Apple of My Eye

Chapter 5: An eye-opener

It was embarrassing to admit, but Shisui confesses to dozing off not long after, and it was only the sound of a door being opened and closed that jolted him back into the land of the living, where pain existed and was never far away. The back of his eyelids throbbed akin to a terrible migraine, his legs still smarted angrily, and his clothes continued to stick to his skin unpleasantly – an indication that he hadn't been out long, thank Sage for small mercies.

Shisui did his best to reorientate himself to his surroundings by using only the senses available to him, but the lack of information they brought only further proved how dependent he had been to sight. He knew not the layout of the house, how many rooms there were in total, where the furniture was placed, and where the guestroom was. All in all, he was lost and didn't have much strength leftover to find his way back.

A child's murmuring was picked up by his hearing, coming from the lower level. Shisui bit his lip, unsure of how to get out of this predicament without attracting unwanted attention. When the child's voice got louder, Shisui ended up patting his legs in apologetic encouragement and grasped at the wall behind him, trying to find purchase. He didn't want to be found in such a vulnerable state on the floor.

Unfortunately, he was only mid-way to his feet when his plan to retreat discreetly into the guestroom was thwarted by a tiny gasp, followed by the rush of pitter-patter feet up the stairs.

Without giving Shisui a chance to react, hands had already grasped at his elbows to support most of his weight off his feet, which made Shisui automatically grab at the shoulders presented to him for further relief. Before he could even vocalize his gratitude for the support, tiny arms had wrapped themselves around his left leg, almost squeezing the life out of him by bringing forth unbearable anguish. If not for the person (Madara?Izuna?)'s hold on him, Shisui would've doubled over in pain from the child(?)'s eagerness in torturing his poor, shattered leg.

"Shisui–"

"Daddy–"

"Child–"

Three voices overlapped, and whilst two quietened down, the third continued unprompted. Shisui's voice was strained, and he could feel beads of cold sweat vividly roll down his forehead, soaking the bandages that wrapped around his eye sockets. He had started hearing white noise again. "Child, sorry but can you pleaseletgoofmyleg...!"

He was promptly released with an, "eep! Sowwy!", which sounded muffled at best, but the pain remained.

Shisui was too caught up in his own suffering to remove his grip on the person's shoulders. In fact, in a futile attempt to find an outlet, he did the exact opposite and squeezed even harder, no doubt bruising the skin underneath. If he weren't blind, he would've seen how white his knuckles and fingers had turned, and how his support had grimaced.

Shisui took a moment to compose himself. Inhale, exhale. Rinse and repeat. He didn't want to succumb to the nausea and projectile vomit all over the floor. It was already mortifying enough when Madara had to mop up his vomit once, there needn't be a second time.

At the tenth exhalation, Shisui loosened his grip on his helper's shoulders and straightened his spine. "Thank you..." He expressed his gratitude with a shaky smile, his face undoubtedly pale and his tone slightly unsure as to prompt the person of their identity.

"What, forgot me already?" Shisui almost startled at hearing the sardonic question asked in Izuna's voice, having somewhat expected the older Uchiha brother rather than the younger nowadays. "Tch, doesn't matter. Let's get you back to your room before you make nii-san worry more by collapsing."

At Shisui's silence and lack of resistance, Izuna shifted and manoeuvred him into a princess hold, much to his acceptive shame. Whilst it was humiliating to be carried as such, Shisui knew that this was the only way to move him without hurting him too much. Hence, he reluctantly wrapped his arms loosely around Izuna's shoulders and tucked his chin down.