At first, the sound of metal on metal didn't register as unusual in my head. Beside the fact that I was currently trying to turn my opponents into mince meat, I knew we were in the middle of a fight. I just assumed Itachi was fighting hand to hand, and shoved it aside.

Until two seconds later, when I remembered that Itachi never resorted to direct fighting.

By then, the guys I was fighting were down, bleeding out on the ground. My eyes took in the scene around me, finally noticing a small pile of knives on the ground by me. How did they get there...

I only vaguely heard the sounds of Itachi torturing the last opponent. My mind had realized that my partner had defended me, and proceeded to shut down.

See, Itachi and I were partners only in the sense that we were sent on assignments together, and battled on the same side in fights. We didn't work as a team, we didn't use combo attacks to beat our adversaries; hell, we didn't even acknowledge each others' presence in a battle!

Besides this, my mind was trying to wrap around the idea that Itachi had even protected me at all. Half the time I was worried that he was going to be the one throwing knives at my back. I hadn't even allowed the thought that he'd so much as consider defending me to enter my mind.

While my brain was trying to get back in working order, Itachi had walked over and was now picking up his various weapons from the ground. I decided that I should probably stop standing there, staring like an idiot, before he decided he'd made a mistake and finish our enemies' job.

Now, I had another dilemma. I knew I should probably thank Itachi. However, doing so would be admitting aloud that Itachi had actually shown me an act of kindness. He might get annoyed at me acknowledging his help, and get mad.

Then again, if Itachi had been nice, the apocalypse was clearly at hand, so what could it hurt?

"Thanks Itachi-san," I said, grinning down at my partner like always.

He looked at me, gave me a soft, "Hn," in reply, and turned towards the forest path, motioning for me to follow. I raised a brow, but did as instructed. Crisis averted.

Nothing much happened on the trip back, until we stopped to eat lunch. As usual, Itachi just walked off the path, heading into the woods and assuming I'd follow him. Of course, I was right behind my partner.
This was normal for us. I had better endurance than Itachi, so I only took a break when he needed one.

Besides, who's going to argue with an irate, exhausted weasel who could kill you a dozen different ways without batting an eye? Not me, thank you very much.

We were able to find a clearing, and immediately sat down. Itachi took a sandwich out of his bag, reminding me that it was lunch time. After I'd pulled out my own food, I started eating, while watching my partner out of the corner of my eye.

If you've never seen Itachi eat, you're missing out on one of the oddest sights you'll ever see, especially when he's eating finger food. Itachi will only hold his food in his thumb, index, and middle fingers, like he doesn't want the others to get dirty. Adding to this theory is the fact that he'll pick up his food (like a sandwich, in this case) take a bite, set it down, wipe off his fingers, and then start the process again. I'd smirk at the sight, if I wasn't so sure it would get me killed.

What made this stop so odd had little to do with my partner's eating habits. It was different because I finished my food early, and was waiting for Itachi to be done. His little process made him a slow eater, to say the least.

Itachi finally finished his sandwich, after a good fifteen minutes of eating. I was about to stand and go, when he pulled another one out of his bag.

I could have cried.

Instead, I went into shock when he unwrapped it, looked to me, and asked if I wanted half. First Itachi was nice, then he protects me, and now he's offering me food?! There has to be a reasonable explanation in here somewhere.

After a few seconds of thinking, I settled on two options. One; Itachi was crazy. Two; Itachi had poisoned the food.

I didn't have very much time to decide on what to do, because Itachi narrowed his eyes at me right then. Great, he was probably going to kill me anyway if I didn't take the tainted sandwich. Trying to keep my hand from shaking, I took half the food, and bit into it.

I was going to die from eating a poisoned tuna sandwich with too much mayo on it.

Itachi began munching on the other half, which eased my tension only slightly. Perhaps he hadn't tainted it, in case I took the safe half of the sandwich while he got the poison.

Then again, he might have built up a tolerance for whatever deadly chemical was in the food, so it wouldn't matter which half I picked. Hey, I wouldn't put it past Itachi to do something like that!

Our break finally ended when we both finished eating. Itachi rose, and I was quick to follow suit. Nothing felt wrong with me yet. Just as I was beginning to think that things were fine, I got dizzy.

I stopped walking, hoping that it would help the sensation go away. It didn't.

Itachi had stopped walking now, probably because he didn't hear the sounds of my feet behind him. He turned to look at me, frowning. "Kisame?"

I would have answered, but suddenly it was very hard to breathe. Itachi began walking towards me, repeating my name. He was a pretty good actor, I'll give him that.

By the time he got to me, I was gasping for air. The ground suddenly seemed very comfy, and I collapsed. The last thing I remember was Itachi repeating my name, and shaking my shoulder.