unbeta'd, you know the drill.-cp

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"nn..." He groaned as he used the wall like a cane, to support his weight as he walked. He knew people were staring. It was late, but it wasn't late enough that the streets would be entierly empty. He hadn't lost that much blood, the wound being much more superficial than he had originally credited it for, but it was serious none the less. The shape of his hand copied in red on the door as he pressed against it, smearing down as he shoved it open. It was unlocked.

He saw himself pressed against the wall, a barrier of pale cerulian muscle trapping something there, before the doppleganger turned to face him and smirked. It was like looking into the mirror. The face was his own, but the smile was all Itachi.

"Ki...Kisame?"

He had her pinned to the wall, trembling, tears running down her face. He didn't feel the wound in his side any more, didn't feel the effects of blood loss, all that mattered was pounding that smug face into the ground. He flung himself at the transformed Itachi, arm drawn back for the first blow. Itachi disapeared in a cloud of opaque smoke and Kisame spun off-balance. His shoulder slammed into the wall next to Hinata and she jumped. He pushed off, leaving a smear of blood behind, and turned to stand in front of her.

Itachi was standing there, shirtless, holding his cloak in one hand. The smug grin on his face melted around the edges until all that remained was the broken face of someone who had lost everything. He could barely see, his vision was starting to blur around the edges and he wobbled, but stood fast. He glared at Itachi. The Uchiha's mouth twisted ever so slightly into that rare smile Kisame remembered, "Treasure her." he whispered to Kisame as he turned, "Don't ever leave her, not ever, not like me." He stopped with one hand on the door knob, "I'll kill you if you do." Then the door clicked and he was gone.

Kisame's knees buckled and he collapsed. She was over him in an instant. His head rolled from side to side, eyes screwed shut, mumbling "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," over and over. She tapped him on the foreheaad "Shut up." He did, opening his eyes, though it was hard to see her through the haze. "Hinata?" "Shut. UP." She sanapped as she pulled the shirt away from his side. The wound was a long gash, deep, but it didn't penetrate the abdominal wall. She sighed in releif. She was no good as a medic, but she was an expert when it came to herbal remodies.

She dug through her bag until she came to a red-glazed, palm sized, earthware vat. She grabbed some towels from the bathroom, a roll of gauze, and the pot and helped Kisame onto the bed. He sat on the edge and they struggled with his shirt. He made a mental note not to let his vanity get the better of him and buy a shirt that wasn't so skin-tight next time. He hissed as she poked at the still seeping wound and she grinned up at him. "Stop being such a baby, Kisame-chan." He glared at her, but she wasn't paying him any attention, it was all focused on his wound. She dabbed at it with a clean towel and 'hmmed'. "Here" she pressed the towel to his side "Hold this." He did. She reached for the red pot, unscrewing the top. "What's that?" He asked, peering over at her. "Salve." she answered crypticly and opened it. It had a pungent smell, spicy and sweet at the same time, and she pulled a healthy sized gloop of it out into her hand. "Ok, move the towel." The gel was cool and soothing, he sighed. "What's in it?" he asked as he leaned back and let her treat him. "Primairily dragon's blood, willow, and chamomile." she pulled out another dalop of semi-clear yellowish goo, "But there's a plethera of other ingreedients too...marigold, for one." That was surprising, "Marigold?" "mm." She indicated that he should sit up and started padding the cut with gauze. "It's pretty unknown, but marigold actualy has some antibiotic properties, and besides..." she flushed slightly "It smells nice." He smiled. So she could be girly after all. She finished up with a layer of semi-sticky wrap around his middle to hold the gauze in place.

"There." She smiled and studdied her handi-work. Not too bad, really. He caught her face in one hand and, much to his dismay, she flinched away. He looked at her for a moment, but she wouldn't meet his gaze. He felt fear first, fear that he had moved too quick, that he had scared her off, but when she reached up to grasp at the hood that wasn't there, he finaly realized what was really going on. She was scared, but it had not been because of him. What he felt then could be described as nothing short of seething rage. Hinata, his partner, his freind, that he had worked with for going on almost three years, who could stand confident in the face of a legion of enemy ninja, had been terrified to death at the thought of her impending rape.

He couldn't help it. his hands moved on their own, gathering her to him, and she curled against him, shaking in his arms. He wanted to kill Itachi. Any sense of comradorie he had ever had for the Uchiha heir had disolved the second he had walked through that door. He didn't know what to do, she was so frail suddenly, so he just held her all the tighter and slowly, slowly, her arms snaked around his waist and her trembling slowed then finaly stopped.

She was so warm, and he was worn out. His eyes began to drift close and his breathing steadied. "Kisame?" Her voice was quiet, timid, but it was enough to call him back to the space between sleep and waking, "Mmm?" "Thank-you..." "Mmm..." it seemed he dreamed that he fell asleep with her in his arms.

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and a little bit of a bonus story-let. hope you like!-cp (subliminal messaging says you should reveiw now...and I'll try to keep up the frequent posts XP)

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Leader was pissed. Really pissed. He didn't show it of course, to show emotion was weakness. "I sent you to bring me his head. What happened?" Itachi glared up at the ledge where Leader kept himself in shadow, the faint light glinting off of malignant eyes. "There were ... complications." Leader let one brow twitch in fury and disgust. God-damned arogant Uchiha prick. "What happened?" Itachi's reply was another of his pattented 'I'm way too cool for you, so why the hell are you talking to me?' stares. A low growl slipped out of Leader's throat. He was going to kill that boy some day. "I want you to kill the mist shinobi. Now, is that...so...HARD?" He was yelling. He hadn't yelled in years, he hadn't had to, but this insolent child of a nin was grinding on his last nerve. "Fuck you." He couldn't beleive his ears. "What...was ...that?" Itachi's face was split in a malevolent grin. "Fuck you, and oh, yeah, I quit." He spun on his heel and stode off in a flury of back and red. Leader was stunned. "You...you can't." He sputtered, Itachi just threw one hand, a single finger erect, up in the air as a responce. "YOU CAN'T QUIT!" The Uchiha never turned.

Leader sat down hard in the chair he had placed on the ledge so he could look reagal and nonchalant. Right now he just felt tierd and anoyed. Damnit, he needed a new job.