Chapter Text
*.*.*.*.*
They were more of her than she was.
Whatever their souls were made out of, theirs and hers were the same...
*.*.*.*.*
Their heads snapped to the side so fast that Shisui was sure, on common civilians, they would have broken bones.
There on their right he spied a woman that bore similar features of the girl.
Shisui had always considered himself a connoisseur of the esoteric works of art that was the ‘Female species’. Because of the looks of their clan many Uchiha went sent out to do wet work, Itachi’s was mostly spared being clan heir but Shisui didn't have that luxury.
And given even his unique characteristics he often led seduction operations for men and women alike alongside his anbu operatives.
That being said he had no qualms about openly admiring how good looking of a woman she was, even if he found the eye-catching orange and gold embroidered cloth that draped loosely around her figure a bit unconventional.
Yes, perhaps any other time he would have openly enjoyed her beauty, had it not been for the fact that she had all his fight or flight senses going into overdrive.
He ended up squawking out instead: "Pretty but unknown, we should gouge out her eyes, slit the larynx and get rid of her body quickly."
He didn't have time to feel the shame that his elders' eyes on his form brought.
Not when he was still trying to rein in his anxiety that her mere presence spiked.
It was fine wasn’t it? It’s not that she would understand a word he was saying…the younger girl never seemed to.
Shisui felt a shiver go down his spine as the woman's wild hazel green eyes locked onto his own and flashed him a predatory grin.
He had made a miscalculation. He didn't know how, but she understood him…and that made him even more apprehensive of her.
The woman didn't respond to his threatening words, instead asking a question of her own.
"Don't you think she's far too lovely to be lying on the floor like a forgotten old rag doll?" The woman said brushing the girl's wild dark curls from her cheek.
He stiffened, he didn't want to look away from the very very clear threat in front of him but it's as if his body had its own will. His eyes were drawn towards the girl's face. Her signature was what was most familiar to him after she had taken him into her home, considering he didn't have eyes at the time.
His eyes moved over her features, the young girl really was a beauty. A heart shaped face that had the faintest splattering of freckles across her cheeks with a small up turned nose that had two tiny gold hoops in her columellar, defined full lips... She had his mangekyō sharingan capturing every feature in his crow form, drinking her in, before compartmentalizing his thoughts for a later date.
He didn't respond to the woman, but he could read the amusem*nt in her eyes, he didn't need to, she had just seen how he'd ogled her.
"You can help her, you know." Amusem*nt ringing in her tone.
How can I help her? He thought with a frown.
His eyes were drawn towards the girl again and so he never saw the woman move, never realized when he spoke his thoughts out loud.
One moment she's kneeling beside the girl the next she's by his side whispering to his ear.
His elders are glued to their spots and Itachi's words are silenced even as his wings wave about-
"Magic is all about the strength of your will, with of course a splash of imagination and intention. You want to help her? How do you suppose you'll do so? What do you need to do so? Craft it… Envision it and if you want it badly enough it will be born through magic..."
Despite the apprehension he could feel with a dangerous and unknown woman standing so close to his back. He couldn't find the energy to move away from her…no instead focusing on her words.
How was he to help her?
Well for one thing he needed hands…he needed his body. He remembered clearly what he looked like before he died. Too young, too handsome and taken away too soon.
He missed it... but it didn't matter, that was the shinobi life and he was limited…he was dead. Dead. Dead. Dead-
" No ." The woman said sharply, like a mother scolding a child for reaching for dessert before eating their dinner.
"The only limitations in life are the ones you make…are the ones you envision within your mind." The woman spoke to him and he wondered warily if she could read his mind like some bastardized form of the Yamanaka clan’s jutsu.
"Envision what you want, what you desire. What you need for you to achieve your goals. Close your eyes, it helps when fledglings are first beginning…" She whispered gently into his ear, and he did so.
A body, he needed his body. He wanted his body. His hands, that had calluses from years of training. His arms, his legs muscled and toned from years of missions. His face, you never know how badly you wish for your own familiar features until you're an animal.
"Yes, that's it, mold your desires, dig your fingers into it. It is yours, do not let it slip away from you~" The woman cooed approval ringing in her voice and he was for certain now that the woman must in fact be reading his mind.
Living as a crow was fun and could be useful but it wasn't ideal for long term living. He wanted his body back and he wanted it back now .
"Yes, yes ~ now yank it with all your might, rip your desires into reality!" The woman demanded with glee.
He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do but he knew what he wanted, knew what he craved . What he wished so badly that he would be willing to kill for, if only to have for a few minutes, if only for a mere second…
He felt a spark, one that was like a low fire set to simmer before someone began to turn up the flame. Simmer soon became inflamed.
A strangled gasp escaped his lips as he fell to the floor barely catching himself on his hands before he hit his face-
…wait
...wait a damn minute
He blinked his eyes refocusing to see hands, familiar hands… his hands. Lifted them up staring at them, then his arms then he looked down and saw his naked chest, but it was his all the same.
He glanced lower… not at all feeling shame at his nude form... because all of him was there. He drug his eyes to a side window and was met with his familiar devil-may-care smile, dimpled cheeks and wild curly hair.
He had his body back.
He heard a gasp and turned towards the sound to see the woman staring at his uncle with jubilance. "Kagami?!"
He watched with wide eyes as his uncle's body shifted in a mass of black before he stood before them.
“Young miss Leila, it is a pleasure to meet you again.”
“Young? Oh Kagami, your tongue is still sweet~” The woman cackled.
“Uncle? You know this woman? What is going on? And why do you look so-” Shisui was conflicted. It seemed like an eternity since he had last set his eyes on his beloved uncle but he had distinctly remembered his uncle with a face full of wrinkles. “pumped full of the-power-of-youth?”
His uncle shot him a rather disappointed look, making him wince as the woman tossed her head back letting out a howl of laughter that would have made the Inuzuka proud.
“Ah, to be so young, but say little bird, aren't you forgetting something more important?” The woman, Leila said before her eyes glanced towards the floor.
Shisui was unsure why shame seemed to burn through his very core as he followed her eyes towards the young girl who laid upon the ground. He was quick to pull her into his arms.
He was immediately taken aback by how so very right she felt in his arms.
She was incredibly light, and small too. His eyes roved over her. As a matter of fact everything about her was tiny, her hands, nose, ankles and feet, yet…he could feel himself flush; this tiny little thing did not lack curves in the slightest.
His eyes drifted back to her heart shaped face, her thick eye lashes, her full dusty rose colored lips…he wondered if they were as soft as they looked…
The clearing of a Leila's voice snapped him back to attention to quickly find himself leaning back, he hadn't even realized he was leaning in to kiss her.
Has he been possessed by Yami? Or the evil spirit of Orochimaru?
He had just gotten his body back and the first thing he was about to do was steal a kiss from some unsuspecting girl like some kind of depraved lunatic.
“Place her on the couch and step away from her.” His uncle said with amusem*nt coloring his tone and Shisui feeling as if he could rival the famed red hot habanero was quick to do so.
"You'll want to practice crafting yourself proper attire, you don't want to make her pass out again, do you lover boy?" Leila said amusem*nt blaring bright in her eyes once more as he flushed a darker shade of red that would undoubtedly match his sharingan.
And he was naked!? How had he forgotten he was naked? What was wrong with him?!
He slammed his eyes shut willing from the bottom of his heart for his comfort clothes to materialize onto his person and let out a hum of approval as he opened his eyes to fabric begin to stretch across his body.
Surreal. He couldn't help but think as he looked over himself. Just moments before he had nothing, now a black shirt with the Uchiha clan symbol on the back, black pants with bandages around his ankles, and black ninja sandals.
He sighed in content but watched as the woman spoke in hushed whispers with his uncle.
He was not far and yet could not understand what they were saying, like the very air itself distorted their words…
He stared with a frown. He was never fond of confusion. Shisui liked things that made sense, and this entire situation made no sense to him. How was all this possible? Who was this woman? How did she know his uncle? There was history there, he could see that clearly.
His uncle had not made himself known to their little group until the girl had passed out and then shortly after that woman appeared his uncle surprised him once more by appearing before him in the flesh as if he had always been there.
Too suspicious.
“Kagami, my time is running short, but you know what must be done.” Leila asked.
“Yes, young miss.” He said with a slight bow making the woman tsk, she seemed not to like his meek demeanor.
She pinched his chin making him look up at her. “Never bow your head for a woman not your own. Our women are possessive by nature she won't thank you for that, even if the person is like me.”
His uncle's demeanor shifted in an instant, his aura spiked with annoyance. “…Yes, of course young miss.”
The woman reached out to him again before stilling her hand with a grimace. “Kagami…I know that this situation…isn't ideal, but it is the best way.”
“But not the only way...”
“The way with the least amount of death involved for both sides-” She said when he cut her off.
“I have been beside my lady for half a century, beside my lady is where i should stay, besides that I am a shinobi, I do not fear death.” His words were sharp and the woman's eyes narrowed instantly.
“Yes, I am very much aware of what you truly fear, Uchiha, Kagami. I cannot help you. The dead are dead, you should know this best. You know the limitations I am bound by. Further more you were never mine to keep nor have a considered you as such.” She said coldly and he flinched.
Shisui's eyes shifted between the two. his uncles words had bothered him though he didn't know why, a sort of bitterness pooling in his heart when he declared that he wished to stay besides Leila... yet Lelia words cold as they were seemed to smooth over this bitterness. His eyes sought Itachi's, with a glance he knew that he wasn't the only one.
She sighed. “We have had over a millennia to learn from our mistakes Kagami, not everything needs to be violent...sometimes yes…but not every time. This is the best way. The best way for you. The best way for your clan and most importantly the best way for her. We won't let history repeat itself, we can't.”
“…yes…” He said and she gave him a parting glance before setting her eyes on the young girl.
Shisui tensed as she leaned over, brushing a stray curl from the girl's face and tucking it behind her ear.
“Everything will end with her just as she will be your clans beginning. She will be the progenitor that your clan will need so be sure that you take care of her." Kagami frowned at her words but she only smiled and kept talking. "Different time, different place, different culture and lifestyle but the ties that bind keep you all connected for a reason."
"There is a darkness that lurks around her, aims to suppress her you must protect her well.” She looked up meeting his eyes before flickering over the rest of his family. "Twelve after all is the number of completion but also holds the energy of new beginnings, harmonic partnerships, and being on the edge of positive change. You all must protect her well."
