—-
Well, that failed. I should try again later... The blond-haired shinobi entered the hospital for the first time in weeks. Suddenly realizing he had no idea where his students were staying, he arrived at the front desk. He was met with a bored expression from an intern on desk duty.
"Hi, may I—"
"How may I help you...?"
"...I'd like to know the room numbers of my two students, Obito and—"
"Ah, yes..." he said lazily. "Uchiha and Hatake, ne?"
"Hai."
"They are ninja, right?"
"Hai..." Was he forgetting something?
He swirled a finger around the rim of his teacup, and tapped the desk with his other hand. "What's your passcode?" So...handsome...
Minato blinked. "Huh?"
The intern struggled to keep his bored expression. "All visitors who wish to see shinobi must present their unique passcode." After receiving no particular look of acknowledgment, he asked, "Were these patients unconscious upon admission?"
Hm...according to Obito... Minato made a face. Obito hadn't been clear about whether Kakashi was awake or not when he'd brought him here. Then, thinking about their constant bickering, their sensei took a guess. "No."
"You should have been given a code then."
He sighed. "I haven't." Guess things have changed over the weeks. Well, once the war is over, and if I ever become Hokage, I'll attempt to do away with this inefficiency, he grumbled in his thoughts. "I'm their captain." He placed a hand firmly on the countertop.
The desk receptionist exaggerated a sigh. "Name?" He brought the cup to his mouth and took a sip of his tea.
"Namikaze Minato."
Startled, the intern choked on his tea in his response. "N-Nami—" The Yellow Flash. He immediately flipped through the sheets on the notepad to his right. "Uh...Hatake..." He flipped through several more yellow sheets. "Uchiha..." He looked up, hesitant to meet the jounin's eyes. "They're both in room 206. S-second floor, closest if you take the right-wing stairs." He pointed away to his left. "The room will be on the left..."
"Arigatou." Minato left and headed down the hall. Hm...both in the same room, eh?
I wonder how that's going.
The intern's gray eyes sparkled. The Yellow Flash... He made a fist in the air. So! Cool!
—-
There was a knock at the door.
Still drowsy from the meds the strange kunoichi named... Subaka? "Haha." Baka. He giggled again. Suddenly, he sat up straight, facing the door with a certain fierce intensity. He slammed an open hand on the bedsheet beside his thigh.
WHAT IS THIS?!
Minato entered the room to see a disoriented Kakashi. Raising a fair eyebrow, he slowly moved closer to his student's bed. A quick glance at the adjacent bed to the left told him Obito was busy somewhere else. "...Kakashi...?"
Why did I laugh...? A look of pure incomprehension seamlessly combined with horror crossed the boy's face. Am I going...mad?
Minato leaned a hand on the bed's edge. Perhaps this is not the best time to bring this up, he mused. "Where's Obito?" he asked, deciding to change the subject.
Kakashi brought a hand up to his face in disbelief and looked away. "I don't know..." he said distantly, staring to the right at the bed of the boy in question. He then brought his eyes up and looked straight at his sensei's face. "What?"
Minato's other eyebrow rose, as well. "Go back to sleep, Kakashi." He began to turn around.
"W..wait!"
He stopped.
"What is it...you came here for?"
Minato peered at him. It seemed his was beginning to regain his senses.
Kakashi eyed the papers in the man's left hand. He was no longer nine years old; his sensei would not do something like make a special trip to the hospital just to see him. There was a reason he had not come so far to visit him these past few days. "What are those?" he asked.
"Ah, these...?" he said easily, in a tone that even the deaf could tell came from a father.
Kakashi's heavy-lidded eyes widened. "Don't tell me..."
Ah, so he did...
"Those are Obito's discharge papers?!"
"..."
...NOT know...?
He mentally slapped the papers to his head, but kept his composure like the shinobi he was, and made his way next to his former student. "...No, Kakashi..." He held them up in front of his face. "This," he said, "is the application for the upcoming jounin exams—eehh?!" Minato found himself being squeezed from his right side.
"Minato-sensei~" he said gushed happily. "Arigatou, arigatou, arigatou gozaimasu~!"
Gai popped his head in. "AH! The Power of Student-Teacher Love!"
...
Minato turned to the door. "You. Out."
"Bye-bye!"
He sighed.
...
"Kakashi!" He returned for the last time, appearing halfway into sight. "I see you have been recommended for this divine opportunity!" He placed a firm hand on the hip belonging to the visible portion of his body. "...I expect nothing less from my rival. Accept this challenge! And when I become jounin...we will have—"
"A match, yes?!" Kakashi exclaimed in supreme delight as he released his sensei, leaving only a hand loosing hanging onto the man's sleeve.
"What...is this...?" Gai questioned suspiciously, turning his once eager face to Minato. Kakashi was actually looking forward to a match with him, with such excitement!
Minato smiled awkwardly at the eccentric ninja. "Medicine," he whispered. Who gave him such a drug? Well, whatever it was, Kakashi's movements were a lot swifter as opposed to before, he noticed. That, and a couple days of rest—plus the assured bickering—were probably doing good for him.
"O-kay!" The lively young boy stuck his arm out in a stiff wave, and was gone from sight.
Minato sighed again. He turned his head and looked back down at the mess of silver hair next to him. The hand that held onto him had fallen back onto the bed. "...Kakashi?"
He looked up earnestly with dilated pupils. "...?"
"Go back to sleep."
"Hai, sensei." Recognizing the familiar drowsy feeling swallowing him, he quickly scooted underneath the covers, rolled onto his side, and was out like a light.
Looks like the kid in him is still there, Minato thought warmly. But if he succeeds...not only will he be capable of leading his own team, he will be most certainly forced to...
The number of jounin is gradually declining and he will be used very thoroughly until he can no longer take it. Minato knew this quite well. A frown of concern settled on his soft features. ...That is, dead.
It is not likely he will pass on his first try, but...if he succeeds...
I will no longer have any care over him. He's almost thirteen, now...but I hope I can convince mission control to let me keep Kakashi on my team, and let him assume a position of co-captain beside me...just until he's gained more experience leading...
—-
A/N: Hope you liked! Please review below, let me know what you think! Thoughts are quite welcome. :)
New chapter update for Across the River.