Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kisame crossed his arms as he glared at the people in front of him. He’d just broken up another fight, this time it was a food line. He was so focused on staring down the people in line that he didn’t pay any mind to the figure that stopped next to him. He noticed, of course, but figured it was just another child looking for their parents.

“What’s the line for?”

He blinked and turned to you. Everyone knew what this line was for. These treats weren’t just famous in Kiri, but the rest of the world too!

“Water cinnamon sweets.” He pointed at someone walking by with one of the treats and eyed you warily.

You lifted your nose into the air and sniffed, “Ooh, I want one!”

He narrowed his eyes and took in your attire. You were dressed in a drab gray tunic tied at the waist with rope, the only compliment besides the straw hat that topped your head. You were even shoeless. Though your attire made it seem like you were a fisherman’s daughter, there was something foreign about you.

“Where’d you come from?”

You stiffened and looked back at him, scratching your cheek sheepishly as you gave him a vague answer. “Oh, down south.”

“…Uh-huh. Why are you talking to me?”

This time you cocked your head to the side. “Who else was I supposed to ask?”

Another suspicious response. Even the other kids at the academy were scared of him, or detested him. Either way, no one was friendly.

“Alright. Who are you?”

You smiled and introduced yourself.

“That’s not what I meant. Where are you from?”

“I told you, from the south.” You pointed again.

“That’s north.”

…

“Oh.”

“Why have you come to Kirigakure?”

“I just wanted to see what the surface festival was like.”

Your answer confused him so much that he relaxed his grip on his sword.

“As opposed to the one…underwater?”

You nodded. “Wanna see it?”

“See what?”

“The water spirit festival!”

“We’re…already here?”

You giggled and shook your head. “Not this one!”

“Let me guess, it’s south?”

You nodded again. “Follow me!”

With that, you took off towards the shore line.

“Hey!” He chased after you, convincing himself that he could count this as part of his patrol.

He caught up to you at the end of a pier and you answered before he could even ask what you were doing.

“Come into the water and I’ll show you!”

You dove gracefully into the water. He had no time to think and dove in too. Even though he reacted quickly, and his unique physiology allowed him some freedoms in the water, by the time his eyes adjusted to the water, he could not believe what he was seeing.

You had…transformed. Or at least, a part of you had.

“You’re. You’re a mermaid?”

You stopped. “Wait. You don’t know about us?”

“Us?”

“There you are!”

You winced as a voice echoed through the water.

“Uh-oh.”

Chapter Text

When mermen with menacing looking spears found the two of you, the last thing he expected was to be dragged off to an underwater festival. Yet he found himself trying to prove how accurately he could throw a spear underwater while there was a council being held to figure out what to do with him.

You cheered as he hit another bullseye and though the two mermen acting as chaperones weren’t as enthusiastic, they were still impressed by him.

“And this is exactly why you should have never gone to the surface.”

Kisame paused just as he was about to throw another spear and looked at your cousin, then you, but you looked just as confused as him.

The other man nodded. “Kisame’s only a kid, can’t be any older than you, and he already throws about as well as most of the battalion.”

Kisame frowned, he stopped being a kid the moment he graduated from the academy! He was about to correct the merman, but your cousin kept talking.

“You’re lucky a Hoshigaki found you and not someone else.”

“Only because I thought he knew about us! Otherwise I never would have got caught!”

All his indignation at being called a kid turned into confusion.

“Why’d you think I knew of mermaids?”

And your annoyance faded as you turned to Kisame with another sheepish smile.

“Wellll, I knew you were from the Hoshigaki clan. I figured if we were still telling stories about your clan, then your clan hadn’t forgotten about us.”

“The only stories I’ve heard about mermaids are stories everyone knows, not Hoshigaki clan lore. But, what Hoshigaki stories?”

You looked to your cousins, perhaps for permission, and they just shrugged and let you continue.

“Long ago, humans and seafolk got along. Then humans started hunting us, to keep us on their ships as good luck charms, or to eat our fins so they can extend their lives. The Hoshigaki were the only humans to try to stop the hunting, therefore they’re the only surface dwellers we can trust.”

One of your cousins nodded. “Maybe you can hear other stories later. Looks like the council has made their decision, we should get back.”

“What’s going to happen to me?”

He smiled at Kisame, one similar to your friendly grin, and ruffled Kisame’s hair. “Relax, little shark. You’ll return to your village safe and sound, no matter what.”

It seemed what the council was deciding on was whether or not they’d allow him to keep his memories. It was decided that as long as he swore to keep their existence a secret (he did!) then he could not only keep his memories, but return to learn more of the merpeople later, if he so wished (he did!).

The odd trip was worth the punishment he received for slacking off of guard duty. Not only did he learn the world was bigger than even the five great nations, but he made real friends for the first time in life.

Chapter Text

All Kisame could think about was going to sleep. Yet now he was frozen in place as he stared at his bed. More accurately, he stared at who was in his bed. He was being ridiculous. It wasn’t like it would be the first time he slept close to you. It had been well over a decade since he met you, there had been plenty of naps that resulted with either you resting your head on his shoulder, or him with his head in your lap. Above all, he’d seen you transition from water to land, or vice versa, enough times that he could easily picture you naked. He supposed that was the problem. He couldn’t be sure when exactly it happened but his feelings for you had changed. He no longer just wanted to be near you, he needed to be.

Regardless of what he wanted to do, he needed to take a shower first. By the time he was out of shower and dressed, in nothing more than a pair of sweatpants, you were awake. It only took a moment for him to find you in the kitchen.

For a second time that night you stole his breath away. What he hadn’t noticed when you were in bed was that you had donned one of his shirts. The sheer mesh lining that he wore under his armor for comfort tantalizing him with memories of your naked form.

He watched only for a moment, absently noting that you were cooking one of his favorite dishes, before he took two big steps and slid his arms around your waist. “You’re not supposed to be here."

You yelped and jumped back, further into his arms.

"Kisame! Don’t scare me!"

"Sorry,” He chuckled. “But you’re not supposed to visit on your own.”

Too many close calls had endangered you.

“But I missed you.”

He hummed and nuzzled his face in your neck, partly to hide the blush that crept up on his face. “I was going to see you tomorrow morning."

"I didn’t want to wait that long. Besides,” You turned around and looked up at him. “Here, I can have you all to myself.”

His chest tightened, heart sped up, as he leaned down again, his forehead resting against yours. “Is that what you want?"

"Yes."

Your answer was hardly a whisper, your breath on his lips fueling his desire. In the blink of an eye your lips were pressed against his, you clung tightly to him and he pulled you impossibly close, relishing in the feeling of your body against his.

Pop!

You jumped out of his arms and turned back to the stove. “No, don’t burn!”

Kisame chuckled, wrapping you up in his arms again and resting his chin on your shoulder, as you frantically turned off the heat and stirred. If you could zap all the tiredness he’d been feeling before away with just your presence, he couldn’t wait to see how the rest of the night went.

Chapter Text

He was incredibly amused by the fact that he was hiding from Kirigakure’s infamous hunter ninja right under their noses. Or rather, right under Kirigakure itself. He knew the moment he took on that assassination job that he’d be declared a rogue ninja. The smart thing to do, after collecting payment, was to not return to Kirigakure at all, but there was one loose end he had to tie up first.

It’d actually taken him a while to tell you that he was leaving. Finally, he asked to speak to you privately. You led him to a hidden, even by merpeople standards, sea cave. The tunnels were quite long and almost claustrophobic for him, but eventually you surfaced onto an island he’d never seen before.

As he looked out over the water he could see why this island was so well hidden. It was concealed by a deep layer of mist, even he was having a difficult time seeing through it, and it was quite small.

You grinned as you stood on the beach and pointed, “Kiri’s that way.”

“That’s north.”

There was something about your smile, like you knew what he was going to tell you.

“You should stay away from Kirigakure from now on.”

In fact, he’d like to tell you to stay away from the surface altogether, but knew that was impossible. Instead he simply explained that he was going to be working with some people, people as strong as or even stronger than he, and facing enemies just as powerful.

You already asked him to stay with the seafolk now that he was officially a rogue ninja, but he declined saying there was still something he needed to do. So when finally explained, the last thing he expected was for you to give him a cheery smile.

“Oh, I have something for you!”

“What?”

“Follow me!”

Kisame chuckled as you dove into the sea and dashed into deep waters. When he caught up to you, you were already surrounded by three sharks. “I want you to have them.”

“I can already summon sharks.”

“Yea, but these are special sharks!”

“How so?”

“Well, I raised them to always find their way back to me. No matter where they are, in water, on land, summoned, even if they’re de-summoned.”

You pet one of the sharks, “At least this way I’ll know you’re ok.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“From what you told me, there’s a chance you can run into enemies stronger than you.” Though the idea of someone stronger than Kisame was unbelievable. “Promise Kisame, if you ever think you’re going to die, send them back to me, that way I know.”

He reached out to you, one hand resting on the hand you had on the shark, his other lifting your chin so that he could look you in the eyes.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll return them to you myself.”

He sealed that promise with a kiss, confident in his own strength and the mission.

Chapter Text

“Follow me!”

He was always chasing you out into the sea, but this time it was difficult to keep up. If only he had Samehada with him…wait, why didn’t he have Samehada with him?

“That’s right.” Samehada, that fickle sword, betrayed him in favor of the eight tails jinchuriki.

Kisame sat up and looked at his surroundings. He was in a cave and some effort had been made to make it habitable, for surface dwellers. He’d seen many underwater caves like this one during his time with the merpeople and if he was with the merpeople again, then you weren’t far off.

He must have tripped an alarm, because by the time he was back in the water, he could sense you approaching. It had been many years but you looked just the same as you did when he left. He even braced himself for the enthusiastic hug that you always used to give him whenever you were apart for more than a few days. He was surprised, disappointed, when you stopped a few feet short of him.

“You should be resting.”

“I should be dead.”

“Didn’t I tell you? Those sharks were special.”

“They brought me back to life?”

“Not that special!” You laughed but it faded into a somber smile. “But they are dead.”

You didn’t have to explain for him to realize that he was the reason they were dead.

“I’m sorry.”

You shook your head. “You were a bit…creative, but they did bring you back to me.”

Kisame dared to swim closer to you, the urge to hold you like he used to getting stronger. While you didn’t retreat from him, a sign as good as any, you also didn’t move any closer. He supposed, it was only natural after so long.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did they bring me back, instead of just delivering a message?”

“I guess…they thought you deserved another chance. Will you go back to being a mercenary ninja?”

He honestly wasn’t expecting to wake up, there had been no more plans for him.

“Is the war over?”

You nodded. “The surface dwellers are all celebrating a leaf ninja named Naruto Uzumaki as the hero who ended the war.”

It seemed despite all his efforts, the Akatsuki failed, which meant he no longer had a purpose, yet as he looked at you, he never wanted to live more.

“There’s nothing for me to go back to then.”

You smiled again and stretched out your hand. “My people always did like you, I’m sure that they’d welcome you again.”

“What about you?”

You bashfully glanced away, he could almost hear your heart beating faster, or was that his heart?

“I missed you, Kisame.”

He couldn’t say if he moved first, or you, or if it was the ocean current that pushed you two together, but once he had you in his arms again everything just felt right. “I missed you too.” And this time he wasn’t going to let you go.