Relief wasn't quite the word as Raidou added his blocky, solid kanji next to Genma's flowing scrawl and officially took his latest shot at freedom. Nothing between you and the door, Shinobi. Just don't screw it up.

In the tattered rucksack thrown over his right shoulder, bottles of prescription pills thumped against two new medkits: a parting gift from Kaori and their doctors. At this point, Raidou thought, he and Genma probably had enough medical supplies between them to start distributing. Though, if you listened to rumour, ANBU already did a steady traffic in underground drugs.

Well, anything to make it through the day.

Especially if Genma was going to flirt with everyone between now and home.

Raidou snorted to himself, shoved the form back towards the desk-lady, and squashed the weird, unreasonable flicker of--it was not jealousy. He jostled Genma (carefully) with his elbow.

"Alright, fearless, where d'you want to go first? There's a whole wide world waiting for us--"

"Provided it's in Konoha," said the desk-lady firmly.

"Provided it's in Konoha," Raidou finished.

"How about we go buy some smokes and some beers--"

Raidou's face made it clear he was going to hold Genma to the no alcohol mixing with their meds rule they'd both gotten that morning.

"Some, uh, tea. And go to the park or something. The cherry blossoms are still nice, even if we missed the absolute peak. Or wait, do you have money? I had a little cash on me on the mission, but it was with my stuff..."

Personal effects, including uniforms, weapons and masks, they'd been told, had been cleaned, repaired if needed, and returned to their apartments for them by the same ghosts who had retrieved their civvies.

"Did you get your wallet or anything? They didn't bring me mine. Probably some sneaky ass Intel trick to make us go back to HQ right away."

"Sounds like them." Raidou checked his pockets automatically, but it was pointless. Between them they had two sets of clothes (personal), two sets of dogtags (standard), and one bag of meds (unique), and that was it. Unless you counted his bandages and Genma's steel-and-pins hand contraption.

He rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully. It was a little strange, after so long in the hospital fishtank, to trip over real world concerns.

"I know a vendor who owes me some credit," he said finally, falling into step by Genma's side as they headed for the door. (Left side, keeping Genma's injured hand safely between them.) "He usually sets up near the park in cherry season -- he's probably still around."

Freedom stretched out in front of them, pillared by the hospital's sliding doors. Even from the inside, the sunshine looked bright and welcoming. Raidou squinted, ticking through a mental list of everything they needed to do. He should visit his brothers; Genma probably had half a million friends waiting anxiously for news of his recovery; there was more paperwork to do at HQ; both of their rooms would need airing out and re-sealing, not to mention two fridges stuffed full of rotten food that'd want throwing away. They had to go shopping...

"Coffee sounds good," Raidou said, refiling everything under not now. "Or mochi. I could go for mochi."

"You actually want sweets?" Genma laughed and stepped through the door when it swished open for them. "That's a definite sign of something, only I have no idea what." He grinned at Raidou, got a lopsided grin back, and set off at a sedate pace, with only a trace of a limp.

Raidou was moving relatively easily, too, he noted. Relatively. It was good enough for now, and it would improve. "Does your vendor-san sell mochi? We should get you a lot, seeing as your pants are practically falling off. You'd think lying around at the hospital we'd get fat, but somehow it never goes like that." Possibly because neither one of them had had much appetite, and both of their bodies had been shunting every available calorie into healing.

The streets were busy but calm, with unhurried early-afternoon traffic of shoppers--civilian and ninja--and no kids but the youngest, since school was still in session.

Raidou glanced down at himself. Okay, so maybe he'd had to cinch his belt two notches tighter than normal, but it wasn't like his jeans were falling off; they still sat comfortably on his hipbones. Just about.

"Like you can talk," he snorted, catching a ragged lock of Genma's hair and tweaking it. Not quite an elbow jostle, but from this side his elbow could only reach ribs beneath a slingbound hand, and he wasn't that offended. "If you want us to start putting weight back on, I don't think mochi's the way to do it. I know I've got some protein powder mixes back at home. Lots of calories--"

Genma made a strangled, God no sort of noise. Raidou laughed.

"That's what I thought," he said, a trifle smugly, dropping his hand into his pocket. The path they were on led towards Konoha's main throughway, past the Hokage's palace and ANBU's HQ--the former grand and impressive, the latter a square-brick building that announced its presence only in its lack of identifying marks. They passed both, cut around the bustling main street on unspoken agreement--too many unpredictable civilians--and headed towards the park by quieter, prettier backstreets.

Raidou paused as he spotted the school in the distance. In the fenced yard, teachers were running several classes through what looked like weapon-throwing drills.

"Mind making a quick detour?" he asked, after a moment's guilty indecision.

Genma tracked Raidou's gaze to the schoolyard. "Your brothers?" He hitched up his pants one-handed--maybe he should take Raidou up on that protein shake offer--and adjusted course to head for the Academy. "Are we visiting, or just spying on them?"

Something they'd done before, a time or two, casting henge on themselves and looking in on Hiroshi and Setsurou. The last time, a month or so ago, Hiroshi's class had been calculating how many exploding tags they would need to blow up a dam, and where to place the charges. Setsurou and his class had been working on chakra fundamentals.

Genma eyed Raidou carefully. Only half a week ago, the very idea of facing his brothers from his hospital bed had been enough to set him growling, and Genma had finessed their way out of it with a half-truth about not being allowed civilian visitors. "Do they know we were getting released today?" he asked quietly.

Raidou yanked a hand through his hair and wished, just for once, that Genma wasn't quite so observant. "Not so much," he admitted. "If I know Midori," he said, naming his brother's foster mother, "she won't have told them why we were in hospital. Just that it was a mission, and we're okay."

Midori was good that way.

Raidou shoved his hand back into his pocket, leaving the left swinging free, where it wouldn't yank on his shoulder. "It's stupid," he muttered. "I know it's stupid. It's not like they're going to care about this." He jerked his chin, stretching seal-marked bandages against his jawbone. "I mean, they'll care--they don't like it when I get hurt. But they won't care, not like that."

Genma just watched him, golden eyes steady.

Raidou blew out a frustrated breath. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah. I know." Genma slowed his steps, moseying towards the schoolyard now. They were still plenty far away that there was little likelihood the kids had seen them. And there was no guarantee either of Raidou's brothers was actually out there anyway.

Raidou's brothers wouldn't care, but Raidou did. That morning, while they'd been getting dressed in civvies at long last, one of the nurses had brought in a mirror, ostensibly for shaving. Genma had used it exactly for that, struggling to shave one-handed. Raidou had refused to look at it. When Kaori had asked him if he wanted to see how the bandages went, he'd gruffly told her he knew what he looked like, and he could feel where they went just fine.

"It's not really as bad as you think," Genma said. "I mean, yeah, it's kind of obvious you and I got a little roughed up..." He laughed dryly. "I saw when they changed your bandages this morning, Rai. It looks like it hurts, but it's not really scary or anything. Shit, if there's anything that's gonna scare them, it's probably gonna be this." He lifted his hand in its sling and splint, and let it fall.

And didn't look at it.

"But I do know what you mean. I guess I don't really want to answer questions right yet either."

Raidou didn't miss the way Genma's eyeline never included his hand. Hadn't missed it over the last few days, either. Or the way Genma never actually said the word; it was always just 'this', or 'that', or 'goddammit, stupid thing' whenever he accidentally yanked on his sling too hard.

I'm not broken, he'd said, only a few days ago.

I am, Raidou had said back.

But not all the way through. Both of them cracked and dented, knocked to hell and back, but functional. Recovering. Walking in the sunshine. No more damaged than any other ninja who'd been in the game long enough.

He took a long, too-obvious breath, and pulled up a smile. "Yeah."

Genma smiled back, sweet and crooked, skin gilded by the free-breathing light--and impulsively, without consulting the parts of his brain in charge of things like good ideas, Raidou leaned over and pressed a kiss against the lilting corner of his mouth.

"Thanks," he said, drawing back and flushing red.

Genma stopped moving so abruptly he stumbled. Raidou's hand shot out to steady him, grabbing for the only safe handhold from the angle he was at, broad palm to Genma's shoulder. As soon as it was clear Genma wasn't going to topple, the hand withdrew.

Well. That answered one nagging question. In the three days since they'd kissed on that hospital balcony, Raidou had done everything he could to pretend it hadn't happened. He'd found excuse after excuse not to talk about it, when Genma brought it up. He'd even taken to inspecting the ceiling for cracks and water damage when Genma was unclothed.

It had been a little maddening, but Genma had decided it was a problem to be dealt with after they were home and away from the scrutiny of medical personnel, psych evaluators, Intel debriefers, and the rest of the gawkers that populated the hospital.

He'd been trying to decide how to bring it up, actually. How to give Raidou a face-saving way out, if he really wanted it. How to handle the butterflies that had unaccountably taken up residence in his own stomach, ever since that kiss.

And now...

Genma's stunned expression dissolved into a smile. "Yeah. Anytime." He felt as if a lead weight in his chest had just transmuted into a thousand shimmering soap bubbles. As if the sun had brightened, the air sweetened.

"Yeah." They were still far from the school. He took a step closer to Raidou, grinning, eyes locked on Raidou's face. "Do that again."

Startled, Raidou laughed. It came out a little wild and cracked with nervousness, but settled deep in his chest when Genma didn't back off and run (limp) for the hills. "You sure?"

Genma just tilted his head slightly back, slightly up, eyelids sliding partway down to shield his eyes against the sun. Invitation written in every line of his face.

Raidou couldn't help the sideways glance, but reassurance came when he realized they were still completely alone. Noise chattered in the distance, rising and falling like a wave, but--and this was the important thing--it was distant. He looked back at Genma, saw the glint of understanding reflected in burnished metal irises, and dropped his eyes to focus on that smiling mouth.

He lifted a hand and set it palm-flat against Genma's chest, pushing him back. Genma went willingly enough, eyebrows lifting, until his shoulders met the rough brick wall. Coiling tendrils of some fragrant plant hung over the top, fine vines clinging to the crumbling mortar. A fat, bright, bell-shaped flower cast a purple shadow against one of his cheekbones.

Raidou braced one hand on the wall next to his head, leaned in--

And barely brushed his lips, feather light, against the other corner of Genma's mouth, before drawing away. He grinned, crooked and teasing. "Anything else, boss-man, sir?"

Genma's mouth was still open, waiting for the rest of that kiss. He laughed and reached out with his right hand for Raidou's waist, tugging his friend closer by the belt around his too-loose jeans. "Yes." There was a husky tone to his voice, an edge of command. "Do it properly. Or have you forgotten how? I'll show you again, but try to pay attention this time."

He closed the distance between them with precision and care, angling towards the unburned side of Raidou's face, catching half-smiling lips with his own. His hand at Raidou's waist tightened, feeling lean muscle flexing beneath layers of cloth. Strong, slender--too slender right now, but that would change. How many times had he had his hand on Raidou's body in just that spot, in a spar, on a mission, for some casual, meaningless reason?

The brick at his back was rough and cold, catching strands of his hair and pulling at the fabric of his sweatshirt. The sun was in his eyes, half-blinding him. What he could see was nothing more than a blur. What he could feel, though...

Racing heart, rough skin, chakra tumbling like whitewater rapids, smoldering heat low in his groin. Raidou's lips, and tongue, yielding to his own. Raidou's broad shoulders held ever so carefully close. It was just that wretched sling and its contents separating them. That and Raidou's stiff bandages.

He turned his head a few degrees, swept his tongue along the rim of Raidou's lip, and made a throaty, pleased noise. Like that. Just like that. Yes. For a moment, at least, broken bones and burned skin didn't really matter all that much.

There was a bizarre kind of familiarity in pinning Genma against a wall and kissing him silly--or getting kissed silly. Like a fledgling body-memory, but without the backdrop of overheated, alcoholic courage they'd had last time. Raidou flattened his palm over the arch of Genma's hip, then swept it around and back, sliding his hand beneath the double-layer of tee-shirt and hoodie until his fingers found skin. He mimicked the tilt of Genma's head, biting at his flushed lower lip.

And won a noise, like a ground-glass groan, and a bolt of heat that started somewhere in his lower belly and twisted straight down.

No drinking, the medics had insisted. No drugs. No fighting. No training until you're cleared. Understood?

They hadn't mentioned anything like this, but it sure felt illegal. Pulse thundering in his throat, nerves jittering into excitement that was fast becoming something else, Raidou kissed the side of Genma's mouth, grazed teeth over the edge of his jaw, and ducked down to suck one of the long tendons that bracketed either side of his windpipe. Genma's unbound hand twisted into his hair, fingers just shy of clenching. Raidou grinned, sharp and wild, against skin.

Alcohol was one thing. This was better.

This, for a moment, was paradise.

Then, healing bruises and freshly pink scars where garrote wire had cut cruelly into Genma's neck made him flinch from Raidou's mouth. Made his breath catch and his eyes go wide. He was pinned, half-blinded, entirely vulnerable. Only the fact that it was Raidou doing the pinning made it possible to keep his wits. That and the unbearable, desperate longing to keep going with those kisses.

The fact that it was Raidou doing the kissing was what, ultimately, did make Genma stop. He took a long, groaning breath, loosed his fingers from Raidou's hair, and pressed his palm gently against Raidou's chest, just to the right of the bandages.

"Rai." It came out a husky gasp. Genma took a deep breath. "Wait."

He wasn't sure what to say. Couldn't stand the flicker of confused hurt he saw in Raidou's eyes, when Raidou pulled back with a red-cheeked cough and muttered, "Sorry."

"No, don't be sorry. Gods, Rai, please don't be sorry. That's what--" Genma struggled for words. His fingers tightened into the cloth of Raidou's sweatshirt, not letting him go. "It's just.... It's just that's what I don't want. I want you, and I don't want you to be sorry. You're..."

Where were the words? Where were the words to explain why, when his heart was still racing and his cock was more than half-hard, and all he wanted was for Raidou to pin him against that wall and let their kisses turn into something far more serious, why he was putting on the brakes?

"You're not just some guy I think is hot that I want to fool around with. You're... You're you, you're--" Genma swallowed and licked his lips, staring hard at the face of his best friend. "If we keep doing that, I'm not going to want to stop. I'm never going to want to stop. I think it might kill me if we started, and then stopped. So before we go there..."

It was already killing him, and they'd barely begun.

"Before we go there, I want you to be sure it's really what you want. I don't want you to be sorry."

"Uh," said Raidou's mouth, while his brain scrambled to catch up with the new shape of the universe. Your first (third--fourth?) gay kiss was one thing, but being asked if you were ready to sign up for a lifetime of having-and-holding was something else entirely. Never stopping sounded a lot like always holding on, which didn't leave much room for screwing up or--

Or hell. What if this was all a mistake and someone changed his mind?

"Fuck me," Raidou said abruptly, wide-eyed, still horny, and a lot panicked. "I mean--that wasn't an invitation. Well--" he stuttered, flushed, recovered. "Goddamn, loverboy, you don't do things simple!"

Genma's eyes widened in turn, mouth twisting into a flat, uneasy slash. "I... I mean. Oh fuck, Rai. I just don't want to screw this up."

"You screw this up--?" Raidou took a breath, lost it on a shaky laugh, and raked a hand through his hair. "Well, good. Me neither. So howsabout we start by not giving each other heart attacks?"

That didn't win the laugh he'd hoped for, but it hadn't really been that funny. Genma's shoulders settled down, uncertainty flickering briefly over his face, undercut by something else. In anyone else, Raidou would have called it shyness. It was gone in the flicker-second it took for Genma to pull his hand back and adjust his clothing. "Um. Yeah. Okay. Yeah."

Awkwardly, Raidou hesitated between stepping back and getting on with a semi-normal day, or leaning forwards and picking up exactly where they'd left off. Before we go there, Genma had said, and Raidou was starting to think about there with an equal mix of curiosity and terror. But what if they went there and it was a clusterfuck from start to finish, and Genma never spoke to him again? Or, even worse, Genma got wrapped up in something Raidou couldn't give him, and ended up with a broken heart and an absent best friend? Or--

Or they had great sex, a great partnership, retired from ANBU in five years with all their limbs still intact, and went off and bought a farm somewhere.

Or something.

Raidou gnawed his lip, shook his head, and reached out a hand to tweak a strand of Genma's hair out of his eyes. "School's still waiting," he muttered.

"Yeah," Genma said again, with a hit of a regretful smile. He didn't think he'd been this tongue-tied around someone he was attracted to since he was twelve. But this wasn't just someone,after all. And Raidou hadn't said no. He was just doing exactly what Genma had asked. Taking a step back. Making sure.

They both needed to be sure.

If you think you're falling in love, take your dick out of the equation and see if you still feel that way, Amari-sensei had told him. It was a hazard of eros work when you had long assignments, she'd said. But up until now he'd never even considered such a thing might happen to him.

And this wasn't an eros assignment.

Hell of a thing to have to put that theory into practice now.

But it was still his best friend Raidou, looking at him with a mixture of embarrassment and apprehension. There was time to figure this out.

And, as Raidou said, the school was waiting.

Genma reached up and ruffled Raidou's hair in return, raking bristly rows of dark, russet-edged brown into place. "Yeah. Let's go see what your brothers are doing. You never did say, are we spying or visiting?"

Hitching an eyebrow at the hair-ruffling, Raidou didn't manage to decide between ducking towards or away from Genma's fingers before his hand dropped. "Spying. Unless you're in a mood to get climbed all over by excitable pre-teens?"

Genma's expression was answer enough. Raidou snorted a laugh and shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets, stepping back. The flowering vine trailed over Genma's shoulder as he moved away from the wall; impulsively, Raidou unhooked a hand and plucked the fat, bell-shaped purple flower, spinning it between his fingers. He almost presented it to Genma--but no, despite his long hair, Genma still wasn't a girl.

Well, mostly.

Lips twitching, Raidou kept the flower in his hand. Maybe he'd save it anyway.

Somewhere in the midst of this little debate, Genma had swung back into a meandering walk and was now looking over his shoulder, waiting for Raidou to catch up. "Coming?"

"Yeah, sorry." The back-alley path was still deserted, sun-drenched, peaceful--if you didn't listen too closely to the distant yells of kids practicing war games. There was just enough chill in the northern breeze that Raidou was grateful for his hoodie, and expected Genma was more than grateful for his, even if one sleeve had been ripped straight through to make room for that sling.

Raidou fell into step by his partner's shoulder, back straightening. His lips tingled; he licked them, caught somewhere between thoughtful and nervous. Excited, in a stomach-tightening kind of way.

Strange.

But not bad. And even with two abandoned brothers ahead, this was still a damn sight better than being in hospital. He licked his lips again.

A lot better.

Genma licked his lips, too, a mirror of Raidou's gesture. A smile played at the corners of his mouth, an unconscious response to a giddiness that bordered on euphoria. They'd kissed. Kissed again. Kissed again. And Raidou was still right there with him, looking thoughtful, a little bemused, definitely happy. They were recovering, on the way home. It was spring. There was time to figure out what the crazy rhythm in his heart was all about.

"What's that?" Genma asked, catching sight of the blossom in Raidou's fingers. "One of the morning glories from back there?" He gestured with his head at the wall they'd just stepped away from. Covered in the blue-purple blooms, it seemed to glow in the sun. "Pretty."

Raidou ducked his head in an embarrassed glance at his hand, twirling the flower in his fingers, then offered a pink-cheeked, "Yeah. Want it?"

"Sure." Genma's answering smile was just as awkward, but he covered it quickly, taking the flower and tucking it behind one ear. "Nice, huh? Everyone says blue is a good color for me."

Inside, in a place he didn't know he had, and speaking in a language he hadn't realized he knew, a voice was quietly saying, Dude, he gave you a flower.

And then they were at the end of the wall, in danger of being spotted from the schoolyard. That was when Genma realized the fatal flaw in their plan to spy on Raidou's brothers. He looked helplessly down at his broken, sling-bound hand. "Uh... I can't do a one handed henge. And we're not supposed to be doing jutsu yet, anyway."

Raidou opened his mouth to swear, and was interrupted by a ringing shriek from the schoolyard training grounds.

"Nii-san!"

"Oh crap," he said quietly. At his side, Genma made a noise like a cross between a chuckle and a strangled snort. "Busted," he said.

"You're not helpful," Raidou shot back. "Or funny."

"I'm hilarious," Genma said, tucking one long strand of wind-blown hair behind his ear. "Take a deep breath. They're just your brothers, remember?"

On the field, there was a growing knot of knee-sized chaos as the kunai class dissolved and the chuunin-sensei struggled to regain control. Half a dozen kids raced towards the fence, led by eight-year-old Setsurou. Most of were them still holding weapons.

"If one of them bites you," Raidou muttered, "I'm just going to laugh. A lot."

Genma waved at the children. "And that'll be hilarious, too," he said serenely.

"Nii-san!" Setsurou slammed enthusiastically into the fence and began to climb. "Genma-san, hi! Nii-san, where have you been?"

"Oh, God," said Raidou. He dropped his rucksack and headed for the fence. "Kid, get down. Your teacher's going to kill you. Hey--don't put your kunai in your mouth. It's not a sheath!"

Boosted up by a grinning, dark-haired boy, Setsurou reached the top, scrambled over, and flung himself down. Raidou caught him around the waist before he hit the ground and accidentally decapitated himself. Skinny arms corded with whip-thin muscles wrapped tightly around Raidou's neck as Setsurou spat the kunai out; Raidou grunted, wincing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Genma catch an excited little girl with his free hand. There was a flare of pained chakra; Genma rocked back a step, but Raidou didn't have a free breath to check on him.

"Ouch, little brother," he hissed in Setsurou's ear. "Ease up."

Blond hair and sun-browned skin wriggled in his arms. Automatically, Setsurou twisted himself towards Raidou's unscarred side, loosening his hold a little. He grinned up, then frowned. "Did you hurt your face again?"

"Yeah." Carefully, Raidou peeled his youngest brother off and dropped him onto his feet. Undaunted, Setsurou hugged him hard around the waist, then kicked him on the shin. "You were away for ages," he accused.

"Ow," said Raidou. "Jeez, I love you, too. Go kick Genma, already. It was his fault."

"Mari!" said Setsurou instantly. "Kick Genma!"

The girl in Genma's grip gave her captor a look that was entirely too lovestruck. "Nooo," she said, red-cheeked. "Hey, mister, are you an ANBU, too?"

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"Yep," Genma agreed with a nod. "Did Setsurou-chan tell you his brother Raidou was in ANBU?"

"Don't call me chan, Genma-san. I'm not a baby anymore," Setsurou interrupted, giving Genma a fierce scowl.

"Sorry, sorry. Setsurou-kun. Did he tell you that?"

"Uh huh," answered Mari. "My name's Morioka Mariko, an' I'm gonna be in ANBU when I grow up, too. Cause ANBU are the best." Her voice reached an almost earsplitting volume of enthusiasm, then dropped to a nearly inaudible murmur. "And you can call me Mari-chan, if you want."

"Can I?" Genma asked, eyes crinkled with amusement.

"Un huh," Mari said more clearly. "Cause I'm a girl an' it's okay for girls to still be called chan even when they're not babies anymore."

Genma turned her loose with a shaky catch of breath as he bowed and straightened. "Shiranui Genma, pleased to meet you, Mari-chan."

Mari's eyes grew even bigger and rounder, then she returned the bow and broke into a beatific grin.

"How come you got a cage on your arm, Genma-san?" Setsurou cut in. "And a sling and stuff?" His eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he studied his brother and Genma, scowling at bruises and scabs and bandages. "Is it really your fault Nii-san got hurt? I bet he totally beat you up, 'cause he's stronger than you."

"Well--" Genma started. Mari didn't let him get any farther than that. Her hand was on him, touching his arm trough the sling. "Does it hurt?" she asked.

Genma shivered away from her. "Uh... Yeah. Don't touch it, okay?"

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There were more kids hopping over the fence now, at least half a dozen, with several more curious faces clustered behind the wire mesh. In the distance, the chuunin-teacher was still trying to organize the rest of the class; it looked like one small child had taken advantage of the confusion and stabbed his mortal enemy--or possibly best friend--in the hand with a blunted kunai.

Raidou sighed, reached out to ruffle Mari's pigtails as her expression turned tragic, tossed Genma a reassuring half-smile, and crouched stiffly down. "Okay," he began, eying children. "One, you guys are in a whole stack of trouble for fence-hopping. If you're very lucky, we'll only knot your arms behind your heads."

There was a ripple of giggles.

Raidou smiled. "Two, who's seen an injured ninja before?"

A forest of hands shot up. "My Dad's a ninja," said the grinning, dark-haired boy proudly. "He's always coming home with bandages on. Mom yells at him."

"My brother's a chuunin!"

"My sister's a jounin--"

"I'm going to be an ANBU." Mari again, re-inflated and grinning. Behind her, Genma breathed a shaky laugh.

Raidou put his hands up before squabbles could break out. "Okay, good. How about you guys? Whose gotten hurt before? Hands up."

Another forest. "I broke my leg!"

"Shinji knocked one of my teeth out!"

"Did not." A short, red-headed boy gave an injured sniff. "And anyway, you gave a con--conc--you hit me in the head!"

"Mashiko-kun hit him with a rock," Mari confided to Genma. "There was blood everywhere."

Academy kids were a breed apart, Raidou remembered dryly. "I bet your head was sore," he said to the red-headed boy, Shinji.

"For a week," said Shinji indignantly. "I kept falling over when I tried to stand up."

"Is that what happened to your face?" asked a voice behind the fence. A blonde girl twisted her ponytail shyly, gripping the mesh with her other hand. "Did Genma-san hit you with a rock?"

Raidou throttled a laugh and strangled a flinch all at once. "No," he said, measuring his words. "No, we spar sometimes, but we don't hit each other with rocks. Well, not often. We just got back from a mission."

The crowd of kids exploded with excitement. In the rising swirl of noise, Raidou picked out half a dozen questions. Did you kill anyone? seemed to be chief amongst them. He raked a broad palm over Setsurou's small, golden head.

"Yeah," he said.

Genma caught the eye of the children's sensei, and, after a quick headcount, raised a hand to sign to him just how many had actually breached the fence. The sensei answered with a sign of his own: reinforcements coming. And a look that was half irritation, half gratitude.

"Did you really kill somebody?" Mari asked. "I bet he was a really bad guy. I bet he was even badder than the baddest man ever. I bet he was the Hokage's enemy." She puffed up her chest, eyes shining. "When I'm in ANBU, I'm gonna kill all the Hokage's enemies."

"Did you kill any babies?" the blonde girl asked.

Genma froze, glancing at Raidou. Remembering the slain genin team they had been too slow to save. That they had never had any chance of saving, according to Intel. Raidou looked back, somber and deliberate.

"My mom says ANBU are baby-killers," the blonde explained.

"No," Genma told her flatly. "We're not. We protect the Hokage and the village."

"Yeah, Tsuki-chan," Tetsurou said defiantly. "My big brother and Genma-san are heroes. You're dumb. Nii-san would never kill a baby, and Genma-san either."

Never, Genma thought soberly. Unless it was his mission, and then he would, and had, with little hesitation. With only a prayer that the child he was parting from its life found a better destiny in a new one.

The kids were crowding in still, asking more questions. It was a profound relief when their teachers materialized in their midst. One on either side of the fence.

"Don't touch Genma-san's arm, Suzuki-sensei," Mari warned, standing protectively in front of Genma. "He an' Setsurou-kun's brother got hurt on a mission an' it's broken an' it hurts if you touch it."

"I'm sorry, ANBU-san," the teacher said, bowing while he chaperoned children away from the pair.

"We're sorry for disrupting your class," Genma answered.

Standing up, Raidou's breath jolted from his lungs with an umph as Setsurou grabbed him around the middle again, small blond head plowing into his stomach. Old bruises announced themselves sharply. He winced and rolled his right shoulder as the broken-healed shoulderblade twinged; ignored the long ripple of pain through his burns. Setsurou's strong little hands gripped his shirt.

"You're not going to leave again, right?" said the eight-year-old quietly, so his classmates wouldn't hear. "Not right away."

Raidou leaned forwards and hugged him, startled, as always, by how small and fierce that little body was. "Not yet," he promised. "Not for a while. I'm off missions until I heal up, so you'll get to see a lot of me."

And Setsurou would, he swore to himself. Hiroshi, too. And Jiro, whenever his genin-sensei wasn't keeping him out on missions. Even if Raidou had to keep talking about bandages and, God forbid, baby-killing. They were his brothers--and at least they were straightforward kids. He'd forgotten that.

Besides, he didn't fancy getting his shins kicked again.

"But no more carrying kunai in your teeth, okay?" he added, scruffing Setsurou's wheat-blond hair with both hands. Setsurou snorted and butted him in the stomach. Grinning, Raidou hugged him again--ignoring the half-hearted protest--and then boosted his little brother back over the fence to catch up with his classmates.

"I'll see you tomorrow, right?" Setsurou demanded, as his teacher called him. Raidou picked up one of the fallen kunai and tossed it over the fence, where it landed point down by Setsurou's ankle.

"Tomorrow!" Raidou promised. "Tell Hiroshi I said hi! And your foster-mom, too."

Setsurou ripped off a carbon-copy of one of Raidou's salutes, making him chuckle, then yanked the kunai out of the ground and raced after his scolding teacher. Raidou leaned his shoulder against the fence, kicking his rucksack back up into his hands, and looked at Genma.

"So," he said slowly. "That went well. I think Mari liked you."

"Yeah," Genma agreed, falling back against the fence next to Raidou with a sigh and a wince. "Well, I always have had a way with the ladies. It's why I got recruited for eros, you know." He laughed softly. "Don't think we impressed the sensei so much, though."

Raidou snorted. "Not our fault the kids decided to jump ship. You'd think he'd've learned to throw a leash on them by now."

"Nah," Genma said, shaking his head. "I remember my first year in academy, my dad came by with one of his ANBU friends in gear and everything. Would have taken a lot more than a leash to keep me and my class from mobbing them, I think."

"We should do that sometime," Raidou chuckled, then turned and gave Genma a critical look. "You okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, don't I look okay?" Genma glanced down at himself, then over at Raidou. "Well, a little tired. And you know, still kind of feeling it. But come on, dude, so are you. Are you okay? Setsurou didn't seem too freaked about your face. I mean, he asked, but that was it. I thought that kid who wondered if I'd hit you with a rock was hilarious."

Not for the first time, Raidou wondered if Genma's personality didn't have some kind of osmosis-quality to it. Three minutes in the presence of eight-year-olds and he'd picked up their same, not-entirely-endearing habit of being excruciatingly blunt.

Not to mention evasive. His eyes hadn't even twitched to his hand.

"Yeah," said Raidou, stone-dry. "A laugh riot."

His thumbnail caught an edge of bandage as he touched then bridge of his nose; deliberately, carefully, he dragged his fingertips down the seal-marked cloth, skating over cheekbone, jaw, and down the side of his throat, until he reached his collar. Injured flesh itched, hot and uncomfortable beneath cotton and chakra. But healing.

Did you hurt your face again?

And nothing else. But it wasn't likely for Setsurou to think anything different; he hadn't even been born the first time Raidou had gotten himself torn up and carried home. And he didn't much care now, beyond normal, eight-year-old concern.

"Yeah," Raidou said again, tilting his head towards Genma and smiling. "I'm fine. Think I need a cigarette, but I'm fine. What about you?" Genma opened his mouth, but Raidou interrupted. "And don't dodge, smartass. I saw your face when she went for your hand. How are you really?"

Genma held the breath he'd taken for just a moment, then let it go in a sharp sigh. Took another one, slow and steadying, and blew it out through pursed lips. Looked at his hand, slowly, carefully. There wasn't much to see beyond the pink ends of fingertips protruding from thick rolls of cotton. There were the lumps under the bandages where the fixators attached, and the bare steel protruding, arcing in a fragile-looking web over his wrist. Extensions marched up to hold thumb, index and little fingers straight, while his two middle fingers curled towards his hidden palm. More steel traced down towards his elbow, holding healing bones rigid, channeling chakra from seals painted on his skin into freshly knit-together coils hidden beneath a net of new scars, still shiny and red.

He couldn't really see any of it. Bandages hid the damage, and the sling hid the bandages.

He could feel it in excruciating detail.

When he looked up at Raidou again, his lip curled in something not quite a smile. "I'm maintaining. She just managed to jostle some of the pins, is all." He blew out another breath and let his head loll towards Raidou's. Let his posture slump until he was just touching Raidou's shoulder with his own. "I could join you for that cig."

"Reckon that could be arranged," Raidou said, quiet and warm, and slung a careful arm around Genma's knife-sharp shoulders, pulling him in until Genma's left side tucked against Raidou's right, that sling-bound hand held forwards where it wouldn't jar again. Genma sighed and slumped against him, all angles and bones and weary muscle, grateful and showing it.

Kid, Raidou thought again. Grown up kid, but still someone who'd had the living hell kicked out of him less than a month ago, and no breathing family in the world left to hug. Raidou tightened his grip a little, and ducked until he could rest his chin on the top of Genma's head. Fine, wind-tousled hair tickled his nose; he inhaled and caught a strange mix of hospital soap, natural hair oils, and Genma's own scent. Something and nothing like brandy and oranges.

Genma sighed again, a little quieter, and turned until his nose was pressed against the shoulder of Raidou's hoodie; Raidou rubbed his thumb over the lean muscle of Genma's upper arm, right where his ANBU tattoo would have been, if it weren't on the opposite side.

"Y'know," he said, letting his voice dip until it rumbled, because that was comforting, "we could go home, too. Home'd be nice."

And also had beds, but that was a different kind of comfort.

Genma let his eyes close, shutting out sight to better savor other senses. He could feel at the core, connection: energy flowing back and forth between him and Raidou, chakra touching at the edges. His own was a colorless-white-black thread of light, always with him, filing every part, as unremarkable as his own heartbeat, his own breathing. Raidou's though. Raidou's was everything. Rich and sparkling, golden sunshine through dense pine boughs. Raidou's heartbeat echoed slow and deep in his chest, steady, strong, rising and falling on the whoosh of air in his lungs. His voice was rich and resonant. And his scent--clean clothes, the sharp-herbal tang of the ointment coaxing burns to heal, and a musky, almost animal base.

Their detour to the school seemed inconsequential, as if it hadn't happened at all. Genma was right back where he'd been when he broke their kiss. Wanting more. Wanting Raidou. But he was more tired now. More fragile. More suggestible. It was much harder to resist temptation, to think rationally. And all he'd wanted was for Raidou to be sure, right? Wasn't this, now, this embrace, a sign Raidou knew what he wanted? Knew what he was doing?

"Yeah, he murmured into the cloth covering Raidou's shoulder. "Yeah, home'd be okay. We could go home. I've got instant ramen that won't have gone bad. You could come to my place. We could crash out for a little while, maybe. M'bed's got plenty of room."

If this was a movie, Raidou thought, now would be the moment when he bent down, hooked his free hand under Genma's knees, and carried him home. And a part of him was tempted. But the bigger part, the more-grounded-in-reality part, knew that a) that would hurt like a bitch, b) Genma would kill him, and c) Genma might have been tired, but he wasn't exactly a damsel in need of rescuing.

Still, it was an image to hang onto.

"Sounds good to me," he said simply, and gave Genma a c'mon nudge with his shoulder. "Especially the food part." And the bed part. Had that been an invitation? Or just a genuine desire to sleep?

Did Raidou want it to be an invitation?

No. Yes. Maybe. It didn't matter; both of them were too banged up to even think about doing something fun -- unless Genma had some clever eros trick to get around a busted hand and a torso's worth of burns. Which, actually, knowing Genma, he might.

Raidou snorted softly. He let his arm slide from Genma's shoulder, reached down to hook up the rucksack that had fallen by their feet mid-hug, and slung it back over his unbandaged shoulder. Then set a palm in the small of Genma's back and gave him a push, just hard enough to get him walking again.

"Question," he said, as the schoolyard fell behind them. "This instant ramen you promised. D'you intend to cook it? Because we just got out of hospital..."