Little moments
Shisui stared at his murky reflection in the mirror, taking in the shadows in his eyes. There were traces of exhaustion in the lines of his face, only visible to the most perceptive of people. He couldn’t be blamed for that; the ANBU mission he had just returned from had not been easy or fun.
‘Thinking about it isn’t going to help,’ the boy scolded himself, splashing water on his face and recoiling a little at the chill. ANBU restrooms didn’t have heating and if he wanted hot water, he would have to go to the showers. Shisui could go there but he wanted out of the ANBU grounds as soon as possible, so he settled for simply making himself presentable; a bath could come later.
He quickly changed into his usual black clothes, keeping only his weapons pouch and kunai holster on him. A shinobi never truly let their guard down after all, even when they were inside their village.
Glancing back at the mirror and nodding in approval at his passable appearance, Shisui used a Shunshin to leave the ANBU quarters. He appeared near the crowded marketplace of Konoha, the civilians barely batting an eye at his sudden appearance, far too used to the quirks of the shinobi that resided in the village.
The hustle and bustle washed over the Uchiha, helping him feel a little bit of normalcy. He took a deep breath and strolled forward leisurely, thinking about what he should do next. There were no missions scheduled for the rest of the day and he didn’t feel like training.
That left going home.
Shisui grimaced at the thought, not really wanting to go back to his cold, still house. He lived alone, having lost both his parents a few months ago. Perhaps he should have been saddened by that, but he had long since known that his father had been very ill and his mother weak, so their deaths had not come as a shock.
‘Maybe I could go bug Itachi? Or not; he’s probably on a mission at this time of the day.’
Thinking of Itachi brought to his mind another friend and Shisui perked up, instantly spinning on his heel and heading in a different direction. A quick Shunshin later saw him in front of a house surrounded by trees, hand raised to knock when something registered to him.
The place was unusually silent.
‘Huh? Is no one home?’
That was disheartening.
Just as he was about to leave with a heavy heart, a flicker of chakra brushed against his senses and the door opened abruptly.
“Hi, Shisui!”
Hikari grinned at him from the open doorway, bright and cheerful. She was dressed in a plain white shirt and loose knee-length black pants, her hair thrown over one shoulder in a thick braid.
“I thought you were out,” Shisui said dumbly, too stunned by her sudden appearance to think coherently.
The girl blinked, “What made you think that?”
“It was too silent.”
“Ah.”
Hikari snickered into her hand, blue eyes twinkling with mirth at the ridiculous expression on the boy’s face and at the insinuation that the occupants of the house were loud. “The troublemakers are out today. They have a playdate with Shikamaru.”
“Oh.”
Shisui followed the redhead into the house when she beckoned him inside, having recovered from his surprise. “And you didn’t go?”
“Obviously not.”
Rolling his eyes at the snarky reply, the boy pounced on the girl and tackled her to the couch. He started tickling her, grinning when she started laughing uncontrollably.
“Shisui, stop!”
“No way; not until you surrender!”
The sound of the pair’s laughter filled the air, at least until Hikari’s flailing hands hit the Uchiha’s arm and he flinched, hissing in pain. Hikari froze, eyes wide as she stared at the boy above her.
“You’re hurt.”
Shisui didn’t deny the statement, holding his left shoulder tightly. “I guess?”
“You guess?” Hikari echoed him, incredulous. “Shisui, you have a ridiculously high pain tolerance and yet you flinched when I hit you, and lightly at that! Why didn’t you go to the hospital?”
“In my defense, I didn’t know I was injured,” he said, a little sheepish as he shifted to let the girl sit up. In hindsight, it was stupid of him to not have checked himself over for any internal injuries before leaving the ANBU quarters. Damn his high pain threshold.
A thin crimson eyebrow twitched and Hikari resisted the urge to smack some sense into the boy, if only because he was already injured. “Take off your shirt.”
“Aww, but Hikari-chan, aren’t you a little too youn-”
“Shisui. Please don’t give me a reason to hit you and take off your damn shirt.”
Hikari gave him a sunny smile, eyes crinkled but with a very real threat in her voice. Shisui felt a shiver run down his spine and he complied with a “Yes, ma’am!”, tugging his shirt over his head, leaving him bare-chested.
With a deep breath, Shisui looked at his shoulder, wincing when he saw how red and inflamed it was. ‘How the hell did I not notice?’
“Hmm…” Hikari hummed, using a diagnostic jutsu to assess the injury. “You haven’t dislocated it,” she muttered under her breath, frowning. “But you have a mild fracture and the broken bone is irritating the muscles, hence the swelling.”
Cool healing chakra washed over the injury, Shisui stiffening at the uncomfortable feeling of muscles knitting back together and the bones shifting under his skin. He held himself as still as he could though, not wanting to disturb the healing. Hikari whispered an apology, noticing his tense posture.
“It’s alright,” he assured her. “It actually isn’t painful, just a little weird.”
Hikari huffed, amused at his reaction to his injury. “I can’t tell you to not get hurt, since that’s a moot point in your line of work, but please take better care of yourself. Your pain tolerance can be both a blessing and a curse; don’t make it into the latter.”
She had a point and Shisui agreed easily, though he couldn’t help but tease, “And here I was hoping you’d be my personal medic.”
“Sure.”
Shisui choked, looking over his shoulder at the girl incredulously, eyes wide. “I was joking!”
That only got him a shrug in response, Hikari focused entirely on her healing. “I don’t mind,” she said absently, running her hand over the boy’s shoulder to take care of the inflammation. “I patch up Kashi-nii all the time; he hates hospitals. Even Tenzo-san sometimes asks for help; adding one more person to the list isn’t a problem. Pretty sure it’s a trait of shinobi to avoid hospitals.”
“You…really?”
“Really.”
Hikari lifted her head to meet Shisui’s gaze, a playful smile on her lips even though there was a serious glint in her eyes. “You can knock on my door at 3 A.M. and I’ll still help, Shisui. No conditions, nothing.”
Shisui stared, unblinking. The thing about shinobi avoiding hospitals was because of a general uneasiness, not feeling safe in the place. But he had long since admitted to himself that he felt at ease in the Uzumaki house, trusting the occupants with his life. And the fact that it was probably defended way better than the village itself was the icing on the cake.
“Oh, and you can use our summons to get them to reverse-summon me to your location or vice-versa, in case of an emergency.”
The girl didn’t wait for an answer, attention already shifting to the task at hand.
There was silence between them for a while, but it was comfortable. Then Shisui recalled something and perked up, “Hey, you never told me why you didn’t go to the Nara, Hikari-chan.”
Hikari hummed, smile audible in her voice as she replied, “Because you were back.”
“Huh? I don’t think I told you when I’d return from my mission,” Shisui mused, pulling his shirt on while marveling at his now pain-free shoulder; it was like the injury had never existed. The redhead’s iryo ninjutsu had improved by leaps and bounds.
“No, but I sensed you earlier in the morning. I was actually about to look for you when you arrived.”
“…just how large is your range?”
Hikari tapped a finger against her chin, thinking about the question. “Up until about a few miles out of Konoha? Larger than that if I concentrate.”
“How the hell are you handling the information overload?”
“It’s never been an issue,” she stared at the awed boy, slightly confused at what she thought was an over-the-top reaction. “Besides, I don’t keep tabs on everyone. Just the ones I care about.”
“That means you’re always aware of me.”
“Kind of? Just enough to know you’re fine.”
Shisui grinned. The girl sure had a strange way of caring about people, but it was so her that he didn’t care. “Who else are you watching now?”
Hikari gave him an annoyed look. “You make it sound like I’m spying on people,” she complained. She couldn’t really turn off her sensing, just mute it to an extent. When Shisui stared at her expectantly, she groaned and muttered reluctantly, “The kids, meaning all of them, Manami-san, Itachi, Kashi-nii and Tenzo-san.”
“Aww, you care!”
She swatted at him, turning away huffily but not before Shisui, to his hidden glee, spotted the smile on her face. “Go take a bath or shower, idiot. You stink.”
Shisui came down the stairs, drying his hair with a towel. It wasn’t the first time he had showered at the Uzumaki house; there had been times when he had managed to convince Kakashi for a spar and both males had ended up sweaty and dirty by the time they were done. Hikari had only rolled her eyes at them and shooed them away to clean up.
Sometimes he wondered if the girl had the patience of a saint to deal with rambunctious children and the older boys every day.
The enticing smell of food made the Uchiha drift towards the kitchen, eyebrow rising when he noticed that there were three place settings. He had thought it was only him and Hikari in the house.
“Hikari-chan? Are we expecting anyone else for lunch?”
“Itachi should be arriving anytime soon!”
Shisui’s eyebrow rose higher at that statement and he popped into the kitchen, finding the girl frying something in a pan. “Did you tell him I was back?”
“No,” Hikari replied, switching off the stove and plating the fish she had just been frying. “Sasuke managed to get Fugaku-san to train him, so Itachi gives them space and comes here for lunch. He said that he didn’t want to intrude on their bonding time.”
“Huh.”
Fugaku, while he had trained Itachi, had not spent much time with him apart from teaching him the basics. It had been Shisui, who had been a Genin at the time, who had trained the Uchiha heir. Then again, Itachi was a genius and it had been just after wartime, so Fugaku had been running missions back-to-back.
“And that would be him now.”
As soon as the words left the Uzumaki’s mouth, there was a knock and the sound of the door opening before closing with a soft click.
A pause.
“Hikari, is Shisui back?”
Itachi’s quiet voice rang through the air, something like anticipation in it. Grinning, Shisui dropped his towel on the back of a chair, stepping into the living room just as the younger boy turned the corner.
“Welcome back, Shisui,” Itachi greeted, eyes lighting up as a smile curved his lips. He didn’t protest when Shisui tugged him into a hug, far too used to the tactile nature of his friends. “When did you return?”
“A bit after dawn, I think? Not really sure.”
Shisui’s grin took on a teasing edge, making the younger boy eye him warily. “So what’s this I hear about lunch dates with Hikari-chan? Did you two get together without telling me? How cruel!”
“…date?”
“Stop teasing him,” Hikari ordered, poking her head out of the kitchen and pointing a finger at Shisui with narrowed eyes. “I already gave you an explanation.”
“But it’s fun watching Itachi blank out like that!”
“Maybe for you but not so much for him, not to mention me.”
“Fine, fine.”
Lunch was a peaceful affair, the trio content to savor their food than engage in conversation, apart from a few throwaway comments. Shisui and Itachi handled the clean-up, insisting that it was the least they could do after Hikari made them lunch.
“Done?”
Hikari looked up from her book when the boys emerged from the kitchen; she was sitting on the floor with her legs stretched out in front of her, leaning against the couch.
“Yep. What are you reading?”
She turned her attention back to the book, grimacing slightly. “A rather boring book on medicinal herbs,” she answered, turning a page. “Shikaku-san said it would be useful, but I’m beginning to think that he’s planning on killing me with sheer boredom.”
The boys settled on either side of Hikari, leaning in to see the contents of the book. Sure enough, it was about herbs, the text so tiny it was almost illegible. It seemed to be rather comprehensive but it did make for a boring read.
“I’m surprised you haven’t dropped it yet.”
“Eh, I probably will eventually. I’m just skimming through the thing and noting down anything that sounds interesting.”
Shisui made a sound of acknowledgement. He eyed the nonchalant girl, then shrugged and laid down flat on the floor, head on Hikari’s lap.
“This okay?”
“Asking that after making yourself comfortable?” Hikari snarked, nevertheless resting a hand on the Uchiha’s head and running her fingers through his curls. “It’s fine; go to sleep if you feel tired.”
Itachi watched as his cousin drifted off into sleep, subconsciously curling up closer to the redhead. “This is the most relaxed I’ve seen him.”
“Hmm?”
“Shisui,” he clarified, making eye contact with the Uzumaki. Another strange thing about her; most people never met the eyes of an Uchiha who had awakened their Sharingan, fearing that they’d be put under a Genjutsu. But Hikari’s gaze never once faltered; she either trusted them not to use their abilities on her or was confident that she could dispel any Genjutsu.
Itachi wasn’t quite sure which one was the truth.
“Even at the Compound, he’s always tense. He doesn’t show it but I can tell,” Itachi continued, bowing his head a little. “Thank you for everything, Hikari.”
Hikari chuckled, throwing an arm around the boy’s shoulder and pulling him against her side. “No need to thank me,” she stated, squeezing his shoulder. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
Itachi nodded and before he could second-guess himself, hesitantly rested his head on Hikari’s shoulder. When her only reaction was to shift her hand from his shoulder to his hair, he relaxed and closed his eyes. It was calming in her presence, for she was simply there, without any judgement or expectations.
It felt freeing.
Before long, Hikari heard Itachi’s breaths even out and smiled to herself. For all they acted mature, the boys still craved affection. She knew that despite how relaxed the Uchiha clan had become, they were still stiff in their interactions. The boys had to hold themselves to a certain standard at the Compound, only having the chance to drop their walls around her. But she didn’t mind, happy to indulge Shisui and Itachi whenever they wanted a hug or a cuddle.
Withdrawing her hand from Shisui’s hair for a moment, Hikari closed her book and placed it aside. She stifled a giggle when the older Uchiha pressed against her stomach subconsciously, patting his head again.
A glance out the window told her that it was still too early for Manami, Naruto and Karin to return. Hikari took in the two sleeping boys and the peaceful atmosphere, deciding that she would like a nap herself.
That was how Manami found them, when she returned with a tired Naruto and Karin. She ushered the kids past the sleeping trio and up the stairs with as little noise as possible, settling them in their rooms before sneaking back down with a camera. No way was she passing up the chance to take a picture of an adorable sight.
Itachi and Hikari were pressed together, the boy’s head nestled in the crook of the girl’s neck while hers laid atop his. Hikari’s hand had slipped down from Itachi’s shoulder at some point and the two had somehow laced their fingers together. On the redhead’s lap was Shisui, an arm wrapped around her waist. Hikari was cradling the older Uchiha’s head with her free hand, the hold gentle and intended to keep him close.
Manami giggled, already planning to give a copy of the picture to Mikoto. The Uchiha Matriarch absolutely loved it when her first son, nephew and pseudo-niece did something cute, even more when it included all three of them. She already had quite the collection of pictures.
Deciding to let them sleep, Manami grabbed a few blankets and draped them over the trio, smiling fondly at them before going upstairs for a nap of her own.
It was peaceful.