"You know, I'm expecting to deal with the late-night-sneaking in a few more years."

Gaara froze on his window-sill, honestly not expecting to be caught red-handed like this. Minato was supposedly to be asleep. Gaara has even spread out his sand around to alert him should the Hokage woke up.

But then again, was he really going to outsmart the Hokage?

Gaara lifted his head to meet the unamused gaze of the Hokage. Minato was casually leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest with a rather smug smirk on his face as the man nodded at the sand clone that was kneeling in shame by the bed.

And he thought he has perfected the art of sand clone. Did his traitorous sand betray him again?

"Sorry," Gaara mumbled, disintegrating his clone and closed the window behind him before he faced the Hokage, honestly expecting a reprimand.

He wasn't expecting the heavy, warm hand that landed on his head and was currently messing with his hair.

It felt…nice.

"I have some tea downstairs," Minato said after he has given Gaara an eternal bedhead hair. "I'd love it if you join me."

It was an unspoken order, so Gaara wordlessly trailed behind the man.

They reached the kitchen without speaking, thus making Gaara wondered if Minato was more exhausted than he initially thought. He checked the vibration on his sand just to be sure and determined that yes, the man was indeed exhausted—which made him internally cringed in guilt. Despite the lingering doubts and distrusts that Gaara still held against the older man, a part of him acknowledged the sense of safety and love he relished on around Minato. Feelings are complicated.

Minato cracked a tiny smile at the way Gaara awkwardly stood in the room and jerked his head towards the stool by the counter, motioning the boy to sit while he prepared the tea. It seemed that he was already halfway through that task, as it only took a few seconds for the Hokage to add the tea leaves into the steaming pot before serving the drink to the waiting boy.

Gaara remained silent as Minato poured the tea for both of them, keeping his gaze on the swirls and pattern of the wooden counter.

He only lifted his head when the tea was placed in front of him, watching the lines of stress disappeared from the Hokage's pale face as the older man sipped on his own tea.

"So," Minato started, resting his cup on the counter but kept his hands cupped around the ceramic, directly in Gaara's line of sight. "Do you still have trouble sleeping?"

Gaara fleetingly wondered if that was a display of vulnerability on the Hokage's part, to show Gaara that he wasn't doing anything suspicious with his hands. However, the boy didn't ponder too long on that thought, focusing on the question presented to him instead.

"Not exactly," he responded, voice barely audible.

Minato cocked an eyebrow, looking like a splitting image of Naruto whenever the boy was confused with their lesson. Though, the man remained silent, as if waiting for more explanation.

"I'm not used to sleep," Gaara settled for the simplest explanation. "So I settled for naps like you suggested instead of full night sleep."

It was more than that, but he wasn't going to elaborate because Minato was going to listen until the very end, and Gaara knew better that the man needed some sleep. Geez, his sand could pick up Minato's ragged breathing and fast heartbeats, despite the perfectly normal act the man tried to put up.

"Ah," Minato breathed out, tipping his head slightly to the side. "So the seal is still working…? Shukaku is not acting up?"

"He is being…," Gaara pondered for the right word before settling with one, "… oddly calm."

Understatement of the year.

Gaara's eyes widened when Minato let out a relieved breath. The man visibly deflated, slouching tiredly on the counter, face buried in his arms.

I knew it.

He knew that hoping for a loving parent would be asking too much. His own father could not love him, how was he supposed to expect the leader of a supposed enemy village to genuinely love him? Minato's acting was perfect up until now—

"That's great," the Hokage rambled, seemingly so relieved. "For a moment I thought that the seal is acting up and you're suffering in silence."

What.

"You're not worried that I'm going to snap and hurt your people?" those words escaped his lips faster than Gaara could think.

Somewhere deep within his chest, Gaara could feel Shukaku snorted.

"Why would I think that?" That blunt deadpan came faster than a literal heartbeat.

Oh, for the love of Kami-sama, did the Hokage just used the innocent blinking eyes no jutsu on him? Did he not realise how dangerous Gaara could be? Or was he looking down on Gaara? That was extremely foolish, even for a goofball of a Hokage he was.

Or he genuinely love you to not see you as a threat.

Damn Konoha and their magic. Gaara used to only deal with Shukaku's oppressing voice. Now that Shukaku was oddly silent, he was arguing with his own contrasting inner voice. What even was wrong with this village?

"You know very well that I'm a monster," Gaara growled, but mainly in frustration. "I can hurt your people. I am behaving but accidents can happen."

Minato blinked infuriatingly slow—as if he was sleepy and was trying to remain awake—before the infamous Yondaime Hokage's million-megawatt smile spread across his face. He reached a hand across the counter to ruffle Gaara's hair again, successfully subduing the boy's frustrated tantrum.

"I know you can," the Hokage stated matter-of-factly. "I also acknowledge that accidents can happen if your control slip. I would be a fool if I considered otherwise," he added with a sigh. "But that doesn't mean that you're a monster."

Gaara was about to retort when he felt the Hokage's warm palm pressed on his cheek, the battle-coarse thumb traced the dark rings underneath his eyes. It was a simple gesture but was distinctly foreign to the boy. It was nothing more intimate than the hugs and cuddles he has started to get used to, but it felt different. It felt like it worth so much more. The gesture invoked an automatic response as Gaara's body moved on its own, smaller hands grasped the Hokage's wrist to keep the warmth in place.

"You're no monster, Gaara," Minato said, not resisting the tight grasp on his wrist.

In fact, it was something that he appreciated, considering that this was the first time he had intimate contact with his adoptive son. Up until this point, Gaara only allowed Minato to ruffle his hair. The occasional cuddles was a privilege that would be granted when the boy thought that Minato was too tired or half-asleep. It was like the boy has an issue with accepting affectionate gestures from adults, thus the reason that the main privilege of hugs and cuddles seemingly went to Naruto.

Not that Minato was going to blame his boy—Naruto was incredibly cuddly, after all.

How many years has it been that he promised the boy's uncle that he was going to look after Gaara like his own?

It has been a long wait.

"But—"

Minato hushed the boy's incoming retort by risking a forehead kiss. It seemed to stunt Gaara into some form of disbelieving gaze, the pale green eyes looked up into his own with painfully young wonders, as if the boy thought that the affectionate gesture was a fluke of his imagination. Minato's mind unwillingly reeled back to the conversation he had with Yashamaru—back then when he was still pondering the fate of the Suna duo—and he had to hold back his anger from lashing out.

He remembered the verbal abuse his own people directed towards his own son, despite the fact that Minato was still here—breathing and alive and would very much willing to turn the world upside down for his boy—his position as the supposedly unbiased Hokage be damned.

They blamed his innocent boy for the destruction that Kyuubi has caused to the village. They blamed Naruto for his current state, despite it was the unexpected battle against the student he thought has long dead that has wrecked Minato's body to this state.

It was easy for the people to blame the hosts of literal monsters.

But, none of these children were monsters.

"Gaara," he murmured, pressing his lips on top of the tuft of vibrant red hair that painfully reminded him of his own deceased wife.

Minato almost believed that he had a heart attack right after that realisation dawned onto him.

"Minato-san…?"

It was an awkward strain to stretch over the counter like this, but Minato wasn't sure if the boy would allow this to repeat if he let go for the sake of being comfortable now. The realisation was…enlightening. He could add Gaara into the family picture frame, at the empty space on the left of his wedding picture and no one would question that the boy was theirs at the first glance. He fleetingly wondered how Kushina would bond with the boy if she was alive now.

Probably the same way she bonded with Obito—a lot of nagging in front of them but behind the kids, she will talk about them with joyous pride.

"You're not a monster," Minato repeated, wrapping his other arm around the boy's shoulder.

This was his boy too. Naruto was not a monster, so neither was Gaara.

"Sir, you're delusional—"

"Monsters are not children who have no idea to control the power inside them," the Hokage started, successfully silencing the trembling boy. "Monsters are not the beasts that are hunted by humans who lusted for their power," he added, barely concealing his shock when he felt Shukaku's chakra leaked out.

It was as if the beast was tempted to listen too.

"Minato-san?" Gaara was positively squeaking, terrified senseless when he felt Shukaku stirred within him.

He tried to break free, not wanting one of the kindest men he has ever met to be in murder range when Shukaku was fully out.

To his utter panic and frustration, it was impossible to break free from Minato without hurting the man first.

"Real monsters, my boy…," there was a pause, and Gaara saw the way Minato's throat bobbed as if he just swallowed something unpleasant.

Gaara braced himself for the painful truth.

It never came.

"Real monsters are fathers who sealed dangerous beasts into their innocent infants," the man's voice was notably scratchy when he spoke, but his strength did not yield to Gaara's resistance. "Real monsters are fathers who let their innocent children been victimized despite having the ability to protect them," he burrowed his face into the messy red hair, inhaling shakily. "Real monsters are husbands who let his wife died alone," he whimpered, internally begging forgiveness from the wife he left to die alone while he chose to save his astray former student. "Real monsters are teachers who let his young students died. Real monsters are the leaders who sent his people to death for his own selfish reasons…"

Minato was too close that Gaara could feel each ragged breath of the older man and the spasm of the much bigger body against his smaller one. It was an extremely pathetic display of trust and vulnerability that Gaara could've cried in disbelief.

Yondaime Kazekage would never show this kind of weakness in front of the monster who could easily kill him.

"But he is not Yondaime Kazekage is he?"

The boy had to wonder what game his demon was playing. This was not the normal behaviour of Shukaku.

"And how do you even know what is 'normal behaviour' for me, brat?"

Gaara has no retort for that.

"You're no monster, my boy," Minato's gentle kiss on his forehead brought Gaara's attention back to the present. "You have never been a monster and never will be."

Gaara has no retort for that either.

A/N: A little bit heavier this time. But, my gluttony for Minato-Gaara bonding is satisfied. And I believe you can already guess who else would be on the genin team with Gaara and Akane. Like I said in the previous chapter, 2 jinchuuriki in one team along with an Uchiha and Kakashi would be an overkill. Gaara could not be on the same team as Naruto.