Chapter 13

Hope

Now Itachi wasn't usually one to swear, he was too sophisticated for such a thing. That, and his dear mother taught him better than that. He had been, still was in many ways, the heir to their clan, a clan that had always taught manners to their young from early age to adulthood.

Manners he would be teaching to his own young as well, and to those after them.

But staring at Kisame's rain wretched cloak as Sakura stood behind him, ready for a fight, seemed like a great place to start as any.

He was fully aware that Kisame knew who he was, it was up to him if he decided to keep quiet about it or not. Going by the smirk that was on Kisame's face as he pulled away the stray hat… His chances were quite slim. He knew of Kisame's need for entertainment, he just hoped that revealing him wasn't in his list of fun things to do.

"What a touching reunion between Konoha nin, eeeh?"

Yes, definitely a great place to start as any.

"Fuck."

…

Kisame knew who it was that stood before him, oh yes he did, and the situation his dear partner had gotten himself into was more than amusing to him. He knew of Itachi's need for a family, had seen his longing looks towards other families as they traveled, seen his kind looks and gestures towards smaller children and the envious looks towards men who had their wives walking next to them.

'It was only a matter of time I guess,' Kisame thought with a chuckle and pulled off his hat, fully aware of the smirk gracing his lips.

"What a touching reunion between Konoha nin, eeeh?" Kisame said with a grin, he was allowed to have his fun if nothing else.

He could almost hear the gears running in the younger boy's head. But it was the word that escaped quietly from his usually tightly sealed lips that almost made him lose his composure.

"Fuck."

Oh this was rich! The Uchiha Itachi he knew would never let such a wile word pass his lips. He needed to bite his lips to keep from laughing, choosing to instead grin at Itachi, as if ready to say his name. Itachi seemed to see this and glared at him right through those tiny holes in his Anbu mask.

"Sakura… you must leave." Itachi didn't take his eyes off from him thought, making his grin all the more wider.

The girl behind him must have took his urgent voice as fear for her safety, as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself," ooooh this girl had spunk!

'Sakura… the name sounds familiar," Kisame thought, now seeing the pink hair for the first time. He remembered only one girl with pink hair, the little girl that was in Itachi's little brothers team. Haruno Sakura was her name… Was this the same Haruno girl that took out Sasori? This tiny little thing?!

"Haruno… Sakura?" Kisame asked with a grin. This made Itachi's glare ten times worse. The girl stepped away from behind Itachi's back and stood proudly next to him.

"It's only polite to introduce oneself as well… Hoshigaki Kisame," Sakura said calm and smirked right back at him.

'I'm liking this girl already, good choice Itachi,' Kisame thought with a grin. He took a step closer and saw Itachi step closer to Sakura. 'Protective, are we?' he thought with a smirk, not taking his eyes off of Sakura. The girl never flinched.

"What are you doing within Konoha's borders?" Sakura asked calmly and crossed her arms, she seemed almost relaxed. At least lot more so than his partner currently was, he seemed tense enough to snap.

"Hmmmnnn, I'm looking for my partner. You've seen a runaway weasel around here, Pinky?" Kisame asked and smirked as he saw Sakura's frown at his new nickname as Itachi tensed. She'd better get used to it, they would be seeing a lot of each other once Itachi revealed his identity to his "soon-to-be-wife".

"Can't say that I have, Mr. Gills," it seemed that she gave as good as she got.

"Ooh, you wound me Pinky, right here," he said and patted his chest with a smirk, stealing a glance at Itachi while at it. It seemed that he was as surprised as he at how the encounter was going so far. Clearly he hadn't expected any friendly banter between him and his little girlfriend.

"You missed a spot, a shark's heart is located closer to the gills," Sakura said and patted a spot closer to her neck.

"Aaah, what makes you think these are the only ones that I have?" Kisame asked, a lil disturbed how easily she could tell his weak spot. Sakura just smiled and shrugged.

"Med-nin," this was said with a smirk.

"They still make you practice with fish, don't they," Kisame murmured, getting a positive nod as a reply.

…

This… wasn't going like he thought it would. Sakura and Kisame were actually having a somewhat friendly conversation. He stole a quick glance at Sakura find that she was battle ready, but still mostly relaxed, there was even a tiny smirk there on her face, probably over something that Kisame had said. He looked back at Kisame to find him in a similar position, almost relaxed and smirking. It didn't seem like he was going to give away his secret just yet.

He always did love a good verbal fight, apparently Sakura was keeping him entertained, his secret was safe, for now.

He was thinking on laying down a genjutsu, grabbing Sakura and disappearing, but now it seemed like an awfully bad idea. Better go with a more… careful approach.

"Sakura, we must continue on our mission," yes, that should do just nicely. Even though they weren't in a hurry to reach their destination, Kisame didn't need to know that.

Sakura turned her head to look at him from their banter—something about Kisame eating fish being cannibalism— and nodded.

"We should," she said and turned around to walk the short distance towards the cave to get their backpacks, fully trusting Tachi to cover her back if need be.

Once he was sure Sakura wouldn't hear, he turned back to Kisame. Itachi knew he had questions he was dying to ask, but the glare he sent in Kisame's way must have killed quite a few of those.

"Neeeh, this is the girl?" Kisame asked, half to himself in a quiet voice.

"Hn."

"I see… Leader was asking about you and your… "mission". It's taking a bit too long in his opinion, the one I so kindly did for you," Kisame said quietly with a smirk, glancing in the caves direction to make sure Sakura wouldn't hear.

"Hn."

"I like her, she's good for you," Kisame said finally.

"Aa," Itachi agreed with a barely there smile in his voice.

"Well, I better go, ja ne!" Kisame said, turned around with a wave and placed his hat back on. Itachi was quite sure that he heard something that sounded like "don't take too long on your honeymoon", but Kisame was already too far to tell for sure.

"Did he leave?" Itachi heard Sakura ask as she emerged from the cave with their bags. She got a nod as an answer as she gave Itachi his bag back.

"He's… different from what you learn in bingo books," Sakura said with a laugh.

Itachi looked back at her and Sakura could swear there was something shining in his dark charcoal eyes at that moment. Something that to Sakura looked a lot like…-

"Aren't we all?"

-hope.

…

Hey you all dear readers of mine, I'm back! (Again)

There really isn't much I can say about the lateness of this chapter, except for the fact that life happened…

Unfortunately, that stupid thing seems to happen quite often.

Beta notes;

N: Hello everyone! I hope you all are doing well. I've always seen Kisame as an older brother figure for either Itachi or Sakura so this development in relationships/interaction between them is amazing \o/ I hope you have a wonderful winter break and if you have finals, may the odds be ever in your favor. I know how you feel.

C: Hey guys. I hope you are all excited for this chapter as I am. I love how Sakura and Kisame interact! I totally agree that Kisame is a perfect big brother role regarding Itachi or Sakura. I got promoted at work and now come home completely exhausted every day. I'm the reason it took so long to get it edited. My bad. I'll try to be more on top of things in the future!

And as always, thank you for reading and have a nice day!

R&R

TY

-Hana