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Shisui wakes feeling like he's been hit over the head and slapped with a knockout tag, which is better than he thought he'd be feeling, at least.
He's not tied up. There are people nearby - two, he's fairly sure - talking in low voices: " - I'm not saying you shouldn't have," a girl is saying, "but really, you shouldn't have - "
"He was going to steal his eyes!" another voice hisses, this one male. "And you were the one who killed him first."
"You killed him too," the girl grumps. "What else was I supposed to do when you'd already broken cover?"
The boy huffs and they fall briefly quiet. Shisui takes a moment to get his bearings; he's lying on dirt, surrounded by the scent and sound of one of Konoha's many forests, and apart from being excruciatingly low on chakra he seems to be largely okay. Quite a trick, for someone who recently thought he might well die in the tunnels to an old man who was significantly more dangerous than he looked.
"Hey," the boy says, abruptly. "Uchiha. We know you're awake."
Reluctantly, Shisui cracks open his eyes. They feel gummy and sore from Sharingan overuse, but his vision is fine. He's surprised to see his two abductors are both in Konoha standard ANBU uniform with decorated masks rather than the blank he was expecting, and he pulls himself to a ready position to say, "Do I… know you?"
"No," says the girl with the bat mask. Her hair is done up in cute pointy bat-ear buns. "We killed Danzo, by the way."
"While rescuing you," the boy says. His mask is a stylised hawk. "That was definitely a rescue."
Shisui recognises the tactic, disarming and friendly, but he welcomes it anyway, smiling back. "Thanks for the rescue, then," he says. "Were you the ones who healed me, too?"
"Only a bit," Bat says. "You weren't in mortal danger or anything. I think Danzo wanted you alive for the…"
She trails off. Hawk says, flatly, "Eye-stealing."
"Yeah," Bat says awkwardly. "That."
"Huh. I guess I'm lucky you found me," Shisui says, and rubs the back of his neck. "This is probably kind of a kidnapping, though…?"
The two ANBU glance at each other. Hawk says, "You're free to leave if you want."
"We just… wouldn't really recommend it," Bat finishes. "For now. I mean, Danzo's dead, but that means Danzo's dead, and they're probably going to try and find who killed him."
"And we just had a confrontation," Shisui says, nodding. "Okay. That makes sense. Or it would, if you two weren't ANBU. You could just go straight to the Hokage, you know."
He smiles to take the sting out of his words, but he can see the readiness in Hawk's frame, the way Bat shifts on her feet. They are at least close enough to ANBU their tattoos resonate with Shisui's, but Shisui has long since learnt that that doesn't mean much in the scheme of things.
"Is Danzo even dead?" he says. "Really."
Bat's mask tips toward him. "ANBU can commit treason, too," she says, sounding faintly annoyed. "Yes, he's dead. At least, he better be."
"He is dead, isn't he?" Hawk says. "There's no chance of - ghosts?"
Bat pauses. "Um."
"Ghosts?" Shisui echoes, despite himself.
"No," Bat says, quickly. "No ghosts. Maybe zombies, but I don't think that'll be a problem, there are way better zombie targets than Danzo, no offense."
"I'm not offended," Shisui says, at the same time Hawk says, "Why would I be offended?" They share a look; well, Hawk tips his mask in Shisui's direction and Shisui pretends they do. Hawk clears his throat. Shisui says, "That's... good?"
"Objectively," Bat says, thoughtfully, "yes, I think so."
"He really is dead," Hawk says, directly to Shisui. "I understand why you might not believe us, but... we couldn't just stand by and let him kill you."
"The Konoha that endorses what he was planning to do," Bat says carefully, like she's feeling out the words, "isn't the Konoha I believe in."
Hawk's head snaps up as he looks at her. Bat's mask slants away. Shisui feels like he's awkwardly spectating an argument, except they're not arguing. It's just increasingly fraught silence.
"So," he says, breaking it, "you saw a Uchiha fighting an respected elder of Konoha and you came down on my side? What did Danzo do to you?"
Hawk says, "I don't know. What did he do, Bat?"
"Nothing that I have proof for," Bat says. "Though, I mean, he did demonstrably try to steal your eyes, Uchiha-san."
"Shisui," Shisui says, "please. But… you don't know me, do you?"
"I know enough," Bat says. Her voice is warm. "I'm glad we could save you. We're both glad," she corrects. Hawk nods.
"Yeah," he says. "So, if you could not mention us in too much detail…"
"I mean," Shisui says, slowly, "I have a lot more problems than worrying about two helpful if rogue ANBU."
Bat laughs. "Yes," she says, "I guess you do."
"Keep a low profile for a few days," Hawk advises. "If you're lucky, you won't ever see us again."
Shisui doesn't say, What, not even at ANBU headquarters? because he does remember his own status as ANBU is supposed to be a secret, and he's not sure he wants the answer. He'll let the polite fiction that they're actually Konoha ANBU stand. They do seem to know the tricks to it; they both fade out of sight with the training drilled into them, and Shisui lets himself feel the imminent chakra exhaustion as he relaxes back down to the ground. He sighs.
He can probably invent a relative he wants to visit outside Konoha. Does it count as desertion if your superiors tried to murder you? Shisui isn't sure, but he thinks he's going to find out.
(Two months later, Shisui is introduced to a bastard Uchiha cousin who feels decidedly familiar. Shisui doesn't mention that his Nara half-sister is, too. They're both trying too hard to be friendly, with each other and with their respective clans, but whatever they think they're doing, it seems to be working.)