The color of wine and roses

Disclaimer and warning apply.


Chapter 3

Shisui's resolve had been proving to be strong enough so far. He'd been secretely training Itachi in the ways of genjutsu for months now, watching him evolve even faster than he'd initially expected him to. Watching him achieve in months levels which he needed years to attain. Watching him change into something even more unsettling than the old Itachi from a few months back. And still, he withstood Itachi's charms, keeping his hands to himself ever since that hug the first night of their training. It wasn't easy, but it could be done. Harsh training and willing girls were able to dull the ache to an acceptable throb most of the time.

Though there were still the moments when Shisui thought he would stand it no more. The moments when all he wanted was to quit tutoring Itachi and forget about him altogether, quenching the fire burning in his guts every single time he saw the boy once and for all. But he couldn't bring himself to do that. Partially because he felt kind of responsible for Itachi, having teached him so potentially dangeourous art as the advanced genjutsu in secrecy from the clan and partially because he was thrilled with having such a talented student. But most of all - because he just couldn't, what with Itachi being on his mind constantly these days. He couldn't seem to be able to stop himself from thinking about him, of the extent of his power and the strange developement of his striking beauty. Taking into account that Itachi had just recently gotten badly wounded on a mission, gaining quite a few scars and loosing quite a few teeth he shouldn't look better than before. And yet he did. To the point that Shisui started to incredoulously suspect there was some genjutsu involved besides extra grace to Itachi's movements and a fair amount of mascara he'd started to wear. But he, of all people, would have seen through that, wouldn't he ?

Itachi kept on asking ever so subtly about the Legendary Sharingan, too. But every time Shisui was about to tell him about it one look into Itachi's cold, uncaring, bored eyes looking out for thrills they couldn't seem to pinpoint anymore in the world that surrounded him, made him hesitate, a lump forming in his throat before he could utter that sentence: "It is told that there is a whole new level to the sharingan, but in order to achieve it, one has to murder his closest friend."

He was Itachi's closest friend still, for crying out loud, he knew as much. And what bunch of nonsense was that anyway ?

And then, there came the day when Itachi performed a genjutsu better than him, successfully trapping him in an illusion created for once without his guidance. Shisui had been waiting eagerly for the day when that would happen. He'd been afraid that Itachi wouldn't make a great genjutsu user even despite being technically able to cast the most advanced forms of it. It could've been the case that Itachi was just too empty inside and not nearly enough of an empath to cast anything worthwhile in the end.

But that proved not to be the case.

When the sky above him turned dark all of a sudden he figured he was trapped indeed. There appeared a full moon right above the horizon, tinted red and seeming deadly. The air was turning chilly by the minute. He could hear the voices of night-time birds in the distance, adding authencity to the illusion. But what unsettled him more was that he could smell blood close by.

Basic dispelling jutsus proved to be ineffective and Shisui didn't try anything more advanced for the time being. He followed the smell instead. There was someone lying at the shore of the river, a motionless body, half submerged under the water, the waves lapping at the blood covering the figure's chest generously. Shisui bent down over the lying figure and revealed its face, pulling back the soaked black hair. It was Itachi. Or rather...

His skin was way too cold for him to be still alive and all the blood had long since dried. Unseeing black eyes were reflecting Shisui’s face, which he strained to keep emotionless. With trembling hands, he lowered the paper-thin eyelids over the unseeing eyes.

Then he stood up. The thirteen-year old's body lying at his feet, stripped of its power and its grace now that it was no longer alive didn't appear to be anything more than it really was anymore. It seemed vulnerable now. And still so very young. Nobody should die that young. Die in some ruthless battle at that, wearing an ANBU uniform, equally soaked with blood and with sin.

"Care to elaborate, Itachi ? Or am I supposed to get out of here now ?"

"Not quite yet." The body, that'd appeared dead just a minute ago, sat up in the water.

"Remember how some time ago you've promised me you'd do something about it ? So you wouldn't die like that ?"

"I've been thinking about that." Itachi said calmly. He stood up, and yanked the bloodied shirt off, revealing a smooth, unmarred torso.

Shisui approached him, reaching out tentatively for the juncture of Itachi's neck and shoulder and touching the skin there with his fingertips, now warm and pliant to the touch.

"You have me fooled. Not one of my senses can tell this is not reality..." He wound his fingers through Itachi's still soaked hair, unable to stop himself. "Now, hurt me."

Itachi's eyes turned into slits as he drew a kunai out and embedded it in Shisui's stomach. A loud cry of pain echoed in the emptiness of the night. Shisui crumpled into Itachi's waiting arms.

"Was it good enough ?" Itachi whispered into his ear.

Shisui nooded tentatively, breaking out a cold sweat.

"Can you break out now ?" Itachi asked yet another question. Shisui drew the kunai out of his stomach with badly shaking hands before performing a few hand-seals. To no avail. He was truly trapped. Unable to think up a way out because of the pain. Badly wounded, he realized as he coughed up a vast amount of blood. And even though the pain and the wound were still just illusions one could actually die in a genjutsu and die in the reality at the very same moment.

"I've wanted to ask you something, for some time now."

Shisui looked up at Itachi, seemingly not comprehending. Itachi couldn't be as ruthless as to use this situation to...

"Tell me about the Legendary Sharingan."

Shisui's hands gripped Itachi's arms desperately.

"I can't..." He whispered. Not now. Not when Itachi could kill him at a whim. Because Shisui was actually afraid.

"I've waited long enough."

"Itachi..."

"Why wouldn't you just tell me ? You've teached me all of this even though the clan opposed it. Then why do you still care ? Why wouldn't you just..."

Shisui started talking, suddenly more afraid of what Itachi was going to say than of telling him about the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"There is a scroll, hidden in the Uchihas' secret meeting place in the underground of the main temple of the Nakano shrine..." His voice wavered. Itachi lowered him onto the ground and let him rest in his lap. "It states... that there exists an ultimate form of the Sharingan... The Mangekyou Sharingan which can control the time and the space and thus can be used to cast a genjutsu like no other. But it's just a legend... Only a few Uchihas were supposed to wield it. And a long time ago, too..."

Shisui felt weak. The rest of his strenght was leaving him and he was getting thoroughly cold... Itachi's face blurred before his eyes.

"You're supposed to develop it... after having killed your closest friend..." He whispered.

Somehow, he felt he was beyond salvation. Now that he had told Itachi at a time like this...

And yet... The surroundings shifted all of a sudden and he could see Itachi's face clearly again, the pain gone, too, as if it wasn't even there in the first place.

It was autumn. A gorgous autumn afternoon of the kind that just doesn't happen in the Country of Fire. Everything was golden, the sky and the setting sun, the leaves, the wooden floor under their feet. The air was crisp and clear and Itachi shivered in front of him dressed in a white yukata with the Uchiha family crest embroided on the front as well as on the back. There was an actual red and white fan in Itachi's lap as well. It was all very beautiful. Like a sophisticated painting.

"You thought I would kill you." Itachi said. His voice wasn’t even accusing. Merely stating a fact. "That’s why you haven’t told me about that a long time ago ?"

"It’s just a stupid legend. Nothing else, nothing more. I don`t want you thinking you could become any more powerful by committing such a crime. And that’s all."

Itachi was silent for a long time.

"As much as I appreciate this genjutsu... Wouldn’t you need your chakra reserves for other things, Itachi ? " Shisui asked in the end. He wanted out of this illusion, out of it and far away from Itachi. At least for some time, to think things over. Luckily, there weren’t many things left he could still teach him so he could well enough call it quits. The training was supposed to be over sooner or later anyway. It wasn’t as if he was supposed to take care of Itachi forever. Like if that was any concern of his in the first place.

"I want to ask you something... " Itachi said in the end.

Asking and asking, and still only asking and demanding answers. But never ever revealing a thing about what he was thinking. About what was going on. About why he was changing. And for whom exactly was meant the seductiveness he`d developed.

"I`ll answer. But you will answer my question, too. "

Itachi looked at him incredoulously. But then he nodded, accepting the terms.

"Have you slept with more men than the one you've told me about ?" Shisui took his chance of asking first, his voice sounding accusing.

"Yes." Itachi answered without shame nor hesitation.

"How many more ?"

Itachi just shrugged. He was acting as if Shisui's question was totally irrelevant. As if it didn't matter at all.

"Who are they ?"

"It depends." He cut it out, starting to sound annoyed.

"Why ? Why would you do something like that ?!" Shisui asked, desperately.

"Because they're not afraid of me." Itachi answered matter-of-factly, his voice calm and indifferent again.

"What... ?" Shisui gulped.

"And because it's amusing."

The illusion crumpled all around them as Shisui's chakra exploded in a flare that most likely alerted every ninja in half of Konoha.

But Itachi was still there, right in front of him, the real one this time. Shisui lunged towards him. A hand shot out to block his fist, but his chakra-laden punch wasn't something that could be countered with bare hands.

The force of the hit sent Itachi flying backwards for several meters before his body hit the ground with a dull thud.

Shisui approached him, his fury subsiding with every step he took. Itachi sat up, touching the side of his face tentatively. His eyes flashed crimson when he looked up at Shisui, but he restrained himself.

"Don't ask me what that was for. You know well enough yourself, Itachi. It was the last time. I won't be training you anymore. It's not as if there's anything left for me to teach you, anyway..."

Itachi's eyes actually widened when he heard that.

"I've wanted to ask you..." He started in a strangely dull voice... "... if you would report to the clan elders about my progress in genjutsu. Maybe if they realized I am prepared for the job already they would be willing to admit me into the police forces..." Even a day ago, Shisui would have been more than happy to help Itachi go through with such a plan, but now... he hesitated...

He would put his reputation at stake and most likely he would be more or less severely punished for revealing the crucial secrets of the clan without the consent of the elders. He would risk loosing everything he'd worked so hard to achieve for this scary boy who hadn't hesitated to hurt him to achieve his own goals. Who was whoring around because it amused him. Shisui was well aware he couldn't expect any kind of gratitude from Itachi. All it would bring him would be disappointement and sick fascination. And Shisui didn't want anymore of those.

"I can't." He finally responded. Too much was at stake to risk it all for the person Itachi had become over the years. And certainly, not after tonight.

"I see..." Itachi muttered. His voice sounded hollow and his eyes looked haunted as he surveyed Shisui's retreating back.

But shouldn't it be so ? Considering that his last flicker of hope was going away along with his only friend ?

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Itachi came back home late that night, reeking of alcohol and someone else`s sweat, the side of face swelling badly. He didn’t expect anyone to be up still. It was supposed to be some meeting of the ANBU members, nothing for his parents to worry about. Nobody ever waited up for him, anyway. Besides his foolish otouto, who would sometimes linger at the doorstep way after midnight, eager to welcome him home right after he was back.

But this time... It was his father waiting for him in the doorway, looking stern. Itachi's heart leapt in his chest. Ever since he'd been a little child he'd been somehow afraid of that man: of his looming posture, his seemingly dark presence and his terryfying blood-red eyes. And he couldn't seem to shake that feeling off even now.

"Where have you been ?"

Itachi opened his mouth to speak, but his father interrupted him right away.

"I don't want your lies. Your teammate from the ANBU clearly stated it was your time off. The Hokage called up an urgent meeting..."

"Now ?"

"In the morning. But that isn't the point. There is no reason for you to wander around Konoha at nights if you don't have any business to run. Let me ask you again: where have you been ?"

"But... isn't that obvious, tousan ?" Itachi asked back, fighting off the dread.

His father's eyebrow twitched before he agreed.

"Of course. I can smell it."

"And besides: what else could I be doing out in Konoha that late ?" Itachi asked again, attempting to walk past his father.

"And it seems you're thinking I will just let you be, aren't you ? Insolent brat..." Fugaku muttered, loud enough for Itachi to hear. His hand landed on Itachi's shoulder, keeping him still. "No more going out like that. I won't believe your lies anymore. If you want to drink, there is sake in the kitchen. You can have some if you can't sleep without that. And... I've overheard two of my subordinates talking today something about the commander's son being a really good lay. Don't ever make me think I didn't hear them wrong, understood ?"

The fingers of his father's hand dug painfully into Itachi's shoulder. Itachi nodded, just to be dismissed already. The hand let go reluctantly.

Itachi walked away as fast as he could as soon as he was let go. He could still feel his father's stare on his back, though. In the end, it was a good thing he was caught only now, after his training with Shisui was already over. But still... being forced to stay in that haunted home most of the time between missions wasn't a nice prospect. If only Sasuke was a tad bit older and not such a sucker for his attention he could have arranged something with him and go out still at the pretense of training him, but as such, it was hopeless.

Everything was hopeless.

Itachi went into his bedroom. It was so chilly inside he shivered in the doorway. Somebody had left the windows open in the evening. Damn that.

He shut the door to his bedroom without coming inside and headed to the end of the corridor. He could hear his father's footsteps in the distance, drawing near. He opened the door in front of him and went into the other bedroom, closing the door behind him. Here, it was warm. And cozy, like nowhere else in the house his family occupied. He shouldn't be coming in here anymore, though. Not as dirty as he now was. Lest he'd taint his otouto's innocence in some way. But... On that particular night he didn't feel like tossing around in his own cold bed for hours on the end. The Hokage didn't call up urgent meetings for nothing, either. It would've been nice to get a little of actual sleep before the coming mission, too.

"Sasuke..." He called softly, approaching the bed. "Can I..."

"Welcome home, niisan..." Sasuke muttered into the pillow in his sleep, reacting to the sound of his voice.

"Can I sleep with you ?" Itachi whispered the question, hearing Fugaku come into the corridor. Thankfully, he walked right into his and their mother's bedroom.

A soft snore was all the answer he got. He began undressing with a sigh. He knew well enough he wouldn't leave anyway. As well as that his otouto just wouldn't oppose him. He never did. He went to use Sasuke's bathroom, without turning the lights on. Nothing changed when he came back. His brother was still blissfully asleep and didn't wake up even as he crawled in bed with him.

Really, what kind of a ninja would he make if something like this wasn't waking him up... Or maybe it was because he recognized Itachi even unconsciously and trusted him enough to stay asleep around him. Itachi turned his back to him and closed his eyes. A second later, Sasuke was literally glued to said back, his small hands pressing into Itachi's stomach. It felt kind of nice. Comforting. Instead of the rush of excitement he felt when those men out there touched him, Sasuke's touch brought him only comfort and peace of mind. It wasn't that he felt safe while being close to him. It was just that he felt as if there wasn't really anything to be afraid of.

Really there... To get that Mangekyou Sharingan Shisui had been talking about one had to kill his closest friend. Itachi wondered vaguely who that would be for him. Shisui himself ? Or rather... Sasuke ?

His hand moved on its own and gripped Sasuke's smaller one tightly. He forced himself to relax before he could hurt him, though. And then, without the usual effort and hours of struggling with the hyperrealistic visions of all the deaths he'd witnessed and caused, he fell asleep.

And no nightmares plagued him all night long.


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A/N: This story proves plots and lemons don't go well together at all. Next chapter will have some smut, though. Promise. Actually, this one was supposed to be somewhat smutty KakaIta, but there were other issues to wrap up first and so...

Does anybody specifically wish for some Uchihacest ? Because I feel like leaving it at that between Itachi and chibi Sasuke.