.

Chapter 3

.

Shisui thinks he might've swallowed his own tongue right there.

"The fuck are you talking about, kid?" he demands. Tries to put the right amount of offended into it, because a) holy shit, this kid really doesn't think about what he fucking says, because seriously if Shisui were anybody else, and b) holy shit, he and Itachi can't be that obvious. They'd've been shot a long time ago if everyone picked up on their arrangement as fast as Sasuke seems to've done.

The brat in question has the gall to roll his eyes. "Are we going to pretend you're subtle? Because I have a limited amount of energy for this conversation, and I don't feel up to wasting it on your pointless denials."

"This is a piss-poor time to be talking shit," Shisui manages. "Can't exactly beat each other bloody when we're both trussed up like this."

"I'm not talking shit. I'm cutting through your bullshit." Sasuke gives him a look that's too close to pity for Shisui's liking. "Also? I'm going to be a lawyer inside of two years. You can't outtalk me. Although you're welcome to try; it might make this night less heinously boring."

Shisui thinks about banging his face into the bars until he passes out. Only Fugaku Fucking Uchiha would raise one kid to be a lawman and the other to be a lawyer. He'll be running for Congress or some shit next, which is when Shisui figures he'll make good on a childhood threat to ditch this country and never come back.

"Lawyer, huh?" he says after a minute. "Aren't you bloodsuckers supposed to be big on evidence and shit? Where's yours? Sounds like you're pulling this out of your ass, all honesty."

Sasuke's eyes narrow. It's such an Itachi-ish move that Shisui almost does a double take.

"I know my brother," the kid says flatly. "I know how he acts around other people, and that—display back there, that wasn't normal. Itachi doesn't do displays. Not in front of outsiders. And he doesn't do banter." Sasuke's face crinkles up like he's smelling something disgusting. "I've never seen him talk like that with anyone else."

"And that's enough for you to decide that we're fucking?" Shisui grumbles. "You got any friends back home? Or is there some city shit I don't know about where you're supposed to fuck your friends?"

Sasuke sighs. "You're an idiot, but my brother isn't. He knows how to read between the lines. He knew you were flirting—not that that's a huge accomplishment; I've met murder suspects less obvious than you—and he let you. No," he corrects himself, looking more disgusted by the minute. "He encouraged you. Which makes me want to find whatever trough my horse is taking advantage of right now and drown myself in it, believe me."

Shisui's stomach has been twisting in on itself since Sasuke first mentioned 'brother' and 'fucking' in the same sentence, but now it's really churning. The kid might be a little shit but he's not stupid—and he's not wrong. Shisui's not a subtle person. Never has been.

Problem is, it looks like that might've just tipped Itachi's hand to the one person he wanted to keep in the dark. Shisui's got no clue what Sasuke will do with the knowledge he's scrounged up. Itachi could lose his job, his family; fuck, he could get himself killed, and all because Shisui couldn't keep his damn fool mouth shut.

He feels like he's going to be sick.

"You're gonna keep it to yourself," Shisui says. He hears the knife's edge of fear in his own voice and hates himself for it. "Whatever you think you know, you're gonna bury it down deep and keep it there. Itachi's done a damn good job running this hellhole; I'm not letting some punk fuck that up for him, brother or not."

Sasuke stares at him. "Who the hell do you think you are? What the fuck do you think gives you the right to tell me what to do with my family?"

"Don't pretend to have any right," Shisui replies. "But still. You're not gonna say anything about it."

"Fuck off," the kid spits, and no guilt follows the words this time. "You don't know shit about me. I would never—"

He stops and takes a sharp breath in through his nose, looking like he's struggling to get some cool back. It seems to work. His next words are a lot calmer.

"I would never rat Itachi out. You make another assumption like that and I will personally relieve you of your front teeth."

Which…huh. That was not what Shisui'd been expecting.

"You won't say anything?"

"That's what I just said, idiot."

"Good. That's…good," Shisui says lamely. His repertoire is better than this, he swears, it's just that he's taken one too many surprise attacks today to be thinking on his feet all that well.

There's another silence, more uncomfortable than the last one. Shisui contemplates just how dead he's going to be once Itachi finds out Sasuke knows they've been fucking around, and all because Shisui is shit at subtlety.

"He deserves better, you know," Sasuke says out of nowhere. Shisui looks up to see him frowning. "Itachi. He deserves better."

And, well. Shisui doesn't know if the kid's referring to this ring of Hell they're stuck in, everyone living in the dirt and dust until it won't ever come off no matter how hard they scrub, until even a shine like Itachi's can't do anything but tarnish and disappear. Or if he's taking a dig at Shisui himself—the bastard thief with no future and no chance at a normal life, even by this town's fucked up standards of normal. A pretty ironic choice for the Golden Boy himself to hang with, but hey, it's not like someone with Itachi's inclinations is spoiled for choice out here.

Either way.

Shisui leans back against the wall and sighs.

"If you're lookin' for an argument on that, you're not gonna get it from me."

The kid's eyebrows go up for a second, but they flatten out again quick enough.

"Good."

And then he finally shuts his mouth, leaving Shisui free to close his eyes and pretend he's sleeping.

His wrists are sore and his head won't shut the hell up. It's going to be a long-ass night.

.

"I feel an obligation to apologize to our preacher," Itachi intones when he opens the door the next morning, letting sunlight in and making Shisui wonder if knives are getting shoved into his eye sockets. "It would seem there is a gracious God after all."

"The fuck are you gettin' that from?" Shisui growls, rolling over to escape the sun.

"You've managed to go an entire night without killing each other," Itachi points out. Shisui can hear the smirk in his voice. God, but their sheriff is a little shit when he wants to be.

"This is prisoner mistreatment. I'm a lawyer and I will sue," Sasuke mumbles from his corner. Shisui's guessing he didn't get a shitton of sleep either.

Itachi's not impressed. "You are not a lawyer yet. You are, however, in my jurisdiction and have broken several laws that I am duty-bound to enforce, including but not limited to public brawling. I don't believe a single jury would convict me."

"Fuck me," Shisui mutters, "why aren't you the bloodsucking lawyer again? Got the fancy words down, Professor, why not the rest?"

Itachi doesn't say anything, but the next thing Shisui knows there's a terrific clang from someone kicking at his bars and causing some equally terrific pain in his head. He sits up and scowls at Sasuke, whose leg is retreating.

"The fuck was that for?"

"You're a fucking moron," Sasuke says slowly, like he's talking to a really stupid kid.

"I'm gonna kick your ass so hard, kid, not even—"

"I will tie you both up outside next time," Itachi warns, shutting both of them up. "Now. Can I trust you to roam free again—"

"The fuck are we, cattle?" Shisui grumbles.

"—without disturbing the peace of the town? Such as it is?"

Shisui looks at Sasuke. Sasuke deigns to look at him for half a second before turning back to his brother.

"Yeah. I think we've said everything that needed saying."

Itachi looks to Shisui, who just nods. Personally he thinks there's a lot more he'd like to say to the kid—friendly advice, like—but he's really getting sick of this cell. He'll play nice if it means not having to sleep in handcuffs two nights running.

Besides, Sasuke's probably right. They've got an understanding now.

.

After that Shisui really does keep his head down. It's not as miserable as he'd thought it'd be; it's actually kinda refreshing, not having to talk to the same people day in and day out. He finds he's got some shit to think about, too.

Like the look on Sasuke's face when Shisui'd basically accused him of being a filthy rat. He'd looked…shit, he'd looked as offended as if Shisui had insulted his ma's honor. Like it was beyond unthinkable that he'd turn on Itachi for anything.

Even the small matter of him probably going to Hell, if the Good Book says it right.

It's interesting, though. Shisui's always kept the lid on his preferences because he's got some damn good self-preservation instincts—you kinda have to in this town, but somehow he doesn't think it's much different anyplace else. At least where that subject is concerned. He's always known that letting that secret slip would end up in a short drop and a sudden stop. Even he couldn't talk his way out of a noose tied around his neck.

That's why he'd been willing to play along with hiding from Itachi's kid brother, before that got blown all to hell. He knew what was on the line for both of them if they got found out, and let's face it, Itachi had a helluva lot more to lose than Shisui did.

Didn't it just figure that Sasuke didn't give a shit in the first place? All that headache for nothing.

And, well, it's gotten Shisui thinking. Maybe Sasuke's just a sickeningly loyal brother, and maybe he's cracked in the skull, but either way, he doesn't care. It's a pretty anticlimactic end to this pathetic drama they've been playing out.

Not that it's anything to start questioning the world order over, Shisui knows, but still. There's one person on this earth who knows his brother's bent and is…okay with it?

That's gonna take some getting used to.

.

He waltzes back into town after a week (to the day, thanks, because he's a punctual bastard when he feels like it). Nobody treats it like the return of a local hero like they ought to, but Shisui lets that go. They'll catch up with him eventually.

'Course his foot might have to catch up with his own ass first, because as he just happens to be passing by the Sheriff's office he sees Itachi hanging about outside, next to a coach and his kid brother. Who's apparently not as punctual as Shisui is. Great.

Itachi notices him before Shisui can vanish.

"Stop hiding, Shisui," he says.

"Wasn't," Shisui retorts, walking over with all the dignity he can dig up. "Just enjoyin' the sight of a massive pain in the ass leaving the station, as it were."

He offers the kid a little salute. Sasuke sneers in response.

"So good of you to remind me why I don't plan on coming back to this godforsaken town anytime soon."

"Happy to help."

"Children," Itachi sighs.

There's a few seconds where Shisui and the kid eye each other up and Itachi looks like he's wondering if he's gonna have to arrest his own brother for the second time in a week.

"Well," Itachi says finally. "Despite Shisui's presence, I hope you can find the time to visit again."

Sasuke doesn't answer at first. He looks to his brother, then back to Shisui, and then back to Itachi. He swallows.

"I have someone back home," he says, which to Shisui's ears has nothing to do with anything.

Itachi apparently shares that opinion because he blinks, and blinking when he doesn't have to is the only sign Shisui's ferreted out to mean confusion. "That's…good," he replies. "I hadn't heard. No one mentioned it in their letters."

Sasuke huffs a laugh that doesn't sound much like one.

When he doesn't say anything else, Shisui decides to poke him. "So what's she look like? And how the hell did you get someone to spend time with you of their own free will?"

Itachi elbows him, but Sasuke actually answers.

"Blond. Blue eyes. Complete loudmouth, can't shut up for anything, and all the yelling basically means I have a headache most days, but…" Sasuke swallows again. Shisui wonders if maybe all the sand in the air's getting to him. These city types are delicate as hell.

"But it kind of helps," he says slowly. "It keeps me from going insane over school and the idiots I'm cooped up with all day. I think I'd probably lose my shit if—"

He stops, but Itachi steps in.

"If she weren't around," he finishes. Sasuke nods, face red, and then he does that thing again. That thing where he looks in between Itachi and Shisui like he's seeing something they ain't.

We're just fucking, kid, Shisui wants to say, but the words keep getting lost somewhere between his mind and his mouth.

Having apparently said what he wanted, Sasuke turns and climbs up into the stagecoach with whatever's left of his pride (and what kind of fancy-ass shit gets a coach out here, is what Shisui wants to know).

"She sounds like something else," Itachi murmurs as the door closes.

The kid turns back and smiles—an actual smile, none of that smirking shit that makes Shisui want to deck him.

"He is," Sasuke says.

.

The coach takes off while they're both still digesting that. Shisui's pretty sure his mouth is hanging open and letting all the flies in. Itachi just looks real thoughtful as his kid brother turns into a speck in the distance.

"I wanted to go to law school, you know," he says after a minute.

Shisui wonders, tiredly, why these Uchiha brothers insist on saying shit that doesn't have anything to do with what's actually going on.

But apparently Itachi's just gonna keep going like Shisui actually said something. "It was always my plan. I had the grades for it, certainly, and the profession interested me."

"Then what the hell happened?" Shisui asks. If Itachi's going to ramble on anyway, he might as well pretend he's a part of the conversation.

Itachi shrugs. He's still watching the stagecoach disappear. "My father had…other plans. He got me his position here and put Sasuke into law instead."

Because Fugaku is an ambitious fucker who doesn't give two shits about his own kids; Shisui's figured that ever since Itachi showed up here. Nobody who cared overmuch about their son would want him running this town.

Shisui doesn't say that, though. Instead he asks, all casual, "You regret it?"

"I did," Itachi says quietly. "Arrogant of me, I suppose, to think I deserved anything better. Part of me was pleased for Sasuke, but the other part was somewhat bitter."

Shisui stuffs his hands in his pockets.

"Was?" he repeats. "Still haven't answered the question, Sheriff. You regret bein' stuck out here?"

Itachi looks at him.

"Far less than I used to," he admits.

Shisui doesn't know why that makes him grin, but it does. "Looks like you're finally learnin' how to adapt. Good for you, Itachi. We'll make you a man of the West yet."

"My goal in life, to be sure," Itachi says dryly. Shisui just laughs.