It Started With A Kiss (A Kisame Story)

Chapter 19.

With that one conversation...everything seemed to fall into place.

Umi had Kisame had spent the rest of the night talking, getting the full story as to what had gone on and why they had acted the way they had. Kisame maintained the fact that he wasn’t angry; he had just been so confused and upset that things had gotten way out of hand—even if Umi did keep apologising for having done what she had. Time didn’t matter in the slightest as they sat there, both of them having forgotten completely about the situation, regardless of whether they were sitting by the lake or not. All that mattered was talking this out; by keeping all her worries and doubts concealed, everything had gone into freefall, and Kisame convinced Umi that despite what she might think, she had to tell Kisame if there was anything troubling her. He was supposed to be looking after her, after all, and he was her friend; he was more than willing to help if she was nervous about anything that would happen.

And he meant it. When Umi had turned up at that moment, Kisame had been uncertain where the conversation was going to go. She had been avoiding him all this time, treating him like he didn’t exist—so why was she here now? A tiny flame of hope had erupted inside of him, hoping against hope that things were going to change and go back to how they were. But he remembered the exact same feeling the day after Umi had started acting strange and he went to her room to wake her up; look what had happened there. She had pushed him away even more so than before, going off to hang out with the rest of the Akatsuki and blanking him completely. So Kisame had tried to push it away; defend himself from what would no doubt be Umi saying something else that would isolate him even more than he already was.

Hence the surprise when she simply apologised.

Kisame's heart had automatically clenched in shock, and it had rendered him speechless—but the moment Umi continued and said what she had, explaining everything that had gone on...a huge wave of relief had swept over him. He could have laughed at the entire situation as the feeling shot through his body, overwhelmed with happiness. All that time he had been sitting there, thinking over what had happened so many times and trying to work out what he had done wrong or what had occurred that had caused Umi to change behaviour, worried and upset that she was never going to be friends with him again...and she was the one who came to him. Kisame didn’t like the idea she had been in turmoil this entire time, but he had to admit, compared to the situation he had imagined it to be before, it was heaven. Every bad thought or feeling that had been running around his head these past few days instantly disappeared, and he was left with the same feeling he had had for Umi before, and he wasn’t about to let it happen again.

Umi was just glad he’d been willing to accept her apology. When he had spoken with that tone of voice and hadn’t tried to turn and face her, she had begun to worry that he would simply brush her off and continuing walking, not about to forgive her after what she’d done. She’d desperately wanted to make things right, but from his reaction it had started to seem like it wouldn’t be quite as simple as Umi had thought it would be. From the looks of things, it had appeared as if the one chance Umi had of convincing Kisame that she hadn’t meant it—that she wasn’t about to continue being such a bitch as she knew better now—was slowly slipping away. That’s why the tears had come; all of her actions had replayed themselves in her head, and she realised just how bad things had been—just how much she didn’t want to lose him, along with her remaining fear of turning back into a mermaid.

Then his arms had wrapped around her...and abruptly it all ended.

There was no more worry; no more fear and no more concerns about the future. While Umi remained in his soft, protective grip, nothing was going to harm her; she felt completely and utterly safe. Suddenly she knew she could weather this storm, and deal with anything and everything that came her way. It didn’t matter what problem was thrown at her; she had Kisame back on her side now, and somehow that made it all easier. It meant she wasn’t alone anymore, and it wasn’t a burden she had to shoulder on her own. By the time they had gone back to the hideout having got it all out in the open and she had headed off to bed, she had lain against the pillows, gently closing her eyes with a smile on her face. For the first time in several days, she slept peacefully, with no nightmares to disturb her slumber.

When that familiar knock came on her door in the morning, that same feeling of contentment came back, and not having realised how much she missed it, she walked over to the door and opened it, unable to keep herself from grinning as she saw Kisame's smiling face staring back at her. For a moment afterwards, there was silence, their eyes glued to each others as they remembered all the times this had happened before, finally understanding how much this had mattered to them. Yet somehow it was even stronger this time, and Kisame finally greeted Umi softly, one which she returned in full. When Kisame asked her what she wanted to be doing today, she couldn’t help but smile once again and shoot back playfully,

“Everything and anything. Does it matter?”

Laughing at that comment, Umi then fully left her room, heading off down the corridor together to get something to eat. For the rest of the day they never left each other’s side; though Umi made a point to go and thank Itachi when she saw him. There was no structure to their day; they played around, walking and doing whatever they felt like doing at the time, any questions Umi wanted answered being the topics they spoke about, simply enjoying each other’s company for the most part. It just felt good to be hanging out together again, and Umi knew she had made the right choice. All she had been thinking about before had been so, so wrong, and she was so glad that Itachi had gotten to her when she did; the idea of having gone through the whole two weeks without having reconciled with Kisame was one she didn’t like to entertain when she thought about it now.

Therefore Umi merely concentrated on what she had now.

There were times when their conversation topic passed over how to keep her human, but it never truly came to anything. Her parents had placed her in the lake to protect her, knowing she would be able to change back into a human when the time was right and she could protect herself. They had known there would be two stages to the whole thing—but they had never left her any clues. The village knew about the legends, too, but they didn’t have any answers, either. Umi's only lead was Kisame, but being a human being and a ninja, it meant he could do a lot of things; what exactly was he supposed to do in order to help Umi remain human? There were too many possibilities to simply try out—and slowly the conversations just slipped to the back of their minds. A part of them both panicked when they thought about the moment they would have to say goodbye, Kisame wanting to talk with Pein to see if he could try and have any time to visit her at some point or another. But for the most part, they pushed it aside and concentrated on the time they spent with each other.

If it was all they were going to have, then they might as well enjoy it.

A couple more days went by, Kisame and Umi having so much fun; growing closer by the day. They encased themselves in their own little bubble; their own world where nothing could get to them and nothing was going to separate them. But that didn’t mean everything was fine. Several of the Akatsuki had noted people wandering through the shadows of the trees when they went for walks, never showing their faces and disappearing if they were found. The memories of the guys who had turned her into a human in the first place came back to Umi, and she knew there wasn’t much time left, noticing the sunset even more prominently that night. It was a companionable silence between Kisame and Umi, true, but the atmosphere was different; it was on both their minds. Tomorrow was the day, after all. Either Umi found out the answer, or things would end the same way they began. Though she had accepted that fact, it didn’t mean she was ok with it.

Instead she found herself planning on how to say goodbye.