Sakura was in a state of shock.

The chaos that had just unfolded was too much for her to handle. She was about to have a nervous breakdown when that hideous monstrosity was released from its cage by that servant and headed towards her. The reality wasn't really sinking in since she was lost in her miserable crying, but as soon as she felt a cold hand clamp onto her arm she almost lost it. The servant and the monster were now trying to grab her and drag her somewhere - most likely punishment for sabotaging the chakra transplant. At some point, one of them stomped roughly on her ankle, effectively breaking the delicate bone to stop her kicking.

'Oh, fuck.'

And that's when she became hysterical with anger. This was not going to happen. Survival mode kicked in as she struggled and wrestled her way out of their hold. She had a death grip on a piece of metal piping coming out of the wall and she wasn't going anywhere - even if they had to break more bones she would resist. During her struggle, Sakura heard a loud yell, then metal clanging as she noticed to her added horror that the shark-man had somehow actually escaped from his bonds. She was going to cry again as she realized he probably intended to kill her for nearly killing him a few minutes ago, but then noticed he was half-limping elsewhere. The girl struggled to focus enough chakra to her fist as she tried to escape before the shark-man came back for her, but then she sensed something overwhelming from the depths of her gut.

Someone else was here. Sakura was ready to turn and face the army of more deformed, failed, science experiments - most likely waiting to join in the Sakura abuse - when she felt something as the door was busted down.

Something haunting, and chilling and... familiar.

'No...'

She turned her head slowly, momentarily forgetting her plight. Her eyes connected with a figure clad in unfamiliar garb; white shirt, dark pants, a purple shimenawa around his waist - he looked different, but she knew that hair, those eyes far too well to be mistaken.

There was no doubt, it was Sasuke.

Three others unrecognizable to her flanked him, but Sakura didn't register any thoughts, her gaze still fixated on the one in the center. Her throat couldn't produce any more sound and her mouth hung open slightly, as she blinked in disbelief. It couldn't be him.

"You."

That voice. That slightly nasal, authoritative tone. Sakura jolted upright a bit, expecting it to be her whom he addressed, but instead she numbly followed Sasuke's now-pointed finger elsewhere. No - it was directed to the blue-skinned man at the other end of the room. Sakura watched everything as if it progressed in slow motion. Sasuke and his accomplices were now walking towards said blue-skinned man, completely ignoring her presence. Sakura just made a pitiful squeak of agony, perhaps from the pain in her ankle or otherwise, she couldn't decide. She wanted his eyes to meet hers desperately - a greeting, an acknowledgement, anything. This boy - now a man - had been at the center of her thoughts for so long, even after he betrayed everyone and left the village. After everyone gave up talking about him, after everyone stopped caring, she remained vigilant in support of her old teammate. She didn't even want to know how often thoughts of Sasuke plagued and occupied her mind. Where was he? What was he doing? Would he ever return? Did he ever think of his former team- of her? Of that last night, at the gates of Konoha? After so long, the shock of unexpectedly seeing him and his vacant face turned away from her was unbearable; Sakura wanted to sink into an abyss and never re-emerge. It was too much. Her hand unclenched from the metal railing on the wall and she fell, black nothingness taking her as she drifted out of consciousness.

Kisame stood firm, oblivious to the goings-on in the other corner of the small room as he glared warily at the finger aimed at him.

Uchiha Sasuke; Itachi's killer.

And on top of that, he was accompanied by the same three who he came with the day he killed his brother. Suigetsu - brandishing a particularly annoying grin, the redheaded girl and the orange-haired quiet guy. Great. Frankly, he thought that was the last time he'd have the displeasure of seeing them, but it seemed something brought the little group here - apparently in search of him. He couldn't come up with any explanation in his head of why they sought him out - and at such a particularly inopportune time - but it looked like he was about to find out. Whatever the case, Kabuto's imminent torture and death would have to wait, unfortunately. Kisame could feel Kabuto tense up behind him at the arrival of the group.

"What do you want?" Kisame spat bitterly at the intruders.

The Uchiha strode briskly towards him, face grim as usual.

"I have questions to ask of you."

"It's a bad time," Kisame said, cracking his knuckles in emphasis.

Sasuke glanced past Kisame's shoulder nonchalantly. Kabuto stiffened.

"I will take care of your problem, and you will answer my questions."

Without even waiting for a response, Sasuke took the katana from the rope around his waist and brushed past Kisame, making his way towards Kabuto.

"Hey, hey, now. You can stop it right there. This is my fucking kill."

Kisame had grabbed the Uchiha by the shoulder before he could get any closer to Kabuto - who looked quite panicked at the two men talking so casually about his demise.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in irritation at the shark-man, but then in compliance, replaced his katana back where it rested before.

"Fine, but I'm restraining him to prevent any interference. You can do what you want afterwards. Karin, Jugo, Suigetsu."

Sasuke gestured at his teammates and then to the two who were still standing by the now-unconscious medic girl. They quickly took the cue and proceeded to restrain them - Sakura included.

Kisame stood amidst the activity with his arms folded, a displeased look on his face. Here these little jerks were trying to take away his glorious moment of retribution, without even considering how he felt about it. And, on top of that, he felt like absolute shit. His lungs were still damaged and he was beaten all over. He'd been in captivity for who knows how long, and his body wasn't wasting any time reminding him of that. He was hungry, dehydrated, tired, pissed and just itching to shed blood.

'This shit better be worth my time.'

Sasuke had easily immobilized Kabuto with a genjutsu while Sakura, the monster, and the servant were tied with some machinery wires from the room.

Sasuke's sharingan spun, then stopped as the red faded from his pupils, returning to the usual onyx. He blinked once, then faced the impatient-looking Kisame.

"You were Itachi's partner."

Kisame scoffed.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Do you know of Madara? Uchiha Madara."

Kisame's face twisted in disgust.

"That manipulative bastard can go to hell for all I care."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes before he continued on.

"He told me some things... about Itachi."

Kisame sighed. So, the secret was out, and now it was his burden to straighten it out. Great.

"Ah, so the little brother wants to see if I have any juicy info to fill in the gaps?"

Sasuke stiffened, ignoring the mockery apparent in the shark-nin's voice.

"So you do know something. Itachi confided in you. Tell me. Everything."

At this point Sasuke's permanent scowl was laced with a hint of desperation. He put on a mask of indifferent arrogance, but Kisame could smell the underlying anxiety. He smirked.

'They really are brothers.'

"I don't owe you anything, Uchiha. You kill your brother and then come to me for justification? Deal with that crap on your own."

Sasuke glared fiercely at the former Mist nin. He walked up and threateningly pointed his katana at Kisame's throat.

"What has Itachi told you about me, about Konoha? Why did he kill our clan? Tell me or I slice your head off."

Kisame chuckled darkly. He grabbed the sword blade with his hand and forcefully pushed it to the side, ignoring the resulting blood in his palm. Leaning in close to the dark-haired man, Kisame whispered dangerously.

"Don't act like such a pompous little prick in my presence kid, and I might consider."

Sasuke frowned in slight irritation, but he was interested enough to comply and put away his weapon, simultaneously waving his hand at the tense trio behind him.

Kisame gave Suigetsu a fiendish leer as he re-sheathed his blade. He just wanted to get this over with and feel the familiar weight of Samehada in his hand again. He cracked his shoulder and stretched his arms back to stimulate his muscles a bit, and coughed harshly at the strain. Yes, he wanted his chakra back more than anything.

"You don't know the shit I've fucking been through these past days," he said, moreso to himself before he proceeded to tell Sasuke about Madara.

He kept it relatively brief, telling him how deceiving and conniving the weasel was - the cause of Kisame's abandonment of Akatsuki. Sasuke had repeated the story Madara told him about Itachi and Konoha's orders to kill the Uchiha clan, parts of which Kisame then confirmed.

"Itachi only confided in me a couple of times. The last time he did was a few days before you killed him. He said if the Amaterasu he implemented in your Sharingan failed to kill Madara, he wanted me to do it - so that you wouldn't seek revenge on Konoha."

Kisame tried not to roll his eyes as he recalled that. Really the request was absurd, but Itachi had been desperate, in his own stoic way. Spending time with the guy made Kisame become in tune with his emotions somewhat, and it was the first time he sensed any hint of vulnerability from his late partner.

"Anyway, I figured it was pretty serious. If Itachi didn't trust the bastard then I wasn't going to either. I tried to find Madara - for my own revenge, you know - but the guy is good at disappearing."

Sasuke still stood stiffly, wary of the information. Obviously, if Kisame knew about the Amaterasu, it meant Itachi had in fact told him these things. He waited for more.

"I couldn't find Madara, so after a while I just did my own thing," Kisame continued, hoping they wouldn't ask how he ended up here, "Anyway, if you're the least bit of a genius as your clan name suggests, you better stay away from Uchiha Madara - he just wants to use you."

Sasuke still looked unconvinced, and Kisame was getting tired of playing story time with Uchihas. This was not his responsibility.

"Well, whatever kid. I didn't know Itachi that well, but I do know that your brother valued peace in Konoha and your safety above everything else."

The whole thing was a bit too righteous for Kisame, but Itachi's influence on him had - as much as he hated to admit - caused him to feel a kind of respect, if not admiration for having such strong values.

"I don't give a damn what you do, but I did respect your brother, so I feel like I owe him that much."

The dark-haired Uchiha looked slightly to the side, absorbing the information. Kisame was getting slightly antsy. This was dragging on far too long for his liking, and although he was doing Itachi a favor by giving Sasuke this information, he didn't really know why he should care. Continuing his stretching and joint cracking, Kisame waited for Sasuke to say something.

"We're leaving."

Kisame looked at the Uchiha, trying to read his mind.

'Whatever, he's not my problem anymore.'

Itachi had no reason to curse him from the afterlife if Sasuke still decided to act out and be Madara's pawn - Kisame did his part. He watched as Sasuke and his crew prepared to head out. As his eyes followed their retreating backs, he noticed the tied bundle of pink on the ground as they passed her.

"The girl - she's from your village, you might wanna take her or something," Kisame pointed out, suddenly a little off-put that he said anything at all.

Sasuke paused for a moment then spoke up coolly, "I don't know her."

Before they exited the room, Suigetsu craned his head back at Kisame, "I'll battle you for Samehada some other time Kisame-senpai; maybe I just feel bad since I've been in the same situation as you. Although, really, you should watch your back a little more next time."

With that he snickered and quickly disappeared behind the wreckage of the door, following the rest of his team.

Kisame was unfazed. Suigetsu's were idle threats, anyway. He was highly out-classed by Kisame, so he would never actually try taking the precious Samehada away from him. And, speaking of which, Kisame grinned in anticipation. Quickly he pivoted around to face the still entranced Kabuto, who was on his knees, eyes rolled back, with his arms loosely dangling at the sides.

"Aw, no fun. I like seeing their facial expressions before they die."

Kisame strode over and made a hand sign, hoping that the genjutsu level was low enough for him to dispel.

"Kai!"

With a resounding snap, Kabuto blinked, jostled out of his inert state. Dazedly looking around for a clue as to what happened, his eyes finally met with bare feet. Large, blue feet which connected to navy blue cut-off pants.

"Welcome back, sweetie."

Kisame stood over the still-kneeling Kabuto with a triumphant smirk on his face, dragging his tongue across his sharp teeth to further intimidate the man. Kabuto nervously pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose to attempt composing himself.

"I assure you, if you-"

Kisame quickly grabbed the spectacled man by the collar of his shirt, interrupting his futile speech.

"I assure you, that I'm gonna make your life hell in the next few hours," Kisame growled, purposely emphasizing the word 'hours'.

The man tried to resist but it was pointless. Kisame restrained him promptly, then took his time with his captor, making sure not to give into his more bloodthirsty side and kill Kabuto prematurely. Alas, after a good two hours of torturing the man mercilessly, Kisame gave in and ended it. Kabuto - or rather what remained of him - was now unrecognizable. Kisame stepped back a bit marvelling at his handiwork.

'Now this is art.'

He then glanced over at his sword still trapped in that giant test tube. He summoned a large amount of chakra to his fist and with one powerful strike shattered the thick glass, freeing his Samehada. A wave of clear liquid followed along with some beeping from nearby alarms, but Kisame ignored it all, too concerned with finally having his sword back. He wrapped his fingers gently around the handle and picked it up out of the glass debris. Completely un-bandaged, Kisame marvelled at the beauty of the bluish-purple scales which now almost breathed a sigh of relief, and wiggled a little in his grasp.

"Ah, good friend, we're reunited again."

Unfortunately, it seemed like the sword had been emptied of all chakra while it was encased in the tube, and with a sigh, Kisame realized he would have to recover the rest of his chakra the old-fashioned way.

He patted it reassuringly as he made his way around the room, searching for his other belongings, and realized that the weird servant and that disgusting abomination were still alive. Not wasting any more time, he pointed Samehada at them and tried to siphon what chakra he could from them. To his chagrin, there was barely anything to salvage, so he quickly ended their misery with a few swings of his newly retrieved sword, giving it a taste of fresh blood after so long.

Kisame glanced down at the strewn bits and pieces of flesh, and the pool of dark red blood as it expanded across the floor, making its way towards the body of the still knocked-out girl. He paused for a moment, considering stealing what little chakra she had, but his arm remained still at his side. The wires which bound her cut into her flesh, adding to the bruises she already had on her light skin. His eyes then travelled down to her bent legs, noticing her ankle was heavily swollen and bleeding.

The sight before him stirred something latent and long-forgotten from his memory, and before he could think Kisame bent down, untied, and plucked the girl off the floor. He walked over to the bed which he had previously occupied, and plopped her down in the middle of it rather ungracefully. He stood there a moment, at odds with himself as he tried to see her face under the hair which covered it. What was her name again? All he knew was that she was - apparently - some medic kunoichi from Konoha.

Sure, she was charged with his demise, and had actually inflicted quite a bit of pain on his person, but she did stop before the chakra transplant could go any further. He wasn't exactly sure why, but all Kisame knew was that he didn't really need to kill the girl; after all, she healed him up quite nicely and then there were those touches...

He stopped his thoughts before they went further. He was fine now, and that's all that mattered. Strong, merciless, uncaring, cruel - back to his usual self. There was no need to think further of things which transpired during the course of his incarceration here, and it was all better left in the past. The jutsus and other experimentations done to him during his stay had messed with his mind and he would not entertain those thoughts further.

But he would at least let the girl live - and not have to wake up next to two disgusting creatures in a pool of their blood, no less. Yes, he would do that. A huge show of mercy. One unprecedented by the likes of him.

"Better be grateful."

The alarm still continued its annoying ringing, and Kisame decided to hurry up and find his stuff so he could go. After digging around for a few minutes, he found his shirt, sandals and coat, but not his pouch which held some important things. He decided to ignore it and start dressing himself. He strapped Samehada into its holster and slung the hulking sword onto his back.

Alas, all the exertion was proving to be much, and suddenly Kisame doubled over, coughing up blood as he braced an arm against the wall.

'Well, shit,' he thought inwardly, watching the stark white tiles under him become dotted with spots of red as he tried to steady his raspy breathing.

'If only I had more chakra,' he thought, mentally noting never to take such a luxury for granted ever again. Oh well, he would just have to wait.

As he stood back upright, another bout of harsh coughing interrupted his walk towards the door and this time a sharp, lancing pain shot through his chest. In his pain-addled state, Kisame realized he was probably going to tear his lungs to shreds at this rate, so he came up with an idea. Grimacing, he stumbled over to where the medic kunoichi lay on the bed unmoving and nudged her with an elbow. If he could just threaten her into healing him, he could get out of here in great shape.

"Kunoichi, wake up."

Even speaking was starting to become increasingly irritating to his throat and lungs and Kisame tried hard to not cough, fearing the pressure might rip him up even more.

The girl though, remained unmoving. She was laying in a fetal position on the bunched up sheets under her. Kisame continued prodding her in the sides but to no avail. After a few more minutes, he made a quick decision - he would take her with him. Once he was all healed up and regenerated, he would get rid of her. Easy.Once again, the man's body folded in on itself and he found himself painfully coughing again, the coppery taste of his own blood pervading his mouth. Not wanting to waste any more time, Kisame picked the girl up again and with a grunt slung her over his shoulder. The new weight threatened to cause another violent hacking session, but he used all his willpower to resist it.

He walked through the battered door and began searching for a way out of the labyrinth.

.-.-.-.

It took longer than expected to find his way out, but eventually Kisame emerged out of the darkness and into the outside world. It was dusk apparently, and he scanned the surroundings to figure out his location. The air was dry and cool and as he stepped out further, his sandaled feet gave a little to the soft ground - ah, sand. Rolling dunes of sand, with the occasional tumbleweed or formation of rocks.

'Lovely.'

Wind Country. This was the worst possible place for him to be right now. With the state of his dehydration, he would shrivel up in such a harsh, dry climate given enough time. Usually, it wouldn't have been a problem if he had chakra, but unfortunately only a fraction of it had regenerated - not to mention the state of his body didn't warrant for any more exertion. He desperately needed to rest.

Kisame walked a few miles with the girl still hanging limp over his shoulder until he found a secluded-looking area surrounded by large rock formations. He closed his eyes in focus as he searched for any signs of people, and found that luckily it seemed the area was clear for now. He dropped the medic onto the dusty ground and fought a coughing fit as the offending particles hit his nose. Yes, this was definitely going to be the bane of his existence, he concluded.

Kisame dropped down after a moment and propped his body against a rock slab across from the girl. He was so tired and sore and hurting that he suddenly felt regret at having killed Kabuto so quickly.

'Fucking bastard. I'll get you again in the afterlife. Just wait,' he thought, the prospect giving him a bit of satisfaction.

Deciding to think about something else, Kisame turned his attention back to the pink mess before him. He grabbed a small rock off the ground and lobbed it at her, hitting her butt. She didn't react. Kisame threw several more at the kunoichi until he decided the method was ineffective.

"Oi," he said, trying to clear his throat so he could speak louder, "Wake up, girl."

A gust of wind whistled past loudly, and Kisame's arm shot up towards his face, shielding him from the onslaught of sand. Great, this positively sucked.

Frowning at her unresponsiveness, he decided to try a more drastic approach. Summoning all the energy he had left, Kisame made hand motions for a simple water-style jutsu and a stream of water shot from his mouth and at the girl. There wasn't much, and it was enough to almost drain him of his remaining chakra but the splash of cold water instantly awoke the sleeping girl. Kisame would have grinned toothily at the success, but unfortunately he was in a great deal of pain, again. He coughed, realizing that having pressurised water shoot from his throat was a pretty terrible idea considering his state.

Sakura was up with a shaky jolt and frantically whipping her head to the sides trying to figure out what was going on. She was soaked and looked even more pitiful now that the water made her hair flatten against her head and her body shake from the cold.

"S-Sasuke?"

Kisame observed her apprehensively. Sasuke? What the hell.

"You knew him?" he said.

Sakura's head snapped towards the voice. Upon seeing Kisame, her eyes widened in horror and she made an attempt to shriek but it was lost under a wobbly sound. Instantly, the girl scrambled for something to hold on to in order to get up, but her legs buckled under her as a stab of pain shot through her ankle.

"Ow, GOD!"

The kunoichi was on her butt, rocking back and forth clutching her swollen ankle and hissing in pain. She bit her lip hard and then promptly burst into tears. Kisame wanted to stab something.

"Hey! Shut the hell up!" he managed, his voice gravelly and not sounding as threatening as he would've liked.

She looked towards him with terror in her eyes, and just managed to raise her wailing to another octave. Kisame brought his hand to his forehead and decided a scare tactic was in order. He grabbed Samehada by the hilt and thrust it out, pointing it at her. Luckily - or perhaps unluckily - the distance between them was exactly the length of the sword, so he didn't end up decapitating her in the process. Kisame made sure to keep control of Samehada so it wouldn't eat away the kunoichi's chakra, but he wasn't about to let the girl know about it.

Sakura's eyes widened even more at the sight of that very scaly, weird, breathing... thing staring at her an inch from her face. Her incessant crying stopped and she just sat, frozen in place until a voice jostled her out of her fright.

"I'm not gonna kill you," he slightly panted, finding it hard to speak fluidly, "if you're a good girl, that is."

She just stared at him bewildered, then swallowing hard, her eyes blinked a few times and her green orbs flickered to the sides, apparently planning something.

"You won't escape. No chance."

Again, the girl stilled, weighing her options. Her mind was a jumbled mess of things and nothing made sense except for the very loud pain in her foot. And the shark man's bit about not killing her, well, there was that too, but she was not about to take his word for it.

"What... where... how?" she breathed out, mainly talking to herself.

The concrete walls, the white tiles, the dank smell - it was all gone and she was so confused-

"I killed Kabuto, so you don't have to worry about him if that's what you're wondering about," Kisame offered after a while.

Killed? Kabuto? Sakura now looked more boldly from side to side trying to figure out where they were - Samehada still pointed at her face.

"We're in Wind Country is my guess. Lots of sand," he said, lowering the sword and setting it at his side.

Sakura said nothing, instead looked down at her injured ankle seemingly still trying to piece things together. She was still shivering and wet, the gravel and sand sticking to her skin, and the random gusts of wind certainly weren't aiding the situation. Kisame didn't know what else to say as the silence stretched on, but he really wanted his injuries taken care of.

"Do you have any chakra left?"

Her face was shielded from his eyes by her hair still.

"Why?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"'Cause I'm fucking wounded, that's why," he said impatiently. Dense girl.

Suddenly her head whipped around and the unexpected fierceness in her eyes startled him a bit.

"Well I am too you jerk!" she yelled out.

Kisame was too shocked to actually say anything in opposition, so he folded his arms across his chest, eyeing her with a frown.

"Fine, heal yourself first."

The girl scoffed, then pointed a finger at him.

"What makes you think I want to heal you anyway? You're just gonna kill me, or eat me or something!"

"What?"

Kisame noticed the way she shook, and sensed a familiar saltiness hit the air and he quickly tried to sway the conversation in a different direction.

"Look girl, I wouldn't have dragged your heavy ass through that maze of a dungeon for so long if all I wanted was some kunoichi steak."

Sakura looked at him in horror, and tried backing away. Kisame was confused. That was probably the most consoling thing he'd ever told anyone.

"Hey! Don't think about going anywhere, I have the upper hand here."

Sensing the roughness in his tone, Sakura kicked up some dusty gravel with her foot aiming straight at him. Kisame didn't cover his mouth fast enough and surely, inhaled a good portion of the stuff when it was too late. He coughed up a storm; the dust particles scraping his insides like tiny blades. Okay, maybe he was going to kill her. Blood started to come back out of his mouth and dotted the ground. Preparing to go after the girl, Kisame used Samehada to brace himself and after a few seconds he almost felt like passing out. He'd be surprised if he even had lungs if this kept going on for much longer.

Sakura was hobbling away awkwardly on one foot, while she listened to that horrible hacking behind her. She glanced back, noting how he couldn't even get up, and then she remembered the man in the cell, on the bed. How vulnerable he was then. And now that tear in his lung was probably back and she had probably not helped it any by commencing the chakra transplant, and then that guttural roar echoed in her mind and she planted her foot in the ground, stopping her escape. Pivoting, Sakura cursed under her breath at her stupid medical compassion or whatever the hell this horribly guilt-ridden sense of responsibility was as she regretfully hopped back, tossing her last chance of escape out the window.

Sakura stood in front of him, hand on her knee, as it dawned on her that her little sand-kicking stunt just now might have pissed him off irreversibly and that she should probably not be standing here because he was totally going to lash out and kill her where she stood. On one foot, no less. Instead, her stupid mouth decided it was more important than the fear response, so she remained standing and spoke.

"Why did you take me with you?"

Kisame didn't respond, but just sat hunched over, Samehada stabbed into the ground holding him up like a crutch. His chest rose and fell very inconsistently, as if he were mechanically trying to slow his breathing. Sakura got sick of looking at him like that and inched a tiny bit closer.

"Ugh, okay, I'll heal you - if you let me go after."

He chuckled grimly behind sealed lips.

"That... was a bitch move," he said, throwing his head back against the rock behind him.

Sakura sniffed dismissively, eyeing his exposed throat.

"Yeah, well... you shouldn't have pointed that stupid sword at me," she said, feeling the tiniest pang of remorse. Tiniest.

She then hesitantly inched closer to the man, feeling that stupid pull again, and as if sensing her nervousness, Kisame raised his hands in a sign of peace, and brought Samehada to rest on the other side since it scared her so much apparently.

Sakura gazed at him warily, but eventually sat down - gently this time, so not to stir up another dust cloud in the process. Kisame winced, bringing his head forward, because clearly he was being an idiot by exposing his throat to an enemy, regardless of how unskilled she was.

"Lean back," she ordered, and watched as he pushed himself away from the rock a bit and settled into a more reclining pose.

His eyes were on her like a hawk lest she try something, but instead he noticed her rubbing her arms as another gust of wind passed through the makeshift campsite.

"Goddamnit," Kisame rasped, frustrated.

With some effort, he shrugged off his coat and tossed it in Sakura's lap.

"Put it on."

Sakura spent a few seconds looking at the black mass with the red clouds on it before deciding to drape herself in it. The warmth immediately engulfed her and she just wanted to fall asleep and forget about what was happening and the political correctness of it all. Another one of Kisame's coughs distracted her from her thoughts and she put her hand on his chest, noticing now that he was wearing a mesh-covered shirt.

"Don't think of trying any bullshit - or Samehada here will rip you to shreds," he warned, patting his sword.

Sakura looked at his face then at the sword and gulped, nodding her head in accordance.

Her chakra met with his skin and Kisame closed his eyes, silently revelling in the sheer familiarity of it all. It was so strange that after such intense pain, he could feel this sort of relief. He allowed himself a few more moments of relaxation under the soothing hum, then cracked his eyes open again. Even though the night caused the darkness to envelop them, the green glow of the girl's chakra illuminated the space in between them allowing him to watch the proceedings. Green light melded with the gray-blue of his skin and disappeared further in, while new waves of chakra followed suit, stitching him back together with each pulse. Sensing no immediate threat from the girl, he closed his eyes again, indulging in the warmth of her healing.

"Your lungs are pretty damaged," she murmured.

"No shit," he said from between clenched teeth.

She didn't respond and he felt slightly bad at his rude remark. Very slightly.

"So... how bad is it then?" he asked.

The girl took a moment before she spoke, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. Her voice was now soft.

"Both are torn in several places, and it continues through your esophagus. You're severely dehydrated."

"Makes sense."

Silence overcame the two as they became lost within their own respective thoughts. Sakura tried not to think at all, instead focused all of her energy on healing the shark-man... again. She wondered if she'd ever have the chance to heal a normal person ever again. She tried not to think any further lest her mind dig into recent events which she'd rather forget forever.

"I'm tired."

Kisame was roused from his mental musings at the girl's voice. He had been enjoying her chakra-induced healing a bit too much apparently, because he was caught off guard when she spoke. He shifted a bit and inhaled deeply, testing out his lungs. There was a slight hitch, but overall, he felt much better. Unsure of what to say he just nodded at her stiffly.

Sakura brushed her hands awkwardly against his chest and put them in her lap, making a move to go back to her original spot a few feet away from him. It was dark and he could barely make out the outline of her body, faintly backlit by the moon in the distance. A familiar green aura once again lit up from where she sat.

'Oh, the ankle.'

"You're free to go, kunoichi," Kisame spoke, aware of the clarity of his voice.

He heard the faint rustle of his coat's fabric from her position as she shifted, green glow unwavering. Sakura said nothing.

Kisame picked Samehada off of the floor and thrust it into the ground next to him. He leaned back against the rock and prepared to rest. He listened for the scrambling of feet in the distance, but they went unheard.


A/N: Hey guysss... I hope you liked this chapter as much as I did :D I'm hoping the events aren't too confusing for people, like the whole Sasuke/ Madara situation. Unlike the anime, Sasuke basically goes to Kisame for confirmation/extra info after Madara tells him Itachi's story. So yeah if anyone has questions about the plot and how much I like to fuck with it, let me know lol. Oh, also, since I'm pretty unobservant sometimes, I forgot that Sasuke's Taka group was composed of FOUR people, not THREE, so I had to change some stuff in the last chapter to make it make sense- so if you read back and were confused at the sudden change from 3 to 4, now you know why.

I also hope I'm making both Sakura and Kisame in character, since it's one of my biggest pet peeves to read my favourite characters totally OOC - especially the Akatsuki.

Anyway, enjoy this one and thanks again for your sexy reviews *heart*

EDIT: sorry for fucking up the chapter upload earlier!