[A/N]: Okay, I realize that I am starting to update this much more frequently than I have been, but don't expect it to last long! Until then, enjoy~

Nurses, Tsunade, and maybe Sasuke. Those were the only people Itachi expected to pay him a visit. Kisame's sudden appearance was a wildcard.

"What are you doing, here?" Itachi asked him. Judging by the green polo and khakis, he was either coming from Hozuki's or heading to Hozuki's. Itachi was willing to bet that it was the former.

"Well, to tell you the truth," Kisame stuttered, averting this gaze to the floor, "I felt bad that I had to leave so quickly yesterday, but you know how it is." He said and pulled up a chair. "I also thought about what you said about your brother and how you guys aren't on speaking terms. You think he'd at least show up and support his older brother in a time like this. I mean, I would, well, I am, I guess, I dunno."

"Please, stop." Itachi uttered and clutched the thin bed sheet covering his legs. He was already frustrated with himself as it was; he didn't need Kisame to say things that would make him feel even worse about the situation.

"Sorry." He apologized and glanced around the room. "So how's everything going? Feeling better yet?"

What part of "I'll be gone for a month" did this man not understand? He hadn't been there long enough to even feel the effects of the chemo in his system and he expected him to feel better? "The treatment lasts for a month which consists of one week of chemotherapy and three weeks of observation so the doctors can observe if it's eliminating the cancer cells." Itachi calmly explained.

"I see…" Kisame nodded, "and if it doesn't?"

"Then I might need a bone marrow transplant."

Kisame nodded again. How much of this he truly understood, Itachi couldn't be sure, but didn't press the issue any further. "So, how does chemotherapy work?"

At this point, Itachi would have preferred for one of his co-workers dropping off a "Get Well Soon" card over this. "Chemotherapy is a drug that targets cancer." Itachi slowly explained. "It can be taken via injection, pill, skin cream, intravenously or in my case, intra-arterially." He peeled back the collar of his shirt to reveal a thick tube that lead to a transparent bag labeled "BIO-HAZARD" in blocky text.

"Do you have to take it intra-whatever it is?" Kisame asked. "I mean, why can't you just order a prescription for chemotherapy cream and get on with your life instead of being cooped up in here for four or weeks?"

"It depends on the type of cancer you have." Itachi sighed. He was tired and nauseous. Explaining the mechanics of chemotherapy in his current state was not what he wanted to spend his Saturday morning doing.

Surprisingly, Kisame seemed to pick up on that. "Sorry for asking so many questions. Health care isn't really one of my strong points. I could tell you all sorts of things about sports and mechanics and tropical fish, but that's about it."

"Have you always wanted to become a mechanic?" Itachi asked him. As much as he wanted to recline the bed and take a nap, he was always curious about the man he lived with. It wasn't a conversation he necessarily had the time or desire to have with him before but there's never a time quite like the present. Especially when you have nowhere else to go and nothing else to talk about.

Kisame's mouth quirked in a lopsided grin as he sat back in his chair and looked out the window ahead of him. "Nope."

Interesting. "What changed your mind?"

"I was homeless."

Not a surprise. "Really."

Kisame nodded, oblivious to Itachi's lack of enthusiasm and explained. "Yup. I was homeless." He said. "Lived on the streets for a few days blowing through the money I had on fast food. When that ran out, I started stealing – swiping people's hash browns or French fries when they weren't looking."

Itachi pursed his lips, biting back the snap judgments he wanted to make regarding Kisame's former "lifestyle." Had he been in the same situation as Kisame, maybe he would've been pushed to thievery too. If anything, he would've at least attempted to find a job first.

"Yup. That lasted about a few days until some old lady told caught me and said that I could either take her burger and feel guilty about it later, or get a job and earn that burger. I went job-hunting that same day." Kisame said. "But here's the thing; nobody wants to hire a kid with a limp and no real-world experience. All I knew how to do was play football, and after my injury, it was obvious that wasn't an option anymore."

"Hold on; what's this about a limp and an injury?" Itachi asked. The only things he knew about his roommate were the things he had told him such as how his friend had kicked him out when her boyfriend moved in, how his boss kicked him out so that he could retire, that his boss had died and that he worked as a mechanic for a living. Until now, Itachi knew nothing about the man's past; only his present.

"Ah, that." Kisame chuckled darkly. "I ruptured my Achilles tendon playing football my junior year of high school." He explained. "Took me out of the season and cost me my career as a professional football player."

Itachi didn't normally encourage after pipe dreams such as playing professional sports, but Kisame appeared to have the build for it. He might have turned out to be quite the superstar for any college football team had it not been for his injury, but nothing more than that. "I'm sorry to hear about that."

Kisame dismissed Itachi's comment with a flick of his wrist. "It's ancient history now. What about you? I know you work in an office building, but what do you do for a living?"

After prying into Kisame's personal life, Itachi shouldn't have been surprised that the man would divert the subject of conversation onto himself. "I work as a financial analyst." He could tell by Kisame's raised eyebrows and slightly parted lips that the man still didn't understand what it was that Itachi did. "I work with numbers and spreadsheets." He elaborated.

"Ah." Kisame nodded. "And what made you want to do something like that for a living?"

"I've always been good at math and it paid good money." He said, mindful of the arrogant light his answer painted him in, but he didn't care. Kisame could interpret it any way he wanted but having money meant being able to provide for oneself or those close to them; a fact that Kisame of all people, should've been able to understand.

To Itachi's surprise, he answered "Understandably. Who doesn't want to make good money?"

"Yeah." Itachi agreed and watched Kisame rise to a stand.

"Well, Itachi, I gotta head out now. My shift at Hozuki's starts in forty-five minutes."

Itachi nodded. "That's fine. Thanks for coming to visit."

Kisame glanced over his shoulder and waved from the door. "Any time." He smiled and in a matter of seconds, he had disappeared down the hall.

When Kisame arrived in his Hozuki uniform, Itachi assumed that he had driven here straight from his shift at the sandwich shop. Instead, it appeared that, for whatever reason, Kisame was planning to visit Itachi before his shift at Hozuki's.

This wouldn't be the first time Itachi was wrong about Kisame.

So now you know a little bit of Kisame's backstory...

****To The Secret Sal: Did I update fast enough for you? And did you get your daily dose of Kisame vibes from this chapter?

****To elric0sis: Thank you for the wonderful review! I intend to reply back to it shortly!

****To Absolute Anarchy: I'm not sure if Kisame cheered Itachi up or not, but he definitely distracted him from the guilt trip he was about to embark on!

I can't say whether the next chapter will be a Kisame chapter, or an Itachi chapter, but I'm leaning towards it being a Kisame chapter (and it might be interesting; who knows?)

Until next time~

Sasori33-001