Chapter Text
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Uchiha Shisui was two years old when his sister was born.
His mother, Uchiha Hae, lay atop a white hospital bed, holding what looked like a sticky red blob with a tuft of goopy black hair. His mother’s face was all red and puffy, like she’d been crying. He’d heard her screaming, too, back when he’d been waiting out in the hallway with his auntie Mikoto and his father.
But Shisui didn’t blame his mother for scaring him like that. One look at that… thing she held in her arms, and Shisui had half a mind to start screaming and crying, too.
His father stood next to the bed, dark eyes staring down at the ugly red blob with disdain. He must have also thought that the blob was pretty ugly. From his Auntie Mikoto's arms, Shisui peered down at his new sister with curious, wary eyes.
Weren’t babies supposed to be cute or something? Shisui remembers Mikoto and his mother cooing over the bump in his mother’s belly just a few days ago, talking excitedly about how ‘adorable’ the baby was supposed to be.
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They were sitting around the table at Auntie Mikoto’s house. His mother and aunt were sipping their tea, and Shisui was happily enjoying some dango to snack on.
“Oh, Hae, you must be so excited!” Auntie Mikoto squealed. “It’s going to be any day now, right?”
His mother nodded, a smile stretched across her face. “It’s about time, too—any longer and I think I might go crazy. The baby’s been kicking the hell out of me, lately.”
Shisui had frowned at that. How mean! He would never kick his mother.
Auntie Mikoto just laughed. “Have the medics been able to tell if it’s a boy or a girl yet? Ooh, Hae, if it’s a girl then I hope she gets your eyes!”
His mother’s smile faltered, Shisui noticed. “We decided to keep the gender a surprise. I… well, I’m hoping for another boy.” Her voice sounded a lot less excited now. “You know how Kobashi can be… a-and the clan, too.”
The hand that rested on her belly was shaking just a bit.
Auntie Mikoto’s eyes softened. “Well, in any case, they’re going to be absolutely adorable, I’m sure of it!” She reached across the table to rest her hand on his mother’s. “Just look at how precious Shisui-kun turned out!”
Shisui preened at the attention, his chubby cheeks full of dango.
His mother laughed and put her hand on his head, softly stroking his curly hair. “Yes, he sure is a cute one.”
He was cute, wasn’t he! Coming over to Auntie Mikoto’s house was always the best.
“Speaking of, Mikoto, what about you and Fugaku, hmmm? Any… plans?” His mother questioned playfully, leaning forward in suspense.
Auntie Mikoto blushed and put her hand on her belly. “Well, actually…” She giggled nervously, “Fugaku and I just found out this week…”
His mother gasped so loudly that Shisui dropped his precious dango onto the floor.
“Mikoto!”
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By the time Shisui had turned three, two months had passed since the birth of his sister.
She wasn’t that ugly anymore. She was thankfully goop-free now, and her skin had settled from fluorescent red to a typical Uchiha porcelain. His mother had put a blue bow in her tuft of black hair, gathering all of the wisps together in the world’s smallest ponytail. Her hair looked like a horn coming out of her head like that. Shisui thought the bow made her look stupid, but his mother got upset whenever he took that ugly bow out.
As it turned out, his sister did get their mother’s eyes, just like his auntie had wanted. A striking dark blue, uncommon within the Uchiha clan. Auntie Mikoto had squealed in delight when she saw them. He really didn't see what the big deal was.
For the past two months, his mother spent most of her time taking care of his baby sister. His sister cried a lot.
Shisui was positive he was never that big of a crybaby.
Father, though, never spent that much time with mother or his new sister. In fact, his father was rarely ever home (there was a war going on, Shisui had overheard, and his father was being sent out to help the war effort).
So, Shisui spent a lot of time with Auntie Mikoto. Her belly was getting bigger just like his mother’s had when she was… pregint—no, pranagat—no, that wasn’t it either… ah, who cared. When she had a baby in her belly.
Sometimes, granny Masumi would watch him when auntie Mikoto couldn’t. Granny Masumi also watched over Shisui’s eight-year-old cousin Obito.
Obito was nice—he played with Shisui whenever he got home from the academy. Hanging out with Obito was definitely better than being at home, Shisui thought, what with a constant parade of the women in the clan showing up to fawn over and coo at his sister.
“Hae, she is absolutely precious!” They would say. “Oh, isn’t she just the cutest!”
Shisui missed the times when people were calling him cute. Honestly, he didn’t see the appeal of his baby sister.
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Shisui got to hold his sister for the first time a few weeks later. Mother had never let him hold her before, because she said that Shisui always dropped everything.
Which was totally not true.
Mother carefully reached over to place his baby sister in his arms, watching Shisui with a warning look on her face. “Shisui-kun, don’t you dare drop her, okay?”
Shisui rolled his eyes. “I’m not gonna!”
His baby sister had started to fuss while his mother shifted her into Shisui’s waiting arms. Shisui pouted at that—he didn’t want to hold her if she was just going to cry!
When his mother finished putting his sister in his arms, Shisui held his breath. She was so tiny! As soon as she was in his arms, she stopped fussing and looked up at Shisui’s face with her big dark blue eyes.
Shisui still hadn’t breathed yet.
His sister suddenly let out a happy gurgle, reaching out with her stubby arms to try and touch his face.
He let out a laugh, finally breathing once again—this wasn’t that bad! His sister was maybe, sort-of, kinda cute. He guessed he could see the appeal… if he squinted, of course. Her tiny body was still blob-shaped, and her hair still looked stupid with the bow in it.
“Hey, blob!” He said happily.
His mother, who’d been watching with a soft smile, immediately frowned. “Shisui! Don’t call your sister a blob! Call her by her name!” She scolded, swatting his arm lightly.
“Heh, sorry Okaa-san!” Shisui said guiltily. He looked back down at his baby sister, who was still gurgling away happily.
A small smile spread across Shisui’s face as he offered his finger for her tiny hands to hold. She grabbed onto it eagerly, holding it with a weirdly strong grip that surprised him for a moment. Only a moment, though, because it really made perfect sense—of course no sister of his would be weak.
“Hi, Kiya-chan! I’m your big brother.”
Baby Kiya smiled a gummy smile back at him, one that had Shisui sending a huge grin right back down at her.
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Shisui is four years old now. For his birthday, Obito stopped by to give him some candy (Shisui suspected it really came from granny Masumi), uncle Fugaku got him a real kunai set, auntie Mikoto got him a new outfit, and his parents gave him actual tanto! They said it was a family heirloom. Cool, right? Kiya even drew him a picture! It was really just colorful scribbles on a piece of paper, but Shisui could see the artistic potential.
Auntie Mikoto even had a baby of her own recently, a now four-month-old baby named Tataki.
No—wait, that wasn't it.
Whaaaaat was it again...? It was… uhhh…Itachi!
Yeah! Itachi. He’s alright, but not as cool as Kiya is, Shisui thinks. Kiya was just over a year old now, and Shisui was allowed to hold her whenever he wanted! Mother said he was a great big brother.
Kiya-chan was pretty cool for a sister. She listens to all his stories, giggles along to all his jokes, and even plays games with him! They spend all of their time together.
She even said his name first!
Well, it was more like “Shi-shi”, but still! Close enough. Mother was proud Kiya was talking, but seemed a little jealous that Kiya could say his name before she said anything else.
Yeah, his imouto wasn’t so bad.
Father was even home for the first time in months! Shisui was telling his father all about how Kiya said his name first, but he didn’t seem impressed like mother had been. It seemed like father didn’t… well, didn’t really care…?
Shisui was more than a little offended on Kiya’s behalf.
Later that night, when he was supposed to be sleeping, Shisui snuck silently out of his room and down the hallway to his parent’s room. He could hear his parents arguing from outside of the door, which was odd because mother never argued with father! Even when he was being mean to her.
He strained to listen.
“—our daughter, and you won’t even hold her—” His mother’s voice said, harshly.
“The clan needs sons, Hae. There is a war going on, in case you forgot.” Shisui heard his father say.
“Kiya is here now, Kobashi, and she is still an Uchiha. She’s still part of the clan, part of our family—”
“I don’t want to hear this!” His father yelled. Out in the hallway, Shisui jumped at the sudden volume. “I have no use for a daughter! And you know as well as I do what will be expected of her. That’s all she’ll be good for! The same as her mothe—”
Kiya woke up at the commotion, her wails reverberating throughout the house and cutting off whatever father was about to say. Probably for the best, Shisui thought. Whatever it was, it hadn’t sounded very nice.
“Go take care of your daughter, Hae. I will not have this conversation with you again.”
Shisui heard his mother huff angrily before footsteps began heading closer to his parent’s door. Shisui watched from his spot hidden around the corner as his mother left her bedroom and headed towards Kiya’s room, wiping away the angry tears that had fallen down her cheeks as she went.
Shisui frowned.
So what if Kiya was a girl? His baby sister was awesome, and smart, and adorable! She was already good for a lot of things, and so was his mother for that matter! He was angry his father couldn’t see that.
Shisui loved his imouto and thought his father was stupid for thinking otherwise.
He would make sure Kiya became a super-awesome shinobi! She would prove it to the clan, prove it to their father, and prove it to whoever had the audacity to doubt her!
Shisui nodded his head. Him and his sister, they’d show them all!
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