Kakashi steered his Beetle into a secluded street, where he parked it on the side and Kina and he got out. At some point, they had simply decided that from Bolton it was not far to Leigh, to Pennington Flash, and so their road trip had at least had a destination.

With an old fleece blanket, which Kakashi always had in the trunk for emergencies, and his plundered backpack, which now contained a few water bottles, snacks, beer and his Walkman, they walked along a narrow dirt road that led them through clusters of shady trees and thorny bushes to the most wonderful spot on earth they knew. It was a green-flowered patch of lawn, equipped with an unofficial access to the water, in the middle of the small deciduous forest, out of sight of the sailing club or the surrounding farms. Last summer, Kakashi had spent almost every day here with Gai and Kina. They had stuffed his Beetle with provisions, alcohol and grass and had sped west, away from the world and into their own paradise.

When the forest opened up to the meadow, he realized that nothing had changed here, and he couldn't resist a pleasant smile. How they had laughed here, swam, blazed – before Kina had to go back to London and Gai had turned out to be the biggest wanker under the cope of heaven. This thought clouded the view a bit, but he didn't want to let himself be dragged down by that whoreson – sorry, Sayuri, it's not meant personally. He was here to distract himself from the shambles of his life and to have a good time with Kina. They lacked the grass, but at least they had taken a six-pack with them. So, it was at least a bit like it used to be.

"Nothing has changed here..", Kina murmured dreamily.

Kakashi grinned at her from above. "That's exactly what I thought."

They exchanged a happy look and spread the blanket on the meadow, put the backpack next to it, dropped on it and unpacked the first beer bottles, which Kakashi opened with the help of his lighter, which he had taken with him together with the opened cigarette packet. "Cheers," they said into the clinking glass as they toasted.

They squatted with their knees on their chests, drank, smoked, looked at the surging water that was gently beaten against the shore by a few breezes, and were silent, enjoying the quiet atmosphere of their cozy oasis, the soft chirping of the birds, and the rustling grass when the wind blew through and ruffled their hair. If Kina hadn't already managed to lift his spirits before, this place would definitely have it. The way it was, it was good. It could be like this forever, just by Kina's side, far away from all the horrors of reality.

After a while, Kakashi asked, "Do you want to swim?"

Kina pulled her sulky face, stubbed out her cigarette in a bare patch of earth next to the blanket. "My body is not necessarily presentable."

"Who do you want to present it to?" laughed Kakashi. "It's just me here. And since when do you have a problem with your body, huh?"

"Mh," Kina said with her lips on the beer bottle, obviously wanting to buy some time. She swallowed very consciously and turned the bottle in her hands. "Since my skin doesn't tolerate being shaved anymore. Every time my skin burns and I get unsightly pimples. I've already tried everything; Blades with and without additives, other brands, gel, foam, oil, various creams and ointments, nothing works. When I shave, I'm pretty for maybe five minutes and then I look like an Oompa Loompa with acne. That's why I leave it alone, it's the least painful for my body, it's just not good for my self-image."

Kakashi raised his right eyebrow. "Are you serious? You're crying about a few hairs?"

Kina pinched her face reproachfully. "It's not just 'a few hairs,' Kashi. This is a flaw that does not allow me to conform to the ideal of beauty. I mean, if it were only intimate, it wouldn't bother me so much, nobody gets down there anyway, but you can see my legs and armpits more often. And I don't want to be seen as ugly."

"You're not," Kakashi said immediately, smiling as she turned her head to him. "I think you're beautiful, and 'a few hairs' " – he emphasized it particularly strongly – "don't change that. Besides, we are alone here, no one to judge you. No guileful tarts or voluptuous blokes."

They stared at each other for a moment, Kakashi was trying to keep his eyes glowing as honestly as possible, then Kina nodded. Without further words, they leaned their beer bottles against the backpack so that they would not fall over and the good alcohol would be spilled, and began to strip down to their underwear. They didn't have swimwear with them, but they never had that back then either. But when Kakashi was left in boxers and his gaze darted to Kina, who was pulling her oversized T-shirt over her head, he noticed something that hadn't been there last year – apart from the light blonde halo that shone around her legs thanks to the sun. To the left and right of the long, fleshy scar between her shoulder blades, where her spine had been straightened at the age of thirteen, covered by her bright red bra straps, were on each side two elongated, rather detailed insect wings. He was taken aback. "Since when do you have a tattoo?"

"Huh?" Kina said and half turned around, as if she had forgotten that she had one. "Oh, yes. Takeshi gave me this for my nineteenth birthday so that I could spice up my scar a bit."

Kakashi snorted in amusement. "Your stepdad is giving you a tattoo? Wouldn't a limousine or a Lipizzaner have done the trick?"

"Ass," Kina grinned. "That was a collected gift for several years. That's why I don't get anything from him until I'm twenty-one. With this it's not just a hideous scar, but part of an artwork. See?" She rowed with her arms.

Kakashi had never minded by her scar, but it was fascinating to watch how the wings moved on her skin and her back actually resembled a dragonfly. "Awesome. May I?"

Kina nodded and so Kakashi lifted her bra straps a little to marvel at the tattoo in all its glory. The wing veins were very finely stitched, and the black was rich and deep in thicker places, rather thinner in others, so that the wings appeared partly transparent, making them look damn realistic. That certainly hadn't been cheap. He let the straps snap back onto their skin. "Tattoos, piercings, my goodness, titch, you're turning into a real rocker's girl. In the end, you'll have a bad influence on me. I should honestly reconsider my friendship with you."

Kina stuck her tongue out over her shoulder, Kakashi answered with a grinning middle finger. He walked past her across the flattened path to the hole between the trees and slowly climbed into the lake. The cold ate up his legs, the further he slid into the water. When the surface inflated his boxer shorts like a balloon, he pushed down the fabric, which looked like he had let a big one go, gritted his teeth and sank to his knees. His genitals shrank to what felt like micro size, preferred to retreat into his warm body, the icy water briefly squeezed the oxygen out of his lungs. He gasped, breathed in and out consciously, moved his arms and pushed himself off the ground to swim one metre forward, where he could stand upright up to his shoulders in the lake and turn to the shore.

Kina was still standing on the earthy piece, her arms crossed and eyeing the waves suspiciously.

"What? Are you a coward?" Kakashi teased. "Come in, it's not that cold." That was a lie. He could hardly feel his lower legs and his heart was racing to pump as much warming blood as possible into his limbs.

Kina was very clearly provoked by this. She grimaced defiantly and groped forward. When her toes touched the water, she visibly shuddered.

Kakashi laughed and trudged up the slope of the soft ground. His skin thanked him for getting the sun's rays again. "Come on." He pushed the water in her direction, which made her take another step back. "Dare it." He climbed higher and higher, his muscles in his arms and stomach trembled slightly despite the returning heat.

"As if you weren't cold," Kina grumbled and pointed at him.

Kakashi shrugged. "It's refreshing." When his hips were also caught in the sun again, he noticed that Kina's eyes darted into the depths, widened slightly and her cheeks darkened almost imperceptibly.

Kakashi looked down at himself. Due to the weight, his underpants had said goodbye a little towards the earth's core and, thanks to the water, also lay around his penis like a second skin. Ashamed, he plucked the soaking wet cotton fabric back into place. Otherwise, he ignored the fact that he almost showed off his cock here, walked further towards Kina and reached out his hands to her. "Come on, let's make it slow."

Kina took a deep breath, held on to Kakashi's hands and carefully felt her way forward. With every additional centimetre she gasped. "Refreshing.. my ass," she grumbled. "That's pure ice."

"If that were the case, I couldn't do this."

She looked up, opened her eyes wide at his smirking and could only let out a "Don't even-AAAAH!" before Kakashi pulled her to him and dived backwards with her. Under water, he felt her fight her way out of his grip and pedal upwards. As soon as his head was in the air, he laughed loudly, brushed the wetness from his eyes and the hair from his face. "Right? Could be worse."

Snorting, Kina freed her face from hair, glared viciously at Kakashi and threw a load of water at him. "You ass!" With the smeared mascara under her eyes, she now looked like a vengeful corpse straight out of the next worst horror flick.

Kakashi ducked backwards, still laughing, now losing the ground under his feet and therefore letting them swing around shallowly to stay up. From time to time, small twigs or other dead natural products brushed against his calves. "When you're such a chicken, I have to haul out the bigger guns."

Next to Kina's head, a middle finger appeared. But she swam after him, no longer had a secure footing anyway due to her short body length, and wound her way around him in a circle with a few, elegant strokes. Her hair slid behind her like an ethereal bridal veil. "Kashi, you're a sneaky wanker."

"Are you only now noticing?" The snow-pale mermaid named Kina reappeared to his right, he followed her smooth movements with a broad grin.

"A real opportunist." She started a second round.

"Ohooo, and what advantage do I get from this?"

Again, she came swimming to the right of his field of vision. "You just want to see me suffer." Again, she disappeared to the left. "You're taking advantage of my physical weakness to have your fun," it sounded on the back of his neck. "Maybe there is something to the story after all."

She hit him with that. His grin died away, his jaw muscles tensed. Why did she have to say THAT of all things.. Teasing, peeving, insulting in a friendly manner – he liked to do it, too. But that was a blow below the belt.

Kina seemed to notice immediately that she had hurt him with her words, stopped in front of him and gave him a worried look. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

Kakashi jerked his head and dived under, stayed there for a few seconds, the cold froze the thoughts of Rin so that he could push them back to the last corner where they belonged, and came up again. Kina was still floating in front of him, jumping up and down slightly. Her expression had not changed. "I'm really sorry.."

"It's okay," Kakashi mumbled into the water.

"No, it's not," Kina replied. "I'm used to being able to say anything to you, but that was inappropriate." She came a little closer to him, which is why her knee bumped against his thigh from time to time. "I really don't think you did it. As I said, this cunt was suspicious to me from the beginning."

Kakashi didn't answer, let himself sink a little lower, so that only his head above his nose peeked out of the water.

Kina also came deeper, but only down to the lower lip. "What are you going to do now?"

"Regarding what?" Kakashi asked, briefly pressing his mouth into the air.

"Regarding school, regarding studies, and.." Kina hesitated. „.. regarding her."

"What should I do about her?" Now he stayed up longer. "Whatever she wanted to achieve, she achieved."

"Don't you want to take revenge on her or something?"

Kakashi snorted contemptuously, sending puny waves in Kina's direction. "What's the point of that? I can't prove what we had, so it's my word against hers – and as you can see, they believe her more than me. She is the daughter of a surgeon, best house, model student, bright future; and I'm the filthy outsider who could only go to an elite school because a teacher sucked a few dicks for him."

"And..." Kina pressed her lips together and chewed on them from the inside, then whispered so softly that it almost drowned in the wind, "And if you show them the video?"

"No," Kakashi said promptly.

"Listen. This is a great way to prove that you're telling the truth. Then her lies will be exposed as such and you will get your life back."

"No," Kakashi repeated emphatically.

"But—"

"No, Kina. Just stop. You don't understand.."

"Then please explain it to me. I want to help you, Kakashi." Gradually she sounded genuinely desperate, but he couldn't talk about it any further. She knew that there was a video of him having sex with the four girls, but he had not told her the circumstances.

"I just don't want anyone to see this video. It should best disappear forever."

"Why?" When he was silent, grimly looking at the rippling surface of the water that their movements were agitating, she came a few centimetres closer and asked gently, "Why should no one see this video?"

Although he did not want to answer, he could not defend himself against it. "Because it's unpleasant for me."

"What makes it unpleasant to you?" Silence. "That you can be seen having sex?" Silence. "That there were so many?" Silence. "That there is a video at all?"

"Stop it..", Kakashi murmured hoarsely.

"What is unpleasant about this video, Kakashi?" Kina persisted, sounding almost stern without losing the softness in her voice.

And it was her tone that made him burst. For too long this truth had been bubbling in him, had wanted to be formulated. "That you could see that I didn't want it, okay?! I didn't want that, none of what happened there. I might have wanted to sleep with Rin, but not in front of everyone and not in front of a camera. And I certainly didn't want to sleep with the others. But I was high and couldn't resist, even though I would have liked to. I just don't want people to see my weakness, to hear me cry for my dead mother because one of them looks like her and I thought in my shitfaced brain that I was one of her filthy rapists. I don't want everyone to know that I just lay there like a flailing and sweating pile of shit and couldn't do anything while four girls fuck me one after the other until a fucking crying fit. Do you get it now?!"

Again, he dived under, stayed longer in this comforting silence, opened his eyes and saw before him in the weak light Kina's rapidly breathing belly, which had retracted so far from the cold that her ribs protruded strongly. His gaze swept over her body, her bra, through whose thin fabric her stiff nipples pressed, her blue panties, which appeared black through the twilight, with the neon green dots on them and the small bow at the upper hem, her shimmering white skin, her hip-length hair that swirled around her, in which small leaves or maple blossoms were caught. He closed his eyes again, glad he couldn't cry down here, and pushed himself back to the surface, but avoided Kina's gaze. "I never want to think about all this again," he said in a concluding tone. "And I never want to see Rin again. She destroyed my life. Thanks to her, I don't have a future anymore, and to make matters worse, I have to explain to my father why. I can't look him in the eye and confess that I allegedly raped someone – regardless of whether it's true. Not after everything that was done to his wife."

A few minutes passed, during which they did nothing more than keep their heads above water. Then Kina asked, and Kakashi heard that she was close to tears, even though she never cried, "May I hug you?"

After a short hesitation, he indicated a nod.

She came swimming to him with half a stroke and put her arms on his shoulders. Kakashi embraced her ice-cold torso and they brought their legs in unison so they wouldn't sink. "If there's anything I can do for you, please tell me," she whispered and gave him a little kiss on the auricle.

Again with pinching eyeballs, born of disgust at what the clique had done, anger at Rin, fear of what the future was to bring, and gratitude to Kina for simply being this wonderful person, Kakashi buried his face in her wet hair. There was only a hint of the artificial strawberry stuck to them, and yet it was enough for him to lower his eyelids and cling to Kina as if she were his lifebelt, without which he would drown. "Thank you for being with me..", he squeezed out in a choked voice.

In response, she stroked his head, just nodded.

They stayed like this for quite a while, bobbing in the Pennington Flash like a carnal buoy, turning very slightly on the spot by the movements of their legs, until Kakashi's hand on Kina's waist felt an uncontrolled tremor and goosebumps. He slowly pulled away from her and quietly suggested, "Let's get out again, otherwise you'll freeze to death."

"Yes," Kina replied and only now did her teeth chatter. Her eyes were slightly red, but her cheeks were dry. That showed him how much stronger she was.

Side by side they swam to the shore. Kakashi first let Kina get out of the water to pluck the underpants from his cock unnoticed so that he wouldn't disturb her again with the sight. Back on the fleece blanket, which had been heated up by the sun, they warmed and dried themselves, drank their lukewarm beer after scaring away a few wasps from the mouthpieces, and Kakashi unpacked his Walkman, turned up the volume to full blast so that the tape could play softly out of the headphones and serve as background music.

Once again, they didn't say a word, enjoyed the peace and quiet. Kakashi lay on his back, listening to the sounds of Some Girls Wander by Mistake, which underlined his melancholic mood, had his arms crossed under his head and watched thoughtfully the few clouds that moved across the bright sky. He had dodged Kina's question about his new life plans, but he couldn't do that with himself.

He had to think about what he was going to do now. Basically, he could completely kiss a course of study goodbye. Without a scholarship, he had no chance of a decent degree and therefore no opportunity to attend university. Even if a miracle happened and he scraped together enough money, he wouldn't even survive the first year financially. Maybe he could catch up on his A-levels at night school, then he hadn't completely wasted the last two years. Maybe he managed to apply for a scholarship after all. That certainly wouldn't be enough for the Royal, but smaller universities could take him, he could study music production and build the life he wanted. Or he let it be, went to the military like his father aka the catch basin for disoriented men, and was at least able to give his life meaning in this way. That was not appealing.

Sighing heavily, he emptied his third bottle. A drop of beer ran down his cheek, he wiped it away before it reached his ear. It didn't sound as nice as if he could have just convinced the coaches with his game and graduated from Kensington, but at least with this idea he had the hope for a new future, which would come slower, but at least wasn't as unrealistic as the wish that this day would turn out to be a nightmare and he was just lying completely smashed in his bed and febriling horror scenarios in his boozing.

The only problem was that he needed money anyway. He had saved up a bit with his small jobs over the last few years, but he didn't really want to touch it just to be able to afford the courses at night school. And well, he had insulted his boss in the worst possible way two days ago, then just ran away, didn't show up for work yesterday and now it was almost too late, after all they had to drive back to Manchester for at least thirty minutes in rush hour traffic, so more like sixty minutes, and the position of the sun told him that it was already after four. And if he was honest with himself, they could make it on time, but he didn't want to. The shame was too great about what Orochimaru would say if he turned up without comment. So, he had to look for a new job at short notice, but it would certainly not be as well paid as the one at VoS. Five pounds an hour was an enormous amount for a student, but he got less at the supermarket or for cleaning. But less than five pounds was still more than nothing. Actually, he hated cashing in or cleaning, but he didn't have much choice. He had fucked up his job as a jockey, so he now had to deal with the consequences.

A little grumpy, his head tilted in Kina's direction. She was lying on her stomach, had covered herself with Kakashi's shirt so that she wouldn't get sunburned, her hair had spread out in the grass next to her. She was asleep, breathed very calmly, seemed deeply relaxed. He wasn't too mad at her anymore because she had thrown him off his game with her call, after all, she hadn't intended to put his job at risk, and he simply had to control himself better, but it had been her wish for that one specific song that had set it all rolling. Fucking poofshroom. Thinking further, it was he who was to blame for everything. Yes, he should shift his grudge from Kina to her brother, dump it in front of his fuck face and show him the shit he was responsible for, just because he had taken advantage of him so much, abused him for his own purposes, threw away their friendship for–

Kakashi closed his eyes. He didn't want to think about this wanker now, that would only make him unnecessarily angry. He also felt an urge to urinate. So, he sat up, stretched, cracked his neck vertebrae and stood up. He was reluctant to go half-naked into the woods, but he didn't want to wake Kina or expose her sensitive skin to the sun. The little dwarf had liked to play the lobster in the past and could hardly leave the house without a kilometre-thick layer of sunscreen. Therefore, he left his shirt on her back and trudged barefoot into the forest.

As soon as the shadow of the trees enveloped him he shivered. His body was literally glowing because he had spent the last few hours in the sun without interruption, but he could hardly beat the coolness. He walked a bit, trying to avoid pricking branches or stones on the ground, and when he was out of sight of their camp, he stood against a tree, took his dick out of the pants and relaxed the muscles in his abdomen.

As he watched his piss form several rivulets between the many notches in the bark, he couldn't help but wonder why he didn't want to be watched peeing anymore. In the past, he hadn't shown so much restraint, had taken it out a metre next to Kina or Gai when they had been here or somewhere in Hulme. But recently he didn't like it when someone was near him. He didn't want to draw attention to it but just empty his bladder in peace. Had the events of the last few days destroyed his sense of security?

With a jerk of his head, he shook off the last drops, stowed his dick away again and was about to make his cautious way back, when a sharp scream sounded from his intended direction. Kakashi froze. That had clearly been Kina.

Sheer panic pulsed into his legs and set them in motion. As he stumbled through the undergrowth, got tangled up here and there in a deep branch or slipped his foot painfully over a moss-covered, dead tree trunk, he imagined the horror that awaited him in their meadow. Had she fallen into the water and was drowning? Had she been struck by spontaneous lightning? Had a brown bear attacked her?!

The trees thinned out again and Kakashi rushed around one last trunk. The picture that opened up in front of him forced him to stop only for a very short time. There were two unknown guys at their place, Kakashi estimated they were his age. The smaller of the two, a really ugly boy with a crew cut and an unclean mini beard over his upper lip, knelt at Kina's feet, trying to hold on to her kicking legs. The other, taller and broader with red curls and a lot of freckles between pimple marks, squatted at her head, braced himself on her arms. Her red bra lay open next to the fleece blanket in the grass, her exposed breasts trembling back and forth during her defensive measures.

Kakashi didn't think twice. He dashed forward. His stomping steps on the ground drew the attention of the two to him. This hesitation and the fact that Kakashi tore the pimple-mug, which was holding Kina's arms still, to the ground, gave her the opportunity to kick the baby-stache in the face with force. While Kakashi held pimple-mug in a clutch grip, restricting his freedom of movement with his legs, Kina scrambled halfway up, got hold of one of the empty beer bottles that were lying next to the backpack, and aimed a sling in baby-stache's direction, but missed him because he swerved backwards and now took Kina into the headlock in turn.

"Kina!" Kakashi shouted in shock, though became inattentive and got pimple-mug's elbow in the stomach. He moaned, unintentionally loosened his grip and the other fought his way free. He slapped away Kakashi's arms, who was weakly trying to fend him off, got a hand to his throat, which immediately choked Kakashi's breath, and sank his fist into his face.

For a second, Kakashi saw nothing but stars as the hard knuckles hit his jaw. After another blow, he felt blood running down his chin. But the lack of oxygen in his brain prevented him from thinking clearly, finding a weak point, or even defending himself with more than aimless arm waving. His eyes rolled in its sockets, he gasped, tried to breathe, spat out hot liquid.

The pressure on his larynx suddenly disappeared. He took a deep and rattling breath, turned on his side, and coughed and drooled into the grass. A bright beep was on his ears, muffling the sounds around him. But when he raised his head and had to watch as baby-stache held Kina's arms behind her back, she tried to free herself, and pimple-mug pulled down her panties, completely ignoring her kicks, Kakashi saw red. In front of him, he perceived the grey fabric of his uniform pants, crawled towards it and erratically fingered the leather belt out of the loops. He braced himself on his feet, staggered towards his goal and swung out, letting the leather whip through the air.

The metal buckle hit the back of pimple-mug's head. He fell to the ground and received another blow to the shoulder. Then he turned to baby-stache, who had let go of Kina, who ducked out of the way with her arms above her head, and raised his fists as if they were in the ring and were now fighting a fair fight. Kakashi couldn't help but laugh humourlessly, swung again, caught his forearms, which he yanked aside with a cry of pain, blood oozing from thick scratches on both. Kakashi took advantage of this, wrapped the belt around baby-stache's neck and at the same time pressed him to the ground with his own weight. One knee between his shoulder blades, he twisted the belt into a loop and pulled on it, eliciting a choked gasp from the throat inside. Hatred blazed in his body, strained his muscles, which trembled with exertion. He put more strength in his arms, baby-stache only made a croak, didn't even defend himself.

"Do you want to kill him, you bastard?!" someone roared from the left. A body hit Kakashi's shoulder, and he fell back into the grass. Pimple-mug had pushed him away from his buddy, was now lying next to him and it was a question of speed who attacked whom first. Pimple-mug won because Kakashi's arms were still too electrified to heave him into the upright position. Again, the already reddened ankles met his lower jaw and Kakashi saw himself in another hopeless situation, but then a dull thud sounded, pimple-mug moaned softly and his body slumped on Kakashi. He pushed the guy off him and looked around, panting loudly. Kina stood between them and baby-stache, had still raised the beer bottle and was also breathing heavily. She looked terrible. Only in her underpants, dirt and mud everywhere, her entire body trembled inexorably and in her violet eyes there was nothing but sheer horror. Powerless, she dropped the glass.

Without hesitation, Kakashi picked himself up, grabbed Kina by the wrist and dragged her over to the blanket. In no time at all, they swooped up their things and ran through the forest back to Kakashi's Beetle, where they threw themselves and their clothes to safety and Kakashi got everything out of it to put as much distance as possible between them and their destroyed paradise as quickly as possible. They were both too much in shock to utter a single sound.

Kakashi drove them to Leigh, with the soles of his bare feet starting to hurt on the pedals, and only stopped when they saw a supermarket. He parked his car next to the building, protected behind a large garbage container, and switched off the engine. Now that the humming noise had died out, the panting of both of them was heard all the more distinctly.

Hesitantly, he looked at Kina, who was still sitting half-naked and pressing her clothes against her chest. He didn't know what to say. Nothing that was buzzing around in his head seemed sufficient to him. He wanted to comfort her at all costs, to assure her of his closeness, also he wanted to give her the necessary distance and, above all, not to give her some false feeling.

Kina swallowed visibly and turned her head as well. Their eyes met and in hers he saw a mixture of lingering panic, but also a lot of gratitude.

Wordlessly, Kakashi pressed his lips together and nodded slightly. There was no need for words, at least not at the moment. Kina probably saw it the same way, because she lowered her head and began to put on her bra and T-shirt. Kakashi looked respectfully out of the window. From the ball to her shins in the footwell, she took Kakashi's shirt and trousers. It seemed he left his belt behind in the chaos.

When they were dressed again, they exchanged another look. Kina turned and leaned forward. "Let me see."

Kakashi hadn't really noticed the throbbing in his jaw the whole time. Only now did he feel the pain that emanated from it. "Come on, we'll get you something for it, or in the end it will disfigure you."

They both laughed briefly, which relieved a large part of the devastating mood. In the supermarket, they bought a bag of frozen peas, plasters, cooling disinfectant spray and a pack of cigarettes. Back at the car, Kakashi sat down on the seat in the open driver's door and Kina cleaned and treated the laceration on his lower lip. "I hope it'll leave no scar," she said softly and smoothed out the small plaster, Kakashi hissed softly at the pain that flashed through him. She twisted her mouth. "Is it okay?"

Kakashi snorted and pressed the peas onto his gradually swelling jaw. "I'd better ask you."

"I wasn't beaten up," Kina replied.

Kakashi looked at her from below. "Sure, but..."

Her features tensed. Kakashi took this as an opportunity to stand up and hug her. Maybe he should have asked her before and forced himself on her now, but she didn't back down. She laid her head on his chest and clawed into his back. "Thank you, Kashi.." she whispered into his shirt.

"I'll never let anything happen to you," Kakashi murmured against the crown of her head and kissed it. "Never, titch."

Kina's fingers pressed deeper into his shoulder blades. "Thank you..."

A silence filled the air as Kakashi held her with one arm, continued to press the peas to his jaw and slowly rocked them both back and forth. Although it shouldn't be like that, the tight knot around his heart loosened. He had been too weak and paralyzed to act with his mother back then, but the fact that he had saved Kina from a similar fate drove a lump up his dry throat. He had meant what he had said; he would not allow her to be harmed. Not if he could prevent it. She shouldn't have the same fate. It shouldn't destroy her as well.

But one thing he owed her. "Kina.. I'm sorry I left you alone. If I hadn't gone into the forest, I would have been there and could have prevented it."

Very gently she stroked his back. "Don't blame yourself, Kakashi, you arrived in time." She lifted her head and rested her chin on his sternum. A shaky smile played around the corners of her mouth. "What did you do?"

"I had to pee," Kakashi replied emphatically matter-of-factly.

Kina snorted in amusement. "By the way.. I also have to, quite urgently, in fact."

Kakashi let go of her and looked around. "I'm sure there's a pub somewhere nearby."

"Mh, I can't stand it that long," Kina murmured. "You know me, if I move, it only gets worse." She looked at the corner next to them. From the front, the garbage can offered privacy, from the sides the wall and the Beetle, from the front the open door.

Kakashi understood immediately. "Don't worry, I won't look."

"I'm not worried about that," Kina smiled. "I trust you."

An unknown heat crept over Kakashi's neck, unlike usual, more pleasant. He jerked his head and turned around, lit a cigarette as an alibi. Although he heard the rustling of clothes and then the splashing of her urine, he ignored it. Instead, he hung with his arms on the upper edge of the car door, smoked, cooled his jaw and let his gaze wander vigilantly around to check if anyone was coming.

The splashing stopped, there was a rustling again and Kina tapped his waist. "Give me one too."

"What about your manners, bitch," Kakashi teased and handed her the box.

Kina knitted her eyebrows. "Actually, these are mine, I paid for them."

"Mhh," Kakashi said, as if he agreed and didn't want to at the same time. "Since when so stingy? We used to share everything."

Kina laughed. "Not everything."

"Oh no?"

"No," Kina murmured with an unintelligible smile. "There were a few things that everyone had for themselves."

"For example?" Kakashi probed.

"We never kissed or slept together in the same bed."

Again, there was this heat in his neck. He ran his hand over it, then took a drag on his cigarette so that it wouldn't singe his hair and said quietly, "That's right, we never did that." Why she had to make the connection to such a topic now of all times was a mystery to him. They were talking about sharing, wasn't it? In other words, the sharing of goods, pocket money, wages, drinks, drugs – not that of intimate time, cuddles or a bed. And anyway, he had never looked at Kina like that. For him, she had always been Kina Maito, Gai's twin sister, his best friend, with whom he could laugh and have fun. He swallowed dryly, leaned into the car and took one of the water bottles to moisten his throat.

When he straightened up again, he noticed that Kina was staring at the floor with an absent-minded gaze. "Hey, is everything okay?"

Kina smiled and nodded. "Yes, Kashi, everything is okay."

He thought it sounded wrong, so he said in a soft voice, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Still smiling, she shook her head. "There's nothing to talk about. Not much has happened."

"Not much is more than nothing," he replied. A realization that he made for the second time today.

She sighed. "It's really okay. At that moment I was afraid, honestly, but everything turned out well. Maybe I'll avoid lying half-naked right out in the sticks. Or just hope you're there."

"I always will be," Kakashi burst out and for some reason he was ashamed of those words. He lowered his head, scraped over the gravel with his leather low shoe.

"I know that. Just like I'm always there for you." Kina took a step towards him and smiled. "Again: Thank you, Kakashi."

"At any time."

They looked into each other's eyes for a long time. Kakashi saw so much in those gleaming amethysts before him, and he could interpret very little of it. And he didn't really want to interpret any of it. He had already read too much into looks, and where had it taken him? To the abyss. He didn't want to be pushed as well, so he tore himself away from her face, cleared his throat and said softly, "Let's go back to Manchester."