By now, I had come to the conclusion that deep down, Itachi was a very forgiving person. Because if he didn't have a tiny ounce of mercy in his black heart, I would be dead right now.
I had tried to do the right thing after hurting him; be nicer, friendly, and overall remorseful for my actions. In retrospect, Itachi would probably have been just as happy if I'd left him alone, but tragically I can't turn back time. Very, VERY tragically.
Whenever I spar, I completely let loose. This can be a good thing, because since I never hold back I always know my exact limits. On the flip side, this also translates into me being unable to control my movements in a fight, and more often than not, my sparring partner gets hurt. This worst case scenario didn't occur to me when I decided to fight with Itachi; the guy rarely leaves the battlefield with a hair out of place!
So, when Samehada actually made contact with him and sent the weasel flying, I nearly fainted. As it stands, that little fiasco probably took five years off my life from the resulting stress, but that's beside the point. I think.
My immediate reaction was 1) swear like the sailors I'd been raised around, and 2) rush over and assess the damage. I knew he was hurt; there's no way you can come into contact with my sword and not get injured.
I was quick to get him out of his shirt to look over his body. I knew how to find broken or cracked ribs just by touching, and dared to cross the line and feel for damaged bones on my partner's ribcage. Yet another act of mercy was shown to me when Itachi didn't slaughter me for the touch. Not to mention this probing session proved to me that Itachi's skin was as soft as I-err, I mean, moving on!
Once I was fairly certain he wasn't going to internally bleed to death or anything, we got up and headed inside so our resident banker/medic could check him out. I kept apologizing the whole way in, and didn't stop until Itachi told me to, "Shut the hell up before I rip out your throat and feed it to you."
I'm guessing he was a bit upset.
Now, once we were inside Kakuzu and Hidan's room (and had gotten the two of them to stop arguing long enough for Kakuzu to give Itachi an examination) I backed off, hopefully slipping out of my partner's thoughts as the banker gave him a quick once over.
It was then that I noticed something strange. Whenever Kakuzu touched him, the weasel would flinch or frown or something. However, when I had been the one to look him over, he'd acted as though I wasn't even touching him. How weird.
Once the two of us were thrown out so the love birds could go back to fighting, we walked down the hallway towards our room. Around that time, I realized I had grabbed Itachi's shirt on our way in, and still hadn't returned it. Nervously, I called Itachi's attention to the matter.
He turned to look at me, then at his shirt. His brows rose up in surprise, like the guy wasn't aware that he was parading around the base topless. Quickly, he snatched the shirt from my hands. As he did, he managed to brush his fingers against my hand.
He didn't even bat an eye, and I tried to do likewise; but I couldn't help but note that even his fingers were soft, despite years of training that should have produced calloused hands. Maybe that was the real reason why Itachi was so fond of gen jutsus; he just didn't want to ruin his soft, silky skin. Primadonna.
Around this time, I realized our weapons were still outside. Without a word I dismissed myself to go and get them. I needed some fresh air anyway to clear my head.
I promptly arrived at the training grounds, flopped down onto the dirt, and wandered why the hell I was not dead, and was getting these weird feelings around Itachi. Weird feelings for Itachi.
Whoa. Slow down. I did not, under any circumstances nor by any stretch of the imagination care for Itachi. He was evil, sadistic, malicious, distant, cute-pretend I never added that last adjective, ok?
No, I couldn't actually be feeling things for someone who wanted to kill me. Don't get me wrong, some psychos out there might find that a huge turn on, but I was not among them.
Yet I could still feel the Uchiha's skin against my own; still see the look on his face when it was Kakuzu, and not me, touching him. And, for a second or less, I could've sworn I saw a flash of something other than indifference in Itachi's eyes when we brushed fingertips.
Well great. At this rate, I was going to turn gay for the one person on this planet who wouldn't hesitate to kill me if I breathed too much in his general direction. This has to be karma for becoming a mass murderer; I'm starting to think everyone around here's got bad karma. Kakuzu, Zetsu and Sasori have to endure annoying partners; and said partners are doomed to take it up the ass for all eternity.
Sorry, rambling again. Kami, I need to get laid…
Well, long story short, I grabbed the weapons, went back to our room, and gave Itachi his katana. He nodded, and then acted as though I wasn't even there. That was fine by me.
Time passed, and about a week or so later he and I were sent on an assignment. Nothing special; as per usual, I paid no attention to our briefing whatsoever. One of these days, I think Pein's going t catch on; until then, I'm safe.
We were on the road within the hour, and walking through the forest surrounding our base. Don't ask me why we were walking along, instead of running through the trees; Itachi was the one leading, not me. We traveled in a comfortable silence for hours on end, until the sun went down and we had to make camp.
I was quick to gather firewood, which Itachi used to make a small campfire. We soon had our dinner cooked, and eaten thereafter. There was nothing much else to do, except keep an eye out for enemies. We hadn't been able to locate a cave to sleep in; they're a bit hard to find when you're completely surrounded by nothing but trees for miles. This left us open and vulnerable on all sides; something both of us hated.
I lay down with my back to the fire; moments later, Itachi crawled over and lay with his back to me. In situations like this, we often sat or rested with our backs to each other. It wasn't a perfect defense, but it made things a hell of a lot harder for potential enemies if they wanted to sneak up on us.
I whispered to Itachi that I'd take the first shift; it wasn't like I was expecting him to volunteer or anything, and if he was reclining next to the fire, he'd fall asleep soon anyway.
He gave me a little 'hn' in reply, and for a while nothing seemed out of the ordinary about our arrangement. That is, until Itachi began scooting closer to me.
Naturally, I assumed we were about to be attacked, and braced myself for a word of warning from my partner. What I most certainly did NOT expect was for the little weasel to keep scooting until our backs were pressed together, and stay there.
What the hell!? I was so shocked/amazed/something else I can't name that I stiffened up like a statue, and my heart started beating crazy fast. I could feel his heartbeat, calm as always; wait, that meant he could feel mine. Uh-oh.
"Kisame, what is it?" he asked softly.
I racked my brain for a viable excuse; or anything that wasn't me admitting that my heart was going haywire because the psychopath I may or may not like as more than a partner was snuggling against me. "Check over there," I ordered. "I thought I saw something."
Instantly he sat up, peering over my resting frame as his Sharingan eyes clawed their way through the dark. I breathed a sigh of relief; that is, until he swore and jumped to his feet.
I couldn't believe it. Someone was really there? My question was answered seconds later when a knife flew through the air, and nearly sliced off part of my ear. That was a yes.
Immediately we were on our feet and in the battle. Itachi had the clear advantage in this fight; his Sharingan saw all, be it night or day. I was having a rougher time of it, but still managed to add a few kills to my already lengthy murder list. From the sight and sounds of it, Itachi was enjoying himself as well. A bit too much, as it turned out.
I don't know how it happened, but my partner managed to miss a certain ninja creeping closer and closer to him, until the man was nearly upon Itachi. He had a couple of nasty looking blades with hooked edges; the kind of weapon that's designed to catch onto a person, and then tear out pieces of their skin. Nasty, really.
He kept moving towards my partner, and I was sure Itachi was going to notice and torture the guy soon. When he didn't seem to even realize there was a new presence until the man's weapons were raised to swing at my partner. Without thinking, I did the only thing that seemed halfway sensible at the time.
I charged forward and positioned myself between the attacker and Itachi, using Samehada to block one shot, while the other blade caught in my side.