When a person becomes important in our life, even for a short time, it remains impossible to completely close relationships with them. In fact, a bond is formed between two souls, a sort of bridge that in a short time manages to bring together two ends of an impervious abyss. The construction of this bridge is always slow and never without difficulties, however inevitable, especially if the other person was, even just one day, the reason behind our every gesture or decision. Only the fact of thinking about the one who was so important to us helps to keep that bridge firmly in place, we should be machines to cancel the memories and feelings connected to them. The mark that these bonds initially leave is very profound, it could very well be compared to a wound. They hurt, they are intense, but it is a pain that we seek because the absence of him would make us suffer even more. Time and various vicissitudes make it fade but never disappear completely. The bond between two souls is dynamic, it continuously transforms, but it can never be destroyed.
Kisame knew all this well. The first person to have left an indelible mark on him by stimulating the construction of a bridge was Sasori. Despite the negative connotation taken from the relationship at the beginning, for years Kisame had wondered where he was, what he was doing, if he was also reaching the various normal stages that exist in the growth of a boy. Until he saw him arrive in his gym and discovered that even for the redhead that bridge had been indestructible. The fact that Sasori was now with Sarana strengthened the bonds even more. There were pain and misunderstandings in the past, but Kisame had always been of the opinion that the more difficult and enigmatic a path is, the more interesting it becomes and makes us proud to have lived and consolidated it. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Madara yet; Itachi had confirmed to him what he already knew, it was he who had gotten the worst of the unexpected encounter a few days earlier.
Wow if that's the case, the truth is like a ball held forcibly under water, when it decides to come to the surface no one is able to stop it, it does so with such violence that whoever receives it in the face cannot avoid getting hurt.
He hadn't yet had the chance to clarify things with Madara but one thing was certain, their relationship had changed form but not intensity. Same thing happened with Naruto and Tayuya. Kisame smiled as he left the room that morning still only in boxers and a tank top, he had been totally alone in the past but now he was lucky enough to find himself surrounded by people who had all been fundamental to him and would continue to be so forever. Each in its own way, unique and unrepeatable like each of us. He hoped that it was like this for Itachi too, the bridge that had been built between him and Nagato remained precious especially now that the redhead was finding himself again. He certainly was, the dark-haired man could never forget someone, he had such a big heart that he didn't even seem to fit into that thin body.
Kisame stopped to observe Itachi as he passed the bathroom door, he was barefoot on the soft green rug in front of the sink. Kisame had noticed with pleasure that he never stopped using purple nail polish since he had confessed to him that he loved it. He was only wearing the comfortable black pants he had slept in, long and wide by necessity since they belonged to Kisame. His torso was naked, his skin white and his muscles toned even if barely visible. He was still very thin and this made his side and hip bones visible. He held his red elastic band between his soft lips, intent on gathering his hair with his elegant hands, while he looked at himself in the mirror.
"No, let them free, they're so beautiful" Kisame had stopped him just a second before he tied them up.
Itachi had turned in his direction leaving him in doubt as to whether or not he had noticed him before. Itachi capitulated by putting the elastic on his wrist while a tender smile curved his lips. Kisame had not resisted the call of that mouth, of that body, of that look of shiny obsidian…
He held him gently in his arms, kissing him, his eyes closed to allow their souls to communicate without interference. That was the main bridge he had built in his life, like all the best works destined to last, it had begun more than six years ago to be finished only a few days before. He would be the cornerstone of the entire network of relationships that Kisame had, forever. The wait had made that bond special like nothing in the world had ever been. For Itachi it was the same, even if he hadn't openly confessed it to him he had been sure of it the night before. Kisame couldn't resist the temptation to enter the shower cabin with him just two minutes after the brunette had turned on the water. It had all happened without the need for words, amidst hot clouds of steam and condensation on the ribbed plastic surfaces. Itachi had turned as soon as he touched the sliding door, his black eyes already languid, his mouth half open, the water sticking his hair to his shoulders and his long eyelashes between them. Kisame had taken the jet head-on without taking his eyes off Itachi's, as if he were crossing a waterfall. His ultramarine hair had fallen wet and reached past his chin. He had pressed Itachi's thin body between him and the tile wall. Itachi arched his lithe back rubbing his excited sex between his muscular legs. Kisame couldn't resist this provocative pose. He had taken him there, frontally and standing, hungrily biting his velvet lips, squeezing that agile and narrow waist. The brunette clung panting to his powerful back, his nails pressing on the smooth skin. It was quick but no less intense and engaging. The certainty that that bond was unique in the world, if it had been safe in the shower, soon after became granite and unshakable. They were lying in bed affectionately embraced, slipping into sleep accompanied by sweet kisses and caresses was the desire of both. Itachi had suddenly burst into tears, that chasm in his soul that had begun on a spring Sunday was still being felt. His belief that he was unworthy of love still generated feelings of guilt. Kisame had regretted, in the previous days, not having expressed to him everything he thought so he took the opportunity to do so at that moment.
"Itachi, yet you are intelligent, what fault can a child have? You know that I am an extremely sincere and frank person even at the cost of losing out myself. Sasuke loves you like he has never done with anyone, he dotes on you and always has done so even when he seemed to be lost in the fog. He never thought for a single moment that you destroyed his life, in fact, he doesn't know what he could have done without you. I was in his company for a whole day, I calmed him down with the right words, they worked because they were true. Just as what I am saying now is true, you can trust me if I tell you all this. Don't let the past eat your future."
He looked at the sobbing Itachi with a sweet, disarming smile; the dark-haired man's head was resting on his shoulder, his desperate eyes fixed on him, his tears wetting the pillow. Kisame had passed an arm under his back in a protective gesture, he placed his other hand on his chest, massaging him gently. A devastating apprehension gripped him as he involuntarily tested his irregular heartbeat. That was the reason that had marked the end of his career as an acrobat, so he ended up fracturing his shoulder with all the related consequences. There was no need to add any more words now. Kisame placed a light kiss on his forehead, continuing to hold him close, his health problems could only find relief with love and all those cares for which Itachi had always considered himself undeserving. He wasn't used to receiving it, it was evident. What Kisame felt now had never been experienced in his life, it was so exceptional and wonderful that it would survive even after nothing would be left of the entire world but ash.
Itachi was finally ending being tormented by excessive self-control. Built to protect Sasuke and all the people who came into contact with him, created to prevent himself from making mistakes and distancing himself, conceived because the fear of making others suffer because of him had been a constant since he had started that tractor. Those tears were proof of this, the pain was finally flowing out of him, certain that he would find someone to welcome him and understand him.
Now yes, we are one, Itachi. We welcome each other like the lines of your tattoo. You finally gave it to me. I am ready and immensely happy.
Kisame had rocked him slowly until the dark-haired boy fell asleep, caressing his neck with his breath, a sleep finally free of nightmares. Itachi had let him do so, finally abandoning himself in someone's arms. Kisame had also given in to the numbness and they remained like that, feeling each other out until morning.
Even now they were feeling each other in that kiss in front of the bathroom mirror, they always felt each other, even if distant. They would have done it by working, eating, even arguing; in the end loving each other meant this, being two but at the same time one thing, always. They were now one. Itachi had finally sat down in that chair where Kisame had long imagined him. The dialogues were real now, no longer just fantasized.
"Then resume your training" Kisame posed in front of his partner, already sitting at the breakfast table pouring himself some orange juice, a bowl of yogurt, cereal and fruit.
Kisame smiled, he was very happy that Itachi had started eating healthily, he had regained some color in his face even though he was still very thin. The dark-haired man liked natural whole yoghurt while Kisame went crazy for the strawberry one, this was the only difference there was in his plate which he placed in front of him and sat down in turn.
"The work on the part where I, Shisui and Yahiko will have to teach have already started, I can't wait to start and I have to be in shape for that moment. I don't know how to thank you, Kisame, and also Kakuzu who made all this possible."
Itachi had seemed like a ray of sunshine in the midst of the storm, one of those who, piercing the roof, made the rain shine like shards of diamonds, transforming it into something wonderful in spite of his violence. The sun returned after so much darkness and never left. Kisame stood up from his chair only to give him a kiss.
The day passed like this, peacefully. Kisame felt like his gym was filled with stardust. He entered through the windows, he was in the eyes and smiles of his friends, he came out of the speakers. He then stopped on him, when he watched Itachi training and came to meet him between one series and another, for a caress, a smile or a kiss.
In September Kisame would try his hand at his first bodybuilding competitions, Itachi was about to become an acrobatic dance teacher, there, a few meters away from him, with his cousin and other friends. Maybe all together they would have given Kakuzu a nice gift. A dream. Crossing other bridges now would have been much easier, both Kisame and Itachi would have done it calmly and with a smile on their faces.
Two very important bridges would intersect that same evening. They had planned to go out with Naruto and Nagato, two very important people in their lives as Kisame and Itachi, in turn, were for them. It didn't matter if their relationships had turned into something different, they had been unbreakable bonds and would always be.
Kisame was finishing the last details of his clothing in front of the bedroom mirror, he carefully arranged the collar of his short-sleeved dark blue satin shirt. The opaline quartz was always there, milky white with its reddish flashes. There was no need for a change now, everything was perfect, however by now he had grown fond of that stone. He had fallen in love with it on a peaceful midsummer evening when great change was imminent, then it had stayed. Many times he had begged it to use his power to change something he couldn't see the end of.
Not tonight, maybe not anymore.
His gaze fell on the bracelet with the skull as he pulled on the shirt of the belt of his electric blue trousers shining with silver specks. It was always there on his right wrist. A melancholy sigh escaped him.
You too are a bridge that I want to cover again as soon as possible. One of the most beautiful.
A slight noise to his right made him raise his head, a second later his face lit up with brilliance. Itachi stood in the doorway, looking stunning in a different way of dressing than usual. Jacket and denim trousers, although it was now the beginning of June his thin body made him feel a little cold in the evening. The burgundy shirt had the first two buttons undone, revealing the necklace given by Sasuke which he never took off, except when he performed at Susanoo. The ankle boots in the same color as the shirt but with black laces and soles. Kisame felt himself melting realizing that the brunette paid attention to all those details that he liked. The purple nails, the hair always loose.
"Did you plan on letting me die? If you want to get rid of me you can also say so openly."
Kisame met that vision, his arms wrapped around Itachi's slim body passing under the jeans of his jacket. Itachi's hands encircled his powerful shoulders, breathing hard as their lips crashed into one of those kisses that were never enough. They didn't separate even when Kisame's hands came down to grab the brunette's small but perfect buttocks. The kiss continued as Itachi found himself picked up and carried along the corridor, Kisame stopped only for a moment to allow him to retrieve both of their wallets from the kitchen table and to make him slip the keys from the front door, his move of closing it with a football had now become a practice. They laughed in the last light of the sunset like two kids discovering physical contact for the first time. Kisame placed his partner on the ground, still lingering on his lips on the back of the Land Rover Defender. A look and the last caress of his long hair were the signal for departure.
Kisame had still chosen that pub that had been proposed by Deidara when he had recently opened his gym. The aspect that most impressed him about that place was the large garden, the blond that evening almost three months ago, had well known how to use it to conquer Karin, but Kisame now realized that it could have a different use. Itachi and Nagato could have gone out to talk to each other while he and Naruto could have stayed at the table or vice versa. He smiled as he felt Itachi's hand rest on his steel thigh as he drove.
Our bridges must be crossed in peace, I know that you will allow me to do it as I will let you do it.
And then Kisame already had a surprise in store that none of the other three had the slightest idea about.
Naruto and Nagato were already there, in the garden, sitting at a wooden table with so much stuff in front of them that five people could have easily eaten at it. Two one-litre mugs of beer, sandwiches of all kinds, potato and chicken croquettes. Seeing Kisame and Itachi arrive, they turned in unison in their direction as if they weren't expecting anything else. They were the image of one of those birthday photos in which an inexperienced photographer takes shots trying to fit the entire table into the lens. After several attempts, he will end up irremediably asking the subjects to huddle together and assume unnatural positions. Perhaps the birthday boy, confined to the head of the table, ends up seeing himself less than everyone else, dominated by the heads of the other guests turned in the direction of the camera. However, these photos almost always represent one of the best moments of lightheartedness of the people portrayed, ending up in the drawer of their most beautiful memories. And, as in one of these old shots, Naruto's smile lit up everything, it seemed to shine even brighter than the colored light bulbs that crossed in the sky of the garden. Kisame had seen that radiance before, however this time it had something profoundly different although no less intense. The blond was counting on the help of the other face shining in front of him. Nagato tilted his head to the side with a hint of a smile, the movement did not cause his tuft to slip and hide his right eye and half his face as happened in the past, that purple color that Itachi remembered had now transformed into a very light pink. The dark-haired man felt enveloped in joy seeing him like this, with the appearance he was destined to have, his true self with the affection that finally emerged from the pain that had been sedimented for years. Despite having known him for a long time, Itachi and Kisame were as if they were meeting Nagato now for the first time.
"Here you are finally!" Naruto got up from the wooden bench going towards them, a wave that would have overwhelmed them gently, without hurting.
His beige shirt was flapping at the end as it was unbuttoned and out of his black jeans. He hugged Kisame laughing, they had met halfway across their solid and beautiful bridge, built on a fantastic and unique story. Naruto gave Itachi a beautiful smile, touching him affectionately on the shoulder; the person who had been under the mask behind which he had made himself known had not been able to hide his exceptional nature. Never, to either of them.
Nagato had stopped at the blond's side with his mild, simple smile, like his way of dressing. A white t-shirt with two golden wings drawn on it. Angel Wings, perhaps he wanted to represent his state of mind for having found himself lost on the street. Short denim shorts with a few small tears here and there. No fear of showing the scars he had on his arms, they were now sealed in the past, a cage that Nagato had decided to lock forever.
Don't let the past eat your future.
Itachi let out an imperceptible sigh thinking back to Kisame's words, he clearly felt his eyes becoming shiny.
Nagato demonstrated that he had perfectly understood the dark-haired man's feelings: "come on, come and sit."
Nagato had wrapped an arm around his waist, inviting him to take a seat on the bench next to him. Everyone noticed how at that moment Itachi was thinner than Nagato, this detail made them the victim of a stab. However, it was only the redhead who understood why he was the only one wearing a jacket despite the hot evening, he knew perfectly well how unnatural thinness made one feel cold. When Nagato stood up from the bench with a meek expression offering to accompany Itachi inside to get a drink, Naruto couldn't help but nod satisfied both in their direction and in that of Kisame.
Nagato and Itachi walked across their bridge now, following the spherical streetlights that led to the pub's entrance. Embraced and inseparable as they always would be.
The redhead decided to start talking as soon as he started down that path. He had sensed Itachi's discomfort, not only from his thinness, those eyes that he had fallen in love with years ago still screamed pain even though that scream had become a little less intense having finally found someone capable of understanding it.
"Itachi, first I must apologize to you. As you have surely guessed, the person you saw the last time we spoke was another Nagato. The person I am now would never offend someone forced by life to make do as best they can, especially if he is the only one left in the world for his younger brother. I understand you the same way I understood Yahiko. If I managed to forgive myself, if I managed to recover that child that I was and who was lost in the darkness by taking him by the hand without being ashamed of him, you too can very well absolve that little boy who didn't know how to drive a tractor. "
Itachi had stopped a step away from the entrance, had bowed his head and squinted his eyes while a silent tear rolled down his hollow cheek. Nagato had hugged him without stopping smiling.
"You shouldn't be happy when you see someone cry, I know that. However, your case is particular. You are freeing yourself from those barriers that held you prisoner and that you yourself had erected. The credit for this goes to Kisame, you finally understood what it means to have someone by your side to share everything with, including pain."
Itachi let out a trembling sigh, "Nagato, that doesn't mean I didn't love you. I did it and a lot, I will never stop. I can't forget your caresses the day I told you everything, I fell asleep in your arms, I want you to know that that was no small thing. Unfortunately we weren't ready, we didn't love ourselves especially."
The redhead had gently moved his body away to look him in the eyes: "I know just as I was aware of it then, you have always demonstrated it to me in a thousand ways that have never fallen on deaf ears despite appearances. The risk you had of losing me was because of the other Nagato and the monster that ate him inside. It wasn't anyone's fault, least of all yours. Naruto was able to eliminate that monster to allow the real me to come to light again. You have no idea, Itachi, it was a truly fantastic feeling, a bit like being born a second time. Come on, now give me one of your wonderful smiles, I want to see you relaxed and guzzle a drink just like mine."
"I don't understand why the pub is so empty today, I would have expected better from an early summer evening" Naruto blissfully sipped his giant beer completely relaxed on the wooden bench.
Only a second later the blond had looked at Kisame smiling, both of them had tacitly agreed that, even if they were in the middle of a stubble field sitting on prickly bales of straw, nothing could match the happiness felt by everyone that evening . Naruto is rightly proud of Nagato's transformation, Kisame is satisfied for having found an important person in his life and for allowing Itachi to do the same. They had watched them go away happy and amazed at how Nagato was able to make anyone's soul vibrate positively now. Itachi couldn't help but benefit from this.
Naruto charged back, devouring a chicken nugget: "So Kisame, get ready to transform yourself from a personal trainer to a mental hospital nurse: starting tomorrow, Nagato, Kiba and I will come to train with you. I know you can do it."
The blond had underlined his words with a wink.
"Well, I can't help but be pleased. For me you are not the mayor or the ex, you are a friend first of all, just like Nagato and Kiba are. And then when Itachi, Yahiko and Shisui's dance courses will also be there you will be able to choose what you want. Be careful, though, Itachi is an unforgiving perfectionist."
They both laughed happily. Recalling youthful memories with Kiba could only be extremely enjoyable. It would become a huge group of friends. Kisame had always considered himself hopeless, the certainty that no one would ever accept him and leave him alone had been rooted within him for many years. And here a dream opens up to him in a door of light. It was Naruto who gave him the keys and begged him to cross the threshold.
As if he had read his thoughts, the blond became slightly more serious: "Kisame, I had guessed that your special someone had arrived even before you. From the evening I introduced her to you, to our graduation party when he was still wearing a mask. That's why I told you that you had to go through that door even if it scared you. I was right, wasn't I? I believe I saved you both this way."
Naruto's smile had widened and become sunnier.
"It's undeniable that you have superpowers now" Kisame smiled as he collected his drink from the waitress "I can't imagine how long it took Nagato to heal from all the bruises you gave him to get him back on the right path. I am immensely happy to see how now, even the most dangerous curve in the world, no longer moves him from his direction."
They toasted smiling as Itachi and Nagato were walking back to them. The dark-haired and the red-haired seemed to walk surrounded by light.
All four of them laughed again in unison when a Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits honking in the parking lot made them understand why the place was half empty and that now the real fun would begin. Kisame had taken the liberty of inviting other friends, surprising everyone.