Around the next corner, the twins found a telephone booth, squeezed into it and Gai dialled the number of the Blacksmith Tavern again. As soon as the line was up and Thomas Oxford had answered, Gai asked, "Hi, it's me again, Gai Maito. Have the Swordsmen arrived by chance?"

"Ah, hello. Yes, they are just rigging up."

"Would it be possible for me to talk to Zabuza Momochi, sir?"

"I think it can be arranged. One moment, please."

It clicked and sweaty minutes passed. "Dude, you're sticking to my ass," Gai growled and pushed Kina a little away from him.

"So what?" she grumbled and tugged at his shoulder, because he had already slowly straightened up again during the short conversation.

"Dwarf, fuck off, otherwise I'll get back pain," Gai grumbled and pushed her out of the booth. "I'll tell you in a moment what's up."

"Say, are you stupid?! I'm supposed to get second-hand information?!" Kina hissed, but there was another click in Gai's ear and a deep male voice spoke up. "Hello? Zabuza here?"

"Uh, yes, hi," Gai said a little choppy, because he had trouble fending off his nagging and scratching sister. "This is Gai.." With a jerk, he pulled the door shut, held the handle tightly from the inside and stuck his tongue out through one of the many panes.

Kina kicked the corner of the phone booth with force.

"Oha, what's going on with you, are they attacking you?" Zabuza asked jokingly.

Gai waved the receiver through the air in a rage and punished Kina with an arrogant head jerk. "Uh.. Nope. Sorry. There's just a garden gnome here who wants to tickle my balls."

"Okay..?" Zabuza laughed and Gai found it growling and calming in a strange way. "So, Gai. Who are you and what can I do for you?"

Kina stomped a few metres away, whirling her hair, and sullenly lit a cigarette.

Gai exhaled with relief and calmly devoted himself to the phone call. "Yes. I know that sounds weird now, but I'm looking for someone."

"And you think I'm the right person for that?" Zabuza's voice had clearly been mixed with a flirtation that made Gai shudder aroused. "Um.." he said and had to concentrate on his mission, something like that was not appropriate at the moment. Nevertheless, he said in a much more casual tone than before, "If you happen to be called Kakashi Hatake, then yes."

At the other end of the line, a soft crunch sounded, as if Zabuza were snacking on peanuts. "Kakashi? What about him? Why are you looking for him?"

"You know him?" Gai asked excitedly.

"First of all, I want to know why you're looking for him," Zabuza replied a little sternly.

"Yeah, sure, sorry.. I'm a good friend of Kakashi and he's been missing for a few days. We can't reach him and now my dad, my sister and I are basically moving half the world because we are worried. The barmaid of the Winchester Tavern here in Manchester saw the two of you together on Wednesday evening and that would be his last personal contact according to our information." It beeped and Gai inserted a new coin so that the connection would not be broken.

"Why are you worried, do I have to worry too?"

Gai had no idea why such a trustworthy aura wafted through the phone from this stranger and, more importantly, why it completely absorbed him, but he lowered his voice in case there were suddenly extra ears in the booth and explained, "On Thursday his father died and since then he has disappeared from the face of the earth. Kakashi is my best friend and.. well.." He took a deep breath. "I'm afraid that he couldn't handle the loss well."

"Oh shit.." Zabuza murmured. "I don't want to cause him any problems, so I'll ask in a roundabout way: do you know?"

At first, Gai had no idea what Zabuza meant, but in one fell swoop, a burgeoning thought grew into a certainty. He gasped, checked whether Kina was still far away and murmured with a trembling larynx, "Do you two had.. Did you.. Well.. Has he.. with you.."

"Yes," Zabuza interrupted his stammering. "We had sex."

Such a real, deep feeling of jealousy was unknown to Gai. But he knew that he was jealous because hatred, shame and despair flooded through him in one second. It was different from what it had been with Kina or any other girl, because they were girls. Strangely enough, Gai didn't have that much trouble with Kakashi having sex with girls, but it seemed to be different with men. It was the first time for him that he could have puke, hit and cry at the same time. "Did he really did it with you..?" he asked tonelessly.

"Yes," Zabuza replied on the other end of the line.

He couldn't believe it, no, he didn't WANT to believe it. That was just a stupid prank, a bad joke. Kakashi couldn't just do.. "What does he smell like?" Gai blurted out.

"What does he smell like..?"

"Yes, if you two really did something, you know what he smells like."

"Uh.. No idea. I'm not good at describing scents. But his was very pleasant, somehow.. woody."

Gai closed his eyes. "Like dry moss on a warm summer's day?"

Zabuza whistled softly. "That... actually describes it perfectly, yes. It's moss. But only very indistinctly, only when you are close to his skin, as if it comes directly from him and not from a deodorant or something."

"Yes.. That's what my Kakashi smells like," Gai whispered, not really understanding what he was saying. He exhaled loudly and said in a halfway firm voice, "So it's true, you really had sex." He had to pull himself together, this was not about him, but about Kakashi!

"At least oral sex, we were interrupted before we could continue."

Had the cucumber been in Kakashi's room for that? Gai had already thought something like that, these horizontal notches had looked suspiciously like tooth impressions to him. Apparently, Kakashi had trained his mouth work, but the extent of the vegetable could only mean that this Zabuza had a bigger cock than Gai. Was it because of that? He himself didn't think actually he was too small, once he had measured his boner and had come to fifteen centimetres, but he knew that Kakashi was very well equipped and if he rejected everything below that on a man..? Wasn't Gai enough for him? Focus! He tightened his grip on the cellophane. "Is he with you now?"

"No," Zabuza replied. "I offered him that he could go to London, but he said he still had too much lying around in Manchester."

Gradually, Gai calmed down again. If Zabuza had answered his question in the affirmative, he would have really thrown up. Unconsciously, he clawed into his T-shirt on his stomach. "Did he mention what exactly?"

"Mhhh," Zabuza grumbled thoughtfully. "He mentioned his father, his shitty job and that thing with a man."

"A man?"

"Yes."

"Which man?"

"I don't know, he didn't tell me his name. But as I have heard, he sleeps with him."

"What?!" Gai gasped. All of a sudden, Kakashi was supposed to sleep with TWO men?! That could not be possible. Where was he in all that?! "Did he hint at anything else? Somehow.. no idea, why he's doing that?" There had to be a good reason for this, otherwise Gai would feel uglier than ever.

Surprisingly, Zabuza laughed. "Listen, the scene is not necessarily easy. Kakashi said the guy pays special attention to HIV testing, treats him – by his own saying – as a fuckhole and Kakashi didn't call him his boyfriend or whatever. I know boys like him, and it's always the same, sad story. Somehow, they end up with an old, white wanker who takes advantage of them for sex. Most of the time money is involved, sometimes just a disgusting power imbalance. I didn't have much time to get to know Kakashi better, we only had these few hours together, but when I kissed him, he was.. How should I put it? He seemed torn. If I may express my opinion freely, I can well imagine that he fought with himself, because on the one hand he liked the kiss and wanted the sex, and on the other hand he was afraid of something or someone. This someone could be his master and this something could be his anger. Such men often don't like it when their slaves have fun with others. Unfortunately, I've seen something like that often enough. I hate it. These motherfuckers always look for extremely handsome, impressionable, very young men, unfortunately often enough not even of age, threaten them, put them under pressure, demand courtesies from them that are below human dignity. I once heard from one of them that his master forced him to take part in an orgy, but he was the only one who was penetrated. It had been pure torture for him. Kakashi actually called it very apt. Such boys are nothing more than a fuckhole in these relationships, a submissive, helpless, soulless fuckhole. If a boy who is stuck in such a cage wants something from me and I from him, then I like to make sure that he learns that sex can be beautiful and that it is not always about dominance and possession. These bastards are very good at manipulating and put the idea in the minds of such boys that they will never find anything better than they have with them. I hope I was able to make Kakashi feel that he is worth more than that, even if we didn't do much."

Gai stared absently at a spot of molten plastic next to the dial. Part of him didn't want to believe that Kakashi had actually gotten into something like this, but with this important information, it all made sense. Dai's suspicion of sexual violence that Kakashi might have experienced, the cucumber with the bite marks that seemed older than being bought fresh on Wednesday or Thursday, the lies about his work and why he didn't have time to come to Hawick with him, his "appointment" even though he had been abused by Sakumo shortly before.. Gai was sure that Kakashi was in such a cage, probably did not dare to leave it voluntarily out of shame and fear, and that meant for Gai that he had to make all the more effort to find him and free him from it. Either that or he had freed himself in the meantime, but Gai was not allowed to think about this possibility for his own good. "Um.. Okay, thanks for the info. I will.. Well.. I'll see to it that I help him out of it."

"That's very good, he deserves a friend like you," Zabuza said with an audible smile. "When you find him, can you tell him he wants to get in touch with me if he likes? He will reach me in the Kijin from next week, the number is in the phone book. I'd like to make sure he's okay."

"Yes, I'll do," Gai replied and tried not to sound too piqued. They said goodbye to each other and Gai slowly hung the receiver back on the hook, the change jingled into the coin dispenser.

Kakashi and Zabuza.. He didn't like the thought of Kakashi meeting this guy, even though he could understand it just from the voice. This Zabuza sounded very sexy. But why did Kakashi voluntarily get involved with a man, when Gai was the one who... well... yes, wanted to be the only one for him? He would never force a relationship, but wasn't there this thing between them that made Gai's heart race in Kakashi's presence, that had made them have no contact for months, that Kakashi didn't understand, and that Gai understood very well since he was fourteen? Or had he just imagined that Kakashi could feel similar for him? Was it just an illusion of his optimism?

Still standing in the narrow, hot telephone booth and brooding, the pager on Gai's belt vibrated again. Again, it was the home phone. Gai immediately picked up the receiver again and called home.

"Gai.. Is Kina listening?"

"No."

"Good, please keep it that way. I think we have a small problem."

"Yes, I think so too. I learned something from the musician that made the whole thing a lot.. worse." For him and his feelings in any case.

Dai gasped. "Okay. We have to talk to each other in person, but I have to ask you for something, and you might not like that."

Inwardly, Gai armed himself for any crime he could imagine. "Go ahead."

"You have to exclude Kina from further searching." Gai opened his mouth to disagree, but Dai sensed his son's protests and quickly said, "I know... I know. I can't tell you on the phone anymore, it would take too long. Therefore, find a way so that she does not find out what I have found."

"Why?"

"Gai, I can't tell you that on the phone," Dai urged emphatically.

"Dad, you're scaring me.."

"I know. And unfortunately, I can't calm you down. It is all the more important that Kina is no longer there. She will not be able to understand that. What I am asking of you right now is a great deal, I am aware of that, but I know that you can do it, Gai. You're strong and you have to go through with it now. We are running out of time."

Gai began to tremble at Dai's words, imagining the cruel state they would find Kakashi in, but he swallowed, nodded, took a deep breath and asked, "Why do I have to do it? If I tell her to go out for ice cream, she'll stab me. You know her."

"Exactly, I know her. That's why she has to be kept out of the matter. And I know you, so you have to do it. She won't listen to me at all. Only you can convince her."

"Fuck.." Gai breathed and ran his fingers through his hair, but immediately smoothed it out again. "Okay. I'm trying. If I'm successful, I'll come home, if not, I'll call you again later and we'll have to think about something together."

"Agreed. Later."

Gai hung up, cursing his father for a moment, ignoring his panic and opening the door of the phone booth.

"And?" Kina asked as Gai approached. He stood next to her and lit a cigarette as well. He needed it more than ever. Terrible images haunted his mind and gradually he could hardly contain his fear.

"Hello?!" Kina urged and nudged him on the upper arm. "Earth to Ga-hai!"

Gai looked up.

Kina jerked her head impatiently. "What's the matter? What did this musician say? Does he know someth'n?"

"Yes," he lied. He was not allowed to show anything and had to go through with his order. This was not the time for scruples. "Kakashi wanted to go to Leeds to perform with the band. He had something to do before, but this Zabuza says Kakashi is coming soon. I don't know where he is right now, but if he really shows up in Leeds today or tomorrow, I can make sure everything is okay." He had to keep it vague so as not to arouse suspicion. If he claimed now that they had found him and didn't in the end, Kina's hatred would only be greater.

"Awesome," she beamed. "That's mega! So now we're just waiting for this guy to call us and we can talk to Kakashi, yeah?"

"Why us? Now that we know when and where he will be, you can go to Tenerife." Gai slowly started moving, back to the Volvo, and continued to smoke, because Dai didn't like it when the car stank of tobacco.

Kina jumped half in front of him and forced him to stop. "Are you serious? I can't fly on vacation if I don't know what's going on with Kashi yet!"

Gai formed his tense facial muscles into a grin. "Dwarf, really, we both know you want to go there. And we almost got him, we're really just waiting for this callback. Dad and I agree: You can fly with Anko. Just ask her, or Genma, for the number of the island house and tomorrow at the latest, Kakashi will call you, I promise."

"But what about Hawick?"

"What about Hawick? You're just bored anyway. And you'd better be out and about with Anko and gawk at pretty Spaniards instead of letting that Ebisu ass touch you, right?"

Kina laughed out loud. "Yeah, ok, you convinced me. Your arguments are valid and watertight. But don't let me regret it by you two failing, or I'll teleport back and turn you into an eternal centipede. If Kashi doesn't call me, you're mush!"

Gai nodded with a wink, took Kina's luggage out of the trunk of the Volvo and said goodbye to his sister with the promise to call her as soon as he knew more about Kakashi. Her waving straw hair danced back to the blue door and Gai smoked his cigarette. "Shit, Dad, don't let me regret it.." he muttered to himself, kicked out the stub on the asphalt and drove back home.

As Gai sprinted up the stairs, his father met him at the flat door. "Dad," he gasped. "What did you find out?"

"Is Kina gone?" Dai asked and let his son enter.

"Yes, she's on Tenerife with Anko and her boyfriend for the next two weeks."

"Wow," Dai marvelled. "How did you do that?"

Gai shrugged. "Anko had suggested it, and I just used a bit of my persuasion."

"Very good."

"But now finally tell me. Why was that necessary?"

"Please start, did this musician know anything?"

It bothered Gai massively that his father still didn't speak up, but he told in detail what he had heard from Zabuza. Never before had he expressed to Dai the suspicion that Kakashi might be into men – not because he didn't trust his father, but rather because he simply thought it was Kakashi's business and not his. But Dai's expression showed no emotion of surprise and so Gai knew that it was right to let the secrets be no more.

After Gai's monologue, Dai was silent for a long time, staring absently at the family planner next to the refrigerator. They sat at the dining table, each with a cup of tea and an empty plate in front of them, from which they had quickly eaten a microwave meal. Finally, Dai sighed long and heavy and leaned forward to support his arms on the table. "This fits frighteningly well with the knowledge I have gained."

Gai shifted nervously in his chair. "Now tell me, dad."

Still in silence, Dai sipped his tea, carefully placed the cup on the table, folded his hands, and began, "I mentioned that I wanted to find out Sakumo's cause of death."

"Did Kakashi really..?" Gai's nervousness continued to rise.

But Dai shook his head. "No, he had an overdose of morphine, no signs of external influence. It was probably just an accident and Kakashi found his body. However, in the course of this information gathering, I also learned something else. You must know, I called Fugaku Uchiha. He's the Chief Constable in Manchester and I know him from school, we graduated together. He wasn't exactly happy about being disturbed at home on a Sunday, but when I explained to him that it was about Sakumo, he drove to the office. The two were together in the military until '82, when Sakumo resigned due to his injuries and the death of his wife. More precisely, they had been in the same unit and went to war side by side. Therefore, it was also important for him to know what happened to Sakumo, he didn't even know about his death when I called."

Gradually, Gai's nervousness turned into impatience. Sometimes his father could really spill the beans on the most inappropriate occasions.

"As police chief, he has limited access to issued death certificates from his computer at the headquarters. So, we at least have the confirmation that Kakashi was not involved in Sakumo's death, which took place in the night from Wednesday to Thursday, when Kakashi was not at home at all."

"Okay, that's at least something," Gai sighed relieved.

Dai's moustache curled once. "Yes. Actually, that would have been all I wanted from Fugaku, but we got into a short conversation about old times and the transience of youth and things like that, and I casually mentioned that I was looking for Kakashi. Then he pricked up his ears. He said he had forgotten over the years that Sakumo had a son and then told me that this same boy had only been with him a few days ago to file a complaint."

"A complaint? Who did he want to denounce? His father?"

"No, it wasn't about his father. Gai, this has to stay between us, it's really important."

Gai nodded curtly.

"Fugaku said that the boy didn't want to give his name, but it was unmistakably Kakashi. He had the feeling the whole time as if Sakumo was sitting in front of him, so he is one hundred percent sure. Kakashi wanted to report his cousin, Madara Uchiha, for raping his brother Izuna."

Gai knitted his eyebrows. "Okay..? Who are these people and what does Kakashi have to do with them?"

"Madara Uchiha is an independent loan entrepreneur who works with private individuals and companies. He has a very good reputation, but Fugaku is sure that he has dirt on his hands. Among other things, there are indications that he exploits the sons of his customers for sexual acts when their parents cannot or do not want to pay. This Madara seems to be very meticulous in this respect, he leaves no traces, none of his victims talk about anything. Afterwards, it is only said that the outstanding amounts have been paid off." Dai hesitated. "Often.. they are not even of age."

A wave of nausea swept over Gai. He quickly took a big sip of his lukewarm tea, wiped a drop from the corner of his mouth and put a layer of Vaseline on his lips, which had become bloody and dry from chewing on them so much. "Do you think Kakashi is the sex slave of this Madara?"

"It certainly fits very well into the picture, don't you think? Zabuza's hints, Kakashi's secrecy.. I know that Sakumo has had problems with a gambling addiction in the past. After his widowhood, he needed distraction and found it in alcohol and gambling. I tried to get him away from it, but that only led to him withdrawing further. He didn't talk to me anymore, at most he greeted me in the hallway, but there was no longer any talk of a friendship like we had had before. Out of my naivety that Sakumo is a grown man and makes his own decisions, I left him alone – and apparently that's exactly why I lost him in the end. I don't want to experience the same thing with his son. I can't give him up too."

"What do you suggest?" Gai asked. "Shall we confront this Madara?"

"This is a very dangerous thing, Gai. Because neither Fugaku nor I have any confirmation whether Kakashi really got into his net or he only had short contact with him. But even if there is only the slightest spark of probability, we have to get him out of there."

"Of course.. I can't let Kakashi be touched by such a.. a... wanker." A determination simmered in Gai that almost made him jump up and run blindly, even though he had no real destination.

Dai guessed what was going on in his son's mind and put a hand on his clenched fists next to the brightly printed teacup. "Gai. It is important that Kakashi is no longer subjected to this humiliation, but it is also important that we be careful. His life could be at stake."

"Why?!" Gai exclaimed helplessly. "What do you mean by that, dad? Do you think he wants to kill himself because of that motherfucker?!"

"That cannot be ruled out, but rather he should not become another victim of Madara."

"Isn't he already?"

"On a sexual level, yes, probably, not yet on a different level, hopefully."

"What do you mean, on a different?"

"Fugaku told me. He asked me to keep it to myself so as not to put myself in danger." Dai struggled with the words and finally said, "Fugaku had to stifle the complaint for Kakashi's safety, but it would be justified. He knows, at least he suspects, that Madara raped his brother, several times, he just can't prove it and therefore can't harm him. Nevertheless.. That's not all.." He breathed in deeply and with quivering nostrils. "Twenty years ago, the body of sixteen-year-old Izuna Uchiha was found in the family home. Officially, he had an accident and broke his neck in a fall down stairs. Few know the truth about how Izuna died – or rather, how he was killed and what happened to his body after his death."

Gai gasped and pulled up his fists to physically protect himself from the words and thoughts. "No..."

"Yes.. He.." Dai panted and grimaced. "He choked him to death and meanwhile and after he.. well.." He emptied his cup in large gulps and slammed the ceramic on the tablecloth. "Izuna was probably Madara's first victim, he was eighteen at the time. It is unclear whether there were others afterwards who had to experience something similar. But basically, young men disappear every week in Manchester without a trace and no one looks for them because they are labelled as runaways – a found fodder for a monster like him. Fugaku fears that Kakashi is more or less stuck in Madara's clutches. He can't do anything about it without upsetting the apple cart, they're pretty hot on his heels for tax evasion, but he's asked me to persuade him as soon as possible to stay away from this man, lest he suffer the same fate. Gai, I'm sorry to tell you this and have to ask you to put you in danger by my side, but we both need to find Kakashi before it's too late."

Gai didn't waste even a second thinking or hesitating. He gritted his teeth, nodded resolutely and said, "Yes, dad. We will save him. We will go to this man and bring Kakashi home. I already have a plan."

"A plan?" Dai asked, puzzled. "What does it look like?"

"You meant that the guy was taking advantage of customers' sons, didn't you? I go there, pretend to want to buy my father's freedom, and offer myself to him."

"No!" Dai exclaimed in horror. "No, I can't let that happen!"

"Don't worry, dad, it's just to suss that ass out. When Kakashi is with him, I'll come up with something. I'll pay him off or no idea, whatever. That's the best lead we have, dad. I just have to believe that he is still alive, otherwise.. Otherwise.." He became quieter and quieter, was once again plagued by nightmarish horror scenarios. He pulled himself together and put his fists on the table. "Otherwise, it's all pointless anyway. What else am I supposed to do, twiddle my thumbs? Or do you have a better suggestion?"

Resigned, Dai shook his head. "No, unfortunately I don't have any ideas. But I will accompany you, you will not go through this alone. I can't let you put yourself in such danger."

"Dad, this ruins my plan, I have to—"

"Gai, please!"

With rage restrained, Gai dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands. "Okay. Then this way. Then we'll just do it together. But should we keep our feet still until tomorrow? It's Sunday, so the office won't be occupied. Or did Fugaku give you the private address of him?"

"No, he deliberately did not, and it's not in the phone book either. We have little choice but to wait and drive to Cheetham Hill tomorrow to visit Akatsuki's office," Dai replied depressed. "Today we can't achieve much. But we can be proud of ourselves that we have already come this far. We're very close to finding Kakashi and that's more than good given the starting situation this morning."

Gai pressed his lips together and jerked his head. "Yes. It would be better if we already knew him safely at home, but you're right. We have been able to cut off some loose ends, soon the picture will fall into place."

"Nicely said. I would suggest we get our things out of the car now and distract ourselves a little, how about it?"

"Yeah.." Distraction sounded excellent after all the events of the day. "I still have to clean out my room a bit."

"A bit?" Dai laughed, stood up and shook himself briefly, as if he wanted to get rid of the load of their conversation. "You didn't even start, and nineteen and a half years of junk are piling up to the ceiling in that cubicle. I think you'll be busy with that for the next few weeks. But I warned you: What is not packed by the time we move stays here."

Gai smiled sheepishly and while his father disappeared out the flat door, he retreated to his room, groaned at the sight of his usual chaos and started to unfold one of the boxes and stuff the contents of his shelf into it. Cassettes were neatly stacked at the bottom of the box, a robot with sound effects that had long since ceased to work formed the basis for a pile of rubbish, comics were kept, the small collection of brightly coloured Hot Wheels was tossed. Between all the souvenirs of his childhood, a stack of Polaroids fell into his hands. The accompanying camera went into the keep-box.

Only two of the six shelves were empty, but Gai's focus was entirely on the pictures, which sometimes showed a landscape or an animal, sometimes the three friends together, sometimes just Kina or Kakashi and him. He was particularly fond of one image. Kakashi and he were lying opposite each other with their heads on each other's shoulders, Gai had stretched the camera far away from him with one arm and grinned crookedly, Kakashi had just wanted to puff on a joint and made a grimace – one eye half squinted, the tongue in the corner of his mouth, which would have looked stupid on any other person, but made him look damn sexy and cheeky at the same time.

Sighing, Gai sank onto his bed, fell on his back, and ran his finger over the intentionally distorted face, the narrow nose, the birthmark on the chin. As if his mind were physically indulging in this memory, Crazy Little Thing Called Love tootled in his ears and Kakashi sang along, interrupting the lyrics only briefly to inhale the weed, suddenly swinging up and dancing grossly to the song – when Gai had pressed the shutter button again and a half-blurred photo of Kakashi in his underpants had been taken from a worm's-eye view. Gai snorted in amusement as he looked at this pale body, the hand in front of the face in the middle of a drag, the wild, light grey hair tousled and soft as usual, and a slight, phallus-shaped bulge in the front of the white boxershorts, because his cock had swung around with all the movement.

Gai stared at it, this bulge, and noticed an aroused twitch in the balls. His eyes glided along the weakly accentuated muscles on the stomach and chest, but quickly returned to the bulge, his free hand stroking his crotch. He traced the contours, imagined how they defined even further, how it erected, how it became hard – because of him, because they kissed, because they touched each other. A strong enclosing of his genitals, a short, soft moan from his throat and he realized what he was doing here.

Abruptly, he sat up, shoved the Polaroid between all the others, buried his face in his hands and shook his head. What kind of fucking pervert was he when he almost masturbated here when Kakashi was in danger?! He was sick, just sick. He slapped his cheeks a few times, thought convulsively of his grandparents, which cooled his swelling erection, and blinked violently. True distraction was needed, and the picture had not only awakened the longing for Kakashi in him.

He found his father in the bathroom, where he was filling the washing machine, told him that he had to go away for a moment, and borrowed the Volvo.

Jiraiya lived in Longsight in a run-down caravan that stood in a meadow near a junkyard. A red and white striped awning with several dirt stains protruded over the entrance. Gai knocked.

The entire vehicle wobbled, stamping footsteps approached the door and it was pushed open outwards. A thick cloud of smoke floated around and only slowly revealed a tall, lanky man with shaggy, shoulder-length, grey hair, unclean stubble, a white cotton shirt under a red linen vest and baggy boxer shorts. "Gai, is that you?" Jiraiya's loud voice asked over the deafening reggae music, clearly Trying to Rule My Life by Barrington Levy, this iconic fubbling in the sound was unmistakable. "Come in, lad, come in!"

He stepped aside and let Gai climb the two steps inside the caravan. He closed the door again, turned down the volume a bit, hurried to a smelly pile of clothes and pulled out a pair of brown cloth trousers, which he slipped over his skinny legs. "What brings you here at this unspeakable time of day, huh?"

"Yeah, what do you think?" Gai grinned and watched his former history teacher as he cleared used cereal bowls with dried soup broth from the bed. This man had always been a slob. "Do you have anything for me?"

"For you? Of coooourse, always." Jiraiya scurried to a narrow built-in closet and rummaged around in it. "But you haven't been here for ages. I thought you were cheating on me."

"No. I just haven't fetched anything myself for a long time, my father doesn't want me to smoke pot. And most of the time Kina got something because he doesn't really say anything to her. But I smoked my last one the other day and well, I'm yearning."

Jiraiya laughed, barking. "Ahaah, a little parasite, eh? But yes, your sister is still my best customer." He winked at Gai and placed a large wooden casket on the small, square table with the scraped edges and burn holes. From the inside of the casket he conjured up a cardboard box in which there was a suspicious rustle. "Best dope, just for you. Half a gram and you'll be shot out of your socks."

"That sounds perfect. How much for two?"

"Two? Let's make three and you give me ten."

"Inflation affects us all, huh?" Gai replied and earned a reproachful clearing of the throat. "I also have to live on something."

"Are you no longer at Buckleford?" He handed Jiraiya ten pounds.

Jiraiya took the money, put three slim joints in Gai's outstretched palm and answered, while he stowed the cardboard box back in the casket, "Yes, but the salary of a teacher is nothing. And the dealers demand more money for consistent quality. Gradually, it pays off that I have sold my weed all these years at a ridiculous price. I'll have to see where I stay."

"Hm, sorry for you," Gai muttered, stuffing the joints into his pocket and rolling up his T-shirt sleeve, which had once again surrendered to gravity.

"Aaah, I'll be fine. How are you? Are you done with school yet?"

"No," Gai replied. "I now have my last year ahead of me."

"Oh yeah, you repeated a year, I forgot. Believe me, it took me forever to get used to the fact that you and your twin sister came to school one after the other. But it helped that the two of you don't look alike. Tell me, what's the little tigress doing?"

Gai had always wondered if Jiraiya talked like that about all women, even if they were still minors, if he really considered his students to be "tigresses" or "birds" or if Gai was simply overreacting because it was about his sister. "She will soon be studying medicine."

"Did she survive boarding school, yeah?" Jiraiya barked and downright cracked up. "This little beast between all the finicky girls in uniform.. I've always found the idea strange. And Kakashi?"

Of course, the conversation had to come to him. Gai rubbed his stomach and said evasively, "He's fine." He liked Jiraiya in general, but he didn't necessarily feel he was the best storage space for his current problems.

"Yeaah.. yeaahh... That's nice. He goes to this elite school, doesn't he? Also, a strange idea. In my opinion, he doesn't fit in there at all."

"Well, it's all about his grades and they're bombastic," Gai replied a little aggressively. Kensington was, especially after the latest developments, a bottomless shithole, but it could have been an opportunity for Kakashi.

"That's right!" Jiraiya shouted doubtlessly. "I hardly know a better student than him. Only once in my career as a teacher have I graded so much homework with an A as with him, back then, my God, that must have been 25 years ago, shortly after my studies, I had a similarly brilliant student."

"Mh-hm," Gai said disinterested and actually wanted to go, smoke his joint hidden under a bridge and finally calm down a bit, but Jiraiya talked himself into full swing – as he always did when he found a topic that his stoned brain liked.

"He was a true genius, I tell you that!" Jiraiya revelled and leaned against the door of the built-in closet with a dazed grin. "Only top grades, exactly like Kakashi is doing now. The only difference was that he was outstanding in politics. I always saw him as mayor or something else in a similar position, but he went into finance. But well, math had really been his best subject, he even outshone his teachers. A school friend of his at the time founded Meelam and Madara is a shareholder in it, but I noticed that he himself is more active in the private sector. Such a career was not too far-fetched for him either. Man, it's been a long time. I'm getting really old.."

The man's glassy irises were pointed at one of the dirty plastic windows, but Gai's eyes and mouth had widened at the mention of this miracle student, and he couldn't really comprehend what he had just heard. He smacked, moistened his palate and stammered, "Uh.. Madara..? Madara Uchiha...? Do you know him? Do you happen to know where he lives now?"