Kisame walked down the corridors of the hideout, down towards the door of a specific room. As he stepped further down the hall, a thought grew louder in his mind and nervousness grew in his body.
Kisame knew it was not the best idea to disturb "him" normally, but he felt his reason for disturbance would be as good as any in the long run. Besides, they were on better terms with each other than most of their fellow members.
He arrived at the door and slowly opened it. He peered inside, only to be greeted by the dark. Once his eyes adjusted, he saw the raven-haired man laying in his bed, his eyes cover in a medical wrapping. Kisame looked at the young man with slight sadness in his eyes.
That cursed ability of his came at a terrible price. The power that lay in his eyes was the very thing that was making him lose sight. The man had other medical issues beyond that to begin with, not that he ever showed such weakness to anyone, but lately he was getting worse...
The man seemed to be sleeping, so Kisame began to leave. A soft, baritone voice stopped him in his tracks.
"What is it, Kisame?".
Kisame turned to see the man awake, the wrapping still around his eyes and his back propped against his headboard. His voice came out rather gruff, more so than usually.
"It was nothing, Itachi-san. Well, nothing I wanted to wake you up for." He started to leave once more.
"Well, I am awake now, so it might as well be.".
Kisame stopped once more, and sighed. He turned back to the young man and spoke once more.
"There was something that I really wanted to show you, but in order to that we would have to go outside...".
Itachi was silent for a moment, then sighed exasperatedly. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and placed his feet on the floor. He began to take off the wrapping around his eyes.
"WAIT DON'T!" Kisame said rather excitedly. Itachi stopped unwrapping and gave what Kisame could guess was a questioning look. Kisame began to explain.
"Keep on the wrapping. It will be a surprise. Here, I'll lead you.".
Itachi was apprehensive about it at first, but then he reluctantly followed Kisame.
"How far out is this 'surprise'?"
Itachi asked in a bored tone. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he was tired of walking. Not being able to see where they were walking made it seem like they had been walking for hours. In actuality, it was probably 10 minutes.
"Don't worry." Kisame assured. "We are about there.".
They walked just a few more steps before Kisame grabbed Itachi's shoulders. This abruptly stopped him so he wouldn't wander off in the wrong direction.
"Sorry..." Kisame chuckled slightly nervous. "We're, uh, here. You can unwrap your eyes now.".
Itachi began to unwrap the bandaging that was around his eyes. What he saw after removing the wrapping made his eye widen slightly.
The view was a sight to behold. They were at the banks of a crystal clear lake, a bright full moon and millions of stars reflected in its waters. A gentle sound of crickets chirping kept in rhythm with each other's chirps. To top it off, many fireflies seemed to dance around in the air. It almost seemed as if the stars themselves were dancing on the water's surface.
Kisame looked over at Itachi and slightly chuckled. He had never seen him so amazed. For a normal person, it would be hard to tell the difference in this face to his normal, but for someone like Kisame, it was a drastic change. Itachi seemed like a kid that just came across the greatest toy they had ever had in their entire lifetime.
"You like it?" Kisame asked with a grin.
Itachi nodded, still bewildered. "This... This is absolutely wonderful...".
Kisame chuckled once more. "Yeah. A view like this is definitely something plenty of people should get to see before they-.".
Kisame stopped talking. He was about to say something stupid before he did. He hoped that Itachi hadn't figured out what about slipped out his mouth. Itachi not only figured it out, but also finished the sentence.
"Die...".
Kisame looked at the raven haired man apologetically.
"I'm... So sorry, Itachi-san. I didn't think before I said anything. It was stupid of me to have-."
"It's okay." Itachi softly said. "Its not something I'm afraid of talking about.".
He looked out to the expanse of the lake.
"I have excepted my fate, as it were. The only reason I am here talking with you now is because I have forced myself to last until a specific point I have planned in my life arrives. After that, if willed... I plan to greet death as if it was a long lost friend...". He formed a slight grin on his face. Barely noticeable, bit it was there.
Kisame stood there, dumbfounded. Itachi never ceased to amaze him. He was just barely 20 years old, but he had the insight of someone double, or maybe even triple, the age Kisame was. He had such a grasp of the fragile object of humanity called "life", it was simply wonderous. Kisame chuckled just slightly.
He put his arm around Itachi, placed his hand on the young man's shoulder, and spoke.
"Now, just because you have accepted your time of passing, doesn't mean that I have accepted it. Got it, kid?".
Itachi gave a slight chuckle at this as well.
"I got it... I got it.".