Naruto: To Remember (Gai/Kisame vibes)
Holiday request # 3. Am not satisfided with it, but what the hell.
To Remember
Author: Qaddafi the Ripper
Fandom: Naruto
Summary: For gsyh. Only faint Gai/Kisame vibes, but I wanted to keep it serious and believable. Disclaimer: The cute Kisame and the adorable Gai belong to Kishimoto.
It had been a fight that Gai was unable to forget. Partly because it had been a difficult fight against a worthy foe, Akatsuki being as powerful, and more, than he'd expected. Partly because it had eventually ended in the death of any ally. Partly because his own part of the fight had been brought short, joined with the discovery that his foe had been a fake. Partly because his adorable students had been in some danger, though they were able to escape without injury. But mostly he remembered the fight because, during the fight, he hadn't been able to remember.
Try as he did during the fight, he hadn't been able to recall where he'd met the other ninja before. It was clear he had; the other remembered him - which meant their previous fight hadn't ended in death, but even lowered to the few fights that fit that category, he still hadn't remembered - and the techniques had seemed familiar. He'd run into Mist ninja before, but that one had still felt unique.
Gai had felt somewhat guilty, during the beginning of the fight. He could usually recall people, their faces if not their names, but that man, even with his highly unique face, was one Gai hadn't remembered. And his foe had also been angry that Gai didn't recall him, an emotion Gai could fully sympathize with. He'd had people forget his name, or pretend to, which meant he hadn't been worth remembering. It hurt, to be thought of like that, especially by one he considered a worthy foe. So, during the start of the fight, he'd done his best to recall the other.
He hadn't gotten anywhere, and once his students and now teammates were captured, he'd stopped trying. He didn't need to recall anyone who hurt his team, he just needed to defeat them.
The Mist ninja had escaped, probably without a serious injury. It was a major blow to Gai's pride, and he asked Kakashi after the fight if the other had any idea who Gai's opponent had been. He had been, according to Kakashi, Hoshigaki Kisame, infamous renegade from Hidden Mist. Furthermore, Gai had indeed run into Kisame once before, back just after Sandaime had died, when Itachi had come back to the village looking for Naruto. Gai had finally remembered, and how he'd entered that fight by kicking the other ninja - now revealed to be Kisame - in the head.
It might seem a petty grudge, to fight a man for getting kicked, but Gai couldn't hold it against him. For one thing, ninjas didn't like to leave fights unfinished, and a second chance to finish off an old foe was an opportunity none would pass by. And for another thing, Gai did kick hard. He grinned when he thought that.
Well, he knew what he would do the next time he ran into Hoshigaki Kisame. He'd inform the other ninja that, yes, he did remember him, and that he was a foe worthy of being remembered. He'd tell him that he'd never forget him again, and that part of him wished they could fight against each other many times, not to the death. He did so hate to lose strong rivals. And then he'd defeat the other in battle, because that was what ninjas on opposing sides did, and he'd try to kill the other, because that was also what ninjas on opposing sides did.
It really was a shame though. He wished he could meet Kisame on friendlier terms. The two of them might just have gotten along.