"Kakashi!" Naruto exclaimed hotly as he backed away quickly from the man. Trying to regain his composure, but miserably failing as he felt his face flare."I'm not in the mood for this! Don't you have something better to do with your time?" And, slamming the door in Kakashi's masked face, Naruto stormed back into his apartment. He wanted to punch that annoying smirk off of the man he had saw right as the door shut. Just one shot. But then again, maybe not. Kakashi would probably make that something inappropriate too, was Naruto's bet.

Just one moment of weakness it had been. Just one! How Naruto regretted it. It wasn't his fault he'd been on mission after mission and needed a little human connection. I mean, he hadn't really expected to have found it in the arms of the man that had been his sensei for years, but hey, it had been one of his all time lows.

Kakashi was taking it as if they had done more than hug though! It wasn't Naruto's fault Kakashi had found him one night wandering about the village in a daze, questioning himself and still woozy from the pain medication he had been on from one of his more gorey missions. With the fox's metabolism, of course he had to take an obscene amount for it to even have an effect on him.

It was just a bad situation in general. And Naruto wished Kakashi would have acted like it didn't happen like any other person would. But no. Of course not. And even though Naruto had more going on in his apartment that night then he could even handle, he began to reminisce about that time.

flashback:

The sky had been completely clear that night, the moon big and round and coloring his village in a dim, pale light. Naruto had just rounded another corner to another road to wherever he was going. He had no clue now he'd been walking for so long. After awhile he'd gotten bored looking at the same old building and looked up. His eyes widened as he was mesmerized by the amount of stars that adorned the sky. Stumbling and swaying, that time was cut short, though, when he barely felt his foot connect with something hard and suddenly fell flat in the dirt. He hadn't cared much at the time, though, turning himself over and crossing his arms behind his head, just continuing to stare up into the luminous night sky. Recently, he had thought more and more how his life had ended up where it had. Yes, he had progressed, and was a strong ninja, but all the values he had had when he was younger seemed irrelevant now. His friends were all living their lives, carrying out missions just like him. Sasuke was in Anbu, by now Naruto was sure one of the higher up nin. Sakura was busy at the hospital and dealing with Tsunade. As a kid he hadn't really realized just what impact life would have on him throughout time. He didn't even really know when the last time he had yelled at someone about his way of the ninja. That's all he used to do ya know…

At this point in his life he was completely alone. Wandering through and gazing about at other peoples relationships and lives and trying to figure out what was so wrong with his.

Any somber thoughts after that had been cut off, though, as a head of gray hair and amused eye suddenly appeared in his line of sight.

"Hey there." Kakashi had said, leaning over Naruto and blocking his view of the stars.

"Outta the way, Kakashi." Naruto grumbled, waving one of his hands to shoo the man out of his way.

Alls Naruto wanted to do was watch the pretty stars. He never had time to just laze around! What he hadn't expected, though, was the man to grab the hand that was shooing him and pull him haphazardly to his feet.

"Hey! I was comfy."

"Yah, kid, well how about I take you home. I'd feel kinda bad just walking by and leaving you lying in the streets like some drunkard, now wouldn't I?"

Naruto sighed and scratched his head. "I was heading home. Just taking a little break is all."

"Mmkay, Naruto. Come on." Kakashi said, wiggling his finger in the direction to Naruto's apartment. At least Naruto thought that was the way. He hadn't really looked around to see where he had ended up.

Rolling his eyes dramatically, Naruto followed behind Kakashi at a much slower pace. After a couple minutes of that, Kakashi looked back with a sigh. Backtracking, he grabbed Naruto's sleeve and lead him at a decent pace. They had only been walking a few seconds, though, when Naruto's feet seemed to protest once again at walking and took him down once more. This time though, when he fell forward he grabbed hold of the jacket of the man in front of him, and only the sharpness of Kakashi's reflexes kept them both from hitting the ground. Instead, Kakashi had turned quickly and now held Naruto, who was flat against the man's hard chest.

Naruto felt the warmth that radiated from Kakashi, and being so close to the man seemed as if that warmth took him in and comforted his icy heart. In his daze, Naruto didn't think twice about his actions, so his arms snuck around Kakashi's back and he burrowed his face into the man's neck.

"Naruto?" Kakashi was frozen in place as the man seemed to meld to him in the matter of seconds. He felt his breath hitch as the man snuggled closer to Kakashi's neck and felt the warm breath of the man through the material of his jacket.

"This is so nice." Kakashi heard Naruto murmur. "How can anyone be this warm… when they're all so cold to me… too bad this is a dream… I'm just gonna wake up and… be alone…". After that Kakashi felt Naruto's body relax and he knew the man had passed out.

Carrying Naruto quickly to his apartment, Kakashi was thoroughly confused as he fished the keys out of the blondes pocket and opened the door. Placing the man on his bed, Kakashi covered him and looked silently at the blondes sleeping face, looking troubled even in rest. How the man had changed from when he was a child. The young vibrant Naruto that Kakashi had known had slowly been replaced with the jaded man before him. And it was tragic. He'd never have thought that that vitality could have ever been drained. But he guessed the life of a useful ninja was something that could easily be overused by a village.

He'd known Naruto had been away a lot on missions. As his student had gotten older, and honed his skills, he become quite extraordinary. So Kakashi had seen his face less and less. And he knew that the life of a ninja such as Naruto was now living is something that drained you, that took a part of you and slowly brought it to it's knees. Kakashi knew that the part of Naruto that had slowly been taken was that positivity. At one point, Kakashi thought nothing or no one could take that from the man, but he guessed it could be. That was a horrible thought. Though, Kakashi had a feeling he'd be thinking about the man more often.

Of course he'd wondered about Naruto at times, but definitely not more than he knew he'd wonder now. That meeting had frazzled him. Not only had he not expected to find Naruto casually laying in the street, drunk it had seemed, but he had never expected the man to have hugged him like Kakashi had been the only one he'd ever shared warmth with before. That struck Kakashi's heart in a way he hadn't felt in a long while. It made him think of Naruto's past and the way his own sensei would think of him that he let it happen.

Kakashi couldn't bear to long at Naruto when he was younger, but because of a different fact then the villagers. In Naruto's face and features was Minato, someone Kakashi had tried his hardest to forget. He had loved Minato, as a sensei at first, but later as something more. But he knew that love could never be returned, as Kushina was the one and only who had earned his heart. And Kakashi had been fine with that. So his love for Minato had been the silent kind. Taking form in the way he had protected the people Minato had loved, the way he fought for his village and backed his reign as Hokage. So when Minato had given his life…and Kakashi failed in protecting the both of them… he lost again a loved one and spiraled downward once more. It was even harder than losing Obito and Rin…

Kakashi shook his head and just managed to dodge around a pole he had been heading straight for. Man, he was acting like Naruto had been. That pain he had mostly put behind him but that contact had sparked something Kakashi never had thought he could feel toward another human again… and that was tragic. Because once he ever lets his barriers down, he knows something bad will happen.

end flashback

Naruto didn't even know how to feel about anything! Much less be teased about it by a man he knew didn't take those kinds of things seriously. Kakashi has such bad timing, dredging up these feeling right when he just found his dad. Naruto was all sorts of an emotional wreck and he wasn't sure just how he was still keeping it together. Walking back through his apartment, he found his father back on the bed, sitting to the side of it and looking at him with an amused expression.

"So Kakashi finally has a sense of humor." Minato said, and Naruto's head snapped in his direction just as his face once again began to redden.

"Did you hear everything?" He said with a drop of dread in his voice. He really hoped Minato hadn't heard that last thing Kakashi had said. That would be a great start to their relationship. That he'd made Kakashi somehow like him in THAT way.

Minato's eyes tracked Naruto's every move, catching the twitch and tone, and inside, even though his situation, he felt amusement at his confused son for the first time. He had heard everything, I mean, in this small of an apartment of course his hearing could pick up mostly any type of spoken conversation. But he knew his boy wouldn't feel great about that.

"Not everything, no. Mainly the beginning and the last thing you shouted a bit." He knew he'd made the right decision when the boy's shoulders relaxed and his face turned a semi normal shade once again. That was interesting… his student and his son… he wondered exactly what had happened and what had Naruto so worked up. It looked like his son needed some attention in a way that wasn't being briefed for a mission.

Not like Minato actually knew, though. He felt like there was a lot of information that he had to retrieve before he could make any valid assumptions. It was just a feeling, though. That Naruto was not dealing well with something. The look in his eye made Minato sad.

Naruto squirmed a bit under those scrutinizing blue eyes. It seemed like Minato was thinking about him and he wondered if they were judging him. It felt as if a weight were lifted off his chest when the man averted his gaze and looked at the photo on his night stand once again.

"So Kakashi was indeed your sensei. How was he as one? I had never depicted him having a team of his own. Figured he'd work his way all the way up in Anbu and stick with it."

Naruto thought for a second and Minato was surprised at the little smile that played on Naruto's lips when he spoke.

"Well, he wasn't like the other sensei's, that's for sure. Before my team, he had never passed a single one. There was this exercise he did with teamwork and about getting bells from him. He said only two could pass and the other was going back to the academy for sure. So we all ended up failing and I ended up tied to a pole. Well, the one condition was that I couldn't eat, but we ended up not listening to him and ended up passing."

Minato was surprised at that. So Kakashi had used the test Minato used on his team. He felt sad that he couldn't of heard this from Naruto years ago when it actually had happened. He could just imagine his boy a child, running up to him with a ginormous smile and laughing as Minato patted his head in pride. But he had given his son the chance to become the ninja he is now by giving his life. So he would not regret his decision.

That didn't mean he couldn't yearn, though… for those years back and his wife alive…

As Naruto had spoke, Minato also saw a spark in his eyes that hadn't been there when he had first met his son. Like a candle that had suddenly been relit. He wondered just exactly what the Naruto of those times had been like and if he'd get the opportunity to get to see that side of him.

A/N: So this is how it is. Kakashi once loved Minato but it had been a complete one-sided love Minato didn't know about. That's why he hadn't been able to raise Naruto, knowing that he had failed in protecting Minato and Kushina from there deaths. But it's going to be hard seeing Kakashi let down his barriers once again, as all the people he's loved have died. Eventually, Minato will support the two because he's awesome. So Kakanaru with Minatos support. Thanks for reading and review if you have the time. :) I'd like to hear your thoughts.