The day dragged on as my little lizard brain seemed to be able to focus on nothing other than replaying the events of the previous night with Itachi. My feelings ranged anywhere from a tingling warmth seated precisely between my legs to a nagging urge to cry at the fact that, as far as I was concerned, he was avoiding me.
Get a grip, Izumi, not like y'all are together. He doesn't owe you attention.
True… I tried my darndest to busy myself with cleaning. In no time at all the kitchen and common room positively sparkled and I was officially on a kick, deciding to continue it by polishing all of the kunai and various ninja tools in the weapons chamber.
I better get employee of the month for this…
On my way through the winding, dim halls of the complex, I found the nagging feeling I'd been grappling with was replaced by another, more insidious one.
Deja vu.
It was just like that time I found refuge in Hidan's room. That feeling of being watched, being followed, chased even. I kept glancing over my shoulder and feeling like I just caught the edge of a shadow around the corner but not quite, not definitively. It was only just enough to make me genuinely question my sanity.
My walk became brisk before graduating to a trot and from there, a floundering run, as I seemed incapable of any other type. I was almost to the weapons chamber and I wanted nothing more than to be surrounded by four walls, the weapons inside were icing on the cake.
As I flew into the room and slammed the door behind me, I snuck one last peak over my shoulder. Suddenly nothingness and paranoia sounded just peachy. I only saw him for a millisecond and I only saw a sliver of him... but I swore it was that same leathery-skinned subordinate I'd seen last time. I felt it in my gut.
We can't rule out indigestion just yet...
I attempted to ignore the hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention as I made haste in shoving a chair beneath the door handle.
"That oughta do it…" I murmured to myself, taking a step back to inspect my handy work, hands on my hips.
And by 'it' you mean make yourself feel better by means of placebo effect? That chair isn't worth a hill of beans to a shinobi.
I resented that. I happened to like my placebo chair quite a bit, though I had to admit, I had a point… I couldn't stop with just the chair. Frazzled as all heck but trying to remain calm and channel my inner Itachi, I skipped over to a weapons chest and grabbed a kunai...hmmm make that two, before backing into the front corner and preparing to fling it at anyone that came through that door.
My breathing was still at an uptick from the entire minutes of vigorous exercise and I noticed for the first time my shaking hands as I held the foreign feeling blade. I waited and waited, the door handle remaining stalwart and steady. Was I really just imagining things again? I seriously needed to figure out what was causing this paranoia every time I dared to wander the halls alone.
What you need is a therapist.
I scoffed. Probably not wrong though...
Just as I started to convince myself to settle down, my heart seized as the door handle turned until it hit against the chair propped beneath. It jiggled again, harder and faster, increasingly becoming more and more aggressive. I could hear a deep voice grumbling and grunting with effort from the other side of the door. With my stomach residing uncomfortably in my throat, I pulled a kunai back, over my shoulder.
Ready…
A massively loud thud crashed against the door producing a shower of splintering wood.
Aim...
A hulking figure began pushing into the room, kicking the chair over with ease.
Oh lord, fire!
I clenched my eyes shut and whipped the kunai straight ahead as hard as I could. The clink of metal on metal chimed musically, punctuated by the kunai hitting the stonework floor. When I didn't hear anything else, I dared to squint open one eye to see a very blurry, very irritated Kisame looking straight at me, his headband angled down.
"May I ask what the fuck you're up to, Izumi?" he deadpanned.
"Kisame!" I cried out in relief. "Oh I can't tell you how happy I am to see you, what are you doing here?" I breathed out in a sigh and folded over with my hands on my knees.
"God, I'd hate to see how you greet people you're not happy to see," he said, wide-eyed and pretending to check his headband for a new dent. As if. "A bunch of us are training outside and I just came in to grab some more kunai... Didn't realize I'd still be training here too." He raised a brow.
"I'm sorry?" I winced with an awkward shrugging motion.
He snatched the kunai off the ground and put his hand out in waiting and I realized he wanted the one I was still holding. I was shocked my body didn't spontaneously grow a tail just to put between my legs, I was feeling so guilty.
"I really am sorry, Kisame, are you okay?" I asked, stretching my hands up to take his face in them, turning his cheeks side to side to give a good inspection.
"I don't know, Izumi… I'm pretty shaken up. That's the first time anyone's thrown a kunai at me… and with such force too," he said, not able to keep a straight face through the whole thing.
"Okay, okay. You know what? I was feeling bad but now I'm not so sure," I scolded, pushing his face away and trying to hide my smirk.
"So, you gonna tell me what inspired such a feat of agility and skill? Speaking of which, you know you hit me with the blunt end, right?"
"Well… I didn't want to hurt you, obviously." Eye rolls for days.
He gave me a look.
"Okay, fine. It sounds dumb but… I thought one of the subordinates was following me and I thought you were him…?" I stared at the floor and scuffed at it with my foot.
"What? Which one?" he asked, disbelieving and folding his arms.
"Well I'm not exactly on a first name basis," I muttered before offering a description of the man, complete with impressions.
"Pfffft," he let out a snorting laugh. "Eichi? Nah, he's the man. He's been with us since the beginning. If he wasn't trustworthy, we would have found out by now."
I let out a frustrated huff. That's not what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear that he was a total creep and now he was going to be totally fired.
"You know what I think?" Kisame said thoughtfully. "I think you need to relax. You've been working hard, up all day and night… cooking," he winked before continuing on, "you're clearly light on sleep, plus you had a rough mission last time… or so I heard."
So much for guys not being gossipy.
"Despite your comment about cooking," I gave him a pointed glare, "maybe you're right…" I admitted with a sigh, rubbing my eyes.
"Come on, go put on a swimsuit and grab a towel. I'll set you up in a nice sandy spot by the river at the training grounds and I'll try real hard not to splash you... No promises though." He grinned and I couldn't help but return it.
"Sounds great, only problem is that Pain didn't exactly prioritize my swimwear options. Can you believe it?"
"Eh, it's fine, we'll figure something out." At least Kisame seemed confident.
We did, indeed, figure something out. I just wasn't too sure about it. I stood in front of him, looking down at myself with a lovely shade of pink scalding my cheeks.
"Kisame, this is just underwear and one of Deidara's crop tops…"
"Yes, which covers more than a regular bathing suit would. I'm having a hard time seeing the problem here, Iz." Kisame whined impatiently. He'd been trying to get me out the door for 15 minutes.
He's not wrong?
I reluctantly caved in after making sure Pain wouldn't be there, as all my lovely bruises would be proudly on display sans the cloak and full body coverings. I clutched the towel and book against me and hesitantly followed Kisame out of the base.
"Oh here, I almost forgot." Kisame pulled a pair of ridiculous, triangle-lensed sunglasses out of his swim trunks pocket and stuck them on my face before donning a matching pair of his own.
"Hell yeah, am I right?" He looked at me, holding out his fist. Not even bothering to deprive him of a laugh, I snorted out a loud one and met him with a fist bump as we made our way through a large clearing to the river.
"God, we're cool," I said.
"Yep. That must be why everyone's staring," Kisame agreed with a grin. I hadn't noticed but looking around the edge of the woods, most of the guys could be spotted. Some training solo, some sparring, though almost all had stopped to look as we paraded over to the beachy area and laid out some towels.
I had to give Kisame credit, it really was quite the cute little area. It was a bend in the river where the current slowed to a lazy, meandering pace, the water clear enough to see the bottom which declined steadily so you could easily stand or actually swim depending on how deep you waded in.
"Hey! What are you guys doing, yeah?" Deidara shouted, wasting no time as he jogged over sporting a grin, his blond ponytail bouncing adorably with every bound.
Kisame cupped his hand around his mouth and yelled back. "Found the little one running around with scissors unsupervised. Figured I'd dump her in the sandbox for a while, keep her occupied."
"Hey!" I hissed and smacked him in the stomach in a sorry attempt to scold him. I immediately tore my hand back to cradle it against myself, rubbing it in a consoling way.
"Um, excuse you. Are you made of bricks or something?!" I asked incredulously which earned me a very wide grin from Kisame.
"Geez, warn a girl next time…" I complained, shaking the feeling back into my fingers.
He choked on a laugh. "Oh, sure. Let's try this one…" he cleared his throat, "No, Izumi, please don't put your soft, feminine hands on my abs, they're just too hard," he said with mock concern, though his amusement came through loud and clear.
"Alright, I get it…" I said dryly, opting for just a dirty look. I finished laying the towel out on the sand and threw my book down on it as Deidara finally reached us.
"Hey, my eyes are up here, bud," Kisame tutted as he followed Deidara's gaze to my chest.
"I'm sure he just recognizes his shirt, Kisame," I quickly stepped in. "Sorry, Dei. I didn't have anything, I hope this is okay." I said to Deidara, chewing my lip and feeling nervous about his gaze being on me so intently.
"Yeah," he said absently, his eyes travelling over me, "I suppose I'll learn to live with it."
"That's very big of you, Deidara," Sasori interjected, emphasis on big to make up for his comment that morning I'm sure. He strode over and took a seat next to me.
"What can I say, I'm a nice guy," Deidara agreed. Kisame scoffed.
"Practically a saint, well on your way to angel status, at least," Sasori added.
"Oi, Deidara," Hidan's booming voice cut through the conversation from above as his scythe stuck into a giant tree nearby, "I get the shirt, but why is Izumi wearing your panties too?" He touched down onto the scythe's handle, flipping down to land on his feet with ease, and sauntered over with that cocky smile of his.
"Nice entrance," I said, genuinely impressed and wanting to quickly sidestep any comments regarding my panties as I was already feeling a bit weird about it. He pushed right past Deidara who was scowling heartily and starting to retort, moving promptly into my space, his lips a breath away from my ear and his hand brazenly resting on my hip.
"Thanks, you know, I wouldn't mind seeing yours though?" he whispered and despite not being able to see his face, I could hear his smile and it was broad.
I pulled back and stared at him for a moment, mouthing the words "my entrance?" with a quizzical pull of my brows. Turning his comment over in my head, I decided that I did, indeed, understand the joke, and no, it was not funny.
My palm found itself against his cheek with a resounding and, more importantly, satisfying crack. Well that just about put everyone in an uproar, as I was not typically one for violence and they likely expected him to kill me outright for such a transgression. They didn't know like I did, that he not-so-secretly liked it.
Hidan grinned and managed to get out, "so is that a no… or?" but was immediately torn backwards by a hand loosely connected to his partner by a swath of long black tendrils. Deidara's hands were voraciously munching on clay and Sasori had already ejected some projectiles at Hidan which left him bleeding pretty good.
"Come onnn, it was a joke," Hidan whined, throwing me a wink before spitting out some blood. He was so not sorry, but I convinced them to let him go after getting him to promise he'd be on his best behavior, despite knowing that didn't really mean much.
Kisame was floating casually in the water and even Zetsu was apparently present. I noticed his head hiding beneath a lily pad with a frog on top, his nostrils just above the water line. Everyone steadily filtered into the water and nagged at me to come in with claims of it being "not that cold", which wasn't the greatest selling point.
Everyone but Itachi, of course. He was the only person still training.
And by training you mean 'avoiding you', right?
Kisame must have noticed too.
"Hey, Uchiha," he shouted as he clambered out of the water and up a small cliff face. Itachi looked over in response. "Get in, loser," Kisame shouted during his ferocious cannonball which nearly reached even me. I shot him a warning look and he waved it off with a toothy grin.
I laid on my back and pretended to read my book as I eyed Itachi hesitating in the distance before eventually making his way over. All he needed was a little nudge I guess…
Noted.
"Looks like we'll need to get you a bathing suit." he said, scratching his head as stood looking me over.
"You don't like this? I heard it's all the rage in… somewhere fancy." I said with an air of haughtiness.
"I never said I didn't like it."
"It was implied."
"In error then, and I sincerely apologize, as I do quite like it." He said quietly with a glance around. The rest of the guys were continuing to be idiots, wrestling in the water and currently taking bets on how long Hidan could last underwater before he drowned to death. Itachi sat next to me and leaned over slightly, eyeing the bruises still present around my hips.
"Probably a good thing I didn't know about these last night…" he muttered aloud, though I'm not sure he meant to. "Or should I be offended that you didn't tell me…?"
"I wasn't allowed to speak, if you'll recall." I reminded him.
His lips upturned at the corners, "I do remember that, now that you mention it."
I was screaming on the inside. So it did happen. It wasn't a dream. He was actually acknowledging it to my big, dumb, gawking face.
"Maybe next time," I mused, trying to keep my head but throwing a line out to see if he'd bite. After a moment of silence I became hyper aware of him shifting uncomfortably and his eyes averting to the suddenly extremely interesting sand beside him.
"Listen, Izumi," he began wearily as he idly grabbed up a handful of sand and let it pour out of his gently clenched fist like an hourglass.
Oh no.
"I… last night… I apologize. I shouldn't have done that." He stared at the streaming sand beginning to mound up on the ground.
I regarded him silently for a moment, trying desperately to process this sudden mood shift. My heart sank at his regretful timbre and I did all I could to keep my voice even.
"Did I... do something wrong?" I asked quietly, and despite my efforts, it still came out like a timid child.
"No, no you didn't do anything wrong," he assured quickly and paused to continue. "I just… it was inappropriate of me. I should have more control. I am sorry, Izumi."
More control? Pretty sure you had all the control...
My mind reeled and went back through my conversation with Kisame from that morning. This must have been what he was talking about, Itachi being a grizzled veteran of pushing people away and whatnot. According to Kisame, it wasn't something I shouldn't allow.
How the heck…? Itachi doesn't happen to come with instructions, does he?
I sat up and rested my cheek on my knees to look at him. "Well I'm not," I said coolly. He slowly turned to look at me with the slightest of furrowed brows, almost like he was… confused? Surprised? Disbelieving? He was hard to pin down as always. He looked like he wanted to say something but he wouldn't get the chance.
"Alright, Izumi." Hidan's voice boomed from behind. "It's fanclub time."
I glanced over my shoulder to see a shirtless, dripping wet Hidan approaching in only his boxers, hand combing his hair back. I inadvertently swallowed.
"You know what that means, right?" He asked with a devilish smirk.
"No. Oh no, no Hidan, don't you dare." I said sternly with my index finger out and everything, clapping my book shut and scooting away from him.
"Oh yes, I do dare. Izumi is getting picked the fuck up, we goin' for our fucking swimming badge today!" He shouted wildly followed by some obnoxious attempts at airhorn noises, drawing a couple cheers from those in the water.
Despite my every attempt to resist, I soon found myself draped over Hidan's shoulder, subsequently giving everyone a lovely view of my ass.
Greeeeeat.
"Hidan!" I cried, slapping the bare skin of his back mercilessly.
"A little lower, sweetheart," he purred over his shoulder.
"Fine, you asked for it…" I challenged back, my tongue peeking out with effort, winding my hand up as far as it could go before bringing it down on his ass with a resounding smack. Even my own palm stung from the force and I felt his butt cheeks clench on contact which put a little smirk on my face.
Geez, why can't you slap that hard when it comes to his face?
"Not fucking bad… My turn," he said with an audible grin. Oh, I so should have seen that coming.
"Hidan, don't yo-" I let out a surprised squeal as his hand stung against my partially exposed ass which didn't seem fair to me, considering his was fully covered. Not only that but he didn't pull away, instead leaving his large hand to grab my right cheek with a squeezing, jiggling shake. Before I could protest, and to be honest, I wasn't sure I wanted to as the odd sensation didn't feel all that terrible, I was thrown from his shoulder.
Not that cold?!
The water was freezing as it enveloped me without warning. I burst up through the surface looking like a drowned rat and cursing Hidan's name through chattering teeth.
So much for his best behavior...
"Oh come now, Izumi. It's not that bad," Sasori said.
I shot him a glare. "You're a puppet. Do you even feel temperature?"
"No." He smiled.
I gave him a sideways look as I pushed the hair out of my face. Hidan returned to the water with a belly flop, the glutton for pain that he was, and I quickly waded away from him towards the more shallow area by the bank, making sure the loose crop top stayed down as I noticed with a start that it had a tendency to float upwards.
I pushed against the lazy current toward the shallow area where Kisame and Deidara were debating the practicality of water bombs. Itachi was slowly wading in to stand beside Kisame. He seemed largely unaffected by the temperature, reminding me once more that I was a big baby.
"How are you guys not freezing?" I asked, jaw chattering, as I tied my hair up.
Deidara let out an odd sort of choking cough which prompted Itachi to speak up rather abruptly. "Yes, Izumi, we can see that you're very cold... Perhaps you would be better off staying mostly submerged to get used to it." Itachi said, strangely pointed and somewhat averting his eyes, though not very well. Kisame was stifling a laugh and Deidara's eyes seemed to glaze over like he had zoned out on me.
"I think I'll ease into it, thanks," I said slowly, eyeing the three guys suspiciously.
Itachi continued to stare pointedly at me, his throat producing a frustrated little grunting sigh through his clenched jaw. Kisame was coming undone with laughter and Deidara looked to have fallen into a coma while standing, a weird little smile on his face.
"If there's a joke here, I don't get it," I said impatiently. I didn't think it was possible for Kisame to lose his beans anymore than he already had, but he continued to amaze me.
Itachi moved towards me in a swift motion, blocking my small form from the view of the other two men which immediately elicited booing from Kisame.
"You're impossible, do you know that?" He asked, quietly exasperated. I looked up at him with big eyes, waiting for an explanation and he glanced down for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh, which I had recently come to realize was a gesture he made when trying to maintain some semblance of control, especially when faced with certain temptations.
The blood rose beneath the skin of my cheeks quickly as my eyes shot down to examine myself, I thought I'd been very careful to avoid a nip slip…
"Izumi… the fabric of that shirt is clinging to you in a very interesting way… and we're all painfully aware of how cold you are…" Itachi's voice came out even but strained as I stared down at myself and realized, not without horror, that the fabric of the shirt was very thin and clingy indeed and yes, interesting was a word for it.
Holy biscuits, the girls are at attention.
I bit my lip which did little to hold in my embarrassed groan and quickly dipped low into the water, crossing my hands over my chest.
"Boo, party foul!" Kisame called out from behind Itachi, spitting water at the back of his head.
I decided to keep sinking down. It was nice underwater, besides the cold of course, which I was admittedly getting used to. No one was slapping my ass or telling me I had been mercilessly flaunting my modest rack around. It was nice underwater.
You'll have to breathe eventually.
Oh, yeah. There was that.
I slowly rose out of the water to my neck.
"Fine, you're right, it's better when I'm all the way in the water…" I admitted begrudgingly, slicking my hair back. Itachi sank down as well and moved over to the large, submerged rock shelf in a cute little alcove, perfect for sitting while staying mostly underwater.
"Hey, show's over dude," I could hear Kisame in the background trying to jostle Deidara out of his stupor as I moved to sit by Itachi.
A/N: GUYS I'M SORRY THAT WAS SO LONG. It was just too weird to break at any other point :3
I just wanted a cute beach day gosh darnit, so there you have it.
So, how much would y'all hate me if Izumi ends up with Kisame?
Lmaoooo jk jk, I do love him though :3
Check out my tumblr for a cute drawing of Izumi and Kisame in their matching sunglasses lol
