It Started With A Kiss (A Kisame Story)

Chapter 8.

Abruptly realising just what he was doing, Kisame coughed and looked away, that awkward feeling returning in full force.

Holding back a laugh at how this was going; both being adults and perfectly capable of conversing and yet unable to look each other in the eye and act normal, Umi shook her head, fiddling with her fingers as she tried to think of a way to tell Kisame. She would have to mention it some time, and it was better she got it over and done with; at least now they were both strangers—to a degree, she didn’t care about his opinion as much. If she let time go by and they became friends, it would only seem weirder when she revealed she’d known who he was all her life because she’d dreamt of him that entire time. She contemplated coming out with it subtly, hinting at the situation; but she knew it wouldn’t get her anywhere. There was only one way to go about this, and as such, Umi took a deep breath, hoping he wouldn’t completely freak out as she began softly,

“But, uh...yeah. I do know who you are, even though you don’t know me. It’s...well, it’s complicated, but I know you need to know. We’re kinda in the same boat here, after all; so many things must be confusing for you in the same way a lot of things are confusing for me. So if explain it...maybe it will help. How much do you know about me?”

“Well, I know you’re normally a mermaid, and it took a special gem to make you change into a human. I know you can only use your power when you’re a human...and that’s about it,” Kisame offered in return, stepping a bit closer as you finally began to talk properly. And nodding in acceptance of those facts, Umi swallowed hard in preparation for the next step, before forcing herself to continue,

“Yeah, that’s pretty much the basics, I guess, but...the thing is, I get dreams that reveal things about my life; kinda like visions, you know? I’ve had them for as long as I can remember, and they’ve always been the same. It’s me on my own, just doing nothing, and clouds appear around me. I never understood what they were, but after this, I know they’re the symbol for the Akatsuki; the ones on your cloaks. But then something else always appears; you. When everything starts to fade away, I just hear your name—and then it all disappears. That’s how I know who you are.”

Kisame, for a moment, couldn’t respond to that as Umi finished, taken back with her words. She’d had visions about him...always the same thing with him being in every one. Not only that, but she had said she’d had them for as long as she could remember—therefore she’d known who he was from when she was little! All this time and she had known his name without him having a clue that Umi existed, and to begin with he simply stared at her in shock. Glancing up at him as she heard nothing in return, Umi saw his expression and sighed, turning to the window. Maybe it would have been better if she’d just stayed silent—now things were just going to get awkward, and he’d end up freaking out; and yet somehow with her reaction, it gave the opposite effect on Kisame. Blinking to get rid of his surprise, he took the time to observe Umi for a moment, beginning to understand her a little more. True, she had had these visions her entire life and therefore known who he was...but she hadn’t asked for them. The images had just popped up into her head, and she couldn’t exactly push them away. There had to have been a time when she considered what it would be like to meet him; if he found out, and suddenly Kisame relaxed, realising how difficult it must have been to admit it—and when it came down to it, it did answer a major question he’d been thinking about recently.  Maybe it was that deep connection he’d felt; he didn’t know, but Kisame wasn’t about to dismiss Umi after finding this out. So managing to get over his surprise, Kisame took another step forward to question simply,

“But why?”

Freezing, Umi twisted her gaze to look over at Kisame, blinking in surprise. She’d thought he would have just left the room by this point, but looking over at him she saw he was facing her, his eyes focused and intense, ready to talk. He’d accepted the fact she’d had visions about him, and an abrupt smile broke out over Umi's face as she answered,

“I’m not sure, to be honest—but I think it’s to do with my situation. Usually I turn into a human on my birthday for one day, like I said before. But with the stone, it means I’ll stay as a human for roughly two weeks or so. If, in that time, I find the key to keeping me a human, then I will remain like this; but otherwise...I return to being a mermaid. So I guess from the visions...it means it’s got something to do with you.”

Looking down as he contemplated this, Kisame eventually looked up, coming fully over to the bed now to explain everything else on his part. He told her everything she needed to know; who the Akatsuki were and what they did, how they had been going to talk to Umi about finding the stone when they had run into her, and most importantly—why they wanted her in the first place. She hadn’t even noticed her hands fiddling around in her lap as she began to get nervous at what his answer would be, the memories of those guys grabbing her and pulling her out of the water still fresh in her mind. But she was once again surprised as he admitted that yes, they wanted Umi's power...but they wanted her to join the organization in order to use that power. It wasn’t a case of standing there and telling her to fight something, then for her to return to a room until she was needed again. She would be a ninja and doing missions with the others as a job; she’d be a part of the group. Staring at Kisame's face in shock, Umi felt all the nerves simply drop away from her stomach, being replaced with that same childish excitement that always arose whenever she had thought of being a human. This was the kind of thing she had dreamed of; being a ninja and working for a group; having a place to go and something to do—somewhere she belonged.

Only for her to remember that it wouldn’t always be that way.

She would change back into a mermaid in a fortnight’s time, after all; and that dream would be gone. Agreeing to the proposition was definitely something Umi was up for—but unless she figured out what the key was to keeping her human, then it would all be for nothing. The Akatsuki searching, her helping them out...everything would be erased and they’d be back to square one. Only it wouldn’t be something they could try again; once she changed back into a mermaid this time, it would be forever, and dreaming of being a human would be rendered useless. But Umi wasn’t about to give up on it yet. Frowning down at her lap, Umi furiously began thinking over all she knew; there had to be an answer somewhere. She wouldn’t have been given this power and had the option of becoming human if there was no way for her to stay this way. But what was it? Her visions had included the Akatsuki symbol; so staying in the Akatsuki was certainly something she was going to do while she was human. But that wouldn’t be enough; it wouldn’t stop her from changing back—so what was it? There was the other part to her vision of course—Kisame. Was he supposed to help her somehow? Did he hold the key? There was no indication that he did. But he wouldn’t have specifically appeared in her visions if he meant nothing; there were eight other Akatsuki members, and none of them had appeared; only Kisame. That meant he was special in some way, and as Umi sat there and thought about it, she couldn’t help but think that he was to do with her staying human.

Glancing up at him, Umi knew it wasn’t certain what the full details were, but she would have to keep him close. By doing that, she’d have to come across the answer eventually. So as Kisame finished she grinned in his direction, thanking him for coming in and explaining it all to her, graciously accepting the offer to stay in the Akatsuki and work with them while they tried to figure out how to keep her human.

Little did Umi know it would be easier to keep Kisame close than she had first expected...