Blood of the Broken, Scars of the Spiral (there are whirlpools in our veins)

Chapter Nineteen

'But none of that really mattered. I had found my tribe. It felt like a family reunion for the family I'd never really known, a homecoming at the place where I was always meant to be but hadn't known how to find.'

-David Levithan

//

He begins hanging out at the Yūkaku much more often, bringing gifts of money and rice that he began to learn to cook as a price for safe entry.

He visits the whorehouse that Yume is incharge of that day. Taking in the sight of polished marble and traditional buildings.

A really, really pretty lady with long cedar brown hair and a falling-off dress answered the door. "Oh hello darling," she said in a soft, breathy voice, her cherry pink-painted lips curling up at the sides. "Are you here for Chikasa-chan?" Naruto nodded shyly up at her and she bent over, her dress sliding off even further, and ran her the tips of her fingers lightly over his cheek. "Come in, then, darling," she murmured, "we'll go find her, ne?"

Naruto hesitantly followed her inside, anxious and not quite sure why. She took him up the stairs to a familiar room, the same one he had stayed the night with Chikasa-neechan and her kaasan. The pretty lady knocked lightly on the door and Tama-neechan opened it.

"Koatone-san," she said, surprised, before looking down at Naruto and frowning. "What're ya doin' here, kid?"

"I don't really got anywhere else to be," he shrugged, "An' I don' wanna talk ta any o' those shinobi kids, they're probably liars."

Chikasa-neechan pressed her lips together, her earthy smell coated in worry. "Ninja lie," she said darkly. "And kids like us go missin' all the time. But we'll look out for ya, 'kay? I promise."

Chikasa, even with her deep scowl and hard face reminded him so much of Aiya-chan that it hurt. It made his chest ache and his eyes water.

Naruto sniffed and nodded. Chisaka-neechan's face softened which made him hiccup slightly. "You got anyone else to watch out for ya?" she asked gently. He shook his head.

"I'm alone," he said tearfully and she sighed.

"I'll make some more introductions, 'kay?" she said. "Some boys I know, they won't mind another set of hands ta help 'em run a con. Ya up for that?"

Naruto wasn't sure what a 'con' was but he nodded anyway and Chikasa-neechan smiled.

"C'mon kid," she said, holding out one hand, and using the other to wipe away his tears, and Naruto reached out to accept her hand and followed after her.

//

Naruto liked the people Chikasa-neechan had introduced him to, back when he'd first gone to her for help. Some were his age and some were a bit older but they weren't anything at all like the mean kids at the Academy. They taught him lots of cool tricks, like how to trip into people and slip his hands into their pockets and take their money, and how to play tricks by distracting mean store owners so his new friends could take their stuff, and even how to carry little packages in his pockets for these scary older men with colourful tattoos and piercings on their skin who actually weren't so scary at all when they smiled at him and ruffled his hair afterwards.

But nice as they were, he liked Chikasa-neechan the best. She told him to call her Chi-ane and smiled at him with warm eyes. Best of all, around him, Chikasa-neechan would drop what she called 'street slang', talking all smooth and proper, her dark eyes serious and piercing as they bored into his. "It's not safe," she would tell him, "to be too clever or too strong. The streets and the shadows are not safe. Not for the likes of us. You need to be loud, Naru-chan. You need people to notice you without looking at you."