Chapter 251: Kisame

During his fight with Isshiki, Kisame thought, "I might die here." He survived, barely, thanks to the dozen jellyfish Sakura implanted in him. When he regained consciousness, his first thought wasn't to be more cautious in future battles. Instead, he resolved to finally end the "more than friends, less than lovers" status quo with Toki-sama. Otherwise, Kisame wouldn't even die in peace.

After that, Kisame found himself happily plotting how to push the progress bar, perpetually stuck at 75%, to 100% while fighting the Otsutsuki.

Itachi advised, "To win a girl's heart, you have to spend money. Just buy Toki-sama whatever he wants."

Kisame retorted sharply, "You deal with Sakura first before you start acting like a know-it-all."

Konan said, "Even if you've been close for years and dropped hints left and right, she won't reciprocate unless you say it plainly—even if she does feel something for you."

Kisame didn't understand. Then Zaraki Kita provided the answer.

"If you don't say it, are you just going to wait for the girl to confess to you? At your age, you should know better. Don't you know girls are shy?"

Then, Zaraki Kita found herself on the receiving end of Konan's verbal assault.

"If you know all this, why didn't you just confess to me back then?"

Zaraki Kita, realizing she'd put her foot in her mouth, rubbed her nose and fled, though she couldn't escape Konan's "domestic violence."

Kisame, having been force-fed a dose of PDA, agreed with Zaraki Kita's words: Yes, no matter what, I have to say it.

But then he started to worry: What if Toki-sama rejects me after I confess? What if she stops talking to me?

Itachi, as always, offered terrible advice.

Use a genjutsu. As your partner, I'll help you for free.

Kisame thought Itachi was just trying to stay single through his own efforts.

Regardless, Kisame resolved to confess.

Here was his plan:

After returning home, he would take a long, hot bath, change into fresh clothes, grab a sunflower, and head to the fish shop to find Toki-sama. As for the opening line, he would say:

"Toki-sama, want some sunflower seeds?"

After exchanging pleasantries and asking Toki-sama about the flower arrangement competition, Kisame shared some interesting anecdotes from other worlds. As they parted, he said, "Our team's on vacation. I'm planning to visit the Land of Water. We can get a discount if we share a ride. Want to come with me?"

Kisame interpreted this as a confession, a scenario he had rehearsed countless times.

He had mustered all his courage and prepared extensively to face the boisterous Toki-sama, yet he was utterly unprepared for the woman with two crippled legs, blind eyes, and an ugly scar twisted across her face.

How did it come to this? he wondered. It's only been a little over two years, not even three. How did the Toki-sama I cherished so deeply become this woman lying on the cot, eyes closed, shedding tears, her breathing so faint she might vanish at any moment?

As people bustled past, Kisame approached Toki-sama. He reached out and wiped the tears from the corner of her eye. They were burning hot. As the tears traced a wet path down her grimy cheek, they left a glistening trail. Kisame suddenly felt a wave of discomfort wash over him.

Toki-sama was blind; she couldn't see who had approached her, let alone recognize the figure in the red-cloud black robe standing by her bed.

"What's happening? Have the Akatsuki masters returned?" Her voice was soft and weak. Toki-sama wasn't always awake. She had been roused by the commotion around her. After her leg was broken, she felt her time was limited. Sometimes she would drift into a deep, heavy sleep, and other times she would remain awake for days on end, her head and body throbbing with pain. She had lied to Karin and the others, claiming it was her "emotional and physiological cycle" and that she instinctively wanted to sleep. But they all knew...

They had returned, but far too late.

Kisame thought he wiped away her tears, yet they flowed endlessly. Toki-sama grew agitated by this silent presence, by the warmth of the hand that offered her a flicker of warmth.

"Speak... I can't see. Have they all come back? Has Kisame returned? Has he returned?"

It was a question, and then Toki-sama's hand blindly clutched Kisame's clothes. When he spoke again, it was with a forced, self-convincing firmness.

"He's definitely coming back. He promised he'd come back alive, he will come back. Kisame-sama will return..."

Kisame could no longer bear it. He'd thought he could withstand the impending eruption of whatever was threatening to burst forth, to face Toki-sama's teasing as usual, to engage in their usual brotherly banter. But now he realized he couldn't. He had an overwhelming urge to hold the woman close, an urge he couldn't suppress, no matter how hard he tried.

So Kisame gave in. He reached out and pulled the woman he'd been worried about, the one who had wept for him, into his arms. He held her against his chest, letting her hear his heartbeat, feel the warmth of his body, and stop her concerned, heart-wrenching care.

Toki-sama, even in this state, you're still worried about my survival, yet I couldn't even protect you.

"Toki-sama, I'm back."

When he spoke, it was with a choked sob even Kisame didn't believe, like a shark's tear.

"Kisame..."

This warm, vast chest, this beating, powerful heart.

Toki-sama reached out and touched Kisame's cheek, his fingers tracing slowly, softly counting.

"One, two, three... It really is you, Kisame. You said you had three gills, and I remembered..."

Toki-sama choked back a sob.

Kisame felt a strange discomfort. He was a steel-straight man, utterly clueless about tender emotions. When Toki-sama sobbed, he didn't understand what heartache felt like. There was no sourness in his chest, no weakness from injury or depleted Chakra, no suffocating sensation of being unable to breathe. It was just... discomfort, a baseless ache. It felt like the moment he'd suppressed his instinct to embrace Toki-sama, as if a jellyfish had taken up residence in his chest, pulsing and swelling with an unbearable, trapped sensation, unable to escape or settle.

But now, without his medical jellyfish, he could only hear Toki-sama's choked sobs and see his tears.

"It's me. I'm back. I’mcompletely fine."

Kisame said, his voice steady now. Sharks shouldn't cry, but this shark—Hoshigaki Kisame—was suffering terribly. Logically, he should be ripping and tearing, slaughtering those who had done this to Toki-sama, exterminating those who had made him suffer so much. But Kisame didn't want that. He wanted nothing more than to hold Toki-sama, to confirm she was still here, to hear her speak, to hear her laugh, to hear her call him Kisame.

But Toki-sama didn't laugh. Toki-sama cried.

The shark's suffering intensified.

"You came back but didn't make a sound? Waaah... You scared me to death! Waaah... You knew I was blind and didn't tell me sooner? Waaah... You're crazy! Waaah..."

Kisame's eyes burned and his nose stung. This shark had been on land too long. He needed water.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to startle you, I'm sorry..."

I'm sorry I came back so late.

I'm sorry you had to endure so much.

I'm sorry I ultimately failed to protect you.

Kisame flipped the switch for "I'm sorry," and then the cycle of Toki-sama began.

"Waaah, it's my fault, I'm so sorry... Your precious ones are all dead, they're all dead... Haruko, everyone, I'm so sorry, waah... they're all dead, I'm so sorry... waah... Haruko died right in front of me, waah... she gave me her child... waah..... I failed to protect her... waah... the explosion... I failed to protect her, waah... I'm so sorry... the baby is dead... waah... I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry... waah..."

Toki-sama had never shed a single tear from any injury she'd suffered. Just as she'd never told anyone about the child she'd once been entrusted with. Now, she was the one left behind.

It was a cry of despair, a wail that reduced the tough woman to a weeping girl.

Kisame, you must remember the sight of Toki-sama crying. This is the first and last time you'll ever see it.

Kisame told himself this, holding her tighter, and never wanting to let go again.