“You were smiling inside,” Kakashi said. “Hop up and teach me your super-power of embarrassing people out of rooms.”

“You seem to be well on the way to mastering it yourself.” Minato levered himself out of the chair, letting his stiffness show, and perched on the edge of the bed. Even with the stiffness, there was a little more ease to him now: he didn’t need to hold himself upright for Kakashi. He added, “Does he turn that red often? I’d expected more braggadocio, less blushing.”

“First time I’ve seen him go that color,” Kakashi said happily. “It was like a magic trick. You should come visit the whole team.”

“I'd like that," Minato said, unexpectedly. "When things clear up with your captain, perhaps. Naruto's been plastering his bedroom wall with scribbles of you all. What did you tell him about Ueno? She's the only one I can reliably pick out. He draws her like a fireball.”

“That’s accurate,” Kakashi said. “What does he draw the rest like?”

“Stick figures, mostly. Scribble hair, eleven fingers to a hand, that sort of thing. Sometimes he remembers your mask. He said he brought you a present?”

Kakashi reached into the heap of pillows, avoiding the hard edge of the hidden tanto — which was an open secret among the nurses now, since they’d changed his sheets twice while he’d been getting chakra treatments and the tanto still remained — and retrieved the soft, slightly crumpled body of First Mate. He offered it to Minato for inspection.


Minato accepted the stuffed seagull gently, and looked delighted when he discovered the flapping wings. “You know how hard it must have been for him not to keep this for himself?” He handed it back. “He loves you.”


Kakashi smoothed his fingers over First Mate’s plush head, resettling the fur, and tucked the toy back into its hiding place. His chest ached a little, but he’d channelled raw lightning to kill a man; there was a good reason.


"I know," he said, and grimaced when that sounded selfish. "I mean—” He hesitated. Minato gave him a speaking look, one that knew all the ways Kakashi was intensely, stupidly awkward, and didn't mind them. Kakashi took a breath and said, "He's really becoming his own little person." I love him, too.

Minato smiled softly. “She’d be proud of him.”

Kakashi stilled, surprised. Minato almost never mentioned Kushina.

No, that wasn't true. She was an open subject around her son — Minato wanted her to be a living presence to Naruto, never forgotten. He spoke about her with Rin, too, who'd loved Kushina like family and cried for weeks after the Fox. With everyone else, he kept his thoughts to himself. He made the anniversary speech to the village once a year, on Naruto’s birthday, but that was a eulogy. It wasn’t the same.

With Kakashi, there was a careful space of wordlessness built between them, where the memory of Kushina's clever hands, sharp tongue, and needless death lived, because Kakashi was terrible at grief, and Minato was smart enough not to bare a bleeding edge to someone who might accidentally stab it.

Carefully, he said, “She’d be proud of you both.”

Minato stared fixedly at the bedside table, clearly not seeing it. His smile had gone. “Maybe. Right now she’d probably chew me out for the shambles we’ve made of things.” He jerked his head up, pulling himself together, and focused on the table for real. “Those don’t look like just mission reports. How’d you get landed with sickbed paperwork detail?”

That was twice Kakashi had stepped on someone’s dead-loved-ones-issues today. If Katsuko visited later maybe he could go three for three and win a set of steak knives.

“My lieutenant’s a sadist,” he answered, embracing the topic change. “He has opinions about using leverage to your advantage in training exercises.”

A golden eyebrow arched. “Opinions about getting caught, I’d say. Good for him.”

Kakashi snorted.

Minato tapped his fingers against his thigh. “Your team…” he began. “I’m sorry I can’t talk about them now. I do want to hear about that mission. Congratulate you properly on your first Bingo Book kill.” His smile returned, etched rueful this time. “Maybe by the time you’re out of hospital. We’ll have Rin over for a family dinner, how’s that? The food’s a lot better since Ogata-san came.”