Author's Note: So I understand that this chapter is loooonnnngggggg overdue. And I apologize. I have been so busy these past two months you wouldn't even believe. Too busy to upload a 2,000 word story? Yes. And as I have explained on my profile page, I had most of this chapter written, but needed to go back and tighten up the dialogue a bit. Which I did. This morning. And then I added to it and thought through the schematics of this chapter and how what happens here might affect future chapters and viola! A new chapter!

Again, sorry for the wait! Hope you enjoy!

"Good morning Sa—suke what happened to your eye?! Did you get into a fight or something?" He asked, leaning over to inspect his younger brother's eye.

"Yeah. With your psychotic roommate."

When Itachi agreed to let Kisame move in with him, he once considered what would happen if Kisame were to ever meet his explosive sibling. Hopefully it doesn't come to fisticuffs. He remembered musing.

And here it did. "When did this happen?"

Sasuke sat down on the edge of the bed to allow Itachi to examine his injury. "Last night."

"Last night!?" Itachi asked. Sasuke shrugged and took a seat on the cot the hospital provided for him to sleep on for the night. "Wait, come back; I didn't get a good look at it."

"It's a black eye, Itachi." Sasuke groaned. "There's nothing to see."

Itachi ignored him and gently tilted Sasuke's chin up so that his bangs fell from his face to reveal the discolored skin surrounding his eye. "How did I not know about this? You said it happened last night?"

"I didn't tell you because you were sleeping when I came back."

Itachi sighed. "Alright. What did you do?"

"What did I do? I didn't do anything! Itachi, in case you haven't noticed, I'm the one with the black eye!"

"If you didn't do anything, then why do you have a black eye? I only asked what you did because most strangers don't throw punches unless they have a vendetta against you." He crossed his arms and reclined against the bed. "Plus, you weren't very happy with me when I told you that I was looking for a roommate in the first place."

"Because you didn't want a roommate, and I can't believe you're taking his side over mine!"

Itachi ran a hand through his bangs, a nervous habit he had never been able to break, and said "I'm not taking his side. At least, not before I hear what you have to say." He smiled, taking a phrase straight from Sasuke's defense attorney repertoire. When he pulled his hand free from his bangs, he noticed several long obsidian strands of hair tangled between his fingertips. And while it didn't take much to lose a few strands of hair when brushing it or running his hand through it, this was a lot.

"I didn't do anything, Itachi." Sasuke gritted out.

Itachi took a deep breath to calm his steadily climbing heartbeat and sighed.

"When I got there, I unlocked the door, asked if anybody was home, and the next thing I knew, your freak of a roommate jumped out from the kitchen in his boxers and punched me in the eye!" He said, shaking his head.

Itachi quickly seized the opportunity to shake off the stray strands of hair over the side of the bed when Sasuke wasn't looking and responded "I'm not sure what to say to that."

"That's fine, because I do. How about "my roommate is fucking insane and I should've never allowed him to live with me in the first place?!'"

"Sasuke, calm down. Although I can't see him acting like that, I'm sure he had a reason for his actions."

"Okay, Sasuke, calm down. I'm sure he had a logical explanation for his actions—"

"Itachi! There is nothing logical about jumping somebody's brother in your boxers!"

Itachi sighed. "Okay. Let me re-phrase that. Did he say anything to you?"

"Before or after he punched me?"

"At all. Did he say anything at all?" Itachi asked. Despite the fact that he was getting treatment for his cancer, he still found it hard to stay awake during the day. And arguing with a defense attorney wasn't helping matters any.

"He kept saying something like 'I thought you were a burglar' or something." Sasuke recounted. "What burglar owns the key to somebody's apartment?"

Itachi regarded him with a knowing look. "Sasuke, you of all people should know that there are many ways to gain access to someone's apartment." At least he knew Kisame would protect his apartment from anyone who tried to intrude, even if that person happened to be his younger brother.

"He could've asked who I was at least." Sasuke muttered. "Where did you even find this guy? Do you know him from somewhere?"

"He was the first person to answer the ad I placed in the local newspaper." Itachi stated honestly, knowing full well that his candor was going to elicit a very verbal and possibly profane response from Sasuke.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait – let me get this straight; you put an ad in the paper asking a complete stranger to live with you?! Itachi! What if a serial killer showed up at your doorstep?!"

Wait for it…

"You could've been fucking killed! How fucking moronic can you be!?"

There. Itachi expected as much from his ever composed little brother. "I took precautions."

"Like what?" Sasuke asked, sitting back to lean against the window.

It was too early in the day for him to be answering questions concerning the decisions he made when he was overwhelmed with fatigue caused by his leukemia. "Let's see…" Itachi said, looking skyward as if the white hospital ceiling tiles would help him remember, "I didn't give my address; I did provide a phone number…"

"Oh, great, so that random strangers can give out your number and claim it as theirs so that they don't have to be bothered with it themselves. God knows how many people are signing you up for random shit."

Ignoring him, Itachi continued. "And when they gave me a call, I provided them with my address and scheduled a time to meet so that I could conduct a formal interview to assess their character."

"Great. So not only do these random psychopaths have your phone number but they have your address too. Fan-fucking-tastic."

"I only provided one person with my address because only one person called me." Itachi replied. "And he currently lives with me."

Sasuke shrugged, impassive to this new piece of information. "Doesn't matter. He could still be using your phone number, you know."

Itachi sighed. "I have yet to receive any odd numbers calling my cell so I doubt that Kisame had any ulterior motives. And before you say that a random stranger could still capitalize on the number I've given, I can always get a new one."

Sasuke regarded him carefully as if any flaws in his logic were written somewhere in his tired eyes. "He may not have done anything suspicious yet, but I don't trust a guy who randomly attacks people in only their boxes. Like, what the fuck?"

Itachi shrugged. In the small amount of time he spent living with Kisame, he never saw the man wear anything less than a shirt and pants. Thankfully, he had chosen to strip his shirt when he knew that Itachi wouldn't be present for a while. The same couldn't be said for his poor brother, though, who was most likely scarred for life after stumbling upon such a sight.

"I mean, what does this guy even do for a living anyways?" Sasuke demanded.

"He used to work for Suikazan's Auto & Repair Shop on the other side of town until it went out of business last month. Now he's working part time at Hozuki's – the little sandwich shop by the bridge – and the convenience store a couple of blocks down from the apartment." Itachi explained.

Sasuke knitted his brow. "He's working two part-time jobs? And he's helping you pay for your rent?"

Itachi nodded.

"What the hell!? I could've done that!"

"Nobody told you that you needed to move out right away." Itachi commented.

A pointed glare was his immediate response before Sasuke rerouted the line of conversation. "How do you go from being a mechanic to working two part time jobs that pay minimum wage?"

"I already told you." Itachi said evenly. "His previous place of employment went out of business last month and this is all he could manage in order to afford a place to live."

Sasuke scoffed. "Barely, I bet. Your apartment isn't cheap."

"He's doing well."

"Is he doing all of this until he finds another job calling for a mechanic?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know." Itachi answered.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Contrary to what you may think, Kisame and I are not what you call 'close,' Sasuke."

Sasuke furrowed his brow in confusion. "But you live with him. A minute ago, you were telling me all about where he used to work when he was still a mechanic and what he does now, but you don't know anything else about this guy? Itachi—"

"Before you say anything, let me explain. I only what Kisame does for a living because it came up when I was interviewing him. Despite what you think, I took the time to learn a little bit about the man who was looking for a place to stay before I gave him the go ahead to move in with me. He told me that he was a mechanic who worked at the auto shop across town and that he had recently lost his job and had found a part-time job working at Hozuki's."

Sasuke opened his mouth to say more but Itachi quickly cut him off.

"I was hesitant to hire someone earning minimum wage making sandwiches and was about to dismiss him so that I could search for a roommate elsewhere, but he insisted that he would work hard to earn my trust and help pay his share of the rent if I granted him to the opportunity to move in with me. So I gave him two weeks to find another job in addition to his pre-existing one at the sandwich shop and advised him to call me if he was successful in his endeavor. He was and after examining his proof of employment, I agreed to let him move in. Since then, I haven't had many conversations with him about his personal life." He said, omitting the conversation he had with Kisame the other day about his past as Sasuke probably wouldn't have cared to hear how Kisame became a mechanic. All that interested Sasuke for some reason, was why Kisame didn't pursue being a mechanic.

Sasuke maintained eye contact with Itachi as he sat with his arms crossed. He wasn't trying to decipher whether or not Itachi was telling the truth or trying to find any flaws in Itachi's reasoning. But it was clear that he was thinking about something.

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked, breaking Sasuke's concentration. "Is everything alright?"

"Hm? Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. I was just crunching some numbers in my head. That's all." He answered.

"Really? You looked like you were in deep thought. Trying to decide if making sandwiches pays better than selling athletic equipment?" Itachi joked.

"Hell no!" Sasuke said with a look of distaste. "I was just trying to figure out what I could do to help."

Itachi highly doubted that was what Sasuke had been thinking about for the past couple of minutes, but was too exhausted to figure out the complicated inner workings of his little brother's mind. "You don't need to do anything to help me, Sasuke. As long as you focus on paying your own rent in time and stop by to visit every now and again, I think I'll make a speedy recovery." He smiled.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Itachi. Whatever you say."

Uh-oh. Sasuke's thinking. We all know what happens when Sasuke gets to thinking, don't we?

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please stay tuned for more in the (hopefully) near future!

Until next time~

Sasori33-001

PS: I have no idea what the next chapter will be about or whose POV it will be in :( You'll just have to wait and see, I guess!

PSS: I just realized after posting the new chapter that this story has 50,000 words now! AHHHHHHHH! *cheers*