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Entry tags:
Itachi-centric ficbit thing.
I... don't think I've posted this yet. I know I showed it to some people (if I showed it to you, don't spoil in the comments or I'll bite you. :p speculation is okay, because I'll just smile and refuse to confirm anyway. ... let's hope it's at least mildly intriguing, for like a half-second. hopefully.) It's tagged as ItaSasu because it's got Itachi and Sasuke and Uchiha things, but I don't even know if there will be any pairings at all, and if there are there might not be ItaSasu at all.
Or there might be. Who knows.
(but either way I'm not planning on shota.)
First, mildly confusing scene of a new-ish fic-bunny-thing. Warning, I don't see this fic becoming high priority. Pretty sure even the cyborg fic is higher priority than this. Meaning it might well fall off the face of the planet if I get swallowed by Teamwork and forget about my other random ideas.
There's a new cousin lodging at aunt Yukio's, in one of the rooms she rents to single young men. When Itachi's little brother asks him where the boy was living before, for them not to know him, Itachi answers simply that this cousin's mother presumably chose not to live in Konoha. He doesn't say anything about bastard children, about endangering the bloodline through one-night-stands with civilians, about the stern reminders against carelessness now going around the Uchihas on active duty. As far as Sasuke knows, this is only a cousin from the country.
The new cousin is older, maybe sixteen, maybe more. Itachi wouldn't have to look far from home to find the guilty party; the new boy could be their mother's baby brother, and she has -- had -- quite a few close, older male relatives. The boy is probably Itachi and Sasuke's first cousin -- perhaps even their uncle. Itachi doesn't say anything; not to respect his parents' silence on the question, but because there are secrets there, and while he doesn't quite care enough to seek them out, if he keeps silent eventually they will come to him. Perhaps they will be worthless secrets; perhaps not.
The new boy's eyes are always red. Their father grumbles over his newspaper that he's going to damage his retinas if it keeps going. Itachi keeps quiet; he can trust Sasuke to ask instead. His little brother's insatiable curiosity and lack of decorum are reliably persistent.
"Why does he keep the sharingan on all the time?"
Fugaku frowns, remembering. "He says he can't stop it -- not easily."
Itachi's not-so-interested interest is nicely piqued. Killing rages don't last, and losing your voluntary hold of the sharingan is about the easiest thing in the world.
"But why? Doesn't that make him tired?" Sasuke prods, and gives a pouty frown when their father shrugs. "Not even when he sleeps? And what about--"
Their father shakes his head, his attention back on his article already. "I don't know, Sasuke. He told Yukio-san he couldn't; she didn't hound him for details."
The way he turns the page is like a dismissal. Sasuke looks away, faltering, and then he tries again.
"But why?"
Like a dog with a bone. Itachi's lips curve faintly in approval.
Their parents exchange a look; their mother takes over. "No one really knows, Sasuke. It's possible that his sharingan has a defect. It happens sometimes -- very rarely," she hastens to reassure his little brother, who really wasn't that worried.
Itachi wonders if that rarity correlates with being a half-breed.
Or if there is some other reason. The excuse seems awfully convenient.
Sometimes Itachi thinks that the best way to hide the truth from a ninja is to tell it to them point-blank; they'll try to crack the code for days on end. Still... If the story is true, this cousin has had his sharingan working almost full-time since it awakened, and he hasn't died of chakra exhaustion yet. This is worth looking into.
If the story is fake, it's worth checking out even more.
+
Shisui is waiting for him at their usual meeting place, by the river. Today, Itachi doesn't feel like trying very hard, so Shisui becomes aware of his presence after only a couple of steps. His cousin arches a questioning eyebrow, lips curved up in a vaguely teasing smirk. Itachi counters with a flat stare. Shisui's smirks widens a little, as if he were contemplating teasing him anyway, but in the end he doesn't.
"Good evening, cousin."
"Good evening," Itachi replies, nodding politely. He goes and sits on the fallen tree trunk that's his usual seat. Today, Shisui is facing the river, instead of turned to the side to widen his angle of view; he probably hasn't been on any dangerous mission recently, or else his guard would still be up.
Not that his defense perimeter is small, even when he isn't stressed. Itachi approves of that.
"What's on your mind?"
Itachi glances at Shisui, arches an eyebrow; he gets an amused quirk of the lips in return, and doesn't bother asking if there's a reason Shisui believes he's brooding about anything in particular.
"Rumors," he throws; and waits to see if Shisui will bite.
Shisui doesn't, of course; he only nods noncommittally. "Oh, really?"
Itachi allows himself a faint smirk. "Hmm."
"You listen to housewife gossip?" Shisui prompts, teasing, when it becomes clear that Itachi won't make it that easy.
"Sometimes they have interesting things to say."
Shisui chuckles quietly. "And do they, this time?"
"Perhaps. It isn't like they're working on better premises than 'she heard' and 'it seemed'."
"But it sounds promising anyway?"
Itachi considers. Promising implies that there might be something for him in it. There might be. But he has to see how the situation develops first. He isn't much for building castles on clouds. "No, not really. Intriguing, perhaps."
"That sounds fascinating."
Itachi cuts Shisui a quick glance. He looks perfectly serious -- earnest, even. He's teasing again, of course. A few months ago, Itachi would have been annoyed at his flippant dismissal; but now he knows that Shisui respects his abilities and mindset. He isn't afraid or jealous, is all. This is a rare thing amongst those who are aware of Itachi's true potential.
Being liked for it is even rarer. There is Sasuke, true; but while Sasuke's allegiance is blind and absolute, he isn't an equal the way Shisui is.
"The gossip mill does seem to be turning at work, too," Shisui adds, unconcerned.
Itachi's eyes narrow faintly. Shisui is in ANBU, like he is, though they aren't in the same team, but Itachi is still regarded with wary awe; whispers tend to die around him. "...Does it?"
"Hmm. I've heard our clan's name a couple of times this week, and it wasn't referring to me."
"Why would the ANBU concern itself with the Uchiha?" Itachi replies. It sounds vaguely disdainful, almost rhetorical; it isn't.
"I wonder."
Teasing again; which means that Itachi managed to miss something Shisui thought obvious. Or that he's going after the wrong target.
"Why does the ANBU concern itself with the Uchiha?" Itachi repeats softly.
"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to talk about it..."
Itachi waits, stillness betraying his impatience. He's not going to let Shisui sidetrack him now.
"... But I'm sure you'll be able to pretend you didn't know just fine. Captain."
Itachi blinks slowly. Shisui's lips are quirking up.
"... Captain," he repeats flatly.
"Congratulations on your upcoming promotion, sir."
Itachi stares at Shisui, and for a moment, seriously considers roundhousing him in the face.
"What's wrong, cousin? You seem unhappy. You know you need to pass by captain before getting to commander."
Itachi's eyes narrow. Sometimes, being liked by Shisui is irritating. He never laughs at people he doesn't give a damn about.
"...Shisui."
Shisui's innocent mask melts into a more sympathetic smile. "I can't tell you about the boy."
He doesn't add anything; he doesn't need to. If he can't talk about the newcomer, it means the information he knows is classified. It means the ANBU is investigating him.
Even though they've let him into the village, into the Uchiha district already.
The many ramifications of what this could mean are fascinating. It's too bad he can't ask Shisui for more information; he's going to have to find sources elsewhere.
"You're going already?" Shisui inquires as Itachi gets up from his seat. The hint of amusement in there makes Itachi pause. He was expecting vague disappointment, or maybe an amusement more tinged with 'I knew it' than ... whatever else this it.
"Was there something you wished to talk about?" Itachi replies, even though what he wants to say is 'yes'. The modicum of reciprocity needed to maintain friendships can get frustrating sometimes; especially when he knows that Shisui knows what he plans to do, and is almost certainly mocking him again.
"Oh, no, nothing special."
Itachi waits for a second, and then, when Shisui doesn't add anything, turns away to leave. He's not going to let his cousin manipulate him into asking again.
"I just thought I could introduce you to a young man I met recently. I took the liberty of telling him we'd meet him at the teashop..."
... One day, Itachi will probably kill Shisui. It will be self-defense. No ninja worth the name should tolerate being read so deeply.
He stares down at his best friend, and arches an eyebrow, waiting for Shisui to stop chuckling and start moving.
Or there might be. Who knows.
(but either way I'm not planning on shota.)
First, mildly confusing scene of a new-ish fic-bunny-thing. Warning, I don't see this fic becoming high priority. Pretty sure even the cyborg fic is higher priority than this. Meaning it might well fall off the face of the planet if I get swallowed by Teamwork and forget about my other random ideas.
There's a new cousin lodging at aunt Yukio's, in one of the rooms she rents to single young men. When Itachi's little brother asks him where the boy was living before, for them not to know him, Itachi answers simply that this cousin's mother presumably chose not to live in Konoha. He doesn't say anything about bastard children, about endangering the bloodline through one-night-stands with civilians, about the stern reminders against carelessness now going around the Uchihas on active duty. As far as Sasuke knows, this is only a cousin from the country.
The new cousin is older, maybe sixteen, maybe more. Itachi wouldn't have to look far from home to find the guilty party; the new boy could be their mother's baby brother, and she has -- had -- quite a few close, older male relatives. The boy is probably Itachi and Sasuke's first cousin -- perhaps even their uncle. Itachi doesn't say anything; not to respect his parents' silence on the question, but because there are secrets there, and while he doesn't quite care enough to seek them out, if he keeps silent eventually they will come to him. Perhaps they will be worthless secrets; perhaps not.
The new boy's eyes are always red. Their father grumbles over his newspaper that he's going to damage his retinas if it keeps going. Itachi keeps quiet; he can trust Sasuke to ask instead. His little brother's insatiable curiosity and lack of decorum are reliably persistent.
"Why does he keep the sharingan on all the time?"
Fugaku frowns, remembering. "He says he can't stop it -- not easily."
Itachi's not-so-interested interest is nicely piqued. Killing rages don't last, and losing your voluntary hold of the sharingan is about the easiest thing in the world.
"But why? Doesn't that make him tired?" Sasuke prods, and gives a pouty frown when their father shrugs. "Not even when he sleeps? And what about--"
Their father shakes his head, his attention back on his article already. "I don't know, Sasuke. He told Yukio-san he couldn't; she didn't hound him for details."
The way he turns the page is like a dismissal. Sasuke looks away, faltering, and then he tries again.
"But why?"
Like a dog with a bone. Itachi's lips curve faintly in approval.
Their parents exchange a look; their mother takes over. "No one really knows, Sasuke. It's possible that his sharingan has a defect. It happens sometimes -- very rarely," she hastens to reassure his little brother, who really wasn't that worried.
Itachi wonders if that rarity correlates with being a half-breed.
Or if there is some other reason. The excuse seems awfully convenient.
Sometimes Itachi thinks that the best way to hide the truth from a ninja is to tell it to them point-blank; they'll try to crack the code for days on end. Still... If the story is true, this cousin has had his sharingan working almost full-time since it awakened, and he hasn't died of chakra exhaustion yet. This is worth looking into.
If the story is fake, it's worth checking out even more.
+
Shisui is waiting for him at their usual meeting place, by the river. Today, Itachi doesn't feel like trying very hard, so Shisui becomes aware of his presence after only a couple of steps. His cousin arches a questioning eyebrow, lips curved up in a vaguely teasing smirk. Itachi counters with a flat stare. Shisui's smirks widens a little, as if he were contemplating teasing him anyway, but in the end he doesn't.
"Good evening, cousin."
"Good evening," Itachi replies, nodding politely. He goes and sits on the fallen tree trunk that's his usual seat. Today, Shisui is facing the river, instead of turned to the side to widen his angle of view; he probably hasn't been on any dangerous mission recently, or else his guard would still be up.
Not that his defense perimeter is small, even when he isn't stressed. Itachi approves of that.
"What's on your mind?"
Itachi glances at Shisui, arches an eyebrow; he gets an amused quirk of the lips in return, and doesn't bother asking if there's a reason Shisui believes he's brooding about anything in particular.
"Rumors," he throws; and waits to see if Shisui will bite.
Shisui doesn't, of course; he only nods noncommittally. "Oh, really?"
Itachi allows himself a faint smirk. "Hmm."
"You listen to housewife gossip?" Shisui prompts, teasing, when it becomes clear that Itachi won't make it that easy.
"Sometimes they have interesting things to say."
Shisui chuckles quietly. "And do they, this time?"
"Perhaps. It isn't like they're working on better premises than 'she heard' and 'it seemed'."
"But it sounds promising anyway?"
Itachi considers. Promising implies that there might be something for him in it. There might be. But he has to see how the situation develops first. He isn't much for building castles on clouds. "No, not really. Intriguing, perhaps."
"That sounds fascinating."
Itachi cuts Shisui a quick glance. He looks perfectly serious -- earnest, even. He's teasing again, of course. A few months ago, Itachi would have been annoyed at his flippant dismissal; but now he knows that Shisui respects his abilities and mindset. He isn't afraid or jealous, is all. This is a rare thing amongst those who are aware of Itachi's true potential.
Being liked for it is even rarer. There is Sasuke, true; but while Sasuke's allegiance is blind and absolute, he isn't an equal the way Shisui is.
"The gossip mill does seem to be turning at work, too," Shisui adds, unconcerned.
Itachi's eyes narrow faintly. Shisui is in ANBU, like he is, though they aren't in the same team, but Itachi is still regarded with wary awe; whispers tend to die around him. "...Does it?"
"Hmm. I've heard our clan's name a couple of times this week, and it wasn't referring to me."
"Why would the ANBU concern itself with the Uchiha?" Itachi replies. It sounds vaguely disdainful, almost rhetorical; it isn't.
"I wonder."
Teasing again; which means that Itachi managed to miss something Shisui thought obvious. Or that he's going after the wrong target.
"Why does the ANBU concern itself with the Uchiha?" Itachi repeats softly.
"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to talk about it..."
Itachi waits, stillness betraying his impatience. He's not going to let Shisui sidetrack him now.
"... But I'm sure you'll be able to pretend you didn't know just fine. Captain."
Itachi blinks slowly. Shisui's lips are quirking up.
"... Captain," he repeats flatly.
"Congratulations on your upcoming promotion, sir."
Itachi stares at Shisui, and for a moment, seriously considers roundhousing him in the face.
"What's wrong, cousin? You seem unhappy. You know you need to pass by captain before getting to commander."
Itachi's eyes narrow. Sometimes, being liked by Shisui is irritating. He never laughs at people he doesn't give a damn about.
"...Shisui."
Shisui's innocent mask melts into a more sympathetic smile. "I can't tell you about the boy."
He doesn't add anything; he doesn't need to. If he can't talk about the newcomer, it means the information he knows is classified. It means the ANBU is investigating him.
Even though they've let him into the village, into the Uchiha district already.
The many ramifications of what this could mean are fascinating. It's too bad he can't ask Shisui for more information; he's going to have to find sources elsewhere.
"You're going already?" Shisui inquires as Itachi gets up from his seat. The hint of amusement in there makes Itachi pause. He was expecting vague disappointment, or maybe an amusement more tinged with 'I knew it' than ... whatever else this it.
"Was there something you wished to talk about?" Itachi replies, even though what he wants to say is 'yes'. The modicum of reciprocity needed to maintain friendships can get frustrating sometimes; especially when he knows that Shisui knows what he plans to do, and is almost certainly mocking him again.
"Oh, no, nothing special."
Itachi waits for a second, and then, when Shisui doesn't add anything, turns away to leave. He's not going to let his cousin manipulate him into asking again.
"I just thought I could introduce you to a young man I met recently. I took the liberty of telling him we'd meet him at the teashop..."
... One day, Itachi will probably kill Shisui. It will be self-defense. No ninja worth the name should tolerate being read so deeply.
He stares down at his best friend, and arches an eyebrow, waiting for Shisui to stop chuckling and start moving.
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This cracked me up, in addition to possibly being one of the actual reasons he did it (mangekyou notwithstanding).
I'm intrigued about the boy. I mean, there are only two examples in canon of people who always have sharingan running, and those are Kakashi (who presumably can't turn it off because he doesn't actually have the bloodline limit) and Itachi (who either can't because of mangekyou or just hasn't where any of the main characters can see). I'm curious as to what the explanation for this case will be.
You've got Itachi spot-on. It's not always easy to find a fic focusing on Itachi pre-massacre that doesn't have him randomly falling in love/angsting unnecessarily/Wholely and Completely Evil.
Overall, very well-writen, and I'll look forward to reading the next part when you post it.
Adi
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Shisui's character? hmmm pretty...
The modicum of reciprocity needed to maintain friendships can get frustrating sometimes; especially when he knows that Shisui knows what he plans to do, and is almost certainly mocking him again
I ADORE this line!!!
+J+
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Damnit, why do you insist on writing such pretty, pretty things that ruin me for all but a few other Naruto writers?
It's so much easier finding decent fic when my standards are lower. >.>
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Do you know how happy I am to see the trend of great writers focusing on Itachi and Shisui? I just ... *_*
Goddamn, this was great! You have Itachi spot on, Shisui is ingenius in his cleverness, the dialogue is witty and suspensful, and this line made me stop and stare:
One day, Itachi will probably kill Shisui. It will be self-defense. No ninja worth the name should tolerate being read so deeply.
Wonderful.
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Would bribing you with a homemade chocolate chip cookie the size of the sun bring the story up a few notches?
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I'm thinking that right now he hasn't decided yet to kill Shisui for other things, but the very fact that he has created a bond is displeasing him because it makes him vulnerable, so the decision wouldn't be a very hard one.
MUAHAHAHAHAHA. >D ... this reminds me that I need to rewrite the next scene because it's not subtle enough. XD;;;
Thank you ^^
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Alas. XD Not really. I don't feel the pre-massacre love often, and this is a quite difficult fic to handle, so eh. The set-up is easy, but the fall-out... I'm still trying to figure out how it will work. ^^;
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The new cousin is proving quite hard to handle properly. It's hard to make him "oh hey this guy has something itachi wants to know" without making him "ZOMG LOOK I HAVE A SPESHUL SECRET MUAHAHA LOOK AT MEEE"!stuish. x_x
Right now the way I would summarize this fic sets off my own internal alarms." A mysterious new Uchiha is in town! omg." Strictly spaking, it's true, but it still makes me wonder where people assume I'm going with it. XD;;
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It's so fun to create a character that Itachi would actually respect and not mind too much XD; *pets Shisui*
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Thanks ^^
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Also, I like Shisui. He only mocks people he likes and respects? That's very interesting. Itachi's impatience with the reciprocity of friendship also rings very true to me.
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Shisui is nothing but unfailingly calm, courteous and professional with people he doesn't actively like. And the more he dislikes you and the more professional he'll be. XD
(the lodger-woman was totally called Yukiko at first. XDDD;;; *takes off a K and she becomes a brand new character! like magic* Thank god she's just a background character. Now I can say it's a tribute, not thievery. XDDD ♥)
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Everyone's quoted most of the lines I liked, but I'll add that your phrasing is very elegant. I liked it very much!
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<3333
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"It was self-defense. He... understood me."