improved, and we were able to save some of the dying ninja's lives. He would translate for us. Most of them came in with gruesome injuries and were unsuitable for field work even if they lived and recovered. Some of them talked, some of them didn't, and slowly we learned about your world. About ninjas, chakra and jutsu, and the war that founded the five great ninja nations. We know the basics, but that's it." Derek said, looking at him closely.
He nodded. "I assume the government is keeping this site and my world a secret? And you're keeping tabs on me and the others?"
"You got it. I got a call after you woke up telling us that we're your new foster parents. We had the option to say no, but one way or another you would be living with a current or former FBI agent." Derek replied.
"So I'm staying here so I can be monitored. I'm a valuable source of information, and a potentially powerful ally. Am I right?" he replied.
"Yeah, you're right, but that doesn't mean I don't care. Under my roof you will be safe, you will be provided for, I'll make sure you get an education, and I'll support you and be there for you as best I can. I know this is a lot, but I just wanted to tell it to you straight. Alright?" Derek said.
He nodded. "Alright. Do you work for the government or the military?"
"Yes, I work for the FBI Academy teaching self-defense classes. That's the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy. I used to work for the Behavioral Analysis Unit catching serial killers." Derek replied.
He nodded in acknowledgement.
"Let's go over some ground rules. First, your weapons. They gave them to us, and we talked and decided it's okay to let you have everything but the sword on your person if you want them. You didn't show signs of aggression or suicidal behavior at the hospital. Until you give me a reason not to trust you, you having knives and throwing stars is no different from me having my sidearm. I'll give them to you later." Derek said.
He grinned. "Thanks!"
"Next, I want you to tell us before you go somewhere. You're fifteen, I don't mind if you want to go buy something on your own or hang out with friends. But tell us first, and be home by 10pm. It's just a basic safety thing. Are you good with that?" Derek asked.
"Yeah, that's fine with me." He replied.
"Now, about your education. We talked and thought that rather than putting you through the public school system, you could just study to take a GED test in the spring after you turn 18. It stands for General Educational Development test, and it earns you a high school equivalency credential. What did you learn at the Academy? How's your English?" Derek asked.
"At the Academy when I attended, everything was streamlined to get genin – that's a beginner level ninja - out and on missions as quickly as reasonably possible. Students were allowed to take the test early if they were ready so they could fill vacant spaces on active genin teams when one of them got killed or quit. Early graduation isn't allowed anymore, they start school at 6 and graduate at 12 now.
I just learned ninja stuff while I was there. Hand signs, jutsu, strategy, sparing, basic first aid, where to hit someone to kill them, how to hide under cover, how to set traps or spot them and dismantle them safely, how to safely set up camp and fish and cook over a campfire…that sort of thing. We learned math, but it was all related to work a ninja, same with science. Even learning how to write in kanji came second. I had to get a tutor when I ranked up to chunin so I could write my mission reports properly." He answered.
Derek's grim look said a lot, but he held his tongue.
"With English, I can speak, read, and write it fluently." He replied, laughing when Derek's jaw about dropped to the floor.
"But you just got here four months ago! You've been in the hospital that whole time." He exclaimed.
Derek got up, grabbed a notepad and pen, and handed it to him. "Show me."
He took it and wrote out his name, the hospital's name, and the name of the neighborhood he'd seen on the sign, and showed it to Derek and sat back grinning.
"How? No one else has done that." Derek said.
He just shook his head and evaded. "It's a secret, you'll have to earn that intel."
Derek looked like he wanted to press for answers, but chose not to.
"Okay, back to the school thing. I'm going to list some topics, and you tell me if any of them sound familiar to you. Multiplication, division, fractions, algebra, calculus, trigonometry, the water cycle, the rock cycle, the ring of fire, photosynthesis, the scientific method, the milky way galaxy and the planets…any of that ring a bell?" Derek asked, trying to look neutral.
His brow furrowed as he thought back to his days at Academy, about ten years ago now. "Multiplication, division, and fractions, yeah. But I don't remember learning the rest."
Derek couldn't hold back a sigh. "Some of that's primary school stuff."
Shisui just shrugged.
"I guess we'll just get a GED study guide and order some textbooks and workbooks on amazon and go from there. Let me get the laptop, and we can get that done." Derek said, before getting up and going back to the bedroom to fetch the computer.
Derek returned with the little, fold up computer, opened it up, and typed in his password. He navigated to a website with a logo that read amazon, and typed in the word workbook. He scrolled and added books to his shopping cart as he went. Eventually, he changed it and searched for textbooks instead.
"You can go at your own pace. You've got three years if you want to keep up with other kids your age, but given the circumstances its normal if you take longer." Derek said.
"Can you afford all this?" he asked incredulously when he saw the total.
If he had his math right based on the price of groceries, the exchange rate was roughly 1 dollar for every 100 ryo.
"Don't worry about the money. Me and Savannah both make enough. Just do good on your GED test and help out around the house." Derek said, looking over at him.
He just nodded.
It felt so uncomfortable having someone spend so much money on him at once. He still remembered having to move into an apartment and buy groceries all by himself at eight years old. He was given one day to move everything he could carry from his mom's house all the way to his apartment in the new Uchiha district at the far corner of the village. Everyone in the clan was moving, too, so no one was available to help him. Uruchi gave him a bag of rice crackers to take home with him, though.
He spent the remainder of the day with the family, just coexisting with them in the living room. Hank watched a lot of cartoons while playing with his toys, favoring the trains most of all. He kept bringing them to his dad, naming them, and wanting him to hold them. He seemed wary of him still, which was fine with him because he had no idea what to do with a baby. Maybe he had picked up on the awkwardness. Derek watched Hank play and scrolled around on his computer, occasionally stopping to text people.
They had fish with rice and a bag of mixed frozen vegetables for dinner, and Shisui made sure to compliment Derek's cooking. Savannah came home halfway through and immediately went back to the bedroom to change and throw her uniform in the washer downstairs.
"Hey baby, how was work?" Derek asked, looking up at his wife as she walked back in.
"Busy, there was a car accident." Savannah replied.
"Mama!" Hank cheered, bouncing in his highchair and reaching up for her. His face lit up as she walked over to see him.
"Hi, honey, mama's home! Did you have fun with daddy today?" she said, hugging her son.
"Hi, Shisui, how are you feeling? Did you get everything you needed at the store?" Savannah asked, sitting down and fixing herself a plate of food.
"I'm good. Yeah, I did." He replied, not sure whether to elaborate or keep it short.
He didn't realize how much he was used to having his own wellbeing be an afterthought until both Derek and Savannah kept asking about himself.
It was different, spending the evening at home, peacefully, quietly, just sitting in the living room with the Morgans. They watched this one channel that had a lot of food shows. Eventually, Savannah picked Hank up and gave him a bath and put him down to bed. He retreated back to his own room once she was done to give them some time alone.
He showered and brushed his teeth, and afterwards Derek brought him his hitae-ate and kunai and shuriken hostlers.
"I trust you know how to be safe with these, alright? My son gets ahold of these, and I will lock them up." Derek said, giving him a warning look and holding his headband and hostlers just out of his reach.
"Yes, sir. I will." He replied.
"Good. Goodnight, Shisui." Derek said, handing him the hostlers and his headband before leaving and closing the door behind him.
He heard Derek and Savannah walk back to their bedroom, and one of them start the shower, so he tried to go to sleep. It got late but he couldn't stop his mind racing, so he summoned Piiko the crow.
She cawed and ruffled he feathers, looking absolutely indignant at not being summoned or visited for four whole months.
He laughed and stroked her feathers as she leaned into his touch, trilling happily.
"Sorry, girl. I got into some trouble. I can't go home anymore, but I can summon you here sometimes, alright?" he said, smiling genuinely for the first time in months.
He looked around and pointed to the coaster sitting on the nightstand.
"Home." He said, making the sign and repeating it so she would know to hop on the coaster when she wanted to go home.
She bobbed her head up and down and nibbled his finger affectionately. "I know, I love you too."
He stayed up just laying with her on the bed, talking about anything and everything, until he got drowsy and she hopped onto the coaster. He made the sign and sent her home and finally drifted off to sleep at 2am.
The smell of blood and burnt flesh filled the air as Leaf ninja and Root ninja joined together to surround and slaughter the Uchiha clan just after night fell. The coup d'etat was supposed to be tomorrow at sunrise, but the Uchiha clan didn't have the element of surprise that they thought they did. Shisui was in the middle of it, body flickering around the street, into and out of homes, trying to kill as many of the Leaf ninja and Root members as he could.
"No! Stop! What are you doing? Not my children!" came a young woman's scream from around the vegetable stands.
He glanced over, even as two Leaf ANBU ran to confront him. A twenty-something young mother was being dragged from out behind a vegetable stand, clutching a baby in one arm and the hand of a little boy in the other.
He fought and killed the two ANBU just as the baby was ripped from it's mother's arms and thrown against the side of the storefront until it's head was bashed in. He body flickered to her in time to cut down the two Leaf jonin who were pulling the little boy away from his mother.
She was sobbing incoherently as her son ran into her arms, crying, and immediately went to kneel beside her baby's body.
"Hurry and get out of here!" he ordered, sternly. "I have to go, I can't protect you."
Crying, she stood up and bade the baby's body goodbye, picking up her crying little boy and clutching him to her, burying his face in her shoulder so he wouldn't see the carnage.
He leapt up to the rooftops to find his next enemy and saw the baker's storefront door left wide open. He body flickered to the door and ran in, only to nearly run into a little girl with a Root ANBU chasing after her.
She screamed as put himself between her and the shuriken, blocking all three of them and pushing her towards the door so he could confront the Root agent.
His body count was up to 48 by the time he met up with Itachi, Mikoto, and Sasuke. They were trying to get to the most accessible part of the wall from within the village just beyond the edge of the Uchiha district.
''I'll do whatever it takes to make sure they survive together.'
"Itachi!" he yelled, announcing his presence as he body flickered over and fell into step beside them. "Sasuke, Mikoto."
If they could make it past the Leaf ninja and Danzo's men and out of the village, they would be safe.
"Watch out!" Sasuke shrieked, as ninja jumped down from the top of the wall to stop them.
"I got it, Itachi." He replied, putting a genjutsu on them that sent all three of them to the ground, screaming, as fake flames licked at their bodies.
Sasuke held back, clinging to his side as Itachi and Mikoto raced forward and killed them. He buried his face in his clothing, clutching his hand, unwilling to watch them slaughter the ninja.
He shoved Sasuke away and moved to stand in front of him and turn around. "Get on, we have to get you over the wall."
Sasuke sniffled and wiped his nose on his shorts before clambering onto his back and wrapping his arms around his neck. He held onto the boy with both arms to keep him secure and joined Itachi and Mikoto at the top of the wall.
He set Sasuke down and handed him over to Itachi, who beckoned him to climb on, before biting his finger, slamming his hand to the ground, and summoning Nana, Sora, and Koko, the crows that contained his family's eyes.
"I'm going to stay and do as much as I can here! Take them with you. I'll send Piiko to you if anything happens to me." He said, signing at his crows to follow Itachi.
Go, comrade, follow.
"Shisui…" Itachi said, unable to find the words to express his feelings.
Itachi didn't want to leave him here to die.
"See you later, best friend." He said, bumping fists with him one last time for a mission well done. "Take care of your mom and Sasuke."
He leapt back down from the wall into the Uchiha District, and was immediately confronted with a large assembled force of Leaf and Root ninja. As far as the enemy was concerned, they as good as failed the entire mission if clan head's wife and two sons got out alive. And him - but he didn't expect to make it out alive. He only had so much chakra.
'I won't let you get passed me.'
He raised his hand in a half ram sign and started body flickering around, killing everyone. His technique was so fast that it appeared as if he had used a clone jutsu and was simultaneously attacking multiple people at once.
He bolted upright at the sound of an alarm going off, disoriented and reaching for a kunai that wasn't there at his hip. He listened as his heart raced, slowly returning to normal, listening.
Savannah must have work today, because she was getting up and going to the bathroom. He heard Derek get up moments later.
It was the alarm clock. Just their alarm clock.
He rubbed at his eyes and groaned. He debated going back to bed, but it felt almost illegal not waking up at a decent time even if he had nowhere to train or run this morning.
May as well get up. Maybe Derek will have some suggestions.
He got up, brushed his hair, put some of his new clothes on as well as his hitae-ate and weapons hostlers, and walked to the kitchen where Savannah was making some coffee and throwing a frozen meal in her bag to eat at work. Derek was heating up something in the microwave for breakfast. A baby monitor with sound and video sat on the kitchen counter, showing Hank sleeping peacefully.
"Good morning." He said as he opened the pantry and got the bread out.
"Good morning, Shisui." Savannah replied, already dressed in her scrubs.
"Morning. You alright?" Derek asked. He was wearing another t-shirt and jeans.
The bags under his eyes must be worse this morning.
"Yeah. I always get up early, I'm used to training in the morning with Itachi." He replied, pulling the carton of eggs out of the fridge.
"The skillets are in there." Savannah said, pointing at the cupboard under the microwave.
He opened the cupboard she pointed to and pulled out the size pan he wanted.
"Okay. Who's Itachi? What do you two do for training?" Derek asked as the microwave beeped. He pulled his food out of the oven and took off the plastic film to let it cool off.
"My distant cousin and best friend." He replied, smiling wistfully as he started on his usual toast and eggs. "We start by running through the trees for three hours at top speed and then we spar. We'll meet up after a missions to just talk and toss kunai and shuriken at some target posts and get dango afterwards. It's his favorite."
He knew Derek didn't miss the subtle tightening of his hand on the spatula as he thought about what Itachi might be up to now.
"Bye, baby, I'm off to work. Bye Shisui." Savannah said, giving her husband a kiss goodbye and leaving.
By the time he was finished making toast and fried eggs, Derek was done with his microwave casserole breakfast bowl. Derek tossed his trash and put the fork in the dishwasher before going back down the hall to wake Hank up. He reappeared a short while later, holding Hank who was all dressed in a matching pair of shorts and t-shirt.
Hank ate a breakfast consisting of a toasted waffle, microwave scrambled egg, and a banana with a sippy cup of milk in the living room on the floor in front of cartoons while Derek packed his bag and made him a bento.
"Where's he going?" he asked, curious. He was way too young for school.
"Daycare. I'm going to drop him off on my way into work." Derek replied.
When Hank was done eating, it was time for him and Derek to leave. He watched from the couch as Derek got Hank's shoes on and buckled him into the car seat.
"I gotta go to work, but I'll be back tonight. Savannah, too. I don't know what I can do about tossing kunai, but I'll see if they will let you in to train with me on the practice floor, alright?" Derek said.
"Alright, thanks Derek." He replied.
And then he was all alone in the house with nothing to do but watch tv.
Author's Note: Please leave a review if you liked it! Hopefully it won't always be boring, I'm just trying to keep it realistic. I admit, it's difficult writing domestic scenes with a happily married couple cause I'm not used to seeing it. So please bear with me if it comes off stiff or awkward.
Note: Edited on 12/1/22. Most extensive edits were to Shisui's first flashback nightmare scene as well as to the conversation on the couch. To show not tell, and to improve the flow of the conversation.