Author's Note: Okay, this may sound really, really, stupid, but I wasn't planning on updating this fic today. (although I do recall saying something along the lines of that on my profile page, didn't I? Hm...) But the next chapter of my other fic, The Boy with the Ponytail and The Perfect Gentleman weren't working out for me earlier so I focused on updating this one. That, and I was feeling sort of lonely and figured that if I updated a chapter, people would talk to me :(
Enjoy!
Twenty-nine days.
It had taken Kisame twenty-nine days to successfully ruin his changes of living with Itachi any longer after what he had done on Monday evening.
"How could I be so stupid?" Kisame muttered to himself as he disposed his plastic gloves in the garbage can under the sandwich counter. After all of his hard work pleading Itachi to give him a chance to prove his worth, earning the man's trust and working his ass off to be able to pay his share of the rent, he had managed to throw it all away with a poor judgment call.
If it had been a random stranger, it'd be a whole 'nother ball game. But he hadn't punched a random stranger. It had to be Itachi's younger brother. All chances of forgiveness and redemption were completely off the table now. He'd be lucky to have a place to stay by the end of the week. But he refused to get his hopes high. He would act as though Itachi were kicking him out by tomorrow afternoon.
"See you around, Mangetsu." Kisame called to his boss as he exited the store.
"Take care, Kisame!" Mangetsu called back.
The corners of Kisame's mouth quirked upwards in a twisted smile. Take care, he thought bitterly, I had the chance to take care of myself and screwed that up too. Figures.
But as bleak as things looked, a part of Kisame couldn't give up hope yet. He still wanted to live with Itachi, and after all, he didn't mean to punch his brother in the face! Hell, he didn't even think that the brothers were even on speaking terms given how little Itachi talked about him. And then he turns up at the apartment unannounced with a key? It would've been nice if Itachi had at least mentioned "Oh, by the way, if my brother does turn up, he has a key to the unit, so please don't punch him. Thanks." That would've been nice. But Itachi wasn't stupid. He didn't strike Kisame as the type to automatically jump to conclusions and take sides. And besides, he and his brother didn't seem all that close, so maybe Itachi would take Kisame's side instead? Itachi was a logical person. He would wait until he had all the information to make a decision. Right? Kisame sure hoped so.
But what if Itachi wasn't so understanding? What if he took his brother's side without hearing what Kisame had to say? What was the point of visiting Itachi in the hospital without knowing what Itachi would do? Kisame would either show up, plead his case, and receive Itachi's forgiveness, or be told to pack his bags and leave.
But it was an innocent mistake! Itachi would have to take that into consideration, wouldn't he?
These were all questions that Kisame had been exercising since Itachi's brother (Kisame couldn't quite remember what his name was), stormed out of the apartment. God knows what he told Itachi when he arrived back at the hospital that night. "This freak wearing his boxers punched me in the face without looking to see who I was first!" He could imagine him telling Itachi.
Kisame sighed. That didn't sound good for him. On top of that, it had been a few days since the incident had taken place, which gave Itachi plenty of time to consider what he wanted to do with regards to Kisame. Maybe I should've pled my case sooner, Kisame thought, it's too late now….
He hated this. He hated being uncertain. He hated not knowing if he would have a roof over his head and a bed to sleep in come Saturday. He hated picturing Itachi's piercing eyes and pursed lips. Unreadable as always. But on top of everything, Kisame hated himself for being so careless. He made enough trouble for himself in all of his forty-one years of living. He didn't need to make any more and yet, here he was, jeopardizing his living situation yet again. What was this, the fourth time that's happened to him? Whatever. It didn't matter anymore. What mattered now was finding something to take the edge off.
"What the hell?" Before him, there was a large electronic sign that read "BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION, 07/18, ONE LANE ROAD AHEAD, SIDEWALK CLOSED" Of all the days for the bridge to be closed, it had to be today. And the worst part was, Kisame knew that this was going to happen, but he didn't think that it was happening so soon. With the sidewalk closed, it would be nearly impossible for him to look out above the water like he always had, and the sound of construction vehicles digging up the concrete and workers yelling at each other several feet away wouldn't allow him to collect his thoughts.
He could always go back to Suikazan's but given his shitty luck as of late, he'd be arrested for squatting on property that wasn't legally his. At least if I'm arrested, I'll have a roof over my head and be served three meals a day.
Not knowing what to do and where else to go, Kisame started walking back to Itachi's apartment. Why, he did not know. He just allowed his feet to take him somewhere, anywhere, in hopes that the short walk would give him enough time to clear his head.
It hadn't. By the time he reached the glass doors of Itachi's apartment building, he only hated himself even more than he did twenty minutes ago. Stepping into the elegant lobby only reinforced what was at stake, what he was about to lose. It reminded him what had gotten him in this predicament in the first place. He punched his roommate's brother thinking that he was a robber. And somehow or another, he was going to suffer from the consequences. Hell, he was already suffering from the consequences. Wasn't that enough?
Kisame wanted to forget about everything. He wanted to forget about Itachi and what he say to Kisame when he got the chance to talk to him again. He wanted to forget about Monday night when he punched Itachi's brother by accident. He wanted to forget about Suikazan, Miru, his mother and everything else that had ever caused him pain in life. But the more he thought about it, the more he came to realization that all of those things were not the cause of his pain.
It was himself. He was the reason for the way his life was. It was all his fault.
Upon entering their shared unit, Kisame headed for the bathroom that he always used and looked around for something that would numb him. Something that would erase the pain completely. But there was nothing. Nothing behind the mirror, nothing on the counter or below the counter. Next, he checked every cabinet in the kitchen. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for, but he had a sinking feeling that whatever it was could only be found in Itachi's bathroom which could only be accessed by Itachi's bedroom. He'd already punched Itachi's sibling in the face. Did he want to burn that bridge completely by invading Itachi's personal space without knowing if Itachi was even mad at him?
It turns out that he didn't even need to think of an answer. Within the last cabinet he checked, he found what he was looking for – over the counter medications. Prescription meds were desirable of course, but it was likely that Itachi kept those in his own bathroom, but these would do the trick just as well.
Kisame examined the various pill bottles before him. There was a tiny container of pain medication, but that wouldn't be enough. There were several forms of vitamin bottles and daily supplements but those wouldn't do either. And then he found it – a large bottle of pain medication.
Ahead of him, his left hand reached for the bottle, and with the help of his right hand, unscrewed the lid to unveil hundreds of little brown tablets that were smaller than an M&M and in a matter of seconds, he was pouring as many as he could fit into the palm of his hand. He didn't care that some spilled over onto the counter and onto the tile floor. None of that mattered now. And none of it would matter in a few hours.
Nothing would matter.
"What are you doing?"
He had apparently been too focused on the task at hand to hear the front door open and looked from Itachi's brother's look of confusion to the mound of pills in his palm. Maybe he couldn't see what was in Kisame's hand? That was ridiculous. Of course he could. He was staring right at them and if he couldn't see how many pills were cradled in his large palm, the large pill bottle was a dead giveaway. "I have a headache." Kisame lied.
Sasuke's dark eyes darted back and forth as he tried to comprehend what was currently taking place. "A headache is going to be the least of your problems if that's what you're taking to get rid of it! Do you want to end up brain dead?!"
Yeah, actually, I do. "It's a really bad headache and my hand was shaking when I tilted the bottle." He said and poured a majority of the tablets back into the container.
Sasuke didn't seem to buy it and stalked over to where Kisame was standing. "If it's that bad, then take three." He said, dropping three tablets into Kisame's hand. "I assume you know where to find a glass to take some water with, correct?"
Same ashen colored skin. Same midnight colored hair. Same emotionless eyes. Same straight to the point attitude. There was no doubt that this kid was Itachi's brother.
"You do know where Itachi keeps his glasses, don't you?" Sasuke reiterated when Kisame made no attempt to move.
"Yeah." He said and swallowed the pills dry. Sasuke watched, but did not comment and focused instead on cleaning up the pill tablets from the counter and floor.
"Itachi wants to talk to you when you have time." He said.
Fuck. "About what?" Kicking me out?
Sasuke shrugged. "He just told me to tell you that he wants to talk to you whenever you have time." He said. "He's not mad at you if that's what you're worried about."
Kisame glanced at the pill bottle sitting atop the counter and immediately felt his heart constrict. So Itachi wasn't mad at him after all. And Kisame nearly resorted to OD'ing based on a wayward assumption that he was? Just one more mistake to add to his ever growing list. "He's not?"
"No." Sasuke scoffed and muttered something incomprehensible under his breath. "He believes that it was an accident, but he wants to talk to you anyways."
Great. So Kisame wasn't completely off the hook just yet, was he?
"I'm sorry about what happened on Monday ni—" He attempted to say when Sasuke held up a hand.
"Save it." He said and Kisame immediately kept quiet.
While he and Itachi might look the same, their personalities were drastically different. And for that, Kisame was grateful.
God, Kisame, why...thank goodness Sasuke showed up! (Never thought I say that!)
I really wish that I could tell you if the next chapter will be an Itachi chapter or a Kisame chapter, but I honestly have no idea what will happen in the next chapter so I don't know :(
****To the Secret Sal: Thank you for acting as a springboard for my every-changing and very chaotic flow of ideas! ~ tsb ;P
Until next time~
Sasori33-001