Inspired by Blast Your Way Out by SpiritSeer, written and shared with their permission.

I DO NOT OWN DREAMING OF SUNSHINE OR NARUTO

I am merely making use of their characters, settings, and themes to tell a different story.

If anyone would like to use my own work as a base/inspiration for a fic, you are more than welcome to do so, just credit me in the beginning and maybe send me the link so that I can read it too, I'm always looking for more DOS recursive.

Well, I think that covers all of my bases, so with that out of the way, on to the fic!

Trigger Warning

This work contains depictions of violence that could be considered graphic

- Ghosts -

Ghosts are something Itachi is intimately familiar with. Day or night, it matters not, wherever he looks - the apparitions of those he's slain look back.

Sometimes their gazes are empty sightless things, showing their face as it was in the moments following their deaths.

But sometimes, their gazes follow him.

He's gotten better at ignoring them, as time has passed.

Their broken, bleeding bodies and accusing eyes no longer cause him to remain unmoving for minutes at a time, staring out at something only he can see.

Admittedly, somedays are worse than others – the further away they stand the easier it is to dismiss them. Some days they stand far enough away that he can almost convince himself that they're nothing more than just another civilian, going about their lives blissfully unaware as to the depths of the depravity of the shinobi world.

On other days they come closer, much closer – close enough that sometimes, for a moment that seems to stretch on far longer than it has any right to, he finds himself taken back to the night of his greatest crime. Every deed, every action, every strike rushes to the forefront of his mind, the memory crisp and clear in a way that only another in possession of his family's bloodline would be able to understand. In those moments it was as if the world around him simply disappeared, and all remained was that night, where the cloying sickly sweet metallic scent of blood hangs thick in the air, only occasionally overpowered by the equally unpleasant scent that resulting of bodies gone entirely lax in death.

He always recovered from the flashbacks quickly enough, but reliving the memories only to see the semi-transparent forms of one or more of his victims causes him to recall details that he had been careful not to consider at the time but that he could suddenly no longer ignore. When the memories would replay in his mind once more, it always felt as though suddenly he could focus on nothing but the things he had been so careful to not consider. Things such as the terror on their faces as the realized his intention, the spatters of blood that now stain their skin from the spray as he cut down their neighbor, the tears that cling to the wide, frightened (unseeing) eyes of the children who spent their final moments crying out for mothers that could no longer hear them-

Yes, some days are worse than others.

Even all these years later, there are still those who have yet to appear before him, people such as Shisui, or his mother and father. He wonders if the things he sees are a result of his own guilt over his actions or if this is part of his punishment levied upon him by the divine for the act of Kin slaying. Itachi has never been a religious man – most shinobi weren't, as their careers tended to be rather incompatible with the teachings of most major religions – so usually he attributes his visitors to the former rather than the later. It would certainly explain why his parents nor Shisui had ever appeared before him; for all that he missed them, he feared their reaction to what he had become.

It would also explain why out of all of the victims who had appeared before him on multiple occasions, the one he dreaded most was not the woman that had pleaded for her children before he slashed her throat, nor was it the little girl who had died cradling the body of the cat who had given its everything trying to protect its master, nor the kindly old grandmother who had often snuck him free dango to try and cheer him up whenever he walked by her stand looking just a little too stoic but whose neck he had snapped all the same.

No, the worse days were when she appeared, the girl who had been one of only two people he had ever called a friend – Nara Shikako. In truth she'd always been Shisui's friend more than his own, but after she and Shisui were placed on a genin team together, you couldn't get one without the other. He'd always been jealous of the closeness she had with Shisui, at how easily she had gained his trust, admiration, and honesty. Even though she never did anything to try and come between him and Shisui, or stop him from crashing their training sessions, he couldn't help but resent her a little. It frustrated him that Shisui trusted her so much, to the point that when the they heard the first whispers of the possibility that the clan intended to stage a coup, almost immediately after he and Shisui were dismissed upon delivering their report of the situation to the Hokage, He watched as Shisui sent Shikako a message to meet using his summons, and then proceeded to inform her of everything they had learned in even greater detail than what they had just told the Hokage. Itachi had been quietly furious at Shisui for the risk he took in telling Shikako, but his trust in her was absolute and he would not be convinced to do otherwise.

As time passed and Shisui began to increasingly rely on Shikako for emotional support as the situation with the clan continued to devolve, both Itachi and Shisui were drawn deeper into the conspiracy. Over time Itachi began to notice Shisui becoming more withdrawn from the clan (from Itachi) and seeking out Shikako more and more often. Though all of them were in ANBU, only Shisui and Shikako worked together on a regular basis, and with their busy and oftentimes conflicting missions schedules, Itachi started seeing less of Shisui than at any other point in time since he had met him when he was 5. At the age of 11, over a period of nine months, Itachi only ran two missions with Shisui (and Shikako). For most of that year -the year before Shisui's death- Itachi barely saw him for a few hours every couple of months, so when they were informed by the Hokage that their assignments had been reshuffled to allow them more time in village observing the clan, for a brief moment Itachi felt a flare of joy at the thought of more time with Shisui, though it dimmed considerably upon remembering the reason for their reassignment. However, it would seem that it was only Itachi that was pleased by their reassignment, as once they left the Hokage's office and Shisui begged off only to send a summon in the direction of the Nara compound before heading off towards one of the more remote training fields, Itachi realized that while they would be in village more often, Shikako would not. Again, his emotions flared, this time in satisfaction at the idea of having Shisui to himself, though once again the feeling was quickly tempered, this time with shame. He reminded himself that while they weren't nearly as close, Shikako was Itachi's friend too, and this meant she would likely be sent on missions just as dangerous as the ones she had been participating in before, only this time without someone she knew and trusted to have her back.

Later, Itachi would reflect on the tragedy of his friends final months, spent trying to save their clan from themselves, and having been separated from a girl Itachi was quickly coming to realize was someone for whom Shisui held a profound love. For those last three months, despite the smiles and playfulness he showed to the clan, all Itachi saw was someone desperately missing another, and how lonely he seemed as a result. Itachi doubted anyone else noticed, but separated from Shikako as he was, Shisui's smiles had become more brittle, his laughter shorter and hollow. Itachi wondered how he hadn't realized that Shikako had become the center of Shisui's world, the sun he orbited which gave him warmth and life and that once deprived of left him a shadow. Wryly Itachi had acknowledged the irony of the heir of a clan of shadow users being likened to a sun.

Unfortunately, Itachi's wry amusement at the irony surrounding Shisui's choice of a center was short lived, as not even a week later was Shisui ambushed under the orders of Danzo as the Elder stood in the background leaving it to his child soldiers to subdue Shisui. Eventually, Shisui was able to escape the Elder and his subordinates, but not before Danzo was able to steal one of Shisui's eyes. When Itachi met Shisui on that cliff and heard what had happened rage began to cloud his vision, and he was only stopped from doing something rash by the shock and horror that overtook his anger upon seeing Shisui reach up an gouge out his remaining eye before handing the organ to Itachi in the hopes that he could use it to save the clan.

Shisui's last words also contained his final request:

"Tell Shikako-chan that I'm sorry, but that just because I broke rule one doesn't mean she can too."

Despite it being the final request of his closest friend, Itachi never did fulfill it, and it wasn't until a year later as he stood over the dying form of the girl who he had once called a friend and who his best friend had treasured above all others that he finally realized what Shisui's words had meant.

Shikako had proven to be one of the most challenging opponents he had ever faced, the steadily bleeding cut on his neck and kunai in his arm served as a testament of that. Nevertheless, in the end it was Itachi who emerged victorious, the sword currently impaled in her chest having undoubtedly pierced her lung and quite possibly even nicked her heart.

He should leave. Her wounds are severe enough that he knows that she is well beyond saving by this point. He has only just begun his part of the purge, and there are still many more people that he must take care of. He knows his time is limited, and yet he can't quite bring himself to leave her to die alone.

And so, Itachi kneels down by her side, uncaring of the blood that is steadily soaking into the fabric of his pants. Given the actions he must soon take, by the end of the night all of his clothes are bound to be beyond saving, and he has no intention of preserving unnecessary reminders of what he is about to do. Taking Shikako's hand in his, she squeezes it lightly. Her head turns to face him, face already pale from bloodless and eyes having trouble focusing. Gently Itachi reaches out and brushes the hair that had escaped her braid from where her sweat has caused it to stick to her face.

"Itachi?" She asks softly, clearly struggling to speak.

"Yes, Shikako, I'm right here." He replies back just as softly, ignoring the knot forming in the back of his throat.

She turns away from him, facing back up at the sky. Silently a few tears run down the side of her face. "I miss him. He'll be m-mad at me, for breaking our rule-"she stops, struggling to take in the air she needs to speak, "b-but he broke i-it first, le-ft me behi-nd, a-lone-" she stops again, this time he can see the blood staining her teeth and tongue. When she next tries to inhale, there is an audible gurgle. It won't be long now. "b-bastard. Didn't I te-ll h-im," she blinks and more tears fall, "We're a t-team."

Shikako doesn't speak again after that. Less than a minute passes before her breathing shutters to a stop and her hand goes lax in his.

Next to him lies the body of a girl whom he had once called his friend.

Her tearstained face stares up at the sky, eyes unseeing, searching for something that isn't there.