"I want to see my brother." Itachi said on the eve of his nineteenth birthday.
"That might not be possible without a passport."
"I know a guy who can make a fake one." Itachi said immediately, alerting Kisame that Itachi had indeed thought about this already.
"There is a lot of security on plans, and no trains can cross an ocean." Kisame thought aloud.
"Which is why I was thinking, we should take the cruise ship, go by ship." Itachi continued. "France has many ports."
"Perhaps we can still the ship and turn it into a hotel." Kisame continued.
Itachi looked startled. "We would stay there?"
"Why not?" Kisame asked, rising. "Let's go after your birthday tomorrow. We have nothing here. We had our vacation. You cannot work, but I can, and I will hire someone to assist me. You will feel more comfortable near your brother anyway - just be careful, they might be watching him and looking for you near him."
Who they were went without saying - Kisame and Itachi never gave them a name, they were simply they. It went without saying that they were watching Sasuke, which made it a dangerous endeavor.
Just like that though, the plan was made. Itachi's birthday was everything they could have hoped for, but far from what they wished. Umi and Darui decorated the place and baked sweets. Kisame brought a giant cat pillow for Itachi, and Itachi carefully contained himself until the guests retired before vomiting blood and falling unconscious on the bathroom floor.
Kisame cleaned him and packed their bags. The journey to the coast where they had the ship moved was long in itself - their inability to use commercial transportation to avoid security and cameras made them slower, and meant longer, more uncomfortable rides.
They could not even tell stories or listen to music, it was upsetting for Itachi, whose health deteriorated more with each passing day. Umi had given Itachi medicine he could use to completely mask his symptoms, medicine he was not to use more than one day a week.
Itachi wore thick glasses now, and often kept his eyes blazing red behind a second layer of sunglasses or behind contacts.
It was a week before they arrived at the coast, the fastest they could move with Itachi in his condition. Itachi knew the cruise ship's layout front and back and had no difficulty maneuvering it, but Kisame suspected all was not well by how Itachi's eyes remained shut at all times.
So it was. They traveled with a small crew of brats they hired at the coast, ones who had so little to lose they didn't even care about things like questioning their employer.
Juugo, Suigetsu, Karin. They trained under Itachi for the five month journey to France in the art of marketing and customer service. To Kisame, he tried to teach finances and other finer details - though it seemed Kisame was already versed in the fields.
"Teach me sword fighting." Itachi said one day, "I want to learn something from you."
"Me too!" Suigetsu piped up. And so they fashioned wooden blades using empty crates.
Kisame taught Suigetsu and Itachi every morning while the sun was rising, and they would stop just before the sun was at its peak. They were naturals, both picking up the art with great speed.
Karin looked through the cruise's library and taught herself navigation and economic theory. Juugo would do most of the legwork, and seemed to enjoy most of all time spent staring into the sea. Sea gulls often came of him like they would not to anyone else.
It was Juugo who first started trying to mix the ingredients they had to create food, and soon he was the unofficial cook. He had nothing on Choji, but it was great.
Occasionally, at night, Itachi and Kisame would try sparring in the moonlight, and Kisame noticed a change when Itachi fought at night. It was faster, more powerful, and he would often catch Kisame off guard.
It was the first time Kisame noticed that Itachi did not cough when they sparred at night. A strange revelation, and Kisame wasn't sure what to make of it.
On those nights when their blood ran red, heated from battle and doused in adrenaline they debased themselves with carnal acts that could only be described as fucking. It wasn't the slow, careful caresses of before, but the animalistic needs of men sweaty and worn from battle, aching for release.
Kisame could forget on those nights that Itachi was sick.
They arrived in France just as winter approached, and they outfitted themselves in thick furs as the cruise loaded up against the beach area they had rented in advance. They set up anchor so the boat wouldn't move and had the hotel rooms prepared.
Suigetsu had taught himself to mix drinks and planned to reopen the bar. Karin planned to take over the business aspects that Itachi could no longer do, while Juugo took over kitchen duties and much of the legwork, along with Kisame. Everyone sided with cleanup.
They opened the hotel just before Christmas Eve and were booked all through. They decorated the ship in red and green wreaths and big gold star. Karin and Juugo fashioned some paper reindeer to stand on the edges.
Things seemed to be going well, but Kisame could sense Itachi's anxiousness.
"I must see him, I don't have time." Itachi said one day. "I will take the day off tomorrow and go."
"By yourself? No way." Kisame said. "I will come along."
Itachi shook his head. "Those three cant run the place by themselves."
"Karin is a pretty good manager I have faith in her ability, and she hired that new girl, Sakura. They can handle it."
"Sakura hasn't started working yet." Itachi pointed out.
"She will start tomorrow."
"All the better reason for you to stay."
"I'm coming with you and that's final." Kisame said firmly.
Itachi sighed. "Very well. There is an art exhibit by a talented artist named Sasori in Paris tomorrow. That is where Sasuke will be."
MN
The art exhibit had heavy security as the crown prince was visiting it. Like in many things, Itachi had thought this through.
Itachi wore a long blonde wig and put on blue contacts. Kisame had been confused, until Itachi explained that he was dressing up as Deidara, Sasori's consistent on-off boyfriend. Their infamous breakups were all the talk of the art world, it seemed. Deidara had a permanent spot on the guest list, and Itachi had reason to believe Deidara wouldn't show up today, being that they had recently broken up.
Kisame would be Deidara's bodyguard.
And so they infiltrated the art museum with ease, Itachi acted strangely in a way Kisame did not recognize, but assumed resembled this Deidara person. Luckily, Kisame only had to be quiet - though that task was difficult with Itachi's uncharacteristic goofiness.
Sasuke was walking through the museum with his hands in his pockets and a rather bored expression.
Itachi watched him like a hawk, circling through the various art pieces, mostly puppets and sculptures.
At some point, Sasuke began watching Itachi too, though they said nothing to each other. Kisame wondered if Sasuke knew or suspected anything.
The most Itachi dared do was glare down at Sasuke, who glared back. It was the only moment in which Itachi broke his disguise.
Nothing came of it. Nothing unusual happened, and they went home just before Sasori showed up to give his speech.
MN
Itachi wasn't the same after that. His fleeting moment with Sasuke made him fidgety. He couldn't sit still in one place, couldn't keep his food down, and couldn't stop worrying.
Nothing Kisame did helped, so Kisame stopped trying. He figured it was one of those moments to give Itachi space.
The new girl picked up on things quickly, and proved to be incredibly intelligent.
It was a coincidence that Kisame saw Sakura unlock her phone to a picked of Sasuke.
"A fan of the Prince, eh?" Kisame asked.
Sakura's cheeks reddened in embarrassment. "Well we are kind of friends..."
"Friends with the prince?" Kisame asked dubiously.
Sakura seemed to understand and pulled out a picture on her phone of herself between Prince Sasuke and Prince Naruto.
"See?" Sakura said, sliding to show many more pictures at different locations and times.
Either Sakura was really, really good at photoshop, or she was telling the truth.
"How?" Kisame asked. "Princes don't just meet up with girls who work at hotels."
Sakura made a face. "It's a long story... But anyway, it's not a big secret. The media picked up on it long ago, and claim it was just some lousy photographers. They say I photoshopped them and other mean things. It's not true though. And it doesn't matter to me what the others think." Sakura went back to her work. "Besides I... Want to be something on my own. I'm only working here to make it through med school you know. I may be a teenager, but I have a bachelors degree."
And that was news to Kisame. "Why not work at an internship or something biology related?"
"Less flexible hours and less money." Sakura said with a shrug. "Besides, I like it here."
"Well... You've impressed me." Kisame said. "I'm glad to have you on board."
"Glad to be here." Sakura beamed.
Kisame didn't realize until he left that Itachi had been listening the whole time.
"She knows him." Itachi commented.
"Don't interfere with them, it seems like she's already dealing with enough for knowing him." Kisame answered.
Itachi did not reply.
MN
A year went by, and Itachi made it a habit to seek out Sakura and ask her about her life. He would hear about Sasuke and Naruto, about other trivial things, but most of all, about Sasuke.
Itachi no longer asked to go see Sasuke, and Kisame suspected it was because Itachi's eyesight was completely gone. He always used reddened eyes, and wore sunglasses when working.
His health continued to deteriorate until he took Kisame aside one day and said it quite plainly.
"I'm going to die soon, Kisame."
Kisame nearly broke. "It can't be..."
"I have less than a year left, I know it to be true. I have requests to make, if it wouldn't be too much trouble."
"I'll do anything." Kisame choked.
"I want to be cremated, and my ashes scattered along the river of the house we built together." Itachi said, intertwining his hand with Kisame's. "And I want you to keep an eye out on my brother. Protect him when I cannot anymore."
"I promise."
"I want you to take my eyes out before cremation. When the time comes, if Sasuke begins to lose his sight, give him my eyes."
"Your... Blind eyes?"
"I cannot explain." Itachi shook his head. "Please do this."
"Of course Itachi."
Itachi's death was easy. He went to sleep in Kisame's arms, and never woke up.
Kisame sobbed in the morning when he realized the love of his life was gone for eternity, he cradled Itachi's lifeless form as the sun's scathing rays filled the room.
Kisame preserved Itachi's eyes and hid them in his boat. He cremated Itachi himself as Itachi was not supposed to exist, by taking two boats to see and lighting one on fire with Itachi's body. There was no light save for the moon shimmering against the waves and the fire blazing through the blackened sky.
When he could, he picked up the ashes in an urn and went back to France. He mourned for a week during which none of the others asked what went wrong.
They assumed Itachi broke up with him, as none of them had even begun to guess that Itachi was sick. Itachi was at his heart, a brilliant actor.
After that first week, Kisame flew back to the States, where he scattered Itachi's ashes along the riverbank, and flew back to France.
He asked Sakura to get him an audience with the king, an odd request, but Sakura pulled through.
Queen Kushina was once only a noblewoman of Scotland. There was nothing French about her, and she carried an air of wilderness.
"I would like to speak with you privately." Kisame said, eyeing the guards. When Kushina looked dubious, about to refuse, Kisame continued. "I fear they look upon me with crimson eyes."
That got Kushina's attention. "Leave." Kushina said to her guards.
Once they were gone, she continued with a suspicious glare. "What is it?"
Kisame told his tale, everything he knew about Itachi, and about Itachi's final wish, minus the part about Itachi's eyes. "I only wish for a position close to Sasuke, perhaps as a bodyguard - I am a world renowned swordsman and quite handy with martial arts, weapons and guns."
Kushina, who had listened intently and grown softer with each word Kisame spoke, agreed.
MN
Sasuke was nothing like Itachi. He was wild, free, entitled, a brat. He was intelligent, but did not match up to Itachi, not in Kisame's opinion.
Still, Kisame stayed by Sasuke's side, always in the background as several more years went by.
"You are always something else at night, Sasuke!" Naruto laughed as he splashed Sasuke, who had decided to go surfing at midnight. Sakura simply watched with her toes in the sand, arms crossed as she clearly thought 'what idiots!'
"It's the moon, Naruto! She speaks to me. I feel wild in it's light."
And Kisame realized there was truth in it. Itachi also changed in the moonlight, it was subtle but noticeable, like the tide.
It wasn't until Sasuke was 21 years old, the same age as Itachi was at death, on a night where the moon shone in all its glory through the palace's stained glass windows, that he learned the truth of his heritage.
He was enraged. He threw things, he howled. He destroyed the throne room with blazing sharingan eyes and supernatural strength.
Then he sat down and listened as Kisame told him everything, including the truth of Itachi's eyes.
"I want his eyes." Sasuke said. "I need them."
It seemed there was something there that Kisame could not understand, but it did not matter. Sasuke took on Itachi's eyes, and that was the final moment that Kisame could bear.
Kisame died protecting Sasuke from the organization after the eye transplant.
Sasuke lived on, as the last Uchiha, and the King and Queen ensured that Sasuke remained safe by destroying the organization and any trace of its existence.
The first thing Sasuke saw when he opened Itachi's eyes was the full moon staring down at him in his childhood room, a glow-in-the-dark object tacked onto the wall.