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Illusion and Dream
By : djserani
Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male
Views: 1300 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! I make no money off of this!
Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
"It's in the capital of River Country, Kouyou. Intelligence tells us that the daimyo is untrusting of ninja and, as such, only has a few regular bodyguards surrounding him. The scroll in question is kept in the information officer's desk. Your orders include a layout of the building as well as the guard schedule." Tsunade sat back and looked over the two of them for a moment. "I don't want to send you. I'd prefer to send someone else on this, but the jounin are out and you're the best qualified out of those we have left."

Kotetsu ground his teeth together, trying, for the umpteenth time to keep from shouting at the Hokage. He may get away with ribbing her and picking on her at times when they were all in a good mood and simply working together, but that wasn't quite the same as her giving him orders for a mission. He swallowed his anger and ground out, instead, "Yes, Lady Hokage."

"You got something to say to me, brat?" Tsunade's eyes narrowed.

Kotetsu shook his head, spikes bouncing. "No, Lady Hokage," he answered and caught Izumo glancing over at him out of the corner of his eye.

One slim eyebrow went up and she snorted. "Right. Nothing to say. Bullshit." But she fell silent for a moment, considering them and didn't push. "Look, you're going, that's all there is to it. Deal with it. It's not as comfy as working here, but you are still ninja."

Kotetsu's mouth dropped and he boggled at her. "Are you fucking serious?" He asked before he could stop himself.

Tsunade blinked at him and Izumo elbowed him. "Sorry, Lady Hokage, he's just been... um... not himself with Gen gone."

"Bullshit," Kotetsu said, throwing a glare at his friend before he turned back to his boss. "I've been wanting to go out more! I'm tired of being a paper-pusher!"

Tsunade blinked at him a few more times before she started laughing. Kotetsu's eyes almost bugged out of his head. "It's not funny!" He nearly shouted, anger finally getting the better of him.

"Oh, yes it is," she managed between chuckles. "Oh that..." she snorted again, and both Izumo and Kotetsu watched her with wide eyes as she worked to get control again. "Oh hell. All this time, I thought you didn't want to go out."

The two men turned and stared at each other a moment before looking back at Tsunade. "We thought you didn't think much of our skills," Izumo offered, shaking his head.

Tsunade snorted again, and finally started to get a hold of herself, then she shook her head. "No, no, not at all. Dear God... you survived Hidan and Kakazu - not once but twice. You were primarily responsible for bringing Kakazu down during the war, you survived the war itself when so many didn't..." She shook her head again. "If that doesn't prove you have good skills..."

She sighed and considered them both again. "That doesn't matter now." She paused to take a drink of the tea on her desk and made a face at the cup. Both men knew she was wishing for her sake instead and they just barely avoided snickering. "You leave in the morning, early. Plan to be gone for a while. You'll find more details in the scroll, including the intelligence we have on the daimyou, the city, the headquarters and anything else we know. There is the chance some of it is old, so stay on your toes. Also, you'll be undercover while in public in the city, so take civilian clothes. The rest of the details on that are in your orders."

The two men nodded and accepted the scrolls she held out to them.

"And for God's sake..." she paused and looked them both over with an expression neither man could decipher. "Be careful, will you?" She asked, her voice quiet.

Izumo and Kotetsu glanced at each other, then back at her before nodding. "We will, Lady Tsunade."

"Alright then, dismissed!" She waved a hand toward the door. "So I can have my sake..."

Once outside, they blinked at each other a moment in disbelief before turning toward their apartment. "She doesn't say that to the other teams she sends out," Izumo mused as they took the steps to the street.

"Nope, at least not that way." He paused, mulling it over. "Maybe Gen was right. Maybe one of the reasons she doesn't send us out is because she..." He fought it, but in the end, the snickers won. "No, no, I can't say it," Kotetsu said, laughing.

Izumo forced a serious look onto his face. "She cares about us."

"Maybe she just doesn't want to get stuck with the paperwork," Kotetsu grinned.

Izumo laughed. "Right. She could just pull another couple of chuunin in for that."

Kotetsu chuckled. "True, but maybe we're just too good at it. Maybe all we have to do is start screwing it up."

Izumo shook his head, still chuckling. "We're not going to do that. As tempting as it might be at times. But..." he trailed off and paused, glancing at Tetsu again. "It does kind of feel good, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it does. Who'd have thought?"

"Not me," Izumo answered, unlocking their front door. "Not me."

He dropped his keys onto the kitchen table, then opened the scroll to go over it again. He inspected first the building layout for the daimyo's offices. It was huge, but the ANBU nin who'd gathered the intelligence had most of the rooms marked. Izumo frowned. If ANBU had collected the intel, why didn't they just retrieve the scroll?

Then he caught the next paragraph below the sketch. There was a disclaimer that the information regarding the layout could be old - very old and that things may have changed since then.

Sighing, Izumo started at the top again and began to read. "Zumo?" Kotetsu started. "You know how she said that we're supposed to be undercover?"

"Yeah," Izumo looked up at his friend, who was blinking at his own scroll. "What?" He asked at the expression on Kotetsu's face.

"We're... um, supposed to pose as lovers." He looked up at Izumo.

"What?!" Izumo turned back to his own scroll. "That's our cover story? But...we're not even going to be there all that long, are we?"

"Time frame on the orders lists at least ten days," Kotetsu read off. He frowned. "And if it's only two to the River country capital..."

"That's six days in the city. Six days for this?" Izumo asked, frowning. "They must be really unsure of their intel if they're expecting us to take that long." He paused to continue reading. "Lovers exiled for our orientation." He snorted. "They're not very creative, are they?"

Kotetsu frowned. "Well, I don't know. I mean, think about it. It's pretty viable. Konoha is a ninja village. I think it's likely that our... orientation, as you put it, is a bit more accepted here." At Izumo's raised eyebrow, he explained. "Well, I mean, think about the reactions to the elite and to the fact that we could, you know, kill pretty damned easily." He shrugged, "Some people can't get over that."

"That's true." Izumo shook his head.

Kotetsu read a little further, then, "So, we're from a small village who doesn't like it and we go to a bigger city that will accept us better."

"Well, I suppose that makes sense. It might not matter, anyway. We may not even have to give our cover story except maybe to the desk clerk at the inn."

"Inn?" Kotetsu asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Three paragraphs down. There are gate guards, for one thing, which we'd have to pass if we tried to go in and out a lot. That would raise more suspicion. Also the city's just too big and the roads around it too busy to try to camp and come in every night. We'd waste a lot of time in travel."

"Oh. Yeah, I can see that. See? This is why you're stealth and I'm not." He raised his eyebrows and pointed at his friend.

Izumo laughed. "Right. And you pack the punches rather than sneak around. Come on, we need to pack and it's already late." He glanced at the clock and groaned. The ANBU nin had shown up at the door, calling them into the Hokage's office as he was getting ready for bed. And now, it was after midnight.

The next morning found them on the road shortly after dawn. They could reasonably travel the ninja way for part of the trip, but by the time they crossed the Fire Country border, they needed to be walking on foot and in civilian clothes for their cover. Kotetsu still thought it was a little silly, especially that soon, but orders were orders. Fire Country, alone, even travelling the ninja way, would take most of a day.

A little over an hour outside of the gates, Izumo stopped dead and dropped from the trees. Kotetsu glanced over at his partner with a raised eyebrow, surprised. He opened his mouth to ask what was up, but Izumo simply held up a finger and tilted his head, then his face split into a grin. "Come on," he said, taking off in a different direction.

"Zumo? What the hell?" He called, but Izumo just waved at him to come along. After a sigh, he concentrated his own chakra and then realized what had caught Izumo's attention. A smile splitting his own face, he took off after his best friend.

They caught up to them a few minutes later. They landed on a branch a few trees ahead of the other two and waited. Genma saw them first, grin firmly on his face and stopped on the branch next to Tetsu. Without saying a word, he grabbed his boyfriend's hand and dragged him to the ground. They toppled out of the tree and only landed on their feet simply by virtue of chakra.

Kotetsu laughed. "Miss me?" He asked and Genma's grin spread wider.

"No, I make a habit out of nearly killing you every time I see you." He shook his head, pulling the senbon from his mouth and tucking it away. Then his arms went around Kotetsu and he practically yanked the other man against him. Kotetsu's own arms wrapped Genma up and lips met in a bruising kiss, both men savoring the feel of being together again if only for just a moment.

"I missed you, too," Tetsu whispered when they briefly paused. Their tongues tangled again and they completely lost themselves in a long, heated kiss designed to drive them both absolutely insane. Nibbles, nips, then more slow tastes and finally they pulled back to actually take in air.

"What are you doing all the way out here? Were you waiting for us?" He asked, disbelief plain on his face.

Kotetsu frowned. "I'm afraid not. We are, if you can believe it, on our way to our own mission."

"Oh?" Genma asked, eyebrows going up.

"Yeah, scroll retrieval. Daimyo's headquarters in the capital of River Country. Orders say it could take ten days or more." He didn't look too happy about it.

"Hey, I thought you wanted more missions?" Gen asked, tightening his arms around the shorter man.

Kotetsu nodded. "I do. That doesn't mean I'm looking forward to another ten days away from you."

Genma's lips tilted in a half-smile. "Well, that I can understand." He dipped his head for another kiss, more tastes. When they took a break, he sighed. "I'll miss you."

"I already do," Kotetsu answered and paused to nibble his way along jawline and ear, earning himself a low moan.

The lost themselves in each other for a bit, kissing, touching and even grinding into each other, neither paying attention to where they were or who might be nearby. They simply didn't care, too happy to be together. Finally, they broke apart again and Genma cupped Kotetsu's face. "Listen, you know what you told me before I left?"

Kotetsu swallowed. "Yes, did..."

Genma shook his head. "No, we succeeded. It went well. I'm bringing it up because I want you to know it goes the same for you."

"We're just getting a scroll, Gen, it's not going to happen." Tetsu said, but the other man put a finger over his mouth.

"Anything can happen at any time. Intel can be bad, simple can turn ugly," Genma reminded him. "You know that, you've been through it before."

It was a not so subtle reminder of the mission that cost Asuma his life. "Yeah," he whispered, eyes dropping to Gen's chest.

"Just remember that I understand, too. Okay?" Genma tilted his head back up and dropped another kiss on Kotetsu.

"Yeah, I'll remember. Let's just hope it's not an issue?" Kotetsu sighed, then chuckled. "We're supposed to be undercover while we're in the city."

"Oh yeah? What's your cover?" Gen asked, smiling.

"You're not going to believe this."

"Try me," Genma suggested.

Tetsu chuckled again. "We're supposed to pose as lovers exiled."

Genma snorted a laugh. "Oh, that's too much." He shook his head. "The two of you, posing as lovers. Not very creative, are they?"

"That's what Zumo said," Kotetsu shook his head. "But it makes a certain amount of sense, I guess. And yeah, the two of us." He paused and cleared his throat.

Genma's smile faded and he considered his lover for a moment. "I know, Tetsu, I know." He pushed a bit of spiky hair back and swallowed. "Look, I...," he started, then stumbled to a halt. "Aw, hell, I don't know what to say. I know you're going to have to do things to make it believable."

Kotetsu sighed, looking into the hazel eyes. "I love you. No matter what I have to do, that's not going to change."

Genma nodded. "And you still love him," he said, and the look on his face made it obvious he wished he hadn't said it.

"And you still love Rai, Gen. We knew that going into this."

"I know. I know, I'm... sorry. I sh--" Genma started, but Kotetsu put his hand up to the other man's lips.

"I committed myself to you and I intend to honor that, Gen. I love you. And I mean that."

Genma swallowed and looked into the slanted eyes. His mind flashed to the scene in the cave with Raidou and he felt terrible. But now, as they were on their way to their own mission, a mission that was already going to be extremely difficult on his lover emotionally, was not the time to bring it up. He nodded. "I know. I know you will. I love you, too, Tetsu," he said, instead and leaned in for another kiss.

When the broke apart, Tetsu sighed. "Anyway, we've got to get as far as we can today because we're on civilian foot once we hit the River Country border."

Genma shuddered. "Ugh, walking. But I understand. Be careful." He said and Tetsu knew that this time, he was talking about physical safety. He paused to nip at Tetsu's lips once more. "And come home to... me."

"I will, babe. I will," Kotetsu answered, not missing the hesitation. But they both pushed the questions and fears aside and lost themselves in one more kiss.

It took a major effort on the part of all four of them, but eventually they managed to say good bye. Genma and Raidou headed into the village to turn in reports, get checked over and sleep like the dead for the next twenty four hours. Izumo and Kotetsu turned toward River Country and took off, trying to put as much distance behind them as possible before the end of the day.

They managed pretty well, getting just short of the border before nightfall. They continued on to the river and found a spot out of the way for the night. The silence between them up until that point had been reasonably comfortable, if a little strained. They'd managed to deal well enough over the last several days with the rather disturbing incident around their showers that first night they were alone.

Well, deal with it in the way that they'd dealt with most things involving emotion. They'd shoved it aside and concentrated on missing their boyfriends, instead. And, it had worked, for the most part.

But it was still there, lurking between them and had made the week since rather awkward. It was only by virtue of the piles of paperwork and running Tsunade gave them to do that they got through it. They'd worked late most nights and had gone home only to fall into bed exhausted and sleep hard.

Izumo had suspected it was on purpose - keeping them busy enough and tired enough to not miss the other two or get into trouble. But it wasn't until she'd given them their mission, that the thought had occurred to him. But he figured that if she cared enough to worry about their welfare the way she did, maybe that's what she'd been doing, too.

Regardless of whether it was deliberate or not, that busyness was gone now and all they had was each other and time. They boiled water for tea over the fire, put the tea together, handing things off as usual, then pulled out their bedrolls and settled in, all without speaking. Izumo, despite his best efforts, kept seeing Kotetsu and Genma wrapped around each other in his head as he had earlier in the day when he and Raidou had finally broken apart.

Raidou had been almost too happy to see him. Izumo couldn't put his finger on why Raidou had been quite that... well, almost excited, but something felt off about it. It might have just been how long they were gone or maybe that the mission hadn't been entirely smooth. They hadn't had time to discuss it. Or, well, they did, but chose to use the time for something else instead.

So, it could have been that the mission hadn't gone very smoothly. He was sure that it hadn't gone badly enough for Raidou and Genma to have done something, but there was still a whole world of other possibilities. Either way, it bugged him a bit. But, he had other things to worry about and so let it go.

Like his best friend. He glanced up at him, then went back to staring at the flames while he thought that over more.

He'd finally admitted to himself somewhere in the darkest parts of the night over the last week, that his feelings for his friend had never truly been put away. They still lurked, still prodded him and he had eventually accepted that that was the root of his jealousy.

He did his best to bury it, concentrating, instead, on the man he had, the one he was in love with. He'd reminded himself over and over that Raidou was out there on a mission, looking forward to coming home to him.

It was the only thing that had kept him sane.

He sighed, trying to not think too much about the upcoming mission and the idea of supposedly posing as a lover with Tetsu. That was going to be damned near disastrous. There was no way he'd be able to act like that, no way he could pretend without some portion of his feelings leaking through.

He gave a chagrined chuckle. At least it would seem realistic.

"What's funny?" Kotetsu asked from the other side of the fire.

Shit. "Nothing, just... thinking about the mission coming up. I suppose it's a good thing we're such good friends."

"Why's that?" Kotetsu finished his tea and tossed the dregs into the foliage behind him.

"We're comfortable with each other. Well, more than we would be with a stranger." Izumo answered, finishing his own tea and setting his cup down.

"Ah, that's true." Kotetsu stared at the other man for a moment, a considering expression on his face. "We're going to have to hold hands, you know, act like we're..." he paused, stumbling over the next words. "In love."

"I know." The brown eye moved up from the fire to meet his. "Think we can pull it off?"

Kotetsu shrugged a shoulder. He knew it wouldn't be much of a stretch for him. "Yeah, I'm sure I can, you?"

Izumo nodded. "I think so." He sighed and glanced at his watch. "Well, we're going to want to be on the road early. Walking, it'll take us most of the day to reach the city, so we should try to get some sleep."

"Yeah," Kotetsu said, watching his friend stretch out on the blankets, pull his bandana off of his head and resettle his pack as a pillow. "Night, Zumo."

"Night, Tetsu," Izumo answered, closing his eyes.

Kotetsu resettled himself on his own bedroll and stared through the canopy of trees at the stars. He wasn't afraid of not being able to carry off his cover. He knew that wouldn't be an issue for him. Posing as Izumo's lover wouldn't be hard at all.

No, what he was afraid of was that he wouldn't be able to keep it as posing. That would be the difficult part.

The thoughts whirled through his head for quite a long time - questions about Izumo, thoughts about Genma, worries about the mission, and it would be much, much later before he finally fell asleep.
- 10
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Illusion and Dream	By : djserani Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1300 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! I make no money off of this!

Illusion and Dream