Kisame found it hard to believe all their effort had been for nothing, but it seemed to be so. Itachi hadn't uttered a word since they'd left Snow and they were closing in on the nearest Akatsuki base, which happened to be the one in Waterfall. They'd been traveling for three days, with small breaks for sleep, water and some food. Heaven forbid they failed to report if Pein needed them some place else in a certain amount of time.
The Uchiha suddenly headed downwards, leaping through the branches until him and Kisame both reached ground, then walked to a hidden nearby cave. The blue nin removed the bushes so that they could sneak past them inside it and then carefully placed them back as they were, concealing the entrance. Itachi walked along the tunnel until he reached an underground chamber illuminated by a pool of dark blue water in which a ceiling adorned with glowing crystals reflected. Kisame grinned as he jumped into the water after his partner, both swimming along an underwater passage that led to the secret Akatsuki headquarters.
It took Itachi no less than a minute to get to the other side, drenched and secretly hungry for oxygen, as he had consumed most of it using muscles to swim on his way through the underwater tunnel. Kisame, on the other hand, actually seemed rejuvenated. Once at the surface, he gave the same grin of satisfaction and looked at his partner, who was rising on the ground from the water.
"Home sweet home, eh? One of them, at least."
Itachi didn't mind him for a moment, merely continuing his way through the empty, torch-lit chambers. He stopped in the hallway for a moment, sensing another charka signature in the building, one which seemed to be Kakuzu's, and then turned left down another narrow hallway by the stairs and into a dark area lit only by small luminous crystals emerging from the cave walls next to a couple of closed doors. Not bothering waiting for Kisame, he disappeared behind one of the doors, shutting himself in his private space for a while.
It was a small room, just like all others, probably less crowded by clay figures, like in Deidara's case, or worshiping objects, like in Hidan's, but nonetheless, it was his intimate space in which he could release himself from the confines of his cloak. There was no window, just a barred shaft that brought fresh air from a long way up. On a wall, a single torch lay untouched for a long time under a small sheath of dust – he lit it, placing it back in its iron holder. The bed had clean sheets of a dark, uncertain color and next to it, on the end table, were a few scrolls probably containing weapons. Aside from those, there were others on a few shelves against the wall, along with some books and small objects. Another door led to an even smaller bathroom with a welcoming tub and hot spring water.
He threw his cloak on the bed and entered the bathroom, removing his hidden pouches and weapons one by one, until finally, he was left only in his clothes. He looked at himself in the mirror, following the deep-set lines on his face; his vision faltered for a moment, reducing them to nothing more than a blurry haze, only to come back to normal again. His stomach cringed. The scarlet sharingan faded to the blue-black of his natural eyes, bringing his sight back to an altered normal, as the lack of accuracy and depth caused by the absence of the sharingan usually came along with blurry vision and pain.
Itachi propped his arms on the sink for support, trembling with his eyes closed, waiting for the sudden pain to dull. His breathing was ragged, his eyes closed tightly in response to the excruciating pain and his whole body was breaking a sweat. It took him minutes to calm down – this highly sensitized Itachi was harder to force behind the usual mask, especially since he was all alone and no one could witness his greatest weakness. Slowly, he regained his composure, his breathing came back to normal and he ceased trembling. He opened his eyes and looked back at the dim figure in the mirror before letting the water run and undressing himself. He let his sweat drenched clothes fall in a pile on the cold floor and stepped into the tub, slowly sinking in the hot water.
His sore muscles began to relax and a pleasurable pain invaded his body, making him finally feel the tiredness of that long journey. He leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes as he allowed himself a deep sigh, slowly drifting to sleep. The sound of bells startled him and he jolted up, looking around with his instinctively active sharingan, only to discover that there was no one else in the bathroom. He shook his aching head lethargically, finally deciding upon going to bed rather than continue dozing in the bath tub with the risk of drowning.
After rinsing himself with towels, his feet carried him to the bed, where he pulled on a pair of boxers and he sneaked under the sheets, falling asleep almost instantly, as if he hadn't slept in days, when it had been less than twelve hours since his last nap. Perhaps he was falling ill? He had no time to think about it, though, as his lids glued to each other and pushed him further into the darkness, where the bells kept ringing, only this time he was unable to wake up.
A knock at the door awakened him in the morning and a splitting headache invaded his skull as soon as he moved to answer the door. Instead, he muffled a groan and fought back, pulling on the cloak he'd discarded on the floor the other night before going to bed, before opening the door with a glare. Kisame was surprised to see Itachi in a state so close to a tough hang over and his morning grin evaporated. The Konoha nin looked terrible – his usually immaculate appearance was disheveled: his hair loose on his shoulders, his sharingan inactive, and there were deep, dark circles under his eyes in stark contrast to the sickly pale skin.
"Are you feeling okay, Itachi?" the blue-skinned man asked warily. "You don't look so well, you know."
"I'm fine." The Uchiha muttered under his breath, relieved that it was only his partner.
"The Leader assigned us a mission, but if you're not feeling well I can go by myself."
"No."
And with that, the door slammed in front of Kisame, who knew that Itachi would be ready to leave in less than fifteen minutes and that all he had to do now was wait. Inside his room, the leaf-nin sat on the bed, massaging his aching temples. He placed a hand over his mouth – he couldn't remember anything from the previous night, as if he'd drank more than Kisame himself, which was far from being true, because he hadn't tasted a single drop of alcohol since that sake he'd had in Snow. What had caused his current state was a mystery to him – most likely it was a virus, but poison wasn't really out of the question either. With someone like him, things like that were never out of the question.
Hours later, Kisame was walking alongside Itachi on a path through the woods toward Iwagakure. His condition seemed to have followed a steady decline until then, but the shark-nin knew there was nothing he could say to convince his partner it was better to do otherwise. While his concerns were starting to occupy his mind more than anything else, Itachi's senses caught something and he stopped, much to Kisame's momentary surprise. He hadn't expected any guards to show up so far from the border. It was a small squad, nonetheless – the usual three-man cell, probably chuunin returning home from a mission. Their curiosity was going to cost them if they were going to approach.
The two Akatsuki stopped, waiting for the ninja to make their entry, but the others seemed to have stopped as well. Itachi moved his leg cautiously to his side and touched a wire, which caused an entire net of wire ahead of them to glisten in the sunlight. He raised the tip of his straw hat and looked up at the trees, where only a single figure stood on a branch, looking down at him. When Kisame looked in the same direction, he noticed red hair encircling the ninja's head like a halo. The kunoichi jumped off the branch and rolled in the air, landing effortlessly in the middle of the wire net, fixing them with her silver orbs.
"Itachi." Shikyo said. "What are you two doing here?"
"That's Akatsuki business." Kisame replied in his partner's place.
"I can't let you pass."
Itachi deliberated in silence. The shrine they were supposed to retrieve a scroll from was in sight, behind a few trees. Shikyo must have been hired by some farseeing lord to guard the shrine, along with other ninja, strategically positioned around the site. Kisame made a step forward, swinging his Samehada. The woman stiffened, ready to repel any attack.
"Get out of the way." Itachi said, trying to avoid an unnecessary fight, as always, especially since this one had more than just one implication.
"We're all doing our jobs here." She replied in a deadpanned voice. "I won't step aside in front of you, Akatsuki." The girl continued, tightening her grip around a kunai.
"And there I thought you were a smart one." Kisame grinned.
Her eyes were fixed upon him especially – one move and he would unleash hell upon himself. Itachi took off his hat, holding it in his hand while looking down at the complex wire net she'd assembled so carefully – very much like the old Shikyo he knew – then back at their now enemy. Obviously, she hadn't been told to expect such dangerous visitors. Wire wasn't enough to hold them back and she was well aware of that fact.
Kisame stepped forward, plunging into a fierce attack. The kunoichi threw the kunai at him and jumped high into the air, looking down at the shark-like ninja. The kunai had missed its target just as intended, pulling the strategically arranged net after it and immobilizing Kisame in a whirl of wire. Of course, Itachi had seen the trap and wasn't going to waste his energy triggering it himself when Kisame's water clone could do that just as well.
The water clone dispersed, splashing against the ground. The lifeless wire fell over it and Shikyo landed a few feet away, watching the two Akatsuki cautiously. She stood up, knowing she would have to pit all of her skills against the two and still fail. The best she could do was fallback; run away, like all those cowards she had been related to. "Nevermore" she thought, starting to form hand seals that appealed to Itachi as very familiar. Dragon, Horse, Monkey, Boar… Rat. Of course.
"Sanzengarasu no Jutsu!"
The technique of the Scattering One Thousand Crows. Kisame listened curiously. He could hear croaks and flapping of wings somewhere near, but he couldn't tell exactly where. Itachi closed his eyes, knowing that for him there was only one way to repel the deadly crows without taking too much time. His partner could fend for himself with that gigantic charka-eating sword of his. He formed the hand seals and waited for the birds to show themselves. His eyes were locked with Shikyo's, on the other side of the scattering murder.
"Amaterasu."
The black fire elicited strangled cries from its winged victims as it consumed them entirely. Behind his back, Kisame was swinging Samehada, absorbing the chakra from which the crows were made effortlessly. However, despite their efforts, it seemed their numbers were interminable. Shikyo was standing her ground among the crows, casting them upon the two Akatsuki without showing any sign of distress at the great losses.
The murder of crows attacked strategically, all appearing to have their own free will but act under specific orders. Itachi acknowledged Shikyo's taking this technique so far. During his time in ANBU, all these crows could do was confuse the enemy and conceal the ally – by no means attack someone so viciously and in so many numbers at once.
"I am going to shave that pretty face of hers off!" Kisame muttered, changing his direction among the birds while using Samehada to keep them away from him.
Itachi intuited Kisame's plan and redirected his Amaterasu slightly, to provide cover for both him and his partner's back. He hated when things like this happened, but still, he hadn't actually expected the place to be unguarded. Shikyo saw the blue man coming for her, but she had to break the Jutsu to be able to move freely. Since it was already useless against the two, she did so and prepared for the melee attack.
Itachi deactivated his mangekyou as the crows disappeared in dark smoke. Kisame raised Samehada in the air, giving the woman no time to retreat and a devilish smirk appeared on the blue ninja's face. The sword descended hungrily upon her slender figure; however, it left behind no wound, as it should have with its ability to "shave". Kisame stared incredulously at the woman, on whose face was now an expression of surprise. Her hand rose to her stomach and she collapsed on the ground, unconscious.
The shark-nin kneeled next to her, confusion making his face look strange. Itachi came close to him, looking down at the unconscious kunoichi.
"I swear it hit her!" Kisame said.
"It did." Itachi approved. "But she used her bloodline limit."
"Heh?"
"She phased through your Samehada with her body, but the sword went right through her chakra system and rendered it useless."
"I had no idea such a bloodline limit even existed! She's still alive, then – shall I finish her?"
The Uchiha looked at the chakra depleted body for a few moments, deliberating quietly. A soft wind blew on his face, animating the dark locks on his forehead in a pleasant feeling on his fevered skin. Kisame was waiting for the answer, slightly perplexed at how much time it took Itachi to take a decision regarding this mere woman's life.
"No." he finally answered. "We shall take her with us."