It Started With A Kiss (A Kisame Story)

Chapter 4.

They could only stare at Umi in shock.

How the hell did she know Kisame?

Or better yet—why hadn’t he mentioned he knew her?

Whatever the situation was, no one quite understood it; but either way, the girl was who they’d been looking for—and that meant she had to come with them. Kakuzu stepped forward to pick her up and carry her back to the hideout, when a noise caught his attention. Tensing, they all looked up, finding there were several ninjas heading towards them at full pelt, kunai’s unsheathed and looking ready for a fight. Immediately deducing that these were the guys who had turned her human and had been planning on using her power, they all reacted accordingly, pulling out weapons or falling into a defensive stance to fight back, forming a circle round Umi to protect her. Maybe if the ninja had known who they were, they would have been slightly less confrontational about the whole situation—but having dived into it headfirst, it wasn’t long until all of them were dead, simply corpses dotted around the place.

With that taken care of, however, they turned back to Umi, ready to take her back to the hideout. This time it was Itachi who stepped forward, peeling off his cloak to wrap it around her, gently picking her up bridal style and beginning to walk back they way they had come. With the others all thinking the same thing, they merely walked in silence, trying to get back as quickly as possible and figure this whole thing out. She had definitely said Kisame—it had been when she’d seen their cloaks that she had calmed down and stop struggling to get away. But how did she know him? Itachi searched through his memories of having known Kisame, and he knew he’d never mentioned her; even when they had been told about the mission, that a girl was involved and what they knew of her story...Kisame hadn’t said a thing. So that left two possibilities; either Kisame did know her, and didn’t want anyone to know about it, hoping that she would have forgotten him by now—or he didn’t know who she was; but instead it was Umi who knew about Kisame. Whatever way round things were, there were still several questions to be answered, and as such everyone continued on, their hurried pace causing them to arrive back at the hideout not long afterwards.

Walking through the corridors, Itachi instantly headed to the spare room, gently laying her down on the bed and covering her up as Pein joined him by his side. As Itachi turned to look at him, he stared down at Umi, frowning in confusion and contemplation; a lot had changed since this morning, when he didn’t know how in the hell he was going to find the gem, let alone get it to the girl. But now she was lying in front of him, and he turned to Itachi for answers, leaving the room for a moment but remaining by the door to keep guard.

It hadn’t been long after that that Umi had woken up.

Blinking slowly, she shook her head to get rid of the dizziness, finding things were a lot clearer now—but she was somewhere completely different. Narrowing her eyes in confusion, Umi sat up, gazing around the room and trying to remember what exactly had happened. Then suddenly everything hit her in a rush, and gritting her teeth, she frowned, unsure what to do. Those men...their cloaks...with the same symbols she saw in her visions...it was significant somehow. But after all that had happened to her recently, she couldn’t tell if it had been a warning, or merely a sign that they were coming. They had come towards her; tried to grab her without saying so much as a word of explanation, just like the others had done. How did she know they weren’t as bad—or worse, considering they had succeeded in taking her back to their hideout? No; she wouldn’t be as stupid as she had been before—she’d keep on her toes and trust no one until she understood the whole situation. But she had to find out more, and as such, started to get out of bed.

As she did so, she noticed she was no longer naked; one of the cloaks wrapped around her in order to give a little dignity, and for a moment, Umi hesitated, surprised at the gesture, slowly running her hands over the symbol. But she couldn’t trust them; not yet, and so she simply put it on properly, padding over to the door; freezing as she heard people just outside. Using her abilities to fully hear the conversation, she leant in, waiting to hear what they had to say. Pein was facing Itachi expectantly, and with one last glance at the room, he looked Pein in the eye and finally began,

“To be honest, Leader-sama, there’s not that much to tell. We were walking towards the lake to see if we could find her; when someone ran straight into Kakuzu. When we looked round, she was there; but it has to be her. She has the pointy ears; she was soaking wet, which obviously meant she had been in the lake, and she has that tattoo on her chest. After she passed out, ninja turned up, having been chasing her; it only strengthens the idea that she is the one in the legends—she’s the mermaid.”

“They must have found the gem—it was why we couldn’t find it. Then they changed her into human in order to get to her power,” Pein replied slowly, still thinking over the threat that remained out there and what he should do about it now, before Itachi cut off his thoughts quietly,

“But...there was something else. When we stopped her from running away...the moment she saw our cloaks; she stopped fighting. She just sat there staring at it as if she knew what it meant—and then just before she passed out, she said Kisame's name.”

“Yes, the others mentioned that. She’s staying here—that much I know, at least—but until Kisame gets here, until she wakes up...I can’t know anymore.”

Cursing mentally, Umi quickly backed up from the door. They were forcing her to stay here; but they knew Kisame. If she stayed a little longer, until he turned up, then maybe she could...But it wouldn’t work. If she wasted too much time, then they could have her right where they wanted her, and she would have no choice but to use her power for them. She knew she didn’t like the idea of them making her remain in the hideout, and if Kisame was working with them, then how did she know she could trust him, either? Her dreams, or visions, or whatever they were, had never specified what he was supposed to mean to Umi in her life, and therefore, for all she knew he could be her biggest rival! But she couldn’t just wait around to find all this out; she had to get out of here, and get out of here now. The door, naturally, was a no-no, considering they were both standing there talking, and glancing towards the window, Umi at first brushed it off, thinking they would have made sure she couldn’t get out—until she remembered she was supposed to be unconscious. She had recovered pretty quickly, and so they probably still thought she was passed out—they wouldn’t have bothered with the window just yet.

So slowly making her way over to the window, Umi gently gripped the bottom and pulled, grinning as she found it slid up easily—they hadn’t locked it. Thankful something in her life was going right at the moment, Umi quickly clambered out, scanning the forest before picking any direction; not bothered with where she was going, just that she was getting away. With that, she took one last look inside the hideout, passing a thought to Kisame and who he might be...before hardening her heart and pushing onwards. She had made her decision, and she wouldn’t be locked up like a weapon, to be controlled and manipulated. She might have lived in a lake all her life, but she wasn’t stupid—and she wouldn’t be made a fool of.

“She’ll most likely wake up soon—though she does have some injuries on her,” Itachi added swiftly, to which Pein nodded, stating that they’d clean her up—make sure she was alright—and that they’d have someone to keep an eye on her. Everything was uncertain at the moment, and Pein just wanted things to hurry up so he knew where he stood, reaching for the handle and opening the door to check on Umi one last time, only for Itachi to narrow his eyes as Pein’s face went blank, a sudden frown appearing on his face.

“Get out there—now. She’s gone.”