The Memoirs of Jiraiya
The Memoirs of Jiraiya
A/N: Ah, I've gotten so many great reviews! Thanks so much!! I really didn't think anyone would enjoy stuff I just make up about Jiraiya. I'm very surprised!
Oh, and if you need me to clear anything up, don't hesitate to let me know!
Enter Minato
Ah, Minato.
Minato, Minato, Minato.
Minato was a good boy, he was smart, and if he really thought things out, all would go well.
Of course, he never thought things out.
But he tried his best, and he would never, never back down from anything.
Which could be quite stressful.
But, strong as he was, he could be a little weak, too.
Even when he was older, he cried easily.
Of course crying is not a sign of weakness.
But the way he would just collapse into my arms when he got truly hurt…
Sometimes, I wasn't sure just how old he was.
My imagery got all mushed-up with then and when he was a baby.
How did I know him when he was a baby?
Well, to put it simply, his mother and my mother were good friends, and his mother and my aunt were so close that they were like sisters.
So I knew Minato for basically his entire life.
I think that when he was younger he might've looked up to me a little bit, and of course Tsunade absolutely loved him.
I think Orochi scared him a little.
I personally don't blame the kid.
If I hadn't known Orochi when he was harmless, I'd probably be afraid of him, too!
Minato was always such a happy child, happy-go-lucky, friendly.
I've always referred to him as, "My blond bucket-full of sunshine, emphasis on blond ."
Unfortunately, the sunshine had a storm-cloud covering it for a while.
Because when Minato was just four years old, his mother died.
Not on a mission, she wasn't beaten to death or injured, or anything.
She just…(Waves hands around obnoxiously for lack of a better explanation) … died !
Namikaze-san (that's what I've always called Minato's father) was devastated.
I mean, REALLY devastated.
At the funeral, Minato was kind of scared of his dad, who had not said a word in three days.
I noticed that he was leaning against me during the eulogy, so when he started to cry, I knelt down and put my arm around him.
That seemed to make him feel a little better.
I was a little amazed at how small he was, seemingly too small to be four.
So for pretty much the rest of the funeral, I kept an arm around him, so that the wind didn't knock him over or something.
When the funeral ended, I got the hint that Namikaze-san wanted to be alone, so I offered to watch Minato for the rest of the day.
The rest of that cruel, sunny day.
I knew it probably wouldn't be too hard to keep him busy, considering it was sunny and warm and cruel out.
Namikaze-san nodded his thanks, and off we went.
Meet Big Brother Jiraiya.
Or as Minato called me, "Jiraiya-Oniisan!"
Yup.
That is seriously what he called me before I was his sensei.
Tsunade thought it was adorable that offered to baby-sit, and came with us to get ramen.
The ramen kept his mind off of the traumatizing situation from which I had just removed him.
He sat on Tsunade's lap and ate quietly.
I somehow managed to keep him busy for the rest of the afternoon, and all was going well until I brought him home.
First, it started raining really hard, and even though we got there before we were soaked to the skin, my head got all wet, which is not fun.
But, as I said, Minato was a good kid.
He disappeared for a few minutes and reappeared with some towels.
And then after drying off his head andmine, I realized that his father was not there, and that of course Minato won't know where his father was, he was with me and…
I got a little confused and was lost for a while until I realized that Minato was crying.
I dropped down on my knee and asked him what was wrong.
He sniffled and said softly, "Mother's not here."
I wasn't really sure what to say, no one had said anything to me, at least nothing I remembered from six years ago.
So I said, "Well, no, but she wouldn't want you to be sad, would she?"
He thought this over for a moment.
"No, I guess not."
"So, then, don't cry, okay?"
"Okay."
"C'mon," I said, picking him up and taking him to his bedroom.
I lay him gently on his bed; I could see that he was tired, but he asked me to read a book to him.
I couldn't refuse him, so I sat beside him and read him his story until he fell asleep.
I ended up just staying there the entire night, because his father did not return until noon the next day, drunk as a skunk. (Which has always made absolutely no sense to me, I have never seen a drunk skunk. A drunk Tsunade, yes, but a drunk skunk? Never.)
So, I ended up looking after Minato more and more.
It just became a natural thing.
He came around all the time, he knew he could tell me anything, so I let him follow me around as much as he wanted.
And when Namikaze-san was too ill or too drunk or too stupid or too whateverto pay any attention to his son, I gave all my attention to Minato, cooked him dinner (Yes, I can cook, surprise!) and did basically anything I could for him.
I ended up, pretty much, as his surrogate father.
And trust me.
I never regretted a minute of it.
Not one, single second.
