#headers shisui uchiha

[x-authorship-x]

Every time I get on your blog and I see that beautiful masked Spider Shisui you have as a header I get hit with the incredible need for an AU where Shisui is either an actual Oni or a Tengu or something

Me too, I'm mesmerised by that artwork ❤️‍🔥

Honestly you could go the route of "Oni Uchiha" but... Isn't it so much more fun to make it just Shisui or, maybe, ANBU themselves are Shinobi who've begun to be consumed by 'darkness'/'the other side'/'some form of chakra' and the masks represent the kind of demon they're aligned with??? Like that is so fucking cool...

The ANBU world building, holding onto the human world by the tips of their fingers and trying to be useful and good/being used like Cannon fodder+leashed monsters by the Hokage etc....

Oohhhhhhh and Shisui joined so YOUNG and Kakashi has been in ANBU for so long.... Gai has never gone ANBU but he's steadfastly holding onto Kakashi despite everything, Tenzo was RAISED behind the mask, Itachi is starting to turn and Shisui wants to save him maybe...! OOOH ANON 👀👀👀👀👀👀

Oni ANBU AU is so beautiful in my mind like holy shit 👀❤️‍🔥👀

[hiddenleafhistoriansdepartment]

Welcome! Basic Info for this blog:

Hey there, wandering user! I'm glad you're here.

My name's MK, and I happen to have a passion for understanding fiction and sharing it with others.

I mostly use this blog for miscellaneous Naruto ramblings. You can ask me about Naruto lore, characters, opinions, etc., and I'll do my best to answer.

For more information and guidelines, keep reading!

A bit about me

Online, I go by MK.

I use she/her pronouns.

I'm not a historian irl, I'm just a student with a passion for fiction.

Ask guidelines

I love asks and will be more than happy to answer them whenever possible!

Asks can be about anything Naruto-related! Characters, episodes, plot points, lore, conflicts, etc. I'd be happy to research for you!

You can also as me about my opinions on Naruto topics.

This should go without saying, but please keep asks respectful.

Other guidelines for this blog

The ask box is always open unless I say otherwise.

I'll be making posts about certain topics I personally find interesting to fill the blog outside of asks.

As stated in the header, this blog is NOT spoiler-free, obviously.

In my ask answers and informative posts, I try my best to be as canon-accurate as possible and nothing more. That being said, if I make an error, please tell me. I would appreciate it very much. However, be respectful.

Citations, where appropriate, will be in APA style. I will do my best to remember to link the source to every in-text citation, where applicable, because the traditional "references" structure isn't practical for tumblr posts.

Tag guidelines

#hiddenleafhistorian: basic tag for all of my posts.

#ask: used for posts that come from an ask.

#notanask: used for posts that do not come from asks.

#character, #lore, #conflict, #places, #episode: differentiate broad topics that the post covers.

Individual tags will be used with broad tags to make it easier for people to search for what they're looking for. Character tags go by the Japanese name order of surname-given name. Examples include #uchiha shisui, #final valley, #era of warring states, #hidden sand village, #senju clan

#naruto: used for every post to extend the blog's reach. Different from #uzumaki naruto, which is the character's tag.

#thehistorianspeaks: me posting on the blog, not articles

Thanks for reading and happy browsing!

[peakypacks]

naruto shippuden headers like or reblog if you save

[favs-me]

uchihas headers 

like/reblog if you save

[kurtskrow]

“Lemme just steal this guy’s eyes cause it’ll help the cause.” — Danzo probably.

[stuffuchiha]

宇✧: shisui uchiha packs! .˚⋆

like or reblog if u save\use

[itswayvbaby]

.+ ·. ⊹ * ♡：shisui uchiha,  levi ackerman                          and todoroki shoto headers.

                                  (requested)

                ʟɪᴋᴇ ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ sᴀᴠᴇ / ᴜsᴇ     * ⊹ .· +.

[venustudio]

itachi, deidara, kakashi, iruka and naruto headers.

follow me for more! | me siga para mais!

if you save, fav or rt! | se salvou, fav ou rt!

[aniticons]

kakashi + shisui pack

like/reblog if you save

credit me if you use it on twitter

[roadtouchihas]

Shiita headers

✘ like/reblog if you use ✘ © on twitter @killuaura

[lilyredspider]

pack uchiha sasuke

▪︎

#anime #naruto #pack #uchiha #sasuke #sharingan #icon #header #uchihasasuke #sasukeuchiha #twitter #shisui #madara #obito #itachi #rinnegan

[x-authorship-x]

"Kagami "snippet" at 1700 words but no Shisui yet XD Omigosh you answered so fast, I almost lost the post, thank you!

(Hm, wow, this might be a post for a reading-cut, if you can. Not sure how Tumblr works this.)

Yes - it is the worldbuilding. I'm at an impasse bc the worldbuilding will spoil the everliving all of the main AU, so I'm not sure how to offer it. tl;dr one-shot readers will be fine! Returning readers and new readers will not be fine. My header for the fic will be 'don't read it.'

(Do you want a namesake character to name-drop, as thanks? Name your own OC? It's a cousin who plays Orihime for a night. It's a best-possible outcome except some complications AU, btw. Canon has so few girls...)

Anyway, I'm risking the blatant tease ... because writing this has also cemented what I didn't want to do: Tobirama is lying to Kagami. Tobirama is lying to Kagami about the entire plot of the AU. Tobirama made him an unreliable narrator. Because Shinobi.

You said Kagami is manipulative? Well he is! He's just outclassed by shinobi who have been playing 3D chess with their own families since early childhood.

The thing is Kagami is so blatantly Tobirama's man, that if he genuinely thinks nothing is going on, everyone's going to doubt what they're looking at. Since "everyone" is largely Uchiha, that's a feat. Tobirama is doing this to protect Kagami, and for the S-class secret involved. But since the main line is a romance story, and here we are asking "How many kids will they have before Kagami figures it out?" Kagami's going to be furious XD I can't believe I'm committing to this bit.

So I didn't want to dump on Kagami, or transitively Shisui. They're excellent ninja and excellent people. Some shinobi are just better than they are. Apparently Tobirama is better than all of you." - Anon

Sounds like you have a strong grasp on the direction you're taking this fic and how you plan to go about it ☺️ I answer asks whenever I have the time or an idea hits me, often I read through my inbox and then brood on it for a while; your Kagami ask was simply just translating my profile for him into an answer!

It makes sense that Tobirama could fool Kagami, he is the one who taught Kagami so it makes sense that he'd know exactly how to flip that on him

An OC isn't necessary, I'd rather you just name dropped me in your A/N if anything but thank you for the offer

Good luck with writing, Anon ✌️

[raendown]

Pairing: ItachiShisui Word count: 1930 Soulmate au: The one where you see in black and white until you meet eyes with your soulmate

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

KO-FI and commission info in the header!

Chapter 216

Itachi was doing the dishes with his mother when his entire world changed. Like any good shinobi he multi-tasked without giving it much thought, admiring the pattern on their new dish set while listening to his mother tell him about little Sasuke’s training progress at the same time, each task given the same amount of attention. Something about the particular shade of red on the plates she was handing him drew his eye to trace the swirls and dips as though he might find some hidden meaning in them. He didn’t realize quite how closely he was staring until elegant fingers reached out to wave in front of his face and a quiet laugh chimed in his ears like bells. 

“Obviously I thought they were pretty enough to buy but I didn’t realize you would find them so fascinating,” she said. 

“Did I miss something you were saying? My apologies.” 

“No,” she assured him. “I just thought it was funny to see you concentrating so hard on a bit of ceramic. Have you got something on your mind?”

“I was only admiring the color.”

He didn’t expect Mikoto to stop moving and turn fully to give him a wide-eyed look. “You...can see the color of it? Oh Itachi! You can see color!” 

The next moment he found himself with an armful of motherly affection, carefully setting the plate down in the drying rack so he could pat her on the back with a bemused hum, unsure what had brought this on. It wasn’t as though his being able to see colors was a new phenomenon. Still, he’d been raised to be polite and so he waited until she seemed done with the whole hugging business before clearing his throat questioningly. 

“Mother, I’ve always been able to see color,” he said, thinking it strange she hadn’t known that.

“You- what? Since when?”

Bemused by the shock in her tone, Itachi shrugged. “Like I said, always. As far back as my memory goes. I know everyone else sees in black and white until they meet their soulmate; I suppose I’m just...precocious.” 

He gave her a smile to try and lighten the tension in her shoulders but it faded away when she only continued to stare. While it certainly was an anomaly he didn’t think there was any reason to look quite so panicked. It was only a bit of unearned color vision, it wasn’t as though he’d turned out to be one of the unlucky people who never saw colors even after they had made eye contact with their other half. Rather than stare back at his mother Itachi opted for turning away to put some of the dishes in to the cupboard while he waited for her to regain her words. He had barely enough time for squaring away the plates before she tugged on his arm to bring him round to face her again. 

“What’s the farthest thing back you can remember?” she asked. 

“My earliest memory?” Itachi hummed in thought. “I think perhaps the first time you took me to see fireworks. Sasuke was only a few months old and the sounds made him cry.” 

“And do you remember there being color?”

“Yes of course. All the biggest ones were blue.” 

For a moment she only stared at him some more. Honestly he was beginning to think there might be something wrong with him after all. Not to mention the guilt creeping in that he had apparently never so much as mentioned something so important as his ability to see more than shades of grey. Thankfully this time she recovered much more quickly. 

“Darling, I don’t think you were born with colors. I think maybe you just met your soulmate very early.” 

Now that was a possibility he’d never considered. This time it was Itachi’s turn to stare. “But- I don’t remember being a baby!” he cried. “If I met them that young then how am I supposed to know who it is?” 

“I think I can help with that,” she whispered in awe as though some grand thought had just occurred to her. 

“Oh?” 

“For the first couple years of your life you were quite the unsociable little thing. You didn’t really like to look at anyone, not even me, and we used to get a lot of compliments on how smart you were for knowing that eye contact can be dangerous.” Mikoto paused to smile. “We didn’t usually bother to explain that you were just a little insular. But there was one person who never failed to have your full attention. From the first time he picked you up Shisui was always your very favorite. You would run to him across the room and smile for him even when you wouldn’t smile for anyone else. If there is anyone whose eyes you would have met so early it would be him.” 

Several different emotions warred for attention in Itachi’s chest, filling him up until he thought he might burst, but there was one question that dominated all the others. “Why wouldn’t he have said anything?” 

“I think perhaps that’s a question you should ask him, not me.” Mikoto reached out and very gently tugged the dish towel from between his fingers, shooing him towards the door with her other hand. 

Four tumbling steps was all it took before Itachi’s brain caught up with his feet and suddenly he was flying out of the house, leaping up on to the rooftops where the paths would be clearer. As the heir of the Uchiha clan it had been pounded in to him from an early age that he should always act with dignity where others could see him - but dignity could not have been farther from his mind just then. He hurled himself from roof to roof, feet barely touching down before he launched forward in another great leap, eyes set dead ahead on a course he had travelled a thousand times and more. 

Shisui’s house was nearly as familiar to him as the one he’d grown up in. Hell, he’d practically half grown up here as well with how often he’d made himself welcome. The two of them were only a few years apart, close enough that they’d been best friends since quite young and Shisui never treated him like a little kid. They had always been equals. 

When Itachi finally landed on solid ground again his legs shook all the way up those familiar front steps and he found himself pausing, questioning whether he should knock for the first time in his life. He knew he was being silly, of course, but he’d never been very good with his own emotions at the best of times and right now he felt more rattled than ever before. Concentrating on his own reactions was even harder as he tried to take his best guess at how Shisui would react to this. Finding out that your best friend of more than a decade might have actually been your soulmate this whole time wasn’t exactly light news to drop on someone. Itachi hovered on the front step for nearly a full minute, rife with confused indecision, before the door opened itself to reveal the very person he’d come to see. Shisui took one look at him, tilted his head, and smiled. 

“You finally figured it out then?” he asked. 

“I beg your pardon?”

“That look on your face like you’ve seen a ghost. I know you better than you know yourself, ‘Tachi, I know what you’re thinking. You’ve figured out why you can see color and now you’re here worrying what I’ll think about it.” Shisui beamed, as cocky as ever, laughing a bit when Itachi could only stare at him. 

Nearly half a minute passed in silence before he found the words to blurt out, “You mean you already knew!?”

“Well of course! I was four years old when you were born, I had a lot of questions for my mum when suddenly everything was in color.” 

“And I suppose you have some grand reason for never saying anything?” Itachi demanded. 

Shisui’s laughter turned a bit sheepish. “It was a legitimate excuse at first, in my defense. But the older you got the more I wasn’t sure how to say ‘hey we’ve been soulmates this whole time!’ so I would hesitate more and then you’d get even older and the cycle just never ended. Then mom kicked the bucket on a mission so I didn’t have anyone to corroborate for me. Eventually it’s gotten to the point where I’ve just been basically waiting for some god or other to strike me down for sheer ignorance of the fates.” His eyes fell to one side with shame. “Or, you know, for you to figure it out for yourself. You are a genius after all.”

“My mother figured it out.” Saying it out loud felt like giving physical voice to shame, a feeling that wasn’t helped when Shisui winced and then nodded. 

“I mean, Mikoto has always been pretty smart too.”

“We’re going to fight about this later,” Itachi told him. Then a flush rose up on his cheeks and he turned his own eyes away with embarrassment. “If you’ve been trying so hard to find a way to talk about this then does that mean...what does that mean?” 

He thought for a couple of heartbeats that his hopes would be dashed. It wasn’t until Shisui’s face grew to roughly the same shade of red as a fresh tomato that he realized he was being silly. What reason would the other have to hesitate in telling him the truth if there was nothing more to it? Like the complete idiots they were, both of them had apparently been carrying around the same secret. That was just like them. 

“Okay so we don’t need to make a big deal out of this but yes I’ve had a massive crush on you since we were pretty little and yes I was an absolute coward who never said anything.” Shisui coughed delicately in to one hand. “So if you happen to miraculously feel the same way that would be absolutely smashing; not to mention it would save me a great deal of moping.” 

“You are, hands down, my least favorite person in the world right now,” Itachi told him. 

Then as if to prove his own words wrong he took double fistfuls of the other’s collar and pulled them together for a first kiss he had imagined a rather shameful number of times. He meant it when he said they were going to fight about this later. Once he’d had time to get passed the novelty of being allowed close, being allowed to touch in the ways he’d been dreaming about, the two of them were absolutely going to trade some very sharp words about what kind of secrets were appropriate to keep and why it wasn’t very nice to hide the fact that they were soulmates for nearly two full decades. But all of that could wait.

For now he pressed a little closer just for the pleasure of feeling Shisui’s arms coming around to encircle his waist. Even if he had seen in black and white his entire life he knew that Shisui would still be the colors in his soul. The two of them were meant to be together. If fate happened to agree with him on that point?

Well. He was hardly going to argue against having everything he’d ever wanted handed to him on a silver platter.

[peakypacks]

naruto shippuden headers like or reblog if you save

[sonorous-cicada]

shisui x Sasuke ?

Um, tbh I never really thought of it. Personally, I don't particularly care for Sasuke as a character. (To each their own of course) Because of that I find it difficult to write him without focusing on his negative qualities. I have been trying to be fairer towards his character development. However, I think this particular pairing might be beyond me at the moment. There are some fabulously written ones on Ao3, I'm sure. 😀

If you'd like a different Uchiha or *other* pairing, I'd be more than happy to give it a go. The rules are in the bio/header section of my tumblr.

Thank you so much for asking!

[officerjennie]

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Naruto Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Uchiha Itachi/Uchiha Shisui Characters: Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Kagami, Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Fugaku Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, mostly pre-slash, Rating May Change, No Underage Sex, Not promising regular updates Summary:

Snippets of Shisui's life, often revolving around his favorite, albeit rather withdrawn, cousin.

Click the link or continue below the line to read!

Also, I officially have a Ko-Fi (link in header) :)

October came and went, Shisui’s smile waxing and waning with the moon. Even Halloween had little flare, the chill in the air flushing his cheeks red and cracking the skin of his palms.

After November began too soon, he briefly considered making a fuss - but the dark circles under his mom’s eyes gave him pause, and the ever-growing distant look on his father’s face made up his mind.

Instead, Shisui sat in the floor of his room with a few of his old toys around him, quietly celebrating his late birthday with an imaginary too-sweet cake and hand-me-down presents.

His mother startled him awake the next morning with near desperate shaking of his shoulder. “Shisui, you sleep like the dead!” Shisui sat up, barely aware of his mother’s huffing and grumbling as he rubbed at his eyes.

“Kaa-san, it’s Saturday.” He continued to whine as his mother went about his room. She stopped at the toys in his floor, still placed in a semi-circle from his late-night celebration, and tisked before shoving them all into his toy basket.

“Must you leave your floor a wreck? And no, it’s Sunday - come on, Shisui, you need to get dressed.”

He held back a groan, but only barely, as she searched through his clothes for who-knows-what. As she went on mumbling to herself, he turned his head, eyeing his pillow briefly before shrugging and flopping back down. He threw the top of his futon over his head and once again was graced by the blissful warmth and darkness.

When his mother woke him up again, she was practically hissing in anger. She tossed his clothes down on the bed next to him, demanding he put them on quickly before coming down for breakfast.

“And,” she stopped in the doorway, a hand on the doorknob and her eyes narrowed, “do not. Make me come dress you.” She shut his door hard, the frame shaking slightly and leaving the room quiet.

Shisui pouted, fiddling with his night shirt. It was probably best to do as she said. He wasn’t the smartest kid in his class - his no-better-than-average grades would testify to that - but he could tell she was getting angry, and he hated when his mom was angry with him. So he abandoned the warmth and comfort of his futon, this time not bothering to hold back his groan, wondering where they could be going in such a hurry on a Sunday.

He got dressed quickly and headed out to the living room, sticking his legs under the kotatsu as he settled in - it wouldn’t be turned on for at least another month, but it was still warmer underneath the blanket. While he waited for breakfast, he poked at a small hole in his pants, rolling his eyes around the living room in hopes something would catch his attention.

The living room was small. Everything here was smaller - the bathroom, the kitchen, his room. There wasn’t even a balcony here for his mom’s plants like their last place. He remembered she had looked sad giving most of them away when they moved here.

They’d only been here a few months, and Shisui still didn’t like it. There was no upstairs, their neighbors were too loud, and everything felt too tight and too big all at once. Thinking about it for too long made his head and chest hurt.

His mother brought two plates from the kitchen and sat across the kotatsu from him. Leftover curry and rice. He scrunched up his nose but said nothing, picking up his spoon to at least poke at a carrot or two.

She didn’t let him laze around like usual, rushing them both out of the house and ignoring Shisui’s grumbling protests.

“Kaa-san, are we going to the shrine?” They were already walking down the stairs to the train station when he bothered to ask. Every month or so she would drag him to the local shrine. It hadn’t been something they’d done when he was younger, at least as far as he remembered, but it wasn’t like he minded the trips. He liked walking through the gardens, even if his mom often had to scold him for being too loud.

“No, we’re visiting my sister.” The gate beeped as they went through, his mom sticking their train card back in her wallet as they walked down yet another set of stairs.

Shisui frowned, scuffing his feet on the ground as they stopped to wait for the next train. He remembered he had an aunt. Sort of. She had long hair...and she was pale.. And she was at the doctor’s when- “Oh! The one who had akachan?” He’d only seen his baby cousin once, the one with really small hands and fingers and toes. “I forgot his name.”

“Itachi-chan, yes.” His mother had a faint smile on her face, the train blowing her hair even as it slowed in front of them. It was odd, because her eyes looked really sad. “He’s finally home, so I thought we should visit.”

“He wasn’t home? Where was he?”

“Shisui, he was sick, remember?” She smoothed a hand through his hair, keeping it on the back of his head as they entered the train cart and sat down.

“So he’s all better now?” A hand on his knee kept him from kicking his feet, as did a short and sharp look from his mother.

“No. He’s still sick. But Oba-san was a nurse, so she knows how to care for him.”

Shisui couldn’t recall ever visiting his oba-san and oji-san. Their house was a long walk away from the train station, and was an actual house! No apartment complex, it was a separate building from those around it, with its own garden in the back. The whole neighborhood was in private awe with Shisui as he stood staring. His mother was less impressed, shooing him up the walkway to the front door.

The lady who answered the door was a lot warmer than the last time he saw her. Her hair was no longer dull, her skin not sick and wet - there were a lot of lines around her eyes though, and there was something off about her wide smile that Shisui couldn’t quite put his finger on.

They were quickly ushered into the living room - Sakiko making sure to turn Shisui’s shoes at the entry, scolding him quietly as Mikoto, ever the perfect host, immediately brought out a tray of snacks and turned the electric kettle on. There were some snacks Shisui didn’t recognize, and he couldn’t read the kanji on them either. Mikoto noticed him hesistating and handed him one.

“Ringo Otome. They’re famous in Nagano. Fugaku just went on a business trip there. They go beautifully with green tea.”

It took nearly half an hour for Shisui to remember why they were there. He had eaten several of the ringo things, some ice cream mochi, and had started on his second cup of tea. His mother and aunt had been chatting back and forth. Most of the conversation bored Shisui - talk of his uncle, work, medication, uncle’s smoking habits. The last bit seemed to upset his aunt, her pleasant smile vanishing from her face.

“He tries to hide it, but comes home reeking of smoke, Saki.” Mikoto sat her tea cup down, reaching for one of the neatly folded cloth napkins she had placed out for them. Shisui watched as she refolded it, pressing each crease carefully. “It’s bad enough he’s smoking again, but lying to me?”

Shisui peeked up at her from behind his own cup. She was dabbing at the corners of her eyes. They looked full and unhappy, but she laughed and brushed it all away when Sakiko tried to comfort her.

“It’s just a lying husband. It’s not all that bad.”

Shisui scrunched up his eyebrows. He was always told not to lie, and got in big trouble when he did. Especially when he lied to kaa-san. If it hurt Mikoto oba-san so much, why wasn’t she upset? Or was she upset?

He nibbled on another otome. He didn’t really understand his oba-san, but he liked her well enough. And he decidedly did not like his oji-san already.

“...I know it’s hard on him, Saki, but I’m the one taking care of him. I give him his medication. I see what happened - what is happening - to our little boy. And yet he’s the one who’s sneaking around.” Mikoto’s voice got small again, and she looked exhausted, as if mentioning her son brought all the pain she hid to the surface.

Wait, her son...?

“Ita-chan is home, right?” Shisui forgot instantly why he was brought up, excitement bubbling up and causing him to grin wide. “Where is he?” Even knowing he wasn’t in the room couldn’t stop him from whipping his head back and forth, hoping to catch a glimpse of his little cousin.

Mikoto frowned ever so slightly. “He’s in his room resting at-”

“Where’s his room?” Shisui was up in a heartbeat, ready to make a beeline for his cousin. Sweets and tea were nice, but his legs were itchy, and his thoughts got too loud and fast when he had to sit still for so long. Maybe they could play tag? Or build something? Maybe he had video games?

His thoughts were cut short by his aunt’s stern but gentle voice. “Shisui, Itachi is ill. He can’t play like normal boys. He needs to sleep.”

Shisui whined and pouted at that, much to his mother’s embarrassment and horror, but eventually was scolded into sitting quietly as the two women went back to chatting away. He eyed the two warily, plotting his escape.

It turned out his plotting was unnecessary - though he was sad to scrap the great Bathroom plan (pretend he had to pee and wander the house until he found his cousin). His aunt had recently started a tiered herb garden - “I can’t leave Itachi alone,” she explained, a slight pained expression on her face, “and a normal babysitter just can’t handle him” - and insisted on showing Sakiko. To his delight, Shisui was told to stay inside at the kotatsu. He put on his most innocent face, big eyes and smile, and promised not to move an inch.

Mikoto gushed at how cute Saki’s boy was. Sakiko looked unconvinced, but followed her imouto outside anyway.

He jumped up as soon as the backdoor shut behind them. They had passed some stairs on their way in, and he bolted up them now. He tried a few doors in his search, finding a bathroom, a large bedroom, a drab room with a desk and far too many cabinets, until at last he found the right one.

Itachi’s room was larger than his own, but the space didn’t make it as inviting as it should. The whole room seemed cold. There were no pictures on the wall, no toys scattered about. Shisui suddenly remembered where he first met his aunt, in a cold room that smelled so clean it burned his nose. Everything about this room made him want to leave.

Until a big pair of tired eyes caught his own.

Tiny, pale fists wiped at those big eyes, the small boy yawning as he sat up in his bed. He peeked at Shisui curiously, but didn’t make to get up or greet him.

Shisui didn’t know why he expected Itachi to be his age - he puffed out a cheek, upset at himself. Of course his cousin was younger. Of course he was smaller.

Was he supposed to be that small though?

Now, Shisui wasn’t great at a lot of things. He hated numbers, refused to type at computers, and had nearly sprained his ankle the last time he “played” baseball. But he knew he was great at talking to people. He made friends easily, and people loved being around him.

He was told Itachi wasn’t like normal boys, but Shisui wouldn’t let that stop him. He grinned wide at the boy as he plopped right next to him on the bed, earning an even bigger eyed stare than before.

“Hi. i’m Shisui. We’re cousins, but I don’t have any brothers, so call me Shisui-nii, okay?”

The boy blinked his doe eyes at Shisui in response. Shisui looked around the room again, his smile unwavering. “You don’t have any video games, do you?” Blink. “Well, what do you do for fun?” Blink.

Shisui huffed and threw his hands back at the bed, leaning on them. He frowned up at the ceiling for a minute before looking back over at his cousin. “You have toys, don’t you?”

Itachi cocked his head to one side, staring at Shisui for another minute. He didn’t look sad, or happy, or angry, or even tired anymore. Shisui scrunched up his nose, studying his little cousin as Itachi did the same with him. Eventually, ever so slowly, the younger boy crawled out from underneath his covers and placed his bare feet on the floor, heading for his closet. Shisui noted his night clothes had little black birds on them, and found it utterly adorable.

Itachi came out of the closet with his arms full. He gingerly placed his findings on the bed, then sat himself in-between Shisui and the stack of books.

He nearly groaned as Itachi carefully looked at each book. “Those aren’t toys. Those are booooorrring.”

Itachi seemed to ignore his whining, carefully picking up his books and studying the covers until he found the right one. With his decision made, he handed it to Shisui and looked up at him, big, quiet eyes and long lashes and too-pale skin.

Shisui looked down at his cousin. He had bandaids on his upper arms, pink with kittens on them. His wrists were so small he looked fragile. “What do you want me to do with this?” He finally looked at the book in his lap, and remembered seeing it somewhere before - it was about a turtle and a cat. One for little kids, too.

“Read to me?”

Shisui blinked down at his little cousin. His voice was small, but he didn’t sound nervous. Just quiet. He nodded slowly, though he wasn’t nearly as reluctant as he made himself out to be. “But just one, I’m too big to read this stuff.”

Itachi’s smile wasn’t big like Shisui’s. It was quiet, just like his voice and eyes. But Shisui found it fit his Itachi perfectly, and grinned right back at him before launching into the story.

By the time Sakuko and Mikoto discovered them, Shisui had read through the stack and started over, Itachi curled up tight against his chest with his eyes barely open. He was scolded the whole way home for not listening, but he found, for once, he couldn’t feel sorry for what he did - even if he was grounded and told several times how serious Itachi’s “condition” was.

He curled up in bed that night and slept peacefully. For once, he didn’t dream about moving or his father’s raised voice, but of ways to make Itachi smile.