A/N: Wow... People have been liking my little side-stories. I'm glad! But we must get back on track. So, here we go!
Disclaimer- ... I'm too poor to own anything like Naruto or A Series of Unfortunate Events!
The next morning, Kisame woke up with a start. Another nightmare had been forming and just before he was caught up in its grasp, he forced his body to wake. Panting heavily, he looked around the room and saw something that warmed his heart a bit. Itachi was curled up next to him, Naruto on the shark's other side, and Sasuke taking the foot of the bed for himself. Kisame smiled and silently got out of the bed. It had been a while since they all had shared a bed like this. However, he needed to see if Tsunade needed anything.
And, of course, if she was still mad.
"Tsunade?" The blue-haired teen called out as he walked into the main hall. As he walked, the whole house gave a groaning creak before shaking slightly. Kisame shivered as a cold air blew past. "This place will be the death of someone..." He rubbed his arms and then walked to the parlor where he heard noise coming from.
He stopped just outside of the room and saw Tsunade. The blonde woman was standing in front of a cabinet. It was made of glass so she could see everything inside. She sighed and opened it up, taking out a golden picture frame and gazing at it. It was quiet for a moment before she stated, "It hurts, doesn't it?" Kisame nodded, already knowing what the woman was referring to. The older teen walked in, saying,
"The fact that you have to go through every day without them..."
"The knowing that they were taken from you before their rightful time..." Tsunade added.
"The constant, nagging feeling deep in your heart." Kisame said, "The one that always makes you feel as though..."
"It was all your fault." They both said in unison. Kisame pinched the bridge of his nose, really not wanting to cry again. Tsunade silently wiped a gloved hand at her eyes. The blonde then asked,
"How do you get through it, Kisame? I've been struggling for years with this! How do you do it?" All was silent for a minute. Then,
"I just have to look to the future." Kisame sighed, "I can't go on through life dwelling on the past. Yes, I'm still recovering and the nightmares are hell but..." He looked at Tsunade dead-on and stated, "I have a family to take care of! If I'm not strong for them, who will be?!" Tsunade nodded before placing the frame back into the cabinet. She turned and asked, a watery smile on her face,
"Was it a good service?" Kisame looked at the cabinet and saw the picture that Tsunade had held. It was of her, that same black-haired girl, and Jiraiya all together, taming a dragon. He smiled back,
"Yes. I could only wish that..." Before Kisame could finish, there was an exclamation from the kitchen.
"There's nothing to eat!!" Kisame scoffed, smiling,
"Well, Naruto's up!" Tsunade smiled and said,
"Let me get my purse and you four get ready. We'll go do some shopping in town.", before she walked off to her room.
The Hatake orphans were both excited and perturbed by their Aunt wanting to go out. They were excited because, well, she never wanted to leave her house. But they guessed that their little trip to Kirigakure and her having to come get them had loosened her up a bit.
They were perturbed because, well...
"Watch out for those carrots! They're very sharp!"
"Ah! Those blackberries could stain your clothes!"
"That lemon's juice could blind you!"
Sasuke groaned and put the yellow fruit down. Was this woman afraid of everything?! It seemed so as she warned the orphans to stay away from every food they saw. Tsunade was so engrossed by her paranoia that she didn't notice that someone was in front of her until she bumped into them.
"Whoops! Sorry about that, Mr...." She looked up and her brown eyes instantly locked onto the golden ones of the man in front of her. He had very pale skin, long black hair that was tied into a pony tail, wore a rain-coat, and had drawn a goatee onto his chin. His eyes narrowed mischievously as he cooed,
"Fakeson. Ian Fakeson..." He took Tsunade's hand and kissed it, "At your service." Tsunade blushed at the man's deep voice and found herself being slowly charmed by this tall, pale stranger.
"Oh, come on!" Sasuke shouted. "'Fakeson'?!" Kisame scoffed,
"That sounds about as real as that goatee..." 'Ian' blinked confusedly and Tsunade stomped over to the orphans. She glared at them all before whispering,
"Guys... You realize that I've been single for nineteen years. I think that I've been good enough to play the field a bit, huh?"
"But with Orochimaru?!" Itachi whispered/screamed. "He's got to be twice as old as you! Not to mention the fact that he's pure evil!!" Tsunade raised an eyebrow to see 'Ian' looking at plums for sale. She turned and said,
"He looks nothing like that monster! Now, if you excuse me..." The blonde woman walked over to the man, a wide smile on her face, and latched onto his arm. The orphans could hear something along the lines of 'Let me show you my fishing-boat' and then the two were gone. Naruto was about to go after his Aunt. He yelled,
"No! Don't go with him, he's a killer!" But Sasuke held him back from running. Naruto turned and cried, "But we have to go after her, Teme! She could get hurt!" Sasuke held up his hand and said,
"Shh... The stalls have eyes, you know."
"What are you talking about..?" Naruto began but he shut up when he saw Kisame walking to the main vendor's stall and handing the person there some money. He gave a sarcastic smirk and asked,
"Give Kabuto my regards." A gloved hand reached out and took the money. Naruto gasped and his eyes widened as he recognized the woman as the orange-haired witch who they had seen at Orochimaru's mansion. Kisame quickly walked back to the group and they all silently walked back to Tsunade's house.
The trek to the creaking mansion seemed all the longer this time, for some strange reason. Maybe it was because of the fact that Tsunade had just gone off with the devil himself. Or maybe it was because of the sky filling up with churning, gray storm clouds. It could have been anything, including the fact that Tsunade's house was on the highest hill in the town, but the air held a horrible sense of... disaster.
"The sky looks so angry..." Naruto mused, stopping to look at the clouds. Kisame looked back and called out,
"We should get inside before the storm comes guys! Let's go!" They all followed the shark's advice and trudged up the hill. When they finally reached the mansion, it was creaking and groaning more than ever and also, the door was wide open.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Sasuke murmured. Kisame didn't waste a second before he bolted inside the house, calling out,
"Tsunade?! Tsunade! Where are you?!!" The others walked in after him and began looking around. The whole place was in shambles: pictures and things tossed and shattered to the ground, furniture knocked down all around... Kisame ran back to the main room, panting, "I don't see her!"
"She could still be with Orochimaru." Itachi suggested. During this, Naruto had wandered into the room with the large window. He looked around and called,
"Aunt Tsunade..?" There was a crunch underneath his feet. The blonde looked down to see broken glass all around his feet and spread across the floor. Naruto finally turned towards the window. He yelled, "Guys?!" Itachi and Sasuke ran towards the window room but Kisame faltered a bit before going the opposite way: into the parlor.
In the window room, Itachi and Sasuke ran over to where Naruto stood. The blonde boy looked so scared and when they looked where he did, they saw why.
The giant window that over-looked Curdled Cave had been shattered and the crash was in the form of a person. "It... It could be nothing, right?" Sasuke asked, disbelievingly. However, when Naruto picked up a piece of black fabric, all hope was pretty much dashed. Naruto began to cry,
"Tsunade..." Once again, Sasuke was going to console his saddened dobe. But suddenly, he saw something hanging from the ceiling. It was a piece of paper suspended from a thin thread.
"Itachi. Could you get that?" The older raven nodded before reaching up and getting the paper. He walked over to Sasuke and they both began to read it.
'My Dearest Hataces...' Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.
"Um... I think she meant 'Hatakes'." Itachi shook his head,
"Sasuke, this isn't the time." Nonetheless, they began to read again,
'My Dearest Hataces,
It has all become tooo mmuch for mee to bear...' Sasuke then said,
"Something's not right here..." Itachi scoffed and said,
"Oh, for the love of..!", then took the letter.
"Now where was it?" Kisame mused as he walked around the parlor, searching for something. He walked over to the glass cabinet and looked at everything. Finally, he saw it. "There you are." He opened the cabinet and took out a picture surrounded by a golden frame. He placed the frame in his coat-pocket before calling out, "Have you guys found her yet?!!" He began to quickly walk towards the window room when there was a large crack from the floor. Kisame looked down very slowly before he realized. There were cracks and fracture-lines all over the floor of the house. And with every gust of wind that hit the house, the cracks would increase in size... "Shit!" Kisame growled before running to the window room.
'My Dearest Hataces,
It has all become two mmuch for mee to bear. By the ttime yoou find this letter, it will be far too late. I will probably deceaced and swupt aray by dhe waves for aul do fendd. I now leave you all in the Ccustody af my new lovve, Ian Fakesone. I wish you all happiness,
Tsunade
Itachi gave a shuddering sigh as he finished reading the letter. Finally, he stated, "That was his plan. Orochimaru forced Tsunade to write this will and sign us over to him before he pushed her out of the window." Naruto was still crying and Sasuke was still skeptical. Just then, Kisame walked in, asking,
"Did you guys find her?" Naruto replied, sniffling,
"What's left of her..." Kisame gulped but took the letter that Itachi had in his hands. However, after a quick look and a frown he stated,
"This isn't right..." Sasuke walked over and, pulling a pencil out of his pocket, said,
"I knew it!" The younger raven took the letter and said, "Tsunade's OCD wouldn't let her make this many mistakes. I read about something like this in a book once. Now let's see..." He combed over the letter quickly and then began, "It's some sort of code..." He began with the first line: "That 'C' shouldn't be there..."
C...
Then the second: "This should be 'too' not 'two'..."
O...
Then : "An extra 'M'...
and 'E'..."
By the time that Sasuke finished, a few minutes later, a message had been spelled out:
COME TO CURDLED CAVE
"She's still alive..." Itachi sighed in relief. Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes and started jumping for joy,
"Aunt Tsunade's still alive! Aunt Tsunade's still alive!" In truth, all the Hatake orphans were happy at that point in time. But a loud crack jolted Kisame from their brief moment of ease.
"Naruto!" He whispered, "Stop it!" The blonde slowed his movements but asked,
"Why?" Suddenly, the cracks that were in the parlor floor grew out all the way to the window room and the rest of the house. Everyone was quiet. Very calmly and softly, Kisame stated,
"Alright. Now everyone... Just slowly... walk out of the room and..."
There was a sound like thunder and all the windows and glass in the mansion shattered. Powerful gales of wind burst through and began to rip through the house. The orphans could barely hear each other's screams over the wind, it was that deafening. Kisame, realizing that his voice wouldn't work now, began to pull at Itachi's arm. The older raven, getting the message, then grabbed Sasuke's arm who followed in grabbing Naruto's. They all then began to walk through the storm that was once Tsunade's mansion. When they got to the main room, they all saw the stove fall onto its side right near a door. They could do nothing but watch as the flames for the damaged stove engulfed the glass door-knob. It was when it turned an angry red that Sasuke yelled,
"Oh, you've got to be kidding!!" Kisame shoved everybody down to the ground just as the door-knob shattered into a million red-hot shards. When that was done, they all got up again and tried walking but were interrupted by a large groan. They looked on as the refrigerator shook a bit then fell and rushed towards them. All four males scattered quickly, allowing the refrigerator to rush past and crash through a wall. The four regrouped and made it to the doorway just before the whole mansion gave a deafening roar of a groan. Kisame silently huddled everyone together and they braced themselves for impact.
In the village of Lacrymose, the citizens would describe the noise as if thunder had met a stampede of rhinoceros.
The four orphans were still huddled together when Naruto's voice, small and weak, asked, "Are we still alive?" They all slowly stood to their feet and gasped at the scene. All that was left of Tsunade's house was the doorway that they had taken shelter in, a fire-extinguisher, an anchor, and the front door-threshold. Sasuke gulped audibly while Itachi asked,
"What do we do now?" Kisame was about to respond when the doorway swayed to the side.
"HELP ME!" Naruto cried when his feet lost their hold on the wooden planks. Sasuke grabbed the blonde's wrist and pulled him back up. Itachi looked at the stilts that supported the doorway. They were flimsy, at best, and didn't look like they could stand much more of their combined weight. Itachi's mind raced as the doorway swayed back again and kept on until Kisame asked,
"Itachi, I hope that you have an idea or else this is going to turn out very badly..." Itachi gulped. However, when he looked at the anchor, fire-extinguisher, and the stilts again, his frantic mind came up with something. Tying up his hair, Itachi stated,
"Guys, get the anchor and the fire-extinguisher and meet me over here." Very carefully, but still minding the fact that they didn't have time to waste, Kisame and Sasuke carried over the giant metal anchor while Naruto rolled over the fire-extinguisher. "Okay, now we just place the anchor like so..." They all worked together to rest the anchor on top of the red canister. "Now, when I say 'go', we'll push the anchor towards the stilts." Sasuke shook his head and interjected,
"I'm sorry to interrupt here, but did you just say that we're going to destroy the only things anchoring us to this cliff?" Itachi nodded. The younger raven gulped but said, "Okay." Then, they all got into position and gave a few practice rolls of the anchor.
"Ready..?" The wind blew. "Go!" The all gave a mighty shove and the anchor went flying towards the stilts. With a splintering crash, the anchor destroyed the stilts. Only one remained under the doorway and without the support of the others, it was weakening fast. "Alright now, everyone get ready..!" Itachi began as the platform rocked back and forth. It was right in front of the door when Itachi yelled, "JUMP!" Everyone did and, miraculously, they all made it out of the precarious remains of the mansion.
After they had gotten out, the rest of the debris fell to the briny waters below. Kisame, Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto looked on at the scene until Sasuke asked, "Now what do we do?" Kisame straightened himself up and walked a few steps away. He put both of his hands in his pockets and in one, felt the stained glass picture of Kakashi and Iruka, and in the other, felt the golden picture frame he had picked up. The shark-like teen gave a sigh and then turned, stating,
"We save Tsunade." Just when they were all about to agree, they heard a voice calling from the waters below. They looked down and saw what looked like a silver-haired fisherman on a boat. But when they spoke,
"Hey! Kisame! Come down here so we can back to Orochimaru's, huh? It's a lot warmer than this dingy old place!" Kisame growled,
"Kabuto..." Sasuke spoke up,
"We should go to the police..." But Itachi yelled back,
"And do what, Sasuke? They won't listen to us without proof!!" Amongst all the chaos, Naruto looked back to Kisame and saw that the older teen was staring at the lake.
"Kisame?" He asked. Kisame sighed and began walking towards the village. Upon seeing this, Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto followed, the elder raven asking,
"Where are you going?" Kisame slowed his steps and asked,
"If we're going to get Tsunade... We'll need a boat, right?" Itachi gulped, then silently nodded.
TG- Sasuke had read exactly five books on sailing and two on meteorology. Whereas Kisame had retained some of his skills from back in Kirigakure.
(The scene shows Itachi and Naruto sitting on a small rowboat while Sasuke navigates and Kisame hoists a makeshift sail.)
However, it is one thing to do something in theory and another to do it in practice. Little could have prepared them for the passage to Curdled Cave over a cold, inhuman lake.
(Gales are beginning to rise but luckily everyone manages to hold on to the small craft long enough to get to the cave.)
But as the storms clear and the water calms, the orphans couldn't help but feel a brief moment of courage. A fleet instance of joy in their other-wise woeful lives.
(The orphans get out of the boat and walk into the dripping cave, Sasuke briefly noticing a 'For Sale' sign on the side of the entrance.)
They had made it. And if their guardian could not rescue them...
They would rescue their guardian.
(Enter scene with the four teens looking for their Aunt.)
"Aunt Tsunade?" Itachi called out as they walked through the leaking and dripping cave. They had wandered around the cave until they heard a loud sobbing. "Aunt Tsunade is that you?" There were answered when the sobbing increased and Tsunade crawled onto the top of a nearby rock, waving to them.
"Aunt Tsunade!!" Naruto exclaimed in joy, running to the blonde woman. Tsunade herself cried in relief and joy,
"You guys did it! You deciphered my note, I knew you would!" She let go of Naruto and continued as the teens walked over, "It almost killed me when Orochimaru made me write that note, and to put in all those errors... UGH!" The Hatake orphans smiled a bit, simply relieved that everyone was okay. Tsunade smiled before asking, "So did you bring the groceries?" Kisame laughed disbelievingly,
"What? Groceries?" Tsunade huffed.
"Well, yes!" Sasuke gritted out,
"We just sailed our way through a storm!"
"That doesn't matter!" Tsunade began, walking a few steps to the side, "How are we supposed to live in this cave without any food?!" Itachi shook his head,
"Live in the cave?! You need to come back with us so that we can have evidence against Orochimaru!" Tsunade shook her head and replied,
"Hell no!", walking away. Kisame followed her and then said, face stone-cold and serious,
"You are our guardian. You're supposed to take care of us!!" Tsunade shook her head softly. She whispered,
"If it means dealing with Orochimaru, then I can't be your guardian anymore..." Kisame was about to snap, he could feel it, but rather than make this situation worse, he walked away and was trying to control his breathing. The aura of the cave was tense for the few minutes that followed. Suddenly, Sasuke was chuckling softly. Everyone looked toward him before he stated,
"You know, it's funny. Curdled Cave is for sale, I read it outside."
"So?" Tsunade answered, rubbing her chilly arms,
"So, sooner or later, people are bound to come looking at it." The younger raven walked to face Tsunade. "And some of those people... will be realtors."
Tsunade froze.
Kisame and Sasuke were rowing the boat, now with Tsunade in tow. Itachi was watching as Tsunade was glancing all around herself at the water, fear clearly evident in her eyes. But he also heard Kisame, who had his eyes closed and was muttering, "Don't look at the water. Don't look at the water. Don't look at the water." Itachi shook his head but even he had to admit... There was something odd about this water.
Sasuke pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and opened it up, revealing the design of a snake in a hexagon. "Do you know what this is?" Tsunade's eyes widened slightly and she asked,
"Where did you get that?"
"From Orochimaru's. Now tell me what this is!" Sasuke commanded.
"Sasuke!" Itachi chastised his younger brother for being rude. But Tsunade whispered,
"..Fires..." The two ravens flinched when they heard the word.
"He was investigating fires?" Itachi asked. Tsunade sighed,
"Oh, we all were. Jiraiya, me, Kakashi…" She drifted off. Sasuke leaned forward a bit.
"Our parents?" Tsunade slowly nodded. Then she looked at all of the orphans and said,
"Guys. There are good people and bad people in this world. Those who start the fires and those who put them out." Sasuke asked,
"Did Orochimaru have something to do with this? Tsunade, tell us!" The blonde woman turned and groaned,
"Oh, I said too much already! It's not too late, maybe we can go back to the cave and I just deal with the realtors!" She tried to stand up but Itachi held her down. The three struggled for a bit, trying to get Tsunade to calm down. "Let me go! Let me go!!" The woman screamed.
"Tell us what they said Tsunade!!" They let Tsunade sit up and she opened her mouth to speak. However, her eyes drifted towards the water.
"Hey, you were saying?" Suddenly, Naruto's voice popped up,
"Hey! Kisame! Why'd you stop rowing?" Glancing back, Itachi saw Kisame sitting as still as stone, looking in the same direction Tsunade had looked at.
"We're all going to die." Tsunade whispered with fear restricting her voice.
"What?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"IT'S THE LEECHES!!!" Tsunade screamed. Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto turned and saw that the water a mile in front of them was churning as it moved towards them.
Itachi gulped, remembering what had happened in Kirigakure. If seeing that corpse had such an effect on Kisame, what would this do. The brunette slowly moved closer to Kisame and whispered, "Kisame… Are you alright?" The eldest teen didn't answer. "Kisame?" Still nothing. "Kisame, please talk to me. I think we might have a situation here…" Tsunade yelled,
"Damn right we have a fucking situation here!! You little bastards have basically put me to death, I'll have you know!!" All at once, it seemed, Kisame got up and handed an oar to Sasuke, Naruto, and Itachi.
"We have to go back." He stated.
"But what about..?" Sasuke tried.
"NOW!" Kisame roared, making Sasuke flinch a bit. Everyone got to rowing as fast as they could. Tsunade was rocking back and forth, mumbling panicky nonsense to herself while everyone else rowed.
"Kisame?" Itachi asked.
"Shut up and row, Itachi." Itachi flinched but kept silent. After a few minutes, Naruto whined,
"My arms are getting tired!" Kisame growled with agitation,
"Naruto, please not now, I--!" They all screamed out when their boat was hit with inhuman force. They were all lucky not to be thrown into the water but now they were surrounded on all sides. And it didn't exactly help when the leeches started to actually break through the hull of the boat.
"Wait a second!" Itachi yelled out. "None of us have eaten anything, why are they coming after us?!!" Tsunade gulped and huddled into herself. Kisame saw this and asked,
"Tsunade... What the hell happened between you and Orochimaru?" The blonde woman looked away but when the boat shook again she exclaimed,
"Don't blame me! I wasn't even expecting to leave the cave so I didn't try to fight it when he offered me a glass of wine!!" Kisame scoffed and turned away.
"Kisame?" Sasuke asked. "What's going to happen?" Kisame looked at the water surrounding them and how it was slowly moving into the boat.
"We're all..." He gulped. "Going to die." He turned to the others and choked, "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET US OUT OF THIS!!"
"We're going to die!" Tsunade cried out, "We're going to drown and then we're going to die!!!" Sasuke tried to keep rowing but when he put the oar into the water, the leeches immediately began eating it. One was bold enough to begin bouncing up towards the navy-blunette before Sasuke threw the oar into the water. Naruto clutched onto Itachi's coat and cried,
"Itachi! I'm scared!! Are we really going to die here?!" For a second, however, Itachi couldn't respond. It seemed that everything was going straight to hell right in front of them. It was crazy. Wait a second, that reminded him. Kisame... The eldest teen hadn't broken down or anything like Itachi thought he would. That was very strange. The brunette certainly hoped that Kisame wasn't holding anything in but maybe... Maybe that was exactly what it was. Tsunade was already having a nervous breakdown, they didn't need any more chaos on this boat.
"Oh, Kisame..." It was just when everyone was giving up hope, Naruto looked in the distance and saw what appeared to be searchlights.
"It's a boat!" Itachi and Sasuke turned around and saw the lights coming towards them. All three of the stood up and began calling out to whoever was on the boat, waving their arms, pleading for help.
TG- Yet, as unpleasant as Lacrymose leeches were...
(The boat with the searchlights moved in closer.)
...what was drifting in from the mist would prove to be much more so.
"Hello, hello, hello..." Everyone immediately felt as if they would be better off trying to swim back to the cave. Orochimaru walked to the bow of his boat and leered down at the unfortunate five. "I missed you guys." Kabuto was walking up behind the black-haired man when he spoke, "Looks like you guys could use some assistance." Sasuke yelled,
"You're going to need assistance when we get back to town! Aunt Tsunade is going to tell everyone what happened!" Orochimaru huffed and then replied,
"And then I'll be arrested and sent to jail, and you'll live happily ever after with a friendly guardian, and you'll spend your time playing music, inventing things, reading books and sharpening your little sushi-knives, and bravery and nobility will reign at last in this wicked, wicked world, and slowly but surely become a world of cheerful harmony and we'll all be singing and giggling and dancing like the happy little fox!" The elder man took a second to breathe and the continued, "Is that what you all had in mind?" It was silent except for the leeches at work. "Because I highly doubt that anyone will believe the words of a dead woman!" Orochimaru hissed. Itachi stood up,
"You won't lay a hand on Tsunade! She's going to tell everything and--"
"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!" Itachi turned and saw both Kisame and Tsunade shaking their heads.
"What?" Itachi asked. "Tsunade... Kisame, we..." Before he could speak up, Tsunade had handed over Naruto, who was crying as she did, saying,
"You can keep the fortune! You can keep the children!!" Kabuto helped the blonde onto the boat. Then Sasuke could be heard saying,
"What the hell are you doing?!" Itachi turned and saw Kisame pushing Sasuke onto Orochimaru's boat. The older raven stomped over and exclaimed,
"What are you doing Kisame?" Kisame gave a shuddering sigh before saying,
"Get on the boat Itachi."
"It's Orochimaru, Kisame. I can't, I..." He was interrupted when Kisame grabbed his shoulders and began yelling.
"ITACHI! Look, I can't help the circumstances but I need you to get on this boat!" Itachi stepped back.
"Kisame..."
"Do you want to die here, Itachi?!!" Itachi's eyes began watering. He turned away and climbed into the boat, followed by Kisame. When the shark-like teen was on the boat, Kabuto asked,
"Trouble in paradise?" Kisame didn't respond, he simply closed his eyes and began softly rocking back and forth. Tsunade grabbed onto Orochimaru's hands and was panting heavily.
"I'll leave the country. I'll dye my hair, change my name... You'll never hear from me again!" Orochimaru smirked and sighed,
"Well, I suppose that I could spare your life, I mean, you wouldn't be any burden to me..."
"DON'T TRUST HIM!!" Naruto screamed.
"Quiet boy." Orochimaru hissed. "But then again," He began tightening his grip on Tsunade's hands. "If I hadn't been a very trustworthy person..." They both shared a laugh, his cool and malicious, hers nervous and frightened. However, Tsunade twitched and said,
"'Haven't'." Orochimaru raised an eyebrow.
"What?" Tsunade smiled and explained,
"You said 'hadn't'. That's bad grammar. You should have said 'You haven't been a very trustworthy person'." Sasuke shook his head, his intuition was acting up as they watched this scene. Orochimaru smiled and rubbed Tsunade's hands.
"Thank you for the grammar lesson." He looked at Kabuto and the silver-haired man turned on the engine on the boat, not full-throttle but just enough to slowly drift the boats apart. The blonde woman looked down and saw that the distance between boats was increasing. She shook her head, still smiling nervously. But Orochimaru nodded. "Thank you so much."
"No, Aunt Tsunade!" Itachi called out. The boats were still drifting and Tsunade was precariously perched on the edge of the rowboat. Finally, Orochimaru let go.
"NO, YOU CAN'T LEAVE!!" Tsunade screamed, expecting to fall to her death as the feast of the carnivorous insects. However, she looked up and saw that her hands were being held by a pair of blue ones. She looked up and gasped, "Kisame?" The eldest Hatake orphan was holding Tsunade up over the increasing distance of water, refusing to let her go.
"What in the world? Let go, you idiot!" Orochimaru screamed. Kisame shook his head saying,
"I can't let go." As the boats drifted apart some more, it was getting harder for the two to stay connected. However, Tsunade sobbed,
"Don't let go! PLEASE, don't let go!!" By now, everyone was worried that the two would cause both boats to tip over. Itachi was also afraid that Kisame would fall into the churning waters. He walked over and said,
"Kisame... You have to let go!" Suddenly, he saw something that made him stop in his tracks. Kisame was sobbing, tears streaming from his eyes. The older teen shook his head and was muttering,
"I can't let go again. I can't let go again. I can't let go again. I can't let go again." Just then, there was a huge splash of water mixed with black. The leeches had gotten tired of waiting for their food to come to them, so they came to their food.
"Get in here, damn it!!" Kabuto yanked on the teen's back, causing Kisame to let go and fall into the boat.
Tsunade's screams were all that they could hear as they leeches dragged her under. Everyone was in shock. But none more than Kisame. He sat there, eyes wide, as still as stone. They all thought it was over until there was another splash of water, this one mixed with red. Worse yet, the bloody water splashed onto Kisame. The waters were once again silent.
Slow and shaky, Kisame raised his hands towards his face and stared at them. They were dripping with bloody water.
Just like that night...
He had let go.
Just like that night...
"What's with him?" Orochimaru asked. Itachi slowly walked over and knelled next to the blue-skinned teen.
"Kisame? Kisame, it's going to be okay. Alright? Everything..." There was a mutter of,
"...all my fault."
"Kisame?" The older orphan whispered,
"It's all my fault. It's always been my fault!" He screamed, "IT'S ALL MY FAULT!!!" Then the shark's body went into an episode of fear and agony; a screaming panic-attack just like in Kirigakure. After a minute, Orochimaru hissed,
"Shut him up!" Itachi tried his best to restrain Kisame before anything happened, groaning,
"I can't!" He looked up and called over, "Sasuke, help me!" Orochimaru scoffed,
"Don't bother. Kabuto!" The silver-haired man walked over. "What do you have on you?" Kabuto pulled a silver case out of his pocket and opened it. It contained a syringe and four small vials.
"Let's see... I have adrenaline, that's no good for right now. Cyanide... Antihistamine... And this." He held up a purple vial.
"What is it?" Orochimaru asked.
"A very strong sedative. The best combination of Morphine, Opium, and sleeping-drug that the hospital I worked had to offer. Yes, a single drop of this is enough to put any insomniac out for at least a few days." Orochimaru smiled.
"Excellent. Give it to him." Kabuto nodded and filled up the syringe before walking over to the orphans. Itachi yelled,
"Get away from him!" Kabuto huffed.
"You don't even know what he needs most of the time. Move out of my way and let me work!" He shoved the two ravens away and tried to get the sedative into Kisame. The problem was that he needed access to a vein and with Kisame thrashing about, it wasn't that easy to get access to. "Stay still! If I don't this right it could prove fatal!" Kisame, of course, only responded with more screaming and thrashing.
"Oh, for the love of..!" Orochimaru walked over and grabbed the syringe from Kabuto. "Honestly, if you want something done right..!!"
Then he stabbed the syringe into Kisame's back before emptying the contents. Naruto gasped. Sasuke's face was stuck in an expression of horror and fear. Kisame himself choked feeling something cold running throughout his body. With widened eyes, he turned towards Itachi before collapsing lifeless to the ground. Itachi gasped before falling to Kisame's side and shaking the teen. "Kisame? Kisame, wake up!" As time passed, it was more than clear that Kisame wasn't going to wake up. "No..." Itachi shook his head. He buried his face into the shark's chest and screamed, "NOO!!!" Naruto watched the scene, wide-eyed and, whispered,
"Kisame... He can't really be... Can he?" Sasuke watched his brothers react to the scene until he was about to turn and confront Orochimaru. However, what he saw kind of shocked him.
"How dare you?!! Jiraiya and Tsunade were one thing, they were going to kick the bucket soon anyway. But you killed an innocent young man, Orochimaru!!" Kabuto screamed at the elder man. Orochimaru rolled his eyes before sighing,
"It's fine, Kabuto, less of a barrier to deal with now. We've done all that we can do here. Maybe now I'll..." The count was cut off by a loud blow-horn. They all looked towards the water and saw a large search-boat coming towards them.
"Is everyone alright over there?" Asuma's voice rang out. Orochimaru smiled and ruffled his hair a bit before smirking,
"Showtime." He walked to the edge of the boat and called out, "Mr. Asuma!! Thank God, you've arrived just in time! Kisame, he just had a panic-attack but I fear that it might turn fatal. Could you please help?!" Soon the two boats reached each other and police officers (led by that oh-so reliable Genma) rushed everyone onto their boat and tried to tend to Kisame. When the commotion calmed down, it was just Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto left out on the deck of the boat. Naruto was sobbing at the loss of his brother and Sasuke was trying to hold back his own tears as he held Naruto close to him. Itachi, however, just sat there still in shock. Was their only hope for a normal family, happiness, peace...
Gone?
"Kisame..." He whispered, a tear falling from his eyelashes to the deck floor.
A/N: I did not like writing this chapter. Especially when I heard that Kisame might have died in the manga of Naruto.
Kisame- Wait, I'm DEAD?!!
Itachi- It's not that bad. They have pocky and dango on the other side.
TG- Anyway, this is like a bit of a cliff-hanger, ne? I hope that people will still continue to read on and enjoy. Please review.
-Tyranno's girl.