A/N: Hey everyone, it's Tyranno's girl here with her latest update titled: 'The Late as All Hell/The Writer is pissed off' Edition.
Why am I pissed off? Three reasons:
One, SKYWARD SWORD CAME OUT AND I CAN'T BUY IT! * sobs uncontrollably *
Two, Literally like three chapters after I wrote a Christmas-themed update, Equestria Daily releases info that there will be a Christmas-themed episode. FFUUUU-!
And three, This chapter (if we can call it that) is so short. It just screams 'Tyranno's girl didn't have enough time to write a chapter this week because she has to write two essays and cook Thanksgiving dinner. Yay.'
Okay, okay I'm calm now...
Don't hate me... I really do appreciate the readers and the reviewers... FMJ26, elric0sis, Lyrics-For-The-Mind, Zetsu's Rose, YaoiPhox, Alexa Hiwatari, izzy1229anime... Thank you all so much...
(Maybe I'll make it up with a double-update next week, but for now... Here you go. I'm so ashamed...)
Kisame walked into the kitchen of his house on the last, sunny morning of February. He was surprised to see Mizuki sitting at the counter: tormenting Hun with a strip of bacon that he kept just out of the hell-dog's reach.
"Hey you two," The shark-demon smiled as he started a cup of coffee for himself, "You're down here pretty early."
"We have Musketeering to do today!" Hun explained, lunging for the elusive bacon yet again, just to fall out of reach.
"So we needed to eat breakfast early so that we can meet up with the others."
"Um, before you guys head out," Kisame cleared his throat, "Mizuki, I need to tell you something."
"Can't it wait baka-same?" Mizuki frowned, giving a slight huff as Kisame conked him on his head for that wisecrack. The shark began,
"I've told you to stop saying that," Before he sighed and started again, "Actually…"
The ocean waves conversed among themselves as they crashed against each other and against the sandy pink beaches of Coral Island. On said beach, Kisame was lying on a blanket, Itachi lying next to him. "I'm beginning to regret my choice." Kisame's voice stated out of the blue. Immediately, Itachi shot up and asked,
"Why? Kisame, you've been shaping your entire life up to this!"
"I know, but…" The bluenette sighed as he sat up, "I'm just thinking of how Mizuki will handle this. We've never been apart for more than a day before and when I told him this morning that I would be gone a year…"
"NO!" Mizuki screamed, clutching at Kisame's leg. Needless to say, Kisame was shocked at this behavior: the otter-demon was usually so distant. "Baka-same, you can't run away from me! Too many people already have!"
"Mizuki-kun," Hun whispered before trying to pull the otter-demon away, "He's not going away forever. Calm down—"
"NO!" Mizuki shouted again, keeping a tight hold. "You aren't leaving!"
"Come on, cut it out." Kisame smiled before tugging the child away and holding him up. "I'm not going to be gone for long." Mizuki struggled a bit until he gave a heavy sigh. He then looked up, glaring daggers up into the shark's eyes as he asked,
"And what is your definition of long?"
"We already discussed this;" Itachi shook his head; "Mizuki and Naruto are going to be staying with me and Sasuke while you're gone."
Meanwhile, across town, Sasuke flew through the air in dragon-form, whooping, "I am a very happy dragon~!"
"Yeah, about that…" Kisame cleared his throat.
"Wait, what?" Sasuke yelped, feeling his happy aura plummet.
"I've just been thinking," Kisame began again, "It would be kind of cumbersome to move all of Mizuki's furniture and stuff to the library, so…" Itachi blinked,
"So..?"
He was answered when Kisame reached into his pocket and brought out a blue key attached to a golden chain. "For the house," He explained, "If it's not too much trouble, since I already asked you and Sasuke keep an eye on it." It took Itachi a moment before he realized,
"Oh. Oh! Would really be okay for me and Sasuke to stay there?"
"It's more than okay! It would actually make me feel a lot better, actually." After the key had changed hands, Kisame lay back down and sighed, "To think that I won't see this place for an entire year."
"Quit that," "You're making this harder than it should be." The weasel-demon was suddenly over-taken by a surge of braveness. He rolled over on the blanket until his body rested on top of the bluenette, laying his head against his broad chest and lightly grazing his nails over it. A content sigh passed through his lips,
"I've never noticed how nice it feels… right here."
"Itachi, quit being so cute!" Kisame laughed, not moving from his spot, "It's like you're securing me here to this very spot with that attitude!" It was at that moment that Kisame blinked and spoke, very calmly, "Itachi, look at me for a second."
"What is it?" He yelped when a bright flash caught him by surprise. Kisame chuckled at the sight, readjusting the camera in his hands. "Honestly?" Itachi sighed, Kisame nodding,
"To remember you by."
"Well, wouldn't it be better to have a picture of me smiling rather than me looking like an idiot?" Itachi asked before standing up and walking to the edge of the beach where water met sand. At that moment, the sun had begun to set over the horizon. The twilight that ensued was creating a beautiful glow and as Itachi stood in front of it, it created the perfect photo-op that Kisame was more than happy to take advantage of.
The ship was due to leave from Adamant Coliseum at 6:30 sharp. The group had assembled at the landmark early to see their friend off. Kisame's parents had rushed down as well, Mizuko asking, "Are you sure you packed everything?"
"Yes mother…" Kisame nodded, hoping that Naruto had packed his bags right while he was gone.
"I can't believe this day finally came," Kakuzu began, "It's going to be odd not being bothered by you every day –" The stitch-demon chuckled as Hidan hit him in the back of the head, insisting,
"By which he means that he's going to miss you." They all laughed a bit before Kisame walked over to Itachi and looked down to see Mizuki frowning.
"You're still mad at me aren't you?"
"What was your first clue?" Mizuki huffed. But he shook his head and then added, "And I'll be even madder if you don't come back, so you'd better come back!"
"Of course," Kisame chuckled, ruffling the small otter-demon's hair, "I wouldn't want to incur your wrath, oh mighty otter-san…"
"Baka-same…" Mizuki shook his head before walking over to the other children.
After a while of talking and watching the Royal Guard members pack luggage and supplies onto the splendid ivory ship, Nokoru asked his son, "So, have you heard from Zabuza and Raiga yet?" Kisame nodded: those two had entered a small fighting competition two seas over to see if they could get into the Royal Guard that way. "If all goes right, they should be here in 3… 2… 1…"
"Hoshigaki!" Two voices suddenly shouted before Kisame was tackled to the floor by his cousin Zabuza and friend Raiga. "So," Zabuza spoke as he helped the bluenette up, "You ready for this?"
"Like you wouldn't believe!" Kisame smiled before noticing that the two hadn't come alone. There was a teen with long brown hair, matching rabbit-ears, and a face that would make one think they were a perfect girl, and beside them was a younger teen, a coral-demon with lavender hair and wide eyes of the same hue. "These must be Haku and Ranmaru! Oh, I've heard nothing but good things about you two from these guys!" Though they were both immensely shy, you could tell just from looking at them, Haku bowed and stated,
"It's a pleasure to meet you all."
"Someone's been hitting the jailbait…" Hidan whispered to Kakuzu, receiving a cuff to the head. Introductions were made, jokes were shared. Then, abruptly, all side conversations ceased. The cause was Sanbi walking up on stage, Rokubi standing to the side as the shark-deity began his speech.
"Ladies and gentleman," Sanbi addressed everyone, "Let me first say, thank you for coming to see your friends and loved ones off. The journey that we are about to embark on is a long, arduous one. And though I would love to promise that each and every one of you will make it home… I was not born to be a liar." There was a sudden hush over the crowd before Sanbi then stated, "The ship will depart in the next ten minutes. I suggest that all farewells are made within that time."
"Oh Zabu…" Haku sighed as he helped the dark-haired shark-demon get his bag. All at once, Ranmaru began sobbing: tears staining his face as he cried,
"Raiga-san, please don't leave!"
"Hey!" The harpy gulped as the coral-demon fell into his arms, "Don't you start crying, or else…" He sniffled, tears falling from his eyes, "Or else I'll start too~!"
The coliseum was filled with an upsurge of murmurs and speech, most of the demons there could barely hear themselves think…
Aside from the shark-demon and weasel-demon in the center of all the chaos: standing close to one another, only conscious to themselves…
"This really is it isn't it?" Kisame whispered, Itachi nodding,
"Yeah, it is." They stood there for a moment, foreheads touching against each other: a simple touch, but so much emotion being held within the action. The gongs on the boat crashed again, more people walking onto the ship that would take them to a brand new horizon…
"Don't forget about me…" Kisame whispered before he tilted Itachi's head up a bit, brushing his lips against the brunette's, "I don't know what I would do if I managed to come back… And you weren't here waiting for me." They shared another brief kiss before Itachi gently stated,
"That's a double-sided argument: if you manage to get yourself hurt out there, I would never forgive you."
The gongs sounded again, their sound firm and absolute. After their lips met once more, Kisame tried to take a step away… Just to come back and wrap Itachi up in a bruisingly tight embrace. Finally, the gongs echoed throughout the air… And Kisame let go, walking with Zabuza and Raiga onto the ivory ship.
At the same time, Sanbi had very begrudgingly left Rokubi's side. The two deities never had their farewells in public: they had decided, long ago, that the emotions that would flare up whenever they separated were not to be seen by public eyes.
As soon as the white-haired deity was on board, he gave the command for Conch to start the boat. The gongs rang one final time before the majestic cruiser began to move through the waters, slowly picking up speed as time went on.
All across the deck, the applicants to the Royal Guard waved and shouted out to their loved ones while they were still in eye-sight.
A whole year… Those still in the coliseum would have to wait to see their loved ones again for an entire year….
And even then, only some of them would come back wearing the garb of the Royal Guard… Only a few of them would have achieved their life-long dreams…
"Come back to me Kisame…" Itachi whispered as the ship vanished on the horizon, "No matter what happens, you had better come back to me…"
A/N:
* shakes head * I don't even know. If it wasn't too bad, if you could please leave a review, it would be MOST appreciated. Thanks for reading!
-Tyranno's girl.
