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uchihashisuii · 1 year

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at the end of all things. | Obito/OFC

Summary: The name of the person most suited to mirror your heart is scarred clear upon your skin. Sometimes, this eases the path to fate. Sometimes, it does not. | Soulmate AU

Pairing: Uchiha Obito/Nara Akari | Uchiha Shisui/Nara Akari (Past)

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 3336

Prompt: Any AU + Identity

Content warning for introspection and a huge character and relationship study. one instance of a non-graphic attempted suicide

Author’s Note: this is just 3k word vomit abt my oc akari for @obito-week

Ao3

-----

The name of the person most suited to mirror your heart is scarred clear upon your skin. Sometimes, this eases the path to fate.

Sometimes, it does not.

-----

A misstep, a novel indulgence of rain-soaked branches and two people crashing into one another high in the trees. Brown eyes meet black eyes and it is both the beginning and the end.

Akari meets Shisui, and things slot easily into place.

-----

They're young, yet not unburdened. Soul marks are a flight of fancy, not something one such as a shinobi needs fret over. A fairy tale, a warning. Shisui teaches her there is more to life than her black-and-white existence as a weapon for ROOT, and Akari knows there cannot possibly be another out there more suited for her hidden heart.

There is danger in their lives, blood and fear and no room for anything other than village. And yet -

And yet.

-----

Akari and Shisui grow together, fumbling hands of nervous teenagers discovering a budding love and affection. There comes the day when both anticipate and yet dread the appearance of their soul marks - what do they do if it isn't each other?

What do they do if it is?

-----

When her name does come, it curves over the jagged scars against the side of her throat. An almost delicate contrast, in thin lines and artful kanji of a name she recognizes, and yet does not.

Horror blooms bright on Akari's tongue as she traces the rounded edge of the first character with the tip of a trembling finger, sitting right above her pulse-point. It almost seems to chase her touch, this familiar-yet-not name, her heart skipping a beat as her lips part, forming the name of the one she is destined to love.

Uchiha Obito

She covers it with her palm. Her hand does not move until she pulls on a high-collared shirt, and runs with feet as quick as wings to the Uchiha compound.

-----

Mikoto is quick to school her incredulity into the gentle and encouraging smile of a supportive mother. She reads the name on Akari's tender neck, reads it once more, and reads it again. Shares a look with Fugaku; impossible the word that wavers on the tip of her tongue. Death parts everyone, and when it happens the names left behind fade on skin until there is naught but an old and silver scar of a promise once kept.

If she tilts her head and squints, it does indeed look as though the kanji for Obito is fading away, lighter than the rest. Mikoto feels her heart begin to ache at the thought; a little girl bearing the burden of a name most have forgotten, a name of a child's sacrifice lost to history, embedded in the memorial stone and the mournful remembrance of friends.

Akari's whisper is barely a breath, vulnerability palpable as the fifteen-year-old bites down her sadness, her shame. "Take it away."

Ah, Mikoto sighs, and kneels before the young girl, holding her small hands between both of her own. It is not a thing to be taken, not by anyone; not by jutsu or blade or fire. To cut it away will bring it back in another place; to mar it with ink will change its shape for maybe a day.

"I want to choose for myself," Akari murmurs into the silence, steeling her resolve and lifting her chin, challenging fate with hardened eyes and clenched fists. She had chosen, already; heart belonging utterly to Shisui, and unable to accept the fact that whatever force had cursed mortals with knowledge of their soulmate had decreed him unworthy of her heart. Shisui is hers as much as she is his, and nothing will tear them apart.

Mikoto feels her mouth quirk into a small smile, nodding her head as she squeezes Akari's hands, and tells her the truth: that there is always a choice.

She is still smiling, albeit sadly, when she imparts the other facet of truth: that she only knows of one person with that name, and he has been gone from them for too long. Taken from them in an act of selflessness, gone in the name of kindness and friendship and something almost like cruelty. Children deserve to live, not fight wars.

Akari blinks wide brown eyes up at her, small and guarded heart already beginning to tighten. She grieves anew that her name is lost to most - only immortalized in stone and the mournful memories of those who called him a friend.

If nothing else, Uchiha Obito will have her. She is Shisui's as much as he is hers, in differing facets of love and connection. She doesn't need the gentle encouragement from Mikoto to remember that Itachi is hers, too; a different love but love all the same. The black-eyed Uchihas who had welcomed Akari with open arms and minds, who had helped along the path to learning what love could mean.

And now, young and nearly afraid, oddly grieved and chest heavy from a distant sadness - Akari resolves that she will be Obito's, too; and he will be hers. If no one else, she will remember. There is a choice, always; and she has chosen and will continue to choose who it is she loves, who she allows to be branded upon her heart as well as her skin.

-----

Shisui's soul mark never appeared. Not unheard of, but unusual nonetheless. A gift, perhaps; fate decrying that just as there is destiny, so too is there choice. His skin remains scarred and bruised from his tireless work as shinobi, and even without the physical manifestation of love still he wears his heart on his sleeve, openly affectionate and caring and charming and oh, Akari loves him so.

Itachi begins wearing his long hair in a low tail, soft strands falling gracefully down his back. There are a few months where he casually slips a palm to the back of his neck, as though ensuring something is covered.

Akari notices, and does not ask. Itachi offers no explanation. She gives herself no time to agonize over it, doesn't have the strength to face head-on her suspicions that he now bears Shisui's name. He loves them both, as they both love him; and nothing will tear their dynamic to shreds, not even one of them.

-----

She questions fate once more, when her world topples for the second time around her shoulders. The first, that day she met her other half. The second, the day he leaves her permanently.

Shisui is gone, and she is adrift. Love everlasting, even in a memory. Even in a dream.

She doesn't sleep, doesn't mourn. Pushes herself that much harder, in some misguided attempt to flee from her own shattered heart. He's gone, by his own hand, and she will be forced to confront the childish idea she'd clung to that her ill-fated love hadnt been enough to keep his hand in hers.

-----

Soulmates aren't worth this, surely? This ache, ever-present and digging sharp fingers into her too-full chest. A day dawns and she nearly takes a blade to the name that's followed her for just shy of ten years, jaw set and tears misting her vision. Be rid of it, be rid of the shackles and the pain and the startling lack of choice.

She'd loved Shisui, and it hadnt been enough. Because he wasn't hers, wasn't etched into her skin as he had been in her heart. The blade kisses her pulse, a sharp sting of reality that tells her she dances on the edge of something terrible.

She needs to let go. Must accept. Shisui would want her to live, and in the small and half-mad part of her subconscious she thinks Obito would want that, too. Would want suffering to end, would want life to flourish despite hardship.

The knife falls, and she doesn't even have a grave to apologize to for nearly losing herself to hysteric grief.

-----

Akari had wondered, more often than she'd ever admit, if she would have loved him. Uchiha Obito. Fingertips dancing over the name, where it hides beneath a high collar; she wonders if they'd have been friends. The name is faded, but not enough; a mystery that keeps her awake more often that she would care to admit. Death parts, but his name is still dark as ink amidst the tattered tangle of her scarred neck. He's not - alive, but he isn't dead, either. Does she even have the right to - to what? To hope? She hadnt known him. Would never have known him, save for fate and the gods above deciding on a whim that they were destined to entwine.

(A gift, they call the marks. A curse, others. Akari still doesn't know, tells herself she doesn't care. She'd been given the name of a dead child, and had chosen to love a different boy who would still die. It aches, deep in her bones.)

She'd gotten the odd story from Kakashi over the years, of a little boy who yearned to prove himself. Bright orange goggles perched on his nose, perpetually late because he would never say no to anyone needing a helping hand.

Together with Kakashi they mourned of opportunities and friends lost, too many to count. And Akari indulged herself in small and idle fantasies of finding a friend, of bonding with a sweet boy with a resolve to topple mountains; of kindness freely offered and a heart that she really would have liked to call her own.

-----

A half-dozen people have Naruto's name somewhere in their skin, with the jinchuriki's own body dusted from neck to ankle in twice as many. It takes the unending confidence and warmth of a hyper-active teenager to make Akari realize that soulmates are two hearts calling out to one another and finding a kindred spirit. It is romance, and friendship, and brotherhood, and a million differing facets of love. Bonds come in every form, multitudes of colours and shapes. Fate can be embraced, as readily as it can be ignored. She is marked with the name of a dead little boy, and still she had loved and been loved in return by a man who bore no name. She had seen soulmates come together and fall apart, had borne witness to an intrinsic bond that never once turned to anything other than familial. A woman's name belonging to an older woman who embraced her as a child. A man with two names whose hands were never empty of either. One of the Sannin, name long gone from her fair skin, only to have a new one appear nearly two decades later.

Fate is cruel as well as kind, and none can define with often fallible words just what sort of bond awaits you.

Akari sets aside romantic tales of true love and holds tight to those she'd loved and lost. She will carry Shisui, Itachi, and Obito in her heart, and offers silent prayers that they will find one another in the next life.

She has the children she looks after, the orphans who call her okasan when she isn't around to listen. She has her friends, who bolster her heart and help her to stand when she wavers. She has the love she feels for her village, her clan, and her people. They all each take up space in her heart, and Akari feels the tender and warm realization of fulfillment.

-----

And then once more fate decides to make her life a cruel irony. The Fourth War rages and the adrenaline and the fear give way to something far more cruel. Akari fights alongside Sai -her heart, her hope, her son- and stands tall amidst the certainty of her life and where she had decided it would go. There is always a choice. And she'd decided to break the shackles of a past filled with horror, fight free of the torture and the iron grip of Danzo. To remember those she had loved and lost, and find strength in loving again. To choose to fight for a future she has decided she will be a part of.

It still hurts, like hell most days. But still she fights. Remembers who she fights for -herself, her friends, two dead boys that linger in her heart- and stands tall amidst a threat that could take it all away in a blink.

Akari resolves not to let that happen. Tightens her fist around the pommel of Shisui's tanto, and strides toward death.

-----

Obito sees her, the kunoichi at Kakashi’s side, with shoulder-length brown hair that hides half her face as she swings her lithe body, leg thrown out in a side kick. The pale sash tied at her waist billows with the movement, reminiscent of a medic's apron. He's frozen, locked in a vision of a bygone age; his indiscretion allows the woman to come close enough that he can see his own panicked expression, reflected back at him in her dark eyes.

Rin, he thinks to himself, something stark and empty weighing down his chest.

The kunoichi's hair whips across her forehead as she kicks out her leg, teeth bared and dried blood smeared down her cheek. Her grin is feral, and Obito sees the clear sign of protector writ across her expression, her body language. He's too stunned to even utilize kamui, still hopelessly locked in a genjutsu of his own creation as the woman's features blur into those of his first friend, his first love. His arms move out of pure instinct as her body twists, catching her kick with his gunbai; it rattles his arm, and her eyes narrow before shoving away. Her body arcs back, landing in a low stance and pulling free her blade.

-----

Not the most romantic way one meets their soulmate, but Akari thinks it's all rather par for the course in the life of a shinobi. She doesn't have time to digest her own feelings on the matter; they are at war, and Kakashi is still helplessly aggrieved at her six and the fate of the world still hinges on this one night.

She can worry about the name on her neck in a few hours.

-----

Obito's soul mark is in the middle of his back. No matter how hard he shifts and moves he can never reach it, left only grasping at the whispered promise of what if? He can only catch glimpses of it in the mirror, fleeting and blurry and hard to read. A given name, no last name. Strange occurrence, to be sure, but - he doesn't care.

He'd never cared for it. Knew it wasn't - who he might have wanted it to be, once. Before the cave. Before Madara. Before.

It still comes as a shock when the girl he'd seen fight beside Kakashi all but shoves her tanto into the holster at the small of her back, march over to him with something unreadable in her eyes, and forcefully shove his shoulder until he turns.

He bristles, because of course he does. Rudely handled, and showing his back to an enemy. (His mind works faster than his heart, for once; are they enemy? they are not allies, not as of this moment. He's still lurching from the vertigo of a forgotten-and-remembered heart, of deciding to walk tall as Obito and not as no one. He has a name. Someone else bears his name. He's not thinking about it)

His shoulders bunch somewhere near his ears, that old petulance shining through in the pout he knows he wears. Her fingers are cold on his naked back, and Obito fights back the urge to snap at her to fuck off when he realizes she traces his name.

He's distracted by laughter. Hers, he surmises; this odd slip of a girl that pokes and prods and he lets her because what other choice is there? He's wrung out and exhausted and so much had transpired this one single night that he doesn't even have any remaining brain capacity to care that a stranger is pressing her nose against his soul mark.

"At least we match," she says between bubbles of laughter, dancing on the edge of hysteric. And Obito is mystified because - what?

"What?" He says, intelligently, voice more gruff and tone more annoyed that he'd intended. But -point of order- they're still in the middle of a battlefield, threat to entirety of the shinobi world still looming large despite his choice to turncoat and remember who he once was.

Curiosity wills out, and he turns. Meets her eye. Hands wringing together, dirt and bruises across her face. Up close, she looks nothing like Rin - but that stubborn, warm and open fire in her eyes. She's - familiar isnt the right word. He'd never met her, had maybe seen her once or twice during his reconnaissance in Konoha before the outbreak of the war. Just another shinobi, just another nameless blade.

She lifts a hand and he tenses, ready for a fight, as instinctive as breathing. They are allied for only a moment, and he isn't sure if he had been the one to bring the knife down on those she loved.

But she only hooks a finger into the hem of her shirt, yanking down the high collar and exposing her throat to him. Head tilted to the side, flush of red colouring her cheeks, she says not a word.

He sucks in a breath, brows furrowed in incredulity. It isn't difficult to make out, over the dappled skin. For a moment he thinks she mocks him, the scarred skin so reminiscent of his own. But - he sees it. Clear as day. His name, staring him in the face from the tender neck of someone he'd tried to kill.

He's found miss no-last-name. At the end of all things. And then he's laughing with her.

To be intrinsically tied to him? Him? He almost apologizes to her for the inconvenience.

They share the same hysterics, the sheer irony of fate. For a moment, he thinks she looks lovely when she laughs.

-----

The sky bleeds red, and Akari dreams. Or had she been dreaming? At last, at last - fate defies all odds once again. She meets Obito and he's an ass but he's kind, too, in this last hour since he'd decided to fix what he'd wrought. He was witty and strong and he'd helped her stand when she'd nearly buckled from being overwhelmed. A hand reaching out, tentative and very nearly hopeful. When this is - over, can we talk?

Yes. Of course. She had smiled through the daze, and promised him a conversation.

And now she dreams. Of Obito, of Shisui. Of all she'd lost and found and hoped for, all of it bleeding together into one simple weaving of her heart's desire. Happiness, of those around her. And if there's some left over, then, well. Maybe some for her, too.

(In her dream, she is laughing. There are no names, there is only warmth.)

-----

Akari wakes, and the world is quiet. For a moment, panic seizes her chest. They had lost, and everyone is -

A steadying breath, and then another. Her eyes slowly open, and in the far distance she can see the sun begin to crest over the horizon. Much closer, Obito sits at her side, in silent vigil. She's - disoriented. Touched, nervous, excited. Definitely just disoriented.

"Hey," she whispers into the gloom of morning, throat burning and skull pounding from the effort of clinging to consciousness. She'll not let herself miss this moment, this calm between storms. Things are quiet, and he is here, and she's going to allow herself to be happy for that.

"Hey," Obito says back, something tentative in the way he turns towards her. Almost shy, with his hunched shoulders and wringing hands. But still he smiles, very nearly teasing, and offers his hand for her to stand. "Miss no-last-name."

Her neck burns, her name beckons. Akari smiles, and takes his hand.

#obito uchiha #obito x oc #uchiha obito #naruto #naruto oc #akari #obikari #shikari #jules writes

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sskk-ao3feed · 2 years

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Those dogs are BARKING (And having kids) *under editing!*

by Quirklesswizard

A BSD second gen au! It's a rewrite of the other one on my profile, so it's hopefully better than that one lol

Words: 3530, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 3 of Bungou Stray Dogs second gen

Fandoms: 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Multi

Characters: Fukuzawa Sakura, Tanizaki Taeko, Tachihara Kaoru, Tayama Akio, Jane Lovecraft, Akutagawa Ai, Tommy Twain, Edogawa Lenore, Tayama Akari, Yosano Nara, Tanizaki Emiko, Sakaguchi Yua, Nakahara Hibiki, Nakahara Hitomi, Akutagawa Camellia, Hailey Hawthorne

Relationships: Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs), Kunikida Doppo/Tayama Katai (Bungou Stray Dogs), Howard Phillips Lovecraft/John Steinbeck (Bungou Stray Dogs), Akutagawa Gin/Higuchi Ichiyou, Edogawa Ranpo/Edgar Allan Poe (Bungou Stray Dogs), Haruno Kirako/Tanizaki Naomi, Oda Sakunosuke/Sakaguchi Ango (Bungou Stray Dogs), Akutagawa Ryuunosuke/Nakajima Atsushi (Bungou Stray Dogs), Nathaniel Hawthorne/Margaret Mitchell (Bungou Stray Dogs), OC/OC

Additional Tags: canon can suck my dick, BSD next gen, Original Characters - Freeform, Elise runs the mafia and also she killed Mori bc I say so, Fitzgerald is also dead because I hate him,You can pry Naomi's blue hair from my cold dead hands, 'beta read' (I send snippets of chapters to my best friend sometimes), Everyone in this story is autistic, I am not caught up with canon, this has zero basis in canon, I kidnapped Asagiri's characters and made them my own

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/40872090

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chojuuro · 2 years

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ship/s: Uchiha Nesaku/Nara Akari (vaguely???) rating: G content: THIS IS somewhat an unofficial followup to my beloved @uchiharomance 's madaomikari threesome ft. my beloved @uchihashisuii 's oc akari. nesaku is she/they and is my founders oc <3 per usual not beta'd bc im lazy words: 458

They know they don’t need to be gentle with her. Akari is a shinobi; she is fierce and a fighter and she can handle her own. She has for so long, it seems – left to her own devices and forced to be strong, so very strong that nothing can take her down.

Yet.

Yet they pull Akari to their breast, so gently and careful not to jostle. And Akari stiffens at the touch, just a bit and just for a moment; the last time she’d trusted an Uchiha to hold her this way had been far rougher, far more eventful, yet she finds herself leaning into them after a moment, drinking in the faint scent of jasmine and sandalwood.

She finds herself, fully in the lap of a stranger whose name she’s just learned, allowing herself the tenderness that comes with the vulnerability of complete surrender.

Oh, and she loves it.

Loves the way Nesaku brushes the hair from her eyes, the way their fingers find her braid and comment how lovely it would be with a little flower tucked into the tie at the end, or a pretty little ribbon bow to tie it off. Loves their gentle but firm hold, the soft padding of their breast against her cheek and she finds herself sinking deeper against them, fisting a hand into their kimono and not wanting to let go. Loves how she feels so small again, so protected – so at ease despite herself that she wonders, maybe, if it will all be swept away from her if she closes her eyes.

“It’s okay,” Nesaku whispers into Akari’s hair, and Akari isn’t sure when the tears started flowing. “I’ve got you, dear one.”

Slowly, Akari raises her head, meets the gaze of her newfound protector. Their smile is as gentle as their hands as they wipe her tears with the pads of their thumbs, cup Akari’s cheeks as if she’s the most precious thing in the world.

Perhaps she is.

They watch each other a moment, noses barely brushing against each other as Nesaku holds her, and Akari feels her breath catch within her throat as Nesaku says something - something, Akari realizes, but she doesn’t catch it completely.

“I asked,” they start again, and Akari feels neither impatience nor malice in their tone, “if I can kiss you.”

“Oh,” is all Akari can muster. She loosens her grip on Nesaku’s kimono, smooths the lines back out and averts her gaze for a moment - one quick, fleeting moment where she considers this and realizes that her answer is obvious. A hand gently rested against Nesaku’s chest, a hitched breath as she nods dumbly – and when they kiss her, Akari feels the fire light within her core once again.

#drops some weird au nobody asked for except jules n jess #except they didnt ask for it we were jus talkin about it #anyway. nesakus will see someone in peril and ask is anyone gonna be their mother? and not wait for an answer #uchiha nesaku #nara akari #desfic #nesakari #ocposting

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naruwoe · 2 years

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lead the way [naruto oc fic]

Melancholy au but Ren can see ghosts

Tw: Ghosts and the undead, and references to gore and how they died. Mentions of self harm and suicide/suicide idealization.

feat! @uchihashisuii‘s akari nara bc i care her

ao3 link

When Ren was small, his mother and father sat him and his brother down and gave them a talk.

His father stared out their kitchen window the entire time, while his mother held each one of their hands and told them softly about something that had happened to their family before Ren and Takeshi were even born.

“It’s important you know.” She said. “And that we don’t hide it from you . We want you both to hear it from us instead of other people.”

Something bad had happened, and a lot of people in their family died, because men in charge made bad choices.

Takeshi cries about it, grieving the aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents he will never know.

Ren sees them everytime he looks out the window.

“What’s your name?”

Ren’s feet take him on the familiar path. He’s not far from his home, the forest just right outside their door, and if his mother didn’t want him to explore she’d tell him so. A crow flies above them, flitting from one branch to the next, ever moving as they do.

“Shisui.” The man’s arms swing at his sides, and despite his eyes being closed, he doesn’t trip.

“How do you know where you’re going?” Ren asks, carefully stepping over a root. Shisui’s cold hand helps steady him, and it chills his whole body.

“Instinct.” He says simply. “I probably know these woods better than anybody.”

Ren bites his lip, silently staring up at him. He’s old, older than ten that’s for sure. Ren grasps Shisui’s cold hand in his despite the chill, and a delicate black brow raises in confusion.

“Well. You should hold my hand anyways. You don’t wanna trip.”

Shisui doesn’t open his eyes, but Ren doesn’t need to see his eyes to know he’s confused.

“…Thank you.” He says after a long moment, slowly smiling. “No one has held my hand in a long time. It’s nice.”

They walk in the forest for a while, just Ren and Shisui and the crow that follows them until his mother’s frantic voice calls him home.

“I’ll walk you back.” Shisui says, and leads Ren through the bushes and trees.

“There she is.” He says, stepping out of the forest at Ren’s side.

“How did you know?” But when Ren looks up, Shisui’s gone, his hand left hovering where the other once was.

“Ren!” his mother cries and she scoops him into his arms. “You know you’re not supposed to go anywhere without me!” She pulls away, and he feels a little guilty making her worry.

“I wasn’t alone though,” his hand is still cold from where he held Shisui’s. “I was with Shisui.”

Her brow furrows, and she picks him up and cradles him close.

“You’re freezing- It’s the middle of summer too, Takeshi’s already sick- Come on, let’s get inside okay.”

Ren says nothing, and instead curls into his mother’s warmth.

The crow flies above them and from over her shoulder, Shisui hangs near the forest, a soft smile on his face and empty black eyes staring at him.

“Mom.” Ren asks over dinner that night. Ichigo sits next to her, all of two years old and refusing to eat the dinner she so carefully prepared.

“Yes sweetheart?” She says, not looking up at him, but instead carefully trying to spoon some of Ichigo’s rice into his mouth.

“Do you know someone named Shisui?”

Takeshi laughs as his father chokes on his tea, and Ren has to fight the instinct to giggle with his twin.

“Sasuke-kun! Are you alright?” His father coughs into his fist, and sniffles.

“I’m fine.” His dark eyes meet Ren’s and he wants to sink into his seat, just a little. “Where did you hear that from.”

“I read it.” He lies.

His father’s dark brows furrow, and his mother looks confused between the both of them.

“Can you read?”

“I’m five.” His father just stares at him, as if that doesn’t answer his question.

“Dad,” Takeshi leans over onto the table. “Mom taught Ren and me how to read forever ago. We’re really good at it.”

It’s a tense few seconds, and Ren regrets asking in front of his father until the man just sighs, settling back into his seat.

“Well…” His mother starts. “I don’t think I’ve ever known someone named Shisui. You said you read the name in a book?”

“Yeah. I think he was um, a ninja, so I wanted to know if you knew!”

“You shouldn’t concern yourself.” His father says answering for her. He pushes his plate back and stands away from the table. “I need to get going.”

“Sasuke-kun-” His mother starts, but from upstairs Ayame starts to cry. “Oh no- Don’t leave yet! Ren help Ichi, will you? I need to get your sister.” She looks tired. He swaps places with his mother as she frantically leaves their kitchen to go check up on the baby.

His father doesn’t wait.

“Way to ruin dinner Ren.” Takeshi murmurs from his seat. He pushes the meat on his plate with his chopsticks, and Ren tries not to take it to heart. Ichigo, thankfully, eats every bit that Ren spoons into his mouth.

It’s strange. He sees these people so clearly. They’re pale and cold, but their hands are solid when they stroke back his hair, or hold his hand.

“Sweet dreams my little one.” The woman kisses his forehead, the cold from her lips lingering on his face.

“Goodnight.” He whispers back. From across the room Takeshi groans, rolling over in bed to glare at him.

“Stop talking to the air Ren. You’re so weird.”

Ren sits at the edge of the small dock overlooking the lake. Above him Shisui’s crow flies, and he hears the soft footsteps of the man walk up beside him. Gently Shisui sits next to him, his feet barely skimming the surface of the water.

“It’s a beautiful day huh?” He hums. Ren looks up at him and, yes, his eyes are still closed. Ren can see him better in the light. The paleness of his skin, how it looks like he’s crying, if not for how dark the ‘tears’ that ran down his cheeks were, how despite the heat, the arm that presses against Ren’s is frozen to the touch.

“You can’t see, how d’you know.” He pulls his legs closer to his chest, resting his head on top of his knees.

“Well the land of fire is a beautiful country. I don’t need to see it to know.”

“Do you see from the crow?” It caws as he asks, as if answering his question for him.

“Well that is certainly a thought. What do you think, Ren?”

He hums for a moment, looking out over the surface of the lake. There’s a small disturbance, as a wet head peaks up and out of the still water before going under again.

“I think you’re dead.”

Shisui hums his answer and Ren turns his head to look up at him. Two empty eyes stare down at him.

“You really think so?”

The sight alone should scare him. But.

“I’ve seen things for a long time.”

Shisui leans back, laying on the wood surface of the dock.

“There’s a lot of people who walk around the village and there’s something off with them. They always look hurt, or they’re missing something. There’s a lady who kisses me goodnight and sings songs to help me sleep, and sometimes when dad’s home she sits with him and holds his hand. She looks really sad.”

“Aunt Mikoto. She’s your grandma.”

“And,” Ren leans over the dock. The drowned girl looks up at him, pale eyes wide just under the surface of the water. “There’s a girl in the water. Sometimes I think she wants to drag me in. Mom won’t let us swim here.”

“Yeah.” Shisui kicks his legs back and forth. “She’s been here before me even.”

“Oh.” He hums, watching her disappear into the darkness. “That’s really sad.”

“Ren!” His mother calls. He leans around the corner, looking into the kitchen where his mother fusses with something. Baby Aya is securely wrapped close to her chest, sleeping softly. She’s so cute, soft downy black hair, cheeks round and pink. Ichigo fusses at the table and it’s a miracle it doesn’t wake her.

“Yeah mom?” He stands at the doorway, hanging off it. Their heights are recorded, Ren and Takeshi and Ichigo’s in thick black marker. Ren looks forward to the day Ayame will be able to stand up and get her height marked too.

“Can you walk this to your Aunt Akari’s for me?” She drops the little package in Ren’s outstretched hands, a little box carefully wrapped in flower printed cloth. “It’s for Itsuki.”

“Sure.” He says, because his mom looks tired and ragged dealing with both Ayame and Ichigo, and Ren loves his mom. “Can Takeshi come with me?”

“Oh I’m sorry sweetheart,” She cups his cheek, bending down to give him a kiss. “He went to play at Seto’s.”

Ren smothers the disappointment in his heart and smiles wide at his mother. “That’s okay. Can I see if Kaiga’s home on my way back?”

“Sure sweetie.”

She sees him out, waving at him as he takes the dirt road from their home down towards their village. The Uchiha property is large, their families land gifted back to them once his parents had both Ren and Takeshi. There’s the older part, the one dad doesn’t like to go to or talk about and won’t let him or Takeshi go near-

And then there’s the forest.

Shisui appears beside him, eyes closed as always with his crow flying ahead. Ren curls his fingers into Shisui’s cold ones, and he grips them tightly, ignoring how it chills him to the bone.

“Everything alright?” Shisui asks, swinging their arms back and forth together. “You’re usually more chatty.”

Ren just shrugs, keeping his eyes glued to the ground. Even though Shisui’s dead, Ren feels more at ease with him here, rather than if he was alone.

“C’mon,” Shisui squeezes Ren’s hand, a soft smile on his face. “You’re sad about something. Tell me, promise I won’t tell.”

Ren snorts, just a little, and Shisui tugs him in response. “What’s so funny!”

“You can’t tell anyone anyways.”

“Pfft- I could tell your Grandma. Or maybe even your Grandpa! There’s also this really grumpy guy named Madara-”

“You can’t tell, but I’m rolling my eyes.”

“Ouch.” Shisui hums. “But really, what's wrong Ren? You can talk to me.”

Ren kicks a rock and watches it tumble down the path. “I just…” He thinks of his twin, and it feels like Takeshi is slowly pulling away. “I miss my brother.”

Shisui kneels down to Ren’s height, and when did they stop walking.

“I’m sorry Ren.” Carefully he’s pulled into a hug, and despite the cold of Shisui’s body, he feels warm deep inside. “I don’t have a brother, but I can sort of relate.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I had a best friend who had to do something really terrible. What happened to us wasn’t fair. I had to be away from him and it was really hard.”

Ren pulls away and wipes at his face.

“I’m sorry Shisui.”

“It’s okay.” He ruffles Ren’s hair and smiles.

“What happened to your friend?” The smile dims somewhat, and Ren knows he’s just saving face for him.

“Maybe a story for another time. I just get what it means to miss your friends. C’mon, let’s keep going alright?” Shisui stands again, and Ren slips his hand into his.

Ren drops his hand from Shisui’s once they get into the village proper. There’s not many ghosts around there, or, none that Ren can really see. The walk to Aunt Akari’s was through the Nara’s forest, and while most outsider’s were not allowed entrance without permission-

Ren was pleased he was a special case. He passes Kazuo as Ren walks by, who steps off the path enough to make room.

“Heading to see Auntie ‘Kari?” He says, pausing just for a moment. A man hovers just behind the older boy with the same colored hair as Kazuo.

“Yep!” He holds up the box his mother had given him. “Mom made some medicine for Itsuki.”

“Oh that’s good, think they were running out. Hey, stop by Uncle Shikamaru’s before you leave, ‘kay?”

Ren nods and watches as Kazuo takes off down the path. The man behind him stays there, just a moment, eyes locking onto Ren’s before following him. His eyes are a milky white, just a tad unnerving and it sends a shiver down Ren’s spine. Shisui’s hand is cold on his shoulder, the grounding presence Ren needs before he makes his way further down the path.

“Who’s Aunt Kari?” Shisui asks as they get closer to their home.

“Oh, you’ll like her,” Ren says as they near the house. “You’ll see.”

He knocks on the door as a formality before pushing it open. “Aunt Akari!” He calls into the quiet house.

“In here!” She calls back. Shisui stills behind him. There’s a flurry of activity in the kitchen, and Ren smiles to himself as he slips his sandals off and makes his way in deeper.

“Ren!” Aunt Akari scoops him up into a hug, literally sweeping him off his feet. Warm kisses are pressed to his head, and he stifles a giggle as she cuddles him. “What are you doing here?”

He holds out the cloth wrapped box out to her. “Mom made some more medicine for Itsuki.”

“Oh, you’ll thank her for me will you?” She stands, turning to put it on the counter, and suddenly Shisui is beside her. His fingers brush her cheek, and Akari shudders a little, hand coming to gently touch the same spot.

“It’s you.” He whispers, almost reverently.

“Do you want something to drink, Ren?” She busies herself at the fridge, pulling out a pitcher and then some glasses from the cabinets.

“No thank you, I was going to visit my friend. Where’s Uncle Obito and Reina?” There’s a twitch to Shisui’s hand, and he pulls away.

“Oh they’re out bonding, you know, causing trouble, burning down trees, things like that.” She gives him a soft wink.

“Ren,” Shisui’s voice is soft, suddenly behind him. It makes him jump, which causes his Aunt to give him a strange look.

“You okay sweet boy.” She kneels to his level, brushing his bangs away. Her brows furrow, and her hand is warm on his cheek. “You have a burn there- let me get some salve okay, that must sting.”

She stands, walking past him, and Shisui’s head follows.

“Ren, ask her,” He swallows thickly, gathering his thoughts. “Ask her what's under that collar. Please. I think she will, if it’s you.”

There’s a beat until she comes back, and she effortly swings him up and sits him on the counter.

“Please,” Shisui pleads, standing behind her.

“Auntie ‘Kari.” he mumbles as she dabs some burn salve onto his lip.

“Yes sweet boy?”

“You um, you always wear those turtlenecks. Why don’t you ever wear something else?” She stills a moment, and from behind her Shisui hangs his head into his hands.

“Well I just like them. Kinda like how your dad’s a fan of those high collared shirts and ponchos, or like how Uncle Obito’s allergic to shirts.”

She pats his cheek and helps him down. Her hand lingers at a spot, just below her neck, and her smile seems just a little more sad.

“Thank you for bringing me the medicine Ren, get home safe okay?”

“Okay.”

They part with a hug, and Auntie Akari watches him go down the path, until he rounds a bed and he can’t see her anymore.

“Sorry Shisui.” he says to the empty air. “I can try and do better next time.”

“It’s okay.” says the voice on the wind.

Above him Shisui’s crow flies ahead.

“Is your bird alive?” Ren is ten years old with skinned knees and cheeks tanned from the sun. He squints past the sun to look into the trees, where Shisui’s bird sits, dark eyes staring into the distance. Shisui hasn’t aged a day since Ren first met him, nearly five years ago.

“I don’t know, is it?” Shisui asks back, and Ren makes a face at him, full well knowing he can’t see it. Or maybe he can. Ren tilts his head at the crow. It tilts its head back.

“Can you see me?”

“I can always see you, Ren.” Shisui laughs, opening his hollow eyes at him. “Just look at how big my eyes are!”

It’s a grotesque sight. Ren can’t imagine how much it must have hurt. The goofy voice Shisui uses though makes him laugh.

“Yuck!” He giggles, giving the man a soft shove. “You’re gross Shi-nii!”

Shisui stills. If he had eyes, the other would be staring straight at Ren. Now, empty eye sockets just lock onto him. “What did you call me?” He says, soft as a whisper.

“Shi-nii…” He bites his lip, frowning just the slightest. “Was that bad- I’m sorry, I won’t do it ag-oof!”

Freezing arms wrap around him, pulling him close into a solid chest. Shisui is cold, he’s always cold, and smells like the river. But he’s as real and solid as any other person Ren knows.

“Thank you…” He says softly. Ren returns the hug, just as eagerly. “I’ve never had-I’ve never been- thank you.”

There is a woman in their home. No one else can see her, but for him, and at nights when he tip toes into Minoru’s nursery, she’s there, humming a lullaby to help him sleep.

“I used to sing this to your daddy,” She says, stroking baby soft hair as Minoru fusses and whines. “He used to squirm around just like you.”

If she hears Ren, she doesn’t let him know. Instead, he steps quietly up beside her and peers into the crib.

“Did you hear that, Mino-chi? You’re just like dad.”

Her cold hand settles atop his head, smoothing his hair down in soft strokes.

“Thank you Ren.” She says. Something breaks a little in his, just a chip. He wishes his grandparents were actually there, then maybe dad would be around more, maybe things would be different. Better.

Maybe Shisui would be alive too.

“Ren?” His mother pushes open the door and in a blink, Ren’s grandmother is gone. “Were you talking to someone sweetie?”

“No mom,” He lies. “Just to Mino.”

There’s a man following his father. He’s shorter, just an inch or so, and his hair is long and tied back. He watches with a soft, fond smile as Takeshi takes off to meet their father. Ren can’t hear the loud excited words his twin shouts, but there’s the beginnings of a smile on Sasuke’s lips.

Something dark curls in his gut, and he hates it. Why doesn’t dad ever look at him like that?

“What’cha watchin’ Ren?” Shisui asks. His crow flies above them, cawing loudly and settling in a tree across from the pond.

Ren just shrugs, and points to the trio. He’s not sure how Shisui can sense these things, how he can see despite having no eyes in his head, the way he knows where he’s going.

The man behind dad looks up, watching the crow, and then looks to where Ren sits, Shisui standing beside him.

He’s gone in a flash.

“Oh no…” Shisui sighs from beside him. “Oh Itachi…”

Ren can feel the air get colder as Shisui leans down, and whispers into his ear. “I’m gonna go check it out, okay? Stay home with your family, show Sasuke the baby.” And just like that, Shisui is gone too.

Ren moves from his spot in front of the door, standing off to the side as his father walks up. He glances at Ren, placing a hand on top of his head before stepping inside. Ren scowls at his back.

“Daddy!” Kaede cries from inside. Ren steps inside just as his youngest sister runs straight into their father’s back as he attempts to remove his sandals.

“Kaede…” He clears his throat, before patting the top of her head. “You’ve gotten big.”

“It’s only been a few months, daddy!” She yells happily, and didn’t that say something? Only a few months away from his children. Minoru was almost one, his mother was pregnant again, and his father had missed almost all of it.

Ren kicks his shoes off, and stomps past his father and up the stairs, ignoring the happy surprise of his mother, of Ayame, of Ichigo. He could feel Takeshi’s glare on his back as he left. Good for them. They could be happy together.

Minoru’s nursery is empty when Ren walks in. His baby brother balancing carefully, chubby fingers held in a vice grip onto the rails. Ren smiled softly at him, and carefully picked Minoru up and into his arms.

“Dad’s home.” He whispered, taking a few steps back and sitting softly into the pile of stuffed animals that had been gifted to him. “Do you remember him I wonder?”

Minoru just coos, fingers reaching up to pull at Ren’s fringe.

“Ah, ah.” He tuts, pulling his head back. “That’ll hurt.”

He stays there, cuddling with Minoru. His grandmother passes through at some point, tear tracks on her cheeks and she coos at the sight.

“You remind me of-” She stops herself, and instead smiles very sadly.

“Of who, baachan?” Ren asks, and winces when Minoru finally grasps his hair and pulls.

“Just some boys I knew, when they were very, very young.” She gently helps remove Minoru’s hand from his hair. “They were very dear to me.”

Ren’s baby brother Tai is born two weeks after Minoru turns one, and he stays in the hospital for a very long time. Mom stays there with him too, and dad with her. For the first three months of Tai’s life, he’s hooked up to wires and tubes that helps him live.

The entire time his grandparents stay with them. Ren’s mother’s parents, who fuss over Kaede and Minoru and constantly go back and forth from home to the hospital to make sure mom and baby Tai are okay.

Leaving Ren in charge. Nothing he’s not used to.

He walks him and his siblings to and from school everyday, and Setsuna always waits for him at the gate with her father and newborn baby brother.

Uncle Naruto always looks sad whenever Ren sees him, even though he tries to put on a brave face.

“How’s baby Tai?” She asks one morning as they walk into the academy. It’s always a little colder around Setsuna, and it always smells vaguely of smoke. Ren doesn’t like to look at the burnt figures of her birth parents, who always hover a few feet away. Her step-mother, baby Makoto’s mom, tends to go from Setsuna, back to his Uncle. Pale faced and sickly, she still wants to take care of Uncle Naruto and the baby.

Ren shrugs mutely. There’s a lot of them in the village, many who tend to stay in and around the academy. Kids like him who died young and don’t even know they’re dead. They scream and cry and beg for anyone to just look at them. He can’t.

“Obaachan said that they should be coming home soon but. I dunno.”

Setsuna’s quiet, her sandals squeaking against the tile floor.

“Papa doesn’t like having Mako far away. Kashi-jiji was supposed to retire this year but…”

“Yeah. I’m sorry about-“

“It’s okay.” She says, even though it isn’t, and Ren knows how much the loss of her second mother has weighed on her. “Papa says she’s not in pain anymore, so…”

He puts an arm over her shoulder and drags her into a hug anyways.

Ren doesn’t see Shisui, or the other man who followed his father home, until Tai comes home from the hospital.

He’s done his rounds. Takeshi sleeps with his door locked, so Ren couldn’t even check on him if he wanted to. Ichigo shares a room with the girls, and as always, Kaede sleeps curled up to Ayame’s back, snoring loudly with her covers kicked off. Different in every way to how Ayame sleeps shock still. Ichigo’s hand lay off the side, and Ren tiptoes in just to put the book he was reading before bed on his nightstand.

The nursery is quiet when he makes his way inside. Minoru breathes softly, and Ren leans over to move one of his plushies away from his face. Tai, when Ren steps to look at him, is still awake.

“What’re you doing up?” he whispers, fingers trailing over Tai’s baby smooth cheek. He’s a quiet baby, barely fussing, but always looking up and around with those wide little eyes.

“Looking at me I believe.” Shisui says, joining Ren where he leans over the crib.

“Where have you been?” Ren raises an eyebrow at him, fave pinching together.

“What, you missed me?” Shisui laughs, and his cold hand ruffles Ren’s already mussed hair.

“Yeah, maybe I did.” he huffs.

Shisui’s silent for a moment, before tugging Ren closer to his side.

“I’m sorry kid.” He says. The chill from Shisui’s body seeps into Ren’s. “But I had to… Had to talk with my friend. And then when your brother was born that was all sorts of complicated. Never seen so many of us in a room in years.”

“You were there?” Ren looks up at him.

“Yeah, and so were your grandparents and a few others. Even Itachi was there, though he stayed away from everyone.”

“Itachi.” The word is unfamiliar on his lips, but not to him. “He’s… my uncle, right?”

“Yeah.” Shisui’s face softens, his shoulders drooping. “He’s skittish. Like a cat. You have to gently coax him out and make no sudden movements or he’ll run away and you’ll have to waste two months trying to track him down.”

“You’re serious?”

“Deadly.” Shisui laughs.

Tai silently watches the both of them, wide eyes never leaving Shisui’s face.

“You think he can see you?” Ren asks after a moment. Shisui hums.

“Well, infants are known to be able to see spirits, I know. Takeshi used to see us like you do when he was a baby. Not so much anymore.”

That’s a surprise in itself.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I kept to the forest but I know Auntie Mikoto liked to watch after you guys.”

“Huh.” Ren turns his gaze back to Tai. Watches as his little eyes begin to droop, how he yawns softly, and sleep finally takes him.

Shisui is gone when Ren looks back up. But outside the nursery window sits the crow with the dark eyes and feathers, silently standing guard.

Ren’s class is the last one to graduate from the academy before the new changes go into place. Kakashi-jiji gives a nice speech, talks about Ren and his classmates being the face of their next generation. Ren sits through the ceremony, his hands clamming in his lap and sweats into his hitai-ate around his forehead.

It ends soon enough, his classmates rushing to his parents. Ren follows just a step behind Setsuna and Reina, who walk and whisper to each other arm in arm. Takeshi lingers with his friend Seto, before jogging to catch up.

Ren has a large family. Even without the dead. His parents mingle together with Reina and Setsuna’s parents. Sasuke speaks softly with his uncle Naruto, and Setsuna’s aunt Karin and uncles Suigetsu and Juugo. Kakashi-jiji has Makoto in the crook of his arm while he talks with Reina’s mother, her father only two steps behind leaning heavily on his cane.

Their siblings all run about, Setsuna’s cousin Yukio egging the younger children on while Ren’s mother fusses over Itsuki who had fallen and scraped his knee.

Then there’s the others. His grandparents, Ren’s father’s parents, argue softly back and forth. A woman with bright red hair yells in delight, and Sestuna shivers as she rushes forward to coo over her.

“SETSUNA!!! We are so proud of you!!!”

“Kushina, dear, she can’t hear you, you know…”

“I know that! Still, there’s no harm in me saying it y’know!”

Ren’s grandmother laughs softly.

“I don’t understand,” His grandfather huffs. “Hatake is raising the graduation age? I don’t like that.”

“Fugaku,” Ren’s eyes glance back and forth, from his grandfather to the yondaime. “I wish Kakashi was able to raise it earlier. It’s peace time, there shouldn’t…”

“Anything can happen Namikaze, you know that as well as I. What if there’s another-”

“Shisui,” His grandmother’s voice cuts through his grandfather’s. “What are you looking at dear?”

Ren walks straight into his mother’s arms. She laughs a little, and he tries to hide his face in her shirt, to block out the noise that steadily grows.

He can’t get the image from his mind though, Shisui’s empty eyes looking straight at his aunt.

“Nothing.” Shisui says. “Nothing at all.”

Uncle Itachi never stays around for long. He disappears the moment Ren spots him, a cold spot that constantly moves. He’s always in the peripherals, standing at the end of the hall, walking ahead on the forest path, sitting on the opposite side of the pond.

But always follows his father whenever he’s home.

Ren sits on the edge of the small pier. The girl in the water is staring up at him, hair fanning out around her. Her eyes are wide and milky, like everyone else's, and Ren just wants to know what she and his uncle talk about when he sits there. He sees how she leans out of the water those days, how his uncle pushes her hair back and whispers softly to her.

“You can tell me.” Ren whispers. “It’s not like I have anyone to tell.”

“Tell what?” Takeshi’s voice says loudly from behind him. The surprise makes him lurch forward, nearly falling in if not for Takeshi's hand grabbing the back of his collar. The girl disappears with a ripple of the water.

“Oh um, nothing.” Ren steadies himself, and pushes himself to stand. Takeshi’s taller than him, by just a little, and he hates it. Hates how Takeshi feels like it makes him better than his older twin, more superior just because he has a few extra inches of height. “What do you want?”

Takeshi looks him over, then to the empty pond.

“Who were you talking to?”

“Oh uhm,” He bites the inside of his cheek and looks away. “No one.”

“No one? You were talking to yourself?”

“No!” Embarrassment colors his cheeks, and he hates it. Hates how his little brother makes him feel so.

Little.

Takeshi laughs, something mean and bitter, and grins wickedly at him. “You’re such a freak.”

“I-I’m not-”

“Yes,” Takeshi cuts him off. “You are. You sit alone and mumble to yourself for hours- we’re too old to have imaginary friends nii-san.” He says it like an insult.

Ren had tried to tell him once. When they were both little and still loved each other, maybe. But Takeshi had looked at him strangely and snapped at him to stop being weird, and the shame and embarrassment itself made Ren shut up.

“I-I don’t-” But there’s no defending himself, not really.

“You don’t what? Talk to yourself?” Takeshi sneers. “There’s something really wrong with you I think. I don’t get what dad sees in you.”

His jaw tightens, his fists curl. Every inch of him wants to jerk forward and throw his brother to the ground. What dad sees in you. Ren knows the answer.

Nothing.

With a deep breath, he uncurls his fists, he looks away, schooling his face into something not pinched in rage.

“Whatever.” He spits. “Think what you want. I know what I see.”

“Yeah,” Takeshi laughs. “You think you do. You’re crazy, literally. Maybe if I tell mom she’ll put you in the hospital.”

Ren’s chest heaves, his glare hot on Takeshi’s back as he turns and walks back up to the house.

They don’t share a room anymore. So Ren doesn’t have to worry about waking his twin when Itachi shows up.

“I’m sorry,” He says softly. Ren pushes himself up from his bed, eyebrow twitching up.

“For what, Uncle?”

“I feel…” he tilts his head, studying Ren. “Like I’ve failed you. You weren’t even born yet, and I’ve let you both down.”

He smiles sadly, and tucks his legs up to his chest and pats the space next to him. There’s a slight dip to the bed, barely noticeable if Ren didn’t know who it belonged to.

“It isn’t your fault.” Ren licks his lips. “I can’t really be angry at you, for the stuff you did.”

“You should be.” Itachi says. “I took your family from you. I’ve hurt your father terribly.”

“And,” Ren presses. “It’s not your fault for how Takeshi treats me.”

The furrow to Itachi’s brow tells Ren he doesn’t believe him.

“What I did to your father-”

“Uncle Itachi.” Ren stops him. “I really, honestly don’t care. Yeah, maybe you messed up dad’s life.” He shrugs, ignoring the way his uncle jerks, like he’s been hit. “I guess it explains things, but you’re not the reason he’s never around. Are you?”

Itachi just numbly shrugs his shoulders.

“Don’t worry about how my dad and brother treat me. Go hang out with Shi-nii, or the drowned girl in the pond. Or maybe Jiji and Obaachan.” He falls back against his bed, and faintly he feels cool fingers pressed to his forehead.

“Maybe. Goodnight Ren.”

He’s gone when Ren opens his eyes.

Training had ended in shouting, and Ren had ended up running from his father and brother, anger bubbling just below the surface. He kept his breathing even, and resisted the urge to claw at his head despite the anxious twitching in his fingers.

Pent up energy bubbled inside him, an anxious buzzing inside of him that screamed calm down or you’ll do something you regret.

Ren’s feet carried him aimlessly, and he didn’t realize he had entered Nara lands until he was standing at the fork in the path that would take him to his aunts. He blinked lamely, suddenly feeling far more tired than he expected. He took the path, and his aunts home stood solitary beneath the trees.

“Ren?” Shisui stood abruptly from where he sat on the front steps. “What are you doing here?” Ren didn’t answer him and instead softly knocked on the door.

“Coming.” his uncle called from the inside. Ren waited patiently for Obito to open the door. The man looked in surprise, blinking down at him.

“Ren?” He speaks softly, and grunts a little as he knelt to speak face to face with him. “What are you doing here?”

Ren swallowed thickly, taking in a deep breath. Even so, his voice shook when he spoke. “Is Auntie Kari here?”

Obito’s eyes softened on him, and Ren’s uncle stood with a soft groan. Stepping back, he let Ren walk in. From behind him, he could feel how the temperature dropped as Shisui slipped inside.

Obito shivered from where he stood, unaware of Shisui’s presence, and jerked his head towards the stairs. “She’s upstairs. Let me know if you need anything, okay kiddo?” Ren gave a short nod, slipping his sandals off, and made his way up to the second floor. Shisui trailed behind him.

A baby's shrill cries echo from down the hall. Ren knows for a fact that his aunt wasn’t pregnant, not since the twins were born. He steps softly, careful not to make much noise. Most days Reina was out of the house, spending her afternoons with her team. Sayuri herself was at school, along with Ren’s own little brother and her cousin. Ren peeked inside one of the doors, and sure enough, Itsuki was sleeping softly in his bed.

Akari is sitting in her bed when Ren pushes the door open. She doesn’t hear it, or even seem to see the small pink squirming thing laying on her bed. It’s wails echo in his head. Shisui is a cold presence behind him, and Ren doesn’t have to thurn and look to know that he’s floundering.

“What is…?” Shisui says softly.

“Ren!” Akari tucks her necklace back under her shirt. “Did your uncle let you in- hey, hey what’s wrong?”

She’s moving in an instant, and Ren squeezes his eyes shut so he doesn’t have to see it. It’s so loud, he can’t even think.

“Ren, sweetheart, look at me.” Warm hands cradle his cheeks, stinging the burns left behind by his failed katon.

He cracks his eyes open, his black meeting her brown. “Head h’rts…”

She swipes her palm over his forehead, pressing against it softly.

“Your head hurts?” he nods. “I think we might have some medicine downstairs.”

He strains to listen to his aunt's words as she speaks too softly over the loud crying of whatever laid in her bed. She goes to move, but Ren stays rooted to the spot, his fingers curling in her shirt. His head thumps softly against her collarbone, and he squeezes his eyes shut, reveling in the warmth of his aunt.

“Too loud…” He mumbles. One hand slowly strokes down his back, while the other curls around the back of his neck.

“What’s too loud sweet boy? What’s wrong?”

“The baby!” He cries. Hot tears leak from his closed eyes. The waile on seem to grow louder, his heart beats rapidly. His head is about to burst and paint gore and viscera all over the walls.

He just wants it to stop.

“Ren…” Ren says, feather soft. “What baby?”

It’s silent, save for the fast pace of his heart and their breathing.

“Th-the baby! O-on your bed it’s-“

Gone. He pushes past her, and stumbles, nearly falling onto the mattress himself.

“It was right here…”

“Ren…” His aunt sounds so sad.

“I’m not crazy!” He snaps, and every nerve feels like its on fire. He’s ready to burst, even the clothes on his back feel too much and too little all at once. “I’m not.”

His voice breaks, tears falling freely now.

Akari wraps her arms around him, shushing his frantic sobs.

“I know you’re not, sweet boy shh I know.” She rocks him slightly, back and forth and he shakes in her hold.

“Please,” he begs. “Please don’t tell my mom.”

“I won’t, hush sweet boy it’s okay.” Her lips press to his sweaty forehead. Out of everything, it grounds him.

“Let’s get you something to drink, alright.” Her arm sits over his shoulders, and Akari pulls Ren close to her side as they leave her room. It’s soft, but Ren hears quiet humming when they walk past Itsuki’s room. He’s sure he sees Shisui, cradling something in his arms through the crack in the door.

“Shh… it’s okay, don’t worry. Daddy’s here.”

There’s a woman with the same ginger hair who follows Sayuri. Seto always goes home to the same two ghosts, twins, though one looks bitter while the other always smiles as he greets him.

Ren stays away from what haunts Uchiha ground, and while the Nara forest has its equal dead, they keep away.

Ren doesn’t hear the baby again.

His aunt Akari is a soothing presence every time. She helps his lightning style training, and together they stand in the yard beside her house and let their hands light up as he attempts to manage his electric chakra.

They cover basics he’s learned along with Kakashi-Jiji, and others. How to channel his chakra through the blade, how to make the pretty lights dance in his palm.

He always leaves these sessions sweaty and exhausted, but happy.

Reina waits in the hall when he comes in that day. It’s been… blessedly quiet. Free of Shisui or any others who see him and just know Ren is aware of them.

He smiles, softly, at his cousin, before letting himself into the bathroom and splashing water on his hot face.

“So…” she starts, leaning against the open door. “You and mom sure are spending a lot of time together, huh?”

Ren shrugs, turning the water off and drying his face.

“She’s helping me with my lightning style while Kakashi-Jiji is busy.”

“Yeah.” She hums. “Your dad busy too or are you going to take mine also.”

He freezes.

“Wh-what?”

“Well you took my mom! I’m just wondering if dad is going to go with you so you’ll have the matching set.” Her dark eyes narrow at him. “I mean, I already don’t get to spend any time with them.”

“That’s not fair, Reina.” Shisui says, hovering from behind her. She can’t hear him.

“I-I didn’t- I’m sorry…”

Her brown eyes meet his, and he lowers his head, looking away from her gaze.

“Like sorry is going to do anything.” She scoffs. She turns, and walks right through Shisui.

“That girl.” He shakes his head softly. “Ren, don’t take anything from it- Ren, hey buddy what’s wrong?”

He leaves, slipping from the back door before dinner is called. Ren stops visiting his aunt.

Months go by, then years. Every morning before he meets with his team, Ren wakes early. He makes breakfast for his family, lunches for his mother and siblings, and helps wake them up and get them ready for the day.

The first time Tai really comprehends Shisui, he cries. The sound breaks Ren’s heart, and he and Shisui sit with the toddler on his bedroom floor and speak to him in hushed tones.

“We’re special.” Ren says softly, rubbing the two year olds back. “We get to see our family, even if no one else can. We get to be close to them.”

“Scary…” Tai sniffles, his head buried into Ren’s shirt.

“I know, it can be.” Ren kisses the crown of his head. “But it can also be very fun! Shisui is so important to me, I know he can look a little scary, but he loves us very much.”

“I don’t wanna scare you kiddo.” Shisui’s hand hovers over Tai, not making the push to touch, not yet. “I can stay away if I scare you. I wouldn’t blame you for that. But you need to know that I love you and I love your brothers and sisters very very much.”

Tai sniffles, braving a glance at Shisui’s pale face. He keeps his eyes closed, because Tai doesn’t need to see that. Not yet.

“Name?”

“Shisui.”

“Shishwee.”

“Close enough!” He laughs softly.

Ren is fourteen years old when he becomes a chuunin. He is fourteen when he dies.

Takeshi hates him so much that he wants to kill him. What did Ren do to deserve this, other than love his brother?

His right arm is in tatters, the flesh cut to ribbons by Takeshi’s blades. His own tanto lays abandoned, sticking up out of the ground in the distance. His left leg is burnt badly by Takeshi’s katon. Every inch of him is in pain, and he heaves in each heavy breath. He just has to wait until help arrives. Help has to come, it has to.

Where is Sasuke, when Ren actually needs him. His sharingan spins to life, red meeting Takeshi’s red. There’s an awful grin on his face, and he’s doing much better than Ren is, both in appearance and stamina.

Ren can’t bring himself to hurt his brother. Takeshi does not have the same reservations.

Takeshi advances, sword raised, and Ren’s body jerks to dodge. He’s half a second too slow, Ren’s exhaustion finally catching up with him.

The blade goes smoothly through his chest. He takes in a stuttering breath, and coughs. The blood trails down his chin, and it hurts. It hurts so much.

Takeshi steps back, and Ren loses his balance, unaware of how Takeshi was supporting him. He falls, landing hard on his back, and a strangled cry leaves his lips. His sharingan spins idly, until finally fading, and he can see Takeshi clearly.

His own spins, morphing into something else, something different. The manic grin slowly morphs into horror, and he drops his tanto to the ground, looking at his bloodied hands.

“Re-Ren-” His eyes meet his brothers. “What did I-”

Ren doesn’t hear the rest, instead, his eyes trail to the gray sky above him.

He’s vaguely aware of people approaching, of voices ringing out over the ringing in his ears, but he can’t hear them.

It looks like rain.

(This is what Ren does not remember.

He stares, looking out over his own body. He’s cold, and his hands shake. His mother screams his name while his uncle kneels by his side.

Takeshi’s pinned up against a tree, their father’s arm braced over his chest and he screams something. Ren can’t hear it.

“Oh no.” The voice is so clear. Ren turns, and there stands Shisui, his uncle just a step behind him.

He looks.

Healthy. Whole. Two dark eyes stare at him.

“Shisui?” Ren shakes, eyes darting from his body back to the man he’s known almost his whole life. “Shisui what happened? What’s going on?” His legs won’t obey him, he takes two shaky steps and suddenly Shisui is sweeping him up into his warm arms.

“Shhhh, it’s okay kiddo, don’t look alright.”

“That’s me-”

“Hush Ren, it’ll be okay.” Shisui cradles him, pressing a warm kiss to Ren’s forehead. “I got you sweetheart, it’ll be okay, don’t look.”

There’s a faint pain in his chest. Itachi comes around, placing a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. His breaths come out shaky and fast, and he’s sure he’ll begin panicking any moment.

“Ren,” Itachi whispers into his ear. “I hope for your sake nephew, you don’t remember this.”)

He wakes up to white ceilings and a tube down his throat.

“You were dead for a few minutes.” Tsunade reads off a chart. “It’s a miracle you’re alive right now.”

His mother squeezes his hand, her thumb rubbing over his palm.

His throat is raw when he speaks, and he has to sip some water before he tries again.

“What,” He croaks. “What h’pp’n’d t’ T’keshi?”

His granny Tsunade was always honest. Always upfront. It’s what he loved the most about her. She wouldn’t spare his feelings and shy from the truth.

“It’s still being decided.” Ren’s mother chokes back a sob. “But he’s in custody right now.”

She reaches over, a wrinkled hand covering his.

“He won’t hurt you again Ren. I swear to you.”

When he is finally alone, after his mother leaves to go home, after his friends and family come by each giving Ren their best regards, does Ren let himself cry.

His leg had been broken severely along with the burns. His arm was wrapped in bandages and held close to his chest in a sling.

“You might never be able to be a shinobi again.” Tsunade had said, when Ren asked her when he could go back out into duty again. “I’m sorry.”

“Ren.” Shisui appears sitting in the chair at his bedside. “How’re you feeling?”

“What do you think?” He says plainly. Rain trails in rivulets down the window.

“I think you’re probably feeling really low, but I had to ask.” Ren spares a glance at Shisui. He looks the same, closed eyes with dried blood running down his cheeks. Pale skin. An air of cold that constantly hangs around him.

“You don’t remember anything, do you?”

Ren quirks a brow up.

“Remember what?”

Shisui smiles softly. “Doesn’t matter then.” He reaches over to ruffle his hair, and Ren jerks away. Shisui’s smile falters, but it’s too small for Ren to notice.

“I’ll leave you then. You need me, you know who to call.”

Shisui disappears with a blink, his leaving making the cold hospital room even colder. As if he sucked all the heat away with him. Ren closes his eyes, leaning back into his pillows. He remembers the blade going in, seeing Takeshi’s sharingan change into something else, something different, staring at the sky thinking that rain was going to come.

And a warm presence, with kind eyes holding him close.

Just a fleeting memory.

Ren is discharged. His uncle and mother help bring him home, and neither his father nor Takeshi are there when they get back. He doesn’t ask his mother about it, doesn’t ask his uncle Naruto.

Ren stays locked in his room. He takes his meals there, guests come in and out to visit him.

“We’re looking forward to your return, Ren.” Seto tells him one afternoon when he and Sayuri visit.

“Yeah!” She grins, leaning over his bed. He doesn’t look at them, and instead keeps his eyes locked onto the trees in the distance, outside his window.

The hanging man sways with the breeze. He could get down, if he wanted to, but Ren’s never seen him leave.

“So cheer up Uchiha, team seven still has missions we need to complete. We need our leader, yeah?”

He doesn’t answer them.

Tai toddles in every once in a while. He pulls himself onto Ren’s bed, and cuddles up into his big brother's side.

“Shishwee misses you.” He whispers. “He wants t’ come an’ say hi.”

“He can.” Ren mumbles, and Tai shakes his head.

“Noo… Shishwee says you’re pushing him away.”

Ren turns and looks down at him. True enough, it felt like it had been weeks since he saw his wayward relative.

“Oh.” He mumbles. “I didn’t know I could do that.”

His aunt Akari comes by, Reina in tow. She sits on his bed and tucks him into her side, pushing his hair back from his sweaty head. Reina hovers in the doorway, looking a mixture of guilty and something else.

“How are you feeling?” She asks, her palm cold against his cheek. He shrugs numbly.

“As well as I can be.”

She’s silent for a moment, and he lets himself relax into her hold, focusing only on the circles she rubs into his arms.

“Have you spoken with your brother yet?” She asks, and he tenses in her hold.

“Why would I do that?” He stares at his bed sheets. “He tried to kill me.”

“He kinda did…” Reina mumbles, and stiffens when her mother snaps her name. “What! He knows, no use lying to him!”

“It’s fine, aunt Kari.” He glances up at her. “Rei’s right. It’s the truth.”

“Still,” She sighs softly. “I was just wondering if you had spoken with him. Do you… want to speak with him?”

He’s silent, letting the question mull over in his brain. What would he do if he saw Takeshi again? What would he even say?

“I don’t care.” Ren ends up with. “It doesn’t matter anyways. He ruined my life.” He looks back, out into the window, and watches the hanging man swing in the breeze.

What would it feel like, to be swinging in the breeze like that?

Ren nearly dies a second time, going after Sayuri when the village is attacked. She’s one of his best friends, and he has to save her, has to help her. If he can’t save one friend, what use is he?

She screams his name when he’s stabbed, again, and he watches as the men dressed in black drag her away and into the shadows.

Ren wakes up, again, in the hospital. The second time in as many months. His sensei steps away as their teacher, leaving Seto floundering without a team until his father steps up and takes Seto into his own along with Kaiga and Setsuna.

Ren stops going out. He stays, locked in his room and watches at the hanging man swings. Shisui doesn’t come by, his uncle Itachi doesn’t come by, nor does his grandmother. He pushes them away, far, far away. His friends come by to visit, and every time Ren turns them away.

His father visits once. Sasuke asks if Ren wants to see Takeshi, that maybe they can find some sort of healing. He doesn’t come back after Ren screams his throat raw at him. The anger is the first real thing he feels in months.

“Maybe I am crazy.” he whispers to his ceiling, watching as the grain warps and creates pictures in the darkness. “Maybe I am going mad.”

Everyone wants to look after him now. It’s the worst, but eventually his mother goes back to work, and Ren tries, walking the length of his room to get used to moving again. He practices walking up and down the stairs until he sweats, and the pain he deserves. For being so weak, for letting Takeshi get the better of him.

He has to be of some use while his mother is gone. His siblings are still so young, and Ren’s watched out for them his entire life. He has to keep looking out for them, because what else is he good for?

Every morning he goes through the trouble of walking down the steps, and making their breakfast and lunches. And every morning he sees them out from the front door, doing his best to smile and make them feel at ease.

Everyday, alone, he sits at the foot of his bed and holds his tantou in his hands. He’s kept the blade sharp, and his right arm is a mess of twisted scars and burns.

What’s a few more?

Ren and Takeshi turn fifteen, and then sixteen. Progress is slow, but Ren is able to go out and walk his brothers and sisters to school every day. He shops, shows his face to his friends and family, plays at being the older brother with his life in order than everyone thinks.

Everyday he passes the hanging man swinging in the breeze. Shisui hovers on the edge of his vision constantly. There’s always a frown to his face, his lips move as he tries to reach him, but Ren doesn’t let him come close.

He wonders, what would be easier. Hanging? Or maybe bleeding out? There’s pills in the bathroom cabinet he could take, and Ren doesn’t want to be in more pain.

He decides one morning, after coming home from dropping the kids off at the academy, that he’ll take a walk to the Nakano cliffside.

The terrain is hard on his body, and he stumbles on tree routes. It reminds him almost of that very first time he met Shisui. A decade earlier, Ren playing in the forest on his own, and stumbling across a relative who died long before he was born.

His heart beats fast in his chest. Wind whips at his hair as he leaves the forest, entering the cliffside. As a child his mother always warned him not to go there, that it was dangerous, and he could get hurt.

Good.

He walks, and stands on the edge, staring down into the water below. It’s a far drop down.

Ren had always been afraid of heights.

His breaths come out in short bursts, his hands shake uselessly at his sides. He swallows thickly as he stares down, and the fear is cold in his belly as he sways.

Just one step, that’s all it takes.

“REN!”

He jerks, stepping back and whipping his head around. Shisui stands, eyes closed and chest heaving. Above, his crow flies in circles.

“Sh-shi-nii?” The old nickname comes easily. “What are you-”

“Step away from the edge Ren. Please.” Shisui begs, braving a step forward. “Let’s go home, okay?”

Ren shakes his head, wind whipping against his cheeks. His tears are hot as the roll down, and when did he start crying.

“I want it to stop.” He says softly. “I can’t take this anymore.”

“I know, Ren, but trust me- you don’t want to do this.”

“HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT!” The volume of his voice makes Shisui jerk back, and Ren’s hands curl into fists. “How do you know how this feels. My brother KILLED ME!”

“I know Ren.” Shisui says softly. “I was there.”

His shoulders shake, the sobs wracking his frame. “I HATE IT! I hate this. I just want it to stop Shisui.”

Shisui’s hands hover uselessly, reaching towards him.

“And this is how you stop it Ren? LOOK AT ME!” A fist hits against his chest. “Nothing good comes out of this. You’ll just be dead and miserable and nothing will change.”

And then, softer.

“Do you really want Tai to see his big brother like this.”

Ren flinches as if he’s been slapped.

Cold hands grasp his forearms and drag him back, away from the edge. All at once, he falls apart, legs giving out from underneath him as he wails loudly. Shisui holds him through it.

“How…” He licks his dry lips. “How did you find me?”

Shisui laughs softly, hands petting at his hair.

“You always have a stronger connection to the place you died.” He says.

“Here?” Ren blinks up at him. Funny, he was almost the same age as Shisui now.

“Yeah, took a dive myself.” His voice is thick when he talks, and Ren’s sure if he has the ability to, he’d be crying.

“Wh-where?”

Shisui shrugs. “Oooh, somewhere further down I’m sure. I… put a lot of responsibility on Itachi. We Uchiha, we’re really screwy huh?”

“Takeshi was right.” Ren murmurs, curled up into Shisui’s chest. “I think I’m crazy.”

They stay there, until Ren’s cried out of tears. But instead of following Shisui, Ren grips his hand and makes him look at him.

“Where,” His throat scratches as he speaks. “Was your body ever found?”

Shisui is silent, and Ren fears he won’t speak. He starts to apologize when-

“No. It’s been sitting on a riverbank for years.”

“Can…” He licks his dry lips, and blinks back the tears that threaten to fall. “Can you show me?”

It takes the morning to finally find Shisui’s resting place. He’s just bones, long picked clean by scavengers time. Ren uses what was left of his shirt as a makeshift back. His hands tremble as he picks up each and every bone he can find, before tying it together. It takes the entire afternoon to return.

“Please,” Shisui asks when they’re almost back to the house. “Please tell her.”

“I will.”

It’s Reina whose waiting at their home when he returns. The sky is already a mix of oranges and pinks, and he shifts, looking at his cousin when he approaches.

“YOU!” She shrieks, stomping over. “Where WERE you! My mom’s out looking right now, she said Kaede came crying into the damn house! She even tracked me down so you have some expla- what are you carrying?”

Ren swallows, before giving her a smile.

“I gotta talk to your mom. Can you watch them a little while longer? I’ll make it up to you.”

She rolls her eyes and huffs, shoulders slumping.

“Fine, but me and Setsuna are going to give them soooo much sugar they’ll be making you tear your hair out.”

“Thank you Rei.” Ren’s smile feels more genuine, and he leans forward, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek.

Akari Nara is not hard to find. She’s pacing in the yard of her home, chewing softly on her lower lip.

“Auntie Kari!” Ren’s voice is hoarse when he calls to her, but there’s a smile all the same.

“Ren!” His head is in her hands in an instant, and she’s looking over him, making sure he’s free of any injury. “Sweet boy, when Kaede came crying I thought something terrible must have happened! I looked everywhere, Obito told me to stay here in case you came home. He’s out right now-”

She pauses, eyes falling to the fabric he carries.

“What is that?”

He swallows, eyes glancing towards Shisui.

“Ask her again, about what’s under her shirt. Please.”

“First.” Ren swallows. “You wear something, under your shirt. Can you… can you tell me, what it is?”

Her hand comes up to her chest, and she’s silent. He’s sure she’ll say no, change the subject again but.

With a sigh, she pulls the collar of her turtleneck down, and fishes out the necklace. A simple ring, tarnished slightly by the years, but its beautiful all the same.

“You kept it.”

Shisui feels much more solid, appearing behind her. His hands reach up to trail down her cheek, and her eyes flutter closed, leaning into the warmth.

He looks almost alive.

“This belonged to a man I loved, a very long time ago.” Her voice is thick with unshed tears and emotion. “I never got to- I didn’t-”

“I know,” Shisui’s says quickly. “Tell her I know. And I love her. Even still.”

“He knows.” Ren says softly, and she gasps, eyes meeting his. “And he loves you. Even stil.”

“Ren,” Her voice shakes. “This isn’t funny.”

“I know.” He says softly. “I think I’m crazy aunt Kari. I see things. I know things.”

“Oh sweet boy,” Her hand comes to cradle his cheeks again. “You’re not crazy-”

“I’ve seen Shisui since I was five years old. He watches over your baby. He loves you so much.”

The tears open like a damn, and Ren helps her sit before her legs buckle out beneath her.

“How do you know that?”

“Because,” Ren says softly. “I think I’m crazy.”

They’re silent, and he sits with her as she cries. Finally Akari brushes away the tears, straightening up from where she sits.

“What’s in the cloth Ren?” She jerks her head towards it. He swallows again thickly, and sets the bundle of what was Shisui down. It’s tied tight together, and whatever she does with it, he hopes he isn’t putting more of a burden onto her.

“He asked me to bring him home.”

Time goes on, passing each day like sand through an hourglass. Ren hates himself, he wants to die, but he refuses to put this burden on Tai. He has a long way to go to love himself again.

He starts training again, and within a year and with the help of his Sensei, Lee, Ren is able to go on missions once more. He spends time with his friends again.

He sees his brother for the first time in almost three years.

Everyday he walks past those who died before their time, who can’t let go. Everyday, he looks ahead to the next.

When he visits his aunt, he can always find Shisui sitting at the little grave maker sitting in their yard, their baby cradled in his arms.

End

#naruto oc #naruto next gen oc #melancholy au #oc: ren uchiha #oc: takeshi uchiha #oc: akari nara #my fic

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irithyllians · 3 years

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Akari and Hanako for @uchihashisuii 🖤

#naruto ocs still own my soul atm 😩 (not actually a complaint)#naruto #other’s ocs #nara akari #uzumaki hanako #my art #how many wave and scale designs can I incorporate in future Uzumaki designs… must push this #anyway I love them Jules

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kissofbelladonna · 2 years

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hi yes i drew @uchihashisuii 's oc, akari because i love her and also because i really like her design!

"and you, what did you see?"

"my past."

#nara akari #oc #digital art #fan art #naruto #oh wait #uchiha shisui #haha .. that background eh?#look familiar? 👁️#based on that recent one shot where akari dies but shisui somehow survives to the fourth war and he experiences the infinite tsukuyomi <3 #this could have turned out better if i took the actual time to do a background but it was nearing the half hour mark so no ty <3 #my art

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blacksniiper · 6 years

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doodles

#artists on tumblr #sniiper doodles #oc #ageswap au #shiori kurogane #max bogdanovich #rikuro itsuki #sun myeong-ki #naoki o'callaghan #asami kusanagi #himuro hisashi #akari kitagawa #kouta ryuunosuke #mr top hat #nara kurogane #my art

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wind-becomes-lightning · 2 years

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In the dark of night.

(Cover art by @kankuroplease)

@kankuroplease & me have teamed up for offer you a fic + cover art in exchange for a donation to help the people in Ukraine!! More Info here.

@uchihashisuii was nice enough to donate to our little ongoing project! Thank you so much Jules for your donation we appreciate it! Their prompt was pretty much only that it should be Shisui with their OC Akari and that it should be sad. So I cracked my knuckles and went right to work. And sad it got.

Pairing: Uchiha Shisui x OC

Rating M (I guess?)

7177 words.

Warnings: Blood, Gore, Major Character Death (if the cover pic did not already give that away)

Akari hears from Danzo about the plans to have Uchiha clan eradicated. Shisui and her decide to eradicate Danzo instead.

The sun had not yet risen above the horizon when Akari, mask steady on her face, set out from the Root headquarters over the rooftops of the village. She could feel her skirt flying around her legs, flattering and swirling in the air around her. Akari was nervous, the fingertips sweaty even in the rising wind. Nothing that she had heard that night was good news and worry creeped into her heart like a slow poison. It was a stroke of luck that she had someone to go to at least. Someone that would bring the warmth back to her core.

She made it to the district furthest away from the village centre, a non deliberate relocation after the Kyuubi attack had decimated Konoha and found the low houses, full of old looking, if new built, places and straw rooftops. The Uchiha were fast asleep in their paper rooms and little apartments and only a few of them were patrolling the street. Akari knew they didn’t like ANBU in here that weren’t Uchiha themselves, inherently sceptical of everything that was foreign and she’d always been a little annoyed by that attitude. But from what she had heard tonight she knew they kind of had a point. She bit her lip, nerves again flying.

To get past watchful eyes she sneaked herself through the shadows, so well acquainted by how they moved and felt. She hadn’t been raised a Nara, had been raised in Root instead, but the connection she felt to the inherited family jutsu was instilled in her anyway. That was also a reason why Dnazo loved stealing clan-kids so much. They’d bring with them useful techniques and headstrong personalities. Ideal warriors especially against the clans they came out of. A child could be easily corrupted by the question of why their clan had let them get taken, had not looked for them, had forgotten them, and certainly, Akari was not immune to that either, but she had made her peace. Long since grown up her own person.

In recent times she had been happy, an emotion she’d never thought she’d ever feel, until she did. Root ate your emotions away like a cancer and it had taken a while to melt the ice, but once it had been melted it was like an avalanche. First she didn’t love and now she loved more than any other human could. Or at least that's what Shisui said one day. Akari slipped past the guards through a window he had kept open for her on purpose and jumped from the windowsill into his room. The first beams of sunlight streamed inside.

“Akari”, he said, laying arms crossed behind his head on his own bed. Shisui was wearing what he was always wearing in bed: nothing but boxers and a t-shirt and even though Akari’s mouth was watering just a little at the view, she knew this was not the time or place. “So many watchdogs out there today”, she said instead, clipping at her vest to get it off while she was also undressing her shoes.

Shisui sighed, the deep, sad way of sighing he always did when confronted with the Uchiha’s general distrust of strangers. He had taken Akari out one day, just around the district, showed the shops and introduced the people, but most had just eyed her like a strange rarity. He had complained the entire way home. “Yes,” he said finally, “I guess they are growing more and more suspicious of the village leaders.” Akari had finally gotten rid of the unnecessary clothes and Shisui moved to the side to let her slip under the blanket with him. He gave her a short kiss and then continued: “They think they might be “pushed out” of the village completely. They talk about it all the time.”

There was the heavy burden on her again, the news she’d heard from Danzo-sama himself tonight. How right the Uchiha were to believe that! She shifted a little, chewing on her tongue. Danzo was a smart man, branding all his agents with a curse that activated if they betrayed his secrets. Akari had seen it too, sometime when she was younger, when a team member cracked under surveillance pressure. The seal going off was like swallowing your own tongue and choking on it. The person's head had turned violet and then blue and then he had died. It was one of her most gruesome memories.

So she couldn’t tell him that there had only been one topic in the briefing she had attended in the night and that it had contained the complete annihilation of the Uchiha clan. Being “pushed out” would still be the nicer way of going about things, but Danzo-sama had his very own intentions. He wanted them completely wiped off the map. The plan was to use someone from the Uchiha, anyone really, someone with a strong sense of duty and connection to Konoha as a village and have them do it for Danzo. Because as Akari and many other root members had long since realised: Danzo was a coward. He was hiding in the shadows because the light scared him. Akari would have ripped his head off if she didn’t have children she was looking after deep in the organisation.

“Is there something wrong?” Shisui asked, finely tuned to her different moods and body languages. Even though they’d been with each other for only a year, she had never met anyone that had so quickly and instinctively figured her out. She had been proud of the walls she’d build around herself for the longest time, but he had just taken them down with a cheeky smile and a soft touch. Akari shifted again and said: “Yes.” A simple reply like that should not activate the curse mark. It was a normal question one would answer.

Shisui narrowed his eyes at her reply, the way she hesitated before speaking. “What is wrong?” He changed his question and touched her cheek with his hand. Akari let him stroke over her face lightly before looking into his eyes earnestly. “I can’t say”, she said and her body shivered at the thought of swallowing her tongue and choking on it. She’d told Shisui about the curse mark a long time ago but spared him the details of how gruesome it was if it was activated. He turned his head so that brown locks fell into both his eyes. “Something with Root then I assume.” He was smart. He’d always been so smart. Akari kissed his cheek, suddenly overcome by emotions.

“Alright,” he said, turning fully onto his back. “It is something that makes you uneasy.” She nodded. “Very,”she stressed. He tipped with his fingers against the wall beside him. Shisui was not living at a spacious Uchiha home with matts and paper walls, but in a small, very sparsely decorated apartment in one of the complexes. That was why it was also so easy to slip in and out of it. “You started being anxious when I mentioned the Uchiha restlessness. And..” he put his hand to his chin, “.. you squirmed when I mentioned a possible rehousing.” Rehousing. Akari couldn’t help but think how cynical that sounded when one knew the truth.

To tell him that he was on the right path she moved the fingertip of her right pointer finger up and down, as if he was trying to nod with it. “So there will be a rehousing?” Shisui asked and searched for the answer in her eyes. “No,” he answered himself, “that is not it. Whatever it is, it worries you a lot.” Akari used her pointer finger to nod once more. She could see the wheels behind his eyes turning. He must have by now figured out that the reality was more cruel than just a random rehousing scheme, even though that alone would have already been cruel enough.

She let her fingers wander over the shirt he was wearing, circling his heart and then poking it just lightly enough. Shisui took her hand: “Is Danzo going to have us all killed?” He said it cold and calmly, as if he had thought something like that might happen eventually. Akari couldn't nod. Too strong the fear of consequences. She drew the signs onto his nacked palm. “Yes.” Shisui shivered almost unnoticeable and caught himself pretty quickly again. “He will send you here to have us killed? His root?” Akari drew “No.”

This last part was tricky to work out, but it was the most important part. If an Uchiha killed the rest of the Uchiha it would just look like a family quarrel, a hateful member of an old clan that had slaughtered the rest of them. If it was an outsider it would most likely make news, people would want an investigation. It might lead back to Danzo and Root. This couldn't happen. She didn’t know how to help him get there on his own other than to let him mull it over by himself. Shisui had his eyes aimed at her, but they were disant, lost in thought. She wondered what he was thinking, but didn’t want to interfere, so she just buried her head in his arms. Finally he sighed deeply and she knew immediately that he had found the missing puzzle piece. “It will be one of us. No, it has to be one of us. To avoid a scandal, he has to force one of us to do it” Shisui said and Akari hit him with her foot just lightly. He looked down to her, now his eyes were actually seeing her. “Thank you for telling me, I think we can stop this”, he said, nose touching her forehead softly, “If we find out who is the lucky person chosen for the job.”

A few days passed from that morning. Shisui had asked for a little bit of time to figure out who Danzo had picked as the murdered of his own family, and Akari had given him the time. She was still visiting in the early mornings or late nights, well versed in sneaking in and out of the Root building to see him, but they didn’t talk about the topic again. Thankfully, Danzo also didn’t call a different meeting so the plan clearly had not been set in motion yet. Akari stood under a tree after a short ANBU mission with Team Ro, a Team she often had to collaborate with. She wasn’t yet ready to get back to Danzo, tell him every intel she had gathered in the last 24 Hours. In recent months her reports to him had become more and more sparse, which is why she was surprised to be let in on the secret of the Uchiha massacre in the first place.

Suddenly the wind around her changed and a flock of crows descended from the top down to swarm her. Akari waved them away, laughing. “Shisui, stop that” and he appeared right behind her, hands around her waist to pull her in. He could be so dramatic if he wanted to, using his familiars to appear and disappear like a stage magician. Shisui kissed her neck and spun the braid around his pointer finger a bit, but then he let his head fall onto her shoulder wearily. “What is wrong?” she asked and turned around so he could lean onto her chest. He wasn’t tall, but she was much smaller than him and so she had to dig her heels in to hold him upright and steady. “Itachi,” he said quietly into her ear. Akari pouted a little: “I’m Akari.”

Shisui chuckled a little weakly into her neck, the breath on her skin giving her goosebumps. “I know”; he said, “Do you think I'd have done the whole neck kissing thing if I’d thought it was Itachi?” Akari wondered if that was a trick question and said nothing. Instead she let her hands run through his locks: “What is it about Itachi?” Shisui sighed so heavily that it sounded like a boulder sized stone was just falling off his chest. “Itachi is the one who will do it. I just talked to him and apparently, Danzo has also been talking to him. Itachi is the one who will be recruited for, well, you know what for.” Akari’s hand froze half way down Shisui's neck, her eyes wide.

Of course she hated the implication, the fact that a monster like Danzo had pulled Itachi into this mess, a boy who for all purposes had never wanted to be a soldier, never supported war or conflict, who just wanted to be at home by himself looking after his little brother. Danzo had decided to approach him of all the Uchiha, him, who wanted to defend peace so much he would give his life for. Of course he would also give other people’s lives to preserve peace. Itachi was easily strayed with ideals, a boy like him, who easily believed the promises of a new, improved future. Akari bit her lip, the anger rising from her core to her throat. She wanted to scream, curse, but the fear of her own tongue kept the emotions inside. “I see”, she said, burying her nails deep into Shisui's shoulders to show him the anger now festering inside of her.

“I can’t let that happen”, Shisui said, matter of factly, and he looked up into Akari’s eyes. “I won’t let him do this terrible deed, you understand? It would break him.” She held his arms, her vision blurring and shifting a little in front of her. What was Shisui implying? That he was going to do it instead? She said: “Please, please don’t…” Her voice was nothing but a low whine. He smiled his sunshine smile, the smile that let her heart leap and made her happier than anything else. “No,” he said and moved forward to kiss her very gently, his hands finding hers to hold them between them. “I was wondering… you always talk about the orphan children you look after. Don’t you think someone should take Root down and finally free them?”

He could let out such murderous intent if he wanted to, eyes sharp and burning with a fire that only Uchiha possessed. Akari pressed his hands, eyes equally as bright, meeting him without fear or hesitation. She’d despised Root for a long time, had wanted to seperate the children from its disgusting clutches, but never really found the ways or the tools to do so. With Shisui and his extraordinary skills and kekkei genkai it might be more than possible. Danzo could never win against someone like Shisui, especially not with Akari by his side. She chewed on her tongue and then pressed his hand again. “I see you agree,” he said and grinned deviously.

They didn’t wait long to put their plan in motion. Akari didn’t know for sure how long Danzo would wait to put his foot forward, especially since Itachi seemed more and more removed from his family in the past couple of days. Shisui had tried and failed to convince him to join them, Itachi still convinced Danzo’s plan was the only viable option at keeping the peace. Shisui disagreed distinctly, forming a rift between the two friends.

Akari stayed outside Root facilities come curfew, but she wasn’t far away, hiding in the shadows around the main entrance to wait for Shisui. The moon was high in the air, enough to throw clear, thick shadows through every window in the building, which should give Akari ample opportunity to use her abilities. The idea was to use Shisui’s genjutsu on most guards so that no life needed to be wasted. She could see a flock of crows off in the distance, so unusually active at this part of night and next thing she knew he was right there behind her, hand on her shoulder. “I guess this is it”, Shisui whispered and Akari took a deep breath in: “This is it.” He turned her around to look into her eyes again, his sharingan alive and red in his eyes. Of course he checked her again, unable to stop worrying about her for any moment. It was not that Shisui doubted her skill, he’d seen her fight countless of times, but Root manipulation ran deep. Deeper than one might be aware themselves. “I’m doing this”, she said to ease his mind. “I am resolved.”

Shisui nodded and kissed her cheek and so they went ahead. Akari used her excellent knowledge of the building to find a half opened window on the third floor to sneak in. She’d used it so many times at this point, to see Shisui after curfew, that she could have probably found it blindly. She knew the guards were not around at this specific time, the route leading them into the second floor instead and if you’d jump in and then let the shadows cloak you immediately, not even the cameras could spot you. Shisui followed on her heel, staying close enough to make sure he was retracing her steps with ease. The sharingan was obviously a good enough tool for that. “The orphans are in the basement”, she explained something she had told him before, but wanted to repeat here. “It is where we go first, got it?” Shisui nodded.

The window was half open, just how it always was and Akari touched it with light fingers to get it to swing further open. Shisui was not a bulky man, but he was definitely taller than Akari was so he needed a little more space to fit through. They stepped onto the window sill at the exact time they could hear the guard head downstairs and slipped silently down into a crouch. Shisui had followed Akari easily, crouching now so close to her their bodies could be mistaken for one large body. Akari put her hands together and let the shadows move. It moved up and wrapped itself around the both of them, just like they were tucked in by a thin blanket. Shisui hissed a little, not used to the strange feeling it gave you, but Akari made a “shh” sound at him and then waved him to move forward.

Shadow cloaking was practical in infiltration missions, but it needed the shadows to be there, so they needed to move forward as crouched as they could, jump from shadow to shadow or use other ways to bridge gaps. Otherwise a giant walking black shadow monster would have been too easy to notice. They needed to stay invisible in the shadows, which was particularly why Akari had voted for this night to be used for their mission. Expertly she found a laundry chute that was used by older Root members sometimes and she knew it would lead to the laundry room in the cellar. Shisui hopped in and slid down before she could, releasing the shadow cloak before a camera could spot she was even there.

Akari obviously knew her way around, navigating the maze of corridors in the cellar without much issue. She checked from time to time to see behind her and Shisui was still closely following her, no sound escaping his lips. He was a good shinobi, but she’d never seen him in action. They reached the basement without any run in with any guards. Akari waved Shisui forward and pointed to a door. Quickly, from shadow to shadow they moved until they both stood directly in front of it. Before she could even lift her hand to knock, the door opened. “Sai”, she whispered when the little boy with black hair emerged from the inside, knife in his hand. He looked like he had not slept at all yet, which wasn’t as unusual. Root kids often were plagued with nightmares.

“What are you doing here Akari-senpai?” Sai whispered equally as quietly, apparently thinking it was necessary to match her tone exactly. He had never been very good with social clues, well, neither of them in Root did. “Listen, I don’t have time to explain it all”, Akari said, stretching her hand out for him to take the knife down. “I want you to go back inside, alright? I want you to wake the others and all of you pack your stuff. You are being relocated.” Relocated wasn’t the right word for it, of course Akari knew that, but there was no time to waste now, especially with the moon throwing shadows in such a favourable position. She could explain later. “Is that by Danzo-sama’s order?” Sai asked, ever the good student. Akari looked to Shisui and back at the boy. “Yes”, he said for her, aware that she was still worried about her tongue. “Remember that either I or Shisui here will come pick you up. It won’t take long so get ready” Akari added and Sai nodded without further questions.

Minutes later they were back to sneaking. They needed to go back upstairs, Danzo’s private study on the fourth floor of the building. “We will probably run into some people now”, Akari whispered to Shisui. He agreed without saying a word, already trusting Akari to lead him correctly just like a squad leader would. After they emerged from the laundry chute again they saw their first guard. “Hey, what are you…” the Tiger said, before Shisui put him to sleep. They went on, shadow cloaked over them again. Luck was on their side and they only saw the next guards when they were already on the fourth floor, just a few short corners away from Danzo’s private place. Shisui put both of them under genjutsu at the same time and slipped back into the shadows with Akari.

“Two guards”, Shisui said, feeling with his chakra for other signatures in the area. “They are patrolling in front of his office doors. I can feel Danzo inside.” He wasn’t a sensory type, but he knew enough. “I’ll stun them and then you can step out and put them to sleep”, Akari said and Shisui, ever the good teammate, just nodded in agreement. They moved through the shadows until they stood right opposite to the two guards upon which Akari let the shadow cloak drop and ensnared both of them in a trap instead. “Hey, is that you Sparrow?” What are you doing-” one of them said, very loudly, before Shisui could shut him up. Danzo had surely heard it and now knew they were outside. They had to move fast before he could call for backup. Akari pushed the handle to the door down and stepped inside, Shisui in tow.

Danzo glanced over them, his uncovered eye piercing into them like a sword. Akari stepped to the side, eyes darting around the room. No guards were inside of here, they were all alone with him. She knew he was a capable shinobi, once upon a time at least, and that he was not to be underestimated. With an expert look she assessed the corners of shadow in the room, thinking of ways to connect to him. “Sparrow”, Danzo said coldly, moving his old legs forward to the middle of the room, “If you think your shadow technique will work here you are gravely mistaken.” Her eyes darted up as he turned on overhead lights that hang so directly over his head that the shadow fell down instead of behind. All the corners she had looked out now had narrowed to a thin line. “I keep this room in a way that it can’t be infiltrated”, Danzo said proudly.

Shisui stepped at her side, eyes red and ready for whatever Danzo’s next plan of attack was, but the old man just stayed standing under the light, one of his arms leaning onto the cane. “So, Sparrow, I see you have passed on the secret I’ve let you in on.” Akari threw her head back: “So what?!” The veins in her body froze when Danzo smiled. “I’m happy this all worked out exactly as planned”, he said, the smile big and ugly on his old face. “What the fuck are you talking about”, she shot back.

“I told you about the plan on purpose”, Danzo continued in his snarky voice. “I knew you’d run to your little boyfriend and tell him immediately.” Akari assessed the shadows again. If only he moved a bit forward then she could reasonably step ahead and trap him. She looked back up and wanted nothing else but to shut his mouth. “You did not”, she said defiantly. Though she realised how odd it had been that she had been included in the briefing in the first place. She wasn’t one of the highest ranking root members and everybody knew she got along well with non root ANBU members like Kakashi or Tenzou.

Danzo walked a little to the side, still not far enough for shadow stitching to be possible. “I wanted you to bring him here, the boy with the special eye.” Akari turned to Shisui and you frowned. “I’ve wanted that eye ever since I've heard what it can do. It's extraordinary.” He put his hand up against the bandages around his head. “I like special things.” The bandages moved, unravelled slowly around his head and fell to the ground. Akari couldn’t help but gasp at the sight. Under the covered part of his head Danzo held a sharingan eye, deep and red in the eye socket. He must have kept it protected because it drained his chakra, just like it happened to Kakashi.

Shisui stepped one step closer to Akari, his hand brushing up against hers. “Where did you get that from?” he growled, fingers forming a fist at his side. Danzo smiled a little again, this unsettling way of smiling that he’d done earlier too. “A friend gave it to me”, he waved with his hand. “I did not force him. Not much at least.” Danzo’s eyes now rested on Shisui. “He was your relative I believe. You two look very similar.” Shisui hissed in anger, his fingers finding each other to weave signs, but Danzo was one step ahead here too. Before Shisui had even finished the jutsu a wall of water streamed down from the top of their heads, eating the flame immediately as it came. Akari spit out. He hadn’t lied when he had said this room was prepared.

“See, it is nonsense to fight me”, Danzo sighed as if they were children, toddlers who were desperately trying to get an especially tasty treat, “Just give me your eye and I let you go.” Akari frowned: “As if.” Through the water the shadows had moved a little, just a little, if she could only get a bit closer then she could maybe knock one of the lamps out and get the shadow to fall longer. Once he was in her trap Shisui could just decapitate him and this whole nightmare would finally end. “I quite like my eyes”, Shisui declared, shooting glances at Akari. She counted on him to have figured out the same thing as she had and so she took a step to the side and watched Danzo step aside too.

Then Shisui launched himself forward, both legs quick and fast, the room was not large, but who knew how many hidden seals could be activated there. Danzo closed the eye that was not his sharingan and moved around him, dodging the blows and kicks without much movement of his feet. He was good, as capable of a shinobi as you’d expect of a student of the second Hokage and just as hateful towards the Uchiha. Akari stayed in place, eyes firmly on one of the brightest lamps just right above Danzo’s head. She needed that opening, whatever it took. Shisui jumped off a wall and kicked again, his red eyes the only thing Akari could see. He was fast, much faster than she’d ever seen anyone. And graceful. She didn’t know until now that he could be even more beautiful in a fight than he already was in his usual life.

Danzo was unfaced, moving only slightly away, even when taking hits. He looked like an old man that could barely turn around or speak, but retired shinobi were still shinobi. Finally, after many attempts targeting his face directly, Shisui made a breakthrough punch. Danzo had been distracted by a shuriken flying through the air on the other side and not seen the boy flying in, fist ready for impact. The old man stumbled backwards just a step or two before he caught himself, but long enough for Shisui to take his katana out of its shaft and throw it, which brought the old man to fall.

Akari darted away from her standing position. She wasn’t as fast as Shisui with his abilities, but she had tricks up her sleeves too. She bounced off the wall and the ceiling aiming her hand at the lamp she had eyed out. Smashing it would probably rip her hands open and make her bleed, but that was well worth it. Her eye was well on target, arm ready to strike, brain completely focused on what she had to do when her limbs suddenly started getting numb.

Akari could not explain what happened to her, it was like her body was refusing to communicate with her suddenly. She dropped from the ceiling down and landed on the cold floor, unable to even pull herself up. On the inside of her mouth she could feel her tongue burning as if she’d eaten flames like people on festivals sometimes did. She choked, holding her hand to her throat. Was this poison? She looked up to Shisui who was now stumbling forward to her. No, he was completely fine. So it could not be poison. Whatever it was, it was only affecting her. “Are you alright?” Shisui asked, crouching down in front of her, pulling her up to his lap. She could not move anything but her eyes. Flames at her throat and her head. She was burning up without a fire. It was torture.

With a deep sigh Danzo got up from where he had fallen and pushed the dirt out of his clothes. “Silly girl”, he said, stretching his neck out a little, the red sharingan mercilessly aimed at her. “You were told that the curse mark was to prevent you from telling secret intel I entrusted you with, right? You kept with that, not telling anyone anything. I assume your little boyfriend figured the entire Uchiha plan out on his own.” Akari wanted to scream, the pain moving from her throat to her heart, but she could not, her tongue was heavy and unmoving. Shisui was the one who answered for her instead: “Did you do that with it? With the curse mark? Paralyse her?”

“The curse mark is used to brand traitors. Silence them quickly and pain free”, Danzo said and added: “Pain free for me.” Akari’s eyes glowed with hatred and disgust. “What constitutes a traitor is my own judgement. I seal and unseal the curse mark. I activate and deactivate.” Deactivate. She could hear Shisui whisper it into her ear. Dont, she thought. Don’t discuss it with him. He will never let me go. But Shisui already bowed his head, a little dismissive and apologetic: “You want my eye in exchange for her life?”

It was too cruel that she could not speak, that the pain was blurring her eyes. She wanted to shake Shisui. Tell him not to take the deal. Tell him that Danzo would never ever under any circumstances let them go alive. They’d breached his facility, offered some of his agents freedom and on top of that knew about the massacre plan. They had spoken with Itachi. They would both die here, unless Shisui would retain both his eyes and fight his way out. It was a harsh reality that sunk into her very core at that very moment. Akari knew she would never recover from this curse. She was doomed. But Shisui, oh, beautiful, wonderful, strong Shisui- he would survive. If he kept his eyes, both of them, he could kill Danzo. She knew he could. Her eyes found his face and softened. He was angry, worried, but so beautiful. She just loved him. Right now, all she felt was love for him.

Instead of feeling the pain that numbed her body, Akari only felt the burning conviction in her heart. “If you give me your eye, yes, I will let her go”, Danzo said, moving back under the lamp he’d previously been standing under. Akari let her eyes wander around the room and saw that Shisui’s katana wasn’t far from her reach. If only she could move a little and get it. Shisui looked down on her and back up at Danzo, his fingers tightening around her. “Will you promise me that you will release the seal?” he asked and didn’t notice that Akari was using all her willpower to stretch a hand out into the direction of the katana.

“Of course”, Danzo said in a low voice. “If you surrender yourself to me I let Sparrow go. I am a man of my word.” Her arm moved slowly, but it moved. Fingers stretching out inch by inch to the sword on the ground. Her bones burned, her inside was on fire, but she pushed forward. “I don’t think your word is worth much” Shisui spat back, “I would rather have you release the seal right now and then I will hand over the eye. I think you should trust my words.” Her fingertips touched the underside of the sword and she moved her body just slightly forward to grab it fully. It felt like ripping her limp from her body. Danzo huffed: “The promise of an Uchiha is not worth much.” Eyes blurry, ears ringing Akari pulled the katana in, bit by bit. She could feel the taste of blood in her mouth. Shisui growled and Danzo smiled triumphantly. Of course Shisui would bend and give the eye up if that meant Akari would live. That was why she couldn’t live. Her muscles strained against her skin as she lifted the weapon up.

Don’t lose conviction now, she told herself. She had to follow through with the plan. Give Shisui a reason to fight at full strength. Neither he nor Danzo were currently watching her, so it went unnoticed when she lifted the katana up to her stomach, breathing the pain away as the fire in her heart burned brighter than it had ever been. Shinobi died all the time, needlessly, lonely, but her death would not be in vain. Akari dragged the knife along her belly, let the blood flow from underneath her shirt, the pain not more than the pain she already felt. She choked again. “We are in a stalemate then”, Shisui said, voice low and trying to be threatening. Higher, she needed to pull the sword higher. The wound she had inflicted herself would not kill her, it was just a deep scratch. Danzo put his hands together behind his back, eyes on the lamp above him. “I guess then we just have to watch her die”, he said coldly. “I will not let her die”, Shisui shot back.

“It’s …. fine”, Akari pressed out and said ''Shisui, it’s fine.” She had dragged the katana all the way up her rips, leaving a deep cut behind all over her front side. Shisui dropped his eyes down onto her, eyes immediately full of panic at the look of her: “Akari, what-” She smiled at him, outlined his face with her eyes and tried to memorise it, the eyes she loved so much, his brown hair, his strong shoulders, everything that had drawn her to him in the first place. “Don’t worry”, she said weakly and before he could realise what she was attempting, dragged the sharp side of the blade along her throat, cutting it open deeply.

Blood was spurting out immediately, dirtying all his clothes and hers. The burning on Akari’s tongue ended, but the numbness subsided. “Sparrow, you are a disappointment to the very end”, Danzuo spat but Akari’s eyes stayed on Shisui. His eyes were wide in disbelief, hands running along her face, over her wounds. He’d be fine, she knew he’d be fine. She had done all she could for him. Blood in her mouth and on her hands. Her head spun, the sword dropped, her eyes blurred. Everything hurt and nothing hurt. She didn’t hear the last words out of Shisui’s mouth but she imagined them to be words of love.

/|/|/|/|/|________________

He screamed. A loud, guttal sound that he had never heard himself make. Shisui crawled himself into Akari’s hair, ripping at it, shaking her, calling for her, but she was already too far away to be reached. He could feel his veins running hot and cold at the same time, anger, grief, revenge. Uchiha loved too much, that was the curse said. The intensity could burn them to death. He let Akari go, put her body to the ground softly, so it took no additional damage and got up. “You see, I train my Root operatives to make smart decisions,” Danzo explained, as if Shisui didn’t know Akari was - had been- smart. “She sacrificed herself so you didn’t have to hand me an eye. Unfortunately you will give me the eye anyway”, Danzo kept on snarking, an arm leaned on the cane. “Shut up”, Shisui said, his aura shining in bright green. “I’ll kill you.” The growl came from deep inside of him. He clasped his hands together and something broke through his back, large and green. An armour like figure that covered all of the room. Under different circumstances he might have been surprised by this ability, but right now it felt powerful and powerful felt good.

Before he could do another step forward three shadows jumped down from a hole in the ceiling, landing all around Shisui. One of them put his hand on Shisui’s arm. “Do not”, the voice said, calm as it always was. Shisui looked to his right, his breath still going heavy. It was Itachi. Not only was he there, there were two more ANBU members around him, undoubtedly from his squad. “Are you stopping me?” Shisui screamed and pulled his arm out of Itachi’s hand. “He killed Akari!” Itachi shook his head and looked down at the corpse of Akari laying in a puddle of her own blood on the ground. One of the Anbu- Cat - crouched over her and lifted his hand. “Do not touch her”, Shisui spat and Cat pulled his arm back.

“If you kill Danzo now, rip his head off and present it to the world, they will just put you on trial and imprison you for life”, Itachi said in his infinite wisdom. “If you want to honour her sacrifice then you have to let us capture him alive. Let him stand trial, let all his shady business be exposed. Then you can still murder him in jail.” Shisui glanced angrily at Itachi, unable at this moment to admit that the younger man had a point. “We don’t know how deep his influence goes,” the third ANBU - Hound- said, “and we have a chance to uncover this now. I swear he won’t get away from us.” Danzo laughed at the other side of the room: “You four think you can overwhelm me so easily, huh? I hardly have a scratch right now.”

Shisui flared his green armour again, just quick enough to make Danzo look up with both of his eyes. The old man toppled over onto his knees, choking, but breathing. Suddenly trapping him in a genjutsu and killing him right here seemed so easy and Shisui's finger itched to pull themselves around Danzo’s throat, but he looked over to the other men who all shook their heads like they were disappointed children. “Fine”, Shisui spat. “You can have him. But I can’t promise I will let him live after he is exposed.” Hound nodded a little to show that the terms were acceptable. His sharingan disappeared into his black eyes and Shisui crouched down before Akari. “He killed her with the curse mark placed on her tongue”, he said, his hands running through her hair. Hound and Cat exchanged a look. “We should do an autopsy on her, “ Cat said without any infliction of emotion. “You don’t touch her!” Shisui hissed again.

“Shisui,” Itachi said softly. “I promise you will have her back. But if you wan’t scum like Danzo and his ideas to leave this village, then you have to let us take her.” Shisui didn’t like the implication in his words. Itachi after all had been the one who had been chosen for the Uchiha massacre and he’d been willing to go through with it. Now he was acting as if there was another way? Another way that had not existed two days ago when Akari was still wonderful and alive? He looked up from Anbu mask to Anbu mask and then shook his head. Picking up his katana he cut the braid out of Akari’s hair and stuffed it into his pocket. He was out of the room without saying another word and before someone else could open their mouths.

The halls outside in the root facility were lit up by the morning sun shining in through the tiny windows. He didn’t know how many hours had passed since they had come in here. His skin crawled with pain and grief at the memory of following her brown hair through the night. His hand held the braid in his pocket and grabbed it tight. This was when he remembered that they had told the orphans to pack their bags. That Akari had told them they should follow him in case she wasn’t coming to pick them up. He made a detour to the basement, mercilessly cutting down whoever tried to stand in his way. Sai opened the door again, eyes wide and maybe a little frightened. Shisui was still full with blood and must have looked like a very frightening monster to these young people. But when he waved at them and forced a smile on his face, they all followed him out without a word. After all, it had been Akari’s orders and they trusted her exactly as much as Shisui trusted her.

Shisui led the children to the main exit of the root facility and pushed it open just enough so each of them could exit. “Where is Akari-senpai?” Sai asked when he passed by and Shisui bit his lower lip. “Away”, he said and felt the sharp pain in his heart. Away, truly. She was out of his reach. Forever. He stepped out into the sunlight and realised he heard, saw and felt absolutely nothing.

#fanfiction things #uchiha shisui #tw: blood #uchiha shisui x oc #uhm that one hurt a little i needed to take a break after i finished this but like #HOW AMAZING IS THE COVER PIC OH MY GOOOOD

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