Chapter 5

Sleeping Dragon

Shinobu slowly opened his eyes and yawned, feeling a little groggy as he awoke. He was lying with his head on Toru's shoulder, and as he shifted, Toru looked over from the game on his phone.

"What time is it?" Shinobu muttered, feeling like he had déjà vu.

"Almost seven," Toru replied, sitting up and stretching his arms. Shinobu remained lying on his side for a few more minutes, still feeling tired. The combination of last night and Toru's weed had put him to sleep like a baby after the euphoria of being high wore off. After things started to heat up, Toru and Shinobu had blown each other, which felt simply mind blowing with their senses heightened. Shinobu had then returned to the fridge to obliterate his takeout and passed out on the bed.

Reflecting on it, Shinobu had to admit being high was quite an experience, not to mention it certainly had distracted him. It was like he had a thick blanket wrapped around his consciousness all afternoon, dulling any pain or worrying thought he encountered. And as he remembered the safe, cocoon-like sensation, he began to think how much faster and better a weekend with Ryuzaki would go if he could retreat to that same place. He might almost be able to enjoy the creepy sex.

Shinobu felt something inside him break when he decided to use again this weekend. He didn't know if that something was good or bad, but it had broken all the same.

Shinobu slowly sat up and chewed his bottom lip with his teeth. "Uh, Toru…"

Toru glanced at him. "What's up?"

"Do you…think I could have some of that for this weekend?"

Toru paused for a moment then started to chuckle. "You got so serious all of a sudden I thought you were upset about us going to third base. Yeah, I'll fix you something for this weekend and I'll mention it to Ryuzaki. Not surprisingly, he's pretty mellow playing 'master' when he's stoned and I'm sure I can persuade him to indulge."

Shinobu's anxiety lifted and he smiled gratefully. "Toru, thank you so much."

Toru smiled back, but Shinobu noticed it didn't quite touch his eyes. "Don't worry about it. Hey, do you want to go to Ei's with me in a few?"

"Why are you going there?" Shinobu asked, tilting his head. They usually only went to Ei's place when they were injured.

"He told me Kaede-san is off tonight so he can take the stitches out of my foot."

Shinobu's face twisted into a grimace. He had forgotten about that. About three weeks ago, Toru had mistakenly tried to pick up an undercover cop and ended up running twenty blocks from the police. Along the way, he had stepped on a piece of glass the size and shape of a spearhead. Fueled by adrenaline, Toru hadn't even noticed until he made it back to the apartment and the tip of the shard was poking out of the top of his blood-soaked shoe. Ei and Kaede had made a rare house call that night and Toru had twelve stitches in his foot. Even the memory of all that blood staining the kitchen floor made Shinobu sick.

"Sure, I'll go with you," Shinobu replied. If Toru was going to do him such huge favors, Shinobu was more than willing to go along and keep him company. Plus he hadn't seen Ei in a while, so the two of them shrugged on their coats and left the apartment. The still night air was frigid, and Shinobu hugged himself as they headed down the sidewalk.

"You cold?" Toru asked as he lit a cigarette.

"A little," Shinobu replied, his jaw already beginning to chatter.

Toru wrapped his free arm around Shinobu's shoulders so they could huddle together.

"Come on," he said. "The station isn't far."

Shinobu pressed against Toru's warmth and tried to concentrate on it until they were safely on the train. The cars weren't very crowded and they had no trouble finding seats. As soon as the train began to move, Shinobu pulled out his phone and unlocked it. He felt a twinge of sadness that there were no calls or messages from Miyagi. Shinobu had written his cell number down on a napkin for him to find before he'd left, and he expected to hear from him fairly quickly. But it seemed that wasn't the case, and Shinobu tried to look at the situation from another angle.

Maybe it's better this way, he thought. If Miyagi doesn't get involved, I won't have to worry about him telling someone.

It seemed logical, but even though Shinobu could justify it in his head, the thought still made him feel despondent. He shoved his phone back in his pocket, sinking further into his seat as the train whipped through the dark tunnels.

Shinobu dreaded stepping into the cold again when they made it to their stop, but Ei's place wasn't that far. Both boys had traveled much further distances to get here in more dire circumstances. Shinobu had met Takagawa Ei and his partner Hara Kaede through Toru, and he was very grateful that he had.

Ei had a history similar to their own, as he had also tricked over a decade ago when he was in his twenties. Although he rarely provided specifics, Shinobu had the feeling that Ei had experienced everything he had and so much more. He didn't know the details, but apparently things were extremely rough for Ei around the time he met Kaede. Despite this, the two had fallen in love and been together for the past twelve years. Ei had stopped tricking for Kaede, and now he made it a point to help others in the same situation. Shinobu and other teens who knew Ei could show up at his door day or night if they needed medical treatment and couldn't risk going to the hospital. As a successful tattoo artist, Ei had a few medical supplies on hand and a good knowledge of first aid. They could deal with serious injuries as well thanks to Kaede being a nurse practitioner. The first time Shinobu had met them, he'd sported a badly sprained wrist and a broken finger, and had been amazed by what they could do in just their apartment. Kaede could even write prescriptions if needed.

Shinobu was relieved as they turned a corner and walked up to the tattoo parlor on the darkening street. The shop was closed today, but the lights in the apartment above it were on. They went down an alley next to the building and climbed the stairs that led up to the second level. Toru knocked on the door and it opened a few moments later.

"Hey kids," Ei said warmly. He was a lean man with a handsome smile, and it was quite easy to guess his profession. Ei had bold tribal tattoos climbing up his wrists and even one on the side of head. One half of his head had thick black hair, but the other half was shaved to show off the design of a sleeping dragon with plumes of smoke drifting from its nostrils.

"Doing all right, Shinobu?" Ei asked as he stepped back from the door.

Shinobu nodded and Ei turned to Toru, a look of disappointment crossing his face.

"Oh, I guess you came along too."

A small smile crept up on Shinobu's face at Ei's taunting. They always gave each other a hard time. Toru only rolled his eyes and followed Shinobu inside the eclectically decorated apartment. Hanging on the walls were paintings, intricate tattoo designs, and oddly enough, four or five posters for the movie My Neighbor Totoro. Shinobu remembered seeing Kaede wear scrubs with totoros on them, so maybe he really liked that movie or something.

Ei lead them into the living room to sit around a low table where Kaede was already pouring tea. Ei's partner was on the shorter side, with chestnut hair and modern thick-framed glasses. Shinobu bowed as he entered the room and Kaede gave him a smile. Even though he was young and petite himself, Shinobu always had the weird thought of just how cute Kaede was. He was over thirty, but he looked young like Toru and blushed like a fourteen-year-old girl. He was also quiet and shy, rarely speaking to anyone but Ei, but Shinobu knew Kaede was fiercer than he looked. But he was also kind, and within a few minutes, he was already working on the stitches in Toru's foot. Watching the process made Shinobu squeamish, and he concentrated on his tea, grateful for the warmth that seeped into his stiff limbs. Ei cleared his throat and turned towards him.

"So…how old is that black eye, Shinobu?" Ei asked.

Even though he was tired of questions about last night, Shinobu knew Ei was just trying to help. He had noticed Ei and Kaede exchanging a few poignant looks before Ei finally asked. Shinobu also knew that they preferred to get involved without really getting involved. If Shinobu asked for help, they would wholeheartedly oblige, but prying was a different matter.

"Last night," Shinobu replied. "It's fine though, I put ice on it right away."

Ei nodded, breathing a heavy sigh. "Damn, and you went quite a while without getting bashed up too. And Toru gets twice the amount of ass kickings. I swear to god, I got beat up back in the day, but not this often. Why is that?"

Shinobu's eyes wandered from face to face as Ei pondered for a moment. And while Toru's face was impassive, he noticed that Kaede's eyes were a little stonier that usual.

"Now that I think about it," Ei finally said. "There are a lot of crazy johns who just like to thrash the younger, prettier ones. And unfortunately sick fucks like that make up a good amount of the clientele. Be careful when you're out there, both of you."

Shinobu nodded but Toru didn't react, taking another sip of tea as Kaede finished removing the stitches.

"That should do it," Kaede said. "You kept them clean so there shouldn't be any infection."

Ei laughed. "From the way he was freaking out that night, you would have thought he was dying."

"I didn't freak out," Toru replied plainly.

"You cried as hard as you did when you let your lip piercing get infected."

"That wasn't my fault. I smoked almost a pack a day back then. What did you want me to do, carry a bottle of mouth wash everywhere for six weeks?"

"I told you what to do and you just didn't listen," Ei replied. "Yuri listened to me and his septum was fine."

Shinobu tilted his head in confusion as Toru's eyes suddenly went wide, but he couldn't tell whether it was from fear or anger. But Toru kept a bottle on it as usual and turned to him with a slight smile.

"Hey Shinobu, you should ask these two ask they met. It's a great story."

The atmosphere in the room seemed to instantly electrify and Shinobu shrunk as Kaede's expression twisted with silent rage.

Ei scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Oh, we don't need to get into that. It's all in the past, right baby?"

Kaede suddenly stood, glaring daggers down at Ei. "Don't 'baby' me, Takagawa."

Shinobu winced as Kaede stormed down the hallway and slammed the door with a sickening thud. He almost wondered if they should leave now, but redirected his attention when Ei sighed.

"Goddamnit, he only calls me 'Takagawa' when I'm in really deep shit."

But Ei's woe quickly turned to anger and he shot Toru a look. "That was below the belt, asshole."

Toru didn't reply, his expression completely unrepentant. Wanting to break the tension, Shinobu asked the first question that came to his mind.

"So, how did you? Meet, I mean."

Ei sighed again. "Uh, we don't really talk about the first time we met. Helps keep the peace."

"Why?"

"Don't tell anyone this, but the first time I met Kaede, I made him cry his eyes out and slam a door so hard he broke a hinge."

"How'd you do that?"

"I said something that's really not worth repeating. You can tell how bad it was by the fact that he's still mad about it twelve years later. And I have a long night of sucking up ahead so you two should probably scat."

"Can I use your bathroom really quick?" Shinobu asked as he got up.

Ei nodded and Shinobu went down the hall, going into the bathroom and glancing at his black eye in the mirror briefly. It had gotten a lot darker and uglier, so it was no wonder that Ei brought it up. After taking a piss, Shinobu was just about to leave when his phone chirped. He took it out and his heart began to pound rapidly when he saw a text from Miyagi. As much as he was dying to read it, Shinobu hesitated, fearful of what words the man had to offer. But he finally reassured himself that it was just a text, and opened it.

Meet me at the Tokyo library tomorrow at 5pm. Bring your homework.

Shinobu had a dozen different scenarios racing through his head before he read the message, but that was definitely not one of them. Why did Miyagi want to meet him at the library? Was this some kind of a joke?

Shinobu groaned and shoved his phone back in his pocket, knowing that he had a lot of thinking to do tonight. But as he went back out into the hall, he heard angry whispers coming from near the entryway.

"What? Are you mad because I brought up Yuri?" Ei said.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Toru shot back.

Shinobu was stunned by Toru's voice. It was shaky, angry, and full of anguish. He'd never heard Toru sound so upset.

"You never want to talk about it," Ei pressed. "And that's why you still flip shit whenever someone says his name."

"Ei stay the fuck out of my goddamn business, okay?"

Hearing the conversation get more heated, Shinobu went back to the bathroom door and shut it noisily enough for them to hear. The voices died down and Shinobu headed back down the hall and over to the entryway where Toru and Ei were.

"Bye Ei," Shinobu said. "Thank you."

"Take care, you two," Ei said as went out the front door. "Be careful."

Shinobu nodded and waved before huddling back into his coat as they walked into the cold air. Toru had lit another cigarette before they even made it to the street, and Shinobu titled his head in concern.

"Um Toru, are you okay?"

Toru turned and smiled at Shinobu, all traces of malice gone but his eyes still strangely flat. "Yeah. Why'd you ask?"

"No reason," Shinobu replied, his mind brimming with questions as they walked in silence.

I'm posting a lot lately because I was really scattered in my writing for a few weeks and now I'm going back and finishing all the chapters I started. It does give me a nice impression that I'm getting a lot done though. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.

KiyameHikari-chan & Anonymous Spark- you two seriously are the best. I always look forward to hearing from you and you make the writing so worth it! Big kisses!

Don't Preach- okay, now I have to write a one shot where Miyagi and Shinobu puff on the magic dragon because that is some hilarious shit right there (plus neither of them were in that one chapter of JRP involving the brownies). I'm enjoying this piece so much because I get to have Shinobu explore as a normal teenager, or as "normal" as one can be in this situation. I felt that he was kind of cheated in the manga, and that he had to be this pristine adult lover at such a young age. Not to mention we never really saw him being a teen that much or even conversing with people his own age. I have to admit I like his chemistry with Toru.

Thank you all for reading! Now that most of the cast is here, we'll be jumping straight to the library with Miyagi.

Love,

TBF101