It Started With A Kiss (A Kisame Story)

Chapter 2.

He pulled out the gem from his pocket and ran his fingers over it again.

At first he hadn’t even realised what it was; he’d taken it because he’d thought he could sell it and get a huge profit, that was all. But when he’d started showing it round the market, someone had gasped, saying that it was a special gem; one that could access tons of power. To begin with he had been uncertain as to what to do with it from there—but as he realised that by getting this power, this would be better for a much longer period of time, he changed his mind quickly. Using the power he could take control of so many things; he could complete loads of missions easily and would earn the same amount of money he’d get from selling the stone every week. From then on, when people offered him huge amounts of money as they discovered what it was, he brushed them off. Instead he research this gem; a sapphire gem that seemed to glow from the inside—the Henka stone.

Sure, he’d heard of the legends of the mermaid who lived in the Genki Lake; a lot of people had. He’d never concerned himself with it, however—he’d brushed it off as mere myth, and even if it was true, it seemed like way too much effort to go after. But now he’d gotten past the biggest hurdle; he’d managed to find the stone. If he found the mermaid, he could change her back. Once he did that, she’d have her power...and he could use her as his personal assassin. It would be easy to threaten and intimidate her into working for him; she’d been a mermaid all her life—what did she know of the outside world? Not to mention the lake wasn’t that far away; it might take a while to search the thing and find her, but it couldn’t take too long; there’s only so much lake to look in. Then it would be plain sailing from there, and that power would be his.

So taking his ninjas with him, he’d quickly set off for the lake, grinning all the while.

This would be a piece of cake.

Which is more than the Akatsuki were thinking.

They wanted this power too, and had been after it a lot longer than the other guy—even though they hadn’t a clue he was going for it too. Only they had no idea where the gem was, and although they’d researched it for weeks, gone to every place possible...it was nowhere around. It was like it had disappeared off the face of the earth! So they had returned to the lake. All of them were here; Pein had started to lose his patience with finding this thing, and if there were more people, there were more people to search for it. But so far nothing had turned up, boredom taking over them all—even the most patient of people—and if it wasn’t for the fact Pein had been so set on it, they would have suggested giving up a while ago. It just seemed like a lost cause; they hadn’t seen any sign of the gem, and it didn’t look like it would be turning up any time soon. How were they supposed to find it, when it had disappeared entirely?

Not that they could do anything about it; they merely trudged on, splitting up into two groups as they reached the lake area, with strict instructions to report anything and everything that might lead to them finding the gem. None of them thought there would be anything, of course—but they were considering talking to Umi. She was the one with all the power—if anyone would know where that fucking gem was, she would. So half of them wandered right in the direction of the lake, knowing searching for her would be a lot easier than the stone, while the rest headed into the village, hoping to ask the people there for some directions of some kind. The day was set to be another long one; and already they’d lost the will to live.

Umi, however, was starting to get excited. At first she’d thought she’d heard wrong; that no one was going to be coming to the lake and she wouldn’t get a chance to see any humans. She was pretty sure she’d managed to convince everyone she was going to steer clear of the humans, stating she’d head off to her usual place to relax and wile away the hours. Naturally she wasn’t about to do anything of the sort in reality, however, and had swum to the edge of the lake, climbing up on a rock to get the best view of every shore. She’d been sitting there for a while, and slowly her hope had faded; maybe Sakana had been right; maybe she was always putting too much hope on the humans and what would happen with them. If she just concentrated on her own life, on the things she was doing, then maybe she’d get somewhere.

But how could she do that when there was nothing for her here?

Then suddenly something had caught her attention; something moving in the trees on the east shore of the lake. At first she had only casually turned to look, thinking it was an animal of some kind; but when it had seemed bigger; and was standing upright, that Umi finally concentrated on it. Narrowing her eyes and waiting a little longer as it moved, her heart clenched in excitement and happiness; it was a human—it couldn’t be anything else! Shuffling forward, Umi began to get back into the water again, when she noticed the human disappeared. Instantly she froze, frowning, hoping that they hadn’t turned away and gone off. The same thing happened another time, however; the silhouette of the human would appear, only for it to disappear into the shadows once more. It was only as Umi noticed it was gettingcloser, not further away, that she dived straight into the water and headed over to the shore. Swimming as fast as she could, she slowed when she was just round the corner from where the human was, coming to the surface and peering out from behind a rock, watching as he knelt by the shore, bringing something out of his pocket and looking it over. She couldn’t see what it was, but he seemed completely focused on it, causing her to edge closer to get a better look.

It was how Umi didn’t notice someone coming up behind her until it was too late, spinning round to gaze up at three other men all staring down at her menacingly. Freezing, a moment later they had grabbed her, pulling her up and out of the water and pushing her onto the shore. Struggling against their grip, Umi cried out, trying to push herself away from them and into the water, knowing she would hold the advantage over them in there. But they wouldn’t give up, dragging her further and further away from the shore until she was almost in the trees, Umi still struggling as much as she could. Then suddenly a shadow fell over her, and looking up, she saw the man who had been kneeling on the shore with the gem—only this time the expression on his face wasn’t as innocent as it had been before; and she could finally see what was in his palm, her eyes widening as she realised just what this was all about.

Why hadn’t Umi listened to Sakana? All this time they had been trying to warn her; to tell her this for her own good, and instead she had been selfish and ignorant, going after her own stupid dreams of becoming a full-time human—and look at what had happened. Now this guy held the Henka stone in front of her, and though she glared, still fighting, she was held back, and pushing down the edge of her top to reveal the full tattoo on her chest, he placed the stone against it, and immediately Umi felt herself begin to change. Slowly her tail disintegrated, feet forming and the power radiating up her lower body to slowly reveal legs, Umi left sitting there now a full human. In any other situation she would have been happy; what she had wished for all her life and finally come true; she was a human, and it wouldn’t be for merely a day. But this was different. These guys had forced her into it, and all they wanted was her power. Suddenly her dream of becoming a human had been turned into a nightmare, and anger rose within Umi. They’d had ruined everything for her, and now she had no idea what to do or where to turn. She couldn’t return to the water, and she couldn’t remain on land; they were going to try and use her power.

But then she remembered.

She had that power.

So now it was finally time to use it.