I See You

II.

Genma's first step was to figure out if, in fact, he was really talking to Umino Iruka, deceased chūnin from Konohagakure. Since his other option was being nuts, he really hoped he was going to find some kind of record of Iruka living in his house and village.

He asked about the young chūnin, but it seemed like no-one knew or wanted to talk about it.

In the common room in his house, there are some old things, that Raidō kept. There was a dusty trunk in the corner of the room. Genma opened it and found photo albums. It was albums with pictures of all the ninjas who graduated from the academy and then passed the chūnin's exams.
Genma started looking through the books for the one that would contain pictures from five and six years ago. They were dusty, and not quite in order, but he eventually found the one he was looking for. If Umino Iruka existed, he would be in there. He grabbed it and headed up to his room.

He turned his lamp and ceiling lights on, a little freaked out. He had no idea why the creepies were suddenly taking over. Not that he wasn't scared of the ghost himself. Just the opposite. So why was he freaking out over some old photo album? He guessed it meant that if and when he saw Iruka's picture, it would mean this whole thing was real.

He flipped slowly through the pages, starting in the beginning. He knew that Iruka wouldn't be there yet, but it was interesting looking through all the old pictures. He saw some pictures of him and Raidō. Genma wondered what his old self would think of him now.

He was getting close to the back of the book, almost to the section where Iruka would be. He could feel his heart pounding. He wanted Iruka to be real so badly. He wanted to find out how he could help the ghost chūnin. When he finally got almost to last page, he turned the page slowly.
It didn't take him more than a second to find Iruka. There it was, the boy with a scar across the bridge of his nose. He looked exactly the same. Just to be sure, Genma checked the name typed below his picture. Umino Iruka. His hair was kept in a ponytail, sweet open smile, and those eyes...even in the picture, their power was intense.

Genma looked at the picture for long minutes, memorizing the features he had seen so clearly the night before. Iruka was wearing his full ninja uniform and hitae-ate. Genma turned the picture and saw the year it was taken written on the back. It was six years ago. Iruka was sixteen and had just passed on the chūnin's exams.

Genma couldn't believe what was happening to him. He had never looked at these old books, never seen this picture. He couldn't have imagined Iruka. There was only one possible conclusion. Umino Iruka's ghost was real. And it needed help.

Genma spent a long time looking at the pictures in the old photo book. The students with his former teachers together. There was one guy that Iruka nearly always stood next to in pictures. His skin pale and he had white shoulder-length hair with a hit of blue on it. Genma looked up his name. "Mizuki..."

In all the pictures, Mizuki seemed like a golden boy who would have had a crowd of admirers. Genma somehow wanted to hate him. And he did kind of hate him. Mostly because there was something in Iruka's face in all the pictures. It was there, in the way he smiled the pretty white-haired boy. Genma recognized that look. It made an irrational snake of jealousy slither down his spine. Had Iruka been in love with him? It seemed pretty obvious, but Genma didn't want to jump to conclusions. One thing he did know for sure. Somehow this Mizuki guy was the first step in solving Iruka's mystery.

Genma tried to go to sleep early, anticipating a wake up call in the middle of the night. But he found himself getting excited to see Iruka again. He wanted to talk to him more, get to know him. Genma knew that excited, happy feeling. He had felt it a few times before. It had nearly gotten him into huge trouble with Raidō. Thank god he came to his senses before he tried to kiss his friend or something.

He punched his pillow, annoyed with himself for being so dumb. 'A crush on a ghost? So stupid.'

..👻👻👻..

He woke a few hours later, not to the sound of his name, but to a whispering touch trailing across his cheek. He smiled, not afraid at all, and opened his eyes.

"Hello, Shiranui-san" Iruka said quietly, greeting him.

"Hey Iruka," The special jōnin answered, and sat up in his bed. He could feel the silly happiness flow over him. Crush away, Gen. Crush away. Iruka was perched next to him, as if he had been waiting there a long time for Genma to wake. "How long have you been here?" He asked. A huge smile threatened to burst open at any second.

"A while," Iruka answered, smirking. "You can learn a lot about someone when they're asleep."

Genma groaned. "I wasn't snoring, was I?"

Iruka laughed. "No, you mumble. It's actually kind of...adorable."

'Okay. That's it.' First the comment about how he smelled, the little touches, then the pictures, and now this. Genma had to know. "Iruka, listen. You've said a couple of things that I don't know which way to take. Are you...?" he didn't want to say the words. He was afraid the chūnin would get mad.

"Am I into guys? I think you know that answer. I don't remember much about my life, but that I know. I definitely know." Iruka grinned sheepishly at him, as if he was trying to confess something. As soon as he said it, Genma had an idea.

"Do you think that's why I can see you?" Iruka looked confused so Genma elaborated. "Maybe I can see you because I understand you. Because I'm like you."

"What...you're dead too?" The chūnin teased.

Iruka's impish smile made Genma's pulse patter in little giggly bursts. Iruka reached out again. This time, he cupped his elbow and dragged tingly fingers down his arm until it almost felt like Iruka was holding his hand. It was like being surrounded by bubbles. Sexy bubbles that made his blood heat. He couldn't really feel Iruka's skin, but he could tell the tanned boy was there. The unbelievable sensation made him tremble visibly. He closed his eyes for a second. "You don't like that?" Iruka asked, looking disappointed.

"No, I do. It feels incredible. I can't even describe it." It made Genma want to touch Iruka too. He reached out, but his hand dropped straight through Iruka's arm to his comforter below.

Iruka gave him a sad look. "You can't touch me. I can't really touch you either. Just what I've been doing."

Genma thought of something. "Iruka, do you think you were ever, you know...with a guy before you died?"

Iruka's head dropped to the side like it seemed to always do when he was considering something. "I think I probably was. I mean, it seems really familiar, the idea of holding someone. Of kissing and touching him. I know I wouldn't get that strong of an imprint from just seeing it."

'Okay, here goes the next part,' Genma thought. "So, I found your picture tonight... You were always next to a guy. Mizuki. I was wondering if he may have been..." He stopped talking when he saw Iruka's tan face turning pale. He faded quickly, turning more and more translucent.

"Mizuki..." Iruka didn't open his mouth but Genma heard the whisper loud and clear, then all of a sudden the chūnin was gone.

..👻👻👻..

It was two days before Genma saw Iruka again. The special jōnin was starting to wonder if the boy was gone for good. The thought was a little depressing, somehow. He was up late studying a scroll when Iruka appeared, coming from the general area of his closet.

Genma jumped a little, startled because he hadn't expected him.

"Shiranui-san?" Iruka sounded hesitant, like Genma may be angry with him.

"Hey Iruka. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm really sorry about the other night. It was just a shock to hear that name again. When you said it, so many memories came flooding back. It was just too much effort to try to stay here."

"Who was he?"

Iruka's face looked pained. "You were right. Mizuki was my...uh...lover."

"Tell me about him." Genma could see how hard this was for the chūnin. Iruka wrung his hands together. Genma wished he could reach over and comfort him. Obviously impossible.

"Mizuki and I got to be best friends after both of mine and his parents died on the Kyūbi's attack. He was older than me for two years. Anyway, in the academy he was popular and more skilled than me, though we were classmates, he became a genin and then a chūnin first. I could never understand why he wanted to be my friend. You see, in that time I was pretty troublesome." Genma waited quietly, not wanting to interrupt. "It didn't take me long to figure out Mizuki was like me. There were little things at first, touches, looks. One night, we were sitting in this room talking about his missions as a chūnin. He just leaned over and kissed me. I was stunned but so happy..." A little surge of jealousy hit Genma again right in the gut. He wanted to know what it was like to kiss a person he liked. He wanted to know what it was like to kiss Iruka. "Anyway, after that we were basically a couple. I was fifteen and he was seventeen at that time. We made a pact not to tell anyone, because of his friends, because of the way things were and because of people in the village. But mostly because of the Hokage. He was like a father to me, and he didn't like Mizuki too much. I would have never broken my word because...I loved Mizuki and I didn't want to stay away from him." Iruka's face clouded.

When he said that, Genma started to get a general idea of how it probably played out. His stomach turned. "Iruka, what happened between you and Mizuki? How did it end?"

"You know, I have no idea. I do remember when I got sixteen and passed on the chūnin's exams, he asked me to live here with him. None of his friends thought anything of it cause, publicly at least, we were best friends. I was elated that I could be with him every night. God, I was so in love with him. I do remember that."

Genma tried to Ignore the fact that it made him ragingly jealous to hear Iruka saying he'd been in love with Mizuki. Even if it was seven, six years ago, he still hated it. "You don't think he had anything to do with your death, do you?"

"I don't know. I remember loving him, but now when I think of him I just get angry and sad. I don't know what happened, but I don't think it was good. Shiranui-san, he's got to be part of it."

Genma had already decided the same thing. "I think he's important too. I'll see what I can find out."

They couldn't do much more that night to help the situation, and Iruka seemed to be genuinely upset when he thought of Mizuki. Genma decided to drop it. Besides, he really did want to get to know more about Iruka than how he died.

"Hey Iruka," Genma started. 'How do you ask a ghost to hang out with you?' Genma was nervous like they were on a first date.

"Yeah?"

"I can't really do much about your situation tonight, but..." Genma hesitated. He hoped Iruka couldn't see his face turning red. "I don't want you to go." He spit that last part out nervously.

Iruka smiled, and reached across to do the ghostly finger-trailing thing that made Genma's stomach so weak. "I don't want to go either."
Genma's heart thumped happily. He couldn't remember ever having a crush this strong.

They talked for hours. They'd abandoned the topic of Mizuki, but there so much else they could learn about each other. Genma told Iruka how he realized he liked boys too, and how he and Raidō ended up buying the house. Iruka asked him if the other ninjas knew about him, and Genma laughed. Things in the world had changed so much, as far as acceptance goes, but in the world of ninjas, it may as well have still been five years ago.
Iruka told him funny stories about some of the people who came in that room over the years. Genma laughed at stuff that he would be totally embarrassed by if anyone knew them about him. Then he thought about what he had been doing in the room since he'd moved in. His face turned red when he realized exactly how much Iruka could have seen. It made him wonder how often anyone was really alone. People would think a lot more about their actions if they knew how many invisible eyes were on them!

Genma finally fell asleep around four in the morning, glad that he didn't have any mission in the next day. Iruka sat next to him as he fell asleep, trailing the ghostly fingers around his face and neck and arms to help him relax. That tingly bubble feeling turned him on like hell, but it was also comforting. He felt himself drifting off. As he did, he felt what seemed like a half-kiss, gentle on his forehead.

"Night, Shiranui-san" Iruka whispered.

"Iruka?"

"Yeah?" The chūnin answered. But he seemed to already know what Genma wanted.

That same half-kiss, soft and cool drifted across Genma's lips. His body erupted in blissful shivers. "Wow," He whispered. A ghostly chuckle drifted across his bed. Iruka was gone.

..👻👻👻..

The next day Genma found himself in the bowels of the Hokage's tower, his sudden appearance made the desk clerk jump. He smiled and leaned over her desk. “I’d like the personal file for Umino Iruka."

The clerk stared up at him. "I'm sorry Shiranui-san. But, you don't have access."

His smile widened. He leaned closer, towering over her. "I'd like the file."

The clerk stood quickly and scurried down the row of cabinets. A drawer opened and closed. The clerk returned with a thin manila folder. Her hands shook as she held it out to him. Genma nodded thankfully. "I'm borrowing this." He said and teleported before the clerk could protest.
He landed in the academy's library.

It was one of those rare beautiful crisp fall days when the sun shining through the orange and yellow leaves made everything into a dappled autumn paradise that was meant to be experienced. He longed to be out in the fresh air with Iruka, on that gorgeous autumn Sunday. Iruka had barely left his thoughts since the first time he'd seen. The special jōnin had had a few crushes in past, but nothing like this before. Nothing where the other flirted back. No matter how improbable the whole situation was, it still made him happy. That butterfly in the stomach giddiness was so new to him. He loved it.

He wished he could spend more time with Iruka. He hated that the chūnin could never leave the tiny room in his house where Iruka had probably spent his last minutes. It made Genma want to help the boy even more. Genma didn't really feel like being outside, but he knew he would have the library to himself on a day like this. It was the perfect opportunity to do a little digging.
He was armed with the all the documents he could find about Iruka, Genma sat down at one of the library desk. He started with the personal file he had just borrowed, not sure of what he was going to find.

He flipped it open. There was no picture. He skimmed over the single sheet of paper inside, then turned it over, hoping for more details on the back. It was blank. He read the paper over again more carefully. There was a brief description of Iruka as last reported - seventeen years old, brown hair, dark-brown eyes, naturally tan skin, scar across his nose from a childhood accident. His parents, Umino Ikkaku and Umino Kohari, both jōnins died during the Kyūbi's attack.

Iruka had actually been kind of famous. Well, after that fact anyway. There were quite a few documents about the events surrounding his death. According to the earliest report, it was a suicide. His housemate had come home to find him dead with a rope around his neck, no note, no anything.

It was really weird, reading about the death of the guy Genma was getting to know so well. Genma imagined that a suicide victim may end up as a ghost with unresolved problems, but for some reason that explanation didn't ring true. It didn't seem like Iruka.

Genma scanned the papers, and there was nothing more about the chūnin's suicide, Iruka disappeared. He flickered his senbon thoughtfully. 'That can't be it. Iruka didn't kill himself!' Genma didn't know how he knew, it just seemed so wrong.

He got to the last file which held papers from December and January. He had basically given up, but was checking for any possible follow-ups. He was shocked by the big heading splashed across the first page.

/ALLEGED SUICIDE TURNS TO... MURDER?/

Genma read on, fascinated. It turned out the Hokage had gotten an anonymous letter with information surrounding Iruka's death. The case was re-opened. Turned out the investigation had been badly done all around. The medical report, which had been mostly ignored, stated the bruises on Iruka's neck were definitely not from a rope, and actually looked more like fingers.

Iruka's teammates were questioned again, more closely this time. Eventually someone must have cracked. In the end, the Hokage judged that Umino Iruka's death was a tragic accident, a Halloween prank gone wrong. Whoever ended up confessing said the guys had covered it up with the fake suicide scene because they were afraid of what would happen if they were found out.

What did happen was ridiculous, in Genma's opinion. Since no specific person could be pinned down as the actual "accidental" killer, they all got off with what was basically a slap on the hand. They were all underage. Some community service and a bad reputation. Not a whole lot else. Their chūnin status were removed but that didn't even last very long as soon as the whole mess blew over. Genma wasn't even the victim, but he was totally enraged. How could they get away with something like that? No wonder Iruka's ghost was still in the house. Genma would haunt their asses forever if it was him. He doubt he'd stop at moving things around the room either!

Genma shook his head, unbelieving. 'What Halloween prank ends up in someone being strangled to death?' It was horrible, but he thought there was probably still something more to the story. Something even the guy who cracked wouldn't tell. He took the documents with him. Hopefully when Iruka saw them, he would remember. Genma felt horrible. Who wants to remember the day they died? This was probably going to be awful for the chūnin.

As Genma put his stuff away and headed for his room, he thought about the anonymous letter. It had to be from Mizuki. There was no other explanation. He wouldn't have wanted Iruka to be forever known as the ninja who killed himself. That still didn't explain why Iruka felt so angry towards him...unless he was involved. The idea that Mizuki could have had a hand in getting his best friend killed made Genma's stomach turn.

..👻👻👻..

Genma fell asleep on his bed waiting for Iruka. He showed up at midnight, right on time. Genma was so happy to see him, he grinned. His pulse did a crazy little dance, just remembering that gentle little brush of a kiss last night. He wanted so much more! Iruka seemed happy to see him too. Genma hated to ruin his smile with the documents that he had hidden in his nightstand. He knew Iruka would get upset, and he didn't want the chūnin to disappear again.

Genma couldn't do it though. It was too important to Iruka. As much as he wanted to be selfish and enjoy his time with Iruka, he knew he had to help him solve his own mystery. That meant showing him the documents.

"So…" Genma began, wanting so desperately to hesitate so he could see Iruka's gorgeous smile for just a few more minutes.

"You found something, and it's not good," Iruka finished.

"Am I that easy to read?"

"Let's just say I've had some practice lately." Iruka reached out gently and caressed his cheek and neck. The violent surge of heat in Genma's belly distracted him. He spun for a second, lost in pure sensation. "Shiranui-san." The sound of Iruka's voice cleared his head a little bit. "Tell me. I can handle it."

Reluctantly, Genma went to the nightstand and got out a manila folder. "First they said you tried to kill yourself." He placed the earliest report on the bed in front of Iruka. The one that said Mizuki found him with a rope around his neck.
Genma could see Iruka getting angry.

"This is ridiculous. You know how as soon as you said Mizuki's name, lots of stuff came back?" Genma nodded. "Well, it didn't happen this time. I have no memory at all of wanting to kill myself."

"That's because you didn't." Genma put the second report in front of him. The one with the big splashy title. Genma watched Iruka read for a few minutes, his expressive face changing from hurt to anger then to sadness as he scanned the sentences. Genma could see the exact moment when he got to the part about there being fingerprints on his neck. The awful memory dawned in his eyes and his entire face changed. "Iruka?" He whispered it, afraid to talk. he knew Iruka remembered.
Iruka looked angry. It was the first time Genma had been even a little bit afraid of him since that first night when he could only hear Iruka's voice.

"Shiranui-san, I need to go. I don't want you to see me right now."

Genma could hear in his voice that he was trying to control a towering fury. He needed to get away. "Go, Iruka. But come back when you can tell me. We need to figure out how to fix this for you."

Iruka relaxed a little, and looked at him. "I will. Thank you, Shiranui-san."

"Genma." Genma told him.

"What?"

"Call me Genma...Shiranui-san is too formal and serious, it makes me feel old."

That comment wrung a small smile from Iruka, which was what Genma hoped for. Then, just like the last time, Iruka disappeared.

Tbc