Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes.

Character age:

Akane, Itachi: 18

Naruto, Sasuke: 13

Shisui: 22

Kakashi: 27

"I mean, you had to." I stared blankly at the wall in front of me. "There's no way Yagura is doubting you now you fixed his seal and..."

"Say it, I gave Shisui's head to Yagura." Dai wrinkled his nose, arms crossed over his chest. "I didn't even hesitate when I had to decapitate him Dai!"

"Uzu..."

"No, Shisui's my friend and I just...I didn't even doubt!"

"Ho come on it's not that big of a deal and you know it!" I widened my eyes in disbelief and flailed my arms around me in frustration.

"'Not a big deal'!? Are you se..."

A moan of pain stopped me mid-sentence and Dai moved away from the wall to go to the bed.

"Where..." a hoarse voice started to say. They coughed and I poured a huge glass of water for them, pushing Dai out of my way. I sat next to them, helped them sit and I couldn't help but sigh in relief when the glass was empty. I had to hit them lightly on their back when the last drop of water went down the wrong pipe.

"Hey there, nobody's gonna steal your water from you." Dai snorted with disdain when they blinked at me.

"It's not as if it was good water to begin wi..." I kicked Dai in the leg, my right hand between the sleepy person's shoulder blades. "Uzu!"

"You're a medic, heal yourself," I snarled at him with a glare.

"What happened?" Dai glared at me.

"I carried your unconscious ass to the hideout while Uzu made you look very dead Uchiha, how stupid do you have to be to..."

"Dai!" I snapped at him as I jumped on my feet. "Konoha's kept everything bijuu related from people, especially the Uchihas for reasons you understand now, there was no way he could have known Isobu's chakra was toxic for him, plus the seal was on the verge of breaking and was more dangerous than usual!" My teammate bit his tongue to keep a snarky remark to come out. He took a deep breath and put a finger on my black shirt between my collarbones.

"I get he's important, that you are someone else in Konoha, but don't..."

"I won't Dai," I assured him, "I promised you guys I wouldn't hide anymore. It's just...I've been told how you were provoking each other in Konoha and I don't want that here. Please?" We had a short staring contest and Dai threw his hands in the air.

"Don't blame me if I defend myself."

"Self-defense is out of my jurisdiction," I reminded him with a thankful smile. He rolled his eyes at me and went back to standing against the wall. I sat back down. "Shisui, how are you feeling?" Shisui rubbed his eyes and I noticed the muscles in his arm twitching.

"There isn't a muscle in my body that doesn't hurt and I want to throw up. I have a massive headache too, like a hangover."

"Yeah, a bijuu's chakra fuck your body up pretty fast. Hopefully we extracted it pretty fast too. The muscles pain will last for days, the headache and nausea should be gone by tomorrow," Dai told him. Chakra infections were the worst.

"You have something to make him better faster?" Shisui turned his eyes to me, staring as if he was just realizing I was sitting next to him. "Hum?"

"Which Akane am I talking to?" I was taken back, I'll admit that. Especially because he was looking at me with distrust. I couldn't blame him though, so I spoke up before Dai could.

"Me, just little old me being in the Resistance of Kiri because I wasn't going to come back and obey like the dog Yagura tried so hard to turn me into." He eyed me suspiciously for a couple of seconds that felt like hours. I was about to get up, starting feeling nauseous myself from how I destroyed our relationship, but he caught my wrist in his shaking hand. "Shisui?" He opened his mouth, then closed it, and he did that for about a minute.

"Alright," Dai interrupted us, "Uzu's sorry, you're sorry, now you get better and tell what you know to my sister. You'll talk and explore the sexual tension between the two of you later." I blushed a bright red.

"Wh...what are you talking about!?"

"You look exactly like Karin when Suigetsu says something about Haku!"

"Shut up!" He snickered and before I could throw something at him, Shisui squeezed my wrist to get my attention back. "Yes?"

"Later..I want to talk." I pursed my lips and nodded slowly.

"Sure, I owe you a real explanation this time." He seemed surprised I accepted so easily. "But you need to rest first, we'll see when you can walk a little bit?" The Uchiha quickly looked around him and offered me a small nod of the head.

"That's fair," he whispered quietly.

"And you felt guilty about decapitating a fake Uchiha Shisui," Dai grumbled to himself.

"Was it convincing enough?" Said Uchiha Shisui asked him without animosity in his voice. Dai was taken back.

"Y...yeah, Uzu and I used a seal we finalized recently. The body was you except there was no kekkai genkai in him. An almost perfect replica." Shisui glanced at me from the corner of his eyes. I shrugged.

"We're specialized in infiltration," I informed him as if it was nothing. And it was, we were sent on assassination missions and stuff in ANBU, but the three of us were still better at infiltration.

We wouldn't have infiltrated Kumo, Iwa or Suna these past couple of years otherwise.

"Thanks to you we also got some of the Sanbi's chakra, so thanks for almost dying Uchiha," Dai added with a smirk.

"I hope Harusame-san will be done with the tests soon."

"Aneki will find a way to contact you anyway. By the way, he's important right? In his clan?" Shisui frowned at Dai talking about him as if he wasn't there.

"How is that any of your business?" Shisui hissed at him as I nodded.

"It's not my business, but there's someone who'll be interested to know you're here." I blinked and realization hit me. "Ha, she finally got it!"

"Akane?" My wide eyes were glued to Dai.

Sasuke was there and would find a way to ask questions to Shisui!

"Hum...I need to talk to someone real quick, see you later!" I quickly told him before running away. I heard Dai say 'damage control' behind the door.

Funny enough, I found Sasuke only five minutes after looking for him in the training room, in front of Zabuza-san and Haku.

"Sasuke!" He almost stumbled forward from how concentrated he was. I nervously waved at him when he shot me a glare.

"I'm busy," he told me coldly. I raised a brow at his tone and he hunched his shoulders. "What?"

"Okay, you already know Konoha sent someone to check our information about the Mizukage, right?"

"Yeah…so what? They're here?" I crossed my hands behind my back and kicked an imaginary stone.

"Yeah yeah...Shisui's resting." There was a long gap in the conversation, that Haku broke with a whisper to his master.

"Is that the man who made Uzu-nee dead to Kiri years ago?" Zabuza-san nodded and I watched with dread in my stomach Sasuke's face changing from irritation to shock to anger. He ran past me, grabbed my wrist in a death grip and dragged me behind him.

"Sasuke you're tearing my arm off!" I shouted at him as he dragged me through the hideouts hallways. I was pretty sure we ran past Kimou and that she said something. "You don't even know where he is!" He stopped in the middle of his steps, a foot still in the air and I almost bumped into him.

I made him let go of my arm and massaged my wrist, pain written all over my face. Sasuke turned to face me and scoffed at my obvious and barely exaggerated pain.

"You're a kunoichi, you've had worst. I've seen you get worst."

"You're not too old for me to kick your ass, watch your mouth." He didn't look scared or anything, so I rolled my eyes. "Are you even ready to see Shisui? He's not your closest relative, but he's still pretty close. Did your anger calm down enough for you to see him?" He looked above my shoulder for a second before going back to my face.

"I think so yeah."

"You're not saying that just to see him, are you?"

"I wouldn't act like th..." He didn't finish his sentence and averted his eyes from mine with a scowl and a faint blush on his cheeks. I flicked his nose and as he rubbed it with a frown, I gestured him to follow me.

"I'll stay now to see for myself if you're okay, then you'll be alone with him. Just...try to think before acting."

As expected, when he stepped a foot in Shisui's room, they stared at each other in silence before Sasuke launched himself at the oldest in the room as he stuttered his name. I grabbed the kid before he could do any damages.

"See? I was right!"

"Yeah, you were," Sasuke muttered, glaring daggers at Shisui who was completely lost. I walked around him and gave him a hug once I was between Sasuke and Shisui. "They're all liars."

"I'm one too technically."

"You're not an Uchiha," he mumbled in my flak jacket, "and you didn't try to deny it."

"And I'm so gonna get killed for that," I added with a sigh. I took a step back and pointed the exit with my finger. "I'll brief him quickly, only important parts. Go back to training, we left Zabuza-san and Haku all alone with no real explanation." He shot one last look at Shisui and left the room, his hands in his pockets. I spun around and talked before Shisui could. "Alright, after Sasuke got his mark, because I'm a Yurei and knew what could possibly happen, Tsunade-san asked us to take Sasuke in in case Konoha failed to bring him back, if he ever defected. It happened, I was in the area and we had people at the border in case anyway, so he's been here for a month."

"But...that's...Itachi hasn't slept for a month! Naruto has been training non-stop and...Tsunade-sama didn't tell me he would be here!" Shisui cried out, flailing his arms around. He stopped abruptly and curled up in pain.

"If your Hokage didn't tell you it's not our problem," Dai intervened idly. Before they could start bickering, I was in front of Shisui.

"Look, Sasuke would have gone to Orochimaru anyway because his mark was going to kill him if he didn't make it evolve. The Sound shinobi almost made him agree but Kakashi talked to him, so he was going to tell Tsunade-san."

"Are you saying he was going to willingly be a bet for Orochimaru?"

"Yep, but he heard Fugaku-san and Tsunade-san talking about the coup and how Itachi would have killed everyone." Shisui opened his eyes wide, his lips quivering. "So...he ran away."

"Itachi was right, he figured Sasuke might have discovered the truth and left on a whim." I raised my eyebrows. Itachi just figured that out with only knowing Sasuke left the village? That was some big brother instinct he had! "But...wait Akane Itachi doesn't know he wou..." I followed his eyes and, with no surprise, saw Dai listening to our conversation. "Shit, that's con..."

"Don't worry Uchiha, I'm already aware, it was hard for Uzu to ignore that part when she told us she was a Yurei."

"A wh...Akane, you told him!?" I frowned at his anger.

"That I'm a Yurei and my seal? Yeah I did, why do you look so outraged about it? If it's because of the Uchi..."

"Why would you tell them that!?"

"Because it made sense when I entered the Resistance to tell my sensei, and in Konoha Dai and Mangetsu saw my seal. I explained it when they confronted me about it. I'm the one who decided with whom I share my knowledge, it's not Konoha exclusive." I cursed Dai when he left me alone with an angry Shisui. "I don't want to start another fight with you, especially with you stuck in a bed."

"Yeah well, too late it's happening." I bit back a groan of frustration. "Why...why would you tell them?" And here we were.

"Shisui, I told you what you needed to know and told the Sandaime the whole story. You saw it, didn't you? It's an Uchiha who controls Yagura in the shadows, it's been like that for years. I wasn't going to let them build a Resistance blindly if I knew exactly where to orient them. More than that? The guy who's controlling Yagura, he made it personal a long time ago and I'm not gonna let him win."

"So he did? He planned the Kyuubi attack? You're not seriously thinking about trying to take him down yourself, are you? You'll get killed!" I would ignore his lack of knowledge about my skills.

"Yeah, he did. Then he controlled Yagura and took his dream of changing Kiri away. He turned me into a weapon, and if the massacre had happened, he would have helped Itachi. That Uchiha wanted me as his pawn and I'm not gonna let him live it down, that or all of the other crimes he committed. You have no idea what's coming and if I can help and slow him down then I fucking will!"

"Then tell me what's going to happen! Stop flying solo for once and tell me!" I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Sensei has had enough trouble making me focus of the Resistance, I'm not telling you now or ever. Tsunade-san knows, she knows about me and that you know, it's her call to tell you or not. Sorry, but I'm not from Konoha, Kiri's making different moves and right now, we have to strike to be able to move at all." I noticed how he twitched at the mention of me being from Kiri and he grabbed my arms, making me sit next to him on the bed.

"Let's talk about that by the way: why the fuck are you acting so friendly with them at all? Kiri for..."

"Yagura forced me to be a kunoichi, and he's not himself. I hated the system and the guy, most people because they've always associated me with my father or Yagura, but it doesn't mean I hate everyone and that I don't have anyone here." He looked like I was forcing a lemon down his throat. "You need to stop thinking we don't care about our comrades here. We're the Hidden Mist, of course we're good at creating facades of ourselves for our enemies. But with how Kiri is, the bonds we have are strong. So stop fighting with Dai, he saved me more times I can count ever since I was a genin."

"But..."

"Shisui, I get I've been mean and a real bitch to you in Konoha, but you're good at observing people. You know they wouldn't hurt me." Now it was as if the lemon was stuck in his throat and I was trying to push it down with sake.

"You were a bitch," he stressed in a low voice, almost as if it was the only thing he could say. "I just...I don't want you to stay here doing something you hate and putting yourself in danger. I can't..." He grabbed my right hand and kissed my knuckles gently, making me blush slightly. "I can't lose you again Akane, I just can't. I died before and you moved on, that's fine, I can't blame you for doing that when you died twenty years after me, but I've never lived a life where you were dead and I can't have that, not after..."

"Shisui?" I called him with a tint of worry at the guilt in his eyes. "Wha..."

"It's my fault if you're here again," he whispered and I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out. "No, let me talk. It's my fault if you're here, because if you had not come to Konoha to help me and the Uchihas, then Kiri wouldn't have known about you still being alive and...I'm too weak."

"I don't think you're weak idiot, and it's not your fault. It...the Uchiha would have known anyway, he would have tried to kill me and my mom would have died, that's what happened the first time. There's...man, there's a lot you don't know about me Shisui, and when I say Kiri would have found me, it's true. They didn't pick me because I was randomly there but..."

"But what? Akane, please talk to me," he begged me, his nails digging in my sleeve.

"There's a law," I started with tired eyes. "The First established a law by the end of his reign. There wasn't a lot of shinobi because of how hard it was to live here, so he decided that anyone born within Kiri's walls was the property of the village, even if they left."

"You were born there because of your father?"

"Yeah." I took a deep breath. "Dad...Dad's half Uzumaki and wasn't from Uzushio, but from here. From Kiri. My grandfather was a part of the Yuki clan, one of the oldest clan in the village and sadly the first one to be massacred by said village. He brought Mom here after Uzushio was destroyed, and they fled when I was one with my brother. The Yondaime Hokage put me in his Will, saying he wanted me to be a kunoichi of Konoha when I was ready, but he died and without him and with Danzou, it was too dangerous so it never happened. I ended up in Kiri, and left, and went to Konoha. I had to leave because I was a conflict of interest between the two villages, because the law in Kiri is as much valid as a Kage's will, it was a huge political mess. So, it doesn't matter in the end, me being physically here or not, I'll always be Kiri like you're Konoha."

"But why do you like it now?"

"I've spent a lifetime running away from everything related to this part of me. Kiri has represented everything I hated about me, everything I was ashamed of. Yet I created strong bonds here. Most of them died in my past life and I learned about them a long time after it happened." I chuckled bitterly. "Mangetsu is the first friend I had there, he's my best friend. He was before yet I discovered he was dead six years after it happened. Do you think it's fair?" He didn't say anything, he just squeezed my hand tighter. "It's not. But the Butterfly Effect happened, and you being alive meant he would be alive too."

"Yeah, I remember how relieved you were," he muttered under his breath.

"I mean I...for so many years Kiri was just everything I was trying to hide, but when I got back here, on active duty it just...sensei's a leader y'know? She wants to make Kiri a better place and I want a place where you shouldn't be afraid to have a kekkai genkai. I have a goal as a kunoichi unlike before and people who share it, and thanks to that people started to see me for myself. That's why I like it now. I...I won't hide the shinobi part of me anymore, I won't stop it until I judge I've done enough compared to before, and I...even if I've done unspeakable things under the Bloody Mist, I follow sensei 'til the bitter end. You don't need to like it Shisui, but just accept it. I didn't want any of you in Konoha to see that side of me, like I'm sure you wouldn't want me to see what you despise in yourself, but I'm done...hiding it."

"I had no idea," he told me and I sighed because I could hear his useless guilt.

"I wouldn't have told you anything up until what, a month ago? Not long after Sasuke got here. I had way too much shit to deal with about myself, and there's still a lot I have to deal with, on my own." I shot him an apologetic look. "I couldn't drag you in this." This seemed to wake him up as he jumped in his bed and grabbed my shoulders with frantic eyes.

"I'd have helped! Hell, I'll help you no..."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about!" He had the reflex to move back, sinking as deeply as he could in his pillow when I raised my voice. "Sorry, it's just...I know you'd help me, and I know I would rely on you too much, that's how I've always been and I can't afford that. I care about you too much to do that to you." He blushed at my words and it made me realize I had never officially rejected or accepted his feelings for me. From how he was acting...it wasn't just a crush.

"That...that's good to know." I pulled him back up in a sitting position and barely felt guilty at the pained expression on his face. "Careful, I'm still hurt." I then, carefully, sat closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, my forehead on his collarbone. He tensed for a second before hesitantly returning my hug.

"I missed you," I mumbled against his shirt. I felt him burying his face in my hair and the small smile dancing on his lips.

"I missed you too Aka-chan," I felt myself warming up inside at the stupid nickname, "and I was so jealous of Itachi..." Huh? "You weren't pushing him away like me, it made me so jealous and...I feel terrible thinking about it, Itachi didn't do anything but his mission and putting up with me."

"As I told him, he was waiting for the wall I put between us to crumble on its own whereas you were running straight in it and I was terrified it would blow up in your face. I'm sorry for hurting you but I...was trying to protect you. You said you didn't want me to get hurt, but I won't let you or Itachi die and leave me alone if I can do something about it. If I had stayed in Konoha, I don't think I would have handled seeing Naruto going on missions and staying back. It's an awful feeling."

"You won't come home then?" he murmured so quietly I almost didn't catch it.

"I'll never be able to be a kunoichi in Konoha, and I don't want to. I...I don't have any attachment to that place and Tsunade-san may be great, but she doesn't have my loyalty."

"I want you home," he said, still quietly, but with more assurance. "We all want you home. You could be useful there too."

"Tsunade-san won't let me be anything else than a shinobi in Konoha."

"You'll have the Uchiha clan support."

"Right now, I don't think it's worth a lot, I don't want to be rude but..." He hugged me tighter, pressing me hard against his chest. "Wait, I don't want to hurt yo..."

"It's fine." I managed to put some distance between us. "But if you were in Konoha I...I'd make sure you're fine and happy and I'd always make sure you know you're cared for, loved and never alone. I swear Akane, I would do anything if it made you happy."

I stared at his eyes, filled with determination. I opened my mouth to say something, but leaned toward Shisui instead, my lips finding his immediately. He froze, much like I did years ago, but unlike me, it didn't last. His left hand found itself on my cheeks and his right hand slid from my neck to my waist. He gave my side a squeeze, which made me wrap my arms around him neck. I moaned in his mouth when he deepened the kiss, his tongue gently meeting mine.

We kissed for a minute before I broke the kiss, both of us breathing hard and blushing. It felt...it was good, he was a good kisser and I was all warmed inside. Right now I could only see him.

"I love you," I whispered and he stopped breathing for a second, his cheeks redder and redder. "But I don't want a relationship, I have a lot of things I want to do, and I won't leave Kiri anytime soon. I want you to be happy though, so much, and you have no idea what your words mean to me, it's...it's the first time a man ever told me that. That's...why I want you to move on." I ignored how he lowered his eyes and I grabbed his hands. "I've already lived, had a relationship and kids. I want you to live now, find someone who'll give you what I can't give you. I just...I want you to be happy."

"You're not saying there will never be a chance then?" I sighed and crushed the little hope he had.

"I don't want you to wait for me. I don't want to unconsciously use you as a rebound. I...don't want to lose you again."

"I don't really want to be miserable when I think of you anyway," he told me blandly. I averted my eyes from him and he leaned on my shoulder, his arms now around my waist. "Would it...would it really make you happy then? Even if...even if one day you may..."

"Then it will be my problem and I'll deal with it," I cut him off, my right hand running smoothly in his messy and dirty hair.

"I'm in love with you Akane," he continued in a murmur, "I'll probably always be in love with you. If...if me moving on is what makes you happy, then I'll do it."

"I'll be happy when I'll know you won't be alone and that a good person is receiving all the beautiful things you want to give me. You're quite the catch."

"So are you and you don't see it, it's unnerving." I chuckled and kissed him on the cheek.

"I probably won't be able to come by to check on you, so please don't fight with Dai or anyone? And rest a lot, and..."

"I know, I will, don't worry about that." He let go of me and laid back down in his pillow.

"We're cool now? Because I won't have these kind of conversations everyday." He smiled, amused.

"We're cool Akane." I smiled brightly at him. I wanted to hug him, but chose to instead leave so that he could rest.

We were cool.

It was all that mattered.

Not even the fact I was missing the safety of his arms mattered.

It was not a 'never' but a 'move on'. It was not a 'I don't feel the same', because I couldn't assure him it was the truth, but it was a 'find someone who can love you like you deserve'.

But we talked and now we were cool.

That was enough.

It had to be enough.

Because I don't think I would ever be able to have a relationship with Shisui without thinking, in the back of my mind, that he was not old Itachi, but his best friend and cousin.

For the first time in a long time, when I left the hideout, I felt light.

It wasn't for long though, as a few days later, I received words from sensei, saying Jiraya-san was at the hideout too.

Hey! Thanks for reading! Please review so that I know you liked it :) Thanks to kankananime123 the reviews. Did you really think I was going to kill poor Shisui? Nahhhh!

Bye!