Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

CHAPTER 2

The kitchen and the living room had all been cleaned. Looking around, Kakashi sighed and turned down his sleeves, which he had rolled up to his elbows.

He had moved from the house into the Jonin's Dorm after the Kyuubi Attack. The ostensible excuse was that the dorm was nearer to the ANBU HQ, and it would be more convenient for him to respond when being called, but everyone who knew him also knew the real reason. No one had heard him complaining about going across half of the village to reach the headquarters when the Fourth was still alive.

It had taken twelve years for him to come back here again for the first time since he became the sensei of Team Seven. He had hired several masons to completely renovate the house, and signed a long-term contract with a housekeeper, who would come here on the fifteenth day of every month to do some housecleaning.

But he would only return to the house himself on New Year's Day and on the memorial days of his parents.

Kakashi turned his gaze to the stairs climbing upwards on his right side. On the second floor there was a small balcony, his bedroom, his parents' bedroom, and the study, in which Sakumo ended his own life.

There is no use to clean upstairs ... No one will go up there, anyway, he thought.

In fact, the doors and windows to the last two rooms were always set up with seals. Every year, it would only be the three days when he came back that he would go in and do the cleaning on his own.

Kakashi went upstairs. Old planks creaked under his feet, and the sound was loud and clear in the silent house. He stopped at the turning towards the second floor, and carefully wiped the shrine which was built into the walls, as well as all the stuff inside.

Then he clapped his hands, and paid his respects to the two photos that were put in glass frames next to each other.

"Father and mother, I came back safely again."

The party was at six thirty in the evening.

It was just seconds past six when Minato knocked at the door of Kakashi's house, together with Yamato and the four teenagers of Team Seven.

"Wow ... So this is Kakashi sensei's home?" Naruto rushed in first. There was still a piece of gauze on his face, and Kakashi could smell the strong odor of salve from him. But he has regained his full energy, and was now looking around excitedly. "It's pretty big!"

"It's the first time for me to be invited to senpai's house after knowing him for so many years." Yamato came in after him and said impressively. "It's all thanks to Yodaimei-sama."

"Oh really, Tenzou? It occurred to me that I need more green in my backyard." Kakashi looked at his kohai and deadpanned, which made the brown-haired man cringe a little. "And the house is really old; if the girder falls, it will be easy to repair it with your Mokuton. And you can also do some cleaning for me by the way ... It seems that I can just save a bunch of money."

"Please forgive me, senpai!"

"Well, that's really nice," Sai said suddenly.

"What is nice? That I became his slave?!" Yamato shouted bitterly, glaring at him.

"Not that. I mean, it's really nice to have the party in Kakashi sensei's house. "The former ROOT operative tilted his head, and gave his signature smile. "Otherwise, he won't arrive until the party ends."

"Absolutely right! "Naruto and Sakura laughed, and even the corners of Sasuke's lips lifted.

"Where has my prestige as a teacher gone?" Kakashi lowered his head, pretending to be hurt and plaintive.

"Why are you sticking around the doorway, kids? Just go in!" Minato's cheerful voice came from behind. He shut the door, pushed past the others, and stuffed two grocery bags into Kakashi's hands. Then the Fourth Hokage passed his student and went directly to the kitchen, pointing at the couch as he crossed the living room. "You guys sit there, I'm gonna make some tea and get the snacks. Have you prepared those things, Kakashi?"

"Yeah, yeah. All things you need are where they used to be. And I've just had the water boiled," Kakashi answered. He looked at the greens, mushrooms and rolls of raw beef in the bags, tilted his head to motion Yamato to lead the four kids to the living room and take seats. Then he went to the kitchen as well.

"Well dad, you look just like you're in your own home!" Naruto shouted from outside the kitchen.

"Because I'm Kakashi's sensei," Minato said. He lifted the tray with teapots, cups and snacks on it, and went out to the living room. He winked at Kakashi with a smile when they brushed past each other.

Kakashi sighed but couldn't help himself from smiling. He put away the food that Team Seven had brought in one by one, and began washing the greens and mushrooms.

He could hear the six people chatting happily in the living room. For most of the time it was Minato speaking, and the topic was ... Kakashi's childhood. Well at least his sensei had mercy; all he talked about was Kakashi's brilliant achievements as a young prodigy, rather than his several embarrassing moments. However, he somehow still felt awkward, so he preferred to stay in the kitchen, instead of joining in the conservation.

He sighed again. During the Fourth War, Obito's memory had flowed into everyone on the battlefield through chakra, revealing the two bitterest moments for both him and Kakashi to all the shinobi. After the war ended, none of his comrades had come to him with pitying words, which made Kakashi silently grateful.

Now that only left the scandal of his father. Though it had been more than two decades, Konoha's White Fang had been a reputable hero for a long time. There might not be many people who still remembered those days, but what had happened back then was not a deliberately concealed secret, and if someone with authority intended to find it out, he would. His three students were no longer who they had been, and it was not a problem for them now to check documents of higher security classification. Some day in the future, they would finally know everything about him.

Kakashi had never been a person who liked to talk about his past with others. However, he somehow found himself feeling relieved at this thought.

Maybe one day, he could finally let it all go; then he would feel wistful instead of agony and regret when mentioning those names.

In the following half an hour, Team Kurenai, Team Gai and Team Asuma arrived one after another. Minato stopped telling stories of Kakashi's young days when Team Kurenai came in, and the topics turned varied with the increasing number of people.

Chouji took a huge pot with him - Shikamaru had foreseen that it was unlikely for Kakashi to have a pot that was big enough for almost twenty people. The Inu-Shika-Cho also brought some Akimichi's special hot pot sauce, and took over the kitchen, pushing Kakashi, the host, out of the kitchen's door.

It was nearly six thirty, and everything was almost ready, when Tsunade and Shizune finally showed up. The Fifth Hokage had brought a whole basket of sake bottles with her; she gestured to everyone generously, and exclaimed, "Drink them all! Shinobi are considered adults as soon as they can manage on their own! "

It's just that she was finally released from the prohibition of alcohol resulted from the serious injury for half a month, Kakashi thought with amusement, watching Shizune carrying the basket behind her with a chagrined face,

Looking at his friends and students crowded around the table, as well as the big steaming pot, Kakashi sat there as if in a trance.

It'd been a long time ... No, what he should say is that it had never been a time that the Hatake house was filled with so many people. It had been at most him and his father, Minato, Jiraiya, and sometimes Sandaimei and his family, which included his wife and two sons; eight people sitting around the table, and that had already been a huge number for him back in his childhood.

And now there were only two out of the eight who were still sitting here, while one of them was a dead man.

"Sensei, don't just sit there, take a bite!"

A piece of meat was put onto his plate. Kakashi regained his consciousness and looked up; he saw his blond-haired student withdraw his chopsticks with a foxy smile on his face.

As if there was a switch turned on by Naruto's words, the other eleven kids stood up one after another, falling over each other to put food onto his plate.

"That's right, have a taste, sensei!" said Sakura.

"It ... It looks delicious, Kakashi-sensei..." said Hinata.

"Try the special sauce from my clan, Kakashi-sensei!" That's Choji.

"Thanks for treating us, Kakashi-sensei!" That's Kiba.

"Hn." Even Sasuke...

Soon there was a small pile of food on his plate. Kakashi blinked and looked around; everyone's plate was as clean as new, except for his. Twelve pairs of narrowed eyes were upon him, watching expectedly.

"Hah!" Tsunade came out with a short laugh.

Well ... How adorable but naive these kids are, Kakashi thought.

So they thought he had not foreseen this probable situation, did they?

Kakashi threw a look to Yamato on his right, and then to Gai on his left. The two men sitting next to him understood instantly; they stood up as if by prior agreement, picking up a piece of meat with their chopsticks, and sent it to the person sitting directly opposite from themselves - which meant that they reached out their arms crisscross, and just blocked Kakashi between them from the others by doing that.

"Eat it, Lee! You can only burn your youth better when you are not hungry!"

"It should be the wounded to eat first, shouldn't it? Come on, Naruto."

When the two adults returned to their seat, what the twelve teenagers saw was Kakashi's smiling eyes, and the whole empty plate in front of him.

"Well, well," he said idly, "It is really flattering to see I'm such a popular person."

"..." It fell into a dead silence around the table.

"The adults are so nasty." Sai broke the silence first.

"I can't agree more," Shikamaru said. He sat there with his head tilted, an elbow on his knee, and head resting in his palm. Unlike his peers, the Nara prodigy was not astonished or disappointed at all - he had predicted the failure of their plan. "Well, do you really think it is appropriate for you to order Gai-sensei, Kakashi-sensei? He is still with a broken leg."

"What are you talking about, Shikamaru-kun! My youth and my friendship with my eternal rival can never be stopped by a broken leg!"

"Troublesome ..." Shikamaru buried his face into his hands.

"You are such a stingy person, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto murmured with the beef provided by Yamato in his month. "We've won the war and saved the world, and you are not even going to give us a little reward!"

"I've never heard that the reward can be your teacher's face, Naruto," Kakashi answered.

"Hn!" Naruto pouted and turned his head away.

"Well how about a whole set of Icha Icha series, Collector's Edition? Since I've got the Signature Edition instead."

"Nobody wants that except you, you perverted idiot!"

"What about free ramen for one year?" Yamato suggested with a teasing expression on his face.

"Approval!" Naruto turned back immediately with blazing eyes.

"Good. The one with this idea is going to pay the bill." Kakashi put a hand on Yamato's shoulder, "It's yours, Tenzou."

"You are quite cunning, senpai!"

Everyone burst into laugh and said at once: "Itadakimasu!"

The corner of Kakashi's lips lifted up under his mask. For the first time after the war, he laughed from the bottom of his heart.

He caught Minato's gaze among the lively crowd. The Fourth Hokage was sitting between Naruto and Sasuke; there was no need for the EdoTensei-ed body to eat, so he could just help the two handicapped teenagers with their meal.

When meeting Kakashi's eyes, Minato gave him a blinding smile.

Kakashi curled his eyes towards his sensei.

Tsunade left with Shizune right after the dinner - as Hokage, she still had a lot of papers to deal with. The Slug Princess was slightly drunk and blushing, and she claimed with anger that she would one day throw all of this messy stuff to someone else.

She gave a murderous look to a certain sliver-haired shinobi before stepping out of the door.

The rest returned to the living room. Now it was Minato's time; he was sitting on the floor, surrounded by all the kids, and telling interesting anecdotes of those legendary shinobi.

Across half the room, Kakashi, Yamato and Kurenai were leaning against the wall, with Gai sitting in a wheelchair beside them, watching the crowd on the opposite side.

How peaceful ... Kakashi thought absent-mindedly. It's just like we've never had a huge war half a month ago.

But that was just illusion. Kakashi turned his eyes onto Naruto and Sasuke's empty sleeves, and the crape around the arms of Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata and Lee.

The pain still existed.

But they were shinobi. They would swallow the pain bravely, holding their heads upright and striding straightforward, hand by hand, shoulder by shoulder.

They were stronger than him.

Tsunade was right. Those noisy brats had grown into reliable shinobi.

"It's decided." Kurenai spoke up suddenly.

The three men all turned to her.

"The baby's name." Kurenai stroked her pregnant belly with downcast eyes. There was a fond expression on her face. "It's 'future'. The name will be Sarutobi Mirai. "

"Wonderful name." Yamato remarked first after a short silence, "Suitable for both boy and girl."

Kurenai nodded, and looked up at their students. She was smiling, and her voice was calm, but there was something shining in her eyes. "I think ... If Asuma were here to see this, he would feel happy and satisfied."

"Don't worry. I will tell him the whole thing when I go back." Another voice suddenly joined in the conversation. The four jonin rapidly turned around, and the three except for Kakashi were caught off-guard; there were few people that were able to sneak up on them without being noticed.

However, it was only natural when the person turned out to be Namikaze Minato.

"Yondaimei-sama!" Kurenai widened her eyes.

"Sensei, come on ..." Kakashi mumbled, shifting uncomfortably. He was not frightened, but Minato's words reminded him of two unpleasant facts.

First, Minato had died; second, he would finally leave.

"Sorry, sorry," Minato apologized without compunction. He looked at the other three Jonin, shaking the two small bottles of sake in his hands. He then pointed upstairs.

"Excuse me, but can you give Kakashi and me a few minutes alone?"

A/N: Thank Samsara and Titi's nemesis for leaving comments! I love Minato & Kakashi interactions too, and it's really a pity that Kishimoto wrote Minato as Hokage and a father much more than a teacher. So I decided to write something about them by myself! XD

And thank you all for reading! Reviews are appreciated.