This is a long one! . I like this chapter...
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!!
Itachi was stirred from his thoughts by a deep groan echoing through the cave. He leapt to his feet and quickly moved to hold Kisame down as he tried to sit up.
"Kisame, you shouldn't move. Sasori said that if you do you will damage the healing muscles."
Kisame stilled. His head was fuzzy and his body felt half numb, but he very clearly heard Itachi's voice and felt the mans small hands pressing against his chest, trying to make him lie back down.
"How long was I out?" Kisame's voice was gravely and this throat was on fire it was so dry.
"Three days." Itachi lifted Kisame's head gently as he pressed the canteen to his lips, helping him drink.
"What happened? Did you say Sasori?" Kisame greatly drank the water. His eyes closing in ecstasy as the cool liquid ran down his throat.
"Leader sent him to help since he was nearby. He made an antidote for the poison but he says there was a lot of damage and you shouldn't move for a few days to let the medicine work to repair your muscles."
Kisame grunted and let his eyes fall to where Itachi's hands were still pressed against his chest. His long, delicate fingers looked very pale against the dark purple bruise spread across his chest. As if he knew what Kisame was thinking, Itachi pulled his hands back and Kisame would have swore that there was a light blush to his cheeks as he turned around to put more wood on the fire. Kisame smirked, this new side of his partner was entertaining if nothing else.
"Are you hungry?" Itachi spoke with his back to the bigger man. His face felt hot and he knew his eyes betrayed the relief he felt that Kisame was going to be alright.
"I've been passed out for three days and you ask if I'm hungry? Fuck yes I'm hungry."
Itachi only nodded and left the cave, coming back five minutes later with a string of fish in one hand and a handful of sharpened tree branches in the other. He sat by the fire and put the fish on the sticks, placing them over the fire to cook.
"Hey, Itachi. Can I ask you something?" Kisame lifted the blanket and stared down his nude body. "Was it you or Sasori who took all my clothes off?"
Itachi cleared his throat and busied himself with pouring rice into a pot of water. "You were covered in blood. I took them off so I could clean the blood off of you. I washed the clothes. They are there by your bag." Itachi motioned to a spot against the cave wall where Kisame's bag sat by his sword.
"If I'm not supposed to move then how do I put my clothes back on?" Kisame grinned when he noticed a slight stiffening in Itachi's posture.
"You can lay there nude until you can move for all I care."
Picking up the empty canteens, Itachi walked out of the cave to refill them. Kneeling on the river bank, he leaned over and looked at his reflection. Itachi had never felt his face so hot before when he wasn't sick. As he leaned closer to the water, Itachi noticed his face was flushed a bright pink. He blinked at his own reflection. He couldn't remember once in his life having ever blushed before. But he surely was now.
What is happening to me? Splashing water on his face, he tried to shake the odd feeling from his head. But images of Kisame's nude body kept entering his thoughts unwanted. Since he was young, Itachi knew he was attracted to men. While the other men around him chased women, Itachi would often go alone to train. He was uncomfortable with that side of himself. He never showed any sexual interest in anyone, though there were times in the past he had been attracted to someone, he had never acted on those thoughts. But he was a man, after all, and men had body functions that needed attending too. It wasn't rare for him to wake up in the night with his body begging for release. But this was different somehow. No one had ever made him blush before, and just the thought of seeing Kisame nude again had him hard.
Itachi splashed more water on his face. How was he supposed to go back into the cave with a hard on? Filling the canteens, he tried to get other thoughts, any other thoughts, to enter his mind. But the ache of feeling himself pressed tight against the front of his pants pulled back the images. Sighing, Itachi stood and adjusted himself to hide his arousal as best he could. Walking back into the cave, he set the canteens down and wrapped his cloak back around him.
"You ok, Itachi? You look sick." Kisame tried to hold back the laughter threatening to escape at seeing the boy so flustered. The bulge in the boys pants when he walked into the cave had been obvious.
"I'm fine. I've been watching over you for three days and nights making sure you don't die. I'm just a little tired." Itachi sat near the fire, as far away as he could get from Kisame and still watch the cooking food.
"Heh, well thanks for that. You didn't molest me while I was passed out did you?"
Itachi choked on the water he had just put to his lips. "WHAT!?"
"Hey, hey. I was joking. Calm down. I know you wouldn't do that." Kisame smirked as Itachi's face turned so red he matched the coals smoldering in the fire. "You don't have to be so embarrassed, Itachi. I know you're gay."
The blush, and all other color, drained from Itachi's face. He stared wide-eyed at the fire. How did he know? He had never told that to anyone before. "How..?" Itachi didn't know what to say. He was at a complete loss for words.
"How do I know?" Itachi nodded. Kisame turned his head to look at the ceiling. "Like minds will recognize each other, I guess."
Itachi turned to look at Kisame. "What do you mean?"
Kisame turned to look at him again. His eyes fixing on the younger mans. "With all the places we travel, have you ever once seen me chase after a woman?"
"You don't chase anyone you aren't trying to kill, Kisame." Itachi felt his face growing warm again. His heart was pounding in his chest.
"Heh, well you are partly right. I chase after you when you leave before I'm ready." Kisame grinned as the blush rushed back into Itachi's face.
"That doesn't explain what you meant by like minds." He knew he was blushing again and didn't care. His heart was threatening to flutter out of his chest at the thoughts running through his mind from Kisame's words.
"To put it bluntly, I know you're gay because I am as well. Does that answer you clearly enough?" Itachi only nodded again, his eyes never leaving the other mans. "Good. The fish is about to burn, by the way."
Itachi cursed and pulled the fish away from the fire. He put them on a plate, and dumped the pot of rice into two bowls before inching close enough to Kisame to hand the bigger man his portion of the food. They ate in silence. Kisame watched closely at the light dancing in Itachi's eyes. Every once in a while he would shift his eyes to look at him, see him watching him, and look away again, the blush spreading across his cheeks.
"Itachi, can I ask you a rather personal question without you killing me?" Kisame stuck the last piece of his fish in his mouth as he watched his partner roll the question over in his mind, trying to decide if he wanted to hear the question. "If you don't want to answer then you don't have to. I just want to ask it."
Itachi set his empty bowl down and leaned against the cave wall behind him, folding his arms across his chest and closing his eyes. "Ask your question, Kisame."
Kisame put his hands under his head to lift it enough so he had a good view of the boy. He wanted to see his face clearly when he asked the question. "Are you a virgin?"
A muscle twitched under Itachi's right eye as the blush in his cheeks got even darker. "Why would you want to know that?"
"You were thirteen when I first met you. We have been partners for a long time. I haven't seen you show the smallest amount of interest in anyone in all this time. I've tried to figure out why and I have only two reasons I can think of. Either you are in love with someone from your past and cant bring yourself to be interested in anyone else. Or you simply aren't interested in anyone at all. And for the life of me I cant figure out why you wouldn't be interested in anyone."
Itachi ground his teeth in frustration. "Why do those have to be the only two options?"
"What other reason would there be?"
"I could ask the same question of you, Kisame."
"Would you like hear my answer?" Kisame grinned. He could see the curious raise of the boys eyebrows.
"If you wish to tell me then I would listen."
"Couldn't you just say 'yes, Kisame, I would like to know your answer'? We have been working together for to long, Itachi. It doesn't matter how hard you try to hide your emotions. When you spend the amount of time with someone that we have spent together, you learn to read the other persons moods. Even if he tries to ask cold and uncaring."
Itachi sighed and opened his eyes to look at the other man. His eyes lingered for a moment on the flexed muscles of his partners arms before rising to look him in the eye. "Yes, Kisame. I would like to know your answer."
Kisame grinned again. "My answer is simple. There is only one man I want. I have just been waiting for him to show some interest."
Itachi swallowed so hard Kisame could hear it, though he was a good 6 feet away. "Wh… who?" The fires of anger were back in Itachi's eyes. Kisame knew that this time it was anger made from jealousy.
"It's complicated. He was still a child when I met him." Kisame let the lust he felt for the other man finally show in his eyes.
"Kisame.."
"You should get some sleep, Itachi. I'll wake you up if something happens since I cant move yet."
Itachi visibly shook from head to toe. His eyes were wide, his mouth suddenly dry. Did he actually hear what he thought he heard? Had Kisame just told him that he wanted him? Nodding, he stood and picked up the dirty dishes. He stepped closer to Kisame and bent to pick up his bowl. Before his fingers could touch the metal, Kisame's hand was around his wrist.
Itachi looked into his eyes. "Kisame, what are you doing?"
"This." He pulled the boy forward roughly and pressed their lips together. There was a clatter of metal on stone as the dishes dropped from Itachi's hands. He fell to his knees, his hands landing on Kisame chest.
Kisame grunted in pain from the blow and ran his tongue over Itachi's lips. The smaller man moaned softly and opened his mouth, allowing him to explore it with his tongue. Kisame let go of Itachi's wrist and put his hand inside the boys cloak, caressing his ribs through the thin net shirt he wore under it. Moaning louder from the touch, Itachi leaned into Kisame, their tongues dancing as the kiss grew more passionate.
Gripping his hand over Itachi's ribs, Kisame pushed the smaller man away. Looking down at him questioningly, Itachi ran his fingers up Kisame's bare chest to gently cup his face. He didn't want him to stop. "What is it?"
"You should sleep, Itachi." Kisame laid his head back down and removed his hand from inside Itachi's cloak.
Itachi's face fell. It had felt so good, why was he being pushed away? What had he done wrong? He turned to hide his face from the other man. His eyes were burning and he didn't want Kisame to see him cry.
As Itachi began to pick up the dishes again, Kisame grabbed his arm gently and tried to turn him around. But the smaller man wouldn't turn his face to him. "Itachi. I'm not pushing you away. I have wanted you for to long to allow the first time I touch you to go to far when I can barely move. Please don't be angry with me."
Itachi took a deep breath and closed his eyes. A single tear fell down his right cheek. "I'm not angry, Kisame. I understand. But please release me." Kisame did as he asked and watched as he picked up the rest of the dishes and hurried out of the cave.
Once outside by the river, Itachi fell to his knees and let the dished fall to the ground again as he covered his face with his hands. His shoulders shook softly as tears streamed down his face. What is wrong with me? Itachi had never felt so confused in all his life. He hadn't wanted Kisame to stop kissing him, stop touching him. But he knew that stopping then was the right thing to do. Kisame was to injured to do what Itachi had wanted him to do.
Taking a deep breath, Itachi stood and stripped off his clothes. He sighed deeply as the cold water rushed over his body, cooling the burning in his skin. But even the chill of the water wasn't enough to tame the burning he was feeling in the very stiff part of his body.
Leaning against a rock in the center of the river, Itachi wrapped his hand around his erection and slowly began to stoke himself. He swallowed back more tears as he let his mind drift to the memory of Kisame's lips on his, the way his hand had felt caressing his ribs, aching for him to touch more of his body. It wasn't long before Itachi threw back his head and called out his partners name as he released. His breathing heavy, he hoped with everything he had that Kisame had not heard him call out his name.
Itachi finished bathing and hurridly washed the dishes before he threw on his clothing. Using his cloak to carry the clean dishes, he gathered another arm full of fire wood before returning to the cave.
Kisame heard footsteps and turned to see Itachi returning. His raven hair was loose over his shoulders, dripping from the bath he had obviously taken. He was disappointed that the boy wouldn't look at him. But he took note that his eyes were red and swollen from crying. Pain clutched at his chest, he had hurt him deeper then he thought when he pushed him away.
Itachi put the dishes in his bag and shook the water off his cloak before rolling it up to use as a pillow as he laid on his blanket. Rolling on his side so his back was to the other man, he closed his eyes and fought for sleep that he knew would be some time in coming.