A/N: Good news! BD will be updated tomorrow! Yay! Things are beginning to come to a climax over there, so be sure to go read!
I own Uchiha Kaika and Fuji Hiko, and Hayate's aunt, but none of the characters from Naruto.
I ask in advance that you will bear with my extremely sketchy knowledge and subsequent fabrication of legal processes in Konoha.
It's an AU!
Chapter Thirteen: Legal Hassles
July 23
Genma was woken up Wednesday by a very loud knocking on his door. He shook himself awake, and struggled to get off the couch: the book he had fallen asleep reading tumbled off his chest. "Coming!" he shouted at the door, stretching as he got to his feet. He was painfully stiff, and swore once again to never sleep on his couch. He limped to the door--his recently healed knee was still a bit stiff in the mornings. Rumpled, sleepy, but with a handful of senbon at the ready, he opened his door a crack and peered out.
He had not been expecting two of Konoha's finest policemen, both Uchiha. In fact, the one in the front was the Chief of Police, Uchiha Fugaku, and he looked distinctly displeased. But then, he always looked displeased. He looked down his fine, narrow nose at Genma.
"Shiranui Genma?" he asked.
"Um, yes," Genma answered, blinking at them and wondering what he had done to deserve the police on his doorstep.
"You need to come with us down to the station," Fugaku told him. "As Umino Iruka's Jounin mentor, you're responsible for him. You'll need to post bail and make sure he shows up for the trial next week."
"Nani?!" Genma stared at them, his mouth hanging open in shock. "What--what did--"
"Oh, it's not so bad," the younger officer said calmly. "But it is his third charge of public indecency."
"This...this isn't some kind of joke, is it?" Genma asked feebly, hoping.
He had the privilege of seeing the stern Fugaku roll his eyes. "If only it were," the man sighed. "I'll debrief you as we go. Are you ready?"
"Ano, chotto." Genma thrust his senbon into the case at his hip and hobbled hastily back to the couch, retrieving his flack vest and hitai-ate. He shrugged on his vest and hastily finger-combed his hair before tying his headband on. He returned to the door, feeling somewhat dazed. He hoped this was all a dream. "I'm ready," he told the two policemen.
Fugaku nodded and waited for Genma to lock his door before he started talking. "Umino has quite a record with us. He's one of those prone to mischief. It's mostly harmless charges: defacement of public property, misleading evidence, a charge of petty arson... Normal juvenile behavior. He's got an impressive arrest record for one so young. We've seen a recent decrease in his activities in the past few weeks, at least until now."
Genma trailed after the policemen, feeling stunned and disbelieving. The trio left Genma's apartment complex and headed down the street. It was fairly early in the morning, and the streets were still quiet. What people there were gave Genma either sympathetic or disgusted looks, and a wide berth to the officers either way.
"Even though he's underage, this is his third charge of public indecency, and we will need to hold a trial. I am not keeping him in my jail, I do not have the manpower to spare to watch that little terror. Our cells are not meant to hold anyone under sixteen. He just squeezes between the bars and leaves by the supply closet window unless I leave a constant watch on him. And that is not feasible. So I will turn him over to you, and you will make sure he shows up on time to the trial."
Genma was not sure what he could say in response to that. But something seemed required. "I'll do my best," he answered, feebly.
The younger policeman laughed a little. "First time, huh? I'm surprised you weren't debriefed by Hiko-sensei. This was his duty, now it's yours."
"Iruka does this often?" Genma managed, as they turned down Fushima Street to the police station.
"He's stood trial twice before, if that's what you mean," Fugaku answered. "Found not guilty both times. I doubt he'll get any sentence this time, either. But if I can weasel out if he really was the one that switched the street signs last week..."
"I think, sir, that was a copycat crime," the younger officer chirped. "It had none of Umino's, um, creativity."
Fugaku shook his head, and kept on down the street.
"Ah! Genma-sensei!"
It was Hayate's voice, breathless and raspy. Genma hesitated and looked. The boy was with his aunt: both were carrying baskets loaded with jars of honey. Hayate's dark gaze darted from his young teacher to the policemen and back. He turned and swiftly said something to his aunt, and handed his basket over to her. Then he darted up to Genma's side, all wide brown eyes in his pale little face.
"Genma-sensei, is it Iruka?" Hayate asked. "Oh, Fugaku-sama, Hiro-san, ohayou gozaimasu."
"Gekkou-kun." Fugaku nodded to the boy, while Hiro, the younger officer, grinned and returned the greeting. "It is your friend. You may come with us to keep up with him while we walk your mentor through the process."
"Arigatou." Hayate bobbed a little bow, and looked up at Genma. "If it's okay with you."
Genma shook his head. "It's fine with me."
The four resumed the walk to the police station, Hayate trotting along at Genma's elbow. The boy was not wearing his hitai-ate, and his dark hair was curling madly in the humid summer morning. Genma suspected the boy had been helping his aunt with selling the honey she made: Hayate's aunt kept bees. This was likely a good enough reason to skip out of sitting in the market stall selling honey. But then, Hayate's concern seemed genuine, given the way the boy was frowning. Genma shook his head over the whole bizarre situation and desperately wished for some breakfast. He was starving.
Inside the police station it was cool, a relief from the summer's heat, even as early in the day as it was. Genma and Hayate were led past the reception room, and down into hall. Fugaku did not take them past the offices and interrogation rooms, but instead lead them to a staircase and down a single level. It was even cooler down here, enough to raise chill-bumps on Genma's skin. The cell level was well lit and neat, with pale tiled floors and whitewashed walls. Their footsteps echoed on the tile, which unnerved Genma, for he was a shinobi of no little experience. His footsteps should have been utterly silent.
They only went past a few cells before they came to one where an Uchiha was standing guard. He looked quite young, probably only Genma's age, around nineteen or twenty. He smiled brightly at them all. "Oh! Hayate-kun! Did they pass you in the market?"
"Eh? Hayate?" came Iruka's voice. Brown slender hands hit the bars, and with a bit of struggle, Iruka thrust his head between them. "Oh! Hayate! Ohayou! And Genma-sensei! I guess I gave pretty good directions, huh, Fugaku-sama?"
"No. His address was on file, Umino." Fugaku sighed. "Kaika, let him out."
"Don't bother!" With a quick wriggle and a sideways slink, Iruka promptly squeezed himself between the bars of the cell. Genma blinked--he honestly had not thought that Iruka would have fit through the narrow opening. "Ta-da! Here I am!" Iruka launched himself over and very nearly tackled Hayate down.
Hayate yelped and staggered but hugged Iruka back. "What did you do now?" he wheezed.
"Public indecency." Iruka stepped back and gestured broadly to himself. "Kaika-san had to lend me some of his pants. They're way too big, but it can't be helped. And it wasn't my fault. I mean, what was I supposed to do, let the old lady beat me to death with her purse? She had a brick in that thing, too, you should see my back, it's all blue and purple!"
The pants were indeed too large, rolled up thickly at the cuffs and tied up with a strand of thin rope--trap-rope, Genma decided. Iruka's tank-top was white today, and worn thin--Genma could see the faint shadows of bruising across Iruka's sturdy back. But Iruka seemed cheerful enough, babbling away at Hayate with his usual verve. Hayate looked faintly amused, but mostly mournful. Until Iruka reached over and ruffled his hair: Hayate instantly scowled, snatched away, and lunged back with a text-book-perfect low punch to Iruka's gut. Iruka doubled over with a huff.
Fugaku cleared his throat. "No brawling, please," he said, stiffly. "If you'll come with us, we need to walk Shiranui through the process of posting bail for you, Umino."
"Eeto, Fugaku-sama," Hayate piped up. "Today's market-day, I can take Iruka with me to Hachiko-obasan, and we'll keep him out of trouble while Genma-sensei does the paperwork. He can find us when he's done."
"Very well. Kaika will go with you to prevent anything from happening." Fugaku nodded to Kaika, who grinned back and started herding the boys out. Fugaku turned to Genma. "Come along. Hiro, you're dismissed."
Genma walked out of the police-station an hour later, completely starving and mostly broke. The secretary had been very sympathetic with him when he had seen exactly how much it was going to cost to bail Iruka out of jail.
"Don't worry," she had told him confidentially, "When the Hokage gets the notice he'll reimburse you."
Though that remained to be seen, Genma was now mostly broke, very hungry, very stressed, and perfectly ready to strangle Iruka the next time he laid eyes on the brat. He had been given a copy of Iruka's criminal record, by his request, and had been perfectly appalled. Iruka was far more creative, mischievous, and downright wicked than Genma had ever thought a child could be.
"Ah. You've got that 'I-will-strangle-the-Iruka-brat' look on your face," rumbled a deep voice.
Genma whirled and looked up. The tall, muscled man looked familiar. After a blink, Genma placed him as the Academy teacher who had given him the impossible Genin team. Try as he might, Genma could not recall the man's name.
"Fuji Hiko," the man said. "And you're Shiranui, ne?"
"Aa." Genma blinked again, and winced as his stomach growled.
Hiko smiled wryly. "Hungry and broke, no doubt. Come along, I'll buy you breakfast. We need to talk about Iruka." He turned, long black ponytail swishing, and marched off without so much as glancing back to see if Genma was following. Which he was--he was not about to pass up the offer of free food. "I should have got around to you before this, but as soon as I graduated that hell-brat, they dumped a load of brand-new kiddies on me. And five of them want to be like Iruka. Too bad for them they're all stupider than he ever was."
Hell-brat was, Genma thought darkly, an appropriate moniker for Iruka. "Um, I think Fugaku-sama said you had taken charge of Iruka before this?"
"Oh yes. Unfortunately." Hiko cast him a dark-eyed glance over a shoulder. "Now I will happily pass that duty on to you."
The large man turned down a street lined with restaurants. Genma raised an eyebrow. The places to eat here on Moshi Avenue were often expensive. Hiko made a beeline through the crowds for Daisuke's, a pretty high-end restaurant that catered exclusively to ninja. Gleeful now, Genma followed. They were seated quickly, and it was obvious Hiko was a frequent customer: the cheerful waitress asked him if he wanted the usual, and then provided Genma with the menu. She was quite cute, and the uniforms here had a nice short skirt. Genma watched her leave with great appreciation.
"They throw you out if you bother the servers," Hiko intoned.
Genma snorted. "I wasn't bothering. Anyway, about Iruka...?"
Hiko raised a single eyebrow at him, face impassive. It was a very intimidating expression. "He's very intelligent, easily bored, can't sit still, and needs to be checked on weekly to make sure he has food in his house and has remembered to eat." Hiko paused, then continued. "Tends towards destructive in his mischief. Do not allow him exploding tags for anything but missions. Let Hayate handle him when he sulks, Hayate's good for that. And do not expect anything out of him on Tuesdays. I think that's it. Oh, no, sorry: under no circumstances, not even emergencies, should Iruka be allowed anywhere near glue."
"Why Tuesdays?" Genma asked, barely noticing as the cute waitress returned with their coffee. "What is up with Tuesdays? He won't tell me, Hayate won't tell me, and Ayame knows nothing more than I do."
"Tuesdays are important to Iruka." Hiko picked up a packet of sugar, and slowly opened it. He poured it into his steaming mug. "You are aware that Iruka's parents died in the Kyuubi attack, yes?"
Genma winced at the open reference to the disaster. It was something most people did not discuss--two years past was not long enough to heal the wounds that had been made.
Hiko ignored it and went on, stirring his coffee with a pair of chopsticks he did not bother to break apart. "Iruka was quite depressed afterwards, and his behavior--already bad--took a turn towards ugly. He was very destructive, and injured several of his classmates. I'm sure you saw the attempted murder charge on his arrest record--that was Jaken, who later had to drop out of the Academy."
"A classmate? I thought...I thought it was a mis-print." Genma reached for his coffee absently, and burned his tongue on the first sip. He winced, distracted from his shock. "Attempted murder?" he repeated.
"A prank gone badly, I think. I don't like to believe Iruka meant to deliberately stop his heart." Hiko shook his head. "He's a brat and rude and rebellious, but he is a kind boy. His parent's death hurt him badly, made him very lonely. After he and Hayate became better friends, though, his behavior and attitude improved. But Tuesdays are very important--those are the days he remembers his parents. You can always find him at the October Memorial, but I don't suggest bothering him."
"I did that once." Genma shook his head. "I won't be doing it again."
"You seem a sharp one, Shiranui." Hiko smirked at him. "Take care of Iruka. Be careful--the brat grows on you."
Their breakfast arrived, and they settled down to eat.
A/N: The plot thickens! Iruka is a troublemaker... And Genma gets fed. At last. Once again, please excuse my completely fictional legal processes.
Next chapter! THINGS HAPPEN! The teams gets their first C-rank mission, and get to see the outside world! Look for a familiar face!
SIX REVIEWS! An outstanding thanks to those who reviewed last chapter! Ya'll are awesome! Ghostboy814, Ally Plz, D Redd Coyote, Ice Dragon3, InARealPickle, and Ryo Yuriko!
Chotto Wait, hold on, a short version of chotto matte
Ohayou gozaimasu Good morning, the full and formally polite version
Arigatou Thanks, short version of arigatou gozaimasu