Pairings: Implied KakuHida, Josh/Kazu, Mel/Chiaki, others still being considered
Story: Hidan and the gang have grown up, their own kids in high school now. But whats this? Hidan is in jail on a false charge, leaving his young son to be put through the torture of the foster care system. He's been put with an abusive foster father, who only cares about the money he gets for keeping the young boy. But now Kazu is in Akatsuki High, the school his own father went to. And all his father's old friends send their kids to. Things are about to get interesting for young Kazu...
Disclaimer: Fathers (c) Kishimoto
Kids and Extras (c) Me

Tomorrow was Friday. Parent-teacher conferences. Kazu shivered as he walked home, the notice for parents held tightly in his right hand. His foster father had to go… there was no one else, except maybe Temari and he doubted they would see her as a true guardian. No, Mr. Hughes was the only one who could go. Kazu just prayed to Jashin that he wouldn't be drunk when he went.

Kazu's foster father found whatever reason he could to drink, he'd lost a job, he'd gained a job, he'd gotten a girlfriend, he'd gotten in a fight, he'd bought a new jacket… Kazu felt his stomach grumble as he thought about his foster father. He looked down at his stomach, remembering not having been able to eat all of the lunch Josh had brought him. He knew the reason for it, as well, after missing so many meals, eating so little… his stomach had shrunken.

Now whenever he got the chance to eat, he couldn't get enough food. At least he had been able to convince his foster father to get him lunch and dinner while he had been sick. Which was three days so far.

And he knew he wasn't really sick, but he couldn't very well go to school with a bruise stretching half his body. People would ask questions, Josh would demand to know how he had gotten so hurt… and he couldn't give the group the "I ran into a door" excuse again. He had already used that for his split lip, immobile arm, and the red ark that had stretched across his neck.

He couldn't tell anyone what he suffered through. He couldn't be moved even further from his father, not again.

But when the knock came on his door at exactly 3:45pm, Kazu panicked. He didn't have his hoodie on, nothing with which to cover his face, and he knew his foster father would answer and scare whoever it was away, or… Kazu darted into his room, shutting the door and scrambling for a blanket or his hoodie…

"Kazu! One of your little friends is here!" Kazu flinched when he heard his guardian call him, knowing that if it was one of his friends, his foster father would send them to his room. He was terrified they would come in to see him like this…

"Yes!" Kazu hissed as he found a hoodie, pulling it over his head as the door to his room opened.

"Kazu?" he knew that voice, oh did he know that voice. Kazu tugged the hood over his head, back to Josh, making sure the hood covered his eyes before he turned and ran to give Josh a hug. "God, I was worried about you…" Josh whispered, holding Kazu close to him.

"…close the door…" Kazu muttered. He didn't want his homo-phobic foster father to see anything that might set him off, though the two had a purely platonic relationship.

"Kay," Josh muttered, turning to pull the door shut. "Hey, where have you been? You never miss school… And you didn't text or call. You didn't even text Aiden or Jain," the tall boy muttered, stating the two people Kazu had only recently become close to. "Do you know how worried I've been?"

Kazu didn't say a word, only gently nuzzling Josh's chest. The smaller boy gently led Josh backwards, making him sit on the edge of Kazu's barely-there bed. Kazu was surprised his foster father had even seen it necessary to give him a bed. Josh sighed, unhooking his arms from around Kazu's body, reaching up a hand to gently stoke the left side of Kazu's face. When the boy didn't flinch away, Josh leaned down to rest his forehead against Kazu's hidden one.

"What did that bastard do to you this time?" Josh whispered, closing his eyes to hide the pain at not being able to help his best friend. He had guessed Kazu's foster father had been hurting him a month ago when Kazu had come to school with an immobile left arm. "I know you won't tell me, and I'm not supposed to ask, but… Damn it, Kazu, you don't have to put up with this!"

"…you stopped calling me San," Kazu murmured, smiling and leaning into the hand that still resided on his cheek.

"Don't change the subject, Kazu!" Josh hissed, letting his hand fall from Kazu's cheek. "I want to help you, Kazu! Can't you just… go to your guardian or something? I just… I can't see you getting hurt anymore… You don't deserve this, Kazu!"

Kazu shivered at Josh's words, wanting to kiss Josh and tell him everything, ask him to take him from this place forever, tell him how he felt… But he couldn't.

"I can't, Josh," Kazu whispered. "I hate the bastard, you have no idea. He gets drunk, forgets to fucking feed me, beats me, but… if I go into the foster care system again, no matter what I say, they'll take me even further from my father. I just… my dad is everything to me, I only have to deal with this for another two years… I'll be eighteen my first year of college, in almost two years…" Kazu slowly stood up. "I hate my foster father, but I'm not leaving until I'm an adult. Besides… my dad will be able to get out on good behavior in…" Kazu glanced at the calendar. "Two weeks."

Josh stared at Kazu, frowning slightly as he watched his friend smile. "You love your dad that much?" he whispered.

"He's all I've got… well, kinda…" Kazu lay down on the small bed, laying his head in Josh's lap. "I have you and the rest of the group now… I don't want to leave you guys… you're the only friends I've had in the past three years."

Josh sighed, leaning down to encompass Kazu in a hug. "You could always come live with me and my dad… Besides, when he meets your foster dad tomorrow, my dad will probably drag you out of this house," Josh chuckled. "…hey, you want to come over to my house tonight? The rest of the guys are coming over as well, and I'm sure they'll want to know you're not dead."

Kazu smiled slightly. "Yeah, sure… Sounds like fun."

A/N: Alright, so I did not make up the shrinking stomach thing. I only know this because, well... my stomach shrunk. You see, this is why people who are starving can't eat huge amounts of food like they would like to, they'll throw it all up. Glad I could give you a little knowledge about that...

So! I'm sorry about this kinda boring chapter... BUT! I promise something will happen next chapter! Things will be revealed and all... so I'm sorry about that really short update. It's kinda full of Kazu and Josh fluff, though, so I hope that makes up for it. And Kazu's true feelings were revealed... So... yeah... I'ma go write another story now...