Beneath the Sun

Chapter 6

Iruka doesn't become a habit. He becomes an addiction.

Tenzou knows that he shouldn't be cultivating what this thing is with Iruka, because he knows that an over indulgence of something, no matter how harmless or pure or innocent it may be, can intoxicate. Iruka is the first thought on his mind the moment he steps into the village, and the last when he steps out. They're little harmless thoughts, mostly amusing, fond memories of their time together; Tenzou knows it all stems from his attraction.

(Tenzou finds it strange that Iruka remains remains unattached and single, and doesn't have a flock of suitors pursuing his affections, when he's so incredibly beautiful.)

Coming to find Iruka becomes part of Tenzou's routine. It had been so easy to settle into, that Tenzou wonders why the fuck he didn't do it earlier, why he had even resisted. If he had just started this months ago, he'd be over Iruka by now — months worth of time wasted in frustration, when he could have put himself in the path of a solution a lot earlier. He is more focused, a lot more clear headed now that the nagging thoughts and yearning don't plague him relentlessly.

On long nights when Tenzou's missions take him away from the village for days, when he looks up at the sky during his travel breaks, he thinks of how Iruka looks like when he steps out of the shower, towel tightly wrapped around his hips, skin flushed from hot water. He thinks of how Iruka would sit on the edge of the bed and run a brush through his hair, a slight wince on his features, a mild limp in his step, Tenzou's fingers decorating the length of his body, large red marks lined with teeth smattering over his shoulders, neck, hip, and back. Tenzou discovers that he thoroughly enjoys marking Iruka — perhaps a little much — if only because Tenzou's name always hitches at the tip of Iruka's tongue, breathless and so soft, a secret not meant to be said out loud. It's the way Iruka tries to be quiet, the way he tries to safeguard the identity of a stranger who comes to him at any given opportunity for a hard fuck, the sheer attempt at allegiance to a system when everything in Iruka is coming apart, when Tenzou tears it off him piece by piece with each thrust, each harsh bite that sometimes breaks skin — it's the honor of silence that Iruka tries so very hard to maintain in passion, when he can't .

There had been a time when Iruka bit into Tenzou's shoulder so hard that it bled, leaving a fussing, nervous mess of a teacher afterwards, when he realized just how awful the mark was — swollen and ugly, teeth impressions sunken deep into Tenzou's flesh, a bright red beacon in a sea of old scars.

Iruka had seen it after a shower, when Tenzou had tugged him over his lap on the couch and started kissing him, already eager to have him again. Iruka had pulled back so sharply, brushing the back of his hand over his mouth to sever the line of saliva between them, and stared at the mark with shame and embarrassment burning high on his cheeks. Tenzou remembers how wide his eyes had been, how his face had crumbled in guilt. Tenzou had watched him swallow, had watched Iruka's pupils dart left and right as he looked at Tenzou a lot closer, trying to see what other damage he may have inflicted, as he gently pressed the tips of his fingers against the hideous bite mark just above Tenzou's left collarbone. It had been so tender that the gentle brush of fingers had Tenzou stiffening just the smallest bit. It had not gone unnoticed by Iruka.

"I'm so sorry," Iruka had said, voice thick and repentant, and carefully begins to channel chakra into the bite, to ease the swelling and punctured skin.

Tenzou had clamped a hand on his wrist so fast, that Iruka had gone rigidly still on his lap. "It's alright, leave it," Tenzou had said and brought another hand up to cup the side of Iruka's face, smiling a little lopsidedly at the bewildered expression on Iruka's face.

"Tenzou-san, it looks really bad."

"Then you should learn to control yourself a little more, learn to be quieter instead of biting poor me." Tenzou pointed out, and snorted a soft laugh when Iruka had given him a incredulous look, his entire face turning cherry bright.