Back To You [Shisui X Itachi]

Chapter 47

It was Tuesday night, and the Uchiha residence seemed to be in its own little bubble. Itachi watched fondly as Shisui playfully shoved Sasuke while the two of them laughed about a joke Sasuke had heard at school earlier that day. The image seemed to be filtered by a Sepia kind of gentleness.

"Itachi," Shisui called, "Are you okay?"

Itachi snapped out of his stupor, "Yeah, just zoned out a little", Itachi smiled. Shisui smiled back and continued eating the macaroni and cheese Itachi had made for dinner. Truthfully, cheese seemed to be the staple ingredient in their household.

"Sakura won the writing prize - they usually only hand it out at the end of the school year but her essay was so amazing that she was given the prize earlier", Sasuke gushed.

"That's amazing!" Itachi commented, taking a sip of water.

"What did she write about?" Shisui asked.

"It was a story set a long time ago about a man and a woman who fall in love with each other, then they get separated by circumstances. They accidentally bump into each other after twenty years and the spark is still there. They get married, I don't know... You have to read it to see how amazing it is", Sasuke finished his plate of food.

He wasn't thinking, he wasn't focused so he just spoke what was on his mind, "Marriage is a piece of paper that officiates the funeral of a relationship. People will prattle on about how it's the ultimate 'commitment', but there's no guarantee of that. Overall the institution of marriage is a failure", Itachi said nonchalantly, taking another bite of his food.

Shisui stared at Itachi strongly, trying to keep the joyous atmosphere alive, "My parents' marriage is still strong."

Itachi picked up his glass of water, "Do they fight?"

"All couples fight, married or not. Marriage isn't the elimination of problems - it's the promise of dealing with problems as a team."

Itachi's shoulders tensed and his posture straightened slightly.

"It looks like a murder-suicide", the officer's voice emerged from Itachi's deepest memories.

He slyly looked at Sasuke, he didn't seem to notice Itachi's tension. Itachi didn't respond to Shisui and instead started collecting the used plates from the kitchen table.

There was slight music coming from Sasuke's room, "That's probably her! I'll see you guys tomorrow", Sasuke bid good night excitedly and went to his room.

The atmosphere had now changed. It was thick - an anxious fog in the air. Itachi opened the dishwasher and started loading in the plates.

"I'm sorry if I upset you", Shisui spoke up.

Itachi's hands started shaking and a plate slipped out of his grasp, shattering onto the ground. Itachi held out his shaking hand, looking at it in surprise. His eyesight was going blurry; there was liquid running down from his eyes.

Why am I crying? Itachi asked himself.

Itachi bent down to pick up the shards of the broken plate, Shisui pulled him back up, "Itachi, hey, calm down. I'm sorry", Shisui pulled Itachi into a hug. Itachi buried his head into the all too familiar chest, allowing Shisui's heartbeat to sing to him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry", Shisui whispered solemnly.

"It's not you", Itachi whispered, bathing in Shisui's comforting scent, "It's them...Marriage is supposed to be a happy thing - something that people celebrate. The start of a life together, or whatever. Instead, now it just scares me - it frightens me..."