Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the canon characters. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and any other owners of the Naruto series.

"Thoughts"

To Bond as Family

"…I'm glad that mission is over. Now, I can go home, put my things away, and go visit the…"

"Hey, Hound! Lord Fourth wants to see you! He is waiting outside!"

"Or my sensei can just ruin the rest of my day..."

With a low sigh, Kakashi placed his mask back into the locker before him. Adding the blade and a few other items, he grabbed his forehead protector and placed it over the Sharingan. Afterwards, he closed the locker as he ran his fingers through his silver hair, ignoring the buzz of the other Anbu around him. He frowned at the waiting Anbu from under the half mask that he always wore.

"Come on," moaned the Anbu, tapping his fingers on a nearby locker. "None of your laziness this time! I am not getting chewed out by the Fourth Hokage just because you decided to drag your feet!"

"I'm coming," groaned Kakashi. "I'm coming!"

The young silver haired teen followed the older man, dragging his feet, a bored look on his face. However, Kakashi was secretly terrified that he had somehow let down his teacher. The man that he secretly looked up to as a father figure, not that he would ever tell him that.

"Did I do something wrong on the mission?" thought Kakashi, his mind racing. "Was I not swift enough? Strong enough? Is he disappointed in me? Have I failed him…? Like I have with Obito and Rin…"

He had to shake his head to keep himself from going down that trail. The nightmares were bad enough, but for the guilt to keep hounding his every step? His hands began to shake, but Kakashi stopped himself before the other Anbu could spot his weakness.

"Lord Hokage. Here is the Hatake, as you asked."

Kakashi was broken from his guilt-driven consideration by the other's man voice. He had been so lost in his mind that he didn't even notice that they had stepped outside where a tall blond haired man waited for them. His blue eyes lit up as he noticed Kakashi, uncrossing his arms. Kakashi turned his face away from the man's smile.

"Sensei… I don't deserve your attention…"

"Thank you," answered the blond man with a smile. "I'll take him from here. And tell the others that Kakashi is going to be off duty for the next few days."

"Wait…What!"

Before Kakashi could do anything, like protest or back away from the now grinning Hokage, the blue eyed man grabbed his shoulder and teleported him away. The next thing that he knew, he was in the Hokage's residence, his head spinning from his mentor's use of the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"Minato-sensei…" moaned Kakashi, hand over his covered Sharingan eye. "Not all of us can handle traveling that way…"

Minato just patted the young man's back in a form of comfort, though it was just making Kakashi feel unnerved. He just brushed the hand off as he slowly stood on his feet.

"Sorry about that," grinned Minato, rubbing the back of his head with a nervous, happy laugh. "I just wanted to get you here without too much trouble… Since you have been avoiding us."

Kakashi just refused to look at Minato's face in shame. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the red-haired woman that was Kushina Uzumaki and shivered. That was a woman you did not want to upset. She was known for her pranks on people that somehow upset her, and Kakashi didn't want to be a part of any revenge.

"Hello Minato! Welcome home…" she began before seeing the silver-haired teen in front of her. "Kakashi! Good to see you!"

Kakashi soon found himself being hugged by Kushina, and tried to struggle out of it. However, the red-haired woman just grinned at him and hugged him tightly, pinning his arms to his sides.

"How have you been?" she asked, letting go of him and ruffling his hair. "You're just in time for dinner! Come in and have a seat!"

Kakashi soon found himself being marched into the table with a smirking Minato following behind. Kakashi just glared at the Hokage as Kushina dragged him to a chair and sat him done.

"Now, don't you go anywhere!" chirped Kushina, giving Kakashi a bit of a stink eye. "The food will be ready in a moment."

As Kushina stepped into the kitchen, Kakashi quickly glanced at the door. He tapped his fingers on the table as he heard Kushina humming. Then, Kakashi leaped out of the chair, making a dash to the door. However, he only got a few steps before Minato flew at him and pinned him down.

"No sensei!" he thought as he tried to escape Minato arms. "Please let me go! Everyone around me goes away… I'm cursed… My father…Rin, Obito… I don't want to lose you too!"

He could feel the tears falling from Obito's eye as Minato half carried him back over to the chair where a very angry Kushina was waiting. The teen flinched as she waved a spoon under his nose as her long hair flared around her like a group of fox's tails.

"Kakashi…" she growled, tapping his masked nose with the spoon. "Didn't I just tell you to NOT run off? Now… If you are not going to stay put… then you leave me no choice!"

She quickly pushed him back into the chair and placed a tag onto his chest, pulsing chakra into it. Small chains rapidly appeared around Kakashi, wrapping around his ankles, legs, waist, chest, and shoulders, immobilizing him. However, his hands and arms remained free. Kakashi tried to pull the tag off of his chest, only to find that it was stuck on his shirt. He glanced up at Kushina and Minato, hopelessness in his eyes. Kushina sighed at the look on his face while Minato just nervously grinned.

"Now, Minato went and got you because we wanted to have a little 'family' moment," began Kushina, poking his cheeks with the spoon. "We know for a fact that you haven't been taking care of yourself… So you are going to eat some food then you are going to rest. We… we were getting worried about you, Kakashi."

"Not to mention that we wanted you to be one of the first people to know our…. Great news," added Minato with a very foxy looking grin.

"But why me?" asked Kakashi, arms falling to his sides. "I'm just trash…"

"Don't tell me hear you say that again!" hissed Kushina as she set the spoon aside and hugged him again. "You're as good as family, you know! Besides…"

Kakashi shivered in fear as Kushina grinned at him with the smile that she wore when she dumped pink paint over Obito's head that one time. He was not proud to say that he flinched as Kushina put her hand on his shoulder.

"We want our child to know of their older 'brother'…" she stated, patting his shoulder. "So we wanted to have a dinner together…to bond like a true family. To celebrate."

"Wait… What?" Kakashi thought in shock. "Brother? Family? Celebrate? Does that mean…?"

That was when he noticed that Kushina seemed to be glowing, making her seem more beautiful than usual. The more he thought about it, the more the teen realized that Minato had been smiling the whole time and was currently prancing around the house. Kushina just smiled as her husband before pushing the teen close to the table.

"I'm going to be a father!" sang Minato as he danced around the room, to Kushina's amusement.

"…Congrats?" answered back Kakashi with more than little confusion in his voice. "Can I go now?"

"No," answered Kushina, placing a bowl in front of him. "Minato…sit down and let's eat! And Kakashi… I've better see an empty bowl!"

"Oh, boy…"

Minato sighed as he picked up his dishes while glancing over at Kakashi. The silver-haired teen had been picking at his food and eating it slowly under Kushina's watchful eye. He acted as if everything tasted like ash, which mostly meant that Kakashi was still thinking about Rin's death.

"Lord Third," thought Minato to himself. "I hope that your plan works… Because I cannot stand to see Kakashi this way… One of these days, he going to get himself killed… I cannot… will not lose Kakashi… He deserves so much more…"

Minato sighed again as he put the dishes into the sink, thinking about the look of hopelessness on his student's face. His blue eyes narrowed as he thought of finding his last student's body, beaten and broken.

"That will not happen under my watch!" Minato fiercely growled in his head. "Kakashi has become like a son to me and Kushina! As where Obito and Rin… I will not lose the last member… especially before my child is born."

"Kakashi! Hold still!"

Minato stepped back into the other room to see Kushina standing over Kakashi, trying to paint a seal on his forehead as he tried to wiggle away, still chained to the chair. The forehead protector lay on the table as Kakashi kept his Sharingan eye closed as his remaining eye was wide with fear as he ducked under the brush. Kushina's hair was forming into foxes tails as her anger increased with each miss. Minato quickly stepped over and carefully grabbed Kakashi's head while allowing the chains to pin the young man's arms to the chair.

"Sensei… Why?" The silver-haired teen asked as Kushina painted the seal on his forehead. "Please let me go… I..."

"I'm sorry…" whispered Minato as he patted the teen's silver hair, "but we care for you. You are like family… And we are tired of seeing you in pain."

With that, Kushina finished the seal and put her fingers on it, activating it. Kakashi just stared at her for a moment before his eye began to close with drowsiness. He blinked to try and stay awake as Kushina carefully deactivated the tag on his chest, releasing the teen from the chains. Minato stepped over and caught Kakashi as he stood up then fell.

"No… Stop…" yawned Kakashi as Minato scooped him up in his arms. "Put… me… down… I… I…"

Minato ignored the teen's words as he carried him into the living room. He frowned at how light the teen was as the young man continued to fight against the seal, gray eye slowly shutting. Kushina followed her husband, watching the teen struggle as he let out another yawn from under his mask. Minato sighed then placed Kakashi on the couch, placing a blanket over him as Kushina pushed a pillow under his head. Kakashi gave them one last look before closing his eye and falling into a deep sleep, relaxing under the blanket.

"Finally," sighed Kushina as tucked the blanket around the teen. "I thought he was going to continue to fight for a bit longer than that…Stubborn boy! He needs to stop blaming his self and start caring about his self!"

"I hope that we will be seeing him around more often," Minato groaned as helped Kushina sit down in a chair. "Lord Third gave me an idea when I talked with him… I am going to assign Kakashi to watch over you during the pregnancy."

"Minato!" growled Kushina. "I'm not a helpless woman! I can take care of myself, you know! However…"

Minato had to shiver as she glanced over at the sleeping teen with a smile. Kushina had that look when she was thinking of a prank.

"That means we can have more family dinners…. Even if I have to kidnap him while in uniform!" Kushina spoke with a grin. "That will teach him to ignore us!"

"I think that is going to chase him away, Kushina!" stated Minato as he rubbed the back of his neck. "However, it is good to see Kakashi outside of Anbu… It has been too long… I have been getting worried about him…"

"At least my seal will give him a good night sleep without nightmares," voiced Kushina as she nodded with pride. "So at least for tonight, Kakashi will be taken care of."

"Yes…" whispered Minato as he watched the silver-haired teen's even breathing as he rolled onto his side. "He needs someone to watch him…I hope that he will accept our child… as a younger sibling…"

Minato walked over to Kakashi and brushed the hair out of his face, smiling as the young man leaned into his hand in his sleep.

"…After all," continued Minato. "Out of everyone… Kakashi deserves a family… It's a shame that we are not allowed to officially adopt him… But we can make sure that he knows that he isn't alone… That there are still people that care for him."

"Stay safe, Kakashi. We will do our best to make sure that you live to see our child… You will never be alone… We will create new bonds… as a family. Good night… and sleep well."

Author Notes: This is just my idea of what happened when Minato and Kushina found out that they were going to be parents. I believe that Kakashi was one of the first people they told, but they were also worried about him.

This was during the time that Kakashi became known for his cold-blooded nature and ruthless in the Anbu.