Thank you, for choosing to read this.
Prodigious.
Itachi Uchiha was the pride of the Uchiha Clan.
The power, he'd inherited was awakened in the face of war. The war taught him just how dangerous and how terrible possessing power could be.
The man with power could never feel at ease for he would always be in danger. If it was not him, it would be his loved ones. He had learned that all too well. Thus, even though he was powerful, even though he made his parents and his clan and his village proud, he couldn't help but despise himself. He despised the power he possessed and dreaded the pain that it would bring. And for all his life, he lived, worked, fought, and wished and wished for peace.
At six years old, a short year and a half after the end of the war, he was sent to the Ninja Academy to learn to fight. Shisui Uchiha played his mentor, trained him and helped him master his Sharingan. All in noble service to his village, all to keep the peace. To protect others from the horror, pain and loss associated with war.
It is a terrible thing to have power and know to love…it makes you a martyr of sorts doesn't it? Power was such a fickle thing, full of contradictions and unable to make up its mind on whether or not it likes you. It was hard to figure out if it was a good thing or a bad thing, a blessing or a curse. Perhaps, like the weather, like people, like life, it was always changing.
Power allowed you to protect the ones you love, but it also brought danger to them. Power was obtained whereas love came to people. He supposed he might have counted himself unlucky to have both. How many people could claim that? An unfortunate few.
The day that he met Kisame Hoshigaki was a distinctive one.
It was after he'd deserted Konoha, a short time after he'd defected to Amegakure. He had been sitting atop the Shinto shrine in solitude, legs dangling precariously over the edge, above a loch of hungry sharks. They could sense him, smell him and thus, they circled about under his feet just waiting for him to make a wrong move and fall into their jaws below. He had been looking out to the surrounding mountains that hid him from the misplaced hatred of people who thought they knew him.
He had been thinking about her.
He appeared on the Shinto nearly directly behind Itachi, with the stealth and prowess of any sufficient shinobi. He smelled like water and felt more like an animalistic predator than a human. And on his back, Itachi had assessed, was his weapon, but not just a weapon. It too was alive. His voice was coarse when he spoke, sounding simultaneously like the hiss of an angry snake and the bark of a vicious dog.
"I'll be your partner from now on."
When he shifted his gaze, Itachi could see him. He had bluish, tough looking skin, sharp beady eyes, gills lining his cheeks. Yet he had a nose too. He looked very strange, shark-like, even more so than his demeanour could foreshadow. In Itachi's mind, he wondered what her impression of this man would be. It is easier to love when you have not seen so much as I have. …I have seen a lot since we've parted and the world is full of more horrors and more cruelty than you could ever imagine.
He didn't hesitate to continue when Itachi gave no reply. He spoke on with the intention of impressing, of establishing polite acquaintance with the touch of fear.
"I'm Hoshigaki Kisame, formerly of Kirigakure and one of the seven ninja swordsmen." Kisame. Hoshigaki Kisame. Itachi found that he didn't really care for the introduction. He couldn't really have cared less for Hoshigaki Kisame, who was to be his new partner. Yet the man, or shark…the shark-man continued to speak, not the least intimidated by Itachi's silence, nor put off by his apathy. "And you're Uchiha Itachi, formerly of Konohagakure. I've heard the rumours about you… that you killed the rest of the Uchiha clan…"
His lack of reaction was mistaken for apathy of his crime. He might have struck Hoshigaki Kisame as a quiet young man. Quiet, and deadly. The type of person who gave no regard to others and killed on whims.
"I understand you well, that's why I wanted you for my partner out of everyone in Akatsuki… The feeling of killing your comrades can't be put into words, can it, Itachi-san?" He had exhilaration in his voice. As if he'd found a new high and was dying to express the feeling again. It was disgusting.
"You sure do talk a lot. You think you understand me, but what about yourself? You wandered through the mist to get here… but you're nothing but a rogue who can't even decide on his own destination. …am I wrong?"
It was a nice day. Nice for a village known for its rain. The air was cool and still. There was overcast, overcast that made everything seem duller and more ominous still. The surround mountains and the loch and the clouds above gave a confining feel. It was the kind of weather that would have ideally preceded a battle, a fight to the death.
Still, the grass was a lush green and light reflected off the surface of the water. She would have liked that, Itachi was sure. He would have liked to think that she wouldn't even have minded the sharks.
"Let me tell you something," rasped Kisame. He had drawn his sword, held it not even inches from Itachi's head.
He sounded wound up, ready to release his pent up energy, keen to draw blood. Itachi didn't flinch, death and pain were nothing next to the suffering of losing loved ones, of knowing the one person who was still alive that he still cared for was suffering too.
"Sharks lay eggs, but the eggs hatch within the mother before they are born. However, the number of eggs a shark lays is not the same number as the number of babies she has. …Why do you think that is?"
Itachi didn't care to find out. Of course he was told anyway.
"They eat each other." He said it with relish, with delight or some sick fascination with the idea. "As soon as the eggs hatch within the mother's womb, the babies begin to eat each other. They begin killing each other the moment they're born. Everyone else is nothing but food."
His story held a warning.
"Staring today you and I are comrades in Akatsuki. But watch out…for me."
Not even an ounce of will power, the silent unsheathing of a blade. His eyes morphed, forming into a pinwheel of sorts. I could say the same… And his comrade, Hoshigaki Kisame snickered. He changed demeanours, withdrawing his sword. He spoke, sounding more calm, more friendly. Yet he hadn't lost that underlying element of danger.
"Well, let's try and get along. And hope we're not each other's last opponent."
Itachi stood up.
"Be prepared. Those who turn their hands against their comrades are sure to die a terrible death."
A snicker from the shark-man. "Then the both of us are already both branded as terrible men, are we not?"
"No. We are humans, not fish. We don't know what kind of we truly are until the moment before our deaths. As death comes to embrace you, you will realize what you are. That's what death is don't you think?"
His death was not terrible, and neither was he. He lived for good and died for good. His death was just one thing in the bigger scheme of things, just as his life had been. His suffering was long, and drawn out. Perhaps he'd deserved to suffer as he did, a purgatory for his heinous deeds. But as life parted from him, he saw the face of his beloved brother and he thought of her. The pain faded, and he felt better.