"Ayah!" Harsh cries and shouts rang through the field along with the clash of metal on metal. Five men surrounded a woman and leaped at her one by one, jabbing at her with their swords. Against all of them, she held up one sword almost nervously and fended them off with some trouble.
"Die!" One of the men roared, and sprang forwards. With wide eyes, the womans arm wasn't fast enough and his sword cut into her arm, leaving behind a thin trail of red blood. Looking quickly from the cut on her arm to the man that had created it, she stepped back only to be swiped at from behind.
Flexing her back, she was once again cut right across the back and blood spattered the ground. Finally coming to a complete stop, each one of the men smirked at her in turn.
"That was an underhanded trick. Especially when you're fighting a girl." Said a quiet voice from behind the woman. She turned around and froze.
Behind her stood a man in a completely black cloak with his hood pulled up over his face. He stood at least six foot five and towered a head or more above all of the other men in the clearing. Strapped to his back was what looked like a large sword wrapped entirely in white bandages.
"Who are you?" The man that had cut her across the back asked sharply. "You have no right to interrupt our spar!"
"Hardly a spar when you attack from behind after your opponent was injured. Of course, I'd be happy to fight in her stead." Came the reply from beneath the hood. It had a tone of coarse anger in it and the men took a step back.
"We're leaving now Mai." Said another of the men. They all disappeared.
The young woman – Mai, was startled when he spoke to her directly. Especially by the words he spoke.
"Give me your arm." He said. The note of anger remained but his voice softened just the slightest.
Slowly, she raised her arm until it was level between them. Without apparently moving at all, his arm came out from under the cloak with a roll of bandages in his hand.
In deft movements that made her suspect years of practice, he wrapped her arm in bandages and tied them, but not too tightly.
"Turn around." He then said. Doing as he asked, she turned her back to him and he wrapped her stomach with bandages as well.
"...Thank you." She said after a minute, surprising the man. He hadn't expected thanks or for her even to allow him to bandage her. "They probably would have fought until I fainted or died." With a hollow laugh, she turned her head and caught a glimpse of under his hood.
She saw pale skin and eyes with small pupils and no irises. Tilting her head to the side slightly, she also saw a smirk pass over his face.
"You don't know who I am do you?" He asked, sounding like he was laughing in his mind.
"You don't know who I am." The woman retorted. "Yamanoue Mai, for future reference!" A cunning grin crossed her face.
"Ah..." He said dryly, staring at her intently from under his hood. "Hoshigake Kisame. For future reference."
Mai's eyes widened considerably. Her body language however, did not convey any sense of true fear. Mostly, Kisame only caught mild apprehension...and something else he couldn't quite place.
"You're a rogue! Ex-member of the seven swordsmen and wielder of Samehada, the demon shark sword!" She chirped curiously. "Aren't you?"
"Uh...yes." Kisame said after a minute. The girls actions confused him. For she stood up on her toes and pushed back his hood with her hands.
She gasped.
"So you are back?" She murmured, again with a brimming curiosity. Unsure for a moment, Kisame shook his head.
"I'm only here briefly." Very suddenly, he grabbed both of her wrists. "And nobody knows." Mai took the meaning clearly.
"Oh! No, I wouldn't tell anybody!" Mai's voice was sincere and her innocent expression held no signs of anything but awe. "Thats so cool though!" She laughed and Kisame was startled. Her voice sounded like a singing stream with many layers and tones.
"What?" He asked bluntly. Still laughing quietly, Mai raised her head and looked at Kisame's eyes.
"I heard you have more chakra than anybody else in the world!" Turning away from him, she ran towards the gate of the field. Stopping at the entrance, she turned around once more and cried another thank you and disappearing. Leaving Kisame alone and slightly baffled.
Later in the evening the very next day, Mai slid past the guards at the gate to the Hidden Mist village and ran into the rice paddies outside the village. Traveling a hidden path among the swampy ground, she eventually reached the forest and ran in without hesitation.
It took her half an hour of easy walking but she in time reached her destination. A large, clear cove that poured out into the ocean and sparkled under a full silvery moon. The water rippled gently in several places as large creatures moved under the water and Mai beheld what she had gone there to see, as she did once every week.
"Hungry?" She giggled as she pulled a package out of a knapsack on her back. Unwrapping the paper, she tossed the raw and bloody meat into the water and waited. Slowly but surely, as they always did, the sharks rose to the surface and grabbed the meat with giant dagger teeth.
The cove was the only place Mai would come to feed the giant sharks for it indeed held the largest sharks in that area of coastline. They were huge, some of the larger males reaching forty or fifty feet long with teeth the size of people!
She watched with a curious fascination as one of the hugest males in the cove swam lazily up to the ledge she was squatting on. As it passed by slowly, Mai was aware of the fact the giant predator was only inches away from her hands.
"Don't fall in." Said a voice from behind Mai. Her head whipped around but she didn't see anybody. The voice spoke again, and sounded partially wary and partially amused. "He'll bite if you do."
Mai looked back down at the water and nearly fell in just as the voice had warned against. Kisame Hoshigake was lying on his back, floating on the water with his hands behind his head. The sharks were either passing him by or prodding him with their snouts but they appeared friendly! Like two people meeting again after a long time. Like old friends.
"What are you doing here?" She asked with a frown. "I thought only I came to this place!" The look on her face was so indignant but innocently flustered that Kisame laughed.
"You were. Although, who do you think raised these sharks? Who protected and hid this cove from the village?...How did you find it Little-hime?"
Mai sat back, cheeks bright red at his name for her, and dangled the very tip of her toe in the water. It took her several minutes to think about what he had said and to think of an answer.
"I found this place a couple years ago and I've come back once a week every week since then. That one likes me!" She pointed at one of the smaller males fast approaching her foot.
Kisame tensed invisibly, ready to knock the shark out of the way but nearly lost his concentration and fell into the water when the shark nudged her foot lightly and passed on.
"Hmm?" A heavy hiss escaped him and Mai was struck by how much he resembled a shark. With one singular movement, he appeared much closer to where her feet were hanging in the water. "Do they let you in the water?" The question was casual but Kisame was having a rare moment of insane curiosity.
"I've never tried." Came the quiet reply. "Haven't actually touched one either-" She let out a small laugh. "The little ones won't come close enough..."
Upon hearing her words, Kisame twitched his finger underwater and released a tiny ball of chakra. The smallest of the sharks rose from the depths and stopped close to her feet. Mai saw it and paused.
"Well?" Kisame pressed lightly. "Are you gonna touch it or not? Should I send him back?"
Mai almost shyly looked down at her hands and murmured quietly, one word.
"How?"
Kisame removed his hands from behind his head and crossed the two meters between them. Taking his own hand out of the water, he took hers by the wrist and held it out to the shark. Slowly, he pushed her hand through the surface of the water and held it still, letting the shark rub it as it swam by.
Kisame looked over at her and grinned when he saw her wide eyes and huge smile. Her fingers tingled as the rough but at the same time smooth sharkskin flowed like a ribbon under her palm.
"So? What does it feel like?" He asked after another second had passed by. Mai's eyes turned to his own.
"Its amazing! I didn't think they'd be smooth like that!" She said excitedly. Raising one eyebrow, Kisame warned her quietly.
"You're interesting – so I'll warn you and show you." When Mai gave him a curious look, Kisame nodded and touched his other hand to the shark, rubbing it in a tail to head direction. Under the rough cartilage, the skin on his finger was teared away. He removed it from the water before it started to bleed and held it up for her to see.
"Only touch them in the direction the cartilage grows or else you'll bleed." Kisame healed the cut and let the small shark swim back to the deep.
"Hoshigake-San?" Mai asked after a minute. "Did...you bring that shark here just so I could touch it?"
Kisame smirked and examined his sore hand for a while before answering.
"Yes I did." He glanced sideways at her face that was upturned to his. "And call me Kisame-San. I don't like formalities."
"Yes Kisame-San." She replied quickly, earning a nod from Kisame.
The moon hid behind a cloud and it became very dark. Mai's eyes flashed in the darkness and when the moon came back out from its hiding place in the sky, Kisame found himself registering her appearance for the first time.
Aside from her beautiful, angled face, she had a strange turquoise color of hair. It was pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head with her bangs hanging over her forehead and two strands on either side of her face. Her eyes were a shocking emerald green.
For clothes, she wore a shirt of the same color as her hair over bandages that covered her upper chest and waist area down to her mid thighs. She had a blue skirt to match that revealed the bandages, and the lower halves of her legs and arms were covered in mesh. Even though she wore the clothes of a ninja, there was no visible sign of her allegiance to the Hidden Mist village.
Noticing him looking at her, Mai turned her head back to him and smiled, shutting her eyes briefly before raising them back to the sky.
"Is it true the moon controls the ocean currents?" She asked after a moment of staring up at its pale shape. Kisame glanced at it and then back at her.
He nodded silently then, added words when the silence began to bother him.
"It controls the waters and the tides."
"Really? I heard somebody say that but I didn't know if it was true..." Mai said happily. She seemed pleased by something and continued looking at the stars. Meanwhile, Kisame realized his frightening dilemma.
When he had put his hand over the back of hers to help her touch the shark, he had forgotten to take it away again. He didn't know if she was aware or not, but women usually didn't like that sort of thing. Of course, if she didn't notice, he wasn't going to mention it or do anything about it. Her hand was so soft that he really didn't mind at all.
"Its late...I should head...home." Mai said suddenly, breaking the comfortable silence. Then, she looked down at Kisame's hand over top of hers. With a small smile, she started to stand up, and Kisame let her hand slide away from his despite his longing to grab it again.
"I'll walk you back." Kisame was instantly behind her slightly, strangely enough, clad once again in his full clothes and black cloak with his hood pulled up. "The forest is dangerous at night."
"Thank-you!" Mai said sincerely. As Kisame started walking back to the path through the forest, Mai ran after him laughing and stopping often to look at flowers or birds sleeping in their nests.
Frequently, Kisame would stop to wait for her at hills or breaks in the path, not minding the waits because she was so naturally curious it was almost funny to watch her.
"Aren't they pretty?" Mai giggled as they reached the village gates. She held three small white flowers in her hands. Their petals had a crimson center and Mai seemed to enjoy them so Kisame agreed with her.
"I...guess." He said absentmindedly, watching the buildings on either side of the street. He noted several men following Mai with their eyes and played with the handle of his sword. They moved away.
"Well...This is it." Mai sighed. They stood in front of a rather dilapidated apartment complex with dirty windows. A few of them were broken!
"Hn..." Kisame said quietly from under his hood. He was startled briefly when Mai ran back to him and spoke to him softly.
"Thanks for walking me back and everything else Kisame-san!" Her blackish eyes sparkled as she waved at him and turned to run into the apartment.
"Hey Mai-San?" He asked quietly. "Did you say you go to the cove once a week?"
Mai looked surprised for a minute, then shook her head happily.
"I'm going back tomorrow. In the morning."
She giggled lightly and disappeared. Turning and walking away lazily, Kisame looked up at the moon, mulling over the days events in his mind. On his way to the inn he was staying at, people avoided him. For a malevolent chakra had started to rise off his body as he thought more and more. It was going to be a long night.