Chapter 5: Friends

May 18-May 29

Sunday, 2:13

"Geez, Iruka. Who beat you up?" Mizuki asked, laughing.

"Oh," Iruka groaned, stepping away from the doorway to let Mizuki into his house. "Raidou's been helping me with some stuff, so I can maybe get through the Chuunin exams this time. It's killing me." He sighed and rubbed his sore shoulder, trying to work some of the stiffness out. He hadn?Äôt been aware that ninjutsus included leaping and springing and falling into the water.

Repeatedly.

He thought maybe Raidou was just making him do it for a good laugh. Walk on water. Sure. Uh huh. Tomorrow he was going to make the Jounin SHOW him it was possible.

"I brought cookies," Mizuki said, hefting a bag.

Iruka grinned. "I have some sandwiches, I think," he said, wandering toward the kitchen.

"Yeah, whatever." Mizuki flopped down onto the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table. "Man, I wish I lived on my own."

Iruka smiled softly. "Yeah? I'd trade you."

**

Tuesday, 7:56

Iruka was surprised to open his door and see Michio. He knew the man had gotten back from his mission that morning, but he hadn't expected to see him until the next day at the earliest.

Michio smiled sadly. "I brought dinner. I wanted to apologize for the other night. I feel horrible."

Iruka ducked his head, shuffling his feet. He didn't want to think about the other night, the alcohol on the man's breath, or big fingers down his pants. "It's okay," he said softly. "You were--" he stopped, unsure if he should point out that Michio had been drinking.

"That doesn't make it okay," Michio said. "Let me apologize?"

"You don't have to apologize," Iruka said weakly, stepping away from the door and letting the man into his house.

Michio made dinner, joking and smiling and touching the whole time. Little touches, touches that weren't intrusive or startling. Fingers through Iruka's hair here, or a brush of the man's palm against his cheek there. Once, a careful kiss on the lips, but softly, quietly, mouth closed.

Iruka started to relax. He sat on the kitchen counter, watching Michio chop vegetables, smiling as the man told him about funny things that had happened on his mission, and other missions as well.

When peppers, onions and chicken were all frying in the wok, he turned and put a hand on either side of Iruka's legs, suddenly serious. "I'm sorry if I scared you," he said quietly.

Iruka's smile fled. "It's all right."

"It's not. I frightened you, and I pushed beyond what you were comfortable with. I can only hope I didn't hurt you?" His eyebrows creased, eyes filled with worry.

Iruka shook his head quickly.

Michio's head dipped, then came back up. "How about this," he said, tone lightening. "We'll eat dinner, and curl up on the couch, and I can read to you. I bought a book I think you'll like. We can just have a quiet, relaxed night. No sex."

Iruka nodded quickly, smiling. "I'd like that."

Big hands cradled his face, and a wet mouth kissed Iruka carefully. "I love you," he said against the boy's lips.

Iruka wrapped both arms around the man's neck and hung on, squeezing as hard as he could, harder when he felt Michio hug him back. "I love you, too."

**

Monday, 8:24

It had been almost a week since Michio had returned. He'd been sent out on other missions, and Iruka had spent his days divided between Mizuki and Raidou, who never seemed to be in the village at the same time. When they were both gone, he practiced. He was getting better.

Proudly, he walked across the tiny pond in the backyard, focusing all his chakra in his feet, face screwed up in concentration. When he got to the other side, Michio began to clap.

Iruka grinned widely and bowed with a flourish. "Isn't it great? I've learned a lot," he said, bouncing up to the man.

"It's wonderful," Michio agreed, wrapping an arm around the boy's narrow shoulders and walking inside with him. "Who've you been practising with?"

Iruka started to explain about Raidou, and the interest the other man had taken in him, but something stopped him. Suddenly, he didn't want Michio to know about Raidou. Michio might say Raidou was bad, or that Iruka was cheating on him, or what if he just didn't like Iruka spending his time with another man?

"A friend," he said finally.

Michio just hmmed. "Does this friend know what today is?"

Iruka smiled and nearly squirmed, he was so happy. "No," he said. "I didn't tell him."

Michio spun him and dropped him down onto the couch, then poured sake and offered him a cup. "Happy birthday."

Iruka took it hesitantly, smiling and giving an uncertain laugh. "You sure?"

"You're thirteen today. Plenty old enough to have a few drinks in the safety of your own home," Michio said.

Iruka grinned and sipped the sake. He nearly choked, and his eyes watered uncontrollably.

"Mizuki! Get out here!" Michio bellowed.

"Coming, coming," Mizuki muttered, walking out of the bathroom.

Michio had a cup in his son's hand instantly, turning and raising his own. "To Iruka. Happy birthday."

Iruka grinned as the other two men lifted their cups and drank. Mizuki had obviously done this before; he didn't choke and cough like Iruka did when he tried again, but they both only laughed good-naturedly.

Michio refilled his cup while Mizuki flopped down next to Iruka on the couch. Michio smiled down at them, a faraway look in his eyes.

"What?" Iruka asked after a minute, while Mizuki shuffled around until his head was in Iruka's lap, his feet on the back of the couch.

"It's good to see the two people I love most in the world happy, whole, and together," Michio said.

Mizuki snorted. "Don't get soppy on me, Dad."

Iruka laughed and poked Mizuki in the shoulder. "Embarrassed?"

Mizuki poked him back in the stomach.

"Who wants cake?" Michio called, having vanished, unnoticed, into the kitchen.

"I DO!" both boys shouted, scrambling to get off the couch without spilling their sake. In a tangle of arms and legs they made it up and then toward the kitchen door. Mizuki got there first, but was told by Michio that Iruka still got the first slice.

Iruka smirked and took his piece, wandering back to the living room.

**

Monday, 11:28

Iruka snuggled sleepily against Michio, his mind buzzing, constantly drifting in and out of awareness. The sake made sex better, he'd decided. Not as scary. Not as embarrassing when his body did things he wasn't sure it should.

A big hand drifted up and down his skin, under the blankets. Drifted down his back, to his waist. His mind drifted with it, and he squeezed sudden tears away as he remembered the week before, when they'd just snuggled on the couch and read a book, and there hadn't been any sex, of any kind.

Strange that that would make him cry. He rubbed his face on Michio's shoulder, and hoped the man didn't notice.

Michio's hand kept drifting, down his backside, between his legs.

The sake kept him from tensing. It made him relax, made things seem okay. Not so bad.

He frowned. Not that they were ever bad. Michio loved him, and he loved Michio. Everything was fine. His mind fuzzed again, bubbling pleasantly along a river of floatiness. He was aware, vaguely, that Michio was kissing him again. Big, wet lips, smothering him. He kissed back anyway, because that was what you were supposed to do.

"Iruka-kun," Michio said, moving his lips finally. "I want to have sex with you."

"Again?" Iruka asked, bubblingly surprised. He blinked, and focused on a single chest hair right in front of him. He peered at the way the skin buckled, where the hair grew out. At the funny way it twisted and curled.

"Not now," Michio said. "Later."

"Okay," Iruka answered sleepily. "Later." He brought a heavy hand up and squashed the hair.

"Iruka."

Iruka sighed and twisted, jumping when he hit something wet and cold, and looked up at Michio.

"I want to be inside you."

He frowned, brain trying to work but utterly muzzled. Then Michio rubbed him, down there, where he had before when he was drunk. Right between Iruka's butt cheeks. "There?" Iruka squeaked disbelievingly. The doctors had done that, carefully, and with nothing as big as Michio's wien--dick, Iruka corrected himself--and even that had been uncomfortable.

"You don?Äôt have to," Michio said. "But I'd like that."

Iruka snuggled his face into the hollow between shoulder and chest muscles, hiding his frown.

"I'm going on a mission tomorrow, but I'll be back by Thursday. Think about it."

Iruka nodded.

**

Tuesday, 6:12

"It just sounds like it would hurt," Iruka said, picking up a shirt and checking it for holes.

"It will, until you're used to it," Mizuki said with a shrug. "Put that one in my bag. I can take it."

Iruka folded the shirt and stuffed it into Mizuki's bag; light and made so he could strap it to his back for overnight missions. "Well, I don't want to do it if it hurts."

"This doesn't fit anymore," Mizuki said, holding up a vest. "Do you want it?"

Iruka nodded. Hand me downs were far easier than actually going shopping for clothes.

"And sometimes you do things that suck if you love someone," Mizuki added. Then he smirked. "Or, sometimes you suck."

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Mizuki, be serious."

"You're serious enough for both of us," Mizuki muttered.

"This is a big deal!"

"It's not actually," Mizuki said. "Either you do it, or you don't."

"What if it hurts?"

Mizuki shrugged and tossed a pair of blood-stained pants in the garbage. "It'll be over quick. Don't be a baby."

**

Thursday, 5:07

"What's wrong, Iruka?" Raidou asked, pulling the last strike when he realized Iruka really wasn't going to dodge. Or block. Or anything else that might save his skull.

"Huh? Nothing," Iruka said, frowning.

"It's not nothing. I've barely seen you all week, and I can still tell there's something wrong."

Iruka scowled. "You've been on missions all week," he said accusingly.

Raidou fought the urge to take a step back. Oily chakra lashed at him in anger, leaving him feeling foul. "All right, tell me what's going on," he snapped.

"Go away," Iruka muttered, then stomped to the tree where his things were.

Raidou jumped after him, snatching the boy's duffel and holding onto Iruka's baggy sleeve. "Tell me what's wrong. I really do care."

Iruka stared at the ground, not bothering to either jerk away or grab his satchel back. "I have a . . . friend," he said quietly, so softly it was almost drowned out by birdsong. "And we've been . . . kinda dating."

Raidou released his grip, relaxing. "Yeah?" He prompted, when Iruka fell silent.

"And . . . well, he wants--" Iruka froze suddenly, looking up at Raidou.

The Jounin guessed the boy was waiting for some sort of a reaction; civilians didn't often have same-sex partners. Ninja didn't either, but it was getting more acceptable. He just remained still, waiting.

When there was no reaction, Iruka continued, just as hesitant. "He wants to do something I'm not sure about."

Raidou's stomach knotted. "Who is this friend?" he asked, trying to be casual. He leaned against the tree, and then on second thought sat down on the ground.

Iruka followed his example and sat as well, plucking a weed from the dirt. "Just a friend."

Damn.

Iruka tossed the weed to one side and ripped out another one. "What should I do?"

"If you're not okay with something," Raidou said, doing his best not to lecture, "don't do it."

Iruka flopped back onto his hands, still glaring at the ground. "That's easier to say than to do, though. What if he gets mad?"

"If he likes you, he won't."

Iruka rolled his eyes. Raidou bit his tongue, and tried not to think about how grown men found twelve-year-old behaviour attractive. It made his stomach turn.

"Easy for you to say."

They sat in silence for a long time. Iruka returned to ripping out weeds.

"Look, Iruka, if he likes you then he'll respect that you're not ready to go any farther."

Iruka bobbed his head in what might have been a nod. "My other friend says I should just do it."

Raidou blanched. "That doesn't sound like a very good friend."

"He's a great friend!" Iruka shot back, suddenly angry. "He knows what's going on, and knows the reasons why I should or shouldn't!"

"Okay, okay," Raidou said, lifting his hands placatingly. "I'm sorry."

Iruka settled, but frustration seethed around him like a smoky cloud.

"Maybe if you gave me a better idea . . . like, how long have you been dating this guy?" He was fishing for information, and knew it was a heavy-handed method, but he needed more. He needed to know if it was Michio.

Iruka looked at Raidou suspiciously. Then, grudgingly, he said, "About a month?"

Raidou let his gaze fall, afraid that if he didn't he might shake the information out of Iruka, make the kid tell him who he was "dating."

Not Michio. It couldn't be Michio. Not for a month.

"So . . . how far have you gone?" he asked quietly. He kept his body still, refusing to betray his anxiety. Iruka wouldn't talk to him if he thought Raidou was upset with this.

Iruka gnawed on his lip. "Pretty far."

"How far?"

Iruka was silent.

"Have you kissed?"

Iruka snorted, a smile splitting his face momentarily, his eyes wry. "Of course. I am thirteen."

"Right, I forgot," Raidou said quickly. "Sorry. Have you . . . necked?"

Iruka glared at him.

"Right, right, thirteen." He tried to remember what he had considered normal at thirteen. "Taken off your shirts?"

Iruka nodded.

"Pants?" Raidou asked softly, afraid of the answer.

Iruka hesitated. He ripped out another weed, all traces of the smile gone. He nodded.

"And you've touched each other--"

"We've pretty much done everything, okay?" Iruka snapped, skin turning pink where his hair didn't hide it. He pulled a kunai out and dug into the ground, shredding roots.

Please don't let it be Michio, he prayed. "So, what is it this friend wants to do now?"

Iruka's blush deepened. "Nevermind," he said softly.

Raidou couldn't help feeling relieved. He didn't want to know this. He didn't want to know any of it.

He couldn't leave Iruka in it, either. Not if his suspicions were right. "Sounds like your friend is older," he said, hoping against hope that Iruka would deny it. Maybe it was a school kid. Someone on his team.

Iruka peered up at Raidou. "A little."

Raidou wrapped his arms loosely around his knees, and lied through his teeth. "That's nice. It's good to have a partner who's older, so you can learn from them." Older wasn't bad.

Twenty years older was a problem, especially when one of those was only twelve. Thirteen. Whatever.

"You think so?" Iruka asked hopefully.

"Oh, yeah," Raidou lied. He dropped his arms from his knees, letting his legs fall and leaning back against the tree again. Showing as much self-assurance as he could. Willing the child not to realize he was being tricked. "I figure, as long as two people are in love, age doesn?Äôt matter." Iruka would never forgive him, but stopping this was more important. He repeated that several times.

"Yeah?" Iruka asked, perking up.

"Yeah. You have someone you trust to show you the ropes and lead you through the frightening things." His chest tightened. It was getting hard to breathe.

"Well, I think so, too," Iruka said proudly. "My boyfriend's older."

"Yeah? Like, my age?" Raidou asked, smiling. He felt sick.

Iruka hesitated. "A little older, actually," he said, caution entering his voice again.

"Anyone I know?" Raidou did his best to act like Iruka was his age, one of his buddies talking about a score. Not a child talking about being molested.

Iruka stared at his hands. "I shouldn't say."

Shit.

Raidou closed his eyes, trying to look tired, thinking furiously. Iruka was careful. Scared. Maybe, though, if he thought Raidou already knew . . .

He opened his eyes again, staring up through the leaves of the tree above. "You know, I was on a mission with a guy a few weeks ago. I think you know his kid--Mizuki? Well, his dad, Michio, was having a problem like yours." He looked at Iruka, smiling slyly. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

Iruka blushed.

"It wasn't you he was so infatuated with, was it?"

Iruka smiled shyly. "Infatuated?"

"Couldn?Äôt stop talking about this guy he wanted to sleep with."

Iruka grinned. "Really?"

"Well, I don't know," Raidou said, pretending to tease. "It's not him you're dating . . . " he waited, breath held.

"I--yeah. We are. For a month. He was talking about me?" Iruka asked happily.

Raidou's heart broke. He smiled cheerfully. "Absolutely."

**

Thursday, 6:39

He stopped outside the Hokage's office, trying to get his breath back.

Iruka had left him fifteen minutes ago. Nothing could have happened in that time. Nothing.

He straightened. The guards he'd blown past at the main entrance were catching up to him. He ignored them, turned the handle, and walked into the office.

Four people and two of the Third's personal guard stopped speaking and looked up at him. Raidou bowed low and straightened, keeping his gaze solidly on the Third. "I need to speak with you. It's urgent."

The Hokage looked at him for a long moment, then nodded to those present. They left the room, taking the guards from the first floor--who had finally caught up--with them.

"What's wrong?" the Third asked.

Raidou swallowed. "I've just had a conversation with Umino Iruka. He's--Touji Michio is molesting him. They're meeting tonight, to 'go farther,' Iruka said, and they've already had oral sex." The enormity of everything hit him, suddenly and brutally, and he swayed.

One of the personal guards stepped forward, grabbing his elbow and steadying him. The man led him to a chair, and sat him down.

Raidou was shaking. "I lied. I told him I believed people so disparate in ages could love each other, and so he told me everything. It's been going on for almost a month."

Iruka had told Raidou about the night Michio had been drunk. About how it had scared him, but it was all right because people made mistakes. He'd told Raidou about the first time he'd given Michio a blowjob, and how he'd felt so guilty and stupid and young for throwing up on the couch. How he hated the taste, but didn't want to stop because Michio might leave.

About how Michio loved him so much, and that made everything all right.

Raidou realized he was shaking. One of the guards was gone, and he looked hopefully at the Hokage.

"He's getting the child," the Third said soothingly.

The other guard, Shikaku, offered Raidou a glass of water, and Raidou sipped carefully. He laughed, the sound breaking on the floor. "I don't know why I'm reacting so badly. I barely know the kid, and . . . I don't know . . ."

"Because you're human, and you've been carrying something very dark," the Third said quietly. "It's all right. When you've had something to drink, we'll talk."

It took him a few more moments to settle. Once he had, he handed the water back to Shikaku with a grateful smile.

"We're going to take Iruka out of that situation, and keep them separated," the Third said. He had a file in front of him, and was frowning down at the pages. "He was a war orphan. One of the older ones. Living alone?"

Raidou nodded.

"A mistake, obviously. That should never have happened, but there are so many . . ." he pursed his lips, shaking his head. "We'll put him with a family. He's twelve--"

"Thirteen," Raidou corrected, having caught the age change from Iruka himself.

"Thirteen, so perhaps with counselling, and a good home . . ." The Third frowned and looked up. "Does he have any friends he could stay with?"

Raidou shook his head. "Mizuki."

"That won't do," the Third muttered.

Raidou hesitated, then said, "My family."

The Third looked at him.

"He doesn't know them, but . . . well, my mother's good with boys. There are enough of us, and my room is empty, and she's very loving . . ."

The Third nodded. "All right. Thank you." He turned to Shikaku, but the man was already leaving; going to Raidou's home, to check with Raidou's mother.

"Will he be okay?" Raidou asked as the door clicked closed behind the man.

The Hokage rubbed his forehead, smoothing out wrinkles. "We'll put him in counselling. I don't know. But you did the right thing."

"What about Michio?" Raidou asked.

The Hokage looked worn. "I don?Äôt know."

The door opened and one of the guards from the front stood there, looking frazzled. "Sir, your personal guard has just returned with Umino Iruka. He said I should tell you--"

"Thank you," the Hokage interrupted. He looked at Raidou. "Perhaps you should go."

Raidou nodded wordlessly and stood, heading out. He saw Iruka coming up the hall, walking meekly beside the Hokage's bodyguard, shoulders pulled inward. Raidou froze, watching as the boy saw him, eyes widening, his face going suddenly white.

"What did you do?" Iruka said, fear spreading throughout his small form. "What did you do, Raidou? You didn't tell them--I thought you were my friend!"

Iruka jumped at him, but the guard caught the boy and dragged him into the Hokage's office.

Raidou sank slowly to the floor, back against the wall. He couldn't hear the words through the heavy wood of the door, but he could hear the cadence. The rise and fall of the Hokage's voice, and the high, panicked chirp of Iruka's. Everything went quiet for a little while. Raidou pulled his knees up, bracing his elbows on them.

Then, loudly, he caught, "It isn't like that! He loves me!" It dissolved from there into shouting, all Iruka, loud and angry and sobbing. Raidou buried his head in his hands and listened to the boy beg and plead and scream. He wiped tears off his own face, when he realized they were falling, and feared for the child inside.

This was the right thing. He knew it was the right thing. Iruka would never speak to him again, and the boy would be truly friendless. But it was the right thing.

Eventually, the room fell silent. After a long time the door opened, and Shikaku, apparently returned from Raidou's mother, walked out with Iruka in his shadow.

Raidou looked up, but Iruka was staring at his feet, eyes swollen and dead. His shoulders were rolled in, and he seemed shrunken. Smaller than before. Smaller than possible.

The second guard walked out, put a hand on the boy's shoulder, and steered him down the hall.

Shikaku knelt in front of Raidou, brown eyes searching the other man's. "Are you all right?" the guard asked.

Raidou swallowed and nodded. "I'll be okay. Iruka . . .?"

"He'll be better."

Raidou nodded.

"We're going to put a guard on him for the night. Tomorrow he goes to your mother's place. The Hokage has promised we'll keep his house in trust for him."

Raidou nodded again. "That's good."

"Do you have a place to go tonight?" Shikaku asked.

Raidou knuckled his eyes, aware suddenly that his lashes were wet and spiked together. "I'm going to go home. See my mom."

Shikaku nodded. "Come on. I'll help you get there."

*****************************

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