Okay, I can almost guarantee that half of the people who read this fic are going to hate me for what I'm doing in this chapter. But oh well, I have an explanation.
That said, enjoy. And remember that Kisame eats flames.
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The next night, Kisame got a call from a familiar number. "Hello?" he asked, recognizing it on his caller ID. It was Itachi.
"Hello? Is Kisame there?" a young voice asked. Definitely not Itachi.
"This is. Who's calling, may I ask?"
On the other end, the caller swallowed. "This is Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother," he explained. "Has Brother been over your house at all today?"
Kisame shook his head, though he knew that Sasuke couldn't hear him. "Uh, no, he hasn't, sorry. Why? Is he AWOL or something?"
"Y-yeah. I don't know all the details, but I do know that wh-when I woke up this morning, I heard Brother and Father yelling about something, and then I heard a door slam. I haven't seen him all day, nor has anyone else. Mother's having paranoia attacks, cuz that's how bad it is."
The older boy didn't even want to know what paranoia attacks were. "Has your dad said anything about it today? About what happened?"
"No. He's just been on a rampage. If he finds out I'm on the phone with you, I'm d-dead," Sasuke replied.
"Then why chance calling me?"
There was a period of silence from the other end of the call. "…because I'm worried," he finally said. "I know Brother's always been a bit edgy, but he's never done something like this before. I was kind of h-hoping that you would kn-know where he is."
Kisame sighed. "Sorry, kid. I don't have a- wait, are the drums still there?" he asked, a possibility forming in his head.
"No," Sasuke replied. "I saw Father throw them out this morning after Itachi left. Why?"
"So THAT'S it!" the older kid practically yelled out. "I think I know where Itachi is."
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Even though it was extremely dark out, Kisame knew his way around pretty well by now, and was able to get to the school with no problems. When he got to his destination, he wasn't surprised to find the front door open. Looks like Deidara wasn't the only lockpick around.
Sure enough, the lights in the band room were on. And, there was a whole lot of banging coming from it.
Kisame entered at his own risk to find Itachi already pounding the hell out of the school's drum set. Just as he had thought. "Itachi? Itachi, that you?" he asked tentatively.
The black-haired kid kept playing, ignoring Kisame completely.
"Hey, are you okay?" the other boy asked again, approaching his friend. "They're all worried about you, y'know-"
Itachi hit a drum hard, cutting off Kisame. "Stop there," he growled. "Don't feed me lies like that. I know for a fact that-"
"Look, Sasuke just called me a couple minutes ago, okay? The kid was so scared, dude. He was stuttering, for God's sake. And, he mentioned that your mom was having paranoia attacks, whatever those are. And-"
"Kisame, stay out of my life," the other boy said angrily. "Okay?! You have no idea how severe my family situation is, no idea how demanding everyone is of me, no idea how hard I try!" Itachi's eyes flashed read for a minute as he yelled.
"What, you think you're the only one here with family problems?! Get a grip, Itachi!" Kisame shot back, instantly enraged and insulted. "Look at least you're safe where you are! You don't have to worry about being uprooted every two months to avoid a psychotic killer, or live with the pain and guilt of supposedly having killed the one person who's supposed to always be there to take care of you, or-" the blue-haired kid stopped himself. "You know what?! You know what…you don't care. Why am I still talking, then? I don't even know," he said, turning away from Itachi.
"Well, you don't know what it's like to live with the absolute worst father in history!" the black-haired kid shot back, with most of his own anger dissipated.
"Oh, I don't, do I?" Kisame inquired sarcastically, raising his eyebrows and walking around the room. "I think I do." He pulled off the bandages that he was wearing on the cheeks drastically, once again revealing his V-shaped scars to Itachi. "You think these are birthmarks? Decorations? NO. My dad did this to me. For something I didn't even do! He'd tried to kill me before! Why the hell do you think I move around so much? Because he follows me, bent on bringing me into a permanent coma!" He took a deep breath, and then continued. "Can you even begin to fathom the terror I live in? Knowing that he's out there, hunting you down? No. How could you, anyways? You're not me."
Itachi's eyebrows came together, and rage begin to build up inside of him again. "At least you can be yourself around your dad," he retorted. "My dad won't settle for anything less than the perfect son he's dreamed up. Hell, he slashed those drums last night! And not because they made noise, no. It's because I can't play music because I have to get straight A's so that I can get into that damn Ivy League College and so that I can become that world-renowned doctor or something!" He let out a deep breath. "All I've ever wanted to do was play the fucking drums. Nothing more, nothing less. And you know what? I can't do anything as simple as that because my father won't allow it. And his word is fucking law." The black-haired kid threw the drumsticks that he was holding against an instrument storage cabinet. Lowering his head onto the center drum, he screamed.
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A long period of silence followed, and the heated atmosphere cooled down quite a bit.
"Well, glad to get THAT out of our systems, eh?" Kisame asked, breaking the quiet streak.
Itachi had calmed down too, since his eyes had returned to their normal color. "Tch. Yeah," he agreed. Walking over to where he had chucked the wooden sticks at the cabinets, he sighed. "Hey, Kisame," he asked quietly, "why does your dad hate you so much? I mean, to the point where he wants to kill you…"
Kisame let out a breath. "If I tell you, will you go home?"
The other boy nodded solemnly.
"Okay, then. I'll explain as we walk."
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"So, remember that picture you saw? The one of my mom, my dad and me at Myrtle Beach?" he started, as they left the school parking lot.
Itachi nodded. "Yeah. You said all you remembered from that trip was the ride home."
"There's a reason for that," Kisame explained. "Okay, my mom and I were in the car, on the way home, right? Well, my dad had stayed behind for business. Anyway, I was asking my mom about how long it would take us to get home, and then she suddenly swerved off the road. We rolled for a bit, and then hit a tree. She…didn't make it out. I obviously did."
The other boy nodded, to show that he was listening.
"And so, little four-year-old me finally made it home thanks to the authorities. And guess who was waiting when I walked into the door. My dad, no duh." Kisame kicked a rock down the sidewalk. "He apparently had heard the story, and got it into his head that it was my fault that his wife died, because I had been supposedly distracting her from the road. That's when he grabbed some sort of knife –I honestly have no idea what kind- and cut into my face really deep. I never got any medical help for them, so they eventually scarred over into what's before you," he said, gesturing to his ever-apparent scars. "So, that's my life story so far. Intriguing, right?"
Itachi averted his gaze to the ground. "Wow, Kisame…I had no idea. But, how have you been able to move around so much? I mean, don't they ask for ID or something when buying a house? And not to mention the expensiveness."
"Ah, yet another question. Well, I guess it'll help tell the story. So, the rest is kinda dorky. Years after the whole Myrtle Beach incident, I read a book about a guy who had been physically abused like I had been, and he had suffered through the torture just like I had. But then, he got the guts to tell his neighbor or something –or someone like that, I don't really remember- and before he knew it, he was out of hell and the perpetrator doing twenty years. Inspired, I told the only person I trusted at the time, my older brother, who had been away at college when the entire thing happened, and he helped me get this program-thing going. So now, should my old man come around for me, all I have to do is call the police and I'm relocated in a matter of days. Fun, fun," Kisame finished, adding the last part sarcastically.
"Why isn't your dad in jail, then? I mean, if you keep finding him…" Itachi trailed off.
The blue kid shrugged. "He's good at getting out of handcuffs, I guess."
The black-haired boy grunted. "So you must hate moving, right?" he solicited distantly.
"Well, doesn't everyone?"
"And that's why you were so reluctant to befriend me," Itachi continued. "Because you knew that it wouldn't be worth forging anything emotional, since you'd have to mave in a month or so anyway. I get it now," he speculated.
"Okay, now your turn. Know what I don't get?" Kisame asked.
"What?"
"The first time your dad came around, you took off your purple nail polish. How come? Was it really just because you didn't want purple nails anymore?" he clarified.
Itachi sighed. Now was the time for confessions. "Can you keep a secret?" he asked innocently.
"Well, sure. If you want me to…"
"Okay, good. You ready for this?"
"Give me your best shot."
"Yes, well…" Itachi began trailing off again, but stopped himself. "Kisame, I'm gay."
The other boy jumped back involuntarily. "WHAT?!" he screamed out.
The black-haired boy took a deep breath. "I'm gay, okay? And remember me saying about the idea for the perfect son my dad has? Well, something tells me that that son isn't gay." He ran his fingers through his bangs. "Look, please don't tell anyone, alright? It's not like they probably haven't figured it out yet, but just don't, okay? I really haven't told anyone besides you yet, so…yeah, you get it."
Kisame giggled. "Wow, that really does explain a lot. The nails, the androgynous friends, the long hair, the hate of getting girls' attention…I see."
"Stop it."
"Stop what?"
"Laughing."
"I wasn't laughing at you."
"Of course you weren't. Just stop."
"Itachi, I was laughing at my own stupidity. I swear."
"Sure you were," he said with an eye roll. "And you're skin is green, too."
"Itachi…"
The black-haired guy waved his hand around a bit. "Kidding, kidding. Can't take a joke, much." He looked back at the ground. "But seriously, don't tell anyone."
Kisame smiled. "Your secret's safe with me," he began, "if my history's safe with you."
Itachi smiled back. "Deal."
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See? I told you that you would hate me. XP But seriously, this is my attempt to get rid of gay stereotypes, 'kay? We all know that Itachi is the farthest thing from a pansy, right? Yes, we do. Therefore, by portraying him as gay, I am saying that gays ARE NOT wimps. And for the record, feminine guys rock.
Well, at least the KisaIta fans will like me. I hope.
And, have you ever wondered why Kisame says 'eh' at the end of some of his sentences? Well, he had lived in Ontario for a while (about 5 months, a new record), and he picked that up there. Canada rocks, by the way.
Reviews help Itachi feel accepted.