iv.
Kisame's skin is every bit as warm against the back of Itachi's hand as it'd been when they'd touched last night.
He's a gentle sleeper, though Itachi is finding out that many things about him are gentle in spite of his appearance. It's such a peaceful scene, the other man's breaths deep and soothing, that he almost wants to leave him be. If he waits for much longer, though, the thick fog cover will be gone and he desperately wants Kisame to have the chance to see it. Briefly he slides his thumb along one of the gills at his face and shivers at the strangeness of it, then gives his blanketed shoulder a few light taps.
He tries to stuff down the ache in his chest that he's just given up his excuse to study his partner without fear of judgment.
"Time to be on our way," he says quietly, then ducks beneath the hollowed-out archway and steps into the forest. The sun isn't yet fully risen and he marches a few paces to lean against another, smaller tree. It will be his best vantage point. Just why he wants, very badly, to see Kisame's reaction to the thick mist—well, he cannot say. There is something not unlike excitement budding in his chest as the other man rises and dresses quickly, then stops in his tracks the moment he comes outside.
He spins slowly in the low light, his neck craning up at the shrouded trees. The blue-grey tint of his skin nearly blends perfectly in the early morning haze, and Itachi realizes for the first time the true potential for both espionage and danger that are bundled all within him. He could sneak through it unseen if he wanted, and the thick curves of his biceps and calves are sure to be enough to take down any foe before they even have the chance to realize he's there.
Through the tiniest points of dawn light Itachi can see the fog billowing in wave after wave as it rolls through, and just when all turns rosy—the sun finally breaking over the horizon—birds begin to chirp quietly. It is a magical thing; it always had been to Itachi, easily his favorite part of camping out on extended missions as a boy.
When Kisame finally catches him standing there, his heart leaps into his throat. The smile he sees is so dazzling it's surely criminal, but it drops far too quickly. Itachi is confused by his own reaction, unable to stop watching the other man for quite some time after the fog has evaporated to nothingness.
