Universe: Naruto

Friendship between: Kisame and Itachi

Summary: Itachi goes blind in the middle of a battlefield. What will Kisame do?

Chapter 1: Listen to my voice

The field was littered with bodies; shinobi were still fighting. They were from all the different villages, fighting for who knew what. All Itachi knew was that he was on one side of the battlefield and the rest of the Akatsuki were on the other side.

They had managed to get to the other side by running recklessly from the forest to the cliffs. What had surprised most of them was the fact that the shinobi hadn't tried to attack them that much, so as far as the Akatsuki were concerned they were just on the outside of a whirlpool: there, but not pulled in. Yet. All of them arrived safely except for Deidara, who suffered a major injury. Tobi had to carry him and dodge attacks from all sides; directed at him or not.

Itachi was pulled out of his analysis when someone noticed him and charged. He silently cursed and deflected the man's attack before kicking him in the stomach, sending him flying back into the main battle. Itachi quickly scurried up a tree.

'I need to get over there,' he looked over at the cliffs and squinted, spotting Kisame stalking around, probably irritated at the leader. Hidan was tapping the butt of his scythe impatiently against the ground, and randomly sneered at shinobi trying to get up the cliff to the plateau that the Akatsuki were on. Pein kept on repelling them, determined to keep them away. The shinobi had all but forgotten about them now.

Itachi jumped out of the tree and started across the battlefield, wary of where Konoha shinobi were.

"Hey, Itachi-san's coming over now!" Tobi announced to no one in particular. Kisame perked up and crouched, batting away a kunai that had been thrown at him. He growled and scoured the field for Itachi, spotting him right before he disappeared behind a rock.

'Hiding, eh? Good call, Itachi, good call...' he frowned when Itachi leapt out moments before the rock was destroyed. So someone had known he was there. Go figure.

Suddenly Itachi paused in mid-run, staring at something. A vicious water based technique hit him, sending him back. Konan actually cried out, and Deidara released a startled gasp – Kakuzu was tending to the gashes on his legs. Kisame blinked, 'did Itachi just get hit?' then stood and walked swiftly over to Hidan, who had stopped his tapping and was staring at Itachi in surprise. If anyone would be able to figure out what was wrong, Hidan was the one who would know.

"Blind...?" he heard the immortal mutter in a confused voice. Kisame stopped dead in his tracks, staring.

"He's... gone blind?"

Itachi didn't understand why everything around him suddenly turned black. Pitch black. In a moment of stupidity Itachi paused, and a blast that he had sensed coming hit him. He felt the water cut him in places, and he quickly flipped backwards, using the water as leverage. When he landed, he stumbled. This caused him to grit his teeth. Itachi was not used to not being able to see. He blinked, thinking it was a technique.

His sight did not return to him.

Itachi panicked, not knowing what to do for the first time in his life. He spread his chakra out in a web around him, sensing shinobi that were charging toward him from all sides. In the distance he heard a voice, a voice he recognized. Blind eyes widened and he strained to hear as the shinobi drew closer.

"Jump, Itachi!!"

Itachi leapt into the air, effectively dodging the shinobi. He landed on their bodies and kicked off them, flipping in the air and landing on the ground. He strained his ears hard as he sprinted forward, in the direction of the cliffs.

"Listen to my voice, Itachi! Listen to me!" the voice boomed across the battlefield, over all the other voices, and Itachi knew who it was.

'Kisame...' Itachi was in slight disbelief. He had never really thought that his partner had cared about him that much, and he listened hard to that grating voice. He listened and obeyed, and it occurred to him that he and Kisame had switched rolls; Kisame now led, and Itachi followed. The thought would've made him chuckle at earlier stage in his life.

He heard the command to roll to the right and so he did, and felt the whooshing wind left behind by the blade that would have passed through him. He lost his footing however, and tumbled forward.

"Roll forward!" Itachi somersaulted forward, the earth shaking behind him where either a heavy fist or a heavy blade had landed. Itachi didn't care, though, as he scurried forward to get to his feet, his jaw clenched. He didn't like not being able to see. He didn't like not being able to fend for himself.

Commands came and were obeyed, and as Itachi felt himself drawing nearer to the cliffs, he felt himself weaken. He was tired, and his disease was getting to him again. He needed his medicine – medicine that Kisame had.

"Go to you left, Itachi! Left! Left! Your other left!"

'Oh...' Itachi pulsed chakra into his feet and sprung in the proper direction, a wind technique missing his foot by a mere millimeter. Kisame's voice was a lot clearer now; a lot closer. Itachi could determine where the cliffs were. He slammed his body right into them and stretched his hands up, searching for a ledge, anything that he could grab onto.

"Hidan! Scythe! Do something damn it!"

Earth from the cliff showered on Itachi and he flung his right arm out to the side, hitting Hidan's scythe solidly with his palm. He felt up along the staff with both hands, trying to climb it.

'Left foot on the first blade, hoist yourself up!' he urged himself. Kisame was talking to him in a quieter voice, and suddenly Pein yelled and Itachi scrambled. A large hand grabbed the forearm of the arm he extended, just as someone grabbed his leg and tried to jerk him down.

Hidan, however, was a lot stronger, and Itachi assumed, by the sound of gratitude from Kisame, that Kakuzu was the reason why the person who had latched onto Itachi's leg had let go. Hidan easily jerked Itachi up, even though another brave soul had grabbed his leg. The splattering sound that reached Itachi's ears after the sound of the scythe being yanked upwards told him that the person was as good as dead.

A moment later he collided with a sturdy body that fell to the ground. He flailed his arms, finding a face and hair, figuring out who it was by touch.

"Kisame," he croaked, spewing a little bit of blood, "my... pills..." he coughed.

Kisame was rustling around in his cloak by the sound of it, and soon two fingers pressed two pills to Itachi's lips. Itachi opened his mouth and Kisame popped them in, before bringing a flask of some sort to Itachi's lips. Itachi drank thirstily. After Kisame had pulled the flask away Itachi rested his head against Kisame's shoulder, too tired to move. The larger man didn't complain, and a dainty hand touched Itachi's head.

"He'll be fine, Konan-san," he heard Kisame say quietly. Konan stroked Itachi's hair once, then moved away, most likely to talk to Hidan. He heard their quiet voices a moment later before he dozed off.

When Itachi awoke again it was cooler outside, and he was moving.

'Kisame is... carrying me?' this surprised Itachi and when he shifted, he found it to be true. Kisame slowed his pace a little, "do you want me to set you down, Itachi-san?"

"... not yet. And don't call me Itachi-san. Anymore."

Itachi felt Kisame tilt his head in confusion from his place on Kisame's back and he explained, "you... saved my life."

Kisame "hm"ed and continued forward at a faster pace when Tobi called out his name. They probably still had a ways to go to get to a village that would be willing to house them. Before he dozed off again Itachi felt compelled to utter one last phrase to Kisame.

"Thank you."

Yeah. I'm taking a break from Innocence, because chapter 9 and 10 are gonna' come really fast. And because I wanted to get this out of my system and posted =). Hope you liked 3!