Damaetas

"Hell-o," Jiraiya drawled, drudging up his most charming smile for the stone face across from him. He held up the picture and tapped his finger on it: "Sorry to bother you, master, but you seen this boy, by any chance?"

The old bartender nodded, eyes losing a little of their suspicion. "Yeah," he said, setting down the cup he was cleaning. "He went that way." He pointed.

Jiraiya turned, and raised his eyebrows. "That way?" he repeated, just to make sure. The bartender nodded and Jiraiya shrugged, turning to the three genin and gesturing for them go on ahead. "Ah, thank you, master." He turned.

"Hey!" the bartender called. "Are you Unlucky?"

Jiraiya paused in the rush of the crowd, looking over his shoulder at the man. "Am I unlucky?" He turned back around and smiled, murmuring, "Let's hope not."

"Jiraiya-sama," Nagi said doubtfully, looking over to where the bartender had pointed. "Are you sure he said *here*?"

"Pretty sure." Jiraiya flicked the photograph of Naruto against his cheek, knocking a bug out of the way. Nagi and Kaiki looked doubtful, and even Hikaru's eyebrows were raised; Jiraiya grinned and turned to the building. "Ah, Naruto," he said, shaking his head. "I'm so proud you ended up taking after your old master after all!"

Kaiki and Nagi bent their heads together. "*Ew,*" he heard Nagi whispering, "I don't wanna go in here; what if they're - *diseased* or something?"

Kids, Jiraiya thought as he stepped up to some of the girls on the porch. He grinned as they looked up at him, and dropped his arms around their shoulders. Life, for the moment, was looking up - oh, Naruto, you crazy kid, for once you've done me some good! He bent close to their ears, purred, "Hello, lovely ladies. How are you this fine evening?"

They giggled and flushed, hands going up to cover their mouths - heh heh, he loved it when girls played demure.

Jiraiya held up the photograph. "I'm looking for this kid," he told them. "He's my stupid student, you see - oh, man, what an idiot he is, you have no idea! But, what can you do?" He let out an exaggerated sigh, and they giggled again. "Anyways, you seen him?"

"I dunno," said one of the girls. "I don't think so. He's pretty cute - I would've remembered someone that cute."

Jiraiya wrinkled his nose. Cute? Dirty, loud, disrespectful - he glanced at the photograph. Well. It was true. Naruto'd grown up a little, he guessed.

"Well," said the other, lips puckering in thought. "There was some guy who came in here about - it must have been two hours ago. He was wearing a big hat and a long cloak. It could have been him, I guess. He go around in disguise a lot?"

"We're ninja!" Nagi piped in from behind them. "That's what we *do.*"

"Ooh," the girls said in unison. "You're a *ninja*?"

Jiraiya curved his lips in a slow smile. "Why, yes. Have a thing for ninja?"

While they were giggling, something tugged at the edge of his senses. While he leaned over one of the girls and demonstrated how he could pull out a shuriken and then slip it back inside his sleeve without her even seeing it, he opened his senses a little bit, probing into the back of the building. Yes, there it was - Naruto hardly ever leaked his chakra anymore, but he did do it sometimes. He was either in danger or having himself a real good time. Jiraiya let go of their arms and leaned back, frowning.

"He's in here," he said. "Do you mind if I go in and find him?"

They looked at each other, uncertain. "Are - are you sure?" one said. "That it's him, I mean?"

"I'm sure." Naruto's genin stepped closer to him, looking up with worried faces.

"Well - I mean, we don't know what room-"

"That's okay," said Jiraiya, taking a handful of kunai out of his pouch and tucking them into his sleeve. "I'll be able to tell once I'm closer." He flashed his teeth. "I can do that, I'm a ninja."

"Well, okay." The light-haired one stood, taking his arm in hers. "I'll take you inside. You might have to pay, though-"
"It's okay," Jiraiya cut her off and started walking, forcing her to walk, too. He gestured behind him for the kids to follow him. "I'll pay whatever I have to."

Inside, the mistress came up to them, and listened with a frowning face to her girl's explanation. "Well," she said, "yes, a cloaked man did come in here. But it's highly irregular to take you back there - let you storm into his room - how do I know you're not trying to kill him?"

"He's not trying to kill him!" Kaiki burst out, sounding frustrated with all the delay. He and Nagi stepped up to her, looking up with twin pleading expressions. "He's our teacher. He was on a dangerous mission, and we really need to find him."

"If you would, please, it would be so helpful," Hikaru added, stepping up with her teammates.

The mistress hesitated, then sighed and nodded for them to follow. "If you kill him, though," she tossed over her shoulder, giving him a hard-eyed look, "I insist that you pay me."

"Fine. Fine."

She led them down a dark hallway - looks like a dungeon, Jiraiya thought darkly - heading towards the end of the hall. "He was in here," she said, stopping at the last door at the end of the hallway; but Jiraiya shook his head, and took a few steps down to another door.

"He's in here," he said, feeling bare tendrils of Naruto's chakra in the room.

"I'm afraid not, master," said the mistress. "A dark-haired man with a strange tattoo is in this room, unless he's left."

Jiraiya ducked his head down, smiled darkly. "He's in here," he repeated strongly. "Open it."

Huffing a little, she stepped past him, jiggling her keys as she searched for the proper lock. She pressed it into the door, then threw it open and gestured for Jiraiya to go in, stepping to the side with a dignified expression lifting her eyebrows.

"Come on," Jiraiya said to the genin, and they followed him into the room, almost stepping on his heels. He heard them whispering to each other - you're stepping on me, get off me, something's not right - and ignored them, walking to the bed. He stepped closer and caught his breath as he saw the familiar spill of blond hair, and - closer - a white arm, not Naruto's, hanging off the edge of the bed. He stepped closer and saw the prostitute lying sprawled at the corner of the bed, eyes closed, face lax in an almost peaceful expression.

Jiraiya gestured for the genin to stop where they were, and they stood still, three sets of eyes fixed on the dead body. Someone - Nagi, probably - was beginning to hyperventilate. Jiraiya walked around to the other side of the bed and closed his eyes, briefly, when the saw the sprawl of Naruto's body, blood-soaked, lying twisted in the crimson sheets.

He pressed a finger under Naruto's jaw, feeling for the pulse, and let out a slow sigh when he felt it weak and thready. Jiraiya braced himself against the bed and carefully pulled out the three kunai, half-expecting Naruto to jerk awake and shout at him for being so rough; but Naruto stayed still where he was, skin blue-white, eyes closed. Blood gushed weakly out of his wounds, and Jiraiya frowned.

"He's still bleeding," he murmured. The wounds were still open. Not healing.

"Of course he's still bleeding!" Kaiki shrilled, voice cracking. "You just pulled a bunch of kunai out of his fucking - his fucking-"

Jiraiya brought one of the kunai blades to his nose and inhaled. His eyes narrowed. "Good one, Orochimaru," he said, pressing his bloody hands to his face. A curse on the blades - a messy one. He must have done it quickly. Probably right under Naruto's nose.

"Get that woman," he told the genin. "Quickly, go on, bring her in here."

Nagi stayed where he was, still and shaking; Kaiki and Hikaru dragged her in, every bit as frightened and ill-looking as the three children. "W-w-what is this?" she said on a half-scream, taking in the body and the blood on and surrounding one of her customers. "Did he- did he- who did this-?"

"Irrelevant right now," Jiraiya said shortly. "My student's dying, and if you don't help me, I'm going to be very angry, okay?" She did scream this time, then clasped her hand against her mouth quickly. "I need you to prepare a room for him. Clear out the main room, I don't care, just get me a space where I can put him and take care of him. Got that?"

She nodded, fast and hard, and cleared out of the room quickly. He heard her stomp back down the hall and begin screaming at her employees, even at the customers, telling everyone to clear the room. Jiraiya looked back at the genin. "All of you, just stay calm," he said. "Okay? Do that for me. Go follow her and make sure she's got the place cleared out." They nodded and ran to the door in a tumble of bodies, and he called after them, "And take a few moments to calm down. I'm not going to let him die."

Jiraiya sighed, raking a hand through his hair. He looked down at Naruto's lax white face for a moment; then, shaking himself, shrugged out of his shirt, tore it into three and pressed them to the wounds. "Don't worry, brat," he muttered, slipping an arm under Naruto's back and legs and heaving him up, grimacing - shit, getting old sucked. He caught himself, corrected his balance, and shifted Naruto into a more comfortable position before heading down the hall.

The whore on the bed was left forgotten.

----

Kaiki pulled his jacket tighter, peering out at the gambling city through the haze of morning fog that settled over the roofs, crept through the alleyways. He breathed out lightly, reached up a finger to touch the puff of white that trailed from his mouth.

The door opened and closed; Kaiki turned and, smiling, held out his hand to knock against Nagi's. "You just wake up?" he asked, looking back to the huts and the fog.

"Mmmreh." Nagi was not, never had been, a morning person. He leaned against one of the porch chairs, then pulled it out and sank into it. "How long've you been up, weirdo?"

"Shut up." Kaiki nudged his foot. "An hour, something like that."

"Did you see Naruto-sensei?" Nagi said, quietly.

Kaiki scratched his arm and, after a pause, nodded. "Yeah."

"Does he look better? I mean, you know." Nagi let out a bark of laughter. "Less dead?"

"He's looking better." At least his stomach didn't look like a flood of red anymore; the medic had come and stitched him up, and now the mistress of the place had him on the couch, as comfortable as she could make it. "Jiraiya-sama said he should wake up sometime today."

"Do you think he will?" Nagi whispered.

Kaiki looked over at him, huddled in the chair, arms wrapped around his knees. "Of course," he said, and ruffled Nagi's hair, tangling his fingers through the light strands. "Don't be stupid, it was just a few kunai."

Nagi said nothing. Kaiki hiked his leg up against the side of the building, folded his arms across his chest. The town was quiet, everyone was still asleep. He wondered, with a spike of panic and something like anger, if that Uchiha Sasuke were still here. He dropped his leg and said, "I smell breakfast. I'm going inside."

"Okay." He felt Nagi's eyes on him, following him inside. Kaiki stuck his cold hands in his pockets and nodded to the girls who were up, cleaning and making breakfast.

In the kitchen, the mistress eyed him warily and only let him have a little bit of bread before chasing him out. He found Jiraiya asleep on another couch in front of the fire, looking like he was getting the restful sleep Kaiki hadn't - he'd laid awake all night staring at the ceiling, wondering if his teacher was going to be alive in the morning and fearing, irrationally, that the sea of blood would creep over to him in the middle of the night.

Biting into his bread, Kaiki looked over at the other couch, at the braid hanging over the couch's arm and a bit of yellow skin poking out from the blankets. Naruto-sensei looked like he hadn't moved at all during the night.

Of course, if Kaiki were in his place, he wouldn't want to wake up at all. Kaiki walked over to the other side of the couch and sat down on the floor, shifting so he could watch Naruto-sensei comfortably. What if Nagi had done something like that to him - he wouldn't ever want to wake up, because waking up would mean he'd have to do something about it. Chase him again, maybe this time kill him. Kaiki rubbed his stomach hard.

There was a rustle of cloth next to him; Kaiki turned his head to see Hikaru settling next to him. She looked better-composed than anyone in this place, with her sunglasses hiding her eyes, the jacket hiding her mouth. "Hey," Kaiki muttered, and shifted back in Naruto-sensei's direction.

"Good morning." She had a cup of something steaming in her hands, but didn't look like she was going to drink it anytime soon. Some of the girls - sensing a kindred spirit in the way that girls always did - had probably pushed it on her.

"So." He lifted another crumb to his mouth, glancing at her quickly. "What do you think we're gonna do after this? Go back to the village?"

Her eyebrows slanted down, thoughtfully; she shook her head. "I don't know."

"Oh," Kaiki said.

"Maybe Naruto-sensei will want to go after Uchiha straight away. Maybe he'll want to go back to Konoha. I don't know what he's going to do."

"Yeah." Kaiki ate the last bit of his bread and pulled up his knees, setting his chin on them and wrapping his arms around them. "We never do."

Hikaru said nothing: a silent agreement.

"What would you do?" Kaiki asked, picking at a hangnail on his thumb. "If someone in your family, or a friend did that? Would you kill them?"

In front of them, Naruto-sensei took in a deep breath and his fingers twitched on the coverlets; but he didn't wake up, and after a few minutes the brief flush that had appeared on his face faded away.

"I wouldn't, no," said Hikaru. "But I'm not everybody."

"Why wouldn't you?" The hangnail was stubborn, clung to his cuticle for dear life. "I'd stick a knife in them as soon as I could."

"I think we'd all like to think that." Hikaru tipped down her sunglasses, just enough so he could see the deep-dark color of her eyes over the rims, and regarded him in that weird adult way she had. "But I just know what I feel... and how I've seen Naruto-sensei act. He hasn't killed Uchiha, Kaiki. He hasn't killed him for six years. I don't think it's that he won't. I think he can't."

He ripped the hangnail off, gritting his teeth at the tearing sting. "Then I think Ino and Sakura-san and Jiraiya-sama are wrong when they say Naruto-sensei's strong. Maybe everybody back home is right, after all."

"Maybe," said Hikaru. She shoved her sunglasses back up, and shrugged. "I guess you could be right. I guess that's why I'm not the clan heir."

"I guess so," Kaiki muttered.

----

"Hey. Open your eyes."

I don't want to.

"Your stomach's stitched up. You got your ass kicked fair and well. Whatcha think?"

I think you're a bastard.

"Can't lie there forever, you know."

Yeah, I know.

"I know it would be nice, but you've got to be a man and pick yourself up."

Fuck being a man. I'm barely even human.

"You're a Konoha-style ninja. You lying there looking like the most pathetic bone the dog ever dragged in? That ain't gonna work for too much longer. You're making babies cry, you're so sad."

It's worked pretty good so far.

"You've got students. You've got responsibilities. And you ain't the type to lie down and take this shit. That's always been the most annoying thing about you."

He curled in on himself, around the pain in his middle. Why can't it work forever? he thought.

"You can't just leave your messes for someone else to clean up. You just going to leave this shit someone else to take care of? You gonna leave it for your Sakura-chan's kids to clean up? Your friends' children? You want more little kids to go through that? You're self-absorbed, but you're not that bad."

Sakura-chan. Her children would be light-haired and bright-eyed like she was, and he didn't want to see their eyes turn dark because Sasuke-kun had left. Because Sasuke-kun was destroying their village. Because Orochimaru was hunting them down and putting his poison their skin.

"Wake up, Naruto."

Yeah, that's my name; and I had a friend called Uchiha Sasuke once. Now I'm left here, and no one knows who Sasuke is. All they see is Orochimaru's evil, because Sasuke is buried deep beneath his sickness - or he's not even there at all.

I don't want kids to have to see evil on their friends' skin anymore.