pre style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px; white-space: normal; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web Regular', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Helvetica Neue', 'BBAlpha Sans', 'S60 Sans', Arial, sans-serif; color: #444444; font-size: 15px;"Hemigaleidae Book - Chapter 02: Anywhere for Youbr style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /HBbr style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Again, just noting, this isn't meant to be a story piece. It's more of an analysis (not entirely though) and concept piece to explain the canon Kisame and Itachi dynamics. Just one take on it. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Companion song - Anywhere for you by John Martinbr style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /For KisaIta day 2: partnersbr style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /HBbr style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /We can rewrite the story,br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Through the pain and the heartaches, br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /There's still love for style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /HBbr style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Life as Itachi's partner was not what Kisame had expected. He had expected to be dealing with a child, a traitor, an annoyance that he may get some entertainment out of. Their story was simple, set in stone. A monster and another monster from opposing villages working for a terrorist organization who would inevitably kill each other, leave no impact on the world, and die as uselessly as they had lived. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Instead he received what was clearly a depressed kid. He needed to liven it up, really. Itachi made no effort to speak at all, he moved only when necessary and was unusually twitchy towards every movement. It made sense, he was surrounded by enemies after all. It was his expression though, that really killed Kisame. It was impassive and cold. It wasn't the expression of a child who enjoyed killing like many children driven to kill in Kirigakure. It was solemn and very unchildlike. It was style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Kisame tried to speak a few times, but was met with very little response, it seemed Itachi did not want to communicate too much, to create a bond or a link that would inevitably rise from close communication. That was fine with Kisame, who chuckled at the irony of their roles being reversed. Once, it was Kisame who was the lone wolf who did not speak to his comrades. He wondered briefly if that meant Itachi was going to betray and kill him. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /And so they traveled together, and in a strange way, Kisame came to understand Itachi. Itachi was after all, a child. He liked sweet things even if he tried not to show it, something Kisame found very amusing, yet he dared not tease Itachi over it, not yet. Itachi didn't eat meat, another oddity. Kisame had always eaten meat, he lived for meat, he loved it, and here was Itachi proving to be his opposite yet again. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Itachi was soft spoken and, though he did not pause for a dying cat, Kisame noticed the gaze traveling to the figure, the slightly softened expression before they continued on their way. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Itachi would let Kisame take the reigns in their battles, allow Kisame to decide how things should go ahead of time. It wasn't until one particular battle where Kisame told Itachi of the plan ahead of time and Itachi refused, that Kisame realized Itachi hadn't been giving him the reigns after all. Itachi had simply approved of Kisame's methods in the past and agreed to style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Itachi gave his plan instead. It was a better one, but Kisame refused to follow it, because he was the adult damn it. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /And Kisame ended up with a broken arm and Itachi brought out a black flame Kisame didn't even know the kid had to get them out. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"That's a pretty impressive technique." Kisame complimented begrudgingly, wondering whether Itachi would take advantage of the moment to kill him now. Was this how his days would end?br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /But Itachi did not kill him. Itachi healed him using medical ninjutsu and bandages, utterly surprising Kisame. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /From then on, Kisame would take Itachi's considerations into account before their plans, but he still insisted on the final say. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Hey Itachi?"br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Hm?"br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"What are your goals? Why did you kill your clan?" Because Kisame couldn't fathom why. Itachi wasn't the usual, not at all, an anomaly and he knew that style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"To test my capacity."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Bullshit. Kisame knew any powerful shinobi was well aware of their strengths compared to another. No one needed to kill to prove it. "What are you searching for? I don't believe you actually believe in Akatsuki."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Itachi was silent at first, before finally answering. "That flame back there... Was my mangekyo sharingan. It is rare among my family, and difficult to achieve. In order to upgrade it and receive even more power, I need the eternal mangekyo sharingan. I seek it. I seek that power."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Bullshit. Itachi's voice was hollow, it wasn't of a power craved bastard. Kisame took it in stride style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"And how to you achieve the eternal mangekyo sharingan?"br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"That is the answer I seek."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Kisame laughed. "What if the answer was in the family you killed? You think you will find it here?"br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Our leader has the rinnegan. Through him I will find my answer." Itachi stated style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Oh? Are you sure it's wise to tell a fellow Akatsuki about your plans to overthrow the leader?"br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"I have no interest in overthrowing the leader. Besides..."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Besides...?"br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"He is already aware."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Of course he was. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /HBbr style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Hey, would you believe me if I said,br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /We are here for a reason,br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Now this is our life,br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /This is what counts,br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /This is for style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /HBbr style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /It was only about a year into their partnership that Kisame truly learned what kind of person Itachi was. It was odd, he had never had this much prolonged contact with a single person since his parents, the ones he had killed. He found himself growing steadily attached to the kid, though he wouldn't have hesitated to kill Itachi, not for a moment. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /He did however, learn that Itachi wanted his personal space. Shinobi in general had personal spaces that were not to be intruded upon unless one wanted to battle, but Itachi even more so than others. Itachi would need time to himself, to brood it seemed. Kisame allowed it. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /He also confirmed Konoha's weakness as was well known among other villages. Their emphasis on teamwork and frailty. Itachi insisted they work together on every mission, it was not a jump in and do things as they come. They had to plan ahead of time. They had to, to a degree, watch each other's backs. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"You are useless to me weakened or dead." Itachi would say. "You are my partner and we are stronger if we work together."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /And Kisame couldn't doubt that it was true. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /HB br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"This enemy used plants, some of which are poisoned and can make us sick. It would be a death wish." Itachi said. "We must be absolutely careful to do everything without danger."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Of course Itachi, I know this much."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /And so they battled and things went well until it turned out there was another in their midst. An unidentifiable extra who had the biowarefare kekkai genkai. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Kisame was going to be hit. He was going to die a slow miserable death. Well fine, he would die a slow, miserable death but he would give this monster, a child, the last one standing, just as much of a painful death if he couldn't avoid the attack. He swing Samehada over his head and...br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /The impact never came. Standing with arms stretched out, his 14 year old figure tiny against Kisame's large one, was style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"...why?..." Kisame style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Because we are partners." Itachi answered, and then their enemy was gone, melting against black flames. Itachi fell, and for the first time, Kisame touched Itachi. He held Itachi's tiring body, cradling it in his armsbr style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"I'm taking you to safety." Kisame clarified for the panicked expression on young Itachi's style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /He felt guilt he never knew he had. No one had ever deemed him worthy to give up their life for his. No one, ever. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Why?" Itachi asked, as Kisame busied himself with trying to heal Itachi to the best of his ability, bringing bandages and trying to bleed out the infection he knew he couldn't fight. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Because we are partners." Kisame said, but it was a lie. The truth was some searing pain deep in his heart littered with guilt and something he never knew he would feel. Friendship perhaps. A bond maybe. Something connecting his heart to Itachi's. Itachi who, Kisame now realized, killed swiftly without the pain that Kisame reveled in giving his style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Itachi who, Kisame now realized like some dawning thought, never killed unless necessary. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /The truth was something style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /And that moment changed their dynamic. Kisame never tried to take the reigns again. He never tried to do anything but follow Itachi's orders and they were better for it. Itachi was almost always right. Itachi's ways were better. Kisame's were battle hardened and destructive and left him feeling awful. Itachi's were swift, to the point, and naive. They were the fire Kisame had been searching for in a frozen wasteland, the light that could guide him in the mist, away from the crimson style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"You are my sheath." Kisame said one day. "I would not hesitate to use my blade so often, and you hold me back and I do not mind it."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"You are my sword." Itachi answered almost instantly, surprising Kisame who had not been expecting a response. "You keep on track, as the heartless monster I must be."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /It was like glass shattering, a glimpse into Itachi that Kisame never thought he'd have. A moment that made him realize that there was exactly as much to Itachi as he always feared. Itachi who always suspected Itachi was acting, and here was Itachi admitting style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Itachi?" Kisame asked, now that Itachi was in a telling style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Hm?"br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Why don't you use the mangekyo more often? It could save us so much trouble."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"It's a waste of chakra, it makes me lazy." Itachi offered two explanations too style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Does it have any other effect? I saw your eyes bleed."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"It is nothing, Kisame."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"I see you using the sharingan more in battle than you use to."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Kisame?"br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"Yes?"br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"No more."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /And that was all Itachi had to say, the words were enough. Itachi held Kisame like a puppet, he was a mere pet before the style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /They enjoyed their time after they had broken their walls. They had more trust in each other, having not given up on the other even in their moments of weakness, knowing the other would not kill them. It did not mean they trusted completely, oh no. But they could enjoy moments style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /They would talk more freely about politics and philosophy. They even watched a movie, and occasionally, Kisame would leave a gift for Itachi in their hotel rooms. They always had separate rooms, but that meant little to shinobi. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Kisame wondered whether such simple bliss was allowed for a monster like him, but he did not question the one time the gods shone on him. He did however, make many stops with Itachi to get help for the illness they knew would get worse. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Every cough killed Kisame. It should have been him coughing and style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /As the years past, Kisame came to see Itachi using the sharingan almost daily. Itachi was 16 now, and had grown so much. In a sense, they had changed each other so much. They didn't know the other's secrets, but Kisame felt that Itachi knew the only Kisame that mattered, and the past was style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /He barely remembered Itachi's onyx eyes. They were red, always, and he dared not look into them. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"I feel..." Kisame said one day, "As if my life truly began now. You are my sheath but also... You are my sage. You have given me a meaning in life, a goal I had before. I would go anywhere for you." And as he said it, Kisame realized they were true words. He would leave Akatsuki for Itachi. He had one person who made life worth it, his friend, his sheath... His sage."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /"You are my sword but also... You are my guardian." Itachi answered, surprising Kisame once more. "You have protected me and been there to do what I could not. If not for you, this cause would be lost."br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /The cause of course, Itachi's eternal mangekyo sharingan. br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Kisame would make sure Itachi got it. Because nothing mattered more than Itachi's will, Itachi's style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Somewhere along the way Kisame lost sight of who he was once. He became a pet to Itachi's whim, and he was never once mistreated, Itachi always took care of him, as he attempted to do for Itachi. He followed Itachi's orders. He considered Itachi's feelings for everything, because the thought of Itachi suffering was almost physically painful even though Itachi always suffered. And he did everything possible to make sure Itachi never needed to use his mangekyo sharingan. He might not know everything, but bleeding eyes was not a good sign and he suspected - but could not prove - that Itachi was losing his style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /It was only a few wishful dreams that he could live with Itachi in this happiness style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /HBbr style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Heaven knows you're a dreamer,br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Don't hide it from style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /Never doubt what you're made of,br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /There's a hero in style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /I would go anywhere for style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /HBbr style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /pre