Book 2: The Three of Us

Chapter 13: A Secret Between The Four of Us

Morning sun makes its way into the room, lighting up the space in a soft glow. Spring was beginning and it felt nice to wake up and the house not be freezing. Kisame and Itachi are still fast asleep beside me, there bare chests rising and falling with each breath. Snuggled up next to me is Itachi with Kisame using him as a pillow from the other side. I take in the view of them both, appreciating the new addition of the braids and beads in there hair.

A wave of relief goes through me when I see that Kisame is still sleeping. This was the first night in a while that he wasn't up at odd hours of the night unable to sleep. The whole time I've known him, he always seemed to struggle with sleeping. However, it had been a lot worse lately.

With a feather light touch, I trace the scars littering Kisame's side and stomach before doing the same with Itachi. In this moment I couldn't help but appreciate how resilient our bodies were, able to piece itself back together over and over again. And in the end, leaving behind the traces of our past across our skin. It was beautiful and poetic and incredibly sappy but that's what love does to you.

Kisame shifts slightly before fluttering his eyes open. His voice is rough from sleep when he speaks, "Morning."

I give him a smile, bringing my hand to his face and tracing it with my fingers, "Morning." Kisame leans into my touch and leaves a light kiss on the palm of my hand.

It was incredibly to watch, with a few gentle touches, Kisame would turn to putty in my hands. Light touches were powerful and left him happily willing to be taken care of or controlled. It wasn't what I expected at first but I realized this reaction was so him.

Itachi shifts and his own eyes open before quickly shutting them again, not yet acclimated to the bright room. Light sensitivity was another side effect of chronic over use of the sharingan that he suffered from. It takes a few minutes before he's able to keep his eyes open.

Sitting up, Itachi does the same and he stretches out his sore limbs before making his way out of bed and to the closet.

"We never decided on what we were going to do now that we know the identity of the masked man," when I speak my voice is barely louder then a whisper, as if what I was saying was something that shouldn't be spoken of.

"We'll tell Tsunade-sama today," Itachi says, sharingan activated while he looks through the closet for some clothes to wear. He pulls on a pair of his pants and grabs a shirt of unknown ownership to put on. It had bounced between the three of us so much we couldn't remember whose it was originally.

Kisame lets out a groan of disappointment when Itachi puts the shirt on, "How dare you hide away the view." Itachi gives him a teasing smile and I roll my eyes at Kisame's antics.

I make my way out of bed and also start to get dressed, "Come on, love. As much as I'd love to laze in bed all day, we have to pretend to be responsible adults."

"It's your guys fault I'm sore," Kisame pouts as he sits up in bed, the blanket bunching up around his waist.

I raise my eyebrows at him and throw a bundle of clothes at him to put on, "You're the one who said you wanted a reminder of last night for the morning."

"Well, I wasn't expecting you two to be so efficient," Kisame mumbles, putting the shirt on before standing up and putting on his pants.

The three of us help brush and re-braid each others hair. Once we're done, we eat a quick breakfast and head on our way to the Hokage tower.

***

Tsunade's arms are crossed in front of her and she brings her hand to her face to chew on her nail in thought. She was quietly thinking over what we'd just told her and thinking of the best way to procced from here. She pauses in chewing on her nail to look up at us, "You're completely positive it's him? That the masked man is in fact Obito Uchiha."

Itachi nods, "Yes, we are sure."

"There's no one else it could be," I add.

"What do you want us to do with this information?" Kisame asks.

Tsunade lets out a heavy sigh, "For now, keep this between the four of us. No one can know.
Especially Kakashi."

The reminder of Kakashi makes my stomach sink and I know I'll have to avoid him. I've never been able to hide anything from him. With one look, he'd know something was wrong.

***

Deciding to stop for lunch, Itachi and I make our way into his favorite tea shop and order our usual green tea and dango. Taking a seat by the window, we have a nice view of both the forest and the street. Farther out from the center of Konoha, the houses and shops are less dense, and despite it being lunch, the place wasn't bustling with people.

"I'm happy Kisame is making friends, it's good for him," I say. The server stops by our table and gives us our order, I give them my thanks before they bow and head back to the kitchen.

Itachi hums in agreement, "Me too. Just wasn't expecting it to be Anko." He grabs his plate of dango, eats one and gives a hum of appreciation at the treat.

Grabbing the tea pot, I pour us both a cup and set Itachi's in front of him. I take my cup, bring it up to my mouth and blow on it to cool down. Testing it, it burns the tip of my tongue and I set it back down to wait until it cools more. I keep the cup in my hands, appreciating the warmth of it. His response makes me smile in agreement, "It was a little unexpected but it actually makes sense."

"They've been training together quite often now," Itachi comments, picking up his tea and taking a sip. In my mind I curse my sensitivity to temperature, wishing I could drink my own tea already.

"Anko is determined to improve her hand-to-hand skills and in return has been teaching Kisame fuinjutsu," I say, remembering Kisame mention it briefly.

Itachi smiles lightly, "I'm almost jealous, I've been wanting to learn more fuinjutsu myself. It can be quite powerful."

I nod in agreement, "Same. I tried to learn more about it but I haven't had the time."

He nods in understanding, "It's a dying art. Maybe the three of us can work together to learn fuinjutsu."

"I like that idea," I say. Bringing the cup to my mouth, I take a testing sip and with it now being cool enough for me to drink, I take a long sip. My own dango sits in front of me and I take a bite, enjoying the sweet treat.

A surge of chakra, followed by a loud bang that shakes the walls of the tea house, has my whole body tensing in anticipation. Looking out the window, I could see large clouds of dirt and smoke in the air. The once calm tea shop erupts in panic. The village was under attack.