Touching the untouchable

Chapter 34

"Hey." Kisame muttered, dropping down next to his friend. Itachi did not even move to acknowledge him, all the Uchiha did was stare at his hands that had a slight red tinge in some spots and blood crusting under the fingernails but most of the blood that had coated the hands before was gone. The ambulance could only fit another extra person with the patient and the paramedics so Hidan and Sasori had been the ones that ushered the shaken CEO into the back of the emergency vehicle as Kisame ran for the car to keep up with the ambulance that sped all the way towards the hospital. They still had to protect their client no matter what occurred and to have an attack aimed at the Uchiha during a company function... to have someone get hurt was unacceptable. 

Now they were on high alert, a few members of the team had gone with the police to gather details on the reason behind the attack whilst the rest maintained order at the venue, making sure everyone was okay and that they got home. The news crew was going to be all over this, Kisame sighed, hoping that the company's media correspondences are working overtime to ensure that the CEO was not pestered during this awful time. To have to be one applying pressure on a potentially fatal wound on someone you love was going to be a hard blow. To watch your love fight to stay conscious, fight to stay alive was going to be the most gut-wrenching feeling. 

Kisame glanced at the man next to him, looking so sad and yet so small despite standing at almost 6' tall, his long limbs reaching out to almost the middle to the hallway in his slack posture. Kisame swallowed, he knew that there were no words that could comfort Itachi at the moment, all he could offer the man was silent reassurances that things were going to be okay and that they were here for him. He gently clapped a hand onto Itachi's arm, patting it softly like patting a cat. He had seen Naruto do this before and noticed that the Uchiha had reacted to it in a quiet but positive way. After that, he himself also tried it on the Uchiha when Naruto was busy, noting with delight that the repetitive movement did indeed help his friend.

Kisame eased out his phone with his other hand, texting the team about what to bring for Itachi and which hospital the blond had been rushed to. He was about to get off the phone when he decided to check if the story made it on the news. Like he predicted the news had spread far and wide, across multiple different countries and continents. Some of them going as ridiculous as saying that Naruto had planned the attack, saying that he planned it so that he could save the Uchiha and win his affections once again. Kisame almost growled out loud at it but refrained, not wanting to draw attention to himself so that Itachi would not see such articles. He sent the link to the company, a silent order to deal with this bullshit. 

Some articles praised Naruto's bravery, labelling it as a fairytale that he was jumping into harm's way to save his true love. Kisame felt sick, how could such a tragic thing be romanticised? Others wondered why the power couple had broken up, many 'shipping' the two of them as their 'OTP', whatever that meant. The two had been considered a power couple as ever since the appearance of the blond in public spaces with the young CEO, the company was on an extreme rise with news that many companies were joining the Uchiha corporation or were selling their company to the bigger corporation. In interviews, Itachi would occasionally mention Naruto, that he could not have secured half the deals without the blond's help. That meant big news to everyone that cared, Itachi Uchiha never complimented anyone openly and to compliment someone to the press knowing that it was going to be seen by millions was unheard of yet this no name no status blond shows up out of nowhere and achieves the very thing that everyone strives for easily in the span of 2 months. 

Itachi had shared with him that he thinks his own mother had been the reason why the blond broke up with him. Kisame had held no opinion of his own at first, wanting to see some evidence for himself. But as the weeks progressed, watching Itachi interact with Mikoto about Naruto, he started to see where Itachi's point was coming from. The woman had constantly defended that it was a good thing that Naruto left despite the clear fact that the internet did not approve. The internet may not have been much influence during her time but right now, every slight movement of someone famous or rich could get it splashed for billions of viewers in an instant. That was exactly what had happened when the couple broke up. Itachi did not even have to say anything, someone had seen it. Someone anonymous at the cafe had snapped the photos of Naruto and Itachi talking, Naruto being held back by Itachi as he was about to leave, Naruto leaving. It had been very clear what had happened just with these few photos alone before the viewers even read the article that came attached with absurd theories. 

Following that, it had been hard for Itachi to convince some of their partners to stay in partnership as they had only joined because of Naruto. Naruto had been the one that pulled in the deal for them, they were charmed by Naruto and not by everyone else in the Uchiha Corporations. It had gotten to the point where Naruto had to show up personally to help despite having applied to HR to work from home for an extended period of time, something that they had tracked to Mikoto being the one to have approved it despite not being in the department herself. Kisame looked up when he heard the sound of heels and other rushed footsteps coming. His eyes almost narrowed as he took his hand off Itachi's arm when he realised who was rushing towards them but stopped himself, not wanting to come off as unprofessional.