Into the Fire

Chapter Fifty-Six

Raidou woke up a short time later, smiling as the Kazekage snuggled tighter against him. He ran his hand idly through soft scarlet strands as he pondered the absence of the copy-nin, arm tightening around the slumbering redhead when the door slammed open and an unfamiliar man stormed in.

“Enough.” Kankuro swore loudly, yanking back the covers and dragging the Kazekage to his feet, “You have dallied with this scarecrow far too long.”

“Who are you calling scarecrow, asshole.” Raidou retorted angrily, surging out of the bed and freeing Gaara from his brother’s hold. He pushed the redhead behind him protectively and assumed an aggressive stance, chest to chest with the furious puppeteer. “You have no right to come in here and manhandle him.”

“Who the hell are you?” Kankuro growled, “That piece of shit has turned my brother into a whore just like himself.”

The scarred man hauled his fist back and punched the puppeteer hard in the face, taking advantage of his surprise and following through by pushing him to the ground and straddling him, pinning his arms to the floor. “How dare you speak to your Kazekage like that.” he hissed, “As for me, I am the new ambassador from Konoha . . . and a friend of Hatake-san’s. If I hear you refer to him as a whore again I will not hesitate to kill you . . . regardless of who you are. Now apologize to Gaara.”

“I will not.” Kankuro hissed raggedly, “He needs an heir.”

“He needs to be happy.” Raidou retorted.

“If he will not choose a spouse one will be chosen for him.” the puppeteer threatened, “This can not continue.”

“Fine.” the scarred man muttered, turning his back on a furious Kankuro to face the Kazekage. “Gaara, will you marry me?” he asked softly, “I know we haven’t known each other very long, but I don’t want to take a chance on losing you. I promise to keep you safe and spend the rest of my life working to make you happy.” he finished sincerely as he studied the redhead’s expressionless face.

“Yes Raidou, I’ll marry you.” the Kazekage replied with a quirk of his lips, moving forward to kiss his intended, much to his brother’s distaste.

“Urgg” the puppeteer groaned, before throwing his arm over his eyes and exclaiming “Oh my gods you’re naked!”

“Not very observant, is he?” Raidou muttered when the kiss broke.

“My brother has always been an ass.” Gaara responded solemnly, “He was Father’s favorite . . . he was a bastard, too.”

“Do you have any other siblings?” the scarred man muttered as he nibbled on a pale pink ear.

“Stop that.” the enraged puppeteer shrieked, “You can’t marry him . . . he’s a man, for one thing.”

“Is it expressly forbidden?” Gaara asked coldly before answering the question himself, “No, it isn’t. You want me married, fine . . . he asked, I accepted, decision made, subject closed.” A hissing sound filled the room as sand rushed to the Kazekage’s aid, trapping Kankuro easily and sweeping him out of the room. “Where is Kakashi?” the redhead exclaimed when calm was once again restored.

“I don’t know.” Raidou replied with a shrug, “He was gone when I woke up.” He paused for a long moment before adding reluctantly, “I won’t hold you to it, you know . . . not if you don’t want to.”

“Hold me to what?” the Kazekage asked curiously.

“You don’t have to marry me.” the scarred man finally replied, “I know I put you on the spot, I just couldn’t stand the way he was bullying you.”

“Did you mean what you said?” Gaara asked curiously.

“Of course I meant it.” Raidou replied sincerely, “I had resigned myself to spending my life alone a long time ago . . . and then Kakashi wrote to me, offering me a chance to start over . . . a chance to have everything I always longed for and never had. I know I’m not much of a catch . . . you’re so beautiful and I’m . . .” He trailed off in despair, hand going to rub the scar on his face.

“You are beautiful too.” the Kazekage retorted, running his hands over a firmly muscled chest, “It’s just a scar.”

“The last person I tried to get close to told me it made them sick to look at it.” the tokubetsu replied sadly, “I didn’t bother trying to hook up with anyone after that.”

“He was a fool.” Gaara declared hotly, “No one’s ever bothered to stand up for me before.” he continued passionately, “You think you’re ugly on the outside . . . but I’m ugly on the inside. That’s even worse . . . I’m not a nice man, are you sure you don’t want to change your mind?”

“You’re Kazekage, of course you’ve done terrible things . . . so have I, so has Kakashi and every other ninja I know.” Raidou countered, “That doesn’t make you unworthy of love Gaara.”

“You love me?” the redhead asked dazedly.

“Not yet.” the scarred man admitted readily, “But we already have more of a connection than most arranged marriages . . . I believe we could find love if we wished.”

“You’d stay with me?” the redhead pressed, “Really?”

“For as long as you wish.” came the heartfelt reply, “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He bent and kissed the younger man tenderly, threading a burly arm around the redhead’s lithe waist and pulling him close to plunder his mouth.

“I’ll make the announcement today.” the Kazekage panted when the kiss finally broke, “We marry in two weeks.”

Kakashi slowly crawled to consciousness, mind reeling as he tried to pin down what had happened to him. The last thing he remembered was walking down the hall towards the apartment assigned to Raidou, planning on sleeping there to give the fledgling lovers time alone. He carefully cracked open an eye, shutting it immediately when he recognized his location . . . the one place in the palace he hoped never to see again.

“I know you’re awake, whore.” Kankuro’s voice rang out flatly, “This is all your fault, you know.”

“What are you talking about?” the copy-nin rasped hoarsely.

“Gaara is getting married to that friend of yours.” the puppeteer sneered, “You corrupted my brother . . . turned him into a fag like you. Now you’ll pay for it.”

“Your father . . .” Kakashi began, only to be cut off by Kankuro’s steely retort.

“Don’t you dare talk about my father.” the puppeteer exclaimed, “He was a great man.”

“He was a sadist and a bully.” the copy-nin insisted, “He liked to do sick things to children . . . and not just to me, he did it to your own brother.”

“Shut your filthy whore mouth.” Kankuro rasped, shoving a rag into the jounin’s mouth and roughly taping it in place, hands shaking in fury. “I’ll show you . . . you won’t be running off corrupting anyone else.” He reached down and flipped a latch, spinning the rack Kakashi was bound to so it stood upright before turning to study the implements displayed on the wall. After careful consideration he selected a braided lash with a metal tip, snapping it a few times experimentally before moving behind the copy-nin.

Kakashi screamed behind his gag as fire raced down his back in the wake of the lash, until eventually he could scream no more and hung limp and resigned, his mind turning inward to happier times as he retreated from the agony of his body.

“Don’t you dare give up on me whore.” the puppeteer raged when the copy-nin ceased to react to the whip and he turned his eye toward the wall again, bent on wreaking vengeance on the hapless jounin. He smirked when his eye landed on an extremely large studded dildo and he quickly snatched it up, slamming it into Kakashi’s unprepared entrance with all his might and chortling as blood coated his hand.

“Is that enough for you scarecrow?” Kankuro inquired sarcastically, “No, you want more?” He thrust the dildo deep once more, pushing it completely inside the twitching, bleeding hole before strolling casually around to face the hanging man, idly selecting a large sound from the display and roughly jamming it into the slit of the copy-nin’s penis, then stepping back to survey his handiwork.

“You won’t need these anymore.” the puppeteer decided, ripping a nipple-ring free with a twisting yank and then giving the other one the same treatment. His eyes lit up when he noticed the line of piercings running down the copy-nin’s penis, roughly tearing them free from the flesh one at a time until he reached the head. There he turned to a different strategy, palming a kunai and roughly cutting the rings loose, slashing through the sensitive head indifferently and smiling broadly when blood ran freely down the jounin’s thighs.

The sight of Kakashi’s blood excited him, and Kankuro reached down and palmed himself roughly through his pants, squeezing himself hard as he repositioned the rack yet again. He tore open the front of his pants and thrust deep into the copy-nin’s bleeding hole, pushing the punishing dildo even deeper. The puppeteer thrust erratically, biting and clawing at the unresponsive form before roughly pulling out and flipping him over, stroking himself a few times before spraying his seed on the jounin’s blank face, bellowing his triumph.

The Sand sibling quickly recovered from his orgasm, spitting on the copy-nin as he readjusted his clothing before striding out of the room and snapping off the lights, leaving Kakashi behind as he returned to the upper levels of the palace to plot a permanent end to Gaara’s engagement.