Illusion and Dream - Part 17

Izumo squatted on a different roof than the one he'd been on the night before, watching the guards do their patrols. He glanced at his watch. There were two more runs before the shift change.

He looked to the side at Kotetsu, who was also watching the activity across the way. His best friend looked over at him, gave a short nod, then turned back to the compound. Izumo sighed quietly and gave his attention to the guards again, as well.

They'd found another spot to slip into the headquarters. The street that went around the wall on the north side of the compound was much darker than the one they'd staked out the night before. They'd then discovered another two story apartment building opposite the North Gates and took up a spot on the roof to watch for the shift change.

When the last patrol started to circle, Izumo signalled his friend. They watched the guards get to the end of their trip and start back and then they climbed over the top of the wall and landed silently on chakra-infused feet in the accompanying alley.

They checked the street and, seeing it empty, crossed to their chosen tree and leapt up into it, landing on the first branches. They paused, waiting, and when there was no alarm, they slipped over the compound wall and crouched in the shadows of the bushes at the base. Another pause and when they were again sure that no shouts were forthcoming, they peered around the foliage.

The guards had gone in and the second group was still congregating at the guard station Kotetsu had discovered the night before. They slid through the shadows, moving as the trees did and covered the distance from the wall to the building in just a few seconds. Izumo took a deep breath when they reached the door to the marriage office.

They were both surprised to find it unlocked. They exchanged a glance and pulled kunai out. The door opened silently and both men eased into the room, closing the door as quietly as they'd opened it. They held their breath, but when they were greeted with nothing but the heavy silence of an empty office, they relaxed a bit.

It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the gloom. They stopped to discuss -- in hand signals -- if they should continue after the unlocked door, but Izumo was sure it was because they simply weren't expecting anyone. Kotetsu nodded his agreement then, and they made their way across to the other door.

The hallway was dimly lit and empty. They glanced at each other again when they counted no less than eight doors along that hallway. Neither of them was looking forward to the search and the number of rooms made the task seem almost impossible. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

One more glance and they headed down the hall, splitting up. They were exceedingly grateful to discover that only half of the rooms in that hallway were used. The others sat empty. It seemed a bit odd, but they were just happy to not have to search them.

The offices that were in use were very obviously administrative offices for the city and country and after verifying that was all they were, they moved on. At the juncture of the T, they looked right to see nothing but a large conference room. Back the other way took them to the reception area and the main stairs up.

The second floor was much the same. They cataloged offices and made mental notes of what was where. In fact, it wasn't until they got to the fourth floor that they found anything interesting.

Two large offices filled this level, obviously for the daimyou's immediate subordinates. The doors were locked but they'd come back after checking the rest of the offices. If at all possible, they didn't want to break in. They'd prefer to recover the scroll and be long gone -- maybe even back in Fire country -- before it was discovered missing.

They peered through the glass doors for each office to find them identical, if mirror images of each other. They each had a massive desk and large picture window that overlooked the gardens to the north. The only real decoration included small scatter rugs, a couple of potted plants and the mass of papers on obviously working surfaces.

Mental notes made, they continued to the fifth floor.

This was one large office, likely belonging the daimyou himself. The desk itself, though also huge, was empty of anything except a few framed pictures. There was what looked like expensive art on the rice-paper walls and rugs decorating the polished wood floors. The other furniture was simple, also expensive and sat lower than the large, almost throne-like chair behind the desk.

Definitely the daimyou's office.

They made their way back down to the previous floor and Kotetsu knelt in front of the lock. He pulled out of his pocket a long slim piece of metal that looked suspiciously like a senbon needle and Izumo raised an eyebrow at him. He gave Izumo a "tell you later" look and closed his eyes to listen. A moment later, he heard the quiet click and the door opened.

Izumo blinked at him and slipped into the office. They each took a set of drawers, but the only things they found were office supplies and general files on the financials of River Country. Frowning, Izumo looked for anywhere else a scroll could be stored, but there were no closets, no file cabinets, nothing of the sort.

Closing and locking the door, they turned to the other office.

Kotetsu picked this one a tiny bit faster than the last and they hurried to the desk. Yet again, however, they found nothing even remotely hinting at the missing scroll. Still no closets or file cabinets, no storage of any kind.

Frustrated at the lack of anything, they closed that one up, too, and headed back to the ground floor. They spent a little more time searching the first floor, in the hopes that they'd missed something. Just as they were running out of time, they found it.

A small, single door set flush with the wall behind the stairs. Kotetsu reached out to open it when they heard voices on the other side approaching. Eyes wide and locked on each other, they moved just fast enough, slipping into the shadows on the steps.

"No, I don't think that's everything. There has to be more information," a male voice said. Izumo and Kotetsu stared at each other as they door below them opened and the voices became much more clear.

"I was assured it was the only one that we'd need," another male voice, deeper than the first, replied.

"Well, it's probably enough. Where is it?" The first voice asked.

"In Hikaru's room downstairs."

"Is that wise?" Again from the first voice. The two men turned down the hallway and, after a nod from Izumo, the ninja crept down the stairs to follow.

"Why wouldn't it be?" The first man asked, his voice sounding a little defensive.

"I'm not sure. I'm just not sure if we can trust him."

"Do we have much choice? If Daimyou Toshio wants this to happen, we have to." A sigh, more footsteps and the sound of a door opening. Kotetsu and Izumo sped up.

"That's true. Well, we'll keep an eye on him. Have they copied the information yet?" The second man asked with a sigh.

A brief pause. "He won't let go of it yet, and in a way, I can't blame him. That information is all that's making him valuable at the moment."

"Yes, and Yori hasn't been very welcoming of him otherwise."

The two men had apparently stopped in the hallway. "Keep an eye on him," The first voice said.

"Hikaru? I thought you liked him."

More silence, then, "No, Yori. I trust him less than I do Hikaru."

"Very well. See you this evening."

Another brief silence, then the two of them heard retreating footsteps and then nothing more.

They wasted no time. The last guard change was due any moment and they needed to get out of there. They timed their run carefully, then crossed the grounds and were over the wall without causing any alarms.

They didn't breathe easily until they were back in the inn room.


"They're not expecting Konoha to come after it," Izumo said, when they'd closed and locked the door behind them.

"No. Or, at least, they're confident in their ability to keep it from happening," Kotetsu flopped down onto the bed and laid back. "Hikaru..." he muttered, frowning.

"I know that name, but I can't place it," Izumo paced the small room, his mind whirling with the information. He stopped and pulled out the scroll sealing their notes. "Need to write this down before I forget," he murmured and sat at the tiny table in their room.

Kotetsu sat up and stared at his friend for a moment. "Teaching."

"What?" Izumo glanced up.

"He was going for teaching. He was a chuunin up until the war. He'd done something, I don't remember what, right now, but they were going to promote him. Maybe he was one of the sealing team?" Tetsu paused, his mind turning it over. "Yes. That's it. Tokubetsu jounin, like Gen. But his specialty was in seals."

"HIM!" Izumo said, looking up. "I remember now. He was slated to take the teaching test when the Pein invasion happened."

Kotetsu nodded. "Yup. But why?"

Izumo shook his head. "I don't know and maybe we never will. That's not really important, though, is it? He's a missing-nin now, isn't he?"

"And a jounin-level. Fuck," Kotetsu frowned, then flopped back onto the bed.

"Here's the disturbing thought," Izumo said, leaning back in his chair. Kotetsu rolled and propped his head on his hand, raising an eyebrow. Izumo tapped his fingers together. "If the supposedly ninja-mistrusting Daimyou has one ninja..."

"How many more might he have?" Kotetsu finished. "Shit."

"Hey, but listen, Hikaru was only tokujou. Only in seals. That puts him even with us everywhere else. And there's two of us." Izumo reminded him.

"True, but if there are more..."

"Who knows? We don't know for sure if there are more - yet, but we do have good information. We know where it is and we know how to get there." Izumo turned back to his notes and started scribbling furiously.

"That much is true. And we may not have to fight them, if we do it right." Kotetsu frowned in thought. "There has to be another way into that lower level. I don't like that narrow entryway."

"Me either, but where?" Izumo asked, looking up.

Kotetsu waved a hand toward the notes and Izumo went back to his writing. "I'm not sure. But I'm sure it's somewhere else on the grounds. I don't remember seeing any other outside doors. Just the two - the front and the marriage office."

"I'm not sure I want to go back there during the day," Izumo shuddered.

Kotetsu laughed. "She was something, wasn't she? But we may have to use it as an excuse, because I just don't remember enough about the gardens and the north side of the compound."

"There's the stream, the guardhouse," Izumo's eyes unfocused as he tried to remember, then shook his head. "I don't know, you're the visual person."

Kotetsu closed his eyes and they sat in silence as he mentally walked through what he knew, then he shook his head. "No, I don't remember anything either, so we may just need to go back." He sighed and shook his head hard. "And my brain is starting to get fuzzy."

Izumo nodded. "Mine, too," he said, scribbled a few more notes, then resealed the papers and stuffed it back in the bottom of Tetsu's pack. He hid a yawn behind his hand. "Yeah, definitely time for bed." He grabbed his pajama pants and headed for the bathroom. "I'll be out in a sec."

Kotetsu watched Izumo go and did his best to ignore the thought that his friend was getting naked. He rolled his eyes at the fact that his body wanted to respond to that and got up to change his own clothes. He opened out the bedroll and grabbed the extra pillow, settling in.

Izumo came out then, tossing his clothes into the dirty pile they'd started. "I could have slept down there."

"You did last night. It's my turn," Kotetsu said sleepily.

Izumo frowned. "You hate the floor. I don't mind so much." Which was quite true. Before he complained about not getting missions, he complained about sleeping on the ground. For Tetsu, that had been the worst part of the longer missions.

"I don't care, Zumo. Too tired to worry about it." His voice betrayed the lie, but Zumo knew he wasn't going to win the fight.

Izumo let it go and sighed, climbing onto the bed. He settled in under the covers, and rolled to stare at the back of the spiky head. He wasn't sleeping; Izumo knew Tetsu wasn't that tired. He wondered at the show Tetsu was putting on about it, then shifted to stare at the ceiling.

He tried not to think about how big and empty the bed felt. He told himself it was just because he was used to Raidou in bed next to him, that he'd gotten very used to someone that big. It wasn't helping.

Because Izumo knew better, knew that wasn't it, especially since they hadn't been sleeping together that much before Raidou had left for his mission. Sex, yes. Sleeping? Not so much. But that wasn't it and he knew it.

No, that wasn't the real reason that the bed felt so big. But he ignored it. He rolled again, this time with his eyes firmly on the empty other side of the bed.

He should be falling asleep, he should be tired. It was a long day and longer night. And he just couldn't seem to will himself to it.

"Are you okay?" Tetsu's voice floated up to him.

He knew better than to try to lie. Tetsu could tell a lie from him without the slightest effort. His friend knew every intonation, every nuance of his face and voice. "Not really, but... I will be." And he would. Eventually.

Kotetsu sighed and Izumo heard the shift of fabric as he rolled. "What's wrong, Zumo?"

Izumo let his own sigh out and sat up. He wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his chin on his knees. He considered Kotetsu for a moment through the shadows of the pre-dawn darkness. "Can't sleep. Too much on my mind."

The look Kotetsu gave him told him that his friend knew exactly what was on his mind. He chewed on his lip as an idea came to him. But as soon as he thought it, he shoved it away. He knew it would never work, was just asking for trouble.

The mission needed to be over now; that's what he really wanted. He needed to be away from the temptation that was his best friend, away from the pull of that man. He needed to be home where he could put his efforts and attention into his own boyfriend.

But it wasn't over. He was still in Kouyou, two days away from home. He was still posing as a lover to his best friend and there were huge parts of him poking at him to shift that from posing to real. His body wanted that man, wanted his friend.

Even if he ignored just how much his heart pushed for it, too.

He swallowed around his dry throat as the idea shoved back at him. "What if..." he trailed off and shook his head at himself. No, no, bad idea. He knew it was. But... if he suggested it and Tetsu said no - which he was sure his friend would do, then he could put the idea to rest.

Kotetsu's eyebrows went up and he waited.

Izumo cleared his throat. "What if.. you just slept on top of the blankets?"

But Kotetsu didn't say no right away. He stared at Izumo for a long moment, and Zumo could see the thoughts churning through the other man's head. "Do you think that's a wise idea?"

No. Hell no, it's not. But I seem to be getting really good at ignoring what's wise. "It's a really big bed and I know how much you hate sleeping on the floor. I just thought, you know, since you won't let me, that, well..." he trailed off, his nerves deserting him.

Kotetsu stared at him for another moment before standing up, pillow and blanket in hand. Izumo watched him walk around the bed and stretch out on the other side of it. He fluffed the pillow and watched Izumo lay back down. "Night Zumo," he whispered.

"Night, Tetsu," Izumo answered, rolling and turning his back to his friend. He settled in close to the edge and, glancing over his shoulder quickly, saw Tetsu do the same. He got as comfortable as he could and closed his eyes, determined that he wouldn't move, wouldn't end up scooting closer to his friend.

Somehow, he had a feeling they wouldn't stay that way.