Kisame felt bored. His beady eyes drooped as he stood under a warm sun in a cool breeze. The wind, flicking through his stand-up blue hair, seemed to take on a life of its own. It danced around him and hung on his predominantly black jacket, clinging to him as if he had life left to live. Did he? Did he? No, it was assumed not by those that knew him, those that knew of him, and then he didn't even exist to those that did not know him. Maybe it was for the better that he didn't exist, wasn't he scary? Wasn't he a monster with his fishy appearance and dangerous love of battle? Dangerous love of inflicting pain on his opponents, causing mutilation…

But being this bored was boring, and thus the reason why he needed to entertain his mind with something. Anything would do, really, as long as it gave him something to take his mind of the simple fact that he was B. O. R. E. D. However, while "anything" was the word, certain things could not distract him as he wasn't about to waste his time. In example, if a rabbit were to pass he was not going to attack it. It was a waste of his energy, waste of his time; not that he was doing anything with it.

Rustle. What was that off in the bush? Kisame blinked slowly, listening to the breath. He determined it wasn't a wild animal, and certainly not a rabbit. It wasn't someone he knew, though he wished it would have been Itachi; At least then they could have been bored together. No, it was something much more sinister than any of his cohorts in crime and thus couldn't possibly be one of them. Slowly the shark-man approached the brush, his large wrapped swore slung on his back and arms hanging at his side. Carefully he reached away into his clothes and pulled for a shining kunai and threw it into the greenery. The rustling stopped, but the dull thud of the blade hitting dirt told him he'd missed.

Leaning forward he peered past the leaves into a balding spot on the plant and blinked once, twice, and then stood up. This was just awkward, that's what it was. There was no explanation to what that was doing here in the middle of a wooded area on a day like this. It had no reason to be here for that matter, it should have been away with whoever owned it, whoever had it. Kisame groaned, however, as he couldn't just leave it there. A part of him told him he could, but a greater part told him he could not and for some reason he went with the latter half.

Reaching out from his sleeves Kisame bent and searched down in the bush for a moment before pulling out a small dark skinned toddler. He assumed it was hardly three, if that, and was very small. But then again Kisame was a very big man, many things looked small to him. This toddler though was also very light and perhaps starved, who knows how long it could have been out in the wood. Sighing for a second time, the shark-man shook his head but held onto the child with a gentle grip so not to lose it.

"What are you doing out here anyhow?" He asked the kid some time later as he walked back home. Kisame was aware the baby wasn't about to answer, as it couldn't, but somewhere in his sushi smelling heart, he found the little tike adorable.

"Who are you talking to?" Came Itachi's voice from behind. Kisame looked back over his shoulder to see his friend, a smirk coming to his lips and showing off his sharp teeth. He hadn't heard the man come up behind him, so absorbed in talking with the baby and wondering about it. It was, what some people might consider, a first.

"No one." Kisame lied, obvious. Itachi shook his head once, and rounded Kisame who turned away. "No one." He said again as the black haired man behind him tried to look over the massive shoulder, but to no avail as Kisame was much more than a foot taller than the Uchiha.

"You're lying. Let me see." Itachi argued, going to try to round on Kisame once more. This time he succeeded, but there was nothing in his partner's arms. His red eyes flicked up to Kisame's pale blue face and then back to his hands which hung at his side.

"I told you, there's no one." Kisame shrugged, but from behind him there came a small whine. Itachi beat him to turning around, his forever Sharingan eyes looking down to the small toddler who's feet poked out from under the massive coat. Sighing, Itachi stared up into Kisame's face and shook his head.

"What is that?" he asked coldly. "What is it?" Kisame was not sure about how to explain, this such a strange circumstance that maybe it was best if Itachi just flew away… Not that it would happen, but the man could hope.

"It's just a kid." Stated the mutant in reply with a simple shrug of his shoulder as he stepped away from the child on the ground. Itachi looked down at it, the baby's small eyes a strange auburn color almost that of orange as it blinked up at the two men. The creature did look hungry, starved in fact, with a small body and sagging skin over his tiny underdeveloped bones. Kisame looked to Itachi before quickly stooping and picking up the little human and holding it.

"Put it back." Itachi commanded. "Put it back where you found it, Kisame-sama."

"No." Kisame said, cradling the baby in the crook of his right arm, the other hanging at his side. The orange eyes gazed up at Kisame, fingers clenching and releasing before grabbing at the front of the black and red jacket to tug at it.

"It isn't yours, put it back." With a sigh Itachi looked over his shoulder and back the way Kisame had come, his hand hanging from the opening in his jacket before moving in gesture. "You don't know where it's been. Put it back."

"No." He shook his head. "He's so tiny and alone. I can't leave it."

"Leave what?" Entered Kakuzu's voice from behind as he and Hidan approached. Kisame sighed and quickly tried to hide the child, but Hidan had already snatched it up.

"Whoa, it's a kid, dude." He said with a smirk as he turned it upside down a moment to check, and then passed it off to Kakuzu. "Kisame, why the fuck do you have a kid?"

"Is it yours?" Asked the quadra-cardiac as he went to drop the child, not wanting to hold it any longer. Kisame caught up the baby and looked around at the three.

"No." He finally said. "Not biologically."

"You're going to keep it? Dude, that's fucked up." Hidan said with a laugh. "I'll get rid of it for you, man, you're sick."

Itachi rolled his eyes slightly, blinking to make it look less obvious. Reaching out with one arm he went to take the baby but Kisame stepped away. The baby in his arms held fast to his upper appendage when he felt the swift move. His eyes were closed, squinting, and he looked rather frightened from the number of people looking at him.

"I thought I could, uh, feed it."

"That was fuckin' the lamest excuse ever told. Seriously."

"Shut up, Hidan.

"He's going to keep a fricken kid that ain't his! How can you tell me to shut the fuck up, dude? That kid could be diseased."

"I'm telling you to be quiet." Said Itachi as he moved about. "This isn't your concern."

"Fuck it isn't. We're a team."

"Since when do you care?" Asked Kakuzu.

"I don't. Damn, but he can't keep that kid. It's not right."

"Again, why do you care?"


Hidan let out a groan and shook his head. "If the leader finds out, I'm not apart of this." He hissed, stomping off away from the cluster angrily. The remaining men looked down at the ground, the young baby poking at Kisame's chin with tiny sausage fingers.

"Is it a boy?" Asked the weasel after a long time of silence. Kisame shrugged and instantly Kakuzu wasn't sure he wanted to be there.

"You don't know, but you're going to keep it anyway?" Itachi questioned further in a skeptical tone.

"I think you should put it back." Kakuzu said as he turned away from them, dismissing himself at that and leaving to followed after Hidan. That weirdo priest could be up to his head in problems, and if his head fell off… well, it could just be one big problem.

"I don't know what's gotten into you, Kisame-san." Itachi stated, red eyes glancing at Kakuzu as he left before turning back to Kisame. "You can't just keep things."

"But it'll die."

"Don't act stupid, you're a murderer."

"This is different."

Itachi let out a small, nonexistent sigh, and walked off. Kisame followed, the baby's tiny hand touching his neck as its arm pressed against the high collar of Kisame's coat.

---

Kisame leaned back against the rock wall of the hideout, arms crossed over his chest as silver eyes stared blankly into the darkness. What had even caused him to remember such a time so long ago? There was nothing here, in this room, at this moment to stir up such a thought. Tilting his head back slightly, he scratched his chin and then suddenly stopped midway. Looking at his hand, he put it to his side and turned to Itachi. That man must have been psychic, because he just knew things.

"She's alive." The black haired man said in a mutter, eyes closed as he stood around, bored, waiting for their next mission.