It Started With A Kiss (A Kisame Story)

Chapter 16.

They barely saw each other after that.

There were still seven other Akatsuki members there, and Umi had said she wanted to know about all of their abilities. It took half of the next day before she finally felt she had learnt all she could about Hidan's abilities, and had taken the rest of the day to relax in her room—thinking about Kisame and what he was doing. Then the next day she had approached Deidara, and he had been absolutely fine with her sticking around and learning about his abilities. She had sat in his room and watched him make clay creations, helping out with some and listening to him talk and describe them. He allowed Umi to take her mind off other things and just concentrate on what was in front of her—he was too exuberant in his personality for her to try and daydream while she was sitting there. If she was going to be learning about Deidara's abilities...she was going to have to get involved with them. But he had so much to show her—so much to teach her—that it took ages before she approached Sasori.

And the same process happened again.

The process of making those puppets and doing everything right was incredible, and so she spent a day or so with Sasori learning about them. Kakuzu's was on the go; although he didn’t mind telling Umi about his abilities, he wasn’t about to waste time sitting down with her and talking her through Earth Grudge Fear. He was the treasurer, and therefore had other things to do. So she accompanied him on the bounties hunts he did—he was fine with her being there, as she never complained, simply listening intently to what he was saying and remaining quiet otherwise. When he asked her to help in battle, she did so—and otherwise stayed out of his way; so he told her what there was to his abilities. Only to find she liked coming with him on the bounty hunts. The journey felt good; she was doing something and staying active, and it allowed her time to think to herself—even if her thoughts mostly ended up on Kisame.

Pein had many levels to his abilities, too; not to mention he could tell Umi so much more about the Akatsuki than Kisame had been able to—being the leader, that wasn’t exactly surprising, however. He told her about missions and the kind of things she could prepare herself for, inserting the description of the Rinnegan and the rest of his abilities in the gaps, and the rest merely followed in the same way. She was compliant, quiet and willing to listen. Sometimes the topic veered away from what they could do, but it didn’t matter; Umi never took her attention away from them and was willing to talk about whatever they had to talk about.

At least that way she could avoid talking about herself.

Kisame and Umi had begun adapting their routines to avoid each other. In the likes of Sasori or Kakuzu she would get up early to go and talk to them, knowing they would be awake and active, and she wouldn’t have to see Kisame in the meantime, while getting up later if it was for someone like Hidan and Deidara. Kisame made sure Umi wasn’t there before he went to get his breakfast, knowing he would only stare and make things worse if she was around, and checked to see if Umi had eaten her dinner or not when it was later on in the day to know whether he could do the same. At lunch time they asked around as to whether either of them were in the hideout; if they were, they’d leave and head to the village in order to buy something—they never had to see or speak to each other. There were so many times Umi halted outside his door, however; Kisame heard her voice telling a story in the other room...and they wanted to join. She wanted to knock on his door and see how he was doing; it was clear it wasn’t as well as the rest of the Akatsuki were—and she felt guilty. He wanted to hear the full story and talk with her about it afterwards; to ask questions and learn more about her.

But they both knew it couldn’t happen.

So they merely sighed; walking on.

The days had passed so quickly, and Umi knew it was getting closer and closer to the time when she would turn back into a mermaid. A thought had passed as to whether she might see Kisame one last time; to at least say goodbye. She owed him that, at least. But she still had Akatsuki to talk to about their abilities; she had said she wanted to talk to them all, and if she stopped now, the others would start asking questions, and everything would go up in smoke. It didn’t mean she was looking forward to it, however, even if she had left him until last. She knew his personality and she knew his full situation...if anyone was going to be observing her, it was him.

Itachi Uchiha.

He was Kisame's partner, after all. He knew Kisame had been hanging out with Umi; he’d seen them together. Not only that, but Itachi was a good friend of Kisame, unlike the rest of the partnerships in the Akatsuki—unfortunately for Umi. But because of this, Itachi was the one who looked out for him now they were friends. Itachi had been the one to go to Kisame to ask if he wanted something to eat if he wasn’t around, or go check if he hadn’t turned up somewhere he was supposed to be. It wasn’t like Itachi wouldn’t have noticed Kisame's behaviour changing; and he would no doubt have noticed hers, as well. Analysing people was easy for Itachi, and always had been; not to mention with the Sharingan this was only heightened. All in all, it felt like the moment Umi would enter his room and start spending time with him, he would have figured out her entire life, what she was feeling and thinking and how Kisame was reacting to it. She just had to hope that he would keep his distance; Itachi did so with everyone else in his life, so it wouldn’t be a stretch for Umi. Though still she paused as she got to Itachi's room, planning how she would enter and greet him; especially with all that had happened this morning. But there was nothing she could do about it, and as such she ploughed on, knocking on the door and entering quietly with a forced smile to greet him.

But surprisingly enough, the day went along fine. Itachi was quiet and calm, and it allowed Umi to act in the same way as she sat and listened to Itachi telling her about the Sharingan. He left no detail out, explaining it carefully and thoroughly as he went along. Umi listened intently in return; it was interesting, and somehow, even with Itachi's connection to Kisame, being in his room allowed her to escape all that and feel apart from her feelings and thoughts. The sun made its way across the sky, both of them getting something to eat and continuing to talk and demonstrate afterwards. Umi couldn’t help but glance up at the sky as the room began to get darker, happy at the idea that the day would be over soon and she would have gotten through it all without Itachi having mentioned it in the slightest. Finishing in the bathroom, Umi began to wash her hands, smirking slightly in relief while she was on her own.

“You knew Kisame's name and what he looked before meeting him, right, Umi?”

Itachi's soft voice called out from behind the door, and instantly Umi froze; just when she thought she was free of this conversation, and he caught her out straight away. She thought about not responding at all, just ignoring the comment and continuing on as normal as if she hadn’t heard it. But this was Itachi here; there was no way he’d just let it go, and Umi knew she’d have to say something—so she called out a confirmation, wincing as he then abruptly appeared at the door, quickly continuing,

“That obviously caused a connection, and you must know that he has something to do with you remaining human, hmm?”

Turning round, Umi quickly began to dry her hands, shrugging at his words and saying over her shoulder, trying to calm her raging heartbeat,

“I’ve never really thought about it.”

A moment later and he had spun her round, standing a few inches away from her and staring directly into her eyes, allowing Umi no room to turn away and get away from his gaze. She couldn’t look down or step back to move away from him; she was trapped in the image of the Sharingan, staring straight back into Itachi's eyes as he stated bluntly and firmly,

“Don’t be coy, Umi. Avoiding him isn’t going to make things any easier—you know that deep down.”

It was then Umi knew that there was no dodging around this subject now. He wasn’t going to dismiss it, and she had no way to avoid it—and suddenly she felt anger rising within her. It was difficult enough as it was—and she wasn’t about to let Itachi make it worse.