enjoying the fire

[seafare]

Kisame is standing next to the fire, just enjoying the warmth and the light. It's been a pleasant sort of thing to see all week long, just like the rest of the festival. He generally ignores people who step up to toss things into the flames. And he doesn't add anything himself. He had sort of toyed with the idea of making a wish back when the thing was first lit, just for kicks, but he hasn't been able to think of anything. And as for regrets, he has none.

So he's just relaxing--a tall man standing with his hands in his pockets, not so recognizable as a member of Akatsuki unless you get close enough to notice his strange features.

Comments

[stillpure]

He nodded and tightened his fingers on his hand. "I'll introduce you!"

[seafare]

He nodded, ready to follow where the boy led. He was curious. Itachi's mother. A person who had helped shape him into what he was when Kisame met him.

[stillpure]

Perfectly happy, he looked around, then dove into the crowd, shamelessly hauling the man along behind him.

[seafare]

Kisame followed after. He wasn't the sort that could slip easily between people, but for the most part, if they saw him coming they got out of his way. So it wasn't very difficult to tag along.

[stillpure]

It took a bit of crowd weaving and hunting until he came on the woman, but when he did, he beamed up at her. "Mom! This is my friend Kisame."

[proudofmybaby]

She stared down at her son for a long moment before her eyes slid up across the... blue Kiri-nin. "...Kisame you said?"

[seafare]

"Yes, that's right." He studied her quietly, briefly. She looked... quite a bit like Itachi. The older Itachi. "I'm pleased to meet you."

[stillpure]

"He's the one I told you about. He's nice."

[proudofmybaby]

She frowned a little, then sighed and offered her hand. "I'm pleased to meet you too. So you're the 'nice blue missing-nin' hmm? I'm Uchiha Mikoto."

[seafare]

He laughed, then took her hand. This was... strange. A bit surreal. But not bad, so far. At least she didn't seem upset by any of this. "I guess that is who I am."

[proudofmybaby]

She looked down at her son's beaming face, then back to the blue man with a wry twist of her lips. "Well, in that case Kisame, it seems we're going to be friends too." She paused a beat. "If you see the grown version of my son, would you be so kind as to let me know? He's gone missing recently and his health is rather poor."

[seafare]

"Ah?" His expression became just a little bit more serious and thoughtful. "I'm sorry to hear that. I ran into him a week or so ago..." He paused for just a moment, not sure whether what he planned to say next was something the older Itachi would prefer to keep secret. But why would it be? Most people around here already knew, anyway. "I was acquainted with him--the older Itachi--before coming here."

[proudofmybaby]

She nodded slightly. "Itachi mentioned that you knew the older him." She rested her hand on her son's head, noting with a bit of amusement that the boy still had hold of the man's hand. "You took care of him after my death, didn't you?"

[seafare]

That got a smile that was sort of a wince. "He didn't really need... well." The thought went unfinished, because he realized it wasn't true. Itachi had needed, sometimes. "We took care of each other. We were partners, sort of... travelers together, and that sort of thing."

[proudofmybaby]

She smiled at him rather knowingly. "Even if he didn't need, you still wanted to and did, right? My baby has always had that affect on people."

[seafare]

He smiled back at her, and glanced down to Itachi at his side. "Yes," he answered. He looked back up at her and seemed--a little bemused. Though he didn't say it, it was probably clear that she was not what he expected. "What do you think of this place, Mikoto-san?"

[proudofmybaby]

"I like it. It's given me a chance to let my son know that I still love him, no matter what he did. What mother wouldn't want that and the chance to check on her children after she dies?" She shook her head, looking down at Itachi. "Or seeing their babies small again."

[seafare]

That was interesting. Kisame didn't honestly know much about what mothers were like, what they might want or not want. It seemed extraordinary to him that anyone could love someone else dearly enough for that kind of total forgiveness.

[proudofmybaby]

She looked back to Kisame and gave him a fond, secretive smile. "I bet you were an adorable child yourself."

[seafare]

"Ah, no... well, none of the people who raised me seemed to think so. But adorable is not something Kirigakure encourages. Our clans aren't as beautiful as the Uchiha, usually. We're more..." He made a vague, casual sort of gesture at his own face.

[stillpure]

"You're blue!" Itachi moved over and patted his hand. "That's neat. Not as neat as if you were purple, but not bad!"

[proudofmybaby]

She paused with her mouth half open and laughed, looking at her son. "Yes, that too. I was going to say distinctive and interesting myself though." She looked back to Kisame. "Beauty has little to do with the kind of adorable I was thinking of."

[seafare]

"If I was purple, nobody would be scared of me," he said, like this would be terrible, grinning. And turning his attention to Mikoto when she spoke, he only smiled and shook his head. "You flatter me. It was a long time ago... I suppose I might have been." He was fairly sure he wasn't--adorable, that is--though perhaps a woman like this would have found him so.

[proudofmybaby]

"And just how old are you Kisame? Who knows, I might be older than you." She leaned forward a little, looking up at him.

[seafare]

"Ah, no, I doubt it..." He had to think for a moment. His own age wasn't something he thought about often or kept track of very carefully. How old had he been when he died? "Thirty-two, Mikoto-san."