| [Dec. 27th, 2013|06:15 am] |
“The three-year-old makes more sense,” Kakashi muttered, looking at the swirling pattern of blue spirals and lily-pads decorating the borders of Naruto’s room. Kushina had painted them during her pregnancy—and re-painted them, and re-painted them again, until she’d thrown the brush down and declared her child would have to live with crooked leaves. After nearly four years, they were starting to sun-bleach.
Minato’s sympathetic expression was slightly ruined by the amusement dancing in blue eyes. “Still want to transfer?”
“BATH IS READY,” Naruto bellowed, before Kakashi could answer. Water splashed distantly, in an overflowing kind of way. “UH. VERY READY.”
“I expect an answer,” Minato said, and vanished in burst of chakra.
There were Hiraishin seals planted all over the house, because why scramble down the hallway like a normal person when you could get the last word and step out of the universe?
Kakashi rolled his eye and took four seconds to straighten Naruto’s bed sheets before he followed at a walking pace. The Hokage’s quarters had two main bathrooms, one with modern shower appointments that was largely for guests who wanted privacy, or for when Minato was in a hurry, and a larger bathroom with a more traditional set up. Kakashi paused at the door of the second, eyeing the gleaming puddle of water seeping out into the hallway. As he watched, the spread halted and sucked back under the door, yanked by the threads of Minato’s chakra.
Kakashi knocked. “Permission to enter the asylum?”
“I’m naaaaaaked!” Naruto sing-songed joyfully, and then continued, obviously to Minato: “An' I'm going to get a tattoo here, just like Tousaki-san, and niisan's going to get a butterfly on his faaaace!”
Kid was going to get Kakashi skinned.
But when he pushed the door open, Minato was laughing, and managing to keep his squirming son balanced on one of the small scrubbing stools with a single, practiced hand, while he attacked Naruto’s hair with a palmful of suds. Naruto’s pyjamas had decidedly vanished, sacrificed to the gods of happy bathing. The small lake of water had come from one of the scrubbing buckets Naruto had enthusiastically over-filled, and was now neatly returned.
Kakashi settled down into a crouch in front of Naruto, and took over the role of shiny distraction. “Dragons or horses?”
Naruto blinked, brow furrowing. “Dragons?”
“Good choice.” Kakashi flicked through several rapid seals, calling up a spark of chakra, and set it loose on the soap suds spilling down Naruto’s narrow shoulders. Two foamy lotus buds formed, rapidly growing, and bloomed in a spread of white petals, unleashing a pair of small bubble dragons that shot up and danced around Naruto’s head.
Naruto’s laugh pealed like silver bells. He held his hands up to them, fingers splayed, and kicked his feet with delight when one of the dragons alighted gently on his fingertips. Over his head, Minato met Kakashi’s eye, and grinned like the sun. For the first time in recent memory, he didn’t look tired, or battle-worn, or worried; he looked like any young father taking joy in his son’s happiness.
Warmed by the glow of helping, Kakashi sent the second dragon to land on Minato’s nose. |
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