A phantom pain where his right eye should have been woke him with a start.

Cold sweat dripped from his forehead falling under the bandages, making the boy blink his numb eyelids. Lost in a world of darkness, Shisui forcefully expelled the air from his lungs, refusing to allow Danzo to be a ghost haunting him. He had more important things to worry about right now than that man who stuck a knife in his back.

Anxiety had consumed him for the last three days since he had started wandering with the priestess and her sister — Kuro had not yet returned, he wanted to hear from his cousins as soon as possible.

He longs to know how that jealous little thing is doing, who he loved to tease in the not so distant past, about the stories full of silly twists and turns that he used to tell to put him to sleep. Being with them made him want a little brother, but Mom just laughed at him and pinched his cheeks when he said it.

Before Shisui could realize his cheeks were wet and where his eyes should have been burning, they hurt, but he didn't suppress the silent crying that all these memories consumed him. He tried not to think about what the news of his death had caused to his parents, his grandmother who had lost her husband at an early age, only he knew how difficult it was for him to make that decision — he had taught Itachi the value of self-sacrifice, and he more than anyone knew what this ideology meant.

And he, wounded, betrayed, and with one of his eyes taken from him—the other being hunted—had thought that this was his destiny after all; to die. It hadn't been fair to anyone, he admitted that. The lack of trust had gone on for too long, it snowballed and, after the Kyuubi's attack, things became worse, the Uchiha district was moved to the outskirts of the Village and was almost as if it were a village of its own, the surveillance increased even further, his family was now monitored twenty-four hours a day.

Tired of the way they were being treated, a coup d'état was planned. Shisui wanted to end this conflict without bloodshed — save both sides — but even though the Third Hokage agreed with his plan to put the Uchiha Clan in an illusion jutsu, Danzou got in the way. He would protect the Village in his twisted way, eliminating a founding clan in such a vile way, making Itachi his scapegoat.

Itachi was the executioner who raised the sword, Danzou being the mentor behind the shadows. And the Hokage just agreed to this plan? Had he even had a conversation with Fugaku-sama? Did your omission cause all this? What should he think of the Village he loved? Shisui would never choose a side, if he could he would save both sides, wasn't that exactly why he sided with Itachi when he was ordered to spy on him? He hoped the Third Hokage would put an end to all of this like the authority that he was.

The fifteen-year-old hated what he was feeling at that moment, that doubt that consumed him — the lack of confidence that settled in his heart.

"Shisui-kun?", the priestess's calm voice brought him back to the present.

He had blinked his eyelids and raised his head towards her voice. "Do you need anything, Kaori-san?"

She grimaced, although he didn't see it. "Only Kaori is good for me."

"Get some sleep, I'll be on guard."

"Don't worry, I'm used to going without sleep when I was on a mission, besides, it looks like I won't get a good night's sleep if I go back to sleep.", he said, resting his head on the tree trunk behind him.

"Nightmares?" he asked in a soft voice.

He found her very easy to talk to. "You can say that."

A moment of silence fell over the two, except for the sound of the fire to keep them warm, as well as Haruki snoring softly beside them. "Shisui-kun," she said finally, the honorific having changed when referring to him. "Are you going to tell me what happened to you? I don't want to be invasive or anything, but if there's anything that can help you..."

She seemed hesitant, he could tell by the tone of her voice and how her chakra changed. However, Shisui didn't know if he should put someone else in the middle of this situation - it was a matter of state, nothing that interested other people or an errant priestess, but he knew in his core that he could trust this girl — no matter how difficult it was for you now. "It's a complicated situation."

"You're a shinobi, right? Was it a mission gone wrong?", she asked, with a soft tone, almost as if saying she understood his reluctance.

"You can say that.", wasn't a total lie, anyway.

"Speak when you're ready.", he felt her shift position closer to the fire.

"Are you cold?"

"No, I would say the cold is part of me.", she kind of laughed when she said that. "The ice, the snow is my birthright."

He raised an eyebrow, curious, but said nothing. Interesting.

"Haruki is your adopted sister.", he changed the subject, feeling that she didn't want to talk about herself. "Your chakras don't match."

"You're so insightful, Shisui-kun.", she laughed again, but this time it was more genuine.

So sweet and bright, he thought to himself as he heard the sound of her laughter.

"Sayuri and I found her and adopted her."

Sayuri, he had heard that name before.

"Who is Sayuri?"

"A precious friend, who is like a sister to me.", there was a wistful smile in her words, someone she appreciated with all her heart.

It had made him think of his glum-faced cousin, who always rolled his eyes at his jokes, or who sometimes caused him exasperation because of his playful behavior. He had always been a social butterfly while Itachi was withdrawn, people in his clan didn't understand how such a friendship had worked out so well.

"I also have someone like that.", he decided to share. "A friend who is a brother of soul and heart..."

Itachi's image flashed in his world of darkness, as did the fear-filled scream making him shudder.

my story will not faithfully follow the events of the anime/manga

The fact that Shisui is alive already changes part of the canon – mainly, the confrontation between the Uchiha brothers