Six years ago…

"Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

See me safely through the night,

And wake me with the morning light."

Lee crossed himself, from his forehead to his heart, from left to right shoulder, and then kissed his plastic rosary. He had made it himself in class, with the other children, and their bishop had blessed it for him.

"Amen," he breathed, and then scrambled up into bed, away from the chilly floor, and sighed blissfully as he slid beneath the blankets.

He closed his eyes – and didn't fall asleep. Something tugged at him, an inkling of a worry, and he thought to himself, 'Naruto is out past curfew. I should look for him.'

But Naruto was a bad boy and usually came in well past curfew anyhow, usually with strange marks on his body that he would refuse to talk about. Naruto would tell Lee to not worry about him and so Lee had learned to not be concerned. He had slept through many nights that had begun in Naruto's absence and ended with him trying to shake the blonde awake to no avail.

The uneasiness continued to claw at him and his prayer beads felt heavy in his clenched, sweaty hands.

'Naruto has need of me! I should look for him!'

Lee sighed and gave in.

There was nothing to lose in searching for his roommate, at least. If he was caught, Bishop Shimura would have him recite passages from the Bible and assign him twice as many chores as Lee already had to do, but it would not be so terrible.

If Lee was caught, Naruto would most likely be caught with him, and they had already gone through the numbing trials of cleansing themselves of their minor missteps with their Bishop.

The cold floor sent shivers up his body and he grabbed his spring jacket as an afterthought, curling into it as he stepped out of their bedroom. Around him, the orphanage was silent, peacefully so, and Lee frowned in envy.

He was never happy unless he got eight hours of sleep at least. Loss of rest made him cranky. Naruto – Naruto took cat naps throughout the day, so it never mattered to him. And if he could not manage that, three to five hours a night sufficed him, and another spike of envy shot through Lee before he could dispel it.

He would very much like to be sleeping. Hopefully, Naruto would be happy about Lee's show of concern! Because then he would smile and say, "Thanks, Bushybrow! You're a great friend!" And that would make his loss of sleep worth it.

The orphanage was small, yet the halls mending one into the other could make a stranger not even realize that they were walking in circles if they weren't careful. Lee had lived there for as long as he could remember, though, and managed to get downstairs when upstairs proved to have no Naruto. He walked as silently as a drifting feather, just in case one of the sisters was still awake.

Lee puffed out his cheeks irately. He wanted to go to bed! Under his covers where it was nice and warm… He had gotten new sheets for Christmas, ones that felt really soft and weren't hand-me-downs.

He peeked into the kitchen, actually hoping that Naruto would be trying to steal a late-night snack. "Naruto?" he whispered into the hush. "Naruto, are you there?"

There was no answer, and he sighed dismally. "Naruto, where are you?" Then he heard something – a strange, short shattering of the pressing silence.

He scurried through the kitchen, out the opposite archway into the small, clustered dining hall, and doubled back in horror.

Bishop Shimura was at the dining table, a long, polished length of maple, on each side of it a matching bench, and he had been sitting on the table with –

Lee slapped his hands over his mouth. His rosary trembled and pressed against his lips and he shook with them.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, someone please tell him that he had not just seen that.

But he listened, against his will, and he could hear the very quiet, stifled cries of pain and the muffled wet sounds of a body being violated. Tears caught in his big dark eyes and a single one trailed down his cheek.

'N-Naruto? Is this why Naruto is always late for curfew? The marks? But, no! No, no, no! Not this…'

He slowly looked around the corner and saw, blurrily, Bishop Shimura hurting Naruto, small, tough Naruto, and Naruto looked angry and hurt and ashamed and confused and there was a ball gag in his mouth.

Naruto was Lee's friend, one of Lee's very few friends, and Lee felt something hot like fury burn in his chest as Naruto squealed around the gag, trying to claw free of the tape binding his wrists together.

His friend, no, his best friend, was being hurt! And Bishop Shimura… But he was a Holy man. He led their church, spent his valuable time at their orphanage, he, he was so…

So evil.

Lee growled and leapt free of the darkness. Bishop Shimura's one eye spotted him and Naruto's expression blanched and then paled with horror and fear and, and hope.

His rosary felt like a ton weight in his fist. "Let go of Naruto!"

~""~

Author's Note: This is the beginning of a multi-chapter story inspired by (goodness, inspiration is key for me these days; I'll think up something original sooner or later):

Chinesefirethorn's and Lunaka's story, Risen Demon (a multi-chapter story for Gaara and Lee, Lee being an incubus sent to damn Gaara, a priest, to Hell – very good read, with wonderful smut. You can find it at Y-Gallery).

The anime/manga, Ao No Exorcist, or, translated, Blue Exorcist (which is actually a lot like the anime/manga, Naruto, except, instead of ninjas, there are different classes of demon hunters and such).

And, last, but not least, Gordon Ramsey having a priest bless his dinner before he even dared to eat it (It's a cooking show and Gordon curses like a sailor, but I thought that moment absolutely priceless because there just had to be a table of priests there as I was contemplating writing this).

So, yes, there was a lot of inspiration for this.

This is just a short prologue (it amuses me that my author's note is nearly half the length of the actual chapter). I'm not certain about my update schedule yet, so, please, just bear with me.