Thank you, imouto-chan, for the title idea.

Warnings: Spoiler for one chapter, 354, I think. Not that it would be a great spoiler though, you just won't know what city it was and who Itachi talked to.
Summary: Kisame used to think he knew Itachi. He was pretty sure he was aware of all things that irritated his partner or made him somewhat... interested or satisfied, because Itachi never really enjoyed anything. At least he didn't seem to do so. But then... Things happened. Kisame POV. One-shot. If you're looking for a yaoi story only, you can leave now :D; No yaoi unless you do want to see it.

I do not own Naruto

Apocalypse, please?

'Always expect unexpected,' Kisame mumbled, thinking how true the old saying could be sometimes. And here he was, with his eyes somewhat widened, looking at a beast which destroyed the world he knew and made all his beliefs fall into pieces.

The beast had dark fur, a pair of pointed ears and too many, at least in Kisame's opinion, claws, which had already left a few marks on his hand. It also was rather small and was one of these homeless cats that wandered aimlessly in the city they had been visiting. And, to great Kisame's horror, in some mysterious way it had managed to draw to itself Itachi's attention and catch his interest.

He was more than eager to scare the poor kitty and made it run away. But before he managed to put the plan into action, he was stopped by Itachi.

'Don't,' the Uchiha's voice was quiet and as emotionless as usual, but there was no doubt that any disobedience would not be tolerated.

Kisame gave Itachi somewhat puzzled look and simply watched the latter coming closer to the kitty, crouching by his side and reaching out his hand in that little monster's, as Kisame decided to call the creature, direction.

'I don't think it's a good idea, Itachi-san,' he said slowly, still remembering how his first meeting with the kitty had ended.

But the young, dark-haired man crouching by said kitty's side ignored his words, focusing all his attention on the little, furry creature in front of him. Despite himself Kisame decided that maybe it all started to turn in a very interesting direction and with some sadistic satisfaction he expected what was inevitable in his opinion. The thought brought a scary smile to his face, revealing shark-like teeth.

But the thing he had expected didn't happen. Kisame frowned. Something was strange.

The cat and Itachi just looked at each other for a longer while, the Sharingan against the cat's eyes, and none of them moved. Itachi's hand was still reached out in the cat's direction and the cat was eying curiously, and voicelessly, the hand's owner. And then, all of sudden, the cat slowly approached the Uchiha and started to sniff his fingers only to snuggle into his legs a few seconds later.

Something is definitely strange.

Kisame almost shook his head in a silent sign of utter disbelief and watched Itachi stand up and pick the cat up. Slowly he came near the Uchiha, still fighting with his own bemusement.

The dark-haired man looked at him, stroking absentmindedly a fur on the cat's head. Judging by silent purrs the kitty made, nothing could satisfy the little creature more.

Kisame could not help but think what kind of genjutsu must have been used on the cat if it had managed to change a little monster into quite a likeable... pet. Or maybe not so likeable after all, he decided after a short while, seeing how it reacted to his presence, because the cat, as if reading in his mind, gave him a glare, the glare, and hissed, but quickly it started to purr again as Itachi's slender fingers kept stroking its fur.

Kisame blinked. For the first time he noticed that the cat's eyes were blue – a very rare colour for cats' eyes. He moved his eyes to Itachi.

'Kisame, we're going,' the Uchiha stated, turned back and walked away, with the cat still in his arms, not even waiting for the ex-Mist nin to follow him.

'And what about the cat?' Kisame asked when he finally caught up with his companion, although he had a strange feeling that the cat's and their paths wouldn't part so quickly.

Itachi just gave him a look, raising his eyebrows slightly.

'The cat is staying with us for a while,' he stated as the thing should have been obvious already. 'And now we should hurry up otherwise we'll be late.'

'Late for what?' Kisame's mind refused to work anymore and he decided it definitely wasn't his day.

'Cats like eating fish,' Itachi said looking at Kisame intently. 'We should get one for him.'

There was something in his look, some kind of a hidden threat, that made Kisame shudder and the ex-Mist nin obeyed, because for a while he got a strange feeling that if by chance they failed to get damn fish for the cat, maybe Itachi would not look far for a replacement. And even though the thought was silly, it definitely worked well on Kisame's imagination. So instead of arguing, he followed silently his companion, hoping that they would find some milk at least, because cats liked milk as well, right?

With a corner of his eyes he watched Itachi holding the cat in his arms and with some interest he noticed how Itachi's expression was changing from a completely emotionless mask he usually wore to something that could be described as a neutral expression. A sudden thought struck Kisame and he had to pursue his lips in order to conceal a smile. He could bet that the Uchiha didn't realize what effect the kitty had on him and Kisame was not going to point it out. He smirked. The cat had to be a magical creature, indeed.

He continued the observation later in the evening, which they all spend in their room in the inn. The cat kept playing on the floor or running to Itachi demanding his immediate attention, which Itachi, surprisingly, obeyed. And Kisame kept observing, noticing even more than before, and watching how the emotionless mask of Itachi was being destroyed and replaced by a somewhat normal expression. And he couldn't help but wonder what Itachi was thinking about when he watched the playing cat or stroked its fur. Whatever the thoughts were, they couldn't be unpleasant as for the first time in a long time he almost could see a smile in Itachi's eyes.

Kisame didn't even get surprised when the cat decided to spend the night on Itachi's bed and Itachi didn't oppose. Definitely, the things started to get interesting and he couldn't wait to see more.

Next day they left the city early in the morning, heading in the direction chosen by Itachi. Kisame thought that for many they could make quite a funny view – one big man with a big sword on his back and shorter one with a little kitty in his arms. Only that making fun of them would be probably the last thing anyone would do in his or her life, because kitties or not, some things would never change. At least that was what Kisame used to think, because now he couldn't be sure of anything.

They travelled for a few hours before they finally reached something that had to be their destination – a city that seemed to be abandoned years ago. Once they entered it, Itachi quickly made his way, moving through deserted streets and passing ruined buildings.

The atmosphere of this city made Kisame feel somewhat uneasy and it seemed to affect even the cat, which was watching warily around, but it had no effect on the Uchiha, making Kisame think that his companion must have visited the place before, not once but a few times probably. And when Itachi finally entered one of buildings, which seemed to be less ruined, he followed him quickly, not eager to be left outside alone.

After a few minutes of following a dark corridor Itachi stopped, looking at something in front of them, which could be nothing else but a pair of... cats? All of sudden scratches on Kisame's hand started to itch.

'Follow us,' one of the cats said. 'You've been awaited.'

Kisame shook his head. Definitely, when he had thought about things getting more interesting he hadn't expected them getting that interesting. But there was no time for pondering as the cats turned back and followed down the corridor, leading them until they entered a big and well-lit room.

In the corner of the room stood an old woman with cat's ears on her head. Her look moved from Itachi to Kisame and to Itachi again.

'You're not a person I would expect to come here,' the woman spoke. 'It's been years since I saw you and I need to say you've changed a lot. What brought you here, boy?'

Kisame almost raised his eyebrows hearing the woman's word, but to his surprise Itachi didn't react to being called a boy, but bowed slightly and then looked at the woman.

'I'm bringing what's been lost. We'll leave as soon as the business is finished,' he said and put the cat down on the floor, pushing it in the woman's direction.

The cat looked at Itachi, but moved, pacing slowly toward the woman. It meowed eying her curiously.

The woman looked at the kitty and her eyes narrowed.

'Indeed...' she said, slowly moving her eyes from the little furry ball on the floor to Itachi and fixing her look on him. 'Accept my gratitude.'

Itachi bowed, turned back and headed toward the entrance direction. Kisame, due to lack of better ideas, also bowed slightly and followed Itachi quickly, not even trying to understand what had just happened and what it was to mean.

Behind their backs the cat meowed again, but Itachi didn't slow down. Yet for a while Kisame caught a glimpse of some feeling on his face – the feeling he could not identify.

The End.

Yes, they visited the neko-baa-chan in that abandoned city :P And I know the ending sucks a bit /

First time I've ever written Kisame ; My apologies if he goes OOC. Constructive criticism?