I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in it.
Rate and review please, the numbers I get will be what tells me to post a second chapter or not… Anyways, enjoy…
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"I don't agree with it any more."
The day was perfect, a light breeze rolled across the cool waters where Kisame stood half immersed and shirtless, facing away from the nearby shore where Itachi placidly sat. Legs crossed, hands toying with a broken kunai, Itachi sat at the base of a wide tree that lay at the very edge of a small lake they had happened by on their journey back to the hideout. Kisame jumped slightly at the sound of the Uchiha's voice, scaring away the fish he had been stalking, curing in response to this realization.
He turned, surprised the other had spoken, to see that the sharing an wielder hadn't even looked up. Not sure as to if the raven-haired other had actually spoken or if he'd just been imagining things, Kisame took a moment before replying, "Agree with what?"
"The Akatsuki."
Itachi persisted to not look up from the useless weapon he held, automatically sending warning signals to the shark-like man at the notice of this. Itachi was not one to avoid eye contact, especially when speaking or listening to another. With that Sharingan of him, Kisame suspected he liked looking at people with that to induce a sense of fear within them; perhaps to scare them away form a fight or just to warn them not to underestimate him despite his looks. Slight of form and stature, with thin wrists and a slight waist, it was hard to imagine him capable of much strength. Long, wispy hair, pouting lips, thin face with high cheekbones, soft voice, every one of Itachi's traits added up to a single word: feminine. Especially standing next to his partner, who's broad shoulders, frightening countenance, and towering stature immediately made anyone who laid eyes on him nervous.
Kisame turned and began towards the shade that protected the Uchiha beneath, eyes sharply studying the man with whom he'd been partnered for long enough to understand when something was wrong. Sitting heavily beside him and sighing deeply, he allowed himself to lay back with his hands pillowing his head as he looked above into the leaves that kept the sun from warming them.
"Haven't you always?"
Itachi looked over at the other, his surprise evident, to be met with the knowing smirk from the other, displaying sharpened teeth that the Uchiha was obviously used to.
Kisame chuckled lightly, "I've known about it for awhile, just thought you didn't care enough about it to actually bother telling me. Yah know, everyone else thinks your so stoic, but I can read you like a book."
Itachi turned away from him yet again, watching the light shine off of the metal as he turned the weapon at different angles as he appeared slightly trouble about that news.
Kisame stopped smiling, his expression turned serious as he sat up, attention fully on the other, to say matter-of-factly, "Well, if ya got a problem with it, why don't you just leave?"
The younger male didn't look up, nor did he respond it any other way to what his partner had suggested. Slightly put-off at being ignored, he continued, "It's not like Leader-sama forces us to stay, you can leave whenever you want."
Still, it would seem as though the other was much more interested in the worthless piece of metal in his hands than in his partner that was honestly trying to help him with whatever was bothering him. Slightly frustrated by that fact, Kisame grabbed the kunai out of his hands and threw it to the side, eyes narrowed as he grabbed the Uchiha's chin and forced him to meet his eyes. "What the hell's wrong with you, Itachi?"
The raven haired other's eyes were wide, and Kisame's slight anger faded slightly as he looked into the crimson depths. The younger male was hiding nothing behind his eyes, everything was laid out evidently for the other to explore, yet there was so much it could not possibly be accurately interpreted. So vulnerable were these eyes, not even the activated Sharingan could hide that fact.
"Itachi…" His voice trailed off, he could not think of what to say. What could possibly be said to calm the roaring tide of emotions that he could barely comprehend let alone understand?
Itachi pushed away the hand that held the other's chin, needing little force to do so, in order to turn away from him once again to regard the waters in front of them. Seconds ticked by in silence, Kisame watching the stony face of his partner as Itachi merely sat, as if immobile, oblivious to the obvious worry that was now present on the other's features.
Finally, his voice low yet hardened, Itachi spoke three simple words, "I hate you."
Kisame blanched, his expression incrediculous as he took a moment to fully comprehend the words. What had he ever done to earn such an emotion from the other? If anything, Kisame thought that they'd gotten along very well, and had, over time, even grown fond and slightly protective over the other, though he was more than capable of protecting himself. Slightly hurt, he could think to do nothing but become angry.
"Well great, I'm glad you feel that way. I mean, at least this way I know you feel anything at all!"
He knew he was being irrational and stupid, but that was honestly the only way he knew to react to such a statement that had such a powerful effect on him. Angrily, he pushed himself off of the cooled ground and walked back a few steps into the water, hands on his hips, to scowl off into the distance. Waiting for Itachi to say something in response, something to make his rude words seem more justified than they honestly were.
When moments passed by again with only the sounds of water gently lapping against the shore, Kisame turned sharply around, frustrated and upset at the same time, to stalk towards the other. He seemed so small, shoulders slumped, head bent, how could this man at all be capable of the things that he truly was? He stopped in front of him, looking down, face displaying an uncertainty as to which emotion to show; his anger? His frustration? His hurt? In the end, it became a confusing mix of all three.
Slowly, Itachi looked up, his eyes and the depth they held that served as a portal to every thought and every emotion the male had learned to keep hidden from his countenance once again taking his breath away.
"If you say you hate me too, then I can leave. I can get out of the Akatsuki, and we will never have to put up with each other again."
Kisame was shocked by those words, and further confused by them. Why should his opinion on the Uchiha make a difference as to the decisions he made? He shook his head slowly, "I don't hate you. I could never hate you." It was odd to say this, but the raven haired male was stupid to assume that by simply saying that he hated him would be enough to get him to say he hated him as well. Itachi bit his bottom lip and looked away, had the younger always appeared so adorable and vulnerable as this?
The shark-like male leaned down, this time gently cupping the other's chin to turn him towards him. His voice gentle, his expression open to show evidently his concern, he spoke, "You don't really hate me, do you?" Lightly, Itachi shook his head.
"There's something you're not telling me that you need to. Why did you lie? You know I can always see through you, anyway."
The other seemed to hesitate slightly, about to turn away again from him before the taller male tightened his grip and forced him to see his imploring gaze, before speaking, "I hate this. I hate being apart of the Akatsuki, yet not being able to leave it. I hate being your partner and always having this… This..." He trailed off, unable to describe what exactially he felt that so pained him to be around the other.
Kisame let go of the other's chin, instead kneeling down and placing a hand on his knee to lean towards him, "Why didn't you tell me before now about this?" Slowly, he felt as though he was beginning to understand. Without being told the specifics, he was piecing together what he assumed with what he wished to be the truth to form a very rough theory that agreed greatly with his ego and own, personal, desires.
Eyes narrowing into that of a slightly glare, Itachi grumbled, "Because I don't like it and I did not like the certain outcome. Otherwise, I would have."
Kisame could not help but chuckle at that. Of course he'd tried to somehow calculate what would happen, just as he did when he measured other situations more battle-related. Itachi glowered at him because of the small chuckle, in response he apologized furiously, pretending as though he was intimidated by that gaze when in fact it did nothing but provoke a hug that he wisely held back.
Serious again, he leaned closer until their faces were only inches away, insuring that Itachi could not escape his eyes and that he was all that filled his vision. Itachi pushed back, meeting with the solid trunk of the tree that negated his chances of escape. Kisame grabbed his hand, freezing him to watched his hand, pale and thin, be held gently by the other's hand, rough, large, and light blue. Pleased to have his attention so fully, he laced their fingers together, noting how well they fit together just as Itachi, too, seemed to be making that observation.
"For some genius, you really are stupid."
Itachi's face snapped to his own, glare dark and foreboding but only causing the shark-like male to laugh.
"I don't follow your humor."
"Heh, you never have. But, this time, I'll explain. You have a crush on me, but were too shy to say it, so you got mad at yourself and let it mess with you until you became a cute, stuttering wreck-"
"I never stuttered."
"-and now wont even deny the fact that you want to be closer to me than you are. Isn't that so?"
Now he was just teasing the Uchiha, who was taking things way too seriously just as always. A blush was evident on his marble features; abruptly he took his hand out of the others own and turned away from him.
"You're making fun of my fear."
"Not at all, I'm admiring it. The first time Itachi Uchiha feels fear is when he is uncertain as to what to do with a little crush on a shark man. Don't you think I should feel honored?"
Itachi pushed Kisame away and stood up, turning, about to leave, before Kisame could grab his wrist and pull him back to him. His eyes were on fire as he turned to face the older male, alight with hurt and anger to immediately silence the next teasing comment he'd been about to make.
"You think that I would cause myself such trouble over a 'crush'?" Wrenching his wrist free of the others grasp, he took a step away before regarding the other fully before uttering, in a deftly accusing tone, "You're too selfish to understand what I'm feeling, do not pretend as if that's not true."
He turned and walked away without looking back, leaving Kisame to stand mutely, frozen by the words and the meaning they held.