CHAPTER TWO ; THE FALL

❝ UCHIHA DEATH UCHIHA DEATH UCHIHA DEATH UCHIHA AFTER DEATH❞

"GIVE ME A NAME AND I'LL COME WHEN CALLED."

HER voice is level but is saturated with many meanings, some that Shisui can't unravel just yet. It's not fucking fair that she, some Other being, can control him even past his death like the Devil she is.

"I don't want to do that."

"Oh?"

"I just want to be put to rest." Please.

"Rest?" She chortles. "Why would you? Why should I let you? You have people to take care of. Nurture them. Bleed the others dry. Kill them all."

"That is everything I've worked against," he replies evenly but it convinces no one. Simmering rage beneath his perfect facade reaches out to this mononoke; rage at her, rage at the world he's left behind, rage at all the injustice he, even still, unquestionably serves.

"What you tried to worked for is what you were working against," she laughs cruelly. "Peacekeeping? You fuelled bloodlust, my dearest. How can you be a true peacekeeper if men, women, children have died by your hands?"

"I'm well aware," comes his reply. Not a single stutter, but both of them know how much he tries to hide it. Shisui loathes himself more than anything else.

"Watch the red drip between your fingers like melting candy." A smile. "Here," she coos, "allow me to show you what your death has caused."

His gaze clashes with her dark hues as she leans over his floating body. She seems to loom over him, eyes growing wide, impossibly wide, larger and larger until it takes up her entire face. Smaller eyeballs appear in the darkness, popping and rolling on the spot and expanding like fattening bugs until takes over his entire vision.

Shisui screams as the twanging of the biwa returns along with several sceneries.

His eye sockets gape back at the darkness in an ironic mimicry, yet Shisui can't stop seeing the vision of his blood falling like red leaves before winter. His mind becomes infected with the chittering plagues of devilish laughter that does not belong, and the smell of blood with the sound of a blade cutting through flesh gives rise to the tidal waves of anguish. They resonate through his entire body.

Itachi screams, but his mouth doesn't open nor does his eyes ever blink. Shisui watches with an awe as he watches his beloved cousin rubs his clan's blood off his face. The moon gleams red.

Itachi screams and screams and screams, with every cut and slash. Behind his steely resolve, he cries out for Shisui, for his family, for his lost dreams.

Shisui continues to watch, unable to touch the scene, as the collective memories of the Uchiha play out in front of him. The perspective continuously switches, from watching from the outside as his cousins and friends are cut down like trees, to Shisui himself in Itachi's body, gripping the sword and feeling the sensations, to the clansmen as Itachi's face becomes the last thing they see. A headache begins to build, thrumming at the back of his head and temples.

UCHIHA ABOVE ALL begins to fall at the deceivingly loving fingers of (Uchiha) Itachi.

The only tears the killer leaks come when his parents kneel, resigned to their fate in a horribly elegant way that suits them. Crystalline drops trail down his cheek, jaw, collarbones, embedding themselves like diamonds between his gums and down his wrists, his tantō, ready to mingle with the blood. Uchiha Itachi has never been so human, and Uchiha Shisui has never felt so bestial.

Fugaku lets his son run a tantō through his body. UCHIHA ABOVE ALL is sealed— no, not dead, but with the decision of giving up his life instead of fighting his own son, it begins to thrive. It grows, expands, past the barriers of death and life and its sporadic vines spread viciously into the deep purple sky.

Shisui's hate sears through his veins, draining his veins of everything but the images of the deaths of his clan. There is little control left to stop himself and Shisui's soldier boy heart empties out his childhood love until he is reduced to less than nothing.

"NO!" Shisui screams and lunges forward. The mononoke girl cuts the memories short, leaving Shisui to grasp at empty air. He chokes on his own tears— an unfamiliar sensation he has long cut off, ever since his first kill.

He's left panting heavily, staring back into the familiar nothingness with only a glimmer of ochre gold from the woman's horns.

"Why did you show me this? I can't do anything about it," he snarls and tries to calm his rapid heart down. It doesn't listen to him. A heart that heavy will listen to nothing but the rhythms of tragedy.

"Don't be blind to the things you have caused," she chuckles at herself. "I told you before, haven't I? I can give your life back."

"How? What do you gain from this?"

"You realise, don't you? Something is not quite right," she ignores him.

Shisui knows. Itachi may be strong, but UCHIHA ABOVE ALL is stronger. The Curse of Hatred has always been stronger than the Will of Fire within them. They are one of the noble clans, too big and too stubborn to be cut down by even a prodigy like his younger cousin.

"There is another killer. Unknown to all but Itachi and themself."

A swallow. "Show me."

"No. That is for you to see for yourself."

She chortles at the crease of his eyebrows and the aggressive scrubbing at his tears that leave the corners of his eyes red. Briefly, he marvels at the contradicting nature of crying without eyes, but finds himself once again entranced by the sound of her voice. He tries to shake it off; the tumbling of harsh emotions are beginning to rip him apart by the seams.

"Please stop."

Keep calm. Soldiers are always calm.

"Stop?" Incredulity bleeds into her voice. "I can't give you all the answers, Uchiha. It is not that easy."

"Stop playing games. I'll kill you."

She laughs again at his pathetic attempt to intimidate her in her own territory. "You are such a sweet talker. But don't be hasty, my dear little Uchiha~" she twirls playfully on the spot. "There is something else you must know."

I can't take anymore- NO! Soldier's are always ready. Uchiha are always ready-

Like before, the black realm flashes with images. However, this time it is of only a single person, walking through the streets of Konoha, eating at a table, sitting cross legged on a fūton, standing in front of kneeling men. Half his face covered in bandages, a cross shaped scar on his chin, a cane, and pure greed and power that reeks through his pores.

There are three people Shisui will instantly recognise before his brain even comprehends who they are. Uchiha Itachi. Uchiha Fugaku.

Danzō Shimura.

Danzō Shimura rolling up his sleeves as he splashes his face with water nonchalantly in a bathroom.

Danzō Shimura with all the bloody eyes of his clan.

Ghost sharingans blaze in the darkness from empty eye sockets. Seeing those red eyes dot up that arm like strawberries in tan fields—  Shisui's empty soldier boy heart destroys itself with something blistering hot.

"Fuck!" His voice breaks. He clutches at his head, trying desperately to shake away the feeling of nausea and blinding, chilling pain that claws at his ears, face, throat, lungs, stomach.

Uchiha Uchiha Uchiha Uchiha Uchiha Uchiha Uchiha UCHIHA UCHIHA UCHIHA UCHIHA

UCHIHA ABOVE ALL—

— the woman's eyes pulse open as power visibly surges under her skin. A genuine smile appears on her face as Shisui's hate builds and builds until he's cold, colder than ever and all he knows is bellicosity and retribution. A deal with the Devil always ends with a noose or water filled lungs, but Shisui's already died once; what is one more time if he dies for Uchiha honour?

"I'll call you Mononoke for now." Shisui seals his fate by ripping it apart and taking the Devil's hand.

"Give my life back. I'll kill them all."

***

Please please vote and comment! I'm sure that all writers will agree with me that votes and comments really help motivate us and lets us know that our efforts to write are being acknowledged

Someone count how many times I've said Uchiha in this chapter HAHAHHAHAHA

* This scene hopefully shows Shisui's Curse of Hatred: "when the object of their affection is lost, an Uchiha's love can instantaneously turn into hatred, leaving tem more inclined to do anything and everything in their power to achieve their goals".

Canonically he and Itachi (and Sasuke) have been the only ones to escape it, but here I'm going to explore him succumbing to it, because even in death his 'life' doesn't stop.