Part 10

The night had almost taken over the entire sky and the only thing lighting up the suburban district was the streetlamps. The cold, obscure light reflected on Itachi's pale skin every time he passed a new coming lamp.

His head was lowered, in deep thoughts his mind kept travelling back one and a half hour ago when he had once again turned his back at Kisame. His words hadn't come out right at all. "I don't like you" weren't the words he had meant to say, but for some reason his mouth had refused to utter ;"I hate you". Hate was a strong word to Itachi. There were a lot of things that he didn't like, but only a few things he actually hated. And Kisame definitely wasn't one of them.

The shark wasn't the only one who had suffered these past days. Each gaze they shared, each time he forced himself to turn away, each hurtful look he couldn't avoid to catch in the shark's eyes had filled his heart with pain and regret. The fact that his own selfishness was causing Kisame this much trouble almost made him change his mind. But he could not turn back. Not now. Kisame should have gotten over it, but what about himself?

He tightened his arms around himself as he shuddered at the cool wind. He really should have taken the shorter way home; he was beginning to freeze his ass off… He would get over it. Soon enough. Until then he just had to bear with it.

He was a bit relieved when he spotted his apartment from a far distance. Right now, all he wished for was to go to sleep and forget about this awful day. That thought vanished when a sudden movement made him lost sight of his apartment by being pulled into a small alley. In shock Itachi squirmed under the arms that prevented him from escape. He couldn't see clearly in the dusty shadows but there were definitely three of them. Two on each side of his arms, holding him down and one right in front of him, allowing Itachi to see the contours and messy hair of the tall man that a moment later let his voice out.

"Hello Itachi-kun, we've been waiting for you." His dark voice chuckled.

Kuro…

Itachi silently cursed. He could clearly smell booze and smoke coming from their heavy breathes. This was not going to end well.

For an amount of two seconds he thought about how he could escape. If he put all his efforts into it and broke free from his current hold-down he maybe could manage to run fast enough to get home before they caught him. But with that plan he had to get past Kuro first which could be rather complicated. Who was he kidding? He wasn't strong enough to get past either one of them. In this state he couldn't even move a muscle, trapped under four strong burly arms.

He froze when Kuro suddenly approached him. The brown-haired man stroked his cold hand along Itachi's pale cheek.

"Don't you know better than walking around this late? Where is Hoshigaki?" He laughed. "Shouldn't he be here to protect you?" He mumbled as he inspected every detail on Itachi's face, seeking unsuccessfully for response.

His heart ached when he thought about the shark again. Itachi was not going to deny it. As Kuro spoke the only thing he could think of was how much he wanted Kisame there with him right now. Not only for protection. He missed how just a gaze from the shark made him warm inside and the somehow safe feeling that secured him from all fears. By now Kisame probably should have given up on Itachi. But that was good right? That was what he wanted to happen; he had consciously brought this to himself… but it still hurt.

He woke up from his thoughts when he suddenly felt a hand grope him roughly in between his legs. Disgusted by the hard touch from Kuro Itachi began to wriggle in an impossible hope of being released.

"Let me go." Itachi hissed trough his teeth, receiving nothing but a smirk from the larger man in front of him.

"Why would I?" He purred seductively. "The fun has just started."

As Kuro's hand kept going lower Itachi felt the panic rush over him. He didn't want this. He certainly didn't. If he didn't fight back soon he would most likely get raped. In a hesitated but quick move he pulled up his leg, knee-kicking Kuro hard in his crutch. The man immediately fell to his knees, curled into a ball and swore almost worse than Itachi ever had heard Hidan swear in his life.

"Y.. You bitch!" He growled as he got up from the ground, furious eyes attached to Itachi, his face twisted in pain and a look that could kill. Right after he recovered from the worst pain his hand reached down in his pocket. "Grab his legs, you washouts!" He ordered and moments later a knife was revealed in Kuro's right hand. Itachi struggled as the two men that held him back now got a grip of his legs, preventing him from using the kick-attempt once more.

At the same time Itachi panicked under their strong hold, Kuro grabbed the weasel's chin and brought the knife close to his face.

"I'll teach you for that." He whispered as he slowly drew the knife along Itachi's smooth cheek.

The Uchiha squeaked in pain as the sharp blade left a deep cut on his cheek. The warm blood slowly made its way down his face, leaving a burning feeling on his skin.

Itachi didn't usually let people scare him; it was quite the other way around. Almost everyone tended to avoid him because of his unpleasant appearance and he was used to be scaring people off. But this time, Itachi was the one who was terrified. He tried his best not to let his face show the emotions that were building up inside of him. He had been exposed to Kuro's violence before, but how far could this guy go?

One glance from Kuro's eyes and the statement was clear. Rape wasn't bad enough; if Itachi kept on resisting this they could actually kill him. At the same time; only a fool wouldn't try to resist. Itachi almost felt tears gathering in his eyes as Kuro once again violated himself onto him.

Itachi had never really seen any point in living, the bigger part of his life had been nothing but disappointments and bad memories. But he didn't want to die. Not now. But he couldn't just give in, what was he supposed to do?

Kisame…

The wound on his cheek stung painfully when the salty tears ever so slowly made their way down the weasel's face. Oh how he wished he could rewind this past week and make everything different. His goal had been achieved; the shark no longer cared for him. Due to that, he didn't have to worry about getting hurt when the shark would no longer stand him.

He knew he was being too sentimental, but somehow, ignoring Kisame like this felt a thousand times more hurtful. '

I'm sorry… I'm just a selfish bastard

Itachi faced the ground below him as his tears now dripped for the edge of his chin, leaving small stains on the dirty ground.

Itachi stopped his breathing for a second when Kuro's hard hands suddenly stopped moving. He carefully looked up to see how Kuro had turned his face towards the street; eyes squinted by the light that was hitting his face. "Why are you here?" Kuro growled and wrinkled his eyebrows as he kept his gaze towards the light.

Itachi almost didn't dare to move and held his breath as he carefully turned his head as well.

Through the light that was blending his eyes, he could still point out the body shapes of the person standing in the dimmed light. A wave of emotions washed over him as his heartbeat picked up its pace.

"None of your business." The man replied in a cold tone but for Itachi, it was the warmest voice he had ever heard.

"Kisame…" Itachi whispered in a soft shudder as he fought without success for his tears to stop.

Before Itachi had any time to react, Kuro had him pressed up against the wall, knife steady in his hand as he held it threatening against Itachi's throat. "Get him!" He demanded the two guys who by now had released Itachi and were heading against Kisame.

Constantly the weasel felt how the blade brushed lightly against his neck as he, confused and horrified, did nothing but observed the fight. To his relief, Kisame totally had the upper hand, even though they were two against one. He was taller, slimmer and way more muscular than both of them, who were now throwing their large fists against him in punches.

Itachi's eyes were almost as widened as Kuro's, stunned by the shark's amazing movements. He looked like a stuntman taken from an action-movie. His well-trained body almost danced as he dodged and blocked each punch and assault perfectly , even though he couldn't completely get away from getting damaged. Itachi felt himself getting tense whenever the shark received a hit.

After barely ten more minutes Kisame was the last one standing. The other two were lying defeated on the ground, one had passed out and the other one was begging him for mercy. Kisame granted his wish and then finally turned his head against Kuro and Itachi who had remained in the same position.

Desperately Itachi tried to gain the sharks gaze but failed. Kisame's eyes were glued on Kuro, teeth exposed and face looking like he could run over there and bite him to death any second. This side of Kisame reminded Itachi of the day the shark had hit Kuro in the classroom, it was something about him that changed unawarely and it slightly scared the weasel.

Without any warning, Kuro hastily withdrew, causing Itachi to stubble forward. With his knife raised high in the air, he ran at top speed towards Kisame, ready to stab. Itachi's jaw dropped in a silent scream but his fears were mistaken when he noticed Kisame quickly dodge right before he grabbed Kuro's wrist. Without letting go, he turned the man around, forcing Kuro down to his knees by pressing a foot aggressively against his back. The pain Kisame caused his wrist and back made him release the knife, letting it fall to the ground with a small thud.

Kisame was quick to pick it up and then pressed his foot down harder as he let go of the wrist, making him fall forward, face hitting the hard ground. Coughing, Kuro stumbled to stand up and turn around, only to face Kisame's glaring murderous eyes behind the knife which was pointed right at him. "Leave." The shark's ice-cold voice ordered. "I won't hold back…"

Kuro looked back in complete despise, grounding his teeth together. He then kicked one of the guys that were still on the ground, forcing him to get up and then they quickly disappeared in silence.

In total shock Itachi's watery eyes stared at Kisame who had his back turned against him, panting slightly as he regained his posture.

The weasels head was spinning. There was so much he wanted to say, wanted to know, and wanted to make sure. But most of all, he wanted the shark to look at him. One glance to be sure Kisame was himself, that he hasn't completely changed, that he… cared. Screw it if he got hurt, what matter the most was how much he cared for Kisame right now.

He couldn't find the courage to speak when he noticed the shark wasn't turning around. Itachi's mind was going crazy. Look at me…

But Kisame didn't move. As the silent minutes flew by, Itachi felt how he was once again brought to tears.

Kisame then took a deep breathe without changing his position.

"Look…" He began, quickly bringing Itachi's attention to him. "I actually came here to speak to you. I had no idea what Kuro was planning to do." As he spoke, Itachi noticed how he curled his fist together. "But…" he continued. "I've been thinking. And if it makes you happy I'll leave you alone from now on. Just promise to make sure Kuro won't hurt you anymore." He then stopped and took a deep breathe again. "Just let me know, and I'll leave right now."

He couldn't take it, his tears had began to fall again and he slowly moved away from his spot. Still shaking, he approached the shark and without looking up, he grabbed the sleeve of Kisame's shirt. The slow action caused Kisame to turn around and finally face the broken weasel.

"I'm sorry…" Itachi weakly stuttered. "P-Please… Please, d-don't leave me." He sobbed and buried himself in the fabric on Kisame's arm.

The shark's face softened as he let a small relieved sigh pass his lips. He then withdrew from Itachi and got down on his knees, back turned against the weasel in a gesturing mode. "Get up." His now soft voice gently ordered.

Itachi lingered for a few seconds but then he carefully climbed on, instinctively throwing his arms around the shark's neck to prevent himself from falling. The heavy weight on his heart was all gone and he sobbed quietly as Kisame carried him trough the streets.

"Hey, Itachi, come on, stop crying…" The shark said in a sad but sweet tone, showing gently how he disliked the sound of him crying. "I'll take you home, ok?"

Itachi nodded, making sure the shark felt his reply. Since when did Kisame know where he lived? On second thought, it didn't matter. Itachi closed his eyes as he let the warmth from Kisame warm him up as well as he peacefully drifted off.

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