Chapter Eleven: Reasoning
Kisame's progress on making camp was slower than usual as he was deep in thought about the current situation involving him and his fellow travelers. Both Itachi and Mizuki had seemed to have changed somehow recently. It had seemed very subtle only a few days ago when the conversion was barely noticeable, but after Itachi had caught cold and recovered it had worsened to obvious extents. Neither of them seemed to speak much and almost seemed to intentionally avoid each other, which was a very conspicuous sign that something had happened between them. This suspicion brought great uneasiness to Kisame as he had already suspected before that there was a secret or two that they were keeping from him; their recent behavior only confirmed his thoughts. But now he had to configure what was wrong, which shouldn't have been too difficult for him to do. After all, it is not the events that change a person's disposition, but the knowledge of and reactions to the events. Therefore the source of the silence couldn't have been a squabble, for there was no ill feelings between them as far as Kisame could tell. However, whatever had happened could not have been anything good for both had been in serious thought for some time now, probably reflecting on whatever happened. And if this was the case, that meant that whatever was shared between them was of no miniscule proportions.
Lightly Kisame shook his head, banishing the fear that arose in his heart at these conclusions for they gave good grounds for supporting the one possibility that he worried about the most. Perhaps the way that they paid so much attention to each other before was no illusion of his judgment. Maybe the fact that Itachi wasn't being as cruel towards Mizuki as he should have been was truly an intentional act. And could it be that Mizuki herself was the reason for Itachi's newly discovered reserved manner?
Kisame's ally had changed since they had first captured the girl. Before she came into the picture, Itachi would simply go about his business as if he were alone, totally impervious to anyone else's presence. But with this Hizoku royalty his attitude became more careful and wary. Then again, maybe that was only to protect himself from her. She was, after all, his enemy more than she was Kisame's since Mizuki had only one reason to dislike the blue man. But as far as it went for Itachi, she had several reasons—two of them being that he was both Uchiha and Akatsuki, another being that they had gotten off to a particularly bad start.
On the other hand, she had seemed to forgive him for his first behaviors, so that shouldn't have been a problem. In fact, only a few days ago they had been acting very friendly at the lake—a little too friendly. Wait… The lake! Of course! That's when it had all started! Before Itachi had taken ill but after the swim trip, it had been ever so quiet between the two, even though not yet uncomfortable. Then there was what happened while his companion had been sick. Multiple times he had heard the brave rogue call out for that girl, who hardly left his side anyway. That was a clue right there! Beckoning Mizuki was a strange action considering their earlier mannerisms. What was even more intriguing was Mizuki's dedication to him and his recovery. They both wanted to be near the other in a time of struggle…
That's when Kisame's mouth dropped into a frown as a sudden realization came to him. 'No… it couldn't be…' he thought to himself as his gaze wandered over to Itachi, who was absentmindedly going through his work as his thoughts were clearly elsewhere, 'It's impossible.'
Unfortunately, the blue man's hopes were not settled as he noticed those red eyes glance up and look over to another form, which was resting at the edge of camp. Itachi stared over at her for an instant, and then did something unthinkable—something that Kisame thought him incapable of—Uchiha Itachi heaved a light sigh as he gazed upon the nearby woman, only to shake his head and return to his chore. Kisame's jaw dropped so far down that the tips of his sharp teeth were visible. This along with his blinking beady eyes went unseen and unnoticed by Itachi though, as he was preoccupied with his own ponderings. The shark's reaction was brought to his attention, however, when Kisame spoke to him. "Itachi-san…" he began, "Can we talk?"
So stopping his work, Itachi looked up and put on a face of innocence that Kisame would have actually fallen for if he did not believe so firmly in his suspicions. "What about?" Itachi returned as he straightened to face his friend.
"About you…" Kisame began as he tried to request information that was necessary to regain communication between the two partners, but unwanted by the man who did not want to discover a different side to the cold-blooded killer that he called his friend, "… and also Mizuki."
This caused Itachi's face to drop as he suddenly realized the depth of this discussion, having not expected that Kisame would ever even have so much as suspected such a private matter as he obviously was almost or completely aware of. Did he know? Or did he simply have good reason to suppose? Well, whatever the purpose for his inquiry, it wouldn't take long one way or another for Kisame to discover the truth. It was all Itachi could do to at least be decent to his ally and satisfy his curiosity as soon as possible. "Kisame-san…" Itachi said in a low voice before looking over to Mizuki and pausing, "Not here… She's a light sleeper."
And with that, Itachi began to walk away from the campsite where a temporarily dazed Kisame stood after hearing the last comment. "Please, gods… tell me that the reason that he knows that is totally unrelated to my theory," he said as he began to think the worst of the situation. Then he hastily followed after the other man, trying to catch up. But once a good distance away from camp, Itachi stopped and turned. "So, what do you know?" he questioned.
"I know that something is going on between you and Mizuki-chan that neither of you are talking about," Kisame answered as he calmly folded his arms, "So… what's up?"
Itachi ran a hand over his head as he exhaled heavily, preparing himself for what he was about to share. "She and I… we knew each other when we were young," he explained, "And I guess that she just brings out that old me."
"Well I certainly know that you're not the real you," Kisame agreed, "It seems that her very presence is making you go crazy!"
"I know, I know," Itachi replied as he sat down on a nearby log, "I can't help it! I guess there's part of me that still loves her… and it has been growing stronger every day since her being with us."
"Then you're just going to have to do something about-" Kisame began before cutting himself off after tuning in to one key word that Itachi had spoken, "Wait…. What do you mean still loves her? You mean, you were lovers when you were younger?"
"Sweethearts, so to speak," Itachi corrected, "If even that. We only knew each other for a few weeks before we were separated. I know it sounds juvenile and foolish but… those memories and feelings stuck with me through the years, no matter how many times I tried to rid myself of them or how close I came to abolishing them altogether."
"Itachi-san… you know that you can't do this, right?" Kisame pointed out, "You can't have her. You shouldn't even be having this problem. You've never given into other emotions before without a fight, so why this one?"
"I don't know. I just… don't want to."
"You have to though, or else it could get ugly!"
"Calm down, Kisame-san," Itachi told him, "You probably don't have anything to worry about. I can control myself well enough. Besides…" he trailed of as his heart seemed to drop as he prepared to admit the most terrible truth that he could ever believe, "I don't think she loves me anymore."
Suddenly, the misery in Itachi's voice and the depression on his face brought pity upon Kisame as he sympathized for his friend. "You don't know that," he tried to cheer, "Maybe she's just being smart and keeping it well hidden, unlike someone here."
"I don't know…"
"Well what gives you the idea that she doesn't return your feelings?" Kisame questioned, "I mean, she seems pretty affectionate of you from my point of view."
"Why do you say that?" Itachi interrogated suspiciously. Exactly how much did he really know? Could it really have been him who had thrown that kunai? It was possible... Who else could it have been?
"Like when you were sick... she never left your side. Not once. She was really worried about you."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. Then there was the whole… lake incident."
"So you did see us!" Itachi exclaimed out of near embarrassment, taking a step back in shock at hearing the truth out loud.
"Well, duh!" Kisame replied while rolling his eyes, "It's not like you guys were trying to hide. I think that you were just caught up in the moment."
"Well… uh…" Itachi began slowly as his mind went blank as he panicked to come up with a rational reply, "I would have stopped even if you hadn't thrown the kunai! I mean-"
"Kunai?" Kisame questioned with a raised eyebrow, "What kunai? There was no kunai."
"You mean… you didn't throw it?" Itachi asked with pure confusion.
"No…" Kisame replied, "Itachi-san… when was a kunai ever thrown while we were at that lake?"
"Well… after you left," he answered as he turned his back to hide from the questionnaire, "Someone threw a kunai at us after you left."
"Uh-huh… And… what exactly would you have stopped if it hadn't been thrown?" Kisame pressed as he circled around to stare at his opponent in the eye.
"Actually… The thing is… Well, you see…" Itachi stalled, trying to delay the facts, "It started out as a kiss and then I suppose things got… carried away…"
"Oh my gods, Itachi-san!" Kisame yelled at correctly assuming what had really happened, "How could you let that happen? Aren't you supposed to be unsparkable?"
"I am… but Mizuki-chan is a special exception," Itachi defended even though he too couldn't believe it himself, "I'm sorry but I just couldn't resist."
"So did she seduce you then, or was it your idea?"
"I can't believe I'm saying this but… I started it. The only thing she did to encourage me was kissing me."
Kisame's eyebrow arched as he looked over at Itachi in disbelief at the reply he received. "Oh, yes. Of course," he said with a strong sarcastic tone, "Because kissing always drives a man wild. How could you have possibly have resisted a little smoochy-poo?" Then his tone turned. "How could you do that, Itachi-san? You've been lying to me for… who knows how long!"
"Listen, I'm sorry I had to keep this from you, but I knew that you would only try to stop me-"
"And that would have been a bad thing?" Kisame cut in, "You can't go around developing emotional attachments to girls… especially prisoners! It makes you weak!"
"And what of you?" Itachi retorted, "You were the one who wanted to have her in the first place."
"Yes, but my intentions were purely physical, not emotional," Kisame replied with a tone that almost sounded embarrassed and ashamed of his goal, "I didn't go falling head over heels for her."
"Stop it," Itachi told him, "I can't help it. It is hard enough to earn my affections, but once they are earned, it is very easy to stir them. I've found that out now."
"Then we're going to have to do something about that little problem," Kisame pointed out as he began to calm down once again, "From now on, you are to not think of feeling romantically towards Mizuki-chan. Am I understood?"
"It won't be so easy as-"
"I said, 'Am I understood?'"
A silence rang out, filling the space between the repeated question and the reply which was given: "Yes. I will do my best."
"Good," Kisame nodded, "Now… What are we going to do about her feelings?"
"What?" Itachi asked, "What feelings?"
"Well, she obviously has a thing for you," Kisame pointed out indifferently, "Otherwise she wouldn't have almost let you have your way with her."
"First of all, I would hardly call it 'having my way with her'," he debated, "Second of all, I doubt that she even had feelings for me in the first place. I believe that any amorous thoughts that she ever had towards me recently were inspired by the mood of the moment. She never did have very much self-control."
"I see…" Kisame acknowledged, "Then she must have liked you at least a little in order for her emotions to have developed to such levels as they did."
"I suppose…" Itachi sighed, "But it was all a mistake anyways. Like me, she too is probably trying to forget everything. If anyone of us is taking this forbidden fruit seriously, it's her. You should have seen the way that she drew away from me that night…" He shook his head as he felt dishonor spread through his body, tainting him with regret. She had seemed so ashamed and embarrassed of what they were doing while he loved her enough to forget shame… That was the moment that he suspected that something was wrong.
"Well, I may not have seen you two, but someone else did," Kisame interrupted Itachi's thoughts, "You said someone threw a kunai, which is what stopped you, right?"
"That's right," Itachi recalled as he drew the lines together, "But if it hadn't been you, then who do you suppose it could have been?"
"Certainly not some passerby…" Kisame commented, "They wouldn't have gone far enough as to interfere. If anything they would have just left. No… it was someone who knew you needed to be stopped. It might have been someone from the organization…"
A wave of fear at this possibility crashed over Itachi as he was almost frozen by the idea that someone else from the Akatsuki could know about this. If they did, who knew what would be in store for him when they returned? After all, they were not the sort to tolerate such behavior as Kisame had thus far. Then again… what were the chances that it was one of his fellow villains? "And why would they be here?" Itachi questioned, hoping that the other man would have no good reason that the theory was true.
Of course, the shark always had suggestions for anything. "Who knows?" he replied, "There's plenty of reasons. They could coincidentally be around here on a mission… They could have gotten impatient for our return and come to find and check up on us... They could have had a message for us concerning the group's future efforts… The list goes on and on really."
A groan escaped Itachi's lips. "Then why didn't they just kill me then and there?" he asked as he hid his face in his hands.
"Oh, don't even get me started on that list," Kisame told him as apparently this one too was probably longer than Itachi's arm.
"Well here's a list that could be considerably shorter that I actually want to hear answers for…" Itachi began as he looked up to the sleuth, "Who else could it have been?"
"Hmm…" Kisame pondered, having a little more trouble with this request, much to Itachi's disappointment. With each moment that went by that there was not one answer, Itachi could feel his doom approaching via other Akatsuki members. Then, just before he was about to consider sticking a knife in himself, Kisame snapped his fingers as something clicked into his head. "Maybe someone who wasn't stopping you for your own sake, but hers."
"Explain please," Itachi requested as he felt his spirits lift a little at hearing that there could be another party involved, even though he should have been even more worried at the news.
"She's a princess right?" Kisame began, "So therefore, her overdue absence would certainly not go unnoticed by the others. I'm sure that a concerned father would send out search parties in a heartbeat if his daughter didn't return home within a reasonable amount of time. Someone from her tribe could have found you both and stopped you."
"Well then, why didn't they attack and try to rescue her?"
"I'm sure that they recognized you," Kisame went on as he slowly paced back and forth as he shared his deductions, "After all, you are an infamous enemy amongst her people. The must have known that they had no chance against you and left to get orders from the leader and/or bring back reinforcements. If that is the case, we should be expecting an attack…"
"Are you sure?" Itachi questioned, "They should know that no increasing of numbers would be able to defeat us."
"They certainly can't sit back and do nothing, though, can they?" Kisame corrected.
"But all they have to do is to wait for the opportune moment…" Itachi thought out loud as he stared at the ground.
"Like when?" Kisame asked a bit testily as he found his reasoning being refused.
That's when the Uchiha looked over to the shark, his eyes wide with concern as a thought came to mind. "Like when we've left her alone," he replied as he jumped up and hurried back to the camp, hoping that this wasn't the case. They had been so stupid! They shouldn't have ever left her alone! In fact, they should have been acting more like captors and less like escorts this entire time! Why had he let his feelings get in the way? If the others ever found out that they had captured and let escape the princess of one of their rival clans, both him and Kisame would certainly pay dearly for it!
And so, upon reaching the empty campground Itachi's fears were set to rest, even though both his curiosity and his concern were aroused as he saw Mizuki sitting in the middle of the camp… crying.
