Author's Notes

- Thanks so much to everyone who read!!!

- Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed!!!

- I'm not really sure why I wrote this :). I didn't intend for this to be a two part story, but... I felt the need to write this little bit and I figured I'd post it since I'd spent some time on it. Shame to waste it.

- Enjoy:)... hopefully.

Story Notes

- This occurs two weeks after the events in Boku no Sendatsu Keiro.

- After going back over TI and some of the other pieces, I've noticed a discrepancy in the characters' ages, just like off by a year , sometimes two. Nothing that really affects the stories, it's just something that I thought someone might have picked up on and was like " That isn't right! He can't be xxx- years old!!!" I'm going to try to fix it( some editing) before I write anything else.

- The title " Raidou's Autumn" was the working title for BSK. I still really like it, so decided to use it here.

Warnings: Coarse language, shounen-ai, SAD stuff.

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Raidou's Autumn

I'm his best friend. I should have been paying attention all this time. Genma sits next to the hospital bed and wonders for the millionth time since he brought Raidou in two weeks ago how he could have not seen it coming. He faces the head of the bed, chair scooted flush with the frame, arm resting on top of the mattress. Fingers lightly grip the broad hand laying beneath his. The darker man does not stir.

Genma is aware of the two others in the room besides the patient. Iruka and Naruto-kun are sleeping in another chair near the window, the blonde child snoring softly in the teenager's lap. Genma knows without looking that Naruto-kun has his little fingers closed tightly about the folds of Iruka's shirt front and the dolphin's arms are cradling the small boy to his chest. The two have been spending an increasing amount of time together and the older man has decided that it is good for them both. Iruka has even spoken to him about taking Naruto-kun in, giving the boy a home other than the orphanage that mistreats him on a regular basis; he is going to put in an official request with Sandaime when he secures a full time position at the academy.

It is a familiar scene from five months ago when Iruka spent nearly every spare moment in Raidou's room with Genma. The tokujo hated that the teenager was missing out on quality sleep in his own bed, but he had been unable to dissuade him. He sleeps in the room each night with Genma and Raidou, leaving for his own flat in the morning to shower before teaching his classes. He's watched over the unconscious man the one time Genma conceded to go home and clean himself up. Iruka has become the other welcome constant in Genma's life. And, if Genma is honest with himself, he knows he would not have been able to survive the past six months without the sunny chuunin.

We're all back in the hospital, Rai-chan. And we worked too hard to get out of here. Genma dozes in the twilight. Empty bentos sit on the small side table, Naruto-kun the only one capable of hunger, greedily consuming the adults' barely touched meals ( lovingly made by Raidou's mother and his sister, Reiko-san) before passing out in his friend's lap. Genma opens heavy hazel eyes to keep his gaze focused on the bedridden man, the room, anything that will keep him awake. Raidou's tan complexion has dulled in the hospital, severe chakra depletion stealing the robust glow and turning his skin sallow. The honey haired shinobi lifts a finger and gently rubs the cool flesh laying motionless underneath.

There are flowers and gifts and knick knacks displayed about the room. A vase of sunflowers, large heads drooping over the mouth of the jar, sits on the wide window ledge. Izumo-kun brought them three days ago, sentiments from everyone in the missions office. A bowl is overflowing with an assortment of brightly colored flowers, Suzume-san delivered it two days ago with best regards from everyone at the academy. The exquisite ikebana arrangement that Hayate-kun brought yesterday stands out the most with its delicate stems of iris and deep green moss. Genma knows that Raidou's favorite flower is the iris. Many other beautiful arrangements decorate the otherwise dreary room, most from the Yamanaka floral shop, others handmade at home. Each one a symbol of support for a well liked shinobi.

Non-floral gifts have their places, as well. A love worn dolphin plushie nestles on the pillow next to Raidou's head where Naruto-kun placed it the first day he visited and on each following visit uses the stuffed animal to transfer kisses to " Rai-niichan's" scarred cheek. A note book, thick with handwritten pages, lays open on the small bedside table. Nara Yoshino-san came by the second day, looking no worse for wear, to offer the sacred cook book to the tokujo who had challenged her to a friendly sparring match for the prized family recipes. The tokujo who then sent her flying over fifty meters and gave her a concussion. Genma had to give the older woman credit; not many would be so forgiving of a concussion, even an accidental one. A carefully folded origami crane is tilted against the notebook, its rainbow patterned paper smudged here and there from the damp little hands that created it. Shikamaru-kun had accompanied his mother on her visit and handed the piece of art to Genma, all the while keeping his miniature figure between his mother and the man laying in the bed; as though Raidou would suddenly regain consciousness and attack. Genma had laughed after the mother and son said their good-byes, admiring the boy's protectiveness.

There is nothing from their fellow ANBU members. Breaking is a shared bond and nothing is needed to show their empathy.

The senbon shinobi brings his attention back to his friend. Genma watches Raidou's chest rise and fall with blessedly unassisted regularity. The hand beneath his is unbandaged; broken knuckles, broken wrist, broken skin, all healed without any trace of a scar. Normally the bone fractures would have been healed with chakra and the skin left to mend on its own. If one used chakra to heal every little scratch the body would forget how to heal itself, therefore, chakra was reserved for life threatening injuries ( which were often severe enough to cause scarring, regardless). The exception became injuries sustained during torture or breaks, injuries that would haunt the victim and bring nothing but further pain. These hurts are healed as cleanly as possible, with as little physical scarring as the medi-nins are capable. They had done the best they could with Raidou when he was rescued from Grass. He was simply in too bad a shape.

Now the man had, outwardly, suffered merely superficial wounds, his hands being the worst of it and they had been returned to their previous state of being only slightly marred. Genma especially likes the skinny line wrapped around Raidou's right middle finger. He put that there when the brunette had flipped him off during one of their training matches and Genma had almost taken the finger clean off with a razor wire. Raidou got him back a month later with a smartly aimed shuriken to the groin. Genma had fainted and woken up to a heavily bandaged dick ( only because Raidou thought the bandages would be funny, not because Genma needed them); the cut became a tiny scar at the base of his cock, usually hidden in the coarse curls. They laugh about it now, years separating them from the pain and embarrassment. Another life time it seems to the honey haired man.

Everyone told me it would happen eventually. I just had to keep an eye on him. Watch for the signs. Watch over him. Raidou's face is clear of the newer wounds, only his burn scars marring the brown skin. Genma looks at the sleeping face and tries to superimpose the image of Raidou before the burns, the tan flesh pulled smoothly over his cheekbones and neck. He remembers what his friend looked like, but he cannot lay the mental image over what he sees before him now. That other Raidou is then, this Raidou is now. Genma tries to remember how many pictures he has of the brunette pre-mission-gone-wrong. Maybe he'll make an album.

Iruka mumbles something in his sleep. Genma makes out the words " Naruto" and " ramen" then the brun falls silent, long strands of dark hair curtaining his face. The chocolate colored locks hang to the boy's waist, most pulled back in a low tail, the front pieces falling freely. Genma wonders briefly when Iruka will grow tired of taking care of such beautiful hair and hack it off to a more manageable length. He'll miss it if the teenager does decide to cut it. The older man watches Iruka until he is sure the teen isn't going to wake up anytime soon and turns back to Raidou. Genma wants the man to wake up, desperately needs Raidou to open his eyes and call Genma an asshole and punch him on the shoulder and laugh like nothing has happened. He knows that isn't possible. He'll settle for Raidou simply waking up.

He glances at the wall clock and realizes that it has been over ten hours since he last administered Raidou's unofficial 'medication'. As soon as he had finished giving the last one earlier in the day, Namiashi-san and her youngest son, Haruki-kun, had come in and Genma had shifted his seat to the corner of the room, out of the way. And then he had slept. He woke up when Reiko-san joined them with dinner bentos later on, and again when Iruka showed up with Naruto-kun. He missed Haruki-kun leaving for a C-rank mission and Reiko-san running off to tie up loose ends before her B-rank. Namiashi-san gave Genma a maternal embrace and peck on his honey colored crown before exiting the room in the twilight hours. She had two grandchildren to pick up from a neighbor's house who needed her attention while their mother and father were on missions. Genma promised to drop in and play with Reiko-san's kids...soon. He stayed awake after that, talking to Iruka until the teenager's doe eyes slowly fell shut and he joined his young charge in sleep.

Now Genma abandons his chair and settles himself on the edge of the hospital bed. He clasps Raidou's chilled hand in both his own and concentrates, centering his chakra and directing it towards his palms. He has been channeling his own chakra into the comatose man every day since he brought Raidou in, always after the medi-nins finish with their jutsus and treatments, healing the patient's fried energy pathways and depleted reserves. The doctor had told Genma that if he had not pumped his own life energy into Raidou as he ran with him to the hospital, the bear like brunette would not have made it; Raidou had used up every last spark of chakra, almost ending his life. That knowledge had caused Genma to empty his stomach into the nearby waste bin. But now he pushes that away as he focuses his energy into the brown hand.

A slow steady stream of chakra flows into the unused muscles and tissues. Into the arm, spreading across the chest and branching off into every area of the supine body. Genma takes one hand and slides it under the blankets, laying it on Raidou's bare abdomen, sending warm waves directly to his center. He can feel his chakra meeting and entwining and blending with his friend's. Come on Rai-chan. Wake up, buddy. Doctor says you should have woken up by now. Genma swallows a little choking sound that he refuses to dignify. He is a manly shinobi, an ANBU for fuck's sake, and he is not going to cry. Not until he gets home where he can hide.

Honestly, Rai-chan. What is it about you that makes me a pathetic, sniveling crybaby when you're not even dead, you're just being an asshole who won't WAKE UP!

A raspy breath issues from Raidou's dry lips, a grimace twisting his face. Tan fingers wrap themselves around the hand on his flat belly. Genma halts his flow of chakra, his own breath stalling in his chest, fingers splaying over the tense muscles. He remains perfectly still, perfectly silent.

Dark brown eyes hesitantly flutter open, black lashes stark against the ashen cheek. Several moments pass before they set on Genma. " G-gen...Ge...ma..."

The broken sound of his own name snaps Genma from his daze. He leans forward to bring himself more into the bed ridden man's line of sight and fiercely denies the watering of his eyes. " Rai-chan, I'm here. I'm right here. "

The hand on his grips mercilessly, far more strength than anyone recently comatose has any right to have. The fingers embraced in his curl over, the nails digging into his pale skin. Raidou's eyes are wide and frightened in his panicked expression. " Na-nar...Shika...Yo-ina..."

Genma tries to decipher the syllables rattling from the other man's dry throat. Nana, shikayo, uhm... shika, shika, shik- Shikamaru! Nara Yoshino-san and Shikamaru! " They're fine, Rai-chan. I promise. Nara-san had a few bumps and Shikamaru was perfectly fine. Just disturbed the brat's nap. Nothing more." He assures his friend, recognizing the look of guilt and fear in the sable irises. " They're fine."

And with that statement Raidou's eyes fall shut, his body slumping into the mattress and releasing all the horrified tension from moments before. The sight is extremely painful for Genma to watch, to see his friend's first waking thoughts are those of absolute terror that he has hurt someone. But he does not turn away. Raidou is his best friend, maybe more... and they share their pain.

The injured man's slight movement is enough to knock Naruto-kun's dolphin plushie loose, causing it to slide downwards and tumble off the pillow onto the bed. Brown hands release their death grip and Genma eases them back on top of the blankets, one of his own placed on top of the pile. The other pale hand weaves into the lanky brown hair, tousling it affectionately. " Rai-chan..." Genma trails off, not knowing what to say.

Another wave of tension overtakes the darker man, a ragged sob retching from between his cracked lips. Tears leak from under the tightly closed lashes. Genma quickly leaves the dirty locks of hair and wipes away the hot streams making their way to Raidou's ears and the pillow case below. The dark eyes show themselves again and Genma is struck by the unadulterated emotion he sees there. And suddenly Genma knows this isn't about the earlier anxiety over the Nara family. This is something entirely different.

" I- I was...so, " Raidou chokes, his voice almost non existent due to disuse and barely restrained feelings. " , so scared...G-Genma, so s-s-scared..."

This is the first time he's talked about the torture. The first time in terms of what he went through. Tears flow freely from the younger man's hazel eyes, Genma no longer cares who sees them. He renews his strong grip on the hands folded over Raidou's blanketed stomach and caresses the scarred cheek, thumb still wiping away fresh tears. " I know, Raidou. I know. " He sniffles loudly, remembers the sleeping kids, and lowers his voice. " I was, too."

" And... it hurt." Raidou continues in his hoarse whisper. " It h-hurt so much."

" I know. " Genma turns on his side and swings his legs onto the narrow bed. His bare feet wiggle beneath the heavy blanket at the end of the bed until his feet are covered and his toes are rubbing against Raidou's ankles beneath the sheets. An arm slips under the dark head, an arm slides around the weak body. Genma holds his best friend close to his chest, uniform shirt absorbing the frame wracking sobs. " I know."

For the first time Raidou is crying for himself. And Genma can do nothing, but cry with him.

owari