“You…wait…what?” Kisame gaped at his partner. It couldn’t be true…it just couldn’t…yet nothing in the hard stare Itachi gave him left any room for doubt. The Uchiha was blind. Period.

“How…how exactly…?” Itachi pushed his chest gently to distance himself slightly. Kisame knew this was an automatic defense, to try to distance oneself from the problem physically, if no other way was possible.

“I used the Sharingan too much. My eyesight had been coming and going for a while. It was only a matter of time before it went and never came back.” Kisame had to admire the way Itachi managed to keep a level head throughout all of this…until the force of his statement hit the swordsman, that is.
“Wait a minute…we’ve been together for...quite a few years-“

“Three.” Kisame glared, not realizing the gesture was lost on the Uchiha.

“Right. THREE years, and you never TOLD me about this? Itachi! Even if I
didn’t love you, this is something that, as your partner, I needed to know!”

“And now you do. It’s not... that bad Kisame.  It’s only been a couple weeks-”

“WEEKS?!?!!” Kisame bellowed. “YOU’VE BEEN BLIND FOR GODDAMN WEEKS AND DIDN’T TELL ME!” When Itachi refused to answer, he found himself even more enraged. “Of course, why would you? Why on EARTH would the Great Uchiha Itachi lower his standards enough to confide in ME. After all, I’m only his partner, his friend, his LOVER! That’s all! So why the hell would he need to trust ME enough to inform me he’s gone BLIND, not even weeks afterwards! I mean-“

“STOP. Please Kisame. Just…just…stop.”

                  Kisame’s anger quickly dissipated as he watched his partner bury his head in his cloak again, the shivers that had been previously racking his body returning with full force.

“Itachi…” Kisame whispered, placing a hand on his partner’s cheek. His heat ached when Itachi flinched slightly and drew away from the contact.

“It’s not that…I don’t trust you.” Itachi began. Kisame tightened his grip slightly, silently urging his partner to continue. “It’s just, I’m so used to handling things on my own. And then THIS comes along and everything changes. Suddenly, I can’t do everything I used to by myself. And I…I didn’t want to be coddled like a baby. Or pitied. I HATE pity. I didn’t want you to treat me like I’m weak now. Especially since I’m NOT. I can still fight and win.”

The first thing that came to Kisame’s mind was that this was perhaps the longest thing he’d ever heard his partner say. EVER. However, the second thing was that he should offer some comfort, especially since he now understood why Itachi had chosen to keep this a secret.

“Tachi…It’s okay. I know you aren’t weak.” He did his best not to smile at the glare he received. Even if he didn’t deserve to be glared at, it still lightened his heart a bit to know Itachi hadn’t really changed.

“But really…I don’t think that’s all there is to your attitude lately.” He tried to ignore how much the death glare intensified before Itachi sighed and cast his eyes at the ground, staring at it unseeingly.

“It’s nothing to be concerned about. It’s foolish really. Something I want to see, but can’t.” Kisame frowned slightly, worry plaguing his heart once again.

“Have…have you at least seen it before. Do you remember what it looks like?”
“Yes, but I’m afraid that I’ll forget…” Kisame instantly felt an insane and totally unnecessary surge of jealousy for whatever was so important to the Uchiha to make him speak so wistfully.

“What…what is it?”

Itachi turned around slightly. Kisame could tell he was considering whether or not to answer, and decided it was best not to push him.

“You. I want to see you so badly.”