𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐑𝐄 | sasuke uchiha

Memory

When Shisui came face to face with Itachi again, nothing else seemed to matter to him. The pair engaged in battle for the sake of keeping up appearances, but carefully made their way further and further away from the others so they could speak without suspicion.

"What are you doing?!" Itachi hissed as he lashed out as his cousin, their kunai meeting between them with a loud clang. Shisui winced and stepped back as Itachi weaseled his kunai out of his grip, pulling out another from his weapons pouch.

"What does it look like?" retorted Shisui, leaping back at Itachi and aiming for his face once more. "Holding you lot back."

"The plan- was for- you- to get to- Suna!" snapped Itachi angrily, no longer bearing his cousin's well-being in his mind as he punctuated every word with a well aimed blow. "Are you stupid?! Do you realise there's no way out of this for you now?!"

As much as Shisui wished that this would be just a friendly spar between him and his best friend, he knew that unlike every other time, they wouldn't be walking away together.

"You knew that if I didn't return, you'd get thrown into the mess too!" was Shisui's reply as he was struck to the ground, before quickly rolling aside and getting back to his feet. "I know your father! He would never let either you or Sasuke back into the clan without my corpse at his feet!"

"And what does that matter?!" exclaimed Itachi angrily, reaching out once more to deliver a much deserved right hook to his cousin's face. Shisui choked and stumbled backwards, inaccurately swiping his kunai at thin air in order to regain his balance. As blood trickled from his mouth, he stretched his neck and dropped his kunai, getting into position to cast a jutsu.

"Gōkakyū no jutsu!"

"SHISUI!"

Itachi was livid as he dodged his cousin's attacks, weaving past the continous spout of fire erupting from Shisui's mouth as he edged closer to speak to him.

"You're a fucking idiot, do you know that?!"

Itachi ran towards Shisui and jumped into the air, launching down on him with every bit of fury he could muster. Before he could make contact with him, Shisui suddenly vanished and appeared a good five feet away from him, watching Itachi turn on his heel.

"Itachi, try harder."

"Try harder? TRY HARDER?! SHISUI, I'M NOT GOING TO HURT YOU! I FUCKING WISH I COULD RIGHT NOW, THOUGH!"

"Itachi, I know you're angry with-"

"Like hell I am!" Throwing any kind of jutsu out of the window, Itachi stormed up to Shisui and violently yanked him into the air by the front of his shirt, outraged by his cousin's idiocy. He had had the perfect opportunity to run away and be with Tera- but no. His sorry little ass decided to find his way back here again. "Why are you doing this, Shisui?! What are you doing?!"

"Doing what's right," said Shisui, looking down at his cousin with an empty look in his eyes. "You have a family to go home to. You need me dead the most."

"Izumi and Yuta could live without me for a few months," said Itachi in exasperation, clenching his fist as he lowered Shisui back down to the ground. "My father would get over it!"

"No. He wouldn't."

The pair stood face to face as the sounds of the others clashing in the background rang in their ears, boiling into a muffled collection of indiscernible white noise.

"Shisui," said Itachi in a calmer, more collected voice. "Please. Get over yourself. Just go, go join Tera. She needs you. Sasuke would probably chase you, but he's nothing you can't handle."