Chapter Text
"Look, I get it, but..." Genma says, gesturing as he tries to put his thoughts into words that Shisui won't just immediately reject out of hand. "When was the first time you genjutsu'd him like that?"
"At Kosaka," Shisui says, voice firm, like it's an actual counter-argument.
"So when he was four?!" Genma bites back the fire in his voice, trying to stay calm. "Shit, Shisui. Do you think he ever learned to cope with anything on his own if you've been doing that basically his whole life?"
"How was he supposed to 'cope' with that?" Shisui snaps viciously. "No one else was taking care of him. Fugaku hit him for panicking out there. What was I supposed to do? I was nine years old and I had one trick that worked. One trick. That's all I'm good for."
Shisui's voice breaks there at the end and he jerks his head to the side, not quite fast enough to hide the tears in his eyes. Genma softens just a bit, but he gives no quarter. "We all did fucked-up shit during the war. Maybe we even had to in order to survive. But that doesn't make it okay. We don't do it at home."
"Maybe your home was different." There's still anger in the words, but this time they're mostly just pain. Shisui doesn't look at Genma, eyes fixed on the side wall. "My father was his tutor, and he drove Itachi to the end of his endurance every single day. Fugaku and the Elders were worse. Nobody could take that. Then Fugaku tried to turn him into a traitor, and Danzou tried to turn him into a butcher. And now..." Shisui chokes. "So yeah. Forgive me if I try to take the pressure off him in the only way I can."
Genma stalls momentarily as that comment about Danzou clicks into place. That bastard. He didn't... But Genma battles through horror and even more hatred than he already felt for the man to say, very gently, "It's not helping him, though, Shi. Not really."
"Then what am I supposed to do?" Shisui whispers brokenly.
"You're doing it. You're there for him. You're someone he can trust, someone who gives him a safe haven and as much comfort as he can accept." Genma gives Shisui a sad little smile. "You're his big brother, and he loves you. That's your one trick. Not the genjutsu."