Dirty Little Secret

CHAPTER 27



Despite the new acquisition, dinner at Naruto’s house went as it usually did. Kakashi made the food, served it, the blonde criticized his cooking and slapped him hard enough to leave a bruise on his cheek, then anyway ate what he had been served. Kakashi waited for his Master to finish eating, then ate some of the scraps that were left – the blonde had been too surly to feed him anything during the actual dinner.



Afterwards, with a muttered:



“I am going to bed, don’t forget to feed it something.” he went to the bedroom, leaving Kakashi to clean the table.



Kakashi watched his retreating back and tentatively touched the sore spot on his face – this was going to bruise. He wondered what had made the blonde so angry so as to lose control the way he did – he almost never struck his face. Whatever had upset him had to be quite serious. Was it Pein’s presence? After all, it was Naruto’s idea to bring him here. Perhaps it was something else.



With a sad sigh he went to the bathroom, wetting a towel with cold water and pressed it to his throbbing cheek, wincing at the unpleasant sensation. This was really going to bruise. Well, he could always say that he had tripped with his bad leg and had fallen over – on previous occasions, when Naruto had actually left a mark on his face, Kakashi had used similar excuses – not that people talked to him long enough to ask very often.



Still holding the towel to his face, he moved back to the kitchen and took a small bowl from the cupboard, filling it with left-over rice. Then he put it on the table and looked at it for a while, thinking of the man locked in Naruto’s closet. He really didn’t want to see Pein right now. He was tired, and sore, and his face and his leg hurt. All he wanted was to go to sleep and forget that the outside world existed.



Still, duty was something he was used to, so he took the bowl and walked out of the kitchen, putting the towel back in the bathroom on the way out. Still, he paused once again before the closet, looking at the door. Pressing his lips together, he unlocked it and pulled it open. The automatic light immediately went off and illuminated the tiny room.



Pein was lying on the mattress, curled in an as tight ball as possible on his side, his back to the door. His back was stiff with tension as Kakashi entered and took a step in to approach him.

“I brought you dinner.” Kakashi told him and watched as the stiff, thin back slowly relaxed minutely, then the red-head unfolded, obviously favouring his various bruises, and turned around.

The younger man put the bowl on the ground before the mattress loud enough for Pein to hear the clink of the porcelain on the cement floor.



“Thank you, Sir.” The man said softly, his voice still as hoarse as before, then reached forward and tried to locate the dish with his hands, slowly running them over the cold floor. Despite himself, Kakashi muttered:



“It’s to the left.”



Pein followed the instruction and found it, quickly snatching it off the floor. Hurriedly he began to eat with his hands, scooping the boiled rice with his fingers and stuffing it in his mouth hungrily, still sitting curled on the mattress. Kakashi stood there and watched him with a mix of distaste and much reviled pity. It was obvious he hadn’t been fed in quite a while. His own barely filled stomach growled in sympathy.



When Pein was finished with the rice, he quickly licked the bowl clean of any remaining grains and then simply held it as if willing it to fill all over again with food. Kakashi pulled it away and the red-head immediately let go, flinching away like a spooked kitten.



Kakashi stared at him for a few moments, then gruffly asked:



“Do you need to use the bathroom?”



The red-head nodded hesitantly.



“Alright. I’ll let you use ours – I have no intention of cleaning your shit from the chamber pot the Master has left for you.”



He pulled him up again and walked out, holding tightly the thin wrist in his hand but he did not pull him as roughly as before – that would produce too much racket and wake Naruto up – something Kakashi wanted to avoid at all costs. Pein followed him as obediently as a dog, offering no resistance.



“There’s a step here.” Kakashi warned as he crossed the threshold between the corridor and the bathroom.



Once inside, he showed him the toilet seat and watched as the red-head turned around to undo his pants and relieve himself. He could feel himself blushing with embarrassment. Bodily functions such as these were something private and he was intruding, even if he reminded himself that this was Pein and that it would be unwise to leave him unobserved even for a moment. The red-head himself showed no signs that he was worried by the situation, even if he could not see Kakashi, he hadn’t heard him leave, which meant that he knew he was here. Was he so far gone that he didn’t care what people saw of him?



The water flushing in the toilet startled Kakashi out of his reverie and he tugged Pein’s elbow to lead him to the sink.



“Wash your hands here.” He ordered him shortly and added, remembering that he had forgotten to bring the man any water all day “You can drink water from the tap.” Not that he cared if Pein lived or died – but Naruto wanted him alive - so he had to make sure that he received proper care, as much as it left a bitter taste in his mouth.



Pein lowered his head and after finding the jet of water drank greedily, taking in large, loud gulps.



When he was done, Kakashi brought him back to the closet and pushed him inside, then without a word closed the door after him.



Still angry, and sore, and hungry he walked back to the bathroom to wash and put on his sleep clothes, then returned to Naruto’s bedroom. The blonde was asleep, though Kakashi knew that if he sensed any malicious intent he would awaken immediately. He had seen him do so many times during the war.



Tiredly, he walked up to the rug that was spread on the ground at the foot of the bed and curled up there. Naruto had assigned him that sleeping place about a month after the debacle with Gai, when he had caught him talking to one of the younger Chuunins outside of the office. It had been completely innocent, a discussion of the reports that the Chuunin had filed several days ago. However, when they had got home, the blonde had exploded with rage. After another night of punishment and sex too rough to be pleasant even to Kakashi, Naruto had literally kicked him out of the bed and made him sleep on the bare floor.



After his anger passed, he had given Kakashi the rug, telling him that if he was a pet then he should behave like one. Since that time, he had begun sleeping on the floor at the foot of Naruto double-poster bed, curling up as tightly as Pein had, even during the summer to conserve warmth. The only time he was allowed on the bed was when he was pleasing his Master.



He knew, logically, that he should be angry at being treated like this, outraged even. However, he couldn’t gather the energy to do so, couldn’t bring himself to care. And when he felt a little less numb than usual, all he felt was guilt – at betraying Minato’s legacy, at failing so terribly at being a teacher… at not being a better son. When that happened, he realized that all Naruto did to him was deserved, that his Master was just and generous to him for even allowing him in his home. Somehow, it made him feel special, knowing that despite everything, he was needed, he was wanted, and not just by anyone, but by Naruto.



With that thought, he lied down and curled up, willing himself to sleep.