Title: Stars like Sunshine
Summary: In which Naruto isn't as happy as they all think he is. AU where Minato survived the Kyuubi attack. Oneshot.
Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort
Fandom: Naruto - Featuring Naruto Uzumaki (Namikaze) and Minato Namikaze.
Words: 1968
Knock knock knock.
No response.
His feet padding softly on the carpeted floor, Minato tiptoed into the room.
He knew that, at one in the morning, his little baby would surely be asleep, but he had to apologise to the boy for his behaviour the other night.
Even the Hokage could have bad days, right?
Looking around the room, Minato frowned. There was no trace of Naruto's chakra. Zero. Zilch. No six-year-old could ever hide his chakra so well, not even Kakashi could. Minato rushed to the bed and threw back the covers, only to reveal a pile of pillows carefully set in place to imitate the figure of a sleeping boy.
A gust of biting wind swept in from the open window. Minato sighed heavily as he leaned out of the gaping window and looked around, keeping a keen eye out for a certain blond-haired blue-eyed child.
The next morning, he watched with wary eyes as said child bounded out from his bedroom, a bundle of sunshine and energy. No traces of weariness from his disappearance the night before, it was as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.
He had to consult the ANBU about this.
"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, " The ANBU knelt before Minato as he began his explanation. "Naruto-sama did not wish for you to know of his...night ventures." Exasperated, the blond-haired man dismissed the ANBU before him as mulled over his son's behaviour. WhatexactlyareyounottellingmeNaruto?
Holding his forehead in his hands, Minato sighed heavily as he made a decision to tail the boy and to see what he was up to, possibly convince him to change his...unhealthy habits.
Just then, the door to the Hokage's office burst open as a bundle of yellow rushed into the Hokage's stomach, knocking the breath out of him. Laughing, Minato placed his hands under the arms of the child and swooped him up onto his shoulders, the negative emotions he was experiencing dissipated in an instant.
Tugging at the blond locks of his father in a familiar gesture, the boy pouted cutely as he whined, "Daddy I missed you."
Ruffling the little boy's hair and promising that he would try to reach home early, Minato briefly tried to picture his cheerful, energetic, hyperactive sunshine boy morosely watching the stars, and he found that he just couldn't imagine it.
It was eight at night.
With Naruto tugging at the blond locks on his hair yet again, the older man let out a contented sigh as the dishes were arranged neatly on the drying rack and the sink was sparkling clean. As he glanced at the clock on he wall, he started walking towards his son's bedroom while cooing, "Naruto it's time for bed now honey."
Wrapping his short arms around his father's head and effectively blocking his vision, Naruto adamantly shook his head as he retorted, "Don't wanna." Chuckling, Minato lifted the boy off his shoulders and, in a mock serious tone, lectured the boy as he brought the boy face close to his own.
"Now now Naruto you do know that sleep is important for you. WIthout sleep, you will-" Minato's droning was abruptly cut off by a small peck to his cheek and loud giggling from the little boy before him. Laughing, Minato returned one of his own kiss and set the boy down gently.
"Night night daddy!" Naruto loudly proclaimed to the world as he ran into his bedroom, not long after the light in the room went off.
Once again, Minato tried to picture his loud little boy sitting somewhere all alone at night, and he wondered just how much he had neglected his only family.
The clock struck twelve.
Putting well-versed stealth skills into use, the ninja slipped into their target's room, the sounds produced barely noticeable, hardly more than the whisper of a breeze. Without checking to see if the young boy was in the room, the Hokage hurried to the similarly opened windows, just in time to see a small, huddled figure running silently towards the Hokage Monument.
Without another thought, worry clearly etched in the lines on his face, Minato leapt out of the window, after the elusive figure below him.
Ten past midnight.
Naruto sat back, relaxed, as he gazed longingly at the numerous stars glittered in the night sky, dazzling diamonds against the black, intangible velvet. They all seemed to click together like puzzle pieces in a puzzle, every little one needed in a constellation, no one left out, left alone, no one hated...
Suddenly he froze up as a hand rested on his shoulder. Flinching, he whipped around, only to find blue eyes mirroring his own. Inching away, the startled boy croaked out in barely more than a whisper, "Daddy?"
Minato watched his son's behaviour, uncomprehending. It was as if Naruto had a different persona at night, a split personality. He wasn't being himself at all, his bubbly baby just wasn't what he was looking at right now.
He wasn't sure if Naruto was scooting away to give him some space to sit down, or to get away from him.
Taking his chances, Minato cautiously lowered himself down next to his son, carefully gauging the boy's reaction. Pursing his lips, Naruto averted his attention back to the vast darkness before him, lit up only by the twinkling of the numerous shining stars.
Minato marveled at how silent Konoha was by night. It was astonishing that they bustling village could be so peaceful, that the view of the stars is so clear, so beautiful; perhaps he should have been paying more attention to his surroundings. Perhaps he should have been paying more attention to his son too.
"Naruto?" A slight inclination of the boy's head gave him all the acknowledgement he needed. "...Do you still remember all the constellations that I taught you before?" Thinking back, Minato could not remember the last time he had taught Naruto anything. How long had it been? 2 years? Perhaps even longer.
With animated enthusiasm, Naruto swung his legs childishly as he pointed at the various constellations in the sky and began to proudly name them one by one, "There's Orion, and there's the Aquarius...Oh that's the Big Dipper and the Small Dipper..." Minato smiled as his son was seemingly engrossed in identifying the constellations. Interrupting Naruto halfway, the father then proceeded to ask him, "Is this why you come out to watch the stars Naruto?"
A pause.
Minato could see Naruto visibly tense up as his legs stopped swinging. Folding his legs closer to his body, the boy seemingly contemplated what to say to his father. Minato frowned yet again. Has Naruto always been this mindful, this calculative?
Clear blue eyes pierced Minato's own as the boy cautiously uttered a simple word, "No." As Minato moved to sit closer to the boy, Naruto began inching away from him again, such that he was nearly at the edge of the monument. His feelings in a turmoil, Minato stopped moving and probed deeper. "Are you okay my Naruto baby?" Minato urged as he held out his arms, expecting Naruto to climb into his lap and tug at his blonde locks like he always do.
Naruto drew his legs closer to his body and hugged his knees, before turning to Minato with a big smile plastered onto his face. But it was a hollow, empty smile, eyes devoid of any mirth or happiness. Instead they held a warning, a message that clearly read leavemealone. "Nothing is wrong, father." Minato was disgusted. When did Naruto learn to fake a smile like that? It was unnerving to see it coming from his little ball of sunshine. Naruto's smiles have always been real...or have they?
Minato could feel anger rising up in his heart and frustration simmering at the edge of his mind. Pushing the emotions back, he calmly placed his arms behind his head. "Don't lie to me Naruto." The boy visibly flinched as the words came out harsher than he intended it to.
All of a sudden Naruto laid down and placed his hands behind his head in a likewise fashion.
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"Do I look like a monster?"
"Naruto-"
"Just answer me. Do I act like a monster?"
"No, Naruto you-"
Minato could see tears brimming at the edge of his shining blue orbs.
"Naruto are you crying?" Minato was taken aback. He had never seen Naruto cry without reason before. What was there to cry about? He had a wonderful life, a loving family, a caring country...
"Dad...am I a monster?"
At this streams of tears burst forth and flowed down the boy's cheeks as he sobbed, vulnerable, for the first time Minato had seen in his life. Truth to be told, the man was scared, he didn't know what to do, how to handle a crying child, how to handle a crying Naruto, other than give him milk or change his diapers.
"Is the jailer as bad as the jailed?" Minato could see the desperation in his younger self, the fear, emotions that a well-adjusted six-year-old shouldn't be experiencing. "Am I just the kyuubi in disguise? I don't know dad, I don't know..." He shook his head as he buried his face in his two small hands, a burst of sobs wracking his shoulder blades once again.
Grabbing the young boy's shoulders with his two calloused hands Minato sharply reprimanded the young boy, "Naruto we had this talk before. You're not the Kyuubi. You know that." Tilting his chin up, Minato brushed the tears away with his thumb and planted a kiss on his son's forehead. "You're my baby."
Perhaps the scroll and kunai method of explaining a jinchuuriki to Naruto wasn't the best analogy.
"Dad...he...he said that you were going to finish what you started, that...that the Fourth Hokage was going to cleanse Konoha of my foul presence." Naruto soaked the cloth with tears as he buried his face in the billowing cloak of the Fourth Hokage, the tears flowing like water from a broken dam.
Minato sighed, perhaps this wasn't the time to tell him about that night, when he had looked at Naruto and thought of the day before when a shinobi approached him about killing Naruto forthegreatergoodofthenation, his hand had twitched subconsciously to one of his kunai with thoughts of murdering the shinobi who had suggested it.
Realisation struck Minato, hard, as his eyes widened and horror filled him. He finally understood how that must have looked like to Naruto, oh how could he have been so stupid, so oblivious...
"Oh Naruto..." Minato didn't know how to console the small, broken child before him, suffering from wounds deeper than medical jutsu can heal, and only time can make the pain go away, but even then scars will be left behind, a jolting reminder of the past.
Perhaps just staying silent, just holding the child as he stroked his sunshine locks, perhaps just wishing for the sunshine boy to return to him, just being there for his little baby, is enough of an amendment.
But maybe not.
"I don't want to smile anymore, I just want to cry. And when I look at the stars, I don't feel like crying anymore, I just feel like watching...and watching..."
And as father and son sat atop of Hokage Monument, the stars in the sky seemed to shine brighter than usual, almost as bright as sunshine itself.
Lol sorry for the late post, I (Laura) am a really lazy person