Shisui Uchiha!

Shisui was loyal, if there was one word by which someone should describe Shisui, this should be it, he was loyal and protective, of both his clan, his bedridden father whose state continuously declines every day, and his mother who spent her days looking after him. While the atmosphere was a little down recently because of his father's rapidly deteriorating condition, it was in this atmosphere that he saw his mother's loyalty and protectiveness.

Along with his family, Shisui held great love for his clan and his village, although growing up in a shinobi village had made him grow up a lot quicker, with a wider view of the harsh realities, it also allowed him to share the comradery with his fellow shinobi's. Konoha was home for Shisui, or at least it was until Fujii deserted the village. Shisui wasn't unaware of the dark side of the Shinobi life, the day when he awakened his Mangekyo still weighed heavily on his mind.

But still, he never pegged that Fujii would betray the Leaf, well not like he was the epitome of the will of Fire, but Shisui had seen him interact with his team, he had sparred with the younger Uchiha on multiple occasions and Shisui considered him a friend. Fujii was his first friend to desert the village, he was alleged to have stolen important village secrets before escaping the village.

Shisui had looked in those cold eyes after Fujii had burned a few of his fellow comrades along with a squad of ANBU to the ground, in that instance he had tried to use his Mangekyo to get his friend back, but unfortunately or rather fortunately it didn't work. It wasn't until Madara told him that Fujii was framed and was forced to run from the village because the higher-ups were afraid of his power that Shisui felt his beliefs shake.

"Shisui!" he heard his mother's voice and his head snapped from staring at the empty space that just moments ago was connected to the hideout, to looking at the annoyed look on Hitomi's face.

"Sorry mom!" he grinned and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, Hitomi just rolled her eyes as she spoke, "Can you get some rice from the store, and some fruits for your father?" she spoke, Shisui could see the age lines on her face as her forehead creased. His mother should be just in her late 30s but looking at her aging face made him realize that the world was just a little more complex than he thought some years ago.

"Okay," Shisui nodded, "I'll be back in a bit..." he jumped out of the window and started jumping toward the store. His mind drifted back to his father, a once-proud Jounin of Konoha, while Shinji Uchiha wasn't a name that was feared across the elemental nations, his dad fought in the last Shinobi World War, a victim of the deadly poison attack from a Kiri shinobi reduced his lungs to rags thus ending his career and his life expectancy. While his body fought to survive every day, no medic-nin was able to cure him.

"Shisui, you're back! how was the mission, you arrived late last night and went early today!" Shisui heard a voice beside him and he turned to look at Itachi jumping beside him, he realized he was a little out of it today, maybe it was what he did today that was weighing on his mind, the fact that he had betrayed his clan by coercing with Uchiha Madara, or the village by helping a criminal organization founded by its biggest traitor.

'It's all for everyone's good...'

Shisui thought as he shook himself out of his thoughts, "It was good..." Shisui waited for a bit before saying, "Follow me..."

Both of them vanished in a shunshin and arrived at a particular corner of the Uchiha Lake, while Shisui now had a newfound appreciation of this spot he didn't miss the twitch that appeared on Itachi's face.

"What?" he asked, the fact that he was keeping a secret from his best friend was already bothering him so he thought why not let Itachi get something off his chest.

"Fujii came looking for me today, an hour or two ago..." Itachi's words alarmed Shisui, he quickly checked the younger Uchiha's figure in concern, and Itachi spoke to settle his worries, "We didn't fight, other than my initial probe passing through his body, I think he just liked this spot..." the younger Uchiha looked at the small clearing and the tree that had a good view of the Lake.

"Yeah, we used to spar here sometimes, back when I could still run circles around him..." Shisui chuckled slightly, thinking back to simpler times.

"I told the Hokage about the coup," Itachi suddenly blurted out, catching Shisui off guard. Shisui knew the personality of Itachi, to him, making sure that this peace lasts for as long as possible was his dream. For someone who had seen the reality of war, it was the best possible psychological outcome.

"Yeah, me too..." Shisui responded making the younger Uchiha finally stop fidgeting, Itachi also knew what the clan meant to Shisui so he was a little surprised by the answer.

"What are we going to do?" Itachi wondered as he jumped up to sit down on the tree, Shisui, on the other hand, laid down on the ground to stare at the sky, he could now see the appeal that some of his Nara comrades had, to forget about all the worries and stare at the clouds changing shape as they moved through the sky.

"Congratulations by the way," Itachi shot Shisui a rare smile, "I heard Uncle is finally getting better, maybe his body is finally recovering..." Shisui smiled at Itachi as his mind flashed back to the vial of white cells that he injected into his father, it was one piece of good news that had come to him in recent times, while the tension between the clan and village still exists, at least Shisui could see the smile on his mother and Father's face again.

'Maybe everything would turn out to be good in the end...'