The bridge I crossed
The Tenth
When Iruka walked into the apartment at 5:00 the next day, smile bright, eyes a little tired but still a warm, warm brown, I felt something in me stir. I'd missed him more than I thought I did. Seeing him again, a little faded on the edges but still Iruka in every way that counted, I could feel a lump forming in my throat. I never had reason to believe I ever had a father, but Iruka had given me reason enough, and I could live a thousand lives and still be unable to repay him for his kindness.
"It's good to see you," Iruka said, and I nodded against his shoulder feeling a sting in my eyes and blinking against it. He pulled back a little and took my face between his hands, turning it this way and that. "You lost weight. Have you been eating right?"
"I--"
I saw a frown on his face appear, instantly, an old habit, as if Iruka hadn't been on the opposite end of an island for the last two years. "What did I tell you about eating ramen? All those hours, Naruto, teaching you how to cook, and you still...What am I going to do with you?"
He walked towards the sofa, still mumbling under his breath about stupid twenty-two year olds, and how he was too old to have to deal with me now, and did he have to move in with me to Tokyo to make sure I ate breakfast? He sat heavily in the sofa, an appraising look on his face as he looked around the apartment. "At least you kept up your place. I was worried I'd walk into an eight-hundred square feet trash can."
I rolled my eyes at that. Two and a half years ago, when Iruka helped me move into the apartment, he had issued the same warning about keeping the apartment clean. "Tea?"
Iruka considered, and then, "You being legal now and all, do you have anything stronger than that?"
I grinned. "Kiba lives upstairs, Iruka. What do you think?"
I stood up and got two cans of beer from the fridge. Even if I didn't make sure of it, Kiba would keep my apartment well stocked with alcohol. "What have you been up to?" Iruka asked, just as I was about to close the fridge's door.
"Oh, this and that." I felt my cheeks burning at the lie. I still hadn't told him about the coma, but I didn't want to sit through one of his concerned lectures at the moment. I would tell him in time, but not now. "I had a job, but quit."
"Oh? Where?"
"Uchiha Corps. I was--Well, I was fired first," I said, carefully making my way to the living room with the beer.
"And you quit before it became official?" Iruka had a smile on his face. It was one of the tricks he had taught our class of freshman. Leave before they kick you out, he had said. That was the wise man's way to go.
I shook my head and watched the edges of his lips quirk up before being hauled down again. "I was rehired."
Iruka didn't smile, but I could tell by the way his eyes lit up that he was interested. "And then you quit?"
"No," I said, avoiding Iruka's gaze and staring at my fingers. "I was refired."
"And then you quit?"
"I was rehired. Well, not officially. I went on a vacation with my boss."
Iruka's gaze sharpened. He placed the beer carefully on the table and watched me as I fidgeted in my seat. "Naruto, what did I tell you about becoming sexual--"
"There was nothing sexual about it!" Another lie, and if there was anything I learned during college, it was to tell Iruka the truth.
"But it was a vacation."
"Yes. A vacation."
"And were you an employee?"
"I didn't--I didn't think to ask. No." I leaned back in my chair and let out a small sigh. Iruka would not let this go, not until he was satisfied with my answers. "I left before I could ask."
"And then you quit?"
"Yes."
"Please don't tell me your immediate boss was Hatake Kakashi," Iruka said sitting back in his chair with a groan. I stared at Iruka, open-mouthed. Did everyone know about this man except me?
"Um--It was Uchiha Sasuke." Iruka covered his face. I could feel another lecture coming, so I interrupted before he could start. "I have a back-up plan, though!"
"Well, let's hear it." There was warning in his voice, and I could feel a cold sweat starting to break out. The down-side of having a parent-figure was this.
"I applied for a job at Tokyo Daigaku Shinbun. The position of lead writer is open, and Kiba thought it would be a good chance for me, so..." I trailed off.
"That's a pretty high-up position," Iruka said after taking a thoughtful sip from the beer.
"Well, Kiba's already talked about me to their Senior Editor, and I think I have a pretty good shot. I have the resume for it."
Iruka nodded, eyes now on the dark TV screen. "I thought you wanted to go to grad school, Naruto," he said after a while, his voice soft.
"Yeah, well." I gestured vaguely. "I'm wasting time, Iruka. I don't have the money, and I don't think I can save up enough--"
"I can--"
I growled at him before he could even finish his sentence. It was an age-old argument, one that we had when I graduated from Kyoto U. and told Iruka my plans. He wanted to pay part of my grad school tuition fees, help me until I got my finances together. Stay close to home, in Kyoto, Iruka had said, you can live with me, go to grad school here.
Iruka relented and didn't bring up the topic again. We fell into a comfortable silence, broken only occassionally by Iruka and his tales of Konohamaru and Udon running rampant on campus, the changes they made to the buildings, the new Ichiraku stand down the street that was a competitor for my favorite restaurant, Kyoto, Kyoto, and more Kyoto. I smiled at Iruka's stories, wondering, for a split second, if I could somehow manage to find my way back to Kyoto. I knew the city better, knew so many people there, but then, in the two years that I had lived here, I'd gotten used to Tokyo, gotten used to its freshness to the clean slate that I was given.
"I asked the taxi driver on the way here if there was a good ramen place somewhere around, and he said yes," Iruka was explaining. "We'll wait for Ki--."
As if on cue, the door flung open and Kiba stormed in, his grin wide, and his arms open. Iruka didn't even have a chance to stand up before Kiba had engulfed him in a hug. "Professor!"
"Kiba!" Iruka hugged him back before holding him at arms length and inspecting him. "I've heard good things about you," he said with a smile on his face.
"I left layout for you, Professor. Chief Editor almost blew a fuse, but then I told her that you were coming and she got all nice on me." Kiba took the beer can I was holding in my hands and sat down next to Iruka on the sofa. "Does she know you?"
"You're welcome, Kiba," I muttered, getting up to get another can.
"Lady Tsunade?"
I came back quickly, hoping to catch the conversation.
"Lady?" Kiba looked surprised, and as I was sitting down next to Iruka, he snatched the new can out of my hands and gave me back my own. I sighed into the can and took a sip. He would neve--
"She's aristocracy," Iruka said. His hand fell heavily on my head and he ruffled my hair, absent-minded. I swatted at his hand, feeling embarassed a little at the gesture when Kiba smirked at me. "Don't drink too much on an empty stomach, Naruto. She used to be Dean of Tokyo U when I worked there for a while."
"Oh. No wonder she knows the Uchihas so well, then. I heard her talking to Uchiha's mother like they were old friends or something."
"They are old friends," Iruka corrected, leaning back into the couch. He glanced at me and Kiba, smiling at our interest. "Don't tell me you don't know any of this."
"We don't," I answered, ignoring the voice in my head that cautioned me about getting involved with anything related to Sasuke again.
Iruka groaned. "I feel so old. It was all over the tabloids when I was a freshman."
"Well?" Kiba asked.
"Aristocratic intrigue," Iruka explained. He emptied the contents of the beer can and set it on the table again. "Wakuza's marriage with Fugaku was a little bump in their friendship. I didn't know they made up."
I opened my mouth to ask another question when the door opened again and Shikamaru walked in, a bored look on his face, but clearly excited. "Iruka."
Iruka nodded in Shikamaru's direction and slowly stood up. They considered each other for a moment before Shikamaru hugged Iruka reluctantly. Iruka laughed when Shikamaru let go, a pained expression on his face. "You know, you need to get used to the concept of hugging people, Shikamaru."
Kiba snorted at Shikamaru. "Like that's going to happen any time soon."
"I'm hungry, and Iruka promised ramen at a restaurant," I cut in before Shikamaru could launch into another argument with Kiba.
"Right." We all turned to stare at Shikamaru, and he fidgeted before taking out the keys from his pocket and giving them to Iruka who had an all too-pleased look on his face. "Your mother taught you well," Iruka mumbled as he brushed past Shikamaru with a smug look on his face.
The three of them waited as I pulled on a jacket and before long, we were already driving down the jammed streets of Tokyo. "Do you think anyone would notice if we abandoned our car?" Iruka asked, tapping his finger impatiently on the steering wheel. Shikamaru chuckled next to him in the front seat.
"No."
"How far are we from the place anyways?" Kiba asked from next to me. He looked out of the window and stared at the driver next to our car--he had his cellphone on and was making gestures at his lap. Kiba elbowed me and indicated the driver, a grin on his face. I rolled my eyes. The idiot.
"Oh, it's close," Iruka said, and I felt myself marveling again at how he had managed to remember street names of a city that he had lived in more than five years ago. The traffic signal turned green, and Iruka navigated the car into a parking lot a few more blocks down. Kiba got out first on his end of the car, and held the door open so that I could follow suit. He offered me a hand as I was getting out and I felt myself grinning. "Quite the gentleman, aren't we, Kiba?" I teased and saw a flash of his canine-like teeth.
"You know me," he said, offerring me his arm in mock chivalry. "I aim to please."
I threaded my arm into his and saw Shikamaru shake his head at our display and fall back a little so that he could walk with Iruka. Iruka and Shikamaru lead the way, and I caught glimpses of their conversation. "So, I think Jiraiya got your application," Kiba said walking slowly. "He seems impressed, but your history with the Uchiha has him curious."
I glanced up at him and frowned. "How is it that you know all these things?"
"Rumors."
I quirked an eyebrow and Kiba let out a chuckle. "Okay. That and Shizune."
"Who's Shizune?"
"Assistant for the Editor in Chief. She's actually an all-rounder. I see her in layout, but also in section editor meetings, so I'm not sure what she does, except that Tsunade relies on her for a lot of things."
"Oh."
"I think it's a done deal," Kiba went on, a little smile on his face. "This is going to be great, Naruto. We can leech a ride off of Shikamaru together!"
"I heard that!" Shikamaru's sharp voice carried over the din of the city and when we looked up, Shikamaru was glaring at Kiba with a frown on his face.
"We weren't talking to you, you know," Kiba said, ignoring Shikamaru's sputter and Iruka's laugh. When the two turned to start walking again, Kiba turned to me. "So, I kind of managed to convince the landlord to let me bring over Akamaru from home. Ma says that he misses me a lot."
Ah, yes, the dog.
"Oh, dear," I groaned. "I refuse to walk him. And feed him, and let him into my apartment, or even see him."
Kiba's eyes widened and he pushed me away from him. "You heartless bastard. He's a puppy."
"He's huge! He was a puppy, but not anymore, Kiba, and you know how much I hate dogs. He gets his hair all over my furniture and my clothes--"
"You just don't like Akamaru--" Kiba said, but was cut off when Shikamaru motioned for us towards a restaurant's entrance. Kiba and I walked in to catch Iruka asking for a table for four, and then, in a few more minutes, we were ushered in towards a table that was at the center of a bright, busy restaurant.
"So Akamaru might be joining us in Tokyo," I said to Shikamaru and watched his reaction go from amusement to horror as the consequences sunk in.
"Wait. Why? We're fine as we are. Why do we need Akamaru? I'm not walking that pest, Kiba, I hope you know. And I'm not feeding him. I'd like to have enough money to retire at some point."
Kiba huffed and crossed his shoulders defensively. "You two are just being mean. Remember how much fun he was at the dorms?"
"Yes, but that's because Chouji was there to act as our buffer," Shikamaru said, voicing my thoughts.
"You had a dog in the dorms?" Iruka asked, a frown on his face. It was one of the rules at the university, and Shikamaru, Chouji, and I had aided Kiba in sneaking in Akamaru. We were all sharing one large room at the end of the dorm so it was easy to stay out of the way of the other students, but then again, we had bribed the RA into letting us keep him. The three of us stilled. We might not be students still, but this was Iruka.
"You see, Professor it was just that--"
"Seriously, Iruka, I was against it the entire time, but Kiba wouldn't shut up about his damned mutt--"
"I mean, Iruka, I wasn't that involved. I just walked him a couple of times, and even then I was really reluctant--"
"There wasn't much damage involved, Iruka, since Akamaru was already house-trained and all--"
"And even if there was damage, we cleaned up pretty quickly--"
"And the time that Akamaru got drunk and ate everyone's bedding during classes was most definitely not my fault," I hastened to explain and felt Kiba's and Shikamaru's eyes on me. "Or that might have been a dream," I said quickly. "Yes, that was a dream."
There was silence at the table and I lowered my head into my hands. "Oh, shit."
"You four had an animal in the dorms--"
"Akamaru's not an animal," Kiba said quickly and blushed at how ridiculous he sounded. "I mean, he's an animal, but he's more intelligent than an animal. I would prefer it if you referred to him by his name." He ducked his face so he wouldn't catch Iruka's glare.
"The four of you had Akamaru in the dorms against campus regulations and lied to the administration for all those years?"
"By ommission," Shikamaru said, coming to our defense. He was looking pointedly at his glass of water, and I realized that even though Shikamaru was a genius, against Iruka..."Which, technically, isn't lying. It's just a matter of how we decided to handle and present the truths. The administration never pointedly asked us, Are you breaking the rules, or even better, Do you have a do--Akamaru in your dorm."
"Right," I mumbled, and noticing the waiter standing by our table with a smile on his face, I quickly added, "Let's order. I'm starved. Aren't you starved, Kiba?"
Kiba nodded quickly and began to order, ignoring Iruka's lingering glare. By the time the waiter had left, Kiba was starting to lose his guilty flush. "But that was so long ago," I said, leaning forward, hoping to regain Iruka's sympathy. "We would never do anything like that ever again."
Iruka didn't look amused, so I ducked my head again and returned to drinking water quietly. "You got Akamaru drunk and let him run wild in the dorms," Iruka said. Kiba laughed guiltily, and before long, Shikamaru and I were laughing along with him, describing in detail how, and why Akamaru had gotten drunk and what that meant for our bedsheets.
"And then--" I felt a laugh threatening to overwhelm me again and made random gestures in front of my face. "And then--he. We. We turned around and he was, he was humping the bed post, and making all these noi-noi-noi--" I bit down on my lips and started to laugh again, holding onto Kiba for support. Kiba burried his face into his hands, laughing still and wiping away tears that had collected at the corner of his eyes.
"Oh, wow," Iruka said, sitting back with a smile on his face. "I don't think I've ever--That has got to be a first in campus history." When the food arrived, we all dug in, hungry and still chuckling over Akamaru's drunken orgies with the bedsheets. When the waiter came back to check on us again, Kiba ordered, and I got directions to the restroom. I had turned, still looking over my shoulder and grinning at Shikamaru and Iruka at Kiba's scrutiny over the drinks section when I ran straight into someone. I turned, a sorry on my lips, but when I looked up and caught sight of the person, all apologies fled me. "Orochimaru--"
"Naruto!" He looked surprised, pleased even, and bent down to envelop me in a hug. "It's good to see you again," he mumbled in my ear, and I let my hands rest on his arms, all the while aware of three sets of eyes on me.
"I just woke up from my--"
"Coma, I know. Kakashi told me. I didn't think," Orochimaru let go and stared earnestly into my face. I felt the restaurant still at his demonstrations and felt blood rising to my face. This was not how the evening was supposed to--"I wanted to contact you at the hospital, but I didn't know if you'd be comfortable or not, and besides, that would be overstepping my boundaries as a doctor," Orochimaru explained, his fingers lifting my face so that he could look more closely at me.
He was still beautiful--pale skin, long black hair pulled back into a ponytail, piercing brown eyes--but I had slept with Kakashi, and he was not, could never be, Sasuke.
"I um--I--"
"Oh, God's, Naruto," Orochimaru said--groaned, I thought distantly--before he was kissing me, deep and unhurried. My eyes widened and I clutched at his shirt.
I heard--trying not to focus on the fact that Orochimaru kissed really well, better than Kakashi even--Kiba's chair scraping against the floor as he rose, heard Iruka's "what the," heard Shikamaru's "here we go," heard it all against the absolute and utter silence of the restaurant.
When Orochimaru pulled away, his eyes were half-lidded, and my mouth was still open from the sudden invasion. I felt my mind clicking, slowly and steadily, back into function. I had to get out of this situation, I told myself, just had to get--"Kiba, right?" Orochimaru was already extending his hand towards Kiba, who took it, eyes narrow slits.
"Orochimaru." Shikamaru looked up, analyzed Orochimaru for a second before gesturing at the table. "Feel free to join us," he said, and I winced at his tone.
"I will, thank you."
When a waiteress got a chair for Orochimaru, a young girl blushing and stammering at the way Orochimaru looked at her with all his intensity, I looked around to see that the restaurant was eying me, some with curiosity, some with a little more than curiosity that made me shiver, and others with outright astonishment. Orochimaru sat down next to me, and I felt Kiba stiffen to my right. "I was here with a few colleagues of mine," Orochimaru said, "But then I saw Naruto as I was about to leave, and didn't know that he had already woken up from his coma." Orochimaru considered me. "Kakashi failed to mention it to me yesterday."
I shivered under his gaze and pushed against the back of my chair. "Coma?" Iruka asked, his eyes sharp and piercing. I swallowed a groan and nodded.
"It was nothing," I said quickly. "Just a week."
Iruka gave me a look that I knew meant near and promised death if I didn't explain to him later, and then he turned his gaze towards Orochimaru. Tthe restaurant hold its breath to follow the conversation, and I wondered if it would be a bit too rude if I asked for this to be taken outside. "So, Orochimaru. Doctor, I presume?"
"Yes," Orochimaru said, a pleased smile slowly lifting one corner of his mouth. I looked away towards Shikamaru, wanted to know what he was thinking, but saw nothing but a neutral, calculating stare.
"I've read some of your research," Iruka said not breaking his gaze.
"Ah, so you did."
"I didn't understand it much, but the convtroversy was enough to inspire some curiosity, Doctor," Iruka said and paused as our waiter came with our drinks and seconds for me. I stared at the bowl, not feeling hungry any more and pushed it towards the confused waiter who took it without asking any questions.
"Thank you, Mr.--"
"Umino Iruka," Iruka said, holding out his hand, and Orochimaru shook it lightly. "Professor at Kyoto University."
"Ah, Umino, I've heard of you. From Tsunade," Orochimaru said, as if testing. Iruka smiled, but his eyes were still a hard brown.
"So you know Lady Tsunade."
"I was once her close friend."
"Yes, I remember now," Iruka said.
I felt Kiba straighten in his chair next to me. "Was?" He asked before Orochimaru could reply to Iruka's comment.
"We had a little...fight," Orochimaru explained leaning over, "Over a wedding of one of our other friends."
"Wazuka," I said before I could stop myself and felt Orochimaru's sharp gaze snap towards me.
"You've met her."
"Yes," I said, wondering how much information I could afford to give to Orochimaru. There was something about him that made Shikamaru, Iruka, and Kiba feel wary. I felt uncomfortable too, and that was enough reason for me to be careful around this man.
"So Sasuke showed you."
"Yes, he did," I said, feeling something at the pit of my stomach stir at the way Orochimaru was analyzing me. His voice was still warm, but his eyes, that was an entirely different story. I was preparing myself for the next question when Shikamaru eased himself into the conversation and turned it towards Orochimaru's work. I took a deep sigh of relief and looked at Kiba, offerring him a small smile which he returned before picking up my sake.
So Wazuka, Orochimaru, and Tsunade were friends. Wazuka was the Sasuke's mother, which meant that she was near her sixties, which meant that Orochimaru was also--"Shit," I choked on the sake I was drinking and began coughing. There was Kiba's hand rubbing circles into my back and there was Orochimaru--near sixty, a part of my mind screamed, not thirty or forty--holding my hand.
By the time I had regained my voice, the restaurant was silent again, Shikamaru was looking a little puzzled, Iruka worried, and Kiba angry again. I got up shakily and clutched at Kiba's hand, letting Orochimaru's fall away from mine. "I'm not feeling well," I said, glancing urgently down at Kiba. "I--I need to--I need some rest. I think. Right."
Orochimaru stood up as well, concern masking his face--which was a little too perfect to be sixty, I thought, feeling the hair at the back of my neck stand up; he didn't even have any wrinkles when Sasuke did. "You just came out of a coma," he said, placing his hands on my shoulders. I suppressed a shiver--there was something wrong here, I thought. No matter how good looking a person was, at sixty, there should be some sign of age, and why hadn't he told me before...--and clutched Kiba's hand a little tighter.
"You need to get as much rest as possible." He dipped down and stole another chaste kiss before turning to the others. "It was nice meeting all of you," he said, smiling, and the others stood up to say their good-byes. He shook everyone's hand, even Kiba's, before turning to give me one last, long look and making his way out of the restaurant.
We were all silent for a while after Orochimaru left, and then, feeling a sudden need to drink something, I sank back into my seat. Kiba was right next to me, his hand still on my back, while Iruka and Shikamaru remained standing, looking at the door through which Orochimaru had left.
"Oh my god," I said after I had drank all the cups of sake on the table, "He--he's old enough to be my father." I groaned and burried my face into my hands. "He looked so young."
Shikamaru sat down and Iruka followed suit. "Yes, I realized that when he said that he was friends with Tsunade. But you said that you didn't get anywhere, right? With Uchiha and everything."
I let out another muffled groan and closed my eyes against everything. This was not normal. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He didn't even look--"Actually, Naruto," Iruka said, his voice soft and his words slow, "He's older than your father would have been. Lady Wazuka was their junior by several years when she was getting married."
I fought down a scream and managed instead to groan even more into the crook of my arm. "Wow," said Kiba, his anger forgotten. There was silence, and then I heard Kiba order seconds for our drinks. "That's impressive, man. He's what? Mid-sixties?"
"He doesn't look it," Shikamaru said, ignoring my distress. I felt goosbumps start to form on my skin. This was just--"Forty-five, I was thinking. A little old for Naruto, but never..."
"I know. Wow." Kiba paused and I heard sake being poured into our cups and a bottle being set down. "Wow."
"Shut up," I groaned and reached blindly for another cup.
"Sorry, man," Kiba said, and directed my hand to my sake cup. I clutched it, but still didn't look up from the caccoon of my hands.
"And then there was Kakashi," Shikamaru said, still puzzling over his own thoughts. "Who is also older than you. He's thirty-six, you know? You into older men now, Naruto?"
I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks. Oh, dear, dear, God what had I done? "There was Kakashi?" Iruka asked, his voice light and still curious.
"Yeah," Kiba said, and I burried my face deeper into my arms. "He slept with Kakashi."
"You what?" Iruka's voice was loud enough to silence the restaurant again. I whimpered. This was going to end any time now. Any time.
"I'm not lying," Kiba said, after people picked up their own conversations again. I felt his hand rest against the back of my neck. "Give the kid a break, he needed it."
"Oh, dear lord, Naruto, I slept with--" Iruka came to a sudden halt and I felt all the blood in my face drain.
"No, no, no, no," I wailed. Iruka was like my father, and I slept with the man who slept with my father. "Iruka--"
"Oh." Kiba sounded stunned. "Wow. Professor, I didn't know. I thought you were seeing Professor Anko. She's...well, a she."
"I am," Iruka growled. "We were both drunk and stupid back then."
Shikamaru interrupted before Kiba went on. "You went to college together?"
"Yes," Iruka mumbled, and I could feel the pit of my stomach dropping down to the very center of the earth. "He was a lot like you three. He was doing graduate work on a special permission waiver from the Dean, so even though he was only two years older than me, he was already in graduate school. He was studying criminal law, and back then, he was the talk of the university. Hatake Kakashi this, Hatake Kakashi that, he's so goddamn handsome, and by god, he's such a great lay, anyone lucky enough to get his attention is--" Iruka stops mid-ramble. "Why am I telling you all this?"
"Because I asked, Iruka," Shikamaru said, clearly pleased with how easy it was to extract information.
I lifted my face a few centimeters so I could glare at Shikamaru. "Can we not talk about Kakashi and how Iruka and I both slept with him and how good he is at what he does?"
Iruka blushed, and realizing exactly what I just said, I blushed as well. "It is true," Iruka said, "But irrelevant information."
I let out a sound half-way between a moan and a whimper. "Can we go now? Please?"
Shikamaru nodded, and I felt Kiba squeeze my neck slightly, reassuringly. "It's okay," Kiba said. "I mean, I have indecent thoughts about Tsunade all the time, and so does the entire department. She's kind of like Orochimaru. Looks like she's forty, but she's actually seventy."
"Shut up, Kiba," I growled, and stood up. He followed suit and draped a hand over my shoulder, steering me carefully out of the restaurant. People stopped, I realized with a scowl, to stare at me as I walked by. What was this? A conspiracy?
Shikamaru laughed behind us, and Iruka joined, a little hesitantly a minute later. By the time we were walking back towards the car, Iruka and Shikamaru were laughing hard enough to make Kiba shake silently as well.
I took deep breaths, closed my eyes against the glare of Tokyo's city lights, and counted from one to hundred, and back again. By the time I was at sixty-three, we were at my apartment, Iruka said good-bye, and between bursts of laughter, promised to return in the morning after he had taken care of some paper work.
I shut the door and leaned heavily against it, wondering when, if ever, I would stop blushing.
End of the Tenth