Chapter 1
Hitomi returned to the Village tired and cranky. It had been a long (if easy) mission and he didn’t enjoy being away from home when they were at edge of War. But Shisui had asked him and Hitomi had always been unable to deny his favorite cousin anything.
So he sent a clone to the Hokague Tower and he directed his steps to the compound. Once in the compound he felt Itachi’s chakra flare and started running towards that direction, his cousin’s chakra spoke of violence and anger.
It wasn’t a good sign; he’s worried almost instantly.
Itachi blinks at seeing Hitomi’s back in front of him, his cousin is tense, has his sword unsheathed and is holding it treathenly against the three that had been fighting him. Itachi is unable to see his expression but by the paleness of his father’s is obvious that Hitomi is ready to kill the men for him.
Itachi’s breath shakes and he’s fighting tears; Hitomi’s back.
“What is the meaning of this?” Hitomi asks, soft and polite. The members of the clan that are pinned with shuriken flinch. None of them want to be the one to inform Hitomi that Shisui is dead and that Itachi is suspect of it.
“Shisui is dead.” Fugaku is the one to say it. “We’re investigating his suicide. These men are obviously on the wrong track by coming here. They will go now.”
Hitomi makes a pained sound; Itachi bites his lips so hard they bleed.
“Sasuke.” Hitomi calls a heartbeat after. Itachi turns to his house, his eyes opening in distress as he sees Sasuke there. Oh no. His little brother looks concerned and a little fearful. “Go home. Now.”
Sasuke gulps, looks at their father, then at Itachi, bits his lip, hesitates and ends up turning away and runs in direction to Hitomi’s house. To Hitomi’s siblings. To a place he will be safe, no matter what.
Itachi is relieved; he doesn’t feel safe at their parents house. But he doesn’t have the face to confront Kotarou and Tenka in their grief.
“If you raise a hand against Itachi again,” Hitomi says, eyes cold and unforgiving in the three Uchiha that are backing off. “I will kill you.”
Fugaku clenches his fists, knowing very well that the warning is to him as well. Hitomi has no lost love for the Head of their Clan and would gladly take said Head if he found Fugaku failing in his duty to his sons.
Fugaku gives him a curt nod and takes his men away.
Once they’re alone, Hitomi turns and Itachi looks at his cousin’s face. He faces sadness and sorrow and he can’t stop the sob that left his lips. In the next instant he’s being hugged and the tears fall.
He cries, letting himself be comforted like a child. Even when he doesn’t deserve it. Because Hitomi’s arms are a safe place and he doesn’t have much of them anymore, so he will indulge this while he can.
“Is his body still here?” Hitomi asks, once Itachi’s sobs stopped.
“No,” Shisui was burned the next day they found the body.
Hitomi hugs him tighter, “Do you have his eyes?”
“Yes.” The lie tastes like ashes in his mouth but that is the only thing he can say, because if he says no, Hitomi will start asking questions he’s not ready to answer. Not now, probably never.
“Good.” Hitomi breathes into his hair, “He would have wanted that.”
Itachi starts crying again.
“It’s ok, I have you.”
Hitomi doesn’t ask questions, he just takes him to his house and makes dinner. Shisui’s absence is heavy but Hitomi faces it head on. He takes the little ones and explains to them that even if Shisui is not with them anymore, that doesn’t mean he will be forgotten.
It makes Itachi wonder what Hitomi knew that he didn’t that Shisui committing suicide was actually a thing that didn’t need a lot of thought. His heart ached for both of them, he almost wants to ask but he shakes the idea.
Hitomi is suffering enough as it is, Itachi isn’t cruel enough to dig into that pain.
That night, Itachi sees Hitomi cry for the first time. He’s clutching Shisui’s clothes and sobbing softly against it, his eyes are bleeding, his mangekyou spinning violently as he whispers the name of their late cousin.
Itachi knew Hitomi had a mangekyo but had never seen it before, his older cousin being vague about it. Just telling him that he had awakened it in the same moment Shisui did; Hitomi was always secretive, vague. Just trusting Shisui and only Shisui.
Itachi slowly made his way to his cousin's side and hugged him, hesitantly, shakingly. Hitomi hugged him back. They spend the night in penance.
The next day, Itachi and Sasuke must return to their house.
“Be careful.” Hitomi says,
Itachi freezes; he’s looking at his mangekyo again. He thinks. He knows, before shaking the idea. If Hitomi knew, then Itachi wouldn’t be alive. Because, for much that Hitomi loves him, he loved Shisui a lot more.
Itachi nods and thanks him for his concern.
“Nii-san?” Ask Tenka once Itachi and Sasuke are gone.
“It’s happening.” Hitomi says; Tenka gasps and Kotarou shivers. So the War is already here. Fuck.
“When?” Ask Kotarou, determination shining on his eyes.
“In a week.” Hitomi says, he wants to save as many of their own as possible so he will push it as long as he can but can risk it waiting any longer. It’s time for them to return to their lands and reclaim what it’s theirs.
In the end it doesn’t matter.
Because Konoha decided to act before they did.
Hitomi wakes with a shiver; there was something wrong in the air, it smelled like blood. His brothers are awake as well, all of them are dressed on their uniforms excepting the headbands. They know they’re on enemy territory and were acting like it.
“It’s happening tonight.” Hitomi orders as they run. “Take as many as you can, don’t put yourself in danger.”
His little brothers nod, knowing that their part on this plan is to get out and that Hitomi will take down any stupid enough to face him. Their brother is their heavy hitter and he’s lusting for blood since they found out about Shisui.
They almost feel pity for the poor souls that were attacking their Clan as they took separate routes; different targets and all that. Hitomi is going for Itachi and Sasuke, those are his targets, but it quickly becomes evident that he won’t be able to help them.
Itachi is covered in blood, he’s in his ANBU uniform.
Traitor. Hitomi thinks, all becoming clear in that second. Itachi had chosen Konoha over them, he chose the Senju ideology over their Clan.
Itachi was the worst kind of blood traitor possible, the same as the individuals that pushed Madara off the Clan. The type of person Hitomi hated more than anything in this world.
“I will kill you,” He promises, unsheathing his sword and flaring a signal in the same movement. Sharingan flashing just as a masked individual makes himself present. He is powerful, a lot more powerful than Itachi.
He’s the first one he has to take down.
Hitomi bares his teeth.
“Guess I will have to take your head before.” He says sweetly before launching himself against the masked man.
Hitomi was nowhere near Izuna’s level by his abilities alone, he couldn't be with all the obstacles Konoha put in his way with their pathetic way of thinking. But he was more powerful than most people in this time, including the Hokague, because his mangekyou was even more powerful than Madara’s.
He doesn’t hesitate.
The man doesn’t do it either.
The fight escalates quickly; both of them are fast and strong. Hitomi is a little faster, he swings his sword, lightning covering his body, and his sword connects with the man’s neck. Or so it seemed, because Hitomi’s lunge passed the man like it wasn't there.
Space technique, he thinks as the man takes him by the neck and pierces his heart. His eyes connect with the other Uchiha’s visible one and sees a Manguekyo, his own having been activated in response.
He is not sure who was more surprised, he or the masked man as reality bends and their positions change. The man goes intangible under his sword.
“Who are you?” Hitomi asks, standing up. There’s something feral in his eyes, something dark and terrible that Obito has only seen in the mirror.
“Uchiha Madara.” He allows, admitting his respect from his opponent. To his surprise, Itachi’s cousin laughs genuinely amused.
“It’s alright,” Hitomi says, “You don’t have to tell me. I will know when I rip that silly mask of your face and take your eyes from your corpse. I think they will look amazing on me.”
Obito can’t help the shiver that goes down his spine, it’s a threat that only a doujutsu user can comprehend exactly how wrong is what Hitomi just said. What makes it much worse is that Hitomi seems to mean it.
“Just let me tell you something, Orange-kun.” It’s said softly, sweet, honeyed. “Madara wasn’t the monster of the Uchiha’s. If you wanted to steer fear on our hearts, you should have chosen Izuna.”