Author's Note:

Yuzuki476: Thank you for reading my chapter!

MangekyouSharingan1234: Thanks for all the reviews! To answer a few of your qualms: yup, I know "Madara" = Obito, but the characters don't at this stage. To them, this is the feared Madara most of us thought he was when Shippuden's story was first being told. Whether Itachi and Kisame will come to know this knowledge remains to be seen. Also, the koto is a Japanese instrument with strings that sort of plays like a guitar on his back, just for context. Finally, "is Kisame not thinking clearly..." I hope that gets answered for you this chapter :)

XXX

Itachi Uchiha

XXX

The water surged over his feet as he danced over its surface over and over again. Dodging Kisame's wild and blunt-force attacks were easy enough, but there was no telling when he would finally act out and do something unpredictable-

"Water Style: Undersea Banquet!"

Like that. His balance was thrown off by the emergence of a sudden whirlpool that sucked him down, although he was able to maintain his footing on the water's surface still and glide along it as if balancing on a plank of wood. But he was not the only thing being dragged down: fish, sharks, and debris that floated in the lake were being corralled towards Kisame, who was at the epicenter-

His corrupted body clapped their hands together before spraying them outwards towards his partner. "Water Style: Super Shark Bomb Jutsu!"

The contents of the whirlpool were dragged around Kisame like a shimmering shield, only far more enormous than any suit of armor. Itachi, though being dragged down little by little. His eyes looked up into the shining ones of a watery shark, whose mouth he could tell, even without the Sharingan, was rapidly accumulating chakra. The pull was so large that his glasses, balanced precariously on his nose, were yanked off by the invisible force into the abyss-

"Kisame, stop this!" he shouted.

"RRRRIIIIIAR! RAAAAGGH, JUST A LIAR!"

Skirting along the whirlpool, he did a quick set of handsigns. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" But the moment the great ball of flame tried to leave his mouth, the chakra was sucked into the mouth of Kisame's jutsu. It absorbs? I've never seen him pull this jutsu out before- has he been even more skilled than he let on?

"YOU'RE ALL JUST LIARS! BRUMA, FUGUKI, MOTHER, FATHER-"

Itachi pulled out the last of his kunai and fixed them with explosive tags, mildly surprised they hadn't become dampened with the environment. The damage to him by merging with Samehada isn't just physical- it's unhinged him as well. How much of that is him, and how much is it Samehada?

"-THE MIZUKAGES, TUSINA, THE LEADER, AND YOU ITACHI! YOUUU-!"

He flung the paper bombs, but before they had even crossed half of the distance, Kisame's jutsu promptly exploded. The animals that had been dragged too close to it sprayed outward in a red glitterstorm upon a blue painting. An enormous current of chakra chaotically funneled outward in Itachi's general direction, but its aim was so off he didn't even have to dodge. It cut apart the lake and shot outward into the village and obliterated one of the houses. He winced, hoping a family had not gone inside-

Out of the explosion, Kisame suddenly barreled out with his claws bared. Itachi's eyes saw it coming easily even with the unexpectedness of it, and a foot gracefully swung out and slammed across the hybrid's right cheek. It sent Kisame stumbling wearily, but he remained upright and staggered into another flurry of vicious but uncoordinated strikes-

"Kisame!"

"RRRRAAAGHHH!"He swiped his hand again and the lake responded by drenching Itachi, washing away some of the blood that had clung to him. His eyes again saw the attempted subterfuge and his hand wrapped around the scaled, discolored wrist of his partner. He looked the other in the eyes, but there was little resemblance of Kisame in there.

Is he too far gone? How do I even begin to undo this?

He allowed Kisame's momentum to carry him forward and away and pounded his fist into the others' back-

His skin reacted by protruding spikes, much like Samehada did while within its bandages. He pulled back his hand before they could pierce his hand, backing away a firm league from the other.

Kisame abruptly collapsed onto all fours, blood and bile erupting from somewhere in his organs. I'm shocked he's able to even move like this, Itachi thought with something between respect and worry. Being used as the platform for a Summoning Jutsu of any size is always considered a guaranteed death because of the dimensional shift- because we'll have to tack that as to "was" because of you, won't we? Of course it would be you...

We said we'd do good things together, didn't we?

"RAAAAAAGHH! ITACHI UCHIHA, YOU BASTARDGHHHH!"

Itachi reflexively prepared for a strike, but Kisame was still far. He had at least turned to face him, but was only crawling towards him. As he did so, his skin seemed to bubble and hiss, steam escaping it and the spikes of Samehada emerging and retracting-

Like in the bandages. The sealing bandages!

"You! Uchiha!"

He turned and was surprised to see one of Hoshigake citizens approaching him, holding the very same bandages that had come into his mind. "They've already been branded with the necessary sealing jutsu by my wife," the man said hurriedly, flinging some of them to Itachi. He deftly caught them and was surprised at how soft they were. Even if to keep his blade contained, he made sure it was comfortable, at least.

"Thank you," he said shortly. "Can you create a distraction and I tie him up?"

"Ordinarily I'd take offense to a foreigner trying to do my job for me," the man replied, raising an eyebrow. "But I haven't known anyone able to so easily fight him man-to-man. For the sake of my family... you can have the dangerous job, alright."

"Then let's go!" He darted forward, ignoring the bewildered man's "Shouldn't you count down?!" and gunning right for Kisame. The hybrid staggered upright again and raised a bloody claw-hand, clenching it weakly. The water tried to cocoon Itachi, but he bellowed out another fireball that spread it open. His foot landed right on the other's face, and he used it to bound highly into the air-

"Water Style: Chains of Stupor!" Before the disgruntled hybrid could react, the water at his side latched around his wrists before quickly crawling up his arms like the reverse sleeves of a sweater. Itachi saw the guard clasping his hands tightly, trying to hold the jutsu in place against the hybrid's raw strength-

"ITACHIII!"

XXX

"So, you're Itachi."

Itachi didn't give any indication he'd heard him. He sat on the edge of the dock, one foot hanging over the edge just above the water's surface. Overhead, a seagull called above. There was nothing else to believe in but that bird- a year had passed since he'd destroyed everything he had once believed in alongside Madara Uchiha. He still had trouble coming to terms why one of the clan's patriarchal figures had so ruthlessly destroyed it, or how he had convinced himself to go through with-

Water splashed over his feet, and he blinked. "I'm talking to you," the voice growled. "Are you going to ignore me at our first meeting? That's not a good way to start this relationship, you know."

"There is no relationship."

"At least you talk. But your attitude is shit."

He didn't feel like talking. He rarely did, nowadays. Not to Madara, not to Madara's childish persona Tobi, not to the other members of the Akatsuki. He had rarely talked to Juzo, his previous partner who had just died. They had not had a real relationship, not like what Itachi had had with Sasuke, or Father, or literally anyone in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He didn't deserve a relationship, nor did he deserve to even believe in one anymore.

The other's footsteps on the docks ended just behind him. "Look, I get it. We're both wandering-nin who betrayed their villages. We're S-Class, the best of the best among the worst of the worst. But let's use that common ground to make something better than-"

"Stop talking."

"Eh?"

"I said stop talking." He stood-

Something heavy balanced on his right shoulder, and he glanced at it out of the corner of his eye. Some huge, bandaged object hung there. He activated the Sharingan for a moment and was surprised by the enormous amount of chakra contained within it- chakra that was moving. The thing was alive.

"The Leader paired me with you because you don't have a partner. You're like some child at the academy who got left out of their duo-project- you know how sad that is? Don't make this awkward for me, Itachi. Better yet, don't make me have to kill you?"

"What makes you think you could?"

He heard the baring of teeth behind him, and he truly prepared to do battle and kill the man. To throw away his infiltration of the Akatsuki, to reduce the sacrifice of the Uchiha to naught, if only to express for a few minutes how tortured he really was inside-

The bandages pulled back from his vision, and he heard the other sigh and speak under his breath, but being the two alone on the quiet pier it was very audible. "No, no... this is what I've been trying to stop. Unwanton bloodshed... that's who I used to be. Not anymore, not anymore... that's why we're here. For a purpo- hey, can you hear me?"

The sudden shift in mood made him blink. "No."

"You replied, that means you did!"

"You're right, I did."

He finally turned and looked at the other, doing it slowly to avoid being confrontational. The other was much taller and at least a decade older, with blueish skin and what looked like gills smudged over his neck. He, too, was in Akatsuki robes with a ring on his finger: a warm yellow to his brash red.

The other sighed again and appraised him. "At least you're not ugly. That'll make looking at you easier... although those eyes sure are cold. You could do with fixing those."

"They're Sharingan. I can't help their appearance."

"Well, what about your normal eyes?"

He didn't know why, as he still did not trust the other fully, but he deactivated the Sharingan anyway. The other nodded approvingly. "A lot better, yeah. I bet you were popular with the women in your clan, before..."

He trailed off, and the atmosphere darkened for a few moments. "I wasn't too bad with them myself," he said suddenly, then laughed. Itachi was so thrown off that all he did was stare as the other collected himself. "Gods, listen to me trying to act normal. Look... Itachi. We're not normal. We're as far from that as we can get; it's why were in Akatsuki, I suppose. But we came here to be more than just our old selves, right? At least, I did."

The seagull sounded overhead again, more distant. Itachi kept quiet, almost mystified by this encounter. How was it that this man who radiated such a dark and foreboding chakra was appearing... friendly?

"We're not perfect men, but I'll still fight alongside you. Wanna know why?"

"Why?"

He pounded a hand to his chest, and the bandaged thing on his back wriggled as if in agreement. "Not because the Leader said so- well, that's part of it- but not only that. Because from now on, we're a clan of two. Our own clan. We need to watch out for each other, without compromise. We're all we got now in this world."

"Is that why you're being so nakedly honest with me?"

The other grinned, and what a violent grin it was. But Itachi did not flinch before it- there was no danger in it. "Yes. Above all else, I want us to be honest with each other. It's such a rare thing between shinobi... I'm not sure I've ever known it. For our new clan, though... I'd like a shot at living with it."

Itachi shook his head. "Secrets are part of who we are. That's an impossible dream."

For a moment the other's face contorted and the smile lost its friendliness, but again it was forced below an invisible surface. "Would it kill you to try?"

And he thought of Sasuke, growing in hatred for him everyday for a confrontation that would one day kill his older brother. And of Hiruzen, who he had promised to keep informed of the Akatsuki's movements for the betterment of the village. And of Danzo, who had forced Shisui into suicide in his pursuit for hegemony and power. And of Madara, whose illusion of Tobi would keep him close to the organization as a fool, not the murderer of thousands.

And he thought of his father, Fugaku, who had revealed to Itachi he possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, but chosen not to use it against his son for reasons Itachi still could not understand.

They would kill him, if he let such secrets out. Madara, the Akatsuki, the Leaf- everyone would come for him, depending on what he told. And everything would be for nothing- there would be nothing left to believe in then.

But this man Itachi had never met before was asking to be allowed to believe in him, and vice versa. Another thoroughly trashed by the world, yet not allowing the weight of his sins to drag him into the brooding pawn he had started becoming.

For the first time since he had killed every last Uchiha but his only brother who was destined to kill him and the man who had helped him do it, Itachi felt kinship.

"It would kill me," he said at last. "But if we're going to die anyway, what's the harm?"

The other laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "That's all I could ask for out of a guy like you! Come on, let's get some drinks to celebrate the founding!"

"Wait."

"What?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you come here for introductions?"

"Yeah, what abo- oh. Oh."

He scratched the back of his head. "Well, good thing we're here to help each other out, right? This is exactly why we need each other." He straightened his back in mock professionalism. "Don't flinch when you remember my name from your bingo books, would you? I know you're from the Konoha ANBU originally , hehe. But, right. My name is..."

XXX

Kisame Hoshigake

XXX

"...Kisame."

He opened his eyes. He felt as if he were wrapped in gentle blankets back in a soft bed, but the crisp air was washing over where his skin was exposed-

No, not his skin. He could hear the clanking and rattling of his scaly exterior as he crooked his neck to the familiar voice. Itachi looked down at him with a small, thin-lipped expression that explained nothing. His onyx eyes, however, were filled with a rare warmness and relief that Kisame had not seen for some time.

And he wasn't alone. Tusina was beside him, and Ryuuga's face hung slightly in his periphery, his hands busy with something at Kisame's side. He craned his neck over to him, and his eyes traced the length of the arms down to-

"They're keeping Samehada tamed," Tusina said hastily, her lips twitching into a brief smirk. "Bruma wasn't the only one who studied those books... nor was he meant to finish your Trial of Conquering. I... wanted it to be a surprise when you had finished."

"You need to separate yourself from Samehada on your own volition, Kisame," Itachi added softly. "You allowed it to consume you... you have to untangle yourself from it."

Kisame began to breath tersely as the memories of before came back. Liar, liar, liar-

"Kisame!" He was shocked to feel Tusina's hands clasp over each of his cheeks, and he could feel just how disformed and scaled over the left one had become as she squeezed gently but firmly. "This isn't the man you want to be, is it? Because I know you left Kirigakure to avoid becoming him-"

"Rrrgh... Tusina..."

She shook her head. "We've all been there, Kisame. Don't let this feeling consume you!"

"I know you're a good man in there," Ryuuga added, patting him tentaviely on the stomach. "You see lots of different people enter Hoshigake Village while being its main gate. And yeah... you did some bad things in your past. But when you came with this fellow draped over your shoulder, I could tell you weren't the unbridled monster everyone else said you were. That image was just what people made up because they didn't know the real you."

Kisame wriggled in the bandages, and he felt one tear against the friction. Let me out, let me kill, let me be FREE-

"Kisame."

He froze; it was the same authoritative Itachi often took when he was preventing Kisame from fighting or making an unwise move. But when Kisame looked back at him, the cool and detached expression he usually had wasn't there. The eyes were still friendly, matured in some way. The face was softer, learned from some experience. It wasn't the ironic hegemon he'd had over their duo clan for so many years-

"I'll tell you the truth. All of it. But you have to be the you I know for it. Not this beast you've created. This isn't you."

Then what am I-?

"Then what am I?"

He'd said it aloud without really meaning to, but he was almost glad he had said it aloud.

Ryuuga patted him again. "A Hoshigake."

Tusina squeezed his cheeks again. "A comrade."

Itachi smiled. "A friend."

He wanted to doubt them, so badly and deeply. Part of it stemmed from the subdued fury of Samehada, who simply wanted an excuse to rampage and devour chakra. Part of it was his old self of that same subdued fury, that had been glad to have been released like a caged animal kept in starvation. Part of it was the self he had left behind in Hoshigake Village the last time he had come, betrayed and abandoned by those he was meant to have kinship with. Part of it was the self that had allowed Samehada to merge with him in the first place, in open defiance for the cursed world he lived in-

But... this isn't a lie. Not from any of them.

Is this really more being offered than all I've known?

Fuguki's dying expression, the blank expression of the enthralled Fourth Mizukage, the frightened looksof his parents- they all hung before his eyes like ghostly specters. But behind them were the hopeful faces of Itachi, Tusina, and Ryuuga- more real and present than they were. He blinked once, twice, and the specters lessened in visibility.

His body felt like it was melting away, even though it was icy cold. The scales rattled in his ear, but they were hardly audible. His jagged vision rectified itself and returned to normal. The air on his face felt like it had the day on the pier, where he had met Itachi-

XXX

A crow, not a seagull, squawked distantly, but he snapped his eyes open all the same; he hadn't realized he had closed them. The comforting feeling of blankets was gone, and his body was completely naked save for a towel wrapped around his midsection. The breeze from outside was also gone, replaced by an unnoticeable draft. He shakily pulled his hands to his face- rigid, but smooth. No more scales.

He took a few moments, breathing roughly. How long has passed? What's happening?

The door to the room opened, and the same physician that had treated Itachi walked in, irritably batting at a crow on his shoulder. "Bah, stupid thing... but look at you! You're looking fine!"

"Am I?"

"That's what three days of best rest and proper medecine does to you, yup!" He shrugged at Kisame's incredulous expression. "Well, not entirely. When you finally seperated Samehada from you, most of the damage seemed to go with it. Rare to see it act so generously, hehe. It's been in recovery as well, and last I heard has been doing just fine. You just needed rest after the seperation process."

"I... see. Thank you."

He shrugged again, finally chasing the crow off his shoulder. "Eh, word is I'm not really the one to thank. I think it's your friend over there."

The crow darted over in the direction he pointed, and Kisame watched it land on Itachi's shoulder with no fuss. He hadn't even noticed him at first, the Uchiha had been so silent and reserved. He could have been sitting there a year, or just walked into the room. His eyes were only faintly illuminated, looking in Kisame's direction with that same warmth-

-and a little exhaustion. He could see it from here.

"I'll tell you the truth. All of it."

As if hearing the same memory, Itachi gave a small nod in the direction of the herbalist. "Thank you for all you've done for us. I hope to repay you in full someday."

"Do me a favor and don't break your glasses next time," the other grumbled. "How come they stay on everyone else's face so easily but yours? The logic of this world..."

He closed the door behind him without being told, leaving them alone. Kisame stared at the wooden frame for a few moments before turning back to the Uchiha. "Well this is something."

"How so?"

"Weren't you in a huge rush to get somewhere a few days ago?"

"I was. But there were things more important than that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

No hesitation, no overuse of empathy. It was indeed Itachi sitting there, crow on shoulder, but he somehow felt different. It was as if some creature was gnawing at his body that wouldn't let go.

"All of it."

"You deserved more, Kisame." The other held his finger out and the crow leapt onto it, squawking gently. "More than what your Kiri-nin superiors gave you, more than what Akatsuki told you, and more than I ever told you about myself. You deserved it, truly. But I've been selfish. Cruelly so. You can say I don't owe you anything, when most would consider our relationship mostly business from an outside view."

"But we're a clan. I lost sight of that in my attachment to my old one."

"I'm sorry."

Kisame had never seen Itachi cry before, nor had he ever expected him to. It was something he'd never really considered before, kind of like how one would never consider what desert life was like when they've lived their whole life by a river.

But what he saw was as close to as what he would have expected. No sobbing, no snuffling, hardly any noise at all. Only the silent streaming of tears out of his eyes as he looked down at his lap, unable to bring himself to look at his partner.

It was strangely humbling.

"Hey... none of that now," Kisame ventured clumsily. "There's no need for that. Really, cut it out! Or we'll have to spar outside again."

Itachi wiped his sleeve over his eyes. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"No, stop apologizing-"

"I have to-"

"No, no, just-"

"Kisame-!"

"Itachi-!"

They were both on their feet, Kisame towering over the other even as Itachi boldly looked him in the eye.

But instead of coming to blows, Itachi silently held a hand in front of him with just two fingers extended. Kisame blinked; when had he last seen that? His academy days? In a past life? He hesitantly extended his own to the other, and slowly they curled over one another.

The Unison Sign.

Itachi smiled slightly. "We are a clan."

He couldn't help it; he smiled back. "From that first day."

"But a clan shouldn't have secrets between its members." He broke the unison sign and held the crow up instead. "No more secrets, Kisame. It's time I told you everything... and what you choose to do after you hear it, I won't challenge or swear you to anything. I only ask that you do not try to stop me."

Kisame looked at the crow, and it tilted its head back questionably, waiting for his answer. "I accept."

Itachi lifted a finger to the crow's underbelly, and it slowly turned around-

"Is that-"

He nodded, morosely. Kisame looked back and forth between him and the crow, disbelieving, and the Uchiha activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.

Three looked back at him. The crow squawked loudly and took flight out the window, taking the third eye with it.

"No more lies. It's time I tell you the truth, just as you deserve. All of it."