Hoshigaki

Redefined

A couple of days a week, Kisame would be gone in the early hours of the morning only to return if summoned by Leader or be slated for a mission. The newer recruits all noticed it (because who wouldn't?) but no one ever said anything about it. It was either they didn't care or knew better than to ask, and the other members of the Akatsuki were content to leave it alone. Who were they to raise questions?

But when Itachi noticed, he grew interested. It was because he noticed those curious little things about his partner that he began to try to put together the puzzling pieces of a mysterious past.

He noticed the path Kisame took those mornings lead North to the cafes, the old homes, the chocolate shop, the graveyard. He noticed that on those days, he'd come back with wilted flowers and used incense. He noticed the red ribbon tied to Samehada's hilt.

Though through all his curiosity, he never asked.

It was when they were stranded in a cave during a blizzard in the middle of Frost Country that Itachi built up his nerve. He and Kisame sat on opposite ends of the fire wrapped tightly in their cloaks, their hands tucked under their arms. Later on they wouldn't remember what brought about the conversation they had that night, but they'd blame it on the mixture of cold and fire that muddled their brains and seeped it in melancholy.

"Would you have done as I did, Kisame-san?" Itachi asked quietly. His eyes ghosted with the orange that burned with the fire. "Kill the entirety of your clan and leave the place you once called home?"

Kisame tucked his hands further into himself as a particularly chilly draft wafted into the cave. "Home can mean lots of things. For me, it never was a place."

That revelation made Itachi quieter if it were possible. "... Then?"

"Then what? I already lost them." He turned his head to gaze outside. "My little girl always wanted to see the snow." His eyes darkened. "I never got to take her."

Suddenly, a whirlwind of ideas added up—the reason why Kisame had such an even temperament and why he didn't mind those who engaged in such childish behavior. Kisame was—had been—a father.

Blue lips quirked up. "You know, if you wanted to know more about me, all you had to do was ask. No use in lying about who I was."

Itachi tilted his head, ignoring the slight flare of embarrassment that crawled up the base of his neck but no further. "My apologies."

"Eh, no worries. You didn't know so I won't hold it over you."

Silence grew in their reluctance. They didn't know how long it was until it broke, but it was night when Kisame opened his mouth. 

"I'm not gonna sit here and tell you all the things you could've done differently. We're both here and in the Akatsuki. No one's stupid enough to join and not know what they're getting into." He paused and ran a hand over the red ribbon. Samehada rumbled in sympathy. "But you shouldn't have jumped into this kinda life. You should've had better than this."

Itachi shook his head, his pale skin accentuating the horrid darkness beneath his eyes. "I didn't have a choice."

Another draft swept by, and Kisame looked as if he'd lost his home all over again.

"... Everyone has a choice, Itachi-san. It's just that we don't always make the right ones."

::

"Hiya, Sakura!"

Sakura closed the door to her apartment, her key dangling from her fingers as she moved to lock her door. She nodded before they walked side by side down the stairs and to the training grounds. "Good morning, Uzumaki. How's training been? Not too difficult, I hope."