Minato had felt uncertain as he decided to embrace Kakashi for comfort, but he did it nevertheless. It seemed the right thing to do. Feeling unsure about the way Kakashi had leant into him—it was too close for Minato to feel comfortable—he still kept his arms around the teen, deciding it was the least he could do.

He told himself it was alright, that he was just trying to make Kakashi feel better and less alone in this messed up situation. He told himself Kakashi knew that he meant it as gesture of friendship. After all, he'd made clear there was no way he could return his feelings.

"I want you so badly."

Minato heard the whispered words suddenly leave Kakashi's lips, and he stiffened. No, he hadn't heard his former student say that. No, no, no.

It had been hard enough to deal with Kakashi's confession. He'd needed over three days to accept it and more or less become at ease with it. Still, he didn't really know how to deal with the situation in general and how to behave towards Kakashi. He'd figured he needed to make it clear that there was no happy ending to this story, and that was the reason behind his visit today.

It was already difficult enough. He didn't need Kakashi to kiss his neck or press his erection against him to…

Wait…

Oh my god, he actually kissed his neck! Minato didn't even want to think about the other part he'd just felt.

The Yondaime's eyes widened. He had only just enough self-control not to freak out then and there. Instead, he put his hands on Kakashi's shoulders and pushed him away, looking him in the eye.

His heart pounded hard in his chest.

"You can't come that close to me and expect me not to feel anything. Haven't you been in love? You're still not taking me seriously." Kakashi said in his defense, sounding a little hurt, but most of all, disappointed.

Minato admitted that he hadn't really thought THAT far about the whole issue. So, now he was really freaking out inwardly. Kakashi wanted to have sex with him? SEX!

No, no, no… This was wrong. It was wrong in so many ways. Kakashi couldn't actually want to have sex with him. Minato was trying to convince himself that he had somehow misinterpreted things.

He was still looking at Kakashi when his brain started to overload.

Ok. His former student—his just fifteen years old student—was in love with him. Meaning, he wanted to be close to the one he loved—him, the Yondaime—to hold hands with him and kiss. This, he understood somehow. With that, Minato could deal… or at least, he had prepared himself to deal with it before he came here. To be confronted with a teenager who lusted after him in a more mature way, however, was too much.

How could Kakashi even think of something like that?

Well, considering that the teen had gone as far as dyeing his hair just to get inside a striptease club, he should have known that Kakashi was past the point where it was enough to imagine kissing the beloved one. But still, the thought of them having sex with each other hadn't occurred to him because…

He opened his mouth in an attempt to talk some sense into his former student who was supposed to be a prodigy, but he found himself on a loss of words. So he shut his mouth without saying anything. Then, he tried again, and again, but his attempts remained fruitless. Instead, he was very successful in mimicking a fish.

Kakashi freed himself from the Yondaime's grip, which wasn't all too difficult because Minato held him rather loosely. "What?" Kakashi asked, annoyed or so it sounded to Minato. "Don't give me that look! As if it's outrageous!"

As if? He had been thinking about kissing Kakashi as a sort of compensation before. He'd imagined them sharing a chaste kiss which was just as much as he could ethically justify. Anything more *was* outrageous.

"You didn't have any problems when you were flirting with me." The teen's voice was cold.

"It was different," Minato was quick to respond.

"Maybe. But what I feel is not wrong. I want you because I love you. I'm not some six-year-old. It's not wrong," Kakashi told him, determined to make his point clear. He had seemed surprised and a bit embarrassed before, but Minato's reaction to his whispered words seemed to have awoken the teen's stubbornness.

"But Kakashi, I'm totally the wrong person for this!"

"You don't have to reject me over and over again. I got it, sensei. I'm not dumb or deaf. I didn't even mean to say it. But now, well, you don't need to act as if I'm a disgusting person only because I want to sleep with you. Because I'm not!"

"I'm not disgusted by you," Minato protested because he really wasn't. He was disgusted by the thought of touching Kakashi in a sensual way. And he wasn't so much disgusted as that he just couldn't imagine himself doing anything of that sort.

"But you don't think it's something natural, either," Kakashi stressed.

Well, no. How was it in any way natural to want to…

Minato brushed his hand through his hair, looking aside to escape Kakashi's intense gaze. He didn't even want to think about it. It was disturbing, to say the least.

"Then tell me, sensei—when you were my age, can you remember finding it strange to be attracted to someone in their mid-twenties?"

"Well…" Minato admitted Kakashi had a point there, but still. He wasn't ready to admit defeat yet. "Then, imagine Uchiha Itachi would approach you and tell you the same thing you told me." Itachi was only five years younger than Kakashi, but the Yondaime imagined it would be still enough to make his point clear.

"But he is only ten. He is too young to have sex, and I doubt he really knows whether it's love or only a crush. He's ten! You can't compare me with him!" Kakashi argued, frowning at the blond.

"For me, you are too young, too," the Yondaime said matter-of-factly, sighing. By the look on Kakashi's face, Minato judged that the teen understood his point. Running a hand through his hair once again, he continued. "I'm sorry I overreacted, but you really startled me, to say the least."

Minato leant with his back against the kitchenette. He glanced at his former student just in time to catch his gaze for a few seconds before the teen looked away, but he too leant at the work counter beside him.

"So… what now?" the blond heard the teenager ask uncertainly.

"Ramen?" Minato asked back since he didn't have any better idea.

They'd bought the ramen and eaten it (without much conversation) at Minato's place because Kakashi hadn't felt like going back home, or so he'd said.

Minato didn't really mind. And at least the atmosphere wasn't as awkward as he'd expected. He still didn't know how to deal with Kakashi, but he figured the teen wasn't much more in control of things than he was. So, if nothing else, they had something in common here.

"Do you know the Cinderella story, Kakashi?" he asked as he felt the silence had lingered for too long.

His student gave him a funny look but nodded.

"There's still time 'til midnight. I will be at your disposal until then."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kakashi's eyebrow quirked.

Minato shrugged, he didn't really know, either. He thought he could push aside his morals a bit—only as far as he felt comfortable, of course—but maybe it would be enough for a sweet memory, because at this moment, Minato was certain that they had no future together. His feelings for Kakashi were different, and he couldn't imagine them changing the way the boy whished them to be.

The teenager seemed to have gotten the idea, for he stood up and moved to where the Yondaime was sitting. He appeared uncertain, but Minato couldn't blame him for that, especially since he'd freaked out earlier when Kakashi had kissed his neck.

"May I kiss you?" Kakashi asked slowly.

Minato raised an eyebrow. "Quite forward."

"Well, you know me…" Kakashi smirked, apparently gaining his self-confidence back. "So?"

"Not very Cinderella like."

"That's because I'm not the one who's going to disappear at midnight, after all. So I just want to make sure to get the most important things done first."

The Yondaime couldn't help but laugh. "It's not very likely I'm gonna disappear—it's my apartment. Why would I leave you here and go somewhere else?"

Kakashi shrugged. "That's the way the story goes—I'm sure you have plenty up your sleeves. You haven't answered my question, though"

So, a kiss it should be. He'd had time to think about it earlier, so he was mentally prepared. He nodded, whereon Kakashi lowered himself down, kneeling in front the Yondaime who was sitting on the floor with his back against the couch.

The teen leant in further while Minato tried to stay calm about it. His heartbeat speeded up somewhat, but he kept telling himself that it was alright. He wasn't a pedophile or perverted. It was ok because the initiative was coming from Kakashi, right? He closed his eyes and felt the boy's lips on his own only seconds later. He went still, holding his breath, and Kakashi moved his lips carefully, placing on hand on his shoulder.

Minato figured he should respond in a way rather than go completely stiff, but he just couldn't relax. To push aside one's doubts about what was right and what was not wasn't all that easy.

Kakashi was kissing his lower lip, then his upper lip, then again his lower…

Minato knew the teen wouldn't stop until he kissed him back, so he plucked up some courage and was about to make his move as Kakashi licked over his upper lip. Before the teen could try to push his tongue through the Yondaime's lips, the blond opened his eyes and pushed Kakashi slightly back.

Reddish shafts of sunlight were illuminating the room only slightly from where they could creep through the partly drawn curtains. Still, the Yondaime could see the features of Kakashi's face perfectly; there was no mask to prevent his gaze. He was beautiful… and so very, very young. It was disturbing to see so much unfulfilled desire in those mismatched eyes he knew so well.

It was disturbing to see fear in them.

"No tongue," Minato said, so low he almost couldn't hear his own words.

God, could he really do it? He would rather run away, run as fast as he could. Instead, he pulled the teenager closer again and kissed him carefully.

Kakashi responded to him almost immediately and a bit too eagerly, which made the kiss kind of sloppy. Minato wanted to pull away after this one kiss, but apparently his former student had other plans. He felt a hand sneaking to his neck and the other one on his chest while Kakashi kept pressing kisses onto his lips.

The Yondaime had the feeling this was going too far and wasn't going to lead to a happy ending, so he responded to one more kiss, slowing its pace down. He brushed the back of his hand over Kakashi's cheek, felt the teen sigh into the kiss in return. He felt almost bad as he pulled away from Kakashi, parting their lips.

He could hear the teen exhale soundly. He tried to steal another kiss, but the Yondaime saw it coming and put his fingers against Kakashi's lips, preventing him from achieving his goal.

"Isn't it already enough?" Minato asked softly.

Kakashi looked down to hide his disappointment, but Minato saw it nevertheless.

"I guess it wasn't such a good idea, after all," the teen told him with regret in his voice. He didn't look up, but he moved to sit beside the Hokage. "Can I ask you something, sensei?"

"Sure." He felt guilty for kissing Kakashi since he had the impression that he made it even worse, so he was going to answer any question if it would make things better.

"Have you ever suffered from unrequited love?"

Minato sighed. He should have probably expected that question…He doubted somehow that his experience in that matter would help Kakashi in any way. Nevertheless, he decided to answer as well as he could.

"Well… While I've been unhappy in love once, I've never been really rejected. I was a rather quiet kid and others picked on me when I was at the Academy. There was a girl, Kushina, with incredibly red hair. I thought it was beautiful, but others teased her because of it. To my surprise, she never cried and always fought back—she was rather tomboyish. She defended me a few times, too..."

Minato felt a bit nostalgic as he remembered those times. He sighed, caught in his memories for a moment, but he continued after a few seconds.

"I admired her for her courage… and for her wild beauty. It was at that time that I decided to become Hokage someday. I exclaimed it to the whole class." He smiled at the memory and shook his head as if he couldn't believe he'd actually done it back then.

"Everyone laughed at me, except her. I partly did it to impress her, mh… Well, as you can imagine my love story went different to yours, Kakashi-kun. After graduating from the Academy, we were put on the same genin team, and afterwards, on the same chuunin team. But you see, I was a coward, so I never told her how I felt."

Minato felt Kakashi's gaze on him and turned to look at the teen, smiling faintly.

"But how were you able to seal those feelings away?" Kakashi demanded to know. "I was trying to shut them away for years, but eventually, they just burst out and I ruined our relationship!"

The teen looked down, seeming furious with himself.

Minato put his hand on Kakashi's shoulder in a reassuring gesture. Stupid boy—how could he think he ruined their friendship?

But he hadn't answered Kakashi's question…

He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling his heart socked with bitter-sweet pain. While he cherished memories of Kushina, it was always hard to remember because all those precious moments, precious feelings, were mixed with regret and sorrow now. He laughed unhappily at Kakashi's question.

"I was never able to do that, but time made it easier." He smiled, putting his arm around Kakashi's shoulders now and pulling the teen closer. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You didn't ruin our relationship; I would never let that happen. It's maybe awkward like it is now, but it will get better again. Besides, I deeply regret never telling her, and now she is gone and I will never know what her answer might have been. My memories of her are full of what-ifs. At least yours won't be."

Kakashi went silent and so did Minato.

For the first time since his student's confession, he truly thought it had been for the better. He felt proud of Kakashi, for the teen managed to overcome his fears which Minato could not back then. Maybe their love stories weren't all that different, only they had different endings.

"I can't believe someone picked on you," Kakashi said, changing the topic.

The boy's voice brought Minato back to the here and now. He blinked and looked at Kakashi. "But it's true," he insisted, laughing sheepishly. "Someone told me it was the way I always smiled that made them dislike me. I don't really know… and don't really care—it's too long ago." He shrugged.

"You should have beaten them up," Kakashi told him grumpily.

It made the Yondaime respond in an educational tone. "My, that's not a very nice thing to do."

"Hmpf! You are too nice, always have been… And you are probably neglecting your work because you feel obligated to comfort me. You should go back; I'll be fine"

Through all that grumpiness, Minato could hear disappointment, but also affection in the teen's voice, which made him smile.

"But it isn't midnight yet."

"You are just looking for excuses to skip work!"

At that, the Yondaime laughed sheepishly as if caught off-guard. Well, he couldn't deny that it was, in fact, a nice side effect that he had included to himself as he made his proposition to Kakashi. After all, he was a weak man sometimes, yes.

"Just go! Really, I'm fine now," Kakashi huffed. He pulled Minato's arm off him and stood up.

The Yondaime didn't know how to take this sudden determination to make him go back to work. He figured that Kakashi might want to be left alone for some time. But why not just tell him so? Ah, this was Kakashi. Minato shook his head and smiled to himself; how could he forget such an important fact?

Although he hadn't wanted to leave Kakashi alone before, he felt it was alright now. In fact, he felt more positive, and though they hadn't solved everything, he found that he could talk to Kakashi freely again.

"Fine, I'm going then." With that, he rose to his feet. He flashed a smile at Kakashi in farewell and left using his Hiraishin no Jutsu.

"Told you you'll find a way to disappear on me," Kakashi said, although his sensei (his former sensei, to be precise) was long gone.

He smiled and touched his lips, remembering the kisses, especially the last one. Somehow, he wasn't feeling so angry and desperate anymore. He didn't know what the future would bring him, but he knew he wouldn't be alone.

Feeling lightheaded, Kakashi knelt down and retrieved his sensei's sandals, which the man had forgotten to put back on. With those, he left the Yondaime's apartment, heading to the Hokage's Tower and smirking to himself.

One would say it would be hard to find Cinderella if you have both of her shoes and at least one half of the people in your village were wearing the same pair, some even of the same size. Well, Hatake Kakashi was special, for he had the great advantage of knowing his Cinderella's location and identity…

Wasn't he a lucky prince?

The End

A/N: thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed m(_ _)m