A/N: Contains spoilers that may or may not be vague.
Disclaimer: Everything related to Naruto (c) Masashi Kishimoto
The flowers blooms red, here.
Kisame walks through them, his steps light and easy as though he is following a familiar pathway. He does not carry a heavy burden in the shape of a sword on his back anymore and it does not feel right at all, for a burden it may be, it is also a constant comfort; something to weigh him down and keep him from going astray – from getting lost in delusions of reality.
He meets Itachi halfway in eternity.
Kisame grins. He says, "Aren't you going the wrong way?"
Itachi shakes his head. "No." He adds, distantly, "Not yet."
"Heh. No rest for the wicked, as they say."
Itachi smiles. It is the first Kisame has ever seen – of course he'd only see it when he's dead - and it looks tired, but far from resignation.
"I valued our partnership," Kisame is saying as they begin to close their distance. "It'd be nice if you, at the very least, notice my death."
"I will."
Kisame stops. Itachi stops, too. They work better like this, not having to see each other's faces. Words are easier to say this way; easier to trust.
"Even here," there is a fleeting pause before Itachi says, "you thought of me."
"Now, now, just because you're the only meaningful relationship I've ever had, doesn't mean I have you on my mind all the time."
A moment passes before Itachi sighs a quiet, "Hm." Without a face to taint his perceptions, Kisame catches the small note of embarrassment in there. He laughs, and their bare shoulders touch briefly.
"It's not like I'm hiding it, anyway."
"I see."
Itachi moves. Kisame moves, too, his steps more focused and less as though he is resigned to his fate as a free man. Far from acceptance, but with the time he has now, he knows he will get there eventually.
Itachi says to the wind, "I will see you again soon" and the air turns hot – hot enough to set the petals alight and sparked something deep within Kisame, something he can now acknowledge its name without an enveloping sense of disgust in himself.
Kisame replies, "And I'll be watching over you in Hell."
The flowers blooms red, here.