Confluence

By Violet Garnets

Chapter Sixteen: Pulled by the Undertow

o-x-o-x-o

Sakura followed Ei slowly, taking each step with care. Perhaps due to its location, Kumogakure was an unusually quiet town. Rather, its energy was quiet, crackling like clouds pregnant with lightning. Of course, like any country, there were loud, outspoken fire-starters, but somehow they seemed more of an anomaly than the rule. They all seemed confident to her, secure in their bearings. It made sense, of course, given their safe fortress and unshakeable economic situation.

The village itself was constantly shrouded in a soft fog, fitting its name. The high altitude gave the Konoha team a slight hitch in their breath every now and then, but all of them had acclimated well enough. Sakura didn't appreciate the drop in temperature and clutched her cloak to her body tightly. A gentle snow began to descend; the flakes were large enough to stick. She shivered.

"Are you all right, Haruno-san?"

"I'm fine. Thank you, Raikage-sama."

"Even if it already nighttime, you leaf-nin are such pansies when it comes to snow. Or should I say, cherry blossoms?" He rumbled with laughter.

"Clever, sir," she responded with polite amusement.

Speaking of the leaf-nin, they had left the others back at the Raikage's Headquarters. They had all been debriefed, but Ei had asked only Sakura to go meet the family of the Jinchuuriki. "They asked for any and only members of the original Team Kakashi."

Her heart skipped and she slowed down. "Wait. What do you mean, they asked for us?"

The man stopped, turning around to face her with a reassuring smile. "They are trustworthy. More so than any other family in this village. Bee would not have entrusted the Hachibi to this family if we did not feel they were reliable. I just know that they wanted Team Seven. You should not be surprised to hear that your team's reputation has stretched this far. Your leader is Sharingan no Kakashi, after all, although I must admit they seemed to have other reasons to take interest in your team. Come, it's only a few more steps this way."

She continued to follow him, but her mind was bounds ahead of the pair's footsteps. When they finally caught up to the torrent of her thoughts, the house surged into view as the snow was just picking up.

"That's the one," Ei said. "The small one."

Sakura wouldn't say it was small, but it certainly cowered to its adjacent buildings. Nestled in an elaborate spread of well-decorated houses, this was clearly a branch family of a much larger and more powerful clan. Nevertheless, the home looked cozy, and a warm light seemed to invite them in. Shadows flickered in and out, growing more defined as they approached.

A knocked on the door, two firm strikes of his knuckles against the wood. They only waited half a second before the door opened to reveal a tall, lithe man. He had dark skin, though not quite as dark as Ei's or Bee's, and long, grey hair. His features were stern, but not cold. He greeted the two of them with a smile. "Yondaime-sama. Kunoichi-san. Welcome." He pulled back to allow them in. A flurry of snow followed the pair into the hallway.

"Where is your wife, En?"

He took their cloaks and pointed them down the hall. "Kira is with the child. Yomei is usually very quiet, but–" A peal of childish laughter interrupted him. "There are times when his giggling keeps us up well into the night. Excuse me; I will join you shortly." With that, En disappeared into another hallway, but not without a pointed look at Ei.

"You go ahead, Haruno-san. I'd like to talk to En about separate matters for a moment." Ei nodded and then left her.

So she did as he suggested and moved towards the room at the end of the hall. The child laughed again, and though part of her wanted to smile, most of her body shook from being cold– and having cold feet. Whatever did she have to worry about? It certainly wasn't the Jinchuuriki aspect. A child was a child, and a curse was a curse. It didn't have to be a curse anyway, she thought, thinking of Naruto's latest training and the way that demon power coursed through his hands.

But there was something moving through her, that same strangeness she experienced when she had that hallucination–she couldn't really think of calling it something else, except for "memory", but that still seemed absurd–no, Sakura knew better than this. In medicine, skill only took you so far. A kunoichi's instinct pushed one in the right direction, always. It was just a child, in any case. She took a slow breath and pushed the door aside.

The room was nothing special, just like a typical room in a typical clan house you would find in Konoha, although she could feel more heat running through the tatami under her feet to keep everything warm. She looked down to see large brown eyes peering at her, and it took all her willpower to keep a straight face. Tears sprung to her eyes. Sakura could almost feel the curious glances nudging her, coming from both the young boy and his mother.

"He looks like an Uchiha," she blurted, and then flushed a deep, deep rose red. "Oh no, I'm sorry! I didn't, I couldn't stop myself. Excu–"

The mother interrupted her, smiling gently. "We have heard that many times. Yomei certainly does not share the typical characteristics of the Nii family." Sakura, however, upon closer and more clearheaded inspection, could start to see the similarities between Yomei and his mother. His dark brown (almost black, like an Uchiha's) eyes were warm and shaped like his mother's and his hair, much like her soft blonde, was honey brown and mussed. But the jawline had the same Uchiha angles, and his smile...gods, when she saw him grin up at her, she thought, for a moment, it was Sasuke looking at her, happy again.

She bent down and patted the little boy on the head, smiling apologetically. "You're a very handsome young boy."

He smiled at her again, while her heart crashed like a cymbal, she managed to smile back.

With her other hand, she pushed away a few hairs straying into his eyes. "Tell me your name?"

"I'm Yomei. Nice to meet you."

"Wow, how well-mannered! Your parents have raised you well, haven't they?"

He nodded. "I'm gonna be strong like you, hime-sama!"

"Yomei, she's not a princess," his mother clarified, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "She is quite lovely though. You'll have to excuse my son..."

" My name is Haruno Sakura, miss," she offered, trying not to blush at the compliment.

"Please, Kira is fine."

Sakura felt the boy turn around underneath her hand, arms akimbo, as he spoke indignantly to his mother, "But she is a princess! Hime-sama is the princess who hated...Mama, what are those things that cover your face?" He dashed to the corner of the room to pick up a small blanket and threw it over him. Yomei looked like a tiny little ghost. "These things? Smaller?"

"A veil?" Kira offered.

Yomei nodded under his blanket, dashing over to his mother's embrace with his arms out, as if he were flying. "A veil, a veil! It was really red, like hime-sama's shirt!" His mother picked him up and brought him over to Sakura.

"Sakura-san, are you all right? You're very pale." Kira asked as her son reached forward to grab the pink-haired woman's hand.

"Am I?" A voice responded and although logically it could only belong to Sakura, she couldn't register it as her own. Her vision grew hazy and she was falling through layers and layers of deep, deep fog...

o-x-o-x-o

Kakashi had been nursing a slow-growing headache in his sleeping quarters for the past few hours, tossing and turning in his bed. The quarters provided were fine, if (understandably) a little damp. It seemed like he'd be sharing a bed with insomnia again tonight.

Huang had refused to share any more information. Yin and Li assured them that this was merely dramatic flair on their leader's part, and they would find out more in the morning when everything was settled and prepared. Li then showed them to their rooms, and then left them to go finish some historian work. Kakashi had begun to let down his guard somewhat around Li, but the young man exuded quite the enigmatic aura that the Copy-nin was still unsure about this Hei member. Something about the young man suggested that, pushed the wrong way, he could be a fearsome figure.

Not unlike Kakashi himself.

He chuckled, turning over to the right for the sixth time in two hours. Perhaps that was it– it was like looking in a mirror. A stoic young man with a lightning affinity and an undercurrent of edgy danger. Of course.

So...if he had any advice to tell Li...was it also advice for himself?

Open up.

Once more, Naruto's simple statement flashed across Kakashi's memory. Don't be scared. Let the floodgates loose. Things along those lines. That's what the younger man meant, right? Simple advice. Sound advice for any situation. Yet Kakashi was hellbent on resisting. His headache was growing worse, denser and more acute in its attack on his temples. His body felt out of place, as if someone had nudged his soul a little to the left, leaving him in a small crammed space.

What if he did "open up"? What did that mean, exactly?

Goddammit, this headache was growing absurd. He turned again, to face the door, massaging his temple in small circles. The door was open. Naruto's lithe silhouette casted a shadow on the bed.

"Can't sleep?" The blond asked.

Kakashi attempted to answer, but only a low grown emerged from his throat. He couldn't even lift his head.

"Headache? Let me see," Naruto's tone was worried, Kakashi could tell in the half-lucid moments he was holding on to. He felt Naruto's hands – warm with chakra and a little dry, like crackling fire – slip under his and gently rub at the temples. Were his headache not so terrible, he would have resisted. But any more frustration would only worsen things, so he let it be and just closed his eyes. "Breathe," the voice beside him whispered. "Slow."

Kakashi attempted to resist one last time and wrest his head away, but Naruto's grip was firm.

"Seriously. It won't hurt you at all, Kakashi. Just a few moments. Breathe."

And so teacher obeyed student. A deep breath through his nose, and then out from his mouth softly. In waves, Naruto's ministrations reached him, like raindrops on a river, but they sank in deeper and deeper. No one in Konoha had particularly soft hands, for the life of a shinobi meant giving up such luxury, but the touch, the touch was soft, and Naruto's full, young hands lessened the impact of such work. More importantly, they radiated a warmth Kakashi had never experienced in anyone else. A love. A love that terrified him. But one that would not go away. The Hatake began to focus less on his breathing, more on the gentle circles on either side of his head. The minutes passed as if they moved through honey; it was,0 altogether, not an unpleasant experience.

He had grown up with only one understanding of how to live. But sometimes Kakashi wondered how life would be like, if he were just a civilian, a farmer out in the fields, coming home to massages in the evening. With someone else? He tried to picture a woman at the door of a farm house, like Kurenai– but no, he only conjured Naruto at his apartment complex, leaning against the banister, grinning through his large yawn, holding a plastic bag of takeout in his hand.

What a fantasy.

"Naruto." The blond had stopped his ministrations. Kakashi's headache had certainly lessened.

"No need for thanks."

"You deserve to be happy," Kakashi muttered as Naruto stopped massaging and pulled away his hands. "I am not someone who makes others happy, Naruto. Give up on this."

Those blue eyes flashed, bright and fearsome as any Chidori. "You know what would make me happy right now? You shutting up. And you know what else would make my night? Fucking you."

He half-registered Naruto heaving him up and straddling him, taking off his mask and throwing it to the table, but impulse had taken over. No, not impulse, but those warm hands grabbing for his face and his chest and whatever lay underneath that; those slightly chapped lips, invading like the reckless shinobi they belonged to, pressing deep into Kakashi's lips and the silence behind; and those eyes, that unparalleled blue, a dreamer's blue, a healer's blue, that tried to reach deep into him, into a thing Naruto would call a fractured scar: an opening.

One hand, wanting closeness, reached up to cover Naruto's. The other, wanting distance, pulled at a bundle of golden hair. Naruto tugged the other direction in response, as if daring him to yank out his hair, smashing his insistent mouth even more into Kakashi. His tongue teased in short flares, passive-aggressively indicating its wishes.

Naruto stopped for half a moment, just long enough to repeat himself. "I'm going to fuck you." With that,

Kakashi could feel a quick swipe of a groin against his own, and a thrill of heat sprinted up his body, from the pelvis up to the top of his head. He felt lightheaded, and almost groaned, but he was stifled by a punishing kiss, and cool air spilled across his thighs, knees, calves, and he felt Naruto pulling off his pants entirely, shuffling downdowndowndown and–

Searing heat choked him, because there was mouth swallowing his cock therewasmouthswallowinghiscock – when the hell had it gotten hard and how the fuck did it throb so? – and his hands clawed their ways into the sheets, trying to hold onto anything, because he was losing every sense of faculty he had ever possessed. Naruto's tongue ran along the underside of his member and it took everything in him now to groan.

There was a stop in the action, giving Kakashi time to breathe. He looked up to see Naruto's head tilted, the blond hair slightly matted to his forehead and pushed to one side, saliva (or mostly saliva, he didn't really want to ask) glazing his smirking lips and trailing down on side of his mouth, eyes electric, blue like lightning. "You don't like being loud, do you?"

Kakashi gulped, breathless again.

Naruto had accepted some sort of self-made challenge, as he went down again, this time faster, this time more erratic. The suddenness caught Kakashi off-guard, and a moan escaped him. He arched, matched his movements to the bobs of Naruto's head, each breath turning into more of a gasp or a groan, then

Stars, and a sigh.

Well, fuck.

How old I'm getting, he thought with another sigh. After a long moment (presumably so he could clean his mouth up), Naruto continued to press little kisses from his groin upward, strong hands on Kakashi's hips. The copy-nin himself absentmindedly had his hand in Naruto's hair, running through it. It was damp close to his scalp, thick and soft.

When the kisses had made their way up to his chest and Naruto latched himself onto a nipple, Kakashi drily asked, "You're still hard, aren't you?" Thought it was more statement than question.

The younger one looked up and grinned. "I'm glad you went to bed without a shirt. And no." Kakashi didn't believe him. But he pushed himself up to let Kakashi peek down at his own cock, which, indeed, was spent as well. "I can take care of myself."

He raised a fine grey eyebrow. Then the realization hit him. "You were better at that than I expected."

Naruto feigned hurt, but the impish look never left his face. "When Yamato and I were traveling–" and for a moment a horrific thought crossed Kakashi's mind of the young man in front of him doing what he had just done to his former ANBU subordinate – "sometimes the village boys were very generous in their welcome. Those little civilian towns don't get a lot of visitors, you see." He rolled off the bed, picked up his boxers, and stretched with a yawn, boxers in hand. "Changed my mind. Not going to fuck you tonight. I'm going to bed. Night, Kakashi." He swooped in for a deep kiss and then, just like that, was up and out.

Bewildered (at both the change in mind and the images of Naruto giving blowjobs to young civilian teens or being given such treatment himself), the jounin watched Naruto strut to the door and open it, completely naked. He seemed to be completely sure no one would catch him on his way back to his room.

"Everyone's sleeping in another hall. It's just you and me in this one."

"Aah."

"I practiced." Naruto wasn't looking at him.

"Hmm?"

"It was all practice. In case you'd let me, someday."

Naruto walked off, swagger evaporated, and as he noticed the redness of Naruto's ears Kakashi realized just how nervous the kid must have been that entire time, how many times he must have imagined that moment in his years out...how much he meant to Naruto.

Well, fuck. He buried his face in his hands. His lips were still throbbing from that kiss.

Oh, how it ached. Everything ached.

o-x-o-x-o

So, although technically Ei's name is really A in canon, I find it difficult to write just A, because then I often confuse it with "A flurry" or "A something or other". So I'm writing it as Ei. Plus it lines up with the way I'm writing Bee rather than B. Some applies for En.

Sorry it's shorter than the usual and also about the hiatus, but depression is a douchebutt and I was a dumbass and broke my thumbdrive and so I pretty much had to restitch this chapter from almost nothing. Also sorry about the poor quality of smut. I'm honestly no good with the smut but I do find it important. I'll be back to a regular schedule and a regular length soon enough. I feel like I'm patching things back together in my life again.

I hope you enjoyed it, and as always, I appreciate your attention and, if you've the time, your comments!

Ja ne,

Vi