It Started With A Kiss (A Kisame Story)

Chapter 24. (The End)

Throwing Samehada to the side for the moment, Kisame sprinted through the shadows and threw himself down on his knees next to Umi, lifting her gently towards him, trying to force his heart to calm down and focus on what was in front of him. Quickly pulling off his Akatsuki cloak, he bundled it up and pressed it firmly against her chest wound, keeping silent for the moment, unsure what would come out if he tried to speak. He’d looked all over trying to find her when he left the hideout, and upon reaching the lake he hadn’t even seen Umi there. It wasn’t until he heard noise that he figured there might be someone around—

But it hadn’t exactly been the kind of result he’d been looking for.

Right from the beginning he had been assigned to protect Umi—Pein had specifically given him that job. All that time when they’d been hanging out and becoming friends...him teaching her all about his world...he’d kept an eye on her, true, but he hadn’t done all he could do. Kisame knew now, as he looked down into Umi's eyes, that he should have done more. He should have gotten information off of her as to what they had looked like and what exactly had happened, before going out and searching for them in the area. The power Umi had inside of her was incredible, and ultimately, that meant it was incredibly covetable, too. Those guys had had the Henka stone, and had forced Umi to turn into a human. Clearly that was the reason they had turned up, and you didn’t have to be a genius to figure out they most likely had been angry upon finding out the Akatsuki had stumbled across her, and were now integrating her into their group.

It was obvious they would have stuck around; obvious they wouldn’t have given up that easily. All this time they had been sitting there, watching them, waiting for the right time to strike. They’d had enough sense not to approach them headfirst...and in the end their opportunity had never showed itself. They’d reached a stalemate, and there was nothing they could do anymore. No way they could get her power and not even a way to keep her human to try and steal it back. She’d become useless to them—and naturally they didn’t want the Akatsuki to get in the way. They had done before...and they weren’t about to let them do it again. Umi was lying there, bleeding and hurt, but not because of her. Because of him. They had tried to force her back into being a mermaid—tried to kill her—to get back at the Akatsuki and what they had done.

It was all his fault.

Umi knew exactly what he was thinking—but she didn’t feel scared, or confused. She felt strangely...peaceful. The pain had numbed, and although she was a little light-headed and dizzy, it felt as if nothing could hurt her anymore. Nothing would get to her, and that everything was going to be okay. The fact that Kisame was holding her in her arms was only helping that, too. They encircled her protectively but gently, like he wouldn’t let anything get to her but not wanting to break her—as if she was delicate and fragile. Somehow it was like she fit perfectly there, and she didn’t want him to let go, merely lying back and staring up into his face; gently laying a hand on his cheek with a smile to state softly,

“It’s okay, Kisa—it’s okay.”

But Kisame shook his head, gritting his teeth in an attempt to control himself; to keep his emotions back. He didn’t know whether he could trust himself with speaking yet, torn between frustration, anger and sadness. It wasn’t okay—and it never would be, and no matter what Umi said it wouldn’t change his mind. He knew the kind of tone she was taking towards him, and he wouldn’t let her do it. He couldn’t let this happen; not after all they’d been through. It had only been a couple of days ago that they’d reconciled from having Umi isolate herself from him—he couldn’t lose her so swiftly after that.

But then again...

What did it matter?

Even if he did save her; she’d be a mermaid now. All Kisame would was stand up, turn around and head back off with the Akatsuki, leaving Umi to deal with everything by herself. It didn’t matter what he did; he wouldn’t be with her, regardless. He opened his mouth to try and say something; anything that would comfort her—or more him—or that would make things better than they were. But nothing came to mind, and he simply closed it once more, looking around to try and pick out something that would help here. Though finally he looked back as Umi began stroking his cheek; tracing his gills, and their eyes met—just like the first time they had seen each other. That connection shot through Kisame's body once more, and he fell into her eyes, unable to look away. In that moment, Umi calmed him, and resting his forehead against hers he whispered mournfully,