Chapter 1 – Mist-ery Friendship (Kaede's P.O.V.)

As the sun was burning down on my skin, a noise from the bushes

caught my attention. Looking to my left, I could feel eyes staring me down as a familiar figure approached me from the dark brush. My eyes shifted back to the night sky as I immediately knew who the bystander was.

"Whatcha doing out here?"

"Watching the sky for shooting stars as always, why do you ask Kisame?"

A smile danced across his lips as he looked up at me sitting on a tree branch," Well, I went to your house only to find you missing so I had to look for you and sure enough here you are!"

"Because you totally didn't expect me to be here!" We laughed in unison.

Silence grew between the both of us. Meanwhile, he jumped up on the tree branch, sitting next to me and poked my cheek. I truly hated it when people poked me while I was trying to concentrate on something. Seeing as nothing could escape my mouth, I glared at him. For a half an hour we pointed out shapes the stars made in the sky. Kisame was one of the seven swordsmen, and we had met through his job as a swordsman. When I was 9 years old (Note: I am currently 15) and he was 12, I was walking through the Village Hidden in the Mist as an orphan and I saw a tall blue kid who looked kind of like a shark. He frightened me, but I continued to watch him practice with a giant oval sword in bandages. I could tell he could barely lift it, yet he kept on with practicing as I just watched him sweep it around his opponent with stealth. By the time the match was over, he had won on a whim. He was exhausted, the fight had really taken a toll on him. I clapped loud and obnoxiously and smiled with congrats to the victor. All he was able to do was look up with wide eyes, at me who was now in front of him. He let out a sigh and grinned.

"Oh my gosh!" I practically screamed, jumping up and down in glee. He looked at me confused. "That was so amazing! Where did you learn to do that?" I asked .

"Learn what? Fighting? Eh, I suppose I picked it up from my father." He stated, shrugging.

"What's your name?"

"Hoshigaki, Kisame, do you mind me asking yours?"

"Hai. My name is Kiko, Kaede. Delighted to meet you, Kisame!"

"As am I. What are you doing around here? I haven't seen you before."

Kisame had a sincere, young voice that gave him a speck of innocence, so if you had looked at him before you heard his voice, he'd be terrifying. However, if you heard his voice before you saw his appearance, you'd think it was a sweet young boy only to be surprised by the way he looks. He and I had become best friends as the time passed. In the public when we would hang out together, all the people would be surprised that a shark looking man could have a friend. It always seemed he was alone in the world, being giving dirty looks and having people scream and runaway when he greeted them. Rest assure, he was a kind person who had just as big a heart as anyone. Kisame would never do anything to hurt innocent beings... or so I thought, until tonight.

I looked up at him. He looked very bothered," Kisame, are you okay?"

Somewhat distracted by his thoughts, he replied," huh? Why do you ask?"

"I know when something is wrong, Kisame."

When he didn't reply, I grew concerned. Rarely was Kisame ever a party pooper, so what was it that was driving him up a wall? "Would you still be my friend if I did something bad?" He questioned.

Even though this question shocked me, nonetheless did I reply with," Of course. Kisame, did you know that when a being isn't able to live up to their destiny and they screw it up, they get another life to make it up!" I said cheerfully.

Surprised at my answer, a grin stretched across his face. "Thanks Kae."

I jumped off the tree branch, landing flat on my feet. My hand motioned for him to jump down as well. When he landed next to me, I looked up at him. He's so damn tall, I thought to myself. I was only up to his mid chest, but even though I couldn't wrap my arms around his neck, I wrapped them around his waist to give him a big, friendly hug.

When he hugged back tightly, he spoke softly," I'm sorry."

Just then, my back could feel a few hand signs and he quickly disappeared into the mist. I better get back to the village, was all I could think. On the way back I began to worry, wondering if Kisame was okay and what this 'bad' thing was that he was going to act out. Only one way to find out. As I got there I looked around, the silence was broken as a rampage of villagers screamed and jumped into the picture. They were all yelling different things, but something about a shark caught my attention. Just then a man ran up to me and yelled," She's the accomplice!" to the villagers. I stared at him in confusion, but just as they were about to charge at me with pitchforks and fire, they looked up and screamed, running the other direction. Whoever the presence behind me was, they sighed and put a hand on my shoulder. I felt myself struggling to not let my legs give in to the cold fall to the ground. I was in all honesty to lazy and tired to do anything more than lay down on the ground and close my eyes, hoping whatever was going on would end soon. When I peeked one eye open, Kisame was already walking away from me. Though as much as I wanted to stop him, I knew I couldn't and shouldn't do anything about it. It was over, and I had to deal with it whether I wanted to or not. One question escaped my mind, what did he do? The only answers I was going to get were going to have to be from the Daimyo. Surely enough the Daimyo gave me answers, because when I got there - he was dead.