Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Kojin (III)

In this story, she names the protagonist Tatara.

"He is a fisherman, just like all the others."

And he wonders if this Tatara lived in the same village as Sachi.

"That would be very fantastic, wouldn't it, Hoshigaki-san? Perhaps this village lay the foundation of Mizugakure."

He doesn't admit that he likes the idea.

"Tatare lived a simple life in his simple house, and dreamed of simple things."

Kisame wonders quietly what those could be.

"Food, warmth, shelter. Tatara is simple man with a simple soul, a friend to all and a foe to none."

He also thinks Tatara is a coward.

"Then one day, as he was returning home from the sea, he spotted amongst the rocks a strange creature. It resembled a man in its shape, but its body was coal black and had the face of a beast, a monster."

Kisame images the creature to look like Zetsu, or at least half of him.

"But its eyes were a brilliant green, like the sea during early mornings, or emeralds glittering in the sun. It was an otherwise terrifying creature, but its eyes showed a kindness Tatara knew well."

Now, Kisame thinks, Tatara is not only a coward, but he also an idiot. He thinks the man is going to end up dead.

"I think Tatara is extremely lucky in this case, because the creature does not attack him. Instead, it introduced itself as a samebito, once a servant in the great halls of , and said it was banished into exile for a minor offense. It had wandered the seas in search for a new home, but had found none."

Kisame wonders if she was making this up.

"Tatara took pity on the samebito and invited it to live with him, in the waters beneath his house on stilts. And for six months, Tatara and the samebito lived together happily."

Now, Kisame thinks, the story is about to go where he expects it to go.

"On the seventh month, a travelling merchant had come to their village along with his daughter, Tamamo. Now, I think the rest of the story is fairly obvious… Tatara falls in love with her at first sight and vows to marry her, however, her merchant father demanded a dowry of a thousand pristine jewels– He wanted her to live a good and wealthy life, you see."

Kisame comments that the father is like Kakuzu in that way.

"I think you're right, Hoshigaki-san."

She laughs, and he really thinks about it now. Has she met everyone in the Akatsuki? Is she is speaking terms with them all? Even that stuck-up Kakuzu? And she's… still… alive?

"And so, Tatara fell into a deep despair, as do most people during that time, I think. It was a despair so deep that he refused to eat or sleep, he was starved both physically and spiritually. The samebito feared Tatara would soon die of a broken heart, and through its sadness, began to weep for the man."

Kisame doesn't like this story.

"The samebito cried bitter tears, and as they rolled down its cheeks began to solidify and crystalize. And by the time its tears hit the floor, they had become sapphires."

Ah, Kisame comments, Kakuzu would want to catch of these samebito if he ever heard this story.

"Maybe he would, but he wouldn't want to go through the hassle of conversion. Jewelers are as shrewd as they are scarce."

She replies easily, and Kisame really wonders then, if was in speaking terms with only Kakuzu and no one else. Otherwise, he would have heard of her at least.

"But anyway, upon the sight of these, Tatara instantly found new hope and began to count the sapphires rolling onto the floor. At the sight of the newly energized Tatara, the samebito stopped crying. Tatara begged for it to continue until a thousand of these sapphires filled the floor of his house. But the samebito replied regretfully that it can only cry if it experienced true grief and sadness."

Kisame begins to think about how this story will end, and knows it won't be a good one.

"With this knowledge, Tatara began to think of how to make such a create feel that way, but then he remembered their friendship, their months spent together, and regretfully demanded for the samebito to leave, telling it that it was nothing but a burden to him all this time, a nuisance in his home."

Kisame thinks it's a cruel thing to do, but then again, how can a plain man live with a creature like that?

"And so the samebito cried and it cried profusely, refusing to believe their friendship was not true. Its tears formed into sapphires, and the floor of Tatara's home began to flood with these gemstones. He began to gather them in his arms, quietly cheering to himself as the gemstones are already too many to count, knowing that with these alone, he and Tamamo will live very happy and very wealthily all their lives."

Kisame thinks the story is about to end.

"But neither he nor the samebito anticipated the weight, and Tatara's house on stilts falls into the sea, along with him, the samebito, and all the sapphires."

She pauses.

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"What do you think happens then, Hoshigaki-san?"

Kisame tells her that Tatara drowns, or will drown, had the samebito not chosen to save him. He's a little embarrassed at his own answer, but from what he understood from her story, both Tatara and the samebito are kind to a fault.

She smiles then, knowingly, "Will you believe me if I say you are correct?"

He shakes his head as he laughs. Loudly.

"But you are!"

She exclaims and claps her hands.

"Tatara rushes into the water, trying to gather what sapphires he can reach, not realizing he is already so deep into the water and is running out of air. As he struggles to swim back up with what he has gathered, the samebito notices him, notices–even in the water–Tatara's tears. And out of its kindness, it rushes to him, swims quickly and delivers Tatara to shore."

Kisame frowns a little, wondering what the moral of the story is, if there is one.

"And Tatara, realizing the samebito's unbound kindness, apologizes for his earlier actions and begs for its forgiveness. The samebito, seeing Tatara's honesty, dives back into the water and gathers the sapphires from the bottom of the sea. It presents these to Tatara, and he happily embraces the samebito. Soon, Tatara and Tamamo are married and live in a big merchant ship, with the samebito swimming along with them in their travels."

She bows to signal the end of the story, and Kisame hums in amusement.

"Did you not like it, Hoshigaki-san?"

She leans close to the fire to stoke it.

"It's too good of an ending," he says, "maybe the Isonade from your other story overturned the ship and they all died."

She chuckles, "With the samebito as their guard?"

"The samebito's a wimp," he scoffs "it'd sooner cry than fight back."

He looks out the window, the rain's gone and so are the clouds. He can almost see the sky, it's late in the afternoon. Almost sunset.

She hums, "Maybe so, but it's nice to hear a happy ending once in a while, right?"

Part of him agrees with her, the part of him that never really grew up. He wonders again what lesson is there in her story. Was it about kindness? About repaying debts? About greed?

"A story means whatever you want it to mean," she says abruptly, turning to look out the window as well, "but I'd like to think the story is a warning."

"How?"

"The samebito could have let Tatara die, but it didn't. The choice there is important. It's a choice not many are faced with, but to those who are, the decision should be simple."

To live or die. To kill or not– No, to kill or be killed, more like.

"Will you choose what benefits you more, or what is rightfully deserved?"

Does she mean that letting Tatara die is deserved?

"Tatara had a choice too," she continues, "drown in an attempt to gather the stones, or live just as he had been living all this time."

And there's an even deeper meaning in that, he thinks, whether to strive for something better with no guarantees, or continue the way one is living now. He wonders what she had decided, thinks that she'd chosen the first option, to strive for something not guaranteed, that's why she's here.

"We make decisions every day, all the time, Hoshigaki-san," she stares at the fire, "it's only a matter of what benefits us in the present."

In the present? What does she mean–

"Ah, good," Tenkou Asayake's voice comes in from the entryway, "you're both dry now."

She has hands on her hips like she's scolding them– how brave of her.

"Dinner is almost ready," she tuts.

"Thank you, Tenkou," the samurai bows slightly, "we'll be there shortly."

Tenkou turns to Kisame, "He's awake now too."

He smiles back at her. Itachi is awake? Well, this will be an interesting dinner. He turns to the samurai then, and notices the small shift in her expression before her face returns to the same neutral expression. It's not shock or anger or even fear, but it is a small reaction he doesn't see so often, especially when it's about Itachi.

Excitement.

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