[fic] The Colder Water (Shisui/Itachi, Part VI)

[ronsard]

Whoops, I actually had this finished weeks ago, but in all the exchange-related madness I forgot to post it here. Well, here it is, anyway. (Speaking of that exchange, take a look at our master list. I still can't believe it went that well. My cute little fandom ♥)

Title: The Colder Water (6/6)
Fandom: Naruto
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Shisui/Itachi

Comments

[soleil_et_pluie]

*skip to bottom without reading* OH MY GOD I'M SO FRIGHTENED PLEASE HOLD MY HAND T_________T

[ronsard]

PSYCH! :D

[soleil_et_pluie]

And what, pray tell, is wrong with this Shisui, besides having all the idealism of an eighteen-wheeler? XD he doesn't need to mind control the shit out of everybody like some twisted dark anti hero, yo. :/

way to kick the dog with sasuke, shisui >____>

also, y'know: “Yeah, I’ll wait. I will wait for you.” T________________________T and the "do something for me," which hopefully isn't "close your eyes and inhale deeply while i shove you under," har har >__>

i've been dreading you not-pulling punches with the end of this story since the get-go, and therefore probably read this end as a lot sadder than it is anyway +_+; because this is probably my favorite Shisui, he's just so heartbreakingly in love with Itachi, so earnest, and out of all the ita/shi stories I've ever read, this is probably the only one I would have really felt the drowning like a fucking kick in the gut because I really believed the relationship between them, really felt it and believed it. And the love really being there makes it so much worse. Plus I've somehow

[ronsard]

Yeah... but isn't he so much hotter when he's all dark and edgy? You can blame this one on my debilitating fear of getting jossed. As much as I love this Shisui, there is just no way that this is how he was in canon (hypothetically), so I'm trying out as many characterizations as I can in hopes that at least one of them will hit the mark. Up next: coward!Shisui, kekeke.

Nah, it's probably something like, "Take my ass cherry before you go." >.>

this is probably the only one I would have really felt the drowning like a fucking kick in the gut

Which is precisely why I took the cop-out route! What, you didn't really think after all this I would actually kill him? Punches-pulling is my game, guuuuurl. Lololol, and what pussy Itachis are these? XD As much as I like faffing around in the rainbow-tastic world of AUs, I think -- and you'll probably agree -- that you wouldn't really be a fan of this pairing unless you are a sicko like the fact that their story had a tragic end. If you never write anything that even remotely alludes to the

of course you were supposed to kill him, Mai. Follow the script. /sarcasm

[soleil_et_pluie]

Dark and edgy *____________* ::droll:: oh no, coward Shisui. +_____+;;

Baby, you went through with lobotomizing Itachi, I totally believed you were gonna do the punch in the gut. a very sick part of me was looking forward to it, too. just a little bit. x_x; and, of course-- the drowning is integral. which is why, ya know, looking forward to it, just a tiny bit >___>

It's sad that our halcyon days of summer must end, and now we all go back to the fuckery of school, etc. ;___;

Re: of course you were supposed to kill him, Mai. Follow the script. /sarcasm

[ronsard]

Piffle. I've pulled that lobotomy shtick before. Once, I mindwiped Sasuke and killed him. My love is a sick, sick thing. As is yours.

Buh, ikr? I was stuck in traffic for three motherfucking hours yesterday coming back into the city because of the supposed tornado. I hate this year. I wish I'd stayed a philosophy major.

[frostheavens]

I already read this at ff.net a little while ago, but I can't read it again now, or I'll burst into tears and snivel miserable for the rest of the day. But my reaction to this chapter is a resounding :((( why is everything so sad and beautiful :( Thank you for this fic ♥

Oh, interesting! Talk to me about this fic; I am excited about it already.

[ronsard]

You're on ffn? Your taste gets more and more questionable by the day, bb >.>

My Inception fic? No no no, I can't talk about that, because the stupid quotient is so high that you will probably pass out. It is, wait for it, Thanksgiving-themed! ///wrist

[frostheavens]

Everyone who was ever in Naruto fandom is on ff.net! But yeah, my taste is pretty questionable, ngl.

Oh my god. Do you know how excited I am about it, now?! I love holiday themed fics! Dysfunctional "families" spending time together at holidays is always great, and the Inception gang are only slightly dysfunctional. I need regular updates, okay? \o/

[theirempires]

That poem. Does it fit perfectly for Ita/Shi or what?

;______________________;

I think this ending scares me more than anything because those two promises Shisui made basically said "go-ahead" to Itachi's murdering of the clan. a;sdlkfj Shisui is so naive here, thinking that as long as Itachi is with him, he'll going to be okay, when really Itachi's going to kill him later and gah, this is a whole new level of messed up. I reread the entire story when I saw this final part posted up, so I remember Itachi's first request being to stay over at Shisui's that night, but now Itachi's asking for Shisui to die for him and wait in the afterlife and I think it really messes with my mind because I don't know what to say. “Yes, Uchiha Shisui, I will follow you.”I'm curious, who was the person messing with Shisui at the beginning? It seems like it would be Madara, but sometimes I think that my mind has just been too over-saturated with that crazy man, so I was wondering if it could have been Danzo

[ronsard]

IKR ;_______;

Right? Exactly, he is so naive, and that is why I am, with much grief, abandoning this characterization. The problem with long stories is that you sometimes get locked into perceptions of canon and the characters that you originally started out with even though you may have changed your mind later down the line. This story is actually problematic in a lot of ways if you care to look for them (I don't encourage this!).

Yup. A bunch of people on FFN asked me the same question (even the Danzo thing XD), so I had to add a note explaining that part. Come on, you can totally tell! He's spouting the same pseudo-philosophical bullshit that I have in all of my other fics!

Thank you for sticking with me through it all, ilu ♥

is it wrong that this feels like the end of an era or something...

[nthcoincident]

Reading this was the kind of halting experience wherein I had to close the laptop several times because I was emotionally gutted and could not go on, but it was also a very weird, patchworky sort of read because I kept looking ahead to give myself some idea of how you would end and mentally prepare myself or something. I had my bets on a bystander POV switch at the end, but obviously that did not happen and THANK GOD because it would have hamstrung me and chewed on my innards for this Shisui to be dead at the end

Re: is it wrong that this feels like the end of an era or something...

[soleil_et_pluie]

you're illustrating TCW??? *_________* *gibber inarticulately* can't wait.

also, i agree with your points above. ;_;
the immensity and grandeur of his feelings for Itachi: YES, THIS. This is why TCW has been breaking my heart since it started, like, over and over. +_+

the era of my fascination with bright-eyed bushy-tailed shisui, maybe...

[ronsard]

JUST BECAUSE MY LAST TWO FICS HAVE ENDED IN BYSTANDER POVS... oh okay, that totally could have happened. So many fine candidates to choose from too. Why hasn't anyone written about Shisui from Sasuke's POV, I wonder?

Yeah, basically I had a choice between an emotionally satisfying ending or one that would have incorporated more of the canon story... and in no universe would I have chosen the latter. Come on, politics, war, real plots... do these things ever appear in any of my fics? I'm the Nora Ephron to your Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg. I was going for a sense of emotional resonance to underscore all the themes that have led up to this conclusion, hopefully I didn't trip and fall facefirst into 'heavy-handed' instead

Re: the era of my fascination with bright-eyed bushy-tailed shisui, maybe...

[nthcoincident]

Why hasn't anyone written about Shisui from Sasuke's POV?

Right? It seems like such a given. I think Taj was doing it last I checked, though, which bodes well for the entire concept...

It didn't seem heavy-handed. I think most of the super-intense moments of emotional catharsis took place in the penultimate chapter, so the emotional weight-lifting was mostly out of the way by the time you got here.

cyclical waning of interest in Naruto

D: It'll be like a drought around here! But the promise of douchebag!Shisui is reassuring. I love when you experiment with him; that Madara/Shisui thing was gold.

It HAS been long. Half a year, long. And now I can't even imagine my fandom life without this fic/you in it ;_;