A/N:I guess this has spoilers for events that happen to Itachi. I'm not sure what manga chapter it happens in, but it happens. So don't read if you aren't completely spoiled on the life of Itachi.

((Kisame's POV))

Itachi stood.

His feet were shoulder width apart, and his arms were crossed over his chest. He looked utterly relaxed, and tensed past belief. His body vibrated with something that wasn't tension or readiness. He was just there, and I had no doubt he could react in an instant to anything. Nothing would ever catch him off guard or throw him off balance. That was just how it was.

Itachi dominated.

He was short, only thirteen-ish and slender as a willow. Anyone could be taller or heavier. Anyone could physically stand over him, but they would still look like they were cowering. He would always be forefront when people saw him with someone else. He was a leader, a ruler, a winner, and he knew it.

Itachi looked.

He looked around with half-lidded grey eyes as if he owned the world, or as if he owned himself. It was hard to tell. Those eyes held things I could only begin to imagine. Those eyes said he was better than anyone else here, and he'd be glad to show us that. That was only when the eyes were grey. When those eyes turned red the whole world cowered.

Itachi won.

Anything he tried, he won. He was the best, the brightest, the quickest. I snatched him away before anyone else could claim his as a partner. I pulled the little boy with danger written into his every glance, move, and word aside and told him we'd work together. He looked at me with grey eyes and told me he'd allow that. He told me we'd get along as I followed his lead. I laughed, but we both knew it was true.

Itachi dared.

There's something about being the best that makes others want to drag you down. Idiots, heroes, dreamers, and killers alike all want to pull down the best and stand in that place. Itachi let them try and calmly threw them off his pedestal. He let me have a few who he deigned unworthy of his attentions. I made myself useful in gutting and killing those who bothered him. I was ignored by those trying to climb past Itachi until my sword ripped them in two.

Itachi resisted.

Every time people came at him he threw them down, but he taunted them to come at him again. He got stronger. He, the best there was, got better. He pushed people down so far he was insurmountable. He walked beside me only because I'd always been there, it seemed, and he was used to that. He dragged me up with him, and we reigned down in blood and macabre laughter on those who tried to drag us down. No one saw me, though. They only saw him with eyes red as blood and hair black as death.

Itachi fell.

And I knew he would. He stood up too much, and someone was bound to hammer him down. Even the best slip and fall. He slipped. He fell. And there is no recovering from that once you've climbed too high. There's no other choice for you after you climb that high then fall.

Itachi died.

And I didn't. He dragged me up with him, but he forgot to drag me back down.