Sudden and unexpected changes are the ones that shock the most. As he dressed in Naruto's company, Kisame felt literally disoriented. He had desperately sought normality by making love with the blond, an attempt to recapture by the hair that life that was slipping away from his hands so quickly that it looked like a soapy slide. It had been an almost instinctive action, like when he reaches out for the first handhold that occurs when falling off a cliff. It was impossible to go up a slippery and steep slope like that, they smiled, joked, made jokes as they had always done during their relationship, however the point of no return had now been passed.
Everything seemed different and changed to both of them, even if there were no real words to describe this feeling.
I could not have done otherwise, I was almost… forced.
Kisame didn't have the faintest idea of where this change would have dragged him, perhaps it would have had a sequel but it could also have been a closed, unrequited road. He was about to leap into the void with a blindfold, under him there could be the biggest turning point or the most egregious mistake of his life.
I'd be a coward, Naruto, if after taking an epic tumble I came back to you with my tail between my legs, because if everything went right with you I wouldn't go back. I have to be mature and responsible, I have no right to use you as a fallback.
Itachi wore that red so particular and incisive despite him being overwhelmed by infinite and big problems. Even with Itachi himself, life seemed not to have been too kind, at least from the outside. Kisame kept wondering how a couple like that could go on, however they were two guys with undeniable qualities and perhaps they had been able to go beyond the problems.
"Come on Naruto, I don't want to be accused of kidnapping the mayor."
"Good idea, you would definitely take the biggest ransom of all time."
They both laughed as they left the locker room exchanging affectionate pats and knowing glances.
Kisame narrowed his eyes to see Hidan's friend, but he didn't see anything different, they were still the same people they had left before locking themselves in that bathroom.
Damn it, I wouldn't be surprised at all if that lopsided blond had played a good joke on us.
Deidara was, as always, flirting with Karin while they exchanged glasses of prosecco, seeing her face more and more reddened, Kisame wondered if the goal of that sly blond was not by chance to get her drunk on purpose to make her even more meek.
Kiba was leaning against the wall facing them with a glass in his hand, this gave Kisame the certainty that all the time he had been waiting for them and for the moment when he would see them reappear, maybe he was thinking about Naruto and trying to understand something.
I sent him to dinner with me tonight for a reason, the clarifications in our heads are already there but they need to be expressed, take a material and tangible form.
Hidan and Tayuya stood with their backs to Kisame's point of view, side by side both facing in the same direction.
They don't talk to each other, they talk to someone else.
A person so short and petite as to be completely obscured by the two. Kisame had just had time to consider that no adult could be so small that he felt his facial muscles suddenly relax indulging the smile that suddenly dies and eyes that widen. A lock of dark red hair had peeked out uncovered by a slight movement of Hidan; they didn't have the same color as Tayuya's, they were more intense and bright, but not even like Nagato's, with that rare grape-wine hue.
Sasori.
More than fifteen years had passed but Kisame could never forget it. He approached hearing the sounds as if they were totally muffled. Tayuya had turned towards him smiling, she moved her lips but Kisame didn't perceive any sound, Hidan was also looking at him, he slightly tilted his head to one side.
"Wow what a young mayor, congratulations!"
The sounds were back, the voices, the music, the background hum, Deidara's merry laugh.
Sasori was shaking Naruto's hand; he smiled, as always, but not as Kisame remembered it. Now he was baring his teeth and his expression also narrowed his immense brown eyes, a sign that it was a sincere feeling. It was to please those in front of her now, to express her sincere congratulations, and not just to charm.
"Kisame, congratulations on both your physique and your success."
This time Sasori charmed yes but because he was authentic, certainly not for an ulterior motive. There were many questions swirling in Kisame's head and the fact that that had been an extremely intense day certainly didn't make it easy to untangle all that skein.
"Sasori, we have a lot of things to tell each other, how about if we go for a walk outside?"
Kisame and the redhead left the joy for the celebrations of the new mayor behind the thick glass door starting to walk around the large parking lot. It seemed that Sasori was waiting for nothing else, certainly the path of treatment that he had undertaken had led him to clearly see all the mistakes he had made. The fact that he had been looking for Kisame after all this time was a clear sign that he had really cared about him.
However, Sasori had remained short in stature but now he was no longer as thin as he once was, even though he was petite, his physique had taken on a normal appearance, he had put on teardrop sunglasses with dark green mirrored lenses, the same as the polo shirt which he kept unbuttoned, his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
They don't forcibly fit him like Nagato does.
"I wondered a lot of times how you were doing, unfortunately you seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth" Kisame had to start somewhere, he thought it right to let Sasori know that, despite everything, he hadn't forgotten him.
"I know Kisame, but unfortunately the community rules are very strict. In the early days they didn't even let me talk to the family, and even later on limited and controlled hours. It took about a year before they were allowed to visit me. And then once you got out I certainly didn't know where to look for you, I learned everything through Hidan and I rushed as soon as I could."
The little redhead walked loose, calm, it was hard to believe that he should have taken an anger management course.
Well, it worked much better for him than for Hidan.
Kisame sighed looking at the clear sky for a moment feeling his natural empathy starting to make its way, it was evident that life hadn't been too kind even with Sasori: "Your mistakes will surely be crushing you now, maybe they have already been doing it for years. However if it can console you there is no person in the world who is perfect. I myself have done enormous things and maybe I'm about to commit another one, unfortunately you never know until you hit your head. But if we never moved we would end up living and dying under a glass bell without having known anything or almost nothing about life. When you leave the port you cannot know what the sea has in store for us, but to reach our destinations we must necessarily cross it."
Sasori smiled in the sun making his green glasses sparkle: "And what mistakes can someone who is always attentive and sensitive like you have ever committed?"
"You were the first person capable of making me understand my true nature, you slammed it in my face with all the ingenuity and sincerity of the age we had at the time, but you see, I didn't understand it. I tried to hide, to change direction, I tried to convince myself that I was wrong, and in doing so I hurt several people. You already know one, it's Tayuya, the other a girl who attended high school with me, and then... the third person I hurt is myself. Don't think you're worse than me, Sasori, everyone has their dark sides."
"Perhaps these two people got carried away in the mistake because even they themselves didn't fully understand each other" the serenity that emanated that little red Kisame had seen it very few times in his life, he felt relieved by the fact that his hard path had had the desired effects: "Tayuya has such a sunny and positive character that for her mistakes are not as gigantic as they appear to us. I got to talk to her, through Hidan, and I assure you she took it all as a normal occurrence in life. Things that can happen, in short, but which nonetheless end up enriching us. She and Hidan are getting on well and I'm happy for both of them. As for Sarana, however, you don't have to worry about anything at all, she understood that both of you were young and inexperienced."
Kisame had stopped as if struck by lightning, his eyes wide, his heart that seemed to have stopped.
"Do you know Sarana?"
Wow what a day! What surprises will still await me?
Sasori smiled again, his face was lit up with real joy and satisfaction, he took off his glasses fitting them into his red hair so that Kisame could see the sparkle of his eyes confirm those emotions: "I met her while I was finishing the last year in the community, works in a bar where they often took me with my group, and damn if he's good with drinks! We've been together since I came out, she's been waiting for me as long as it takes. I know what you're thinking and about what you told me earlier… I let you know your true nature when I still didn't know anything about mine. At the time it wasn't real sex for me, I was just looking for people to use as dolls. Now that I'm healed I've finally been able to face the real me, and also… show it to others."
Sasori had confessed all this without fear, absolutely without shame. Words that came out in a natural and spontaneous way, it was evident that they were problems elaborated and closed in the safe of the past. Yet they were there to be used in a different way, even to help others if need be. Both had needed a long journey to see each other fully. Kisame had done it alone, Sasori didn't but now they were looking into each other's eyes on the same line of the same goal.
"I have turned my former obsession into my profession" continued the redhead walking amble and calmly: "I build puppets for ventriloquists and handcrafted dolls. They wouldn't scare anyone, on the contrary, children adore them, they have the face of my serenity now. "
They went back inside, there was nothing more to say for the moment, Kisame was immensely happy to have heard from Sasori learning that he had finally managed to take control of his life after years of not knowing anything about him.
Will your time come too, Madara?
Kisame and Sasori chuckled in unison as they saw the trail of Karin's clothes ending up behind the redhead's car, the last one to arrive. Sasori nudged his friend, he wanted to aim it at the ribs but the great difference in height between the two made it end up on his side: "Well, I guess I'll have to stay in your company for a while, I certainly can't disturb them. I'll take the opportunity to ask you a little how it works since I'd like to start tomorrow too. Sport is the best way to vent negativity."
Kisame felt genuinely relieved, Sasori, Tayuya and Sarana had finally found their dimension after overcoming the obstacle course that life had put in front of them. Sasori even, now he had the power to naturally connect with people, that part of him suffocated for years under layers of pain and negativity had come to the surface.
You are finally happy, I hope that at the end of this intense day Naruto and I could be happy too.
It was a bit strange to welcome his partner into the house that evening with the aim of transforming their bond into something different. He hurt, of course, but perhaps it would have been worse to continue that relationship that had now run out of fuel. It wasn't anyone's fault, history had run its course and it had come to an end and that was it.
This does not mean that the feeling no longer exists, it has changed into something else but its intensity remains the same.
It was true, Kisame noticed it just a few minutes after Naruto entered his house. The blond had never come empty-handed after an invitation to dinner from Kisame, not even that evening.
"The day I was elected mayor is not over yet and then from tomorrow Kiba and I will be your customers. The celebrations must now continue more intense than before"
The blond had said this by showing the two bottles of prosecco, one white and one rosé, and the ice cream cake he had brought. It was true, the feeling was always there, it had the same intensity as before, but now Naruto had entered that door as a friend, and no longer looking for evenings of unbridled sex. You could tell from his attitude, malice had given way to good and understanding in his turquoise eyes. His smile no longer took that slight lateral twist, now it appeared perfectly symmetrical but no less sincere for this. Their friendship would even surpass the one with Kiba.
During the years they had been together, Naruto, initially totally inexperienced in cooking, had learned from Kisame, so he no longer had a problem helping him prepare his super healthy foods. In the next evenings that Kisame would organize at his house Kiba would certainly be invited too, however that occasion was exclusively reserved for Naruto and they both knew the reason.
"You won't believe this, but this is one of the best evenings we've had together."
Kisame would have been literally baffled by those words if Naruto hadn't pronounced them with the utmost authenticity and seriousness at the same time.
"To finally see your right way of taking yourself and life fills me with immense joy" the blond had continued seeing that the other had fallen silent while remaining at ease and relaxed "the thing that has always displeased me the most is seeing people holding the keys to happiness and not seeing the lock in which they must be inserted even though they have it in front of us. Sometimes it's the fear of what may be behind that door that stops them, but very often it's the judgment of others just because most prefer to go through different doors. Few of us understand that rare things are the most precious, you finally succeeded and I could never forgive you if you lose sight of them again. Open that door, Kisame, whatever you find back there, know that you won't lose me, there must also be a reason why I became mayor today, right?"
The blond had finished that speech laughing and passing an arm behind his head massaging it. It had always been a gesture he had made in moments of embarrassment as a young man, but now he had reverted it to using it when it was necessary to make others understand that the problems were only in their heads.
"It was you who showed me that door, Naruto and I will be infinitely grateful to you for the rest of my life. Only… when you decided to show me this direction, did you foresee that it would exclude you?"
"But you didn't exclude anyone, Kisame, you simply realized that you are not capable of putting aside. One thing doesn't exclude the other, we're here tonight, aren't we? No one said it has to be the last time."
"And you? What is it you can't put aside, Naruto?"
"My character, my true nature. I can't help but get those who are going off the road back on the right track, nudge those who are skidding dangerously to put them back on track. You're capable of doing all of this yourself now, I know in your head sometimes you hear me giving you advice, but it's not me, it's you. Go Kisame, there is someone who needs you."
They had been holding hands for several minutes across the devastated table, full of empty agreements, glass cups dirty with melted ice cream, cutlery scattered everywhere, glasses made exhausted by too many toasts and corks scattered everywhere, but nothing was more beautiful than their look now. It was a gesture of mutual encouragement, of friendship, of something irreplaceable built in brick after brick, dedicated to each one the utmost attention, which is why it was so solid and impregnable.
"I would like to meet this person, Kisame, he is certainly special and I don't want to miss him. And then you know I can't wait to all go out together."
Naruto had given invaluable value to his weak point bigger than him at the moment. I would like to meet this person, he is certainly special.
Kisame felt his eyes water.
"And of course I'm curious to know this guy who you'll elbow every time he swerves, he will surely be full of bruises and with both black eyes."
They laughed happily again, Kisame knew that at the moment Naruto didn't have his weak point. However knowing him, he would arrive very soon.