D/C: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, blah de blah de blah.
This drabble's word count is exactly 250 words. I do not know how I did this.
Thirteen years old.
Thirteen years old and Uchiha Itachi had slain his entire clan, save for his brother.
This was something that troubled Kisame a little bit, despite his rough exterior.
Itachi was enigmatic; bestowing the best of poker faces day after day.
That night, on the first night that Kisame and Itachi shared their partner room together in the Akatsuki hideout, Kisame had been lying in bed, spacing out, when he heard sobbing.
"Itachi-san?"
Kisame nervously rolled off his futon and shuffled to Itachi's futon. "I-Itachi-san?"
Itachi was crying.
Crying.
Kisame stared at Itachi, wondering if he should just ignore him, or do something about it. "You're just… a kid, Itachi-san…" he lightly touched Itachi's shoulder.
Itachi gasped and instinctively clung to Kisame. "The images…" he rasped. "They won't—they're not—"
Kisame gulped. This was awkward. "…It's not your fault, Itachi-san."
Itachi eventually fell back asleep, his hand still clinging to Kisame's shirt, murmuring apologies. Soon he was breathing evenly, and Kisame did his best to gently place the boy back on the futon.
Kisame sighed and stared at Itachi, the rough exterior slowly fading, as he fully processed that his partner was thirteen years old.
Because how else could a genius like Itachi cope with such a heavy burden?
The next morning, Itachi glared at Kisame while they scouted for any intruders. "You disclose last night's events to anyone, you will die, Kisame," he simply stated.
"Noted, Itachi-san." Kisame nodded, knowing full well the boy meant it.
Feedback of all sorts is appreciated. :)