Story 2: The Little Mershark

Chapter 3:

The sun was beginning to rise in earnest when Kisame finally heard the voice that would confirm he had found the right ship.

"Father, are you still determined to make this voyage?" Itachi said, and earnest tone of worry in his voice. "Shisui has been reading the water and he says-"

"Shisui knows better than to question my judgment. I know what I am doing, Itachi. Go help the others load the last of the cargo. We are already behind schedule."

Just hearing his voice makes Kisame sure this journey was worth it. He wonders why he never thought of doing this before then remembers how Kakuzu would patronize him endlessly for going this far just for some meaningless human. But Itachi wasn't meaningless—not to Kisame.

It was not long after overhearing Itachi's conversation with his father that Kisame heard the elder Uchiha's voice ring out over the side of the ship, signaling that it was almost time for them to depart. He watched as the last of the crew boarded the ship then raised the anchor and began slowly drifting from the docks and out to sea.

Kisame swam after the ship; his feelings as confused and conflicted as the waves churning inconsistently around him. He was very glad he thought to follow Itachi on this voyage. Something about it just screamed that it was the right idea, the right thing to do. On the other hand, the voyage itself and the danger it posed to Itachi made Kisame both worried for Itachi's safety and angry with Itachi's father for deciding to go out to sea when there were many signs showing that doing such was an altogether bad idea.

Swimming after the ship proved far more difficult than Kisame had imagined—but only in the beginning. The first few hours of the voyage led him along the shore until the Captain, Itachi's father, found the right coordinates to set them on the right track. As soon as the land left his sight, Kisame found the ship easier to follow, the water smoother, and the air much warmer than it had been at the docks.

This deepened Kisame's worry, for he could feel the cold air from the shore pushing at his back and cradling the red sails of the ship as it steered into the warmer air—a confrontation between such temperatures on the open seas could prove deadly if you weren't lucky.

And they would need to be very lucky. Being part fish, Kisame had innate senses about the temper of the water—and the water didn't seem to be in a very good mood.

He scanned the surface and saw nothing but flat ocean stretching on for miles, but as soon as he dove under he could feel a bubbling current of anticipation of something that made him want to take Itachi away from that ship and his father and to someplace safe.

Unfortunately, all Kisame could do was continue swimming after the ship as wafts of air carried Itachi's scent back to him over the splashing waves.

He followed The Red Fan throughout the day and the weather took neither a turn for better or worse, but Kisame was still not appeased. As the sun began to set and the stars came out, shining vibrantly in the black sky that seemed to never end, The Red Fan slowed so that the captain and his navigator could use the stars positions to verify that they were on the right track. Kisame was fairly grateful for this. Though he wasn't exactly tired—he still had enough energy to carry him for another week or so—a rest was nice. He took to lazily flicking his tail and circling the ship. The round, circular motions were calming and very enjoyable. Swimming in a circular pattern is a habit present in most sharks. Something about their minds find delight in it, and Kisame was no exception. As The Red Fan drifted slowly through the black water reflecting the entire Milky Way he dove beneath the ship, circling underwater before quietly returning to the open air—just in time to hear Itachi's name being spoken from the deck of the ship.

"Itachi!" the voice called out light-heatedly. "What are you doing looking off into the distance so glumly? Come join the rest of us by the fire. Have a laugh. Have a drink."

Kisame's heartbeat quickened and he glanced up at the edge of the deck just in time to see a black ponytail flit out of sight. There were a few sounds of surprise and Kisame guessed that Itachi had chosen to take up this person's offer because the next moment it was Itachi's voice that was drifting over the side of the ship and down to Kisame's waiting ears.

"Asuma," he began in the monotone he slipped into whenever he wasn't at his special dock. "What do you know about Merpeople?"

A few voices let out curious or intrigued remarks in response to this question but Kisame felt his heart skip a beat. He barely heard this mysterious Asuma's reply when it came:

"Merpeople, huh? As a sailor it's impossible not to know of them, and even harder not to believe in them just a little. I haven't met a sailor alive who's never seen one—or at least claims he's seen one." A pause. "There isn't much to know about them, of course. Damn near impossible to find. They're magic, most of them. Or poisonous. Same difference, really, because the poison they have'll make them seem like magic. You start seeing things and… feeling things—"

"You sound like you've met one," Itachi muttered lowly.

Asuma's reply was softer than Itachi's question and came filled with memory and emotion. Kisame could practically see it as Asuma described it:

"Ay, and she was definitely poisonous. I could tell by her eyes—bright red. She had a flashing red tail to match and pitch-black hair that swirled around her as she floated in the water. This wasn't too long ago, mind you. I was just twenty when it happened. See, I don't usually like to go swimming. I see enough of the ocean as it is; but, it was hot that day—blistering—and the water looked so cool.

"I found a lagoon, a nice deep pool, shaded and secluded, a good distance from the village. I dove in, only to find that it was much deeper than I originally though it would be—and that's when I saw her.

"She didn't give me a second to think before she was on me, eyes flashing. She was smiling though I couldn't see it. I only realized it when I felt the corners of her red lips turn up as she kissed me. After that, all I can remember are strange poison dreams of us dancing through the water together. When I woke up I was nearly drowning and she was long gone."

It was very quiet on the deck for a moment, all Kisame could hear were the waves crashing against the side of the ship he was pressed against. Finally, a long whistle broke the silence and a few of the men who had also been listening to Asuma's story laughed. A slight argument broke out amongst those who believed strongly in Asuma's story and those who doubted. Kisame could tell that all those who doubted were the younger sailors. The elders each seemed to have a story about a time they swear they saw or interacted with a mermaid. It quieted down again after a few minutes and Asuma spoke again, directing a question towards Itachi.

"Not that I mind, Itachi, but I'm curious about why you asked that question. You don't seem the type to be interested in merpeople or fairytales."

Itachi paused before he replied in a voice that seemed, to Kisame, to be very distant, "I though I saw one the other day, that's all."

Just as Kisame thought frantically, he did see me the other day! I was careless! Itachi added as an afterthought,

"But the tail looked more like a shark's than a fish's…"

"Then what you saw was a mershark. You had better be careful."

This was a new voice. To Kisame and also, it seemed, to the crew on the deck. Asuma appeared happy this newcomer was joining them though, as he said enthusiastically,

"Kakashi! Finally decided to join the party!"

"Sorry I'm late. I was trying to make sure we actually arrived at the correct destination."

It seemed Asuma was going to say something in reply, but the next voice Kisame heard was Itachi's.

"What did you mean about being careful? Are there such things as mersharks?"

"As sure as merpeople are real, mersharks are as well. Sure, there isn't as much lore on them as on beautiful mermaids, but the myths that focus solely on mersharks are very specific in their descriptions."

Kakashi seemed to be purposefully taunting Itachi with his words. He was obviously leaving out the most important bit of information—the bit that he found clearly amusing. A few of the elder sailors who knew to what he was referring chuckled lightly.

"What do their descriptions say?" Itachi gave not a glimmer of annoyance or even much thought through his tone. Kakashi answered anyway, as more of the sailors started in laughing.

"They say that male mersharks are best known for seducing human men. They never attack women and once they have their way with their male victim, he's left to drown in the middle of the ocean.

"You know," Kakashi said in a fake thoughtful tone. "I actually thought I noticed a shark swimming after the ship this morning. I didn't get a good enough glance but it could be a mershark. Better watch out, Itachi. It could be after you."

Kisame and, it seemed, everyone else on the deck held their breath's waiting for Itachi's reply. Kisame felt as though he couldn't think. Finally, over the side of the ship came a quiet,

"Hn."

The crew laughed, but Kisame was appalled. Not only had he let Itachi see him, he was seen following the ship by some random sailor. He dove beneath the sea to clear his head.

The myth about male mersharks seducing men was nothing new to Kisame. He'd heard it many times—and knew exactly where the myth came from.

Most merpeople did. The story wasn't anything secret; everyone liked to give their personal opinion about it whenever it came up in conversation.

The reason humans thought male mersharks preyed on men was because in the past one did. His name was Zabuza The Demon and he lived almost half a century ago. Kisame had just been born when everyone heard about Zabuza The Demon's demise, but it was a few years after that—once Kisame was old enough to understand—that he first heard of the reason for this great mershark's tragic end.

Even before he preyed on a human he was known as a demon—if only for his sheer size and ferocity. Kisame would seem like piranha next to Zabuza. He was wanted in more than one area for murder of merpeople of all kinds and because of it, took to hunting and living closer to the shores than most. That was probably where he met the young man he eventually stole from the land, dragged out to the middle of the ocean, then presumably killed, only to die himself a few moments later of mysterious causes.

Thinking about the story now, Kisame faintly wondered whether Zabuza was in love with this human boy that he took from the land. There were a few variations of the myth that seemed to suggest that. The same variations that have the young human, an orphan whose name was Haku, go willingly out to sea with Zabuza, knowing full well that he would most likely die. In that version of the story, Zabuza's death comes about of his own volition. Though not the most popular version of the story (and clearly not the version the crew on the ship above were privy to), it was always the version Kisame preferred above all the others.

Now that he knew that Zabuza's story had created a myth even humans knew, Kisame hoped more than ever that his favorite version of the story was the one that was ultimately true. At least a love story would be better than Zabuza actually taking a young boy from the land and having his way with him out at sea before ultimately leaving him to die. Kisame groaned lowly to himself when he thought about how this myth made him look in all human's—and most importantly, Itachi's—eyes.

Was he trying to seduce Itachi and have his way with him? Though it was only a myth about one mershark in particular, the humans seemed to think it referred to all male mersharks, which would include Kisame.

He didn't think he wanted to have his way with Itachi.

Then he remembered Itachi's scent, and the exact color of his skin, those two eyes, as dark as the deepest valleys of the ocean, and that voice; if only Kisame could hear that voice calling out his name. He licked his lips and could do nothing else for the rest of the evening but frantically circle the ship, thinking of nothing but the fact that Itachi had seen him. Maybe it was time for him to stop hiding in the shadows underneath the dock…

The rest of the night passed quietly as the crew made their way to the barracks to sleep. The most interesting thing to happen was when Itachi leaned over the side of the ship for about fifteen minutes, staring at nothing but the wood of the ship and the waves Kisame was sure it was too dark to see properly. Without a word, the young Uchiha turned from the railing of the ship and presumably went down into the barracks to sleep. He was the last one to do such, at least that was what Kisame assumed because when he had been standing there the deck was completely silent.

So distracted was Kisame by the turn of the conversation that evening, he didn't even notice the slight shifts in the weather; shifts he most certainly would have noticed if he were not lost in thought about more abstract things.

By morning his head cleared enough so he began to notice. The sun rose behind thick, dark clouds that filled the sky and turned the rapidly churning sea a sickly green that made even Kisame's stomach churn—though mostly out of fear. Not fear for his own safety; fear for Itachi's.

The crew aboard The Red Fan woke to a similar fear. The shouting started just before sunrise, just as the wind picked up the sails and Kisame had to begin racing after the ship as it cruised forward even closer to the menacing weather ahead of them.

"Wake up! Everybody on deck! Now!"

Kisame recognized Fugaku Uchiha's voice. The captain would, of course, wake his crew and begin preparations for what all sailors knew would be a rough—if not deadly—ride.

"Kakashi, Take the wheel! Shisui, you gather men to fortify the sails!"

"Yes, Captain!" A surprisingly gentle voice, Kisame assumed it belonged to Shisui, replied to Fugaku and then took to yelling names and orders over towards the opposite side of the ship.

"Kagami! Setsuna! Hikaku! Tie up the sails before the wind hits! Hurry!" Though his voice was full of authority, it seemed strange for him to be yelling when a more gentle tone would definitely suit him better.

"Itachi!" Fugaku called, drawing Kisame's attention away from Shisui. "Get up to the crow's nest and tell me how bad it is."

"Yes, Sir," Itachi replied. Kisame swam a bit farther from the ship so he could watch Itachi climb high onto the mast. It only took the young Uchiha a moment to reach the top. Kisame thought he seemed to fit up there, his long black hair billowing in the wind, making it look as though real crows were fluttering about around his head. As soon as he got his bearings he began describing in epic detail the cloud patterns he could see in the distance. Kisame saw Fugaku curse then run to the wheel of the ship and take over for Kakashi, calling back up to Itachi as he went,

"Stay there and keep me informed about the storms movements!"

"Yes, Sir," Itachi replied again, his eyes trained perfectly on the clouds in the distance.

Only they weren't so much in the distance anymore. Every moment they got closer and closer. Kisame could see lighting already dipping almost into the sea and he shivered. If that lightning struck the ship, the first place hit would be the mast. The crow's nest. Itachi.

Kisame wanted to scream at Itachi. Tell him to get down, get down and go deep inside the ship and hide, protect himself until the storm subsided, but he knew he couldn't do anything but watch and pray.

Cold wind barraged the ship and though it would be easier for him to wait out the storm far beneath the waves, Kisame couldn't bear to save himself when Itachi was in such eminent danger. Rain started to pour. As calm as the weather was the day before, it was probably more than double as rough now that the storm caught up with them.

Kisame knew the storm was coming! And so had Itachi! He remembered hearing him ask his father to postpone the mission because Shisui had read the waves and seen the bad weather as well. Why hadn't Fugaku listened!

Kisame promised himself that if Itachi were to die because of his foolish father's stubbornness, he would find a way to very violently eat the man.

The rain and wind both picked up immensely in the next ten minutes and the crew was still running around the ship, checking and double-checking that everything was as secure as they could make it. Itachi called down to his father every few minutes with updates on what he could see but Fugaku never ordered him to come down from the dangerous crow's nest. Until, finally, lightning crashed about a mile from the ship—far too close for comfort.

"Itachi! Come down from there and help Asuma tie down these barrels!"

Kisame saw Itachi nod and just as he was about to climb out of the nest, the waves crested and tipped the ship nearly horizontal. Kisame watched with horrified eyes as Itachi held onto the railing of the crow's nest for dear life. After this first attack of the waves, the water did not give the ship a second to settle. The harsh waves rocked it back and forth, sending untied barrels over the side and into the sea. Shisui sent half of the men down into the relative safety inside the ship, looked up desperately for a way to help Itachi, then ran to Fugaku's side to help him and Kakashi wrestle with the wheel as it was conquered by the wave's overpowering might.

Lighting struck again—closer this time—and the rumble of the thunder was louder even than the crashing of the water again the side of the ship. Bits of the railing began to break off as the water chipped away at them. Fugaku and Shisui turned their attention to Itachi, still trapped in the crow's nest, unable to try and climb down for fear of falling onto the hard deck. Kisame had never taken his eyes off Itachi and with every pulse of a wave his panic just grew. If Itachi fell, there was a good chance he would be dead on contact.

Another strike of lighting. Fugaku called something to Itachi and he nodded as he began climbing over the side of the crow's nest carefully.

"No," moaned Kisame. This was a bad idea. But he knew why Fugaku ordered it. The lighting was getting closer and Itachi wouldn't stand a chance if it hit him.

Itachi very carefully started making his way down the mast. He went slow and stopped moving, holding on for dear life when the ship jerked particularly hard. But the going was slow, and it was only getting more dangerous and difficult as the moments went by.

The ropes he was using were wet, and the waves suddenly pushed the ship into the air. When it crashed back into the sea, Itachi lost his grip and was barely able to hold on with one hand.

Lighting filled the sky in front of Kisame and for a split second he could see nothing but white, then the air cleared, and as the thunder pounded in his ears, saw Itachi lose his grip completely, just as the waves turned the ship horizontal again, and he fell into the sea.

Everything was silent, then something—water, blood, both—pounded in Kisame's ears. He dove beneath the water, but not far enough to escape the terrible force of the storm. But there was no other way! Going deeper into the water would waste time and he couldn't bear to waste a second when one second could mean Itachi's last breath.

It felt like it took eons for Kisame to make it back near the ship; the water fought him every bit of the way, but the bottom of the boat was in sight, rocking up and down on the waves above. He scanned the water with the keen eyes of a predatory animal, seeing through the foggy blackness to the churning waters around the ship that he knew Itachi had fallen into. Panic set in when, at first, he didn't see the young Uchiha anywhere below the ship. Only when he looked up did he see a pair of legs connected to a body that was desperately trying to stay afloat among the crashing and rolling waves. He had to be impressed with Itachi; most other people who fall from a moving ship would start to drown as soon as they hit the choppy water. Now was the perfect time for Kisame to rescue him. He would never last staying afloat for an extended period of time, and Kisame would not allow Itachi to drown.

Yet he hesitated, floating just 25 feet below where Itachi was struggling to stay where there was oxygen for him to breathe.

If Kisame approached Itachi now, while he was still conscious, the only thing it would do would be to make Itachi panic, believing the mythical mershark was taking advantage of his weakness in order to have his way with him.

In all honesty, as he waited there, ruminating over the situation—Kisame considered that option.

Then, before he could come to a final decision about what to do, Itachi's legs stopped moving. He sunk so fast Kisame barely flicked his tail before the young Uchiha was resting in his arms and the strong mershark was hauling him back towards the air so he would be able to breathe. As soon as he breeched the surface of the water and heard a gasping breath from the surprisingly light body in his arms, Kisame realized just how panicked he had been in those few moments when Itachi seemed unconscious.

The young Uchiha was still gasping as rain poured down on his face, and it seemed breathing was all he had the strength to do. He let his head fall back on Kisame's chest and those rich, black eyes seemed to just faintly register what it was he was seeing when they closed and he passed out, his chest only rising and falling the tiniest bit—just enough to show that he was still alive. Kisame just had enough time to feel the warmth of Itachi's body against his before the waves began to rage against him and he knew he would have to take Itachi somewhere with dry land or he would die for sure.

It was so much harder than Kisame ever imagined it would be. He had thought about a possibility of having to swim with Itachi in order to save him, but he hadn't thought about it realistically. Now, with Itachi's weight constantly trying to pull him under every second, his arms and tail both screaming from the effort of swimming as fast as he could, he wished he'd though about it more. Should he have tried to carry Itachi back to the ship? He might have, if the ship hadn't been gone by the time he started looking around for it. Now all he could do was continue to swim. Swim until he passed out and sunk below the water, unable to keep Itachi above and leaving him to drown.

After a few hours, in which time the rain did not cease, Kisame began to pray for an island, or a ship, something he could leave Itachi on so that he could rest. He was already tired from chasing the ship all day previously, and swimming above water for too long a period wasn't good for him.

He was starting to cough, and he would slip beneath the waves from time to time but he knew that did nothing positive for Itachi. And, maybe it was just his imagination, but the young man's breathing seemed to be getting fainter the longer they swam. He needed to rest just as much as Kisame did.

After the sun came out, he realized how grateful he had been for the rain. In the sun he became dehydrated much more quickly, and the warm air disagreed with him, increasing his constantly growing desire to quit exponentially.

Every time he had the thought of quitting he would look down at Itachi's face, would feel the shape of his body against his own, and his strength would return—but that could not last forever.

When Itachi awoke, the last things he could remember were a bright, blinding light, the sensation of falling, and the blurred image of a face he didn't recognize.

His eyes were closed but he could tell that it was bright and would be unpleasant if he opened them. He was hot, but his clothes were moist, as though in the process of drying. He was terribly thirsty and hungry.

He felt cold, hard rock beneath him; wet from the water he felt slapping against his legs. He took a deep breath and, with all his strength, flipped himself over so he was facing the rock. Now the sun was not as bright against his eyelids, but he was even more exhausted than before. As he took another deep breathe, his nose filling with nothing but the smell of salt water all around him, he started to drift unconscious again.

The next time he awoke it was no longer painfully bright, but his stomach and throat were both as empty and dry as before. He could barely move, but he knew that if he fell asleep again he would not wake up a third time. Gritting his teeth, he pulled himself into a sitting position and opened one eye at a time. Though the sun was setting, alighting the sky a lovely mix of pinks and oranges, it still took a moment for his eyes to adjust. His eyelids felt as heavy as two metal barrels when he lifted them, but somehow he managed and finally got a look at where he was.

It was a rock, as he had presumed, in the middle of the ocean. All around was nothing but flat, blue water reflecting the setting sun—soon to be reflecting the evening stars. As soon as Itachi began to loose hope about finding something to eat or drink, he saw that on the far edge of the rock, closest to the water, was placed a coconut, a banana, and a large, deep shell filled with clear water.

Curious but cautious, Itachi approached the items. First, the banana. He picked it up, staring at it in his hand just long enough before his hunger overcame his caution and he peeled it and ate it slowly. He knew not to rush threw eating; he wasn't sure how long it had been since he'd last eaten and he didn't want to get sick.

After the banana he eyed the coconut, his dry throat reminding him that coconuts have milk inside them that would be good to drink, and just as he reached for his knife to cut it open he noticed the shell filled with water again. A thought occurred to him, and he wondered if it was even possible.

Lifting the shell with both hands carefully up to his lips, he let the tiniest trickle of water fall onto his lips. He licked them and was surprised to find that the water was not salty, but fresh, as though from a spring. He drank all the water in the shell as slowly as he'd eaten the banana and as soon as he was finished, began to feel some of his strength return. He could now think much more clearly about his situation and what had happened to land him in it.

He remembered everything clearly, even after his fall. He remembered hitting the water, the shock of it, suddenly being submerged in frigid, crashing waves. And he remembered trying to stay afloat amidst the tumbling water, with rain pounding all around and lightning striking the air above his head. Things got fuzzy when he lost the stamina to keep himself above the water and began to sink. He remembered, very faintly, being held and pulled back to the surface. And the face.

He remembered a face.

It was so blurry—he'd been so close to death in the moment—that Itachi couldn't be positive about the face's features, but he was sure he'd never seen anyone like it before. Itachi had an idea of the identity of the mysterious face—but he couldn't be sure because if it was whom he suspected then it didn't make sense that he was still alive, abandoned on this rock.

Well, not entirely abandoned. Someone had brought him food and somehow managed to get clean drinking water to a rocky island in the middle of the ocean. Someone was looking out for him. Possible the same someone who saved him from drowning—but that still wouldn't make sense!

Itachi took another deep breath, stood, and turned slowly to look 360 degrees around the rock. All he saw in all directions was water, and nothing more. He went to the edge of the rock, where the food had been left, and stared into the clear water, but there was nothing to see.

And yet, Itachi couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.

He took out a knife that he carried with him at all times and set to cutting open the coconut, drinking the milk and then scooping out the meat inside. Once he was finished he sat on the rock, staring off to the West, where the sun was setting over the horizon. He sat like that until the moon was in the middle of the night sky, then he lay down and fell asleep.

The next day when he awoke he looked over the same edge of the rock and saw more food, and the shell from the day before once again filled to the brim with clear water. His curiosity and hope grew. If fresh water was brought to him as he slept, then the place the fresh water came from couldn't be too far away. Maybe it was even close enough for him to swim too!

But how would he know which direction to start swimming in? If only the mysterious person leaving the food and water would appear before him and show him the way, maybe he would stand a chance of surviving this abandonment—but no one ever came. He spent another day staring hopelessly off into the distance, combing his fingers methodically through his long, black hair.

On the third day, Itachi decided to take matters into his own hands. If the mysterious person would not show himself on his own, Itachi would try asking. He drank the water, and just as he was about to try talking to the sea in the hope that whoever was helping him was listening, something in the distance caught his eye.

All thought of the mysterious person and the face from his memory vanished as the ship came into view, because this was a back ship with billowing, red sails—his father had searched for him, and found him!

Itachi began waving desperately, eternally thankful for his bright red shirt that would surely get the attention of the crew on the ship.

Sure enough, the ship kept coming closer and closer to him until it stopped a ways away. The crew on the deck was cheering down at him as Itachi dove into the water and swam until he was at the ship. Someone threw over a rope ladder and he climbed until he was on the deck. He felt several people hug him all at once, but he only saw one—Sasuke was there, hugging him closely. Itachi felt like he could cry. While sitting on that rock he thought he'd never get the chance to see his little brother again, but somehow he survived and could see Sasuke everyday.

While everyone on the ship was still cheering at the amazing survival and rescue of the beloved captain's son, The Red Fan sailed back towards the docks—not a soul noticed the flick of a tail slowly following after the ship as it made it's way home…

Woooo! So Itachi and Kisame finally met! ….Kinda.

Hey! Maybe next chapter they'll actually TALK! Won't that be exciting!

XD

KeikoPanda102