[A/N]: If I remember correctly, I just updated this story less than a week ago. Wow. I didn't expect to update it again so soon. Any who, I hope you enjoy!

"I have cancer."

And with those three words, Kisame's life was once again turned upside down. Cancer was no joke. Each year, millions of people died from all kinds of cancer; lung cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer, brain cancer, kidney cancer, colon cancer. You could basically name any part of the body and tag "cancer" to the end of it and the chances were that it was a real illness.

An illness that his roommate was currently suffering from and would be treated for this Friday, leaving the apartment to Kisame.

"And I won't be back for a month."

One month. He had one month of having the entire place to himself. He felt like a teenager whose parents just announced that they were going away for the weekend and would be leaving him alone at the house for three days to do whatever he wanted.

But this wasn't going to be like that. Not at all.

"I'm putting my trust in you, Kisame. Don't break it."

If he were your average thief, this could've been part of his grand master plan. Gain the trust of a rich guy in need of a roommate, wait until he gets diagnosed with cancer, and when he leaves for treatment, rob him blind and make a run for it. But that wasn't who Kisame was. He'd had too many ups and downs in his life so far and had worked hard to be where he currently was. Sure, he wasn't making eleven dollars an hour by any means, but he had a home. A nice home. A home he shared with a man who was fair and had placed his trust in him while he went away to get better. He'd be stupid to break that trust and get thrown out on the streets again.

A part of Kisame felt bad for Itachi. The two men were nowhere close to being friends, let alone acquaintances, but it saddened him to know that the one person who took a chance on a deadbeat with no prospects like himself was dying of cancer – cancer of all things! – made Kisame think about some things.

"Just take it." Kisame said, cutting him off. "You're always so busy working in your bedroom that I never see you eat anything." He said. "So I thought I'd bring you something quick to eat while you work. You don't have to eat it tonight; bring it to work with you tomorrow or eat it for dinner tomorrow night." He didn't really know what Itachi usually ate for breakfast in his haste to get to work on time or even what he ate for lunch while he was at work.

If he works just as hard as he does when he's here, I can imagine that he doesn't really eat lunch either. Kisame thought, thankful he wasn't a part of the corporate business world like Itachi. Kisame valued food far too much to pursue such a career.

Back then, Kisame merely wrote off Itachi's strange eating habits as working too hard. And maybe that was part of it, but back then, Kisame didn't know that Itachi was dying from cancer either. Deep down, he knew that no matter how important one's job was, or how busy one got, you could always make time for at least one meal a day. And even though Kisame wasn't always present when Itachi was home, he could count on one hand the number of times he caught Itachi eating something.

That should've been a red flag…Kisame thought bitterly. Nobody can survive on coffee alone…nobody…

But it wasn't his business to pry and he barely knew the man. What would Itachi have thought if Kisame accused him of being ill and that he should go see a doctor? That would definitely earn him brownie points with his roommate, that's for sure.

And now that he knew that something was wrong with him, Kisame made sure to pay extra attention to his roommate's well-being whenever he was home and be more vocal towards him instead of minding his own business.

"How was work?" Kisame asked him when he arrived home on Wednesday afternoon.

To his surprise, Itachi didn't reply with a one word answer and walk away. Instead, he approached Kisame directly and answered "I'm busy tying up loose ends before I go in for treatment on Friday."

The older man nodded. With a job like Itachi's, he couldn't imagine tying up half of the loose ends Itachi was probably juggling. "Sounds like fun."

Itachi shrugged and placed his laptop bag on the floor by the sofa and took a seat across from Kisame. "Very."

I thought he started his treatment on Friday. Did they put him on some happy pills before his treatment? "So how are you handling everything?" Kisame asked, attempting to start a conversation. What did you do when your antisocial roommate started talking to you and sat down on the couch beside you? Then it hit him. He changed his mind about letting me stay.

He sighed and rested his cheek on his knuckles. "As well as can be expected." He answered. "I had a doctor's appointment this morning describing the preparations I need to make before Friday comes and I wanted to ask you—"

Here it comes: "Would you be alright finding a hotel for a month while I go in for treatment? I can't bring myself to trust you just yet." Yup. That was how it was going to be. Those exact words.

"—do you own a car?"

Kisame blinked a few times before his brain could process what was being asked of him. It's a trick question, he thought, remembering a similar conversation he shared with Itachi about the subject of a car when he moved in.

"Where are your things?" Itachi asked, glancing around the lobby. "Did you bring them with you or were you planning to bring everything later?"

"They're down the street." Kisame answered. At Itachi's blank look, Kisame elaborated. "I drove here, but I couldn't find a place to park, so I parked down the street."

"You drove here?" Itachi asked. "You never mentioned that you had a car."

What is the best way to word this? "It's not technically my car; I borrowed it so I could move my stuff back and forth. I'll be returning it after work tonight."

Itachi nodded, satisfied with Kisame's answer. "That's good, because if you did own a car, I'd have to get you a parking permit, but since you don't, I don't need to worry about it."

"No, I don't." He finally answered. "I borrowed a car to move-in my things, but I don't own one."

Itachi bowed his head with a somber nod. "I see. I remember you saying that now."

This was obviously some sort of cancer-medicine induced trick. "Why do you ask?"

Itachi's dark eyes looked up at him as he sighed. "My doctor explained that it would be best for someone to drive me there instead of driving myself as the hospital parking lot isn't secure and I won't be in any condition to drive myself back when my treatment is over." He explained.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't a trick question this time. "Don't you have a brother?" He asked him.

"Yeah."

Problem solved! "Why don't you have him drive you? Does he have a car?"

"He does. But he and I aren't on good terms right now. " Itachi replied and rose to a stand. "Don't worry about it. I'll take my chances and drive there myself."

Kisame watched as he picked up his laptop bag and headed in the direction of his bedroom.

"Please let me stay. I've worked hard to earn your respect and gain your trust and if you let me stay, I'll prove to you once again, that I'm worth taking chances on." He remembered saying to Itachi the other day. "I'll drive you."

Itachi stopped at his bedroom door and turned his head in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"I said I'll drive you." Kisame brought himself to a stand and made sure to look Itachi in the eye.

"But you said you didn't own a car. You don't need to go out of your way to—"

"When I first met you, you were planning to turn me down and I begged you to give me a second change and you did. You gave me a chance to prove that I could be the person you were looking for and I rose to the occasion. And Monday you were about to kick me out when you found out that you had cancer, and I convinced you to trust me and let me stay." He said.

Itachi continued to stare at him, waiting for him to continue.

"You've done more for me than a lot of people have and I want to pay back the favor by driving you to the hospital on Friday."

"That's very thoughtful of you, but don't you have work? The hospital's almost twenty minutes away and I need to be there by 11am."

"Not a problem." Kisame said. "I took the graveyard shift for someone at the convenience store tomorrow night so I don't have to be at work until noon on Friday." He walked towards Itachi. "You're appointment's at eleven, right?"

"Yes." Itachi answered.

"I'll have you there at eleven and be at Hozuki's at noon."

"But you don't have a car."

"I'll find one." Kisame assured him.

Itachi opened his mouth as if to speak further, and closed it. And in that moment, the look of skepticism in his eyes changed to one of relief as he replied with a genuine "Thank you."

"No, thank you."

And that was how Kisame found himself driving one of Suikazan's old stick-shifts to the hospital where Itachi would be having his treatment done on Friday afternoon, dressed in his green polo and khaki pants, ready to leave for work when they were done.

"This was a rental, you said?" Itachi asked, holding onto the handle attached to the ceiling as Kisame drove.

"Yeah." Kisame lied. "What? Haven't you ever rode in a stick shift before?"

"I have, but all of the rentals I've driven were better kept than this thing." He looked around him at the stained interior and peeling upholstery.

This wasn't one of Suikazan's nicer cars, but at least no one would accuse him of stealing a rolling hunk of garbage like this one. "When I said I would get you there on time, I meant it." Kisame told him.

"If you say so." Itachi sighed.

Kisame glanced at Itachi out of the corner of his eye and remembered the first time they'd met. "Excuse my tardiness, I had a lot of work to finish today." Back then, Itachi was a well-to-do business man who looked exactly like everyone else who came through the glass doors of the downtown apartment building. Dry-cleaned suit coat, tailored black dress pants with perfectly ironed pleats, a 100% cotton shirt and satin tie to match. Before that day, the only people Kisame had seen dressed like that were sports managers on the covers of athletic magazines, poised with a football or gold trophy in hand with a dazzling smile. But Itachi was none of that. He was just an ordinary guy with a job that paid, and paid well.

Back then, Itachi's professionalism was enough to make Kisame second guess his intentions, and stumble over his words as he searched for something that would make Itachi see him for more than he really was, and he had failed. To this day, he couldn't work out how he'd managed to make Itachi change his mind given how his first interview with the man had gone.

But now, Kisame viewed Itachi differently. No longer did he view him as the snide business man who had the money to sue him for all he was worth if he so much as put a scratch on his Maserati, but as an ordinary human being with ordinary problems.

In the month he'd known Itachi, he learned that he had worked hard for everything he had in life to support his younger brother, who, apparently, wasn't on good terms with him or something at the moment (Kisame still didn't know the full story behind that). He'd also learned that Itachi was, like everyone else, susceptible for illnesses like cancer but was in over his head in denial to admit it to himself or anyone else.

But more than anything, Itachi, underneath his tough exterior, was afraid. Even if he didn't say so, Kisame could see it reflected in the window of Suikazan's car, and reflected in his eyes. He was afraid of what lay ahead of him during these next few weeks while he received treatment; he was afraid of the outcome, whether he'd make it out okay or not.

Itachi, who stared blankly at the passing houses and trees, was afraid of the unknown.

Itachi, who exhaled through his mouth instead of through his nose in order to calm his nerves, was afraid of dying.

Just like any other human being.

Please tell me what you think! (Don't expect me to update so quickly next time; I don't know what I'm doing right now!)

Until next time~

Sasori33-001

PS: I can't say whether the next chapter will be an Itachi or Kisame chapter just yet :(