A/N:I just gotta say, I've been getting all these PMs for the last chapter saying "poor Naruto" and I was just cackling because literally what about Shisui? It's like he's the one that was getting crapped on last chapter. I dunno it just tickled me I guess.

I don't own Naruto.

Shisui sat beside his friend on a branch high up in a large tree somewhere within Shi no Mori.

The young chūnin had explained the situation to the younger Uchiha, leaving nothing out, save for the fact that he had awakened the next level of his sharingan when he thought Naruto had died in his arms in the hospital.

"So, this "Naruto", they're who you've been sneaking off to see?" Itachi asked, looking at the other boy expressionlessly.

Shisui sighed.

"I haven't been "sneaking off"." He muttered, but he did nod once. "But yes, I've been hanging out with her lately. I'm sorry we haven't had much time to train together or anything."

Itachi shook his head before saying, "I'm merely curious. That's all. Though you said she's been hurt gravely, and that for some reason she's pushing you away."

"Yeah." Shisui's shoulders slumped, his dark eyes fleeing skyward, flitting over the tree leaves scattered above them and the mostly hidden light blue of Konoha's afternoon sky. "I just… I don't understand, so I thought it'd help to hear the thoughts from an outside person looking in."

"I see." Itachi murmured.

Shisui looked back to his right, where his cousin sat at his side, their arms almost touching.

"So? What do you make of this?" The chūnin asked.

"Hm." Itachi hummed, near silent. "I can't say for certain, because I don't know this friend of yours, but it sounds like she's hiding something from you."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too, but she was so adamant about me leaving I couldn't get a word in edgewise so we could just talk it out." Shisui said, running a stressed hand through his wild curls.

Hearing the barely suppressed tightness in his friend's tone, Itachi looked over, eyeing the older Uchiha with those keen raven eyes of his.

"Shisui." Itachi called, soft.

With a sigh Shisui met his friend's eyes.

"This Naruto, she is important to you." Itachi said, slow, sure.

Shisui eyed Itachi for a long moment, and then he nodded, answering with an equally quiet, "Yeah. She is."

Itachi's eyes softened.

"Then you already know what you have to do." The younger said.

"She'll just push me away again though." Shisui said, lips pursing.

"You will simply have to be more stubborn than she is." Itachi shrugged.

Shisui snorted a quiet laugh.

"I don't know if I could manage that, but you're right." He said. "And I'll have to keep trying until we come to an understanding."

"Hm." Itachi hummed again. Shisui looked at him curiously, and Itachi smiled faintly with, "I don't think you were so lost after all."

"Hm, no. Maybe not, but I'm still glad you were here to help me stay on the right way." Shisui answered, giving his own faint smile.

"Now," Itachi began, catching the older's attention. "Are you going back today, or will you wait a while?"

Well, that had been a little fast.

"Can't you come with me?" Shisui whined a little, the melancholy atmosphere lifting for the time being.

Itachi rose his left brow at his friend.

"Despite whatever strange misconceptions you have going on in your mind, I don't enjoy third wheeling, Shisui."

"Aww, Itachi c'mon. I need you there for like, moral support."

"Did I not just give you moral support?" Itachi asked emotionlessly.

"You have to be near when I'm doing what you said for it to have full effect." Shisui explained, a grin threatening to spread across his face.

"That is ludicrous." Itachi deadpanned.

"What if I told you, you could do anything like a boss? I really believe that too. You could third wheel like a boss. Nobody would even call you on it."

"Shisui." Itachi spoke gravely.

"Hm?" He hummed pleasantly.

"Get out of here."

"You're mean." Shisui sighed, aggrieved. He could've sworn he peeped Itachi rolling his eyes from the corner of his eye as he stood up from his perch to stretch.

Itachi stood on the branch as well, having too much poise to stretch in front of the older Uchiha.

"But seriously." Shisui said, looking at his friend when he was finished. "Can you at least wait for me outside? I'm not sure what to expect."

"I didn't think you would want anyone to witness what may happen." Itachi admitted, eyeing him. "Nor your friend. This is a personal matter, Shisui."

"I know that." Shisui said, frowning a little. "I'm the one who confided in you about this, so I know it's personal. I just…"

The younger Uchiha studied the chūnin for a long few moments, neither one of them breaking eye contact, nor hinting at the thoughts that were going through their heads to the other. After another long moment Itachi sighed, looking away.

"Alright." The younger prodigy murmured.

Shisui would admit, he did not try to stop his grateful smile.

She was a liar.

She was afraid of many things.

She was afraid of being a monster because of the sentient evil that lived inside of her.

She was afraid of dying a horrible death all alone, as she had learned after she found herself impaled in the warehouse.

She was afraid of making a true friend, even though that's all she ever really wanted besides family, because if she let herself care that deeply about someone else… What happened when they found out that she was a Jinchūriki?

Jinchūriki.

That word, that's what the Kyuubi had called her.

"I am the great Kyuubi no Kitsune." The fox had rumbled. "You are my Jinchūriki. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you become less pitiful. However infinitesimal the difference may be."

Naruto could only assume "Jinchūriki" meant something along the lines of "jailer for a bijuu". But digressing, Shisui didn't know what she was.

No one that had been little when she was born knew. That lying Sandaime had finally told the truth and said so… but… what if they did know…? How would they react?

No.

That's not what Naruto really wanted to know. How would Shisui react? Would he be as afraid of her as she was of herself?

Naruto didn't want to know the answer. It was cowardly, she knew, and though she despised that there was nothing she could do to crush those feelings. And that's why, that's why when she sensed that chakra near... his chakra, she stood, not knowing what she was doing other than fleeing. The little blonde's right bandaged hand went to her clothed middle, feeling twinges of agitated pain through the smog of her medication as she shifted in her hospital bed. Her little feet met the cold floor of her sterile hospital room, and she hobbled her way over to the door, her legs feeling weak after resting in a bed for a few days.

Naruto stretched her sense for chakra, estimating Shisui to still be in the lower levels of the building, probably checking in at the front desk so he could visit Naruto's room.

'I was so mean.' She thought, her brows furrowing in equal amounts of guilt and confusion. 'Why did he come back? Why can't he just… stop caring?'

Some part of Naruto's brain told her he would when he found out what a freak of nature she was.

'He won't find out.' She thought, resolute. 'I won't let him know, ever.'

Naruto wouldn't give him the chance to show her such cold eyes, to reject her. If she cut him off now, swift and cutthroat, she wouldn't have to suffer like that. It would be better for them both. She already knew that.

Another part, a hopeful and stupid part told her that Shisui wouldn't do that, because he was Shisui. Kind, honest, friendly Shisui. A boy who didn't seem to have a true mean bone in his body. But even still.

Naruto knew.

People were kind and humane to others. Just not her, for the simple fact that she was herself.

The same mouth that kissed a beloved grandchild would sneer and curse Naruto's birth. So yes, she knew. She knew that kindness was a beauty reserved for those who were not her. Not a Jinchūriki.

The blonde's shaking hand found the knob of her hospital room door, and she opened it, looking this way and that down the oddly vacant halls before stepping out and silently closing the door behind herself.

Naruto went in the opposite direction that she knew Shisui would appear from, meaning she went further into the hospital. The blonde decided to go to the roof, hoping to wait the boy out and that he wouldn't try to look for her.

Maybe that was dumb, to try and hide that is, because he'd been on a mission and still managed to find her alone in the warehouse. But Naruto didn't know what else to do.

She felt like hiding, so that's what she would do.

Shisui made his way to Naruto's hospital room with Itachi by his side.

When they made their way to her floor Itachi ceased his stride and waited by the stairs, allowing Shisui to make the rest of the trip alone, so as to give the two quarreling friends some privacy.

Shisui offered a small smile of thanks to the younger Uchiha over his shoulder. Itachi nodded once in acknowledgement. And with that, Shisui continued on his way. The messy haired boy stopped in front of Naruto's door, and he knew it was hers because he'd just been there a little over an hour ago before Naruto had run him off.

But he could sense that there was no one there. Even still, he let himself into the room and closed it behind himself, making his way over to the unmade bed near the large window. It wasn't open, so she hadn't gone through it, but it still had use for him.

Shisui stretched his senses.

He wouldn't say he was an expert sensor, but he knew Naruto's chakra signature, and she had an ocean's worth of chakra that she had yet to learn how to suppress. It didn't take long to locate the wild, warm signature that was all Naruto.

'There…!' Shisui thought, hopping onto the side railing of the bed and then leaning over to slide the window open.

The boy climbed out, channeling chakra into the soles of his feet and calmly walking up the side of the building.

Either Naruto was getting some fresh air or she was hiding from him. He'd bet money on avoidance, since she seemed to have an unnaturally high aptitude for locating people she had no visual on.

After reaching the edge of the hospital roof and its safety fence, Shisui performed a swift shunshin to appear in front of the door leading to the hospital's roof, cutting off her safest escape route.

The boy's friend stood a ways away from him, her back to him, wild hair free and in a hospital gown with no shoes.

"I knew you'd come up here anyways." Naruto said, speaking solemnly towards the view of Konoha stretched out below them. "Even though anyone with a brain could tell I was trying to get away from you."

The tone was off, but those mean words were all Naruto. It was kind of relieving to be honest, much better than the melancholy face she had shown him before.

"If you knew then why did you even try?" Shisui asked, slipping his hands into his pockets.

"I dunno." Naruto admitted, shrugging.

"I think you do." Shisui responded seriously. "So why don't you tell me. Because ignoring me and pushing me away isn't being fair, Naruto."

"I thought we already went over that, Uchiha." The blonde huffed, turning around and giving him a glare. But it wasn't that familiar anger that gave him pause, it was the sadness that she tried to hide that made him recoil slightly.

'I just don't understand.' Shisui thought. 'What's the matter with you?'

"Life isn't fair." Naruto stated.

"No, it's not." Shisui admitted. "But that doesn't mean you have to go out of your way to be a jerk too."

"You tryna pick a fight with me?" Naruto growled, taking a threatening step towards him. Though he didn't give her the satisfaction of reacting beside shaking his head slightly.

"You would like that, wouldn't you." Shisui said, sighing. "It'd be easy, for us to fight. But that's not why I came here Naruto, and you know it's not. I came here because I'm your friend, and I care about you. And I want to know what's wrong with you."

"You're not my friend so get lost already." Naruto huffed, scowling. "Why won't you leave? How many times do you have to get told off before you get it?"

"I'm not going to believe that unless I get a real reason to." Shisui refuted resolutely. "You're just telling me to turn a blind eye when I know you're not okay. How can you ask me to do that?"

"I'm not asking you to do anything, I'm telling you to leave me alone." The blonde spat, getsuring violently at the door behind him.

"And I'm saying that I can't." Shisui said, remaining calm and levelheaded despite the fact that he could see Naruto's temper becoming more and more foul by the second.

He knew he wasn't being very graceful in his approach but at this point that wouldn't even work. Naruto wouldn't respond to anything more than him beating down whatever misconceptions she had.

"You're just gonna screw off anyway if I did tell you what's really wrong." Naruto said cynically, scoffing when he shook his head in disagreement. "You don't know anything, stupid Shisui."

"And that's why I'm asking, but you won't even be logical and explain." He answered, wrangling in his own rising frustration. "None of this even has to be happening. We could just solve this right here, right now."

The little blonde scoffed again and crossed her arms defensively. Shisui almost wanted to yank his hair out, but he decided to take a slightly different approach instead.

"Let me ask you this, Naruto." Shisui said, sighing again. "If you were in my shoes, would you abandon me?"

"That's not the point!" Naruto snarled, shifting and running an irritated hand through her bangs. "You don't know…!"

"Well how can you be so sure then?" Shisui asked calmly, tilting his head at her shrewdly, watching her cheeks flush with anger as he cut her off and continued to ignore her arguments at every turn. "No, I don't know what's making you feel like this, but why are you so sure I'd ditch you if I did? Just think Naruto. If I were you, and you were me, and you found out whatever it is that makes you think I'd leave you behind… would you leave me? Or would you stay?"

Honestly Shisui wanted to know. And it truly stung that she thought so lowly of him. Hadn't he proved already that he wanted to be her friend, that despite her flaws he still enjoyed being around her? Short of her being a murderer of innocents or some other nefarious wretch Shisui didn't think there was anything Naruto could do that would just make him outright abandon her.

"Why would you want to stay anyways?" Naruto finally exploded. "What do you get from it!?"

"Why are you not answering my question!" Shisui yelled back.

Naruto was stunned into silence.

The young Uchiha sighed. He'd tried. He'd tried so hard to be sensible, but that was not working. If he didn't come at her with his honest to god feelings she'd probably never understand, and that was not what Shisui wanted.

He wanted to understand Naruto, and he wanted her to understand him in return.

Shisui… Shisui was angry.

He was angry at her. Naruto had never seen him make a face like that, never seen him run a stressed hand through his already messy curls. But then again what had she been expecting? She'd pushed and pushed and this is what she got. She'd brought it on herself, and she knew that.

"What's the matter with you?" Shisui snapped. "I don't get it. How can you act like this, and say we're not friends when we obviously are? Why can't I talk to you and have you just listen? Why can't you just listen to me Naruto?"

She opened her mouth, but for once she didn't know what to say. Naruto didn't know what falsely angered garbage to spew, so she said nothing. That seemed to be just fine with Shisui though, because he kept talking.

"You keep asking why, why, why? Well why not? Maybe I just want to be your friend? Did that ever cross your mind?" Shisui asked. He wasn't yelling, he'd only done that once and after he simply asked her an abundance of things she just wasn't ready for in that voice full of temper. "Did you ever stop to think, hey, maybe some people don't have ulterior motives for the things they do. Maybe they just do them for reasons they don't even fully understand. Hm? Did you think about that?"

They stared at one another for a long span of time, probably about two minutes, but Shisui didn't turn his gaze away from hers, he never did. And because what was happening was happening, for once in turn Naruto couldn't turn away either.

'What… what am I doing?' Naruto asked herself.

They both stared until finally courage scraped itself up within the blonde and she answered.

"I… no." Naruto croaked, finally responding. "No I… I wouldn't."

'I can't keep doing this.' The blonde thought. 'I hate liars, I hate people that hurt others just because they can. But what am I doing right now?'

"What?" Shisui asked, temper seeming to deflate slightly.

It gave Naruto more courage to plow through the rest of her response.

"If I were you." She elaborated quietly, looking at him with sullen blue eyes. "And if you were me… I wouldn't leave you."

She knew. She knew that for certain, all the way down in the bottom of her heart and the deepest part of her soul she knew that if Shisui were in her shoes, she would not shun him. Be wary and fear him for what she didn't understand? Probably. The little blonde was only human after all. But ostracize him for something he couldn't control? Never. Never would Naruto do that to someone.

"Oh." Shisui said, all the anger just seeming to drain out of him.

"And I…" Naruto choked, eyes stinging. "I was."

Her friend seemed lost at the appearance of her tears, looking at her with such a heartbroken and understanding expression she just couldn't lie to him anymore. Couldn't lie to herself.

"I was scared, Shisui." Naruto choked, shuddering. "I was so scared. I… I've never been so…!"

Tears spilled down from the broken dam that was her eyes, and she looked away from his lost expression, studying her own bare feet because she didn't know what to do either.

Naruto wanted to be angry that she couldn't drive him away, that he was seeing her at her lowest and weakest yet again. But a bigger part of her was glad. She was so glad that Shisui didn't leave her behind.

"And I'm sorry." Naruto went on, eyes squeezing shut because she knew another flood would come if she didn't. "I was wrong."

She'd known that even as she told herself she was right. She was wrong to treat Shisui the way others treated her. Cruelly for things he didn't understand. How could she put another person through that? How dare she?

"I'm really sorry." Naruto choked, forcing herself to continue because she needed to stop being such a coward, stop only thinking about herself when there was someone who mattered to her for once more than herself. "I was mean, and terrible, and stupid, and I just…"

She trembled from the fierce force of her emotions. She gasped a little when she felt a hand on top of her head.

'Again, even now he…'

Naruto looked up, and Shisui was looking at her again. He wasn't smiling, no. He… he looked sad. So so sad.

'I did that.' Naruto made herself look, made herself face that truth. 'I put that sadness there.'

"I was scared too." Shisui confessed, stroking the wild tufts on top of her head. "I thought… I thought you were going to die, Naruto. I thought I wouldn't be able to make it in time to get you here… and I just… when you were okay, I was so relieved, but you didn't want to see me. You didn't want me around."

He looked like he might begin tearing up, but he didn't. He had more control over himself than that, so he pulled his hand away from her head, and took hold of the bottom of his shirt, lifting it up to tenderly wipe away her tears.

And it just… it just made them flow faster, and it seemed like they would never stop.

Because how? How could she, Naruto, actually have someone care that much? Someone who feared the thought of her demise? Someone who could be hurt by her because they thought she didn't want them around? It's all she ever wanted, to care and have someone care in return. But now that she had it she didn't know what she should do with it. If she even deserved it. How was it possible?

How?

'It doesn't matter…' She told herself.

All that mattered right then, was this. And this… this was not what pain, or loneliness, or hatred looked like. It's not what it felt like at all. And so...

Naruto caught his hand, gently bringing it away from her face so that his shirt could fall back into place, stained with her tears.

"Didn't want you around?" She echoed at last, shaking her head. "That's… not true."

Shisui's midnight eyes widened slightly. Tentatively, he reached out, taking her other hand in his own. His hands were warm, a little calloused because he was a full blown chūnin, but also weirdly gentle.

"Naruto?" Shisui asked, his eyes searching hers. "We're friends, right?"

Naruto peered into his midnight eyes with her own sky blue, and she couldn't stop herself from nodding slightly even if she wanted to.

Their fingers laced, warm and connected.

"We're friends…" She whispered.

It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from the bottom of her heart, and the blonde exhaled in relief, not realizing that she had been carrying around a weight from refusing to verbally acknowledge her connection to her very first friend.

They just stood, hand in hand for a few moments, silently basking in the air of truth and comradeship flowing between them.

But the peace shifted slightly when Shisui pulled his hands from hers, and Naruto felt the loss of their warmth, immediately missing it. But when he wrapped his arms around her, and hugged her close, it was so much warmer.

And Naruto hesitated.

She truly did, because even then she was afraid.

But when Naruto finally wrapped her arms around Shisui in return, she learned then that tears were not only symbols of pain.

Hmmm, I'm not really satisfied with this. It seems rushed to me, but I'm not sure how to fix it.

…