Chapter 21

They got back to Suna in the afternoon of the next day, traveling all night to make it. Kankuro's relief upon entering his father's office was nothing compared to his father's relief upon seeing them.

"Kankuro!" Yondaime flew from his seat and wrapped Kankuro in a tight hug. Then he turned and pulled in Temari. "Temari…" He kissed her cheek. Then he hesitated when it came to Gaara.

Gaara raised an eyebrow.

Yondaime opened his arms.

Gaara stood still and stared.

Yondaime sighed. "Please?"

Gaara reluctantly shuffled into his father's arms.

Yondaime hugged Gaara and rocked him gently.

Gaara suddenly looked as if he was about to cry.

Baki cleared his throat. "There's one more."

"Hm?" Yondaime looked up from Gaara. "What?"

"One more than usual," Baki said. He gestured.

Jiraiya stood in the doorway, a stunned look of longing frozen on his face at the family scene for a moment, before he realized everyone was looking at him. He put on a smile. "Hi."

"Come in here," Baki said, crossing the room and dragging Jiraiya inside by the arm. "Don't stand there and stare. You're part of this, too."

Jiraiya worked his arm free of Baki's grasp and bowed. "Konnichiwa, Kazekage-sama."

"So respectful," Yondaime said, amused. Kankuro caught a mischievous glint in his father's eyes. "You may rise."

Jiraiya straightened. "Thank you for your information, Kazekage-sama. The message has been sent to Hokage-sama in Konoha. I have no doubt he will prepare for the possible invasion attempt."

"Yes, yes," Yondaime said dismissively. Kankuro noted that his father's relief still ran high; he was unusually relaxed, leaning back in his chair. "That doesn't explain why you are here."

"Nothing adds up, Kazekage-sama," Jiraiya said. "I want to work out the cause of this sudden decision to attack Konoha."

Yondaime gestured. "By all means."

"Who can I trust in this village to give me information?" Jiraiya asked.

"Not many," Yondaime said. "Outside of this room…none. Except for Baki's family. Even they – the most removed cousins and such – will have to be carefully screened. No family stands together completely when it comes to politics."

Jiraiya bowed. "I understand, Kazekage-sama."

"This is serious," Kankuro commented. It was one thing to think so privately, and another to talk openly of information gathering against a conspiracy to break a treaty, with a Sannin's help.

"I should get started right away," Jiraiya said. He started making seals for a teleportation jutsu.

Yondaime held up a hand. "Wait a minute."

Jiraiya paused. "Yes?"

"Where are you staying?" Yondaime asked.

"I figured I'd just camp out," Jiraiya said.

"Nonsense," Yondaime said. "You're visiting your relatives. You're staying with Baki from now on."

Jiraiya bowed. "Yes, Kazekage-sama."

Baki didn't react. He looked as impassive as ever.

Kankuro found that suspicious. He also found it interesting that Jiraiya apparently hadn't been planning on visiting his only living relatives. Or imposing on them for a place to stay. Visiting relatives were always offered hospitality, even if one had never met them before. It was part of Suna and Konoha's shared cultural etiquette. It would have been perfectly acceptable for Jiraiya to show up at Baki's family home asking for a place to stay.

Maybe he doesn't want to get them involved because the work he's here to do is dangerous, Kankuro thought. But he doubted it. Judging by the look he'd seen on Jiraiya's face, family was a painful subject. Or lack thereof. He said he's an orphan. That must suck.

Kankuro knew that as a single parent household, he and his siblings were only one step away from being orphaned. All their other relatives were dead except for Chiyo and Ebizo, and they were recluses. Kankuro had a hard time imagining they'd allow him and his siblings to live in their cave, or that they would move back to Suna to take care of kids they hardly knew.

"Now may I go?" Jiraiya asked, smiling wryly. "Now that you've assigned me a place to stay?"

Yondaime chuckled. "Yes."

Jiraiya teleported out.

Baki shook his head. "That one is tough to handle."

"I find him malleable enough," Yondaime said.

"You could bend steel," Baki said.

Yondaime grinned.

Kankuro took in the still-rare expression, and found hope that things were improving. Even with a conspiracy afoot.

xXx

After the Scroll of Hachiman was safely put away for the client to recover, everyone went home. Kankuro knew that they were all probably eager to shower, eat a good lunch, and relax. Temari went over to a friend's house, and Gaara holed himself up in one of his many secret hiding places, meditating to restore his energy and balance.

Kankuro went down to the basement after his shower and visited his puppet workshop. He always made sure he had plenty of busywork to do. Busywork distracted him from any unpleasant facts of life.

He'd managed to convince their father to come home early as well, something Yondaime agreed to so easily that Kankuro thought his father must not have been sleeping well.

Though he surrounded himself with blueprints and spare puppet parts, thoughts about his father crept in; mostly worry. Some of them recollections of the sexy things they'd done.

Kankuro found himself unable to wait until after dinner. He knew his father was most likely having private time as prescribed by the therapist, but having the day off due to completing an S-Rank mission made him antsy. There was only so long he could fiddle around with fixing or modifying his puppets.

He went upstairs and knocked on his father's door. "Dad? Are you okay? Are you busy?"

"Come in," Yondaime said. "I dislike talking through the door. And I'm not busy."

Kankuro let himself in and shut the door behind him.

His father was still dressed in his black martial arts coat from the office. He looked a little pale, and a little as though he'd been crying. Kankuro noticed a leather-bound book on his father's pillow; probably the journal his father was keeping.

Writing makes him cry? Kankuro wondered. "What's up, Dad?" he asked aloud.

"Did you miss me?" Yondaime asked softly. He walked silently from the nightstand to Kankuro, wrapping his arms around his son gently. "Because I missed you." He kissed Kankuro softly and slowly, mouthing Kankuro's lips as if reacquainting himself with their touch.

Kankuro found it almost unbearably sexy. He closed his eyes and mouthed his father's lips in return, tracing his father's lips with his tongue and brushing his fingers through his father's auburn hair. "I missed you so much," Kankuro said, realizing he'd missed his father so much, in fact, he'd blocked the feeling out. He did that when his feelings got too intense. It was part of his training as a shinobi. These days, he did it without thinking.

His father stroked his cheek and rested their foreheads together, closing his eyes. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Kankuro said, and hesitated. "Did it feel good for you, Dad? When we did it?" He knew they'd spent a long time afterwards snuggling and talking, and his father had said it was good. As good as Kankuro had felt it was. But now his father had time to think about it. What if the answer was different?

"Yes," his father said, stroking Kankuro's cheek. He kissed Kankuro gently. "Yes, it was. It was very good. I would think that…" He shivered. "…would you had died…I still…"

Kankuro pressed a firm kiss to his father's lips to stop the words, delving his tongue into his father's mouth with tender insistence. He moaned, cupping his father's face with both hands. After trading caresses for a few minutes, he pulled away and said breathlessly, "None of that. I'll do that with you every day if it will make you stop thinking that. I'm never leaving. I'm never leaving. I'm always just coming back."

His father hugged him tightly.

Kankuro hugged back, and realized they were both hard. He could feel their hardness pressing against each other. He shifted his hips experimentally.

His father moaned. His head fell back, his mouth falling open.

"Oh…" Kankuro smiled slyly. He stroked his hands up his father's back. One hand went to the back of his father's neck, supporting. He dipped his head in and nuzzled his father's neck. With his free hand, he toyed with the frog buttons of his father's black martial arts jacket.

His father moaned again and arched his back, pressing into the touches. "Undo my buttons. Oh, god, Kankuro…"

Kankuro grinned and hastily worked his fingers through the buttons, unhooking his father's jacket in quick succession. He slipped his hand underneath the martial arts jacket and caressed his father's nipples through the two shirts his father wore. His father's nipples were hard; that made them easy to find and tease.

Yondaime's breath hitched. He let out a soft whimper, squeezing his eyes shut tight, and shifted his hips against Kankuro's involuntarily.

Kankuro rubbed his father's nipples, getting harder himself. His breaths quickened. "Wanna do it? Wanna do what we did before I went to Rivers? Dad?"

"I-If you want to," Yondaime said, flustered. "But it's your turn, you know…you don't have to give it up because of me. I'll make you feel the pleasure you made me feel…"

Arousal sang high and electric in Kankuro's veins. Whoa… "I-I'm not sure I'm ready," he admitted.

His father mouthed his lips gently and sucked on his lower lip. "I'm willing to wait as long as you want to wait. Believe me, son, I would never force you. I'd never force you to do anything. You're my son, and I love you."

Somehow, those words dissolved the knots in Kankuro's stomach. He tried to gauge whether he was ready or not. "Mostly I just wanna make out with you. I wanna make out with you until we both come."

"Sounds good…to me," his father said breathlessly.

Kankuro pulled his martial arts jacket off. They proceeded towards the bed. Kankuro pushed his father down playfully and stripped his father's t-shirt off, leaving the skintight, slippery mesh. He teased his father's nipples through the fabric with both thumbs, licking his lips and letting out a sigh at the way his father squirmed and moaned underneath him. He was very hard and leaking. "Oh, Dad. God, you're sexy."

Yondaime looked up at him with amazement, flushed.

Kankuro smiled and leaned down, kissing him. Then he pulled up his father's black mesh shirt and kissed each of his father's nipples. He mouthed and kissed them each in turn, alternating frequently, getting himself lost in the pleasure of giving his father pleasure. "Your nipples are sexy," he whispered.

His father arched and moaned, squirming, rubbing their hips together.

Kankuro shifted his hips against his father in return, grinning. He feathered his fingers down his father's sides. At the same time, he licked and sucked his father's nipples, delighting in the hardness, the soft skin, the warmth.

His father let out a husky moan and yanked off his mesh shirt himself, lying completely bare from the waist up.

"Are you wet?" Kankuro whispered playfully. "Are you wet because of me?"

"Very," his father said, his voice deeper than usual.

Kankuro felt a surge of heat settle in his stomach at that. "Then why don't you take your underwear off? Let me see."

His father blushed brightly but complied, waiting until Kankuro climbed off of him. He slipped his pants and boxers down, wiggling to get free, and then peeled them off his legs, panting. His erection was hard, red, and wet, glistening with moisture already.

"Mm." Kankuro licked his lips. He wanted to suck it. He looked up at his father's face and raised an eyebrow.

His father blushed even more deeply, his eyes going wide.

Kankuro smiled, leaned in, and kissed the tip of his father's erection. He tasted sweetness and salt. He licked and kissed his father's erection for a few moments, then straddled his father's hips again. He returned to kissing and sucking his father's nipples, panting.

His father let out a long, ragged moan, his head falling back on the pillow, his body going limp.

Kankuro moaned himself, unable to help rubbing himself against his father.

"Yes…" His father's voice came out a moan. "Yes…more…Kankuro…" He shifted. "Oh…"

A jolt of arousal shot through Kankuro, making his erection leak. "More?"

"More." His father nodded.

Kankuro licked and sucked on his father's nipples with abandon, rubbing and gently squeezing the one his mouth wasn't on at the moment, giving himself completely over to the moment. He could feel they were both sweating, and his father just got wetter and wetter, dripping.

Eventually, his father reached up and squeezed his waist with both hands, trailed his hands gently over Kankuro's bottom.

Kankuro moaned deeply at the touches straying to his bottom. He'd never felt this before. His bottom tingled. He arched his back, pressing back into his father's hands.

"You like that," Yondaime whispered.

"Yes," Kankuro gasped breathlessly around his father's nipple.

"Would you like me to do some more?"

"Yes…Oh, yes…" Kankuro squirmed.

His father stroked his bottom through his cargo pants, petting.

Kankuro whimpered and squirmed uncontrollably. The fluttering tingles spread throughout his entire body, making his erection leak and his nipples harden. He soaked his boxers through in no time.

"Do you wish me to continue?" his father asked softly.

Kankuro nodded. He found himself being tenderly stripped by his father, until his lower half was bare, and being turned gently on his stomach, lying in the middle of his father's soft bed. His erection leaked against the bed sheet. "I love you," he whispered.

His father kissed the back of his neck. "I love you, too."

Kankuro spread his legs, and found his father kneeling behind him, stroking and massaging his bare bottom with both hands, with the callused pads of slender, gentle fingers. Kankuro was amazed at the pleasure. His uncertainties were balanced by the fact that his father was gentle, and the caresses to his bottom felt so good his entire body was soon throbbing.

"You do like this, don't you, Kankuro?" his father murmured.

"Yes…" Kankuro shifted, rubbing himself against the mattress. It felt great on his erection and his hardened nipples.

"Did you know I can kiss you back here?" Yondaime asked, his voice soft and seductive. "I can kiss your back, kiss you all the way down, son. Would you like to try it?"

Kankuro squirmed. "Yes." What kind of question is that? He realized his father was being extra careful and gentle with him. He appreciated it. He had a thing about people being behind him – again, because of Shukaku. So many things he'd learned to be jumpy about because of Shukaku.

His father stroked his back with both hands. "Okay." He leaned over Kankuro. Kankuro could feel the warmth radiating from his father's body. His father gently shifted his hands down to Kankuro's hips and kissed the back of Kankuro's neck. That felt kind of nice. The really nice part was when his father licked down his spine, vertebrae by vertebrae. That sent liquid heat surging through Kankuro's veins. More and more heat, the further down on his body his father got.

Then his father was licking his tailbone, massaging and licking his bottom, and it felt incredible. Kankuro had never imagined that someone would want to kiss his bottom this way, but he was in an ecstasy of pleasure because of it, squirming and wailing. His father's gentle squeezing and massaging along with it sent deep surges pulsing through Kankuro to his erection. His erection throbbed, and his face flamed.

"Dad, that feels so good. Dad, please don't stop," he heard himself begging. It's delicious. The thought pinged through his head, but he couldn't get the words out. He was too busy trying to breathe as his father complied, licking his skin and massaging his bottom at the same time.

Kankuro found his entrance back there burning and tingling pleasantly. He felt the twitching and contracting with fascination. He'd never felt that before. Do I really want it? Suddenly, the image of his father fingering him came to him, and it seemed appealing.

Kankuro decided to wait. His father was the one with sexual experience, after all. It had only been a few weeks, and Kankuro wanted to go slowly, like any other couple. The only reason they'd had sex this early was because his father had wanted it so badly. He wasn't going to deny his father a thing like that, not when his father was under so much stress. And being inside his father had felt incredible. Kankuro had no regrets at all.

But he suspected he might have regrets if they went too fast in other areas, so he kept his new fantasy silent and just enjoyed what his father was doing right now.

His father detected the urgency of his moans and lapped at his tailbone meaningfully, relentlessly giving pleasure. At the same time, his fingers trailed lower, until he was lightly stroking the cleft of Kankuro's bottom.

That turned Kankuro on so wildly that he came then and there, wailing and grinding his erection into the bed. "Oh, god!"

Kankuro felt himself being turned over and drawn into his father's arms. He was limp and warm and couldn't see. He suspected he had his eyes closed. He didn't have the strength to open them. To his mingled embarrassment and amusement, Kankuro felt a thin string of drool on the corner of his mouth, because he was so relaxed and sleepy. His father cuddled him, rocking him and stroking him and murmuring, "I love you," pressing kisses into Kankuro's damp hair. Kankuro didn't think he'd ever been happier.

He pressed back into his father's arms when he could, murmuring, "I love you, Daddy." There had never been a better moment in his life. He caught his father's arms weakly and hugged them to his body, delighting in their snuggles. "I love you, I love you, I love you."

His father laughed gently and kissed his forehead, playfully mouthing and leaving a noisy kiss. "I love you, love you, love you, too."

Kankuro giggled. It was good to be home.