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Itachi is not quite sure how to feel when Pein sends him to the barracks to meet his partner, and he finds a giant, blue shark man— with gills he feels he should mention—crooning at a shuddering sword around as tall as Itachi himself.
He imagines though, that he isn't supposed to feel winded in the sense that he wants the giant blue shark man, with gills, to bend him over.
He blinks slowly, reminds himself of his purpose, and doesn't allow his voice to shake.
“Good afternoon shinobi-san, I am Uchiha Itachi. I will be your partner.”
The giant blue shark man—with gills —grunts and strokes the handle of his sword “Hoshigaki Kisame,” he says without looking up. “Samehada likes the feel of your chakra,”
The sword gives a violent shudder, and Kisame’s lips pull up in a vicious smile.
Itachi gets the feeling that Kisame would be a very difficult opponent to beat, especially given the fact that Itachi is sensing his chakra right now, and well hidden as it is, he can feel its ocean-like vastness.
Itachi has only ever felt something similar in Uzumaki Kushina’s raw chakra, and something greater in the Kyuubi she had imprisoned inside of her.
His heart beat picks up minutely, and he focuses on settling it for a moment before he claims the other bed in the room, wondering absently if Kisame likes it rough.
It occurs to him when he glances again at Kisame, that sharing a room is going to be a very big problem.
Kisame feels his stare and looks up for the first time to flash Itachi a threatening smile that shows his razor-sharp teeth, and Itachi has to hold back a gasp, because oh my .
. . .
Itachi gets better at not thinking about Kisame naked, until he actually sees Kisame naked.
They’re on their way back to the compound after a long mission, and the onsen affords Itachi many inconspicuous glances down Kisame’s front, and just as many at his bum.
Right now Kisame is submerged to his abdomen in the water—he's too tall for it to go any higher—and Itachi can see the droplets of glistening water rolling down the muscled shoulders, onto his pectorals.
One slides over Kisame’s nipple—also blue, Itachi notes—, and Itachi traces its path with his eyes as it continues down the hard planes of muscle, until it disappears into the water, sending minute ripples outwards.
Kisame’s eyes are closed and his cheeks are flushed purple from the heat. He looks so relaxed and uncoiled, leaning against the bath wall, but Itachi cannot forget, even for a moment that this man is as dangerous as a hundred.
Kisame opens one eye slowly, languidly, and focuses it on Itachi who hopes the heat from the onsen is enough to stop his cheeks from visibly flushing further from embarrassment.
He didn't even know he could blush.
. . .
When Kisame gets out of the bath, Itachi’s eyes skim downwards of their own volition, and he's glad the the water covers his lap. Kisame’s penis is also blue, he notes with some surprise, but he really didn’t expect anything else. He briefly prays to every god, including Hidan’s absurd one, that Kisame can't feel his chakra rise in excitement.
From the smug look and toothy smile her gets, he figures his prayers weren't answered.
. . .
Itachi has many, many regrets. Perhaps one of them, is that he never did anything about his attraction to Kisame.
But, this is as good an ending as he’s going to get, there’s no use in being bitter about it.
He can see the blurry outline of Sasuke’s face in front of him, eyes bloodshot. His fingers, bloody and trembling, slide down from Sasuke’s forehead as his legs give way.
In another life, he thinks.