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Kisame trails a bit behind Itachi, basking in the sunlight that filters through the trees. It’s warmed him enough that he’s taken off his cloak, folded it and draped it over one shoulder casually as a child tired of wearing their school uniform. He’s sleepy, bored with the monotony of their journey and the greenness of the Fire Country. Without much thought his longer legs catch him up easily and he calls out, voice a short impatient bark.
“Mmm?” Itachi doesn’t turn or stop, just glances at Kisame out of the corner of his eye. He conceals it incredibly well, as expected, but there’s been a tenseness, a stiffness in his posture, since entering his home country.
“Just thinking about going for a swim,” Kisame says, pace slowing again to match Itachi’s. “We passed that lake not too long ago and it’s been too long.”
Itachi snorts. “It’s been a week and you were gone for hours when we passed the beach. We’re almost there.”
“In that case our arrival can wait a bit longer.” He shrugs and stops walking, forcing Itachi to turn to speak to him.
“Are you stalling for a reason?”
“Not really,” he answers, though his eyes narrow with some attempt at sincerity. “Are you implying that I’m not ready to fight anyone in Konoha?”
There’s a moment of quiet and Kisame thinks maybe he really should be offended, but Itachi finally says simply, “You don’t know the people of Konoha. I’m going to go on if you don’t mind.”
“Nah you should come along. I’ll get bored alone.” When Itachi gives him a look that plainly says “you’re full of shit” Kisame laughs and quickly corrects to, “You really think I’m gonna let you go without me? And miss the fun?”
The water is warmer than they expect and murkier than Kisame remembers, but he’s not picky. The two of them discard their clothes, leaving Samehada to guard them, and Kisame slides easily into the lake. Being enveloped by water on all sides is familiar and gentle as pulling the covers up to his chin in a warm bed, what he imagines being held feels like for others. He closes his eyes and lets himself float to the surface, quiet hum of satisfaction in his throat when he reaches air.
When he opens them, Itachi has made it down to shorts, sits on the edge of one of the steeper bits of the lake’s bank. One leg is pulled up a bit, letting him rest an elbow on his knee, chin in one hand, while the other dangles over the edge, foot moving the water about beneath him. Kisame sighs.
“Is this how you swim?” he teases, stirring Itachi from watching wind blow through the trees.
Itachi watches quietly as Kisame turns himself slowly in the water, til Kisame’s facing forward and treading effortlessly. He kicks the water in front of him, looking at his own foot like it’s something new, and finally shrugs. “I think I just don’t care for the water as much as you.”
“God, being your partner is getting boring,” Kisame grins when Itachi blinks in surprise at this comment, and continues, “I’d almost consider swapping you out for Deidara at this point.”
A smile escapes from Itachi and he turns his head in a vain attempt to keep a straight face. “You’d really leave me stuck with Sasori like that?”
“Better him than Hidan, right?”
“Don’t even joke about that, that’s too--” Itachi looks back to find that Kisame has disappeared beneath the water, location unknown.
He barely manages a sigh before he feels something grip his ankle and he’s been dragged into the water. His foot kicks out instinctively and connects with something beneath him but he’s already flailing, submerged deeper than he would have expected. When he’s released he hears a sputter just above him, followed by, “Ah, fuck,” and emerges a moment later to see Kisame holding a hand to his face, blood trickling from where Itachi’s foot smashed the flesh of his lips into his sharp teeth.
“You’re lucky I figured it was you, you know,” Itachi says carefully once he’s spit out all the water he’s almost swallowed. Kisame glares at him.
“You still kicked me in the fucking face, asshole.”
Itachi looks away again, another attempt to conceal a grin and stop himself from laughing.
“I did,” he says plainly after a long moment of Kisame staring him down. He figures he probably deserves it when Kisame unceremoniously shoves his head under the water again.