Shisui is only five years old when he learns just how special he is, and ten years old when he first meets Itachi.

Characters: Shisui, Itachi, Kagami, Danzo

Year 5, Konoha Forests

When Shisui was young, his most favorite place in Konoha was the lush green forests near the Nara clan estate. The trees were tall and sturdy, their wooden stems and wrinkles all telling a unique tale of their own, and when the wind blew and the leaves rustled along with it, Shisui swears he could understand what the trees were talking about [1].

Sometimes when he chanced upon a cluster of bright red mushrooms with sunflower yellow spots, he would eagerly look around the base of the mushrooms to see if he could find any golden coins or nuggets there. His grandmother told him that every night, the forest fairies would dance around these mushrooms, and they would dance so rigorously and spiritedly that they didn't notice when the golden dust in their pockets flew out and dropped onto the ground, forming little mountains of wealth for any lucky person who chanced upon them the very next day.

But most importantly, what he loved the most about these forests was the emerald green of the leaves and the ground – they reminded him of his grandmother's beautiful eyes.

One day during the summer of his fifth year, his father Kagami decided to bring him and his cousin, Uchiha Satoshi, on a play date to the forest. In reality, it was actually a rabbit-hunting trip, as the Uchiha believed in training their young to survive in the wild from a tender age, and Kagami and Satoshi had just turned five – the age at which the Uchiha started the arduous process of training and selecting the crème de la crème of the clan.

As Shisui and Satoshi crouched low behind the bushes, bows bent and poised to strike, each kept a close, wary eye on the white rabbit that was sitting calmly in the forest clearing, oblivious to two near murderous boys just five feet away. Sensing that it was the right moment, Shisui unleashed his bow and watched, with proud satisfaction, when the arrow flew and hit its mark – right through the rabbit's head. It barely even knew what had happened as it lay dead on the ground.

"Heh, that was a good shot!" Shisui announced, pride flushing his face red as he stood up.

As he proceeded to walk over to claim his prize, he felt a hand stop him and looked to see Satoshi in front of him, arm raised.

"That's my rabbit, Shisui," he stated.

"No way, Satoshi! You saw me unleash that arrow and kill it – it's my rabbit!"

"Heh, I'm older so I obviously get it first, dummy!" retorted Satoshi.

"Well, if you're that good, why don't you try getting it first?" sneered Shisui as he jumped over Satoshi.

He had barely reached the rabbit when he felt two hands grab his ankles and soon he found himself in a massive brawl with Satoshi, each clawing angrily at each other and landing mean punches at wherever they could land their fists on – a childish, jealous fight between two boys with no tangible shinobi skills.

It was five minutes later when Kagami found them and forcefully separated them, all the while chiding them for their incorrigible and bratty behavior. Shisui still remembered the exasperated look on his father's face, and how he and Satoshi had fought so hard that they had ugly, bloodied cuts and bruises to their limbs and face – Satoshi in particular got a pretty good black eye from where Shisui had managed to hit him earlier.

The evening sky was a glorious watercolor painting of pink, gold and orange as Shisui held onto Kagami's curly hair as he sat atop Kagami's strong shoulders. It was a ten minutes' walk to the Uchiha compound, and he could see the proud red-and-white symbol appear in his line of vision. Sniffing, Kagami looked down and was shocked to see that the cuts and bruises on his skin were gone.

Impossible…he hadn't even gotten any treatment and his skin was as smooth and unblemished as a baby's. Shisui looked down at Satoshi, who was being carried in Kagami's arms and to his surprise, saw that Satoshi still had the cuts and bruises from their brawl earlier on and leaned back in confusion. How could it be?

Later that evening when Shisui asked Kagami about why his cuts magically healed themselves, Kagami just fixed him with a solemn and contemplative look – the kind of look that adults always wore when they had to tell children something that they didn't want to but just had to.

"It is because you are special, Shisui. You have a very unique heritage as your grandmother was originally from a clan of legendary shinobi with impressive life force and regenerative abilities. It was even said that her cousin [2] could heal himself instantaneously without forming any hand seals," Kagami explained.

Wow. Shisui gazed up at his father in awe – he had known his grandmother was different and awesome, but not this awesome.

"That's so cool, dad! What clan was she from and why have we never seen our relatives from there before?" Shisui demanded, curious and excited.

Kagami only smiled ruefully at his son's enthusiasm as he bounced around like an excitable child and ruffled his hair – dark and curly just like his.

"It doesn't matter, Shisui. Her clan is long extinct," was all Kagami said and at five years old, Shisui felt that it was one of the biggest secrets that he would never learn.

Apparently, special also meant being an Uchiha, as Shisui quickly learnt when he roamed the streets of Konoha while accompanying his mother to buy groceries at the common market.

People would just take one look at his face or the clan crest on his back before they erupted into excitable whispers to each other and the occasional and awkward gawking.

"Oh my god, do you see that? It's so obvious he's an Uchiha!"

"Look! An Uchiha! I bet he's going to grow up to be a ninja prodigy one day!"

"Nina, he's going to be soooo handsome like all his clan mates when he's older! Just look at his face!"

The whispers and praises never stopped coming, and Shisui didn't know whether to be perturbed or honored that his clan were essentially the elites and celebrities of Konoha Village. Whether it be their impressive shinobi abilities or their dark, brooding handsome good looks, they were loved and adored by the citizens of Konoha.

Year 9, Uchiha clan Dojo

If being special meant being an Uchiha, being an Uchiha prodigy meant being a near tragedy, as Shisui soon found out.

During the first few clan training sessions where all Uchiha children aged five and above were gathered to hone their shinobi skills, it was obvious to all that Shisui's talent and skill was second to none.

He was a fast learner, and even faster on his feet. A winged hermes draped in the dark cloth of the Uchiha and a cherubic face of child not yet familiar with the trappings of the word "genius".

Once, Shisui thought performing well meant good rewards in the form of more sweets, more playtime and more gifts from the elders. Now, at the mere age of nine, all the rewards the Uchiha deemed fit to bestow upon their brightest were in the form of aching backs, broken toes, and scathing burns from long intensive hours of training.

And no, that didn't include Academy lessons and training. Those were rudimentary, according to the clan elders.

Shisui was only nine, and yet he was already missing the freedom and carefree days in the emerald forest, listening to the trees and dancing with the fairies in a childhood that slipped through his fingers like a cloudy, iridescent dream. Whenever one of the clan servants came to pick him up at the Academy grounds after lessons to signal the start of training back at the Uchiha compound, Shisui would always look enviously as the other civilian and shinobi children played tag and made arrangements for play dates at each other's houses.

The clan training on that particular summer's day was unusual and one Shisui would never forget. It was one of the adult jonin who was sparred with him, and despite the difference in age and physique, Shisui, being the fleet-footed genius that he was, had little trouble keeping up with all the kicks, parries and offensive jutsu being thrown his way.

Shisui dodged, just in time to avoid a barrage of raging fireballs, but wasn't fast enough to prevent a tongue of hot flame from burning a patch of his forearm skin off. Wincing, Shisui continued, trained never to falter even in the face of pain – let alone a superficial burn like this one. He had received worse.

What he didn't notice was his burn slowly but surely healing itself – the new skin regenerating and forming a protective layer upon the exposed flesh beneath, the only sign of a previous burn being the light pink mark on his forearm.

When the fight finally came to an end, and Uchiha Fugaku and a few elders praised both Shisui and the jonin for their hard work for the day, Shisui could eventually have the chance to see the source of his discomfort the entire time during the fight – a man, probably in his early forties, with a wooden walking stick, a mean cross-shaped scar on his chin and white bandages obscuring the right side of his face. Shisui felt his internal sides screaming as the man fixed him with a calculating, almost predatory look as Fugaku asked him to come forward to greet their new visitor.

"Shisui, this is Danzo-sama, leader of one of the most powerful organizations in Konoha," said Fugaku, gesturing to the scary man beside him.

Shisui bowed, polite and reticent, and trying to ignore the chills that ran up his spine as he felt Danzo's gaze upon him.

"So this is Kagami's son eh? A true genius just like his father and predecessors before him," said Danzo, his voice a quiet, lazy drawl as he appraised Shisui closely.

"Thank you, Danzo-sama," said Fugaku, "we hope his skills have pleased you."

"Oh no doubt about it, Fugaku-san. The Uchiha are blessed with outstanding shinobi since time immemorial."

"Then I look forward to your guidance and assistance, Danzo-sama," replied Fugaku, giving a slight bow before straightening up and leading Danzo out of the training quarters.

As Shisui watched Fugaku lead Danzo out, he turned to the jonin beside him and asked, "Takeshi-san, what is Danzo-sama doing here? We usually don't receive external guests."

Takeshi smiled and gave Shisui the exact same look that Kagami gave him many years ago.

"Danzo-sama is a very high-ranking and influential person in the village – right now we could do with his help and favor in bringing the Uchiha closer to the village administration."

Shisui was only nine, but he could spot an incomplete truth as easily as he could spot a lie.

Takeshi saw the confounded look on Shisui's face and laughed, ruffling his hair, "Don't worry your young head over this, Shisui. You're but just a child, these matters are for grown-ups like Fugaku-san."

No, I am no child. I have hardly ever been and have never been since a long, long time ago, thought Shisui as he watched Takeshi's flitting smile trying to hide the secrets behind his words.

Year 10, Uchiha clan Compound

"The Sharingan," Kagami once told him, "is a reflection of the heart."

Shisui didn't understand until the day he turned ten and was looking down his father's coffin, holding a pink flower in his hands as a last farewell gift as a dutiful son. It was too soon, too sudden – the war may be beyond the safe walls of Konoha, but the atrocities and pain had nonetheless slinked their way into the once happy and secure confines of home.

Pain, excruciating pain was all Shisui felt that night as his nerves felt like they were on fire, and every vein in his body was being paralyzed by an unseen wave of electrical energy.

When he opened his eyes, all he saw was red and black. An angry, fiery red that burned like the fire that consumed his father's body at the funeral altar. Black like the charred ashes of the fallen in battle.

"Shisui?"

He turned round to see his grandmother, cloaked in black – that mourning black, as she carefully approached him and took his face into her hands.

"Child," she says, "you have awakened your Sharingan."

And she looks at him with the sadness of a thousand years as she continues, "I have seen so many Sharingan, and each time I see one is like seeing a whole new person again."

Yes, Shisui thinks. A death of self to give rise to another self - a self that is broken and lost like shattered glass on the floor. Kagami was his mirror[3], and with that mirror broken, Shisui no longer sees himself as he did, but snippets and pieces of himself scattered and angled in the numerous glinting pieces of glass.

That was the first and last time Shisui cried like a child throughout the night, held protectively in his grandmother's arms as she rocked him to sleep with wistful songs of the forest and sea. And Shisui's heart breaks as memories of sun-dappled shadows as Kagami throws him up in the air and catches him again, laughter and warmth radiating in the cosy green cloister of the forests beyond.

Later that summer in his tenth year, Shisui is at the usual clan training compound when the new batch of Uchiha younglings are formally introduced to their elders.

There were about eight of them, all with the signature dark hair, pale skin and distinctly patrician features. However, what caught Shisui's eye was the one who stood all the way at the edge, and it didn't take long for Shisui to learn that this child was the son of Uchiha Fugaku and heir of the Uchiha clan – Uchiha Itachi.

At the age of five, Itachi looked every bit like Shisui used to at that age, tiny and lithe in build. And just like him, Itachi's bearing and demeanor spoke of a conscious awareness of his innate genius and status of being "special" and gifted.

Shisui was lonely, incredibly so after the death of his father and grandmother, and seeing this kindred spirit re-ignited a fire in his heart that he thought had long been extinguished, and in that moment, it was as though Shisui was back to being five years old again.

However, Itachi raises his eyes and their gazes meet, and Shisui immediately realizes that that's where their similarity ends. While five-year-old Shisui was still a child, five-year-old Itachi was not. Itachi was no child – he looked like death itself.

End Notes:

Phew! I originally intended for this to be a one shot, but realized that it would be fun to re-imagine things and go into further depth and analysis of Shisui and Itachi's character and their relationship with each other. Please review and let me know what you think or share any ideas you may have! It will be much appreciated! ;)

[1] A reference to Hashirama's mokuton abilities. I've always imagined that having the mokuton meant that Hashirama would also have been able to understand and communicate with trees. In this fic, Shisui is distantly related to Hashirama through his grandmother Toka, who is Hashirama's cousin.

[2] Another secret reference by Kagami to Shisui's unusual heritage and link to the Senju clan. Hashirama was known to have regenerative abilities, and the Senju were known for having incredible life forces and powerful chakra, and in my HC they would seem to be similar to the Uzumaki in their faster regenerative abilities and incredible stamina.

[3] Kagami means "mirror" in Japanese

As for Danzo, I've always imagined him to have kept secret and clandestine relationships with the Uchiha because he was craving their power and was eyeing Shisui because of his unique mixed heritage. After all, in the manga, Danzo and Orochimaru were collaborators in their DNA experiments with the Sharingan and Hashirama's cells to boost the power of the Sharingan and even attain the Rinnegan. But of course, when things started to go awry, Danzo decided to dispose of the Uchiha as they proved to be too big a threat to the prosperity and safety of the village.