Dear Shisui

Dear Shisui,

Do you remember traveling to the top of the Nakano that night? I know you know the night I’m referring to. The one where you told me your dreams and I couldn’t give you an answer? Those days, we somehow found every excuse to be together. I remember laughing when you convinced my father to let you steal me away again. He never really trusted you. He always thought you had ulterior motives, but I guess you knew that. I did too, but I was in on the secret.

I miss the days when we were heading down the same path, but I fear we got lost somewhere along the way. I’m sorry, I know I told you I wouldn’t. I would have kept following our path, but you had other places to be. Perhaps things could have turned out differently if I had said something else that night. Or maybe, the result would have always been the same. 

I guess I’ll never know now.

I hope you found what you were looking for. That escape from the confines of this town and their prying eyes and questions. I know you never really found it here. Stolen moments aside. 

As for myself… Do you even want to hear about me? Perhaps I should keep it brief. I’ve been growing my hair out long. Yes, longer than before. Sasuke is fine. He’s hit his teenager phase and he’s a little more disillusioned with me and everything else. He was always going to learn that I wasn’t something to be admired someday, but I do wish he would have held onto that childish fantasy a little longer. Then again, I’m not very good at keeping up the charade anymore.

I don’t know what else to say. You’ll never see this, but I miss you.

Sincerely,

Itachi

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The soothing rush of the Nakano was getting louder with every step the two boys took. Shisui kept looking back to make sure Itachi was still close behind, despite the fact that they had traveled here many times before.

“I won’t get lost.” 

Shisui’s laugh rang throughout the night, momentarily drowning out the sound of the waterfall. 

“Maybe I’m worried you’ll disappear if I look away.” 

There he goes again, Itachi thought. He could already feel heat crawling across his cheeks. Good thing it was dark and there was no possible way Shisui could see how red his face had become.

They finally broke through the treeline surrounding the outcropping of rocks that they had claimed as their own. The river was beautiful at night, but no one else in the village ever dared to make the trek when the sun had fallen below the horizon. It had become their thing to sneak out here when all other curious eyes had left for the day. 

Itachi’s father was growing restless with his son’s continuous disappearances, but Shisui always seemed to find a way to sweet talk his parents into letting him leave. Perhaps it was because his parents felt bad that Shisui was orphaned at such a young age. Sure, the older boy lived with a nice foster family, but it would never be the same. They were more equitable to room and board than an actual family. 

Shisui rarely talked about his birth parents. Itachi knew that he had loved them and he missed them, but that’s about the farthest their conversations ever went. He chose not to pry and the older boy seemed to appreciate his consideration. 

“What’s got you frowning like that?” Two dark eyes found his own. “Whatever you’re thinking about, stop it. You’re going to blow a fuse and I’ll have to throw you in the river to stop the fire.” 

A huff of laughter escaped him as he rolled his eyes. “Drama Queen.” 

Shisui’s face lit up with unspoken joy and he plopped down onto the rocks at his feet. “Sit with me?” 

He felt like he couldn’t move fast enough. This was his favorite part of the night, when he was allowed to sit next to Shisui for hours and feel his warm arm pressed against his own. Itachi always found a way to casually press against the older boy, even in the height of the summer heat. 

Somehow, he held his wild impulses back and gracefully sat next to his friend like he didn’t have a care in the world. 

The silence between them was comfortable. It was like a prolonged pause that they had been nurturing since childhood that could never grow awkward or stale. Itachi loved to hear Shisui speak, but he also loved the opportunity to listen to him breathe. 

A gentle breeze came and raked its wicked fingers through Shisui’s unruly curls. Itachi could feel his own hair fluttering, drifting downwind towards Shisui who sat at his right. He let the wind push him slightly to the side so his shoulder brushed against Shisui’s. His skin burned at the touch but he didn’t move away. He would allow the flames to devour him whole before he could bring himself to move.

Itachi turned so he could subtly look up at Shisui from underneath his lashes and he found the other boy already looking back.

“What is it?” Shisui breathed, his own eyes already dipping down to Itachi’s lips.

“I want to kiss you.” He admitted.

“So why don’t you?” 

The two gravitated towards one another like magnets, but still they did not connect. 

“I’m supposed to find a nice girl. Settle down.” Itachi echoed his father, but the words were less convincing when they brushed against Shisui’s lips.

“You could always marry Izumi. That would make him very happy.”

Itachi quickly pulled away. He was almost affronted at the sound of the girl’s name when they had been so close to kissing. 

Shisui’s laughter rang throughout the night. “You’re so cute when you frown like that.”

“Why would you bring her up right now?” 

Hurt curled in his chest. He liked Izumi well enough and he knew Shisui knew that. But he also knew that Shisui knew he was feeling overly pressured to pursue her like his father wanted. He would rather spend his days in this blissful limbo. One where Shisui was his and his father still saw him as his perfect son. Eventually something would have to give, but not yet. 

Shisui’s dark eyes softened. He looked angelic: framed by moonlight, long, dark lashes cresting over his pale cheeks as he leaned back in. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought her up.”

“No,” Itachi muttered, pressing a kiss to the side of his mouth. “You shouldn’t have.”

Shisui's lips whispered against his own. “Let me make it up to you?”

A shuddering inhale burst from his chest, “Yes.” 

That was all the confirmation Shisui needed before he turned his head just so and connected their lips. It was like a well tuned waltz. When one of them pulled away, the other followed. Hands glided over lean muscles, fluttering over exposed skin to tangle into loose strands of hair. With practiced ease, Shisui’s roaming fingers found the tie holding Itachi’s hair in a loose ponytail and tugged it free. Onyx strands cascaded down his back and the other boy whined in desperation.

“You should let your hair down more often.”

“It’s a nuisance when it gets all tangled.” 

They pulled back just long enough for Shisui to press his lips to the crown of Itachi’s head. His eyelids closed at the soft touch.

“I’d comb it out for you.” 

Itachi huffed, lips twitching up slightly. “I quite like having you be the only person who admires my hair when it’s down.” 

The admission hung in the air between them. He could feel his cheeks rapidly growing warm and he forced himself to look up despite his embarrassment. The older boy looked stunned. His mouth opened as if he were about to say something, but it quickly shut once more.

“Are you actually speechless right now?” He asked, embarrassment giving way to amusement. “I didn’t think that was actually possible.” 

A bark of laughter sent a raven flying from the tops of the trees. “You’re a menace.”

There was really nothing he could say to that, so he quickly pressed back in and kissed the joy from Shisui’s lips, tasting its bright, happy notes with the swipe of his tongue. He wanted to freeze this moment of bliss and stay in it forever. 

Pulling away, Shisui tucked a strand of hair behind Itachi’s ear with a reverence that took his breath away. “Have you ever thought about leaving?” 

The question startled him and Itachi faced out towards the water. “Leaving? As in going away on a trip, or moving away permanently?” 

Shisui hummed and shifted beside him. The older boy was never really one to sit still under normal circumstances, but now he was positively squirming. His own words seemed to have made him uncomfortable. Or perhaps it was Itachi’s line of questioning. Should he have just outright answered before clarification? But his answer may have differed depending on the true meaning behind Shisui’s question.

“I guess both…but mostly, permanently.” 

Itachi’s heart sank. “I don’t know,” He answered, truthfully. “Do you?” 

“You wouldn’t though, would you? You have Sasuke. And your father would probably want you to stay here to become a cop like him. Hell, the Police Academy is just one town over. You wouldn’t even have to move out to make the commute every morning. There’s no reason for you to leave.” 

He turned so he could see Shisui’s face. The older boy was frowning and making an attempt to keep his expression under control, but Itachi was fine tuned to his countenance and he could tell that he was upset.

Carefully, Itachi tried to gather his thoughts aloud. “You’re giving reasons why others expect me to stay, but there are reasons I could find myself wanting to leave. But that’s not what I said. I asked if you had thought about leaving. I personally haven’t given it much thought and I haven’t decided either way. I know you know me well, but I don’t appreciate you presuming that I have only one path.” 

It felt like the air had been sucked out of his lungs and it seemed Shisui felt the same, because he deflated before Itachi’s eyes. “I didn’t mean it like that, I’m sorry.”

Itachi said nothing because he knew Shisui would be able to infer he was waiting for his answer.  

“Yes, I have thought about it.” 

He knew. Of course, he knew. Especially after Shisui had asked such a question, but still his answer felt like a punch to the gut. Shisui would be a reason for Itachi to leave, but could he really do it? Leaving would mean both abandoning Sasuke and disappointing his father. Could he really bring himself to go against the two things that were ingrained in his very soul? Looking at Shisui, he saw the third thing. The reason to go.

“Where would you go?” 

Shisui’s long fingers folded over a smooth rock and he threw it up into the air just to catch it again. They were too close to the rushing water for him to be able to skip it. Itachi knew he would when they inevitably made their way down to the base of the waterfall where everything was a little more still. 

“I don’t know. Someplace where I don’t have to be scrutinized. A place where there's a little more light and less judgment. I’m not really sure if a place like that exists, but I’d like to find it. I just want to go somewhere where I can find peace like this even when I’m surrounded by people. I don’t want to have to hide away just to feel like I can finally breathe.” 

Itachi smiled even though it felt like his heart was breaking. A selfish part of him wanted for Shisui to be happy with just this, but even Itachi wasn’t happy with just this. Only, he couldn’t bring himself to accept that. Not yet.

“I hope you find it someday.”

Shisui smiled and he looked so sad that Itachi wanted to wrap him in his arms and never let go.

“Yeah, me too.” 

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Dear Shisui, 

I have avoided speaking about myself in depth because I should not burden you with my issues when you’re finally free of them, but I cannot speak to anyone else. It helps that I know you’ll never read this. Still, I apologize for once again venting to you. I promise I won’t do it again.

My mother told me that my grief is just love letting go. She’s wrong. She doesn’t understand. Father doesn’t understand. I don’t think they could ever understand, because my love is not letting go. It’s festering. 

They still expect me to be perfect, but I keep failing all their expectations. 

Just the other night, my father looked at me with such disappointment and he told me, with so much contempt, that he doesn’t know who I am anymore. But did he ever really? Did any of them? I believe that you were truly the only one who did, though I try not to fault Sasuke since I never really gave him the chance. He doesn’t deserve that, but I guess it’s habitual. You didn’t deserve anything I put you through either. 

They say I’ve become someone else entirely since you’ve been gone. I believe it’s only because I have never shown anger before. You were the only one who ever saw my rage and that was merely a kindling compared to the inferno that now stokes me. 

I haven’t found that place you were looking for. I don’t even know if I could find it now if I tried. 

Shisui, I’ve been in the city for a month now. I moved here in the hope that the noise can drown out my regret, but it screams so loudly that I’m sure it will find a way to overpower everything else. Is there really any point to this? Should I have just stayed and lived the way my father expected me to? 

But I’ve already set off on this path alone. I might as well keep burning my bridges down. 

I’m sorry,

Itachi

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Itachi could hear the faintest sound of laughter filtering past the heavy bass pounding in his ears. He pressed his earbuds tighter into the canal and turned the volume up on his music, hoping to drown it out. 

Surrounded by people, he felt a little less disjointed because it made him feel more isolated. However, their joy and their lives intruded on those delusions. Itachi wanted the world to reflect his inner turmoil. The skies should be torn open and weeping. Like him, his fellow citizens should look deprived of light and weighed down with anguish. But he also wanted them to be happy. He wanted their laughter to permeate his bones and warm him from the inside out like Shisui had once done. 

So far, he just felt lost. 

He had never really believed that moving to the city would fix the gaping hole inside his chest, but it had gotten him away from the weight of his father’s oppressive expectations. And after the way he had left his family, he didn’t really want to be in their presence at the moment. 

It had been a few months after Shisui parted. Honestly, he was impressed that he had lasted as long as he had. The world had turned to ash around him and all joy withered and turned to soot in his mouth. His father had been pushing for him to marry Izumi. He had told him that he was at the age that Itachi could no longer give into his whims like a child and it was time for him to settle down. 

Itachi had resigned himself to that fate, or so he had thought. But he had been finding alternatives, even before that night. A way out. Why couldn’t he have found something sooner?

“I will not marry her.” 

The words came down like an ax upon both their heads. His mother, who had been silent up until this point, made a little choking noise from her position at his father’s shoulder. 

“Izumi is a nice girl,” Fugaku started slowly.

“No.” 

His father stared at him as if he had struck him, but he tried again. “I don’t know why you’re acting like this, Itachi. Your mother and I have been arranging this marriage for a year now-”

“I said no!” 

He had never raised his voice to his father before. Actually, Itachi doubted he had ever raised his voice to anyone before. The closest occasion he could think of was a hidden moment with Shisui when he had raged about his duties as eldest son. But he had never directed this anger to the man who had burdened him. 

“How dare you! Mikoto and I have done everything for you. We even found a girl that you like, which was a task in itself, mind you!” 

“You have done nothing for me!” 

A lie, his parents had done so much for him. He knew they loved and cared for him in their own way. He should be grateful. Itachi pushed the voice that begged for peace aside. That voice had made him lose Shisui. That voice was why he was gone. 

“You did those things for the idealized version of a son that you forced me to be. Not the true living, breathing person that I am!”

“Itachi, please calm down.” His mother was begging him. If his father’s anger was not enough to make him cave, her soft pleads should have broken the dam, but the walls held firm. They were enforced by his grief and rage and had become nearly indestructible.

“Where is this coming from?” She knew. They all knew. 

Itachi remained in his angry silence. 

Fugaku cleared his throat, obviously trying to put this conversation back on the rails and reign in his own temper. “I know things have been hard on you, now that Shisui is gone-” 

Itachi’s voice was frigid. “Don’t.” 

His mother slipped out from behind Fugaku’s desk and stood in front of him. Anxiously, she reached out and placed her hands on his shoulders, but he callously shrugged them off. He could see the flicker of hurt that she quickly concealed. 

“You’re grieving.” Itachi could agree with her on that front, but he didn’t say anything. “But maybe think of your sadness as just your mind’s way of letting that love go. I know you cared for him like a brother-” 

And here Itachi cut her off, the anger consuming him and making his words sharp and vicious. 

“You’re so close, Mother, but you must have figured it out by now. You’re not a stupid woman, or at least, I always believed you to be intelligent. Don’t tell me you don’t know.” 

His parents stood in silence. His mother likely held her peace not to entice his rage and his father’s own refused to accept what his son was so obviously saying. 

“I loved him, yes. But not as a brother. I loved Shisui more than anything or anyone and I regret not joining him.” 

His mother gasped. 

“Itachi!” His father growled, furious.

But years of resentment and fear spurred the eldest Uchiha on. 

“Hate me all you wish. Deny this truth until your grave if you must, but I’m done. I cannot and will not stay here any longer. I will be gone by the end of the week. I’ve already made arrangements elsewhere.” And with his stunned parents’ faces as a backdrop, he spun on his heel and marched out his father’s office. 

Sasuke stood solemnly on the other side of the once closed door and Itachi’s heart panged dully in his chest. 

“You’re leaving.” It wasn’t a question. 

“Yes.” 

He silently willed himself to apologize but the words refused to form. Itachi would regret leaving Sasuke behind, but his brother had never borne his burdens. He was already set on a career path separate from what his father had wanted. His life had not been a festering wound of expectations. The only question that remained was whether Sasuke would find a respectable spouse to settle down with. One his father would approve of.

“Because Shisui is gone.” Again, it wasn’t a question.

Heart bruised and aching, Itachi nodded. 

Sasuke had nothing left to say. The two brother’s departed in silence, with a tattered bond festering between the two of them. Maybe when Itachi had put some distance between his childhood home and the painful memories that came with Shisui’s loss, he would be able to pick up those pieces again. For now, they remained mangled.

A bell dinged above his head. He only faintly registered it as he pulled his earbuds out and made his way to the pristine counter. The cashier smiled at him, lips moving, but all he could hear was a dull buzzing that filled the air like a swarm of bees. Her mouth had stopped moving and she was looking at him oddly now. 

Dazed, Itachi’s eyes slid down to the display case in front of him. Baked goods such as bread, cookies, and other things looked back at him through the glass. Shisui would have encouraged him to get something sweet. The thought made the saliva in his mouth turn bitter but he resolved to indulge anyway. 

“Chocolate croissant, please.” 

She said something else, maybe the price? He didn’t care, just slid his card into the reader and blankly stared at the flashing words telling him to please wait. 

Why was he always waiting until it was too late?

“Itachi?”

The world snapped back around him with startling clarity. The soft hum of patrons speaking, the warm smell of cookies baking in the oven, and the melodic voice that Itachi had been dreaming of every night since its owner left him. 

It couldn’t be…

Slowly, as if worried moving too fast would fracture the illusion, Itachi turned to face the man behind him. 

Shisui’s dark, wavy hair had gotten a little longer. The wild strands now curled into his ear and brushed against his high cheekbones. Itachi’s gaze traveled up with the tantalizing flutter of long lashes as Shisui’s deep, rich eyes widened in shock. 

“I thought that was you, but I can’t believe you’re here! Are you just visiting?” 

They had moved to the same city. Of course there had always been the chance of running into one another, but Itachi had figured he had used up all his luck in his childhood. He had gotten the brother he had always wanted, met Shisui, fallen for the boy and had somehow had his feelings returned, and then he lost him. That should have been the end of it. Life wasn’t kind to people who let their happy endings willingly slip from their fingers. 

But there he was, standing in front of Itachi and looking more beautiful than he had on the day he left. Gone were the dark bags and heavy frown lines that had creased Shisui’s face the longer he lived in the village. He had more color to him now. A healthy tan made his skin glow like his sunny personality could no longer be contained beneath his epidermis. 

Itachi felt like a rain cloud blocking out his light. He didn’t deserve to stand next to Shisui anymore. 

Shisui’s eyes left him, sliding to a point just over his shoulder. Their absence immediately dulled the world around him once more. Itachi swayed, feeling completely adrift.

And then Shisui was moving. The sleeve of his shirt brushed the shell of Itachi’s ear as he reached over his shoulder with a bright, thankful smile. Like gravity, Itachi leaned into the touch, letting the other boy’s warmth radiate through him from the junction between his neck and shoulder. 

“Your croissant.” Shisui whispered, letting his arm stay trapped in its outstretched position. 

“Oh,” Itachi carefully extracted himself and took the sweet from Shisui, careful not to make contact with his skin again. 

“Would you like to sit with me?” 

He shouldn’t. He should just apologize and leave. 

“Sure.” 

Together, they made their way back to the front of the bakery where Shisui’s coat rested on a chair sitting in the furthest corner of the shop. Another empty chair sat next to it that Itachi gently lowered himself into. 

“You didn’t answer my question earlier. Are you just visiting?” 

His stomach twisted with guilt. “No, I live here now.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Shisui jolt as if he had been electrocuted. 

“You do?” 

“Yes.”

Silence had never felt so awkward between them. Everything had always flowed in the past, but Itachi had ruined that. He had told Shisui that he couldn’t continue to be with him. He had ended their peace when he had originally agreed to follow his father’s wishes.

“Itachi-”

“I’m so sorry.” 

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. 

“I should have realized this sooner, but I can’t be who my mother and father wanted me to be. I let them down and I let you down. I should have gone with you when you told me you were leaving. You waited and I still abandoned you in the end. I was scared of their disappointment, but I can handle their contempt. I should have known that what I can’t handle…” He hesitated. Would Shisui even want to hear this now? It had been almost half a year since Itachi broke it off and ruined everything.

“What can’t you handle, Itachi?” Shisui’s voice was so soft and comforting. The way it always was when he already knew the answer and he knew that Itachi would find it embarrassing. 

“What I can’t handle is losing you and denying myself the truth that being with you is the only way I can find real happiness.” His face felt like it was on fire. “I know I’m probably saying this too late. I’m sure you’ve moved on and you don’t want to hear this from me anymore but I needed to say it. I’m sorry for being so selfish and I’m sorry for always unloading my burdens on you.” 

Shisui smiled and placed his hand on Itachi’s cheek. “I’m happy you told me that Itachi, I really am. I love you too.” 

He choked and tried to look anywhere but the boy in front of  him. “That’s not what I-!” 

Shisui raised his eyebrow in clear amusement and Itachi cut off his protest with a mortified sigh. He had always been good at reading between the lines in Itachi’s sentences. There was no use denying it now. 

“I do.” He mumbled.

A teasing glint filled the other boy’s eyes and his lips turned up in a cocky smile. “Sorry, you do what?”

Itachi hid his face behind his hair and grumbled into the dark strands. “I love you.” 

Silence.

He had never used those three words in front of Shisui and this was not the ideal setting. He would have preferred to have said it in a more private place like their river or one of their apartments, but he refused to let anything go unsaid now that he had Shisui in front of him again. 

Hesitantly, Itachi looked up to find that Shisui’s wide eyes were already glued to his heated face. 

“I can say it again if you would like.”

“Holy shit.”

“I love you.”

Shisui’s own face had turned bright red. Itachi knew that if he placed his hand on the older boy’s cheek right now, he would feel the flush of his blood gathering in his cheeks and ears. It was cute.

“Have you been eating enough?” The question took both of them off guard. He had expected Shisui to return the sentiment, not change the subject.

“What?” 

“You look tired and a little…” An elegant tan hand frantically waved in the air like Shisui could catch the words he was trying to find. “...sick, I guess.”

Of course he noticed. It would be hard not to. Itachi had always prided himself on taking care of his body, but he had let his control slip. 

“My mental health declined when you left. I mentioned earlier that I regretted what happened between us. I realized I made a mistake when I asked you not to keep in touch when you left. At the time, I thought it would be better because speaking to you would be too painful if I were to follow through on my father’s wishes. When I finally decided I couldn’t do it anymore, it was too late.” 

He wrung his fingers together and tried to collect his thoughts. Shisui waited for him.

“I lost a lot of sleep. I didn’t want to disappoint my parents but I missed you so much that I felt like I couldn’t breathe. When I tried to call you to apologize I found out you changed your number.” 

Shisui winced like he had been burned. “Itachi, I’m so sorry-” 

Itachi held up a hand, silencing him before he could continue any further. “I went to your foster parents but they told me they didn’t have an address. They just gave me the name of the city you moved to and so I came here as well. I won’t lie and say I came here with any hope of ever finding you again. You are too good, way too good for me-”

“That’s not true-”

“But I needed to escape from the village and my family. I hoped that if you came here to find a place where you could be yourself and find acceptance then maybe it would give me a sense of comfort as well.”

Cautiously, Shisui brushed a few strands of hair behind Itachi’s ear. He chuckled, but it just sounded sad. “While the city is more accepting and I don’t feel the need to hide anymore, it was a little pointless for me to move here.”

“What-?”

“Shh, my turn, love.”

A rush of warmth lit him up from the inside out. They weren’t typically the type to use pet names, but he couldn’t deny that he liked it when Shisui called him love.

“It was pointless to come here without you, Itachi. Because I may be able to date whoever I want and hold their hand in public without fear of ridicule, but they wouldn’t be you. You’re the one I wanted to share those experiences with because I love you. And you also deserve happiness. You have tried so hard to put the needs of others before your own wants and desires. It’s what I love about you. It’s why I’m more upset with myself than I am with you.” 

Shisui pressed his lips to Itachi’s forehead and he felt like he was floating. There was no way that this could be real. 

“Please don’t blame yourself.” Itachi begged.

“I should have waited a little longer for you so you could have come with me. I’m sorry I left you behind to deal with everything alone.” 

He shook his head with a tragic smile. “It took losing you for me to realize that I didn’t want to be without you. If you had stayed, I would have contented myself with just glimpses and stolen moments. I probably would have done everything my father wanted. I hate to say that losing you was good for me, but it woke me up. I needed a harsh reality check.” 

His croissant had gone cold and the tea that was half finished on the table in front of Shisui no longer had a curl of steam coming up from the mug, but neither of them seemed to mind. The world finally felt like it was starting to slot into place. 

“Can we start again?” Itachi asked, fiddling with the worn edge of his shirt.

Tan skin disrupted his field of vision as his hand was gently pulled away so Shisui could tangle their fingers together. 

“Of course we can.”

Things weren’t perfect. There was still a lot they would need to talk about and Itachi should probably go to therapy to sort out his need to please everyone around him and the feelings of failure he felt in that regard. They also had years of friendship and struggle that they would need to work through, but in that moment everything felt so simple with Shisui back at his side.

They would worry about all of that later. For now, Itachi allowed Shisui to guide him out of the shop, cold drink and croissant left behind like the gray haze that had engulfed his world only moments before. 

“Shisui?”

Together they paused and the sound of the city filled the air around them like the harmonious melody of a symphony. 

“What is it?” There’s no rush in Shisui’s eyes, just that steadfast patience that had made Itachi fall for him in the first place. 

“I’d like to call Sasuke. There’s some things I should have said to him before I left.”

Shisui smiled and kissed Itachi’s cheek. “I’ll be right here. Call your brother, love.”

The phone trilled in his ear, matching the erratic beat of his nervous heart.

“Hello?”

Itachi glanced over at Shisui and drew strength from his easy smile. 

“Hello Sasuke, I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time. Can we talk?”