Izuna

One week... One week without him.

It hurt. It hurt a lot. But it didn't hurt more than it did knowing he had information on my dead best friend he was forbidden to share with me.

I had blamed him. I had blamed Tobirama for it. I had thought he would share details with me because I was so special for him. Now, I realised how ridiculous that had been.

I was special to him. I had known that. I had seen it in the way he always made me pancakes on Sunday morning. How he grilled salmon instead of baking it because he knew that was how I liked it the most. How he changed his laundry time from morning to evening so I could sleep in and not be woken by the washing machine. It had nothing to do with his feelings for me. But even so, it had been hard.

He had only said one thing as I had packed up my things to leave.

"Sometime, I'm afraid you chose me just because I'm the only gay man who can give you information on Martin", he had said.

I hadn't answered, hurt because it wasn't true. At the same time, I couldn't blame him for thinking like that, because I would have thought the same way.

It hurt. A lot. So I danced the pain away. This week, I had been training for two extra hours a day; one hour extra stretching and one hour extra dancing. I knew it wasn't good for my joints or for my body, but I didn't care.

It was Saturday now, exactly one week after I had left Tobirama's home for my apartment. We didn't have any scheduled training then, and most took this day to rest. But here I was.

Suddenly, someone said my name.

"Izuna."

Not as a call, but as a surprised outburst at finding me here.

That voice had always made me cringe. But not now. If it was because the quality of it had changed or because I just couldn't feel the same range of emotions as before anymore, I couldn't guess.

"Henry."

He stood opposite me, in track pants and a flannel shirt. He was cute, with his ragged, blonde hair and tall, slim, muscular body. I felt very exposed in my training tights and T-shirt.

I didn't say anything. He would have be the one to break the silence and he knew that.

"I'm sorry about Martin", he said, looking away. He looked as if he really meant it. One thing about Henry was that he seemed completely unable to lie or hide his emotions, so I decided to take him on his words. "I swear, I had nothing to do with it."

"I know", I answered so immediately, it took even me by surprise, but I realised it was true.

We stood silent once more.

Then, I went to him, stood up on my toes, put my arms around him and kissed him.

I could feel the taste of shock in his mouth. It took a while before his hands went to my waist, and he placed them there gently. I had expected him to eat me up, but he didn't. He was very, very careful.

And he was very nice to kiss.

He made my lips swollen, made me come out of the kiss gasping for air. He put his hand on my face, leaned our foreheads together, breathed his minty breath into my mouth.

"I'd never thought..." he said and his voice was wobbling with emotions.

"Shh", I said, grabbing his hand.

"Do you forgive me?"

I thought for a bit. This was it. I could just turn back now. But I wouldn't and I knew it and Tobirama knew it, too.

"Yes", I said. "Yes."

We kissed again. 

Tobirama

"Sir?"

"Come on in, Oliver."

He did. I noticed he was in civil clothes. Like I usually was. The police could choose when they weren't out in the field. I always wore a shirt and trousers. But I had only ever seen Oliver in his police outfit.

"You look lovely", I said before I could stop myself.

He did, though. Baggy black trousers, an olive cardigan that went over his hands.

He blushed as he thanked me.

"I came to ask you something", he said.

I stood up and went to him. I couldn't have said why, but I went and stood so I towered above him, put my finger beneath his chin. I felt daring and apparently, so did he because he didn't flinch but looked straight at me.

My brave boy.

"Anything", I said.

"It's not about the case."

"What is it, then?"

"I would like to ask you on a date."

Whatever I had expected, it wasn't this.

I chuckled.

"My, oh my. What did you have in mind?"

"Dinner and drinks. I pay."

I looked at him with intent for a while. Then, I chuckled one last time and turned around.

"Two conditions", I said.

"Depends on what they are, Sir."

"Oh, I think they will be to your taste. Firstly, I pay." He opened his mouth to protest but I shut him up with one glance. "Anything else is out of the question. Second, from here on out, you call me by my first name. Understood?"

He met my gaze like the brave officer he was.

"Yes, Tobirama."

I smirked.

The date with Oliver was fucking lovely.

I put on my best suit and took him to an expensive restaurant. They were fully booked months in advance, but for the first time in my life I used my Rich Brother Privilege.

Oliver outside of work was chatty, polite and very easy to talk to. He was warm and funny, and I laughed heartily several times, something that was rare of me. With two glasses of wine in him, I noticed he became even more daring than he had been when he had asked me out. I found I liked him, and that he had the potential to become someone important. He already was, to be fair. I vowed then and there I would take exceptionally good care of him if he became drunk tonight.

"Tobirama?"

"Yes?"

For the first time that evening he looked shy. He was awfully cute in his slightly too big shirt. I wanted to squeeze him to death.

"I know you've been with someone until recently. So I must ask. What is the reason you agreed to our date?"

He looked at me with glassy eyes, and I realised I meant a great deal to him, too.

I sighed, braided my fingers together with his.

"The person I was with is not a factor for me", I said. "He was tightly connected to Martin. I don't know if they were lovers or not, but they were something. And he couldn't stand being with me when I couldn't give him any information."

"I'm sorry", Oliver said.

"Thank you", I said. "And it's true I wouldn't be here with you if it wasn't for the fact that he left me. I was loyal to him. But he made his choice. And I'm quite good at leaving the past in the past."

"Thank you for telling me."

From that moment on, I felt Oliver relax, and I found I relaxed, too.

He wanted to walk, and I offered to show him my apartment so we could watch a film there. I put my arm around his shoulders as we walked, and he laughed and put his arm around my waist. A light rain started up, and I removed my suit jacket and held it over our heads for us.

In the elevator, he hugged me, and I kissed the top of his head.

"I haven't had this fun in ages", he said.

I thought about Izuna, his isolation form me, how distanced we had become.

"Same for me", I could say without lying.

We were laughing as we opened the door...

And in the hallway stood Izuna.

"Oh", Oliver said.

Izuna didn't say anything. The look of shock on his face was painful.

"Izuna", I said. "It's good to see you."

It was true. Even if the timing was awful, it felt nice seeing him.

"You as well", he said. "Hi, by the way. I'm Izuna." He went to Oliver with a smile on his face and with his hand outstretched, and Oliver shook it with a shy smile and presented himself. "I'm sorry. I realised I had forgotten my glasses here and went to get them and I thought I could leave your spare keys."

"You should have texted", I said and hated the venom in my voice.

"I did", Izuna smiled apologetically. "I thought you were ignoring it and I really needed my glasses and I can't afford new ones."

"Sorry, I haven't seen it", I said, which was true.

"I'll leave you. Bye, Tobirama. Bye, Oliver."

"Bye", Oliver whispered. As soon as the door closed behind him, Oliver turned to me. "Oh, Tobirama, I'm so sorry, I'll leave immediately, I'll-

I kissed him. Forcefully at first, but then I slowed it down, let it ebb away into nothing.

"You'll do no such thing", I said. "Which film do you want to see?"

The office was crazy.

Ever since Oliver had made the connection and raised the suspicion that the missing people were about illegal organ donation, we had worked tirelessly for clues. Strange transactions of money, people with chronic illnesses getting better... But nothing.

The strange thing was, the disappearances had stopped. Just like that. A halt. Not one, for weeks.

One Saturday, I decided to stop for the evening and go to the gym, but got stuck at my desk. Some people got stuck watching funny videos on social media, while I usually got stuck doing some investigative digging on something minor.

This time, it was my brother. What did he do, really?

I searched him in our database. It didn't say anything about his job, only that he had a degree in economy and that he was the owner of several luxury apartments that he had renovated and sold or rented out to celebrities for astronomical sums.

But how had it all started? I found his first apartment, a small shoebox he had bought with the money he'd earned by working as a barista during his student years. He had sold it for a small gain and bought another one that had required a smaller loan. He sold that one for quite a good sum, but I remembered he had invested a lot in renovating it.

And then, boom, he blew up. Five years ago.

I looked at money transactions made in his name then, but found nothing that could explain it. I frowned. What have you been up to, Hashirama?

There was a knock on the door.

"Tobirama?"

It was Oliver. I stood up, went to him and pulled him to me.

"Hi", I murmured into his hair.

"I have found something", he whispered.

I looked at him.

"Oliver..."

"Disappearances... Like ours. From prisons. Darkened down and never found out about. The prisoners that disappeared were filed dead, all of them by acute disease. But there are no medical records."

"Which city?"

"Ours. But spread out in different prisons."

I closed my eyes. 

"And when did it stop?"

"Exactly when the disappearances of civil people started." I felt my heart sink. Fuck. "When they ran out of young, healthy prisoners."

"And..." I swallowed, refusing to open my eyes. "When did the prison disappearances start?"

Oliver took a deep breath.

I already knew the answer.

"Five years ago", Oliver said. 

The same time Hashirama got rich. 

I sat down heavily on the floor and hid my face in my hands.