Heavy Blood

11. Tobirama

I was standing in the little kitchen, making a lot of toast. Like, a lot. I found a full carton of high-quality orange juice that Hashirama liked to drink, several cheeses and jams and also made a simple oatmeal. I was in the middle of boiling water for tea or coffee when I heard Izuna's silent footsteps come in. I turned round, and my heart completely melted at the sight of him. His hair was dripping wet and fell loosely along his shoulders, his cheeks were rosy and my clothes completely engulfed him. I found I was licking my piercing like there was no tomorrow.

"Was the shower to your satisfaction?" I asked him in a low voice.

"It felt so good. Thank you. And..." He looked away a little. "Thank you for everything else as well."

"Oh, it was nothing", I said, but Izuna wasn't having it.

"You saved me when I was being raped. You held me through the night when I needed you. You phoned my workplace. You're making me breakfast. You're doing everything for me. You don't even know me."

"Izuna, what happened?" I asked, suddenly serious, looking at him sternly. He looked away, not meeting my eye. "Hey...." I walked to him and once again pressed my upper body to his, grabbed his chin and tilted it up towards me. "Look at me. You can tell me. It's safe."

He sat down on a chair in the kitchen then, hiding his face in his hands, suddenly exhausted. I pulled a chair and sat next to him, put a hand on his shoulder. Did I pressure him too much? I was just going to apologise and say he didn't have to tell me anything, when he started talking.

And once he started talking, there was no stopping.

He told me everything. How he'd secretly paid for his brother's health care. How the cost was astronomical, but he had managed without any loan by renting a cheap apartment and having minimal expenses. How they had no further family or friends who could help. How he hadn't been able to pay rent lately, and had finally been evicted. How he had everything in a suitcase, still outside of the church on the patch of grass where he was going to sleep when he'd been raped and was found by me. I didn't ask him why he hadn't told me. I didn't ask why he hadn't asked me for a place to stay. I didn't ask me why he hadn't knocked in the church door. I just listened, looking at him sternly. When he was finished, I thanked him.

"Thank you for telling me. Izuna, you stay here now." I continued before he could protest: "I'll change the sheets so you don't have to lie in my blood. And don't worry, I don't live here, I have an apartment. I just happened to sleep here tonight because I was too lazy to get my ass home." Not strictly true; I just genuinely liked sleeping here and did most nights, but I didn't want to make him feel bad. "So you're not intruding. And we need to get you to a doctor so they can examine you. My brother's wife is a doctor, maybe you'll let her help you at her GP practice?"

The more I spoke, the bigger Izuna's eyes became. He just looked so taken aback that someone helped him, it made my heart ache for him.

"Tobirama, thank you", he whispered.

I put my hand on his arm. "You're very welcome." I didn't remove my arm. Izuna didn't move.

"Tobirama?"

"Mmm?"

"The blood..."

I stood up and started collecting the food items I'd made, placing them on the little kitchen table. Izuna started munching immediately. "Can we talk about it another time? I don't think I'm ready." In all honesty, the thought of it made me itch to go down in the stone room. I had a lot of things to punish myself for at this point...

"Is it part of your religion?" he asked, looking at me over a piece of toast with cheese and strawberry jam.

I hesitated. Then I sighed. "Yes. But it's not very common."

Suddenly, he reached his hand down to where I'd sat down, and put it on my arm. "I won't ask anymore. Tell me when you're ready."

I found myself trembling at his touch. It was as if his fingertips where white-hot, and melted my skin. I don't know why I reacted so strongly to this particular touch; I'd nuzzled his face, slept with him in my embrace. But then it struck me; it was because this touch in particular was so full of purpose, his hand moving for the sole reason of touching my skin.

"You're trembling..." he murmured, and stood up, walked to my chair and sat down in my lap, facing me. I immediately leaned back and released a breath I didn't know I had been holding, as if relieved to finally be having this man in a close enough proximity to my body. I immediately put one arm around his shoulder blades, and one in his hair, still wet from the shower. I leaned our foreheads and noses together and closed my eyes. He put his arms around me, hugged me to him.

"I want to kiss you", I murmured, making circles with my fingers behinds ears causing him to shiver, loving the effect I had on him.

"Then do it", he said whispered.

"I can't", I said darkly through gritted teeth.

"Aren't you allowed to kiss me?" he asked.

"I think I am... But if I kiss you, I know I can't stop myself from fucking you." Hearing me swear caused him to lean his head back and moan and I blew air through gritted teeth because at this point, I was starving.

"I can't take it anymore", I said.

And connected our lips.

The kiss was insane. I hadn't kissed anyone for years and years and years and years, and kissing Izuna went beyond my wildest imaginations. He moved his lips excellently over mine, having a go at massaging my bottom lip. He moved his hips so he sat closer to my groin, and I let my hand slide up and down his waist, making him sigh contentedly. I moved my hand to his nipple, squeezing a little, causing him to gasp and open his mouth, and I carefully licked his lower lip. He met my tongue with his own, playing with it.

"Izuna..." I murmured, shivering. My erection was bulging at this point, trying to find its way into this man. "Izuna, I can't stop."

He put his hands on my face, breathed against my lips. "I will help you", he breathed. "I will help you stop. We won't do anything we don't want. Or can't. Just kissing."

"Okay", I said dumbly.

And we kept kissing each other, sucking each other's lips, twirling our tongues in a deadly dance. Izuna seemed to love playing with my lip piercing and did so expertly, taking it into his mouth and licking it playfully. It drove me crazy. Our hands were pulling and tugging at each other, desperate for closer. For minute after minute after minute we just kissed, and my head was swimming when Izuna finally pulled away.

"We should eat", he panted, and he stood to leave.

"No!" I said, pulling him back into my lap. "No... Please, eat here. In my lap. I want you close."

He smiled at me then, suddenly shy and turned round so he was facing the table. "Okay."

We ate then, him in my lap, me unable to tear my eyes off the back of his head as I was munching toast. We didn't speak much, just ate in amicable silence, smiling at each other like fools from time to time when Izuna turned around. When we were done, I placed a peck on his lips, and we did the dishes together, me whistling happily.

"Please feel free to do whatever you want, Izuna. I need to do some paperwork. If you're hungry, there's a snack cabinet in the room."

Izuna thanked me, and we went our separate ways. But as soon as my back turned on him, my smile died.