It Started With A Kiss (A Kisame Story)

Chapter 3.

For a moment, Umi relaxed, staring down at her body in shock and prompting them to release their grip slightly on her.

Only to find out that was a big mistake.

Jolting forward, she turned and slammed a foot into the first guy’s face, focusing her chakra and causing him to fly back, electricity all around his body. He was dead before he hit the ground, his body still convulsing and twitching every now and again—but Umi wasn’t done yet. She reached for her power and focused it on the water, watching as the tide rose abruptly into a huge tidal wave. Picking her up, they tried dragging her back a few feet to avoid the wave; but as it crashed down on the shore, the water reached out for one of the men, attaching to his legs and pulled him kicking and screaming into the depths below. They hit her a couple of times; but her anger and fear were too great for Umi to truly notice the pain. She merely hit out as much as she could, the chakra pooling around her body; and the moment she felt she was free, she stood up and ran.

She used all of the chakra she could to speed up her running; nothing else mattered. The last time she had walked had been months and months ago, and she barely remembered herself doing it; along with the power and the process of changing, she was hesitant on her feet; and stumbling. If she didn’t use her chakra to speed things up, she would only trip and fall; she’d allow those guys to catch up with her and take her—and she couldn’t do that. Not to mention she was hurt, and she had no idea where she was going. She didn’t know who to trust anymore, when it came down to it. She had thought she could try when she approached that guy, and he had forced her to become human and tried to abuse her powers. Who else would attempt to do the same? The village seemed like a bad place to go—they knew the legend surrounding her better than anyone; if they found out she was a human permanently—at least for the moment—they might change and come after her, too. Umi would have to find a place where she could be alone; to hide. She was half naked, anyway, and would need to rest, sooner or later. The power was still swimming around in her head, and she felt dizzy.

How could she have let this happen? She should have been more careful. Her face fell into a glare at the same time they shone with tears. Everything she had hoped for had become reality...and yet it was awful, and already she wanted to be back in the water with a tail and her animal friends—at least there she knew she was safe. If she ever got back to the lake she was never going near a human again—she’d hide in the furthest corner of the water and would only surface when she had to. If that would ever happen, that is. Glancing around, although Umi couldn’t sense anyone there, the trees were surrounding her, and everything looked the same. She didn’t even know which direction the village was in anymore, and could only force herself to keep running. The branches scratched at her skin, but she didn’t care. Umi no longer had any idea of where her place was in the world, and she couldn’t stop.

She had thought that when she came on land and would remain human, things would be different. That she would finally feel as if she belonged; that she could be useful and that she would find a place to fit in with the humans—she would be one herself. As she had her power, Umi had thought she could train to be a ninja somehow, and work doing missions; or there had to at least be something she could do. Her life would unravel on the shore, and Umi would have found her place there—only things clearly weren’t as simple as they first seemed. Though she hadn’t come into contact with any civilisation, and hadn’t truly met any people yet, Umi could understand that the way she had pictured things had been childish and immature. Having been living in a lake for 24 years, she couldn’t just crawl out and expect everything would be waiting on a platter for her—working hard and struggling with it all would have been the only way she would have gotten anywhere. But so far Umi wasn’t even sure if she could do that; look where she had gotten herself! She wouldn’t even be remaining human forever; and then what would she do?

Then abruptly the idea of Kisame appeared in her head. For as long as she could remember, she had had visions of Kisame; of him being in her life somehow. He was connected to all of this, and he had to be able to help her. If there was some way she could search for him; he didn’t exactly look like the majority of people out—if she asked around...but she shook her head, glaring once more. Even if she did ask—even if somebody did know where he was—what could she do? He might be on the other side of the world, and she couldn’t travel there on her own with the little knowledge she knew, and then how would she explain the situation? ‘Yeah, I’ve been having visions of you my whole life, and I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who can help me stay human considering normally I’m kind of a mermaid, so...help me out?’ Like he’d believe and accept that. Panic now started to take over Umi; where would she go? What would she do? Her feet were aching and her head was pounding like a drum—she wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold out. She glanced behind her to make sure no one was following—

Only to find she was on her back a moment later.

Groaning in pain, Umi slowly sat up, placing a hand to her head with how the impact had made her head spin. What had happened, she didn’t know, but trying to shake it off, she looked up; but her original theory had been proven wrong. Where she had thought she had run into a tree, having not been looking in the right direction, Umi found she had run into a person. Gazing up at them, their bright green eyes stared deep into her own, glaring slightly at what she had done. All she could do was return their stare, half scared and half wondrous at who this person was. She could sense so many things now, and there was something about him that was different. It was hard to concentrate, however, with her head spinning like it was, and soon she had to put her hand back to her head, taking deep breaths to try and clear it—she didn’t know what this guy would do, and she couldn’t help but swallow as several others joined him.

Kakuzu stared down at Umi as she sat there, wary and tense at the situation. Normally he would have responded in anger, but considering the circumstances, things were a little different. She was barely clothed, with a ripped crop top on and...well, nothing else. Her long blonde hair swept down her shoulders, though it was drenched—and so was she. Considering they were so close to the lake, it was obvious she had been in the water; but something about her wasn’t right. She seemed unsure of herself; of her body and everything around her. From the way she was looking at him it was like it was a new experience entirely, and Kakuzu could sense her chakra from where he was standing. Shifting slightly, he turned to look at the others to get a second opinion on what to do with her—somehow outright killing Umi wasn’t something he felt was right; and it was at that point that he noticed something else. A tattoo was placed on your chest, right across your upper torso; an intricate tribal one that was almost glowing in the light. Kakuzu's mind began to race as he considered all the factors; but as Itachi stepped up beside him, he knew what was going on, and flicking his gaze up into Itachi's eyes, Kakuzu stated firmly,

“She’s the mermaid—the girl. She has to be.”

Instantly Itachi nodded in agreement, having thought it all over too, and glanced back at her, wondering what had happened. Somehow she had changed into a human; so therefore that meant someone else had the stone—and they had made her go through the change. But clearly she hadn’t wanted it, and she had run away from them; only now she had nowhere to go, and she was injured, and from the looks of things, lightheaded. But Umi had sensed they had made their decision about her, had heard Kakuzu's words, and started backing up, crawling and trying to stand in order to start running once more. She’d gone from one bad thing to another, and she was starting to wonder what direction she had left to go in. Seeing they were beginning to come after her, she lashed out and began to turn to get up, Kakuzu dodging in order to avoid it before grabbing her arm and spinning her back round.

But it was then that you noticed something else.

They all wore black cloaks; the insides red—but that wasn’t what mattered. It was the design that was emblazoned all over them; each and every ninja that stood in front of her—and they definitely had to be ninjas. The same image that Umi had always seen in her visions was now staring her in the face, and she abruptly calmed down, staring at it in shock. In the last few minutes everything had changed and she didn’t understand a thing anymore, all that was around her strange and incomprehensible. But now she could see something she did know; that she had always known and in a way, was comforting. And with that knowledge she was reminded of her situation; of how she could become a full human and come to wield her power...of the rest of her visions. Glancing up into their faces once more, Umi saw them begin to fade as she lost consciousness, whispering only,

“Kisame...”