A/N: Okay, who loved the last chapter? I know I did! Well, things might get a little steamy in the beginning of this chapter, but the lemon is coming later, not in this chapter . . . I think. For those of you who don't want to read it, I'll give a warning when I write a lemon. It'll be the first one I've ever posted. (blushes like a tomato) But this chapter will likely be a bit of a filler, but it'll be happy and fluffy. I've opened up a new organization, DPA, the Deidara Protection Agency. It's for artists who have interrupted kisses and embraces of a romantic nature between shark ninja and previously mute young women. Our guards include Sesshomaru, an inu youkai, as well as Greed and Envy, two Homunculi. And now, IKU ZE!

UNSPOKEN

Tears of joy bloomed in Tsume's eyes at Kisame's words. It felt as if her heart had grown wings and flown off into the vast expanse of sky. Her eyes gazed into Kisame's with utter gratitude and love, her cheeks flushed a delicate pink. Kisame sat back, pulling Tsume with him. He pulled her close, forcing Tsume to straddle his waist as he wrapped his arms around her. "I really do, Tsume," he whispered. "I really do love you."

"I love you, too, Kisame," Tsume whispered, still crying happy tears. She laughed lightly and began to lift a hand to wipe away her tears. However, Kisame beat her to it, leaning in to kiss away the tears.

"You don't have to cry anymore," he said, holding Tsume close. "I don't want you to have a reason to cry ever again."

Tsume smiled. "It's okay to cry when you're happy, Kisame," she said.

Kisame leaned forward and nuzzled the curve of Tsume's neck. But he drew back when he noticed something, his brows furrowing. He could see the scar on Tsume's left shoulder, left by his own teeth, back form when Kisame had only just met Tsume. A look of sadness crossed the shark-nin's face, and he looked away. "I'm sorry," he murmured quietly, bending his head in shame.

"Kisame, don't," Tsume whispered.

"I scarred you," Kisame breathed, lowering his head and averting his eyes, "just as Orochimaru did."

"Stop it!" Tsume suddenly cried, the tone of her voice making Kisame look up quickly.

Once again there were tears in Tsume's eyes as she looked at Kisame, angry sadness shining behind the tears. "Don't you ever compare yourself to Orochimaru, Kisame! Ever! You're different from him! You're completely different!"

Kisame lowered his head again, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. "That's not true," he whispered, leaning in to rest his forehead against Tsume's shoulder. "I'm more like him than you know, Tsume." Kisame's voice was filled with self-resentment and mild anger. "I'm more like Orochimaru than you think." Kisame continued before Tsume to protest again. "Orochimaru, he was . . . he used to be part of the Akatsuki, the same organization that I belong to now. We may not have been friends, but we were working together, in some sense of the word. And . . . we're both killers, Tsume. I couldn't begin to count the number of people that I've killed. The same can be said of for Orochimaru. We are alike, he and I, no matter how much I want to deny any connection to the bastard who caused you so much pain. I'm sorry, Tsume."

". . . Doesn't matter." Kisame almost lifted his head at the slight words, but stopped himself at the last moment. When he remained silent, Tsume spoke again. "It doesn't matter," Tsume said again, this time more loudly. "None of that matters to me, Kisame. I owe you my life, and what you've done doesn't matter to me because I love you." Tsume hugged Kisame tightly, embracing him and tucking his head beneath her chin, as he had so often done with her. "I could forgive you any wrong, Kisame. I would forgive you anything because I love you. It doesn't matter what you do or what you've done; I'll always love you, Kisame."

Kisame clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, wrapping his arms tight around Tsume and burying his face in her chest. "How can you do that?!" he hissed through clenched teeth. "How can someone like you love someone like me?! How can you love me, Tsume?!"

"How?" Tsume echoed softly. "I love you with every bit of my heart and soul; that's how I love you. I love you with everything that I am, Hoshigaki Kisame." Tsume held Kisame in a comforting embrace. "I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you. I will say that until the day I die."

"Loving me could bring that day quite a lot faster," Kisame murmured, still hiding his face in Tsume's chest.

"Doesn't matter," Tsume said firmly. "So long as I have you with me on that day. So long as I can say that I love you."

Kisame could never remember a time when he had wanted to cry, to shed tears, to weep. There was not one time in his life that the shark-nin could remember wanting to shed tears. Not until now, when Tsume spoke the words that she did, baring her heart to him and dedicating all that she was to loving him. Never had someone cared so much for him that they could ignore every wrong that he had committed and love him without any reservations. It was when Kisame heard those words that he wanted to let everything go and cry. A lump rose in his throat and his eyes stung with the unfamiliar sensation of burning tears.

Slowly, Kisame lifted his head, opening his eyes and looking into Tsume's amber orbs. He heard a slight intake of breath when she saw the tears in his eyes. "I love you, Tsume," Kisame said softly. Then, louder and more firmly. "I love you. I love you, Tsume."

Tsume was robbed of her words as she saw the tears in Kisame's eyes. She stared at him silently, confusion and wonder in her eyes. Then Kisame leaned in and kissed her, letting the tears escape his eyes when Tsume could not see them. He pressed the young woman as close to him as he was able, never wanting to lose the feeling of acceptance, love, and comfort that Tsume gave him. Having Tsume meant the world to Kisame, and he would doing anything to keep her with him. Absolutely anything.

A sharp knocking on the door made both Tsume and Kisame jump in surprise as they pulled apart. Kisame rubbed hurriedly at his face, erasing all traces of the tears. Blushing, Tsume moved from Kisame's lap, offering the shark-nin a kind smile. Then she turned towards the door. "Yes?" she called.

"It's me, un," Deidara's voice said from the other side of the door.

Kisame's eye twitched dangerously. "Deidara," he growled, his hands balled into fists, but when he saw the pleading look in Tsume's eyes, he reluctantly relaxed. He huffed, taking hold of Tsume and dragging her to him, her back pressed up against his chest and his arms around her waist. Tsume blushed again, but smiled.

"Come in," she called.

The door opened quickly, and Deidara entered, Tobi hot on his heels. Tobi rocketed towards the bed, leaping for Tsume. "TSU-CHAN!!"

Kisame twisted to the side, and Tobi flew over the bed to crash mask-first into the opposite wall. "She's mine, Tobi," Kisame said protectively.

Eying the groaning heap that was his partner, Deidara approached more cautiously, his one visible eye happy behind the wariness. When he came to the side of the bed, he asked, "how are you doing, un?"

Tsume gave him a smile. "I'm doing alright," she said in reply.

"How're your wounds, un?" Deidara asked, nodding to Tsume's shoulders and elbows. Tsume followed his gaze, and saw that there were rather vivid scars on both elbows and both shoulders. She blinked in confusion for a moment, only to remember her transformation.

"Deidara-sama—" she began.

"Just Deidara," the blond artist interrupted with a wave of his hand.

"Deidara, what happened?" Tsume asked. "I got so angry, and then I looked like . . . I looked like a monster . . ." Tsume trailed off, lowering her gaze. Kisame sensed the change in Tsume, and he tightened his arms around her, kissing the side of her neck.

"You weren't a monster, Tsume," he whispered comfortingly. "It was that damned curse mark."

Slowly, Tsume raised her hands, the fingers shaking slightly. "I—I wanted to kill him," she breathed, the room silent other than her words.

"You have every right to want him dead, un," Deidara said firmly, his blue eye narrowed.

"I wanted to make him bleed, watch him die," Tsume continued, voice soft and shaking. "I—I wanted to cause him pain. I wanted to slash his body to ribbons as he screamed . . . as he begged for his life. I wanted—"

"STOP IT!" Kisame suddenly yelled, making Tsume jump. "That wasn't you, Tsume," he said firmly, holding Tsume tightly and pressing his face into her neck. "That curse mark turned you into something you weren't." Kisame kissed Tsume softly on the neck again. Then he lifted his head to murmur in her hear, "you aren't a monster, Tsume. Nothing can change who you are. Nothing can truly change you from who you are; the woman that I love. You will always be Tsume. I can promise you that."

Tobi—who had finally recovered—finally spoke, his voice kind and filled with the honesty of a child. "Tsu-chan is a nice person," he said. "Nothing will ever change that."

At Tobi's words, Tsume broke down and cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. As her shoulders shook, Tsume managed to speak. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much."

UNSPOKEN

Tsume had replaced her black sports-bra with bandages wrapped tightly around her chest. She wore a pair of dark blue pants, the bottom hems tucked into the bandages that were wrapped around her lower legs. She was wearing a purple shirt with three-quarter length sleeves, the bandages around her elbows just peeking out from beneath the fabric. A wide leather belt was worn diagonally across her back, heavy leather straps set in place to hold her sword in place. Haku's sash was still tied around her waist, and her backpack had been replaced by a leather satchel which hung from a belt beneath the sash.

Lifting her head, Tsume's eyes came to rest upon her sword, which was leaning against the wall opposite her. Tsume walked forward and gripped the handle, swinging the large blade to her back. Reaching back with her other hand, Tsume buckled the straps around the blade using the strong, chakra-enforced magnets to keep it in place. For a moment, Tsume simply stood in the small room, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, her mind wandering.

"They want me to come back to the Akatsuki with them," Tsume thought. She opened her eyes and lifted her hands up to eye-level. What before had been soft, smooth flesh, was now callused and roughened skin, changed by the vigorous training that had turned her into the shinobi that she was now. Tsume gave a half smile. "I really have changed, haven't I?" she thought.

"Tsume?" Kisame's voice said from the doorway. Tsume turned, offering Kisame a smile. Kisame wore his cloak, Samehada wrapped in bandages and attached to the massive belt that the shark-nin wore across his chest and back. His conical straw had was in his right hand. "I have something for you," he said, walking forward and holding out his left hand to Tsume. Quizzically, Tsume held out her own hand beneath Kisame's. Kisame opened his hand, and something dropped into Tsume's waiting palm. "This belongs to you now, Tsume."

Brows furrowed slightly, Tsume brought her hand to her face, staring at the object. It was a ring made of a slightly heavy metal, similar to the rings that Kisame, Itachi, Tobi, and Deidara wore. Holding the ring in both hands, Tsume examined the character on the round top, the black kanji surrounded by yellow. It read Kūchin, meaning void. Tsume looked up at Kisame questioningly. "What is this?" she asked.

"That was Orochimaru's ring when he was part of the Akatsuki," Kisame explained. "Itachi found it in the scroll we retrieved." As Tsume looked back at the ring with a gaze of anger, Kisame continued. "You should keep that until we reach our destination. Then Leader-sama will decide if you're worthy to become a member of the Akatsuki. If you are, that will become your ring. It will no longer stand for Orochimaru, but rather for you, Tsume. It will be your symbol, and yours alone. It will no longer have any connection to Orochimaru."

The anger faded from Tsume's gaze and she looked back to Kisame, her left hand closing in a fist around the ring. "Very well," she said. "Thank you, Kisame."

Kisame smiled slightly, something tender flickering in the depths of his eyes. "I have—I have one other thing for you, Tsume," he said. "Come here." Tsume stepped forward to stand before Kisame. "Close your eyes." Tsume raised her eyebrows, but did as Kisame asked all the same. She felt Kisame's fingers sliding beneath her hair and around her neck, something silky brushing against her skin. Something cool and mildly heavy came to rest just beneath the scar on Tsume's neck, the surface smooth and round. After fastening some kind of catch, Kisame pulled his hands away. "You can open your eyes now," Kisame said.

Tsume's amber eyes opened, the hand not holding the Akatsuki ring rising to her throat. She glanced down. The sight that met her eyes made her face light up with a beaming smile. Attached to thick strips of black silk adorned with circlets of gold metal, was a semi-transparent, dark turquoise stone. Carved into the smooth surface were the four wave-like markings of the village of Kirigakure, the village where Kisame had been born. Tsume didn't waste a second in throwing her arms around Kisame's neck in a happy embrace. She was careful to avoid Samehada as she hugged Kisame, and he was careful to avoid Tsume's own sword as he returned the embrace.

"Thank you, Kisame," Tsume whispered.

Kisame smiled and nuzzled Tsume's neck. "I've had that necklace for almost as long as I can remember," he said. "I'm giving it to you with a promise."

Tsume drew back, her arms still around Kisame's neck. "A promise?"

"The promise that I'll always be by your side." Kisame cupped Tsume's cheek in his hand. "The promise that I'll never leave you alone again. I'll do anything to keep you by my side; anything so that we can stay together." Kisame dipped his head, whispering against Tsume's lips. "I promise to love you forever."

UNSPOKEN

A/N: I am so sorry for taking forever! This chapter took forever to write! But anyway, the first part of the story is drawing to a close, but the story is far from over. There is still someone else that Tsume has to prove herself too. Pein, the leader of the Akatsuki. The necklace that Kisame gives to Tsume is inspired from the wonderful picture by Aneamero. aneamero./art/TSUME-64741136 that's the link.