WARNING!: YAOI/SHOUNEN-AI ALERT! DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ!

Dormant Love

"I think we should check in this one over there" Kisame said, talking about a nearby inn in the outskirts of the next town ahead.

"Why this one in particular?" Itachi asked, not even bothering to look up toward the building his partner was pointing to.

"Well, this one looks rather new, and to be honest, I would prefer a room without cockroaches. Remember the last time we booked in in that hotel, a bit further into town?"

Oh, how could have he forgotten? In addition to the crappy room infested with rats and some other species of vermin, the water heater had been unusable for their stay, and to piss them off even more, the clerk was a gender-blind teen that had tried to seduce the young raven the whole time he had stood near the front desk, and had made the mistake to give the two Akatsukis a room with only one bed. He never went back to work since this night, after a little "chat" with the onyx-gazed teenager.

"So, what do you think 'bout this one?" Kisame asked him, lifting his straw hat to have a better look of his partner, even if he knew that Itachi wouldn't let any emotion shown on his pale face.

The Uchiha's features were hidden behind the collar of his cloak and the edge of his own hat, but the low "hn" he gave as an answer was still clearly audible. The two of them headed for the inn, up the road. They entered the building and walked directly to the front desk, where a rather old but nonetheless cordial lady was awaiting the customers travelling along the crowded road.

"What can I do for you?" she asked Kisame, even if the fear in her voice was obvious; but could you blame a poor old woman to be scared of a giant shark look-alike? She gave the taller man the key to their room after he had requested one, and watched him turned away from her. Before the weasel could follow him, the clerk grabbed him by the sleeve of his dark-coloured cloak. "Excuse me, sweetie. I know it's not of my business, but, is this man you are with is your boyfriend?"

Kisame stopped in the middle of the hall when he heard those words. People had the bad habit to judge him quickly and to decide that he was either stupid, or deaf. All of this because of an odd-coloured skin and a few similarities with the shark kind. He was aware of his strange features, but each time something like that happened, some burning needle was stinging into his heart, one more added to the collection he had started at a very young age.

He was used to loneliness, to feel unwanted; also accustomed to the fear, the disgust, or the shame on strangers' face when they saw him. Unfortunately, every human being had emotions, and Kisame couldn't quite remember when was the last time he had felt truly happy. Maybe it was when he had admitted his feeling for his partner to himself. The kid was stubborn, quiet, resentful, sweet addicted, and merciless, but yet a beautiful young male of seventeen years of age, with silky, long raven hair, soft ivory skin, and amazing blood-red eyes. And, surprisingly, he wasn't repulsed by the older man's traits, like if he had never noticed the blue skin, the sharp teeth, the gills and the spherical dark eyes. Perhaps that was the real cause of his attraction for Itachi.

He knew he would probably die before confessing his feelings to the shorter man: being reject once again would be way too painful, especially if the one turning away from him was the only person he would give anything to see a smile spread on his star-kissed lips. He didn't turn around toward his partner, didn't want to see him say "No, he is not" with his monotone voice, didn't want to hear it either. He mentally prepared himself for the punch he would receive when the Uchiha would pronounce these deathly words, and waited for the impact.

Against his will, he heard the younger one free himself from the lady's grip and replied, a glint of annoyance in his usually unemotional voice "You're right: it's none of your concern". He brushed past a frozen Kisame, standing there in shock. The blue-skinned man couldn't believe his ears. Itachi couldn't have said that, he should have said "no", and that would have done it to destroy his tall partner. But instead, he had told the clerk... He hadn't... rejected him.

"Come, Kisame" the raven ordered, staring in front of him, keeping him from seeing the stunned look on the old lady's face after she had realized that who she had thought being a stoic young woman was in reality a cold-hearted male teen.

The called one reached the weasel's pace quickly, and opened the door to their room when they finally found it. The room was small, but quite charming. The vintage style was giving a romantic atmosphere, but it didn't seemed to bother the Akatsukis; the door to the private bathroom was made of quality wood, just like the small table and chairs at the back of the room. The curtains framing the windows were deep red, as the sheets of the TWO beds. The clerk may be nosy and gender-blind, but she still had had the decency of giving them separated beds.

They chose their beds, and Itachi, of course, took possession of the bathroom for a long, needed shower, that would last for at least a full hour. Finding nothing better to do, Kisame laid down on his comfortable mattress of his bed. He grabbed a random book on the bedside table, but couldn't read more than three typescript pages before allowing his thoughts to drift toward his raven partner, like they always did.

What the heck was wrong with the kid? It was so... unlike him, to stick up for someone else. Well, he hadn't really stuck up for him, but he hadn't pushed him away either. Not that the blue man minded that sudden change in the weasel's attitude, but strangely, he could tell that something was up. Something that he may not like at all.

Kisame stared at the bathroom door. The Uchiha would be done in twenty or so, and as usual, he would ask the swordsman if they could get something to eat. Most of the time, they would have ramens, or anything easy to find in a small town. But somehow, he knew that the Sharingan user would like something else to eat. Twenty minutes were more than enough.

As expected, the shorter Akatsuki ended his shower moments later and leaved the single bathroom, his wet ebony hair bouncing on his back at each of his step. The first thing he noticed when he walked further into the room was the bittersweet scent of his favourite treat. Though the smell wasn't very powerful, he was able to identify it anywhere, no matter what. He turned around toward the corridor's door, which was slowly opened by Kisame: a Kisame carrying bags of food.

The taller S-Rank criminal froze when he looked inside. There was Itachi, standing in the middle of the room, hair down, the only thing covering him being a white towel wrapped around his hips. His long, onyx locks were dripping over his thin shoulders trailing down his body to the floor. His pale skin was still damp from the shower, the fine water droplets reflecting the last beam of the setting sun. The sunset's light was drawing a golden aura around his slim frame, the same an angel would wear.

"An... angel." It was the first time in all those years of partnership that the older man had the chance –– no, the honour –– to see the young Uchiha heir like this. The austere expression on his face and the large Akatsuki cloak gave him the appearance of someone much older, but now, the only things left were his skinny shape and a serene look on his features.

Kisame was so absorb in the contemplation of the Uchiha clan's murderer, that it took him three times to register that his partner had asked him so close the door. "Oh yeah... He must be cold". After closing the door behind him, the blue-skinned man watched the black-eyed teen walked toward him with a feline pace, stopping inches from him. "I must tell him now... what I feel for him... There won't be another opportunity in centuries..."

He gulped and tried to fix up his thoughts, all scattered in his skull. He gathered some saliva into his mouth, and unlocked the muscles of his jaw and readied himself to speak, but was stopped by Itachi's livid hands grazing his arms as he took the bags. Oh, how he wished he hadn't wear his cloak at this moment, just to feel those soft fingers on his skin. "Geez, it'll be tougher than I thought..."

Itachi sat on his bed and pulled out every item out of the bags until he found the sweets he had smelled when the sharp-teethed man had opened the door. He took one of the dango sticks and approached the soya balls to his lips. He happily munched on them, licked them, sucked them, before taking one in his mouth. It had been ages since he had tasted something that good. He closed his eyes in pure bliss, failing to notice the killer nosebleed taking over his blue partner.

Said partner rushed to the bathroom, which was still pretty hot and humid from the interminable shower the weasel had taken, only increasing the amount of blood escaping his nostrils. It took awhile, but the red flood stopped, gladly, because now everything around the shark look-alike was blurry and confusing. He waited another minute, than consider himself in shape enough to exit the warmth of the small room.

He re-reentered the bedroom, looking at his partner, eating quietly on his bed, uncaring of the cold invading the room inch by inch. Kisame got closer, watching any reaction from the Uchiha; the boy was still munching on his sweets, eyes closed to enjoy the moment. But as soon as the giant was closer to the food, his eyes snapped open, revealing two blood-red orbs. Kisame didn't withdrew his hand, but still took great advice of the situation: the sweet-addict would not use his eyes against him normally, but when it came to his drug, there was no way to know what would happen next.

"Mind if I take one, Itachi-san?" he asked, even if he already knew the answer. Nothing, nothing, could separate Itachi from his dango, not even an earthquake. But what did Kisame had to loose by asking, besides his life?

The older Uchiha glared at the larger man, then glanced at his bed, covered in diverse meals and goods his partner had brought back for them. He looked back at the blue-skinned man, a look screaming "Why do you want my dango, when you can have everything else here?" in his eyes. He sighed as he stared at the coloured soy balls, and let a small "Hn" escape his lips. Translation "Fine. But only one."

Kisame was completely stunned. Something was definitely up. Never the seventeen-year-old had given away dango. It amounts to say that Zetsu was vegetarian, or that Hidan faints when he saw blood. It was beyond impossible. The teen had changed: he had agreed to give him his favourite treat; instead of ignoring annoying people, he told them to fuck off, in a more polite way. Even the glare he had shot him when he had asked for dango wasn't as threatening as the others used to: the Sharingan had been shining into his eyes, but it was half-hearted, almost sad.

Albeit his hesitation, he took one of the three remaining dango sticks and shove it into his mouth, afraid that the weasel may changed his mind, and decided to kick his ass for trying to steal his precious sweets: at least he would bring the delightful taste with him in hell. He sat on his bed and resumed his reading, concentrating on the subject the thin pages were teaching, glancing over the edge of the book to keep an eye on his partner: kids dosed up with hormones were unpredictable.

The blue-skinned man peeked at Itachi, and saw him finish the last soy ball he had brought. He had bought eight sticks, which only one of them had reached the shark look-alike's mouth. "You shouldn't have eaten that much sugar: you'll have nightmares" Kisame told the younger one, flipping a page of his book.

"And you, won't sleep at all" replied the Uchiha, reminding him that he too, had taken one of the dangos, making a small pile on the floor with all the goods they hadn't even touched. He turned off the lights, the lamp next to Kisame being the only thing fighting against the darkness of the room. "Thanks for caring, anyway" he added, slipping under the covers, taking his pants with him.

"I wasn't caring: it was a statement, so you wouldn't do something that stupid again. I don't want to have to carry a burden during a mission because you haven't slept well" the older Akatsuki pointed out, harsher than he had wanted to. He had to keep that rude facade toward Itachi, so his love wouldn't grow suspicious about his feelings. But maybe that that was a bit too hard; he didn't want Itachi to hate him either. He glanced at the weasel, and could have swear that he had seen a sadden expression on his perfect face. The ex Mist-nin had never wished to strangle himself more than now.

~~~~~~~ A Few Hours Later ~~~~~~~

The brat was right. Kisame hadn't been able to rest properly since he had decided to go to bed, too. Lying on his back was useless, sleeping on his sides meant he would have a numb arm tomorrow morning, and each time he pressed his abdomen against the mattress, a strange feeling was playing with his insides. Blame the dango.

He turned around to the right side of his bed and stared helplessly at his partner. Beads of cold sweat were wetting his forehead, gluing some raven locks to the ivory skin. Some whimpers were heard every-so-often, as he jerked his head to the sides, trying to escape the horror he was currently facing. He was clutched to the pillow under his head with both hands so tight, his knuckles had turned white, menacing of staying congealed if nothing came to help him kill his demons.

The sharp-teethed man pushed the sheets asides and got up, then cross the short distance between his bed and his friend's. He sat on the edge of the bed, wiping his partner's forehead with all the caring his scarred heart could give. That seemed to help Itachi a bit, but didn't stopped small moans to pass his delicious lips at each three seconds or so.

It was hard for Kisame to simply stare at the weasel, powerless. He wanted to help the younger male badly, but couldn't wake him up for being killed seconds later. The only thing he could do was stroke Itachi's forehead and wait for his nightmare to be over. Or he could try to lower the Uchiha's pain by talking to him, bringing him a comforting presence in this world of chaos he couldn't leave, couldn't break free from.

"Itachi-san? Itachi, do you hear me?" he asked, bending forward to whisper in his ear. He repeated his question a few more times until the Sharingan user gave him a muffled answer.

"Kisame?" The teen had stopped fidgeting in his bed, looking slightly relieved by Kisame's intervention. He had obviously heard his partner's words, but was still far away of understanding them, only half-conscious of their meaning.

"Yeah, Itachi, it's me." The shark look-alike grabbed the Mangekyo wielder's left hand and pressed on the delicate fingers, intertwining them with his. The gentle pressure calmed the raven, who took in a deep breath and laid down peacefully on the mattress, his face toward the ceiling. His breath became relaxed and even, his chest rising softly at each inhalation.

A smile crept over Kisame's lips. Never since he knew the weasel he had been that close to him. The younger one didn't liked physical contacts at all, and the ex Mist-nin had accepted it long ago, folding the temptation of touching the teen into the depths of his mind. And now there he was, holding Itachi's hand, sitting next to his sleeping self, watching him dream with love-filled eyes.

He glided his hand on Itachi's cheek, wishing he could just tell him how he felt. He was asking himself a lot. He wasn't a coward, but that was too hard, too close to the borderline between him and the obsidian-gazed teen, the same that would be crossed if he dares make his move, the same that would be thicken if the Uchiha didn't returned his feelings. It meant too much loss. It would kill him to speak the words he kept hidden into his heart, but not telling them was almost worst. The uncertainty of Itachi's answer was slowly eating him alive, threatening to leave him to his anguish and anxiety until he confesses to his love, but the bitter emotions would certainly have the best of him before he could attempt anything.

He had to do it, now, while Itachi wasn't conscious of what was happening, so there was no way he would criticizes Kisame's feelings toward him. He wouldn't learn what the young male was thinking about this, but at least telling his thoughts out loud would help him face the situation to come. Besides, the weasel would never know a thing about what was about to happen, but would certainly be on his toes around Kisame, since he would have heard him confess in his sleep, registering the information somewhere deep in his subconscious.

Kisame approached his lips to his, until he was just over the younger one's face, their dango-flavoured breath caressing each other's skin. "Itachi... I know that you're not listening and that even if you were you wouldn't give a damn about it, but I have to tell you something. Something I was hiding from you for both our sakes and my sanity. You would make a fool of me if you could see how ridiculous I look... Well, what I wanted to tell you was that, I was, am, I mean, heh... I don't know how to... Maybe if I could..."

He closed himself even more, straddling the Uchiha's hips, until his lips were brushing against the teen's, praying for death to come upon him quickly if Itachi woke up. His heart was pounding into his chest, each beating might be the last one for him. He closed his eyes, trying to find the strengths to finally do it before the organ ramming against his ribs explodes in overwhelming. He whispered the prohibited words with a trembling voice, the taste of the raven's lips spreading on his by the contact connecting them as he talked "I love you."

Relief washed over his body, like an immense balm of well-being healing his wounds one by one. But the warmth he was feeling inside him was nothing compared to the lips pressed against his own in a mind-blowing kiss to paradise's gates. Wonderful wasn't powerful enough to describe how he felt, beautiful even less. Perfect wasn't the right word either, it was... It was... It was Itachi who had made his move toward Kisame.

It took him several blissful, lasting seconds to realize, but even when the truth set in, he didn't move away, nor stop kissing the handsome teen he had desired for so long. The moment was just like... heaven. He didn't care if it was him or not who had started the kiss, the only thing he wanted was for it to last forever, until the world's end and beyond, to bring it in hell to make the obscurity of suffering more bearable, less painful.

Some hand grabbed him by the back of his neck, imprisoning blue locks of hair in an iron grip, pulling him closer to deepen their life-blasting kiss. "Oh Kami... Can it really be happening?" Kisame slowly opened his eyelids, heavy by the flow of emotions, and laid his dark, lust-full gaze on the most gorgeous scenery he had ever dreamt of: Itachi, gently kissing him, head tilted on the right to have better access, eyes shut in sugared ecstasy. Angelic had been meant to picture the Uchiha in front him, of this moment.

Before the both of them could understand and register their own actions, it was over, sweet-flavoured lips pulling away, carved in a genuine smile. They sat up, and Itachi opened his eyes hidden behind long, feathery-like eyelashes, meeting Kisame's in a heated embrace of passion-filled staring. A white, blazing aura was surrounding the taller man, the expression of his happiness opened to the world, the weasel as cause and audience. The pale-skinned male couldn't tell how he felt himself, but the joy radiating from the shark look-alike in warm, immaculate flames was infectious. He couldn't help a brighter smile to creep over his slightly parted lips.

"It's the first time I see him smile... and it is for me", Kisame thought, grateful to have assisted to his most cherished dreams' materialisations in his life, in less than a day, a couple of minutes. "Why?" he whispered, kissing his love's skin with his hot breath.

Without any hesitation, the younger one wrapped his light arms around Kisame's neck, than closed his body until his head was resting on the other's shoulder, their hearts beating on the same melody, their steady rhythm pressed together. "Because we both wanted it to happen" he murmured into the blue skin covering the older Akatsuki's neck, leaving butterfly-wings kisses as he traced his way up to Kisame's jaw, then to his chin, nuzzling his nose in the side of the swordsman's, brushing his lips by breathing.

They closed their eyes at the same time, knowing far too well that actions were better answers than words. Kisame ghosted his hands up his partner's back calmly, slowly, savouring each inch of nude flesh Itachi could offer to his insatiable desire of touching him as he kissed him sinfully. The ex Leave-nin quivered at the contact, his body and mind begging for more attention. Kisame lowered his head, licking and nipping at the tender, rain-scented flesh under his mouth, tasting everything in an attempt of learning more and more about Itachi by each touch.

How delicious the moment was, they had to stop, some unknown force warning them of the dangers ahead if they dared continue on that forbidden path that was love between them. They stared at each other until they could read their lover's thoughts, obsidian dust eyes diving into pearly beads, reflecting eternity. "I could die right now, and still, it would be the best day of my life" Itachi affirmed, leaning his forehead against' Kisame's, feeling like melting on the shark look-alike's recently climbed lap and in his strong arms wrapping his thin frame.

A small smile curved Kisame's lips in a moon crescent as he remembered the sight of Itachi standing into the golden luminosity of the sunset. He kissed the raven lips one more time. "Angels don't die in heaven, love."

~Owari~

WARNING!: YAOI/SHOUNEN-AI ALERT! DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ!

DISCLAIMER: I dun own the characters *sigh*

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