aaaand - we're back. My replies will be spotty this time, my head's been zoning this week. tennisdesi91 - your review was short and yet you gave me wonderful detail of what you enjoyed. Perfect. Yes, Minato is still wrestling with his decisions. Part of the fun of writing such an analytical character trying to make emotional decisions ;) kirsten - glad you're enjoying. Minato and Kushina need more attention in the fic world - er, good attention at least ;) I wrote a short in which Kushina was a fox (I've taken it down since) and the idea just seemed to stick. Foxy fit - lol. cholericdolphin - errr - you may feel bad for someone in this chapter too. lol - sorry. They just seem to write that way for me. Perhaps because it's a 'darker' story, perhaps because we know the way this will end for so many of them, I'm not sure. I don't intend my story to be depressing and hopefully the fluff will keep you afloat until things start to turn around for some of the characters at least. hang in there, there's foxy magic on it's way! velo - good luck with those exams first off. :) we'll all bring flags and big foam #1 fingers to cheer you on! yeah, Minato's an idiot - lol but it's because he's a cautious idiot. I think you nailed every reason he's got in his head for all the stubborn hesitation he's got going. Of course, he's Minato - so you know there's got to be logic applied to illogical situations he finds himself in - lol. I think you'll be proud of him later on though. mc - eh, Minato's a surprisingly proper and gentle man with people he considers under his protection. I think he'd think he was being too harsh if he even spoke loudly to one of them. I'm guessing at this point but I think his view of violence, and his view of his capability for it, is very heavily compartmentalized. Yes, it's acceptable to be utterly brutal and remorseless to the point of being terrifying and inhuman in dealing with enemies; no, it's absolutely unforgivable to handle someone precious to him harshly. The fox, as in all things, just makes him question the barriers he's always putting up to keep other people safe from himself. It's her day job ;) also - you're not an alarmist, you just know this writer well and Minato's bite marks from the past will certainly come up again. clear - wow, one sitting? dang, I'm flattered! well, pull up a chair and get comfortable cause we're going to be around for a little while longer at least :D I am trying to keep in canon but I don't have any intention to write to the end/beginning of the manga. This is many years before so our characters have some time yet. jini! - yeah, that 'mine, mine, mine' just wrote itself. Both Minato and I looked at it in surprise - and decided it must be kept. He gets worse ;) and yeah, he wouldn't be our Minato if he wasn't cautious and a bit walled off - but that's what foxes are for. I doubt he's the first person in the world to shy away from emotional vulnerability. We'll see if we can't coax him a little bit further out of those walls he's got around him. And with that said - shall we, oh best beloveds and gentle readers?
Chapter 11:
He had three days of peace with his little kitsune.
"Like this." He drew the title he wanted on a piece of paper for her and she lifted it and tipped her head to study it carefully, gold eyes narrowed in concentration.
"Two happy snakes, a house with a small animal in it, and a human with a broken leg?"
He narrowed his own eyes and looked over her shoulder at it. After a moment, he simple stated:
"All right."
She huffed a noise and turned her head to bump her nose against the side of his. Then she was on her feet with a grin and bouncing off through the shelves of the library in search of the scroll he needed.
His fox couldn't read.
In a way, he was relieved. She was so… human sometimes he forgot she was a fox. Even doing foxy things… she still felt so human to him. More human, he admitted, than some humans he knew. Her inability to read reminded him she wasn't real. That what he saw wasn't what was really there. That she was just a fox in human skin.
A fox he was starting to get too attached to.
When she smiled and was pleased – he felt pleased. When she was worried or bothered – he worried. And when she shivered…
When she shivered in fear, it was all he could do not to find the source of her fear and rip its head off.
He was trying desperately to remind himself that she was nothing more than a trick – a fox trick. That he was just a passing amusement to her and, when it suited her, she would blow away like autumn leaves in the wind and not even think about it. About him.
So he would not lose sight of what they were really doing. He wouldn't get used to the weight and furred warmth of her on his chest each night. He wouldn't listen for the sound of her chuffing laughter or her chirps of pleasure. He wouldn't learn to be used to having someone by his side…
"This one!"
She dropped down next to him with a foxy grin, arms wrapped around a dusty scroll he was pretty sure should have been in a locked cabinet somewhere. He blinked as he took it from her and turned it to look at the inscription down its front. The edges of his lips started to twist upward despite himself.
He'd been expecting the copy. She'd brought him the original scroll.
He didn't see any reason not to use it – what with it being in front of him and all. She could always put it back where she'd found it once he was done. Her eyes were golden water, all shine and sparkling mischief and her smile was smug. In her fox form, he would swear she would have been wagging her tail… if foxes wagged their tails. He didn't know. She was certainly wiggling in controlled pleasure at herself. He set the scroll in the safety of his crossed legs and leaned in to rub the side of his nose against hers, a gesture he'd learned meant mutual pleasure or pride in an achievement.
His sensei would laugh if he heard Minato was learning to 'speak' fox.
"Another?" she asked and he looked at the collection of scrolls and books she'd already managed to find him and shook his head.
"Not yet."
"Good," she sneezed for effect. "They hide some of those really well."
He slanted her a look and watched her silent laughter at it. With a shake of his head, he reached for the scroll he'd been studying and she settled down on the carpet of the library next to him, curling on her side, head resting on his thigh, long hair streaming into his lap. She'd insisted, if they were going to sit all day, that they do it in a spot where the sun shone in and now it warmed her red hair and her back as she dozed and he studied. The twitch of her shoulders soon had him reaching over automatically to scratch her back while he delved into what the scrolls offered.
He would have been hard pressed to think of a more peaceful way to spend his day.
The sound of a throat being cleared behind him told him that the person he'd sensed wasn't just a random librarian or fellow reader and he turned his head to look over his shoulder. His eyes went a fraction wider, the only show of his surprise at finding the Hokage standing in the space between two of the shelves.
When he would have tried to struggle to his feet – the fox refused to acknowledge the fact she wasn't actually sleeping – the older man gave him a smile and waved him down.
"Don't get up," the Hokage settled down on the floor in front of him and his eyes smiled. "You've got two precious items in your lap and neither should be disturbed for an old man."
One of the 'precious items' made a mildly coughing noise. The scroll he had unrolled most of, of course, made no sound at all.
"Hokage-sama?"
"Sometimes I need an excuse to get out. Some people seem to think I should never leave my office. I thought I would come and find you instead of sending someone to bring you to me, Namikaze." Before Minato could ask out loud, the old man shifted and spread his hands behind him with a sigh.
"It's a good spot to read," he commented mildly. "The sun feels nice."
The fox resting against his leg muttered something that might, just might, have been an 'I told you so'. The Hokage smiled and then he reached out to touch the scroll still in Minato's hands.
"Chakra draining?"
In answer, Minato extended his hand. Concentrating, he forced chakra, his own chakra, to pool in his palm. It came with effort but it came easier than it had when he'd first started. Blue and brilliant, it glowed like electric in his palm and over his fingers but instead of acting like lightning chakra, it dripped almost like liquid. Slow it began to solidify and spiral as Minato's eyes narrowed even more and his brows came down. Against his thigh, his little fox turned her face enough to watch from the edge of her eye.
And then breaks began to appear in the waves and the spiral began to grow ragged and irregular. With a noise, Minato clapped his other hand over it and the blue lit his skin and then vanished. He was breathing hard through his nose.
"I want to take it to the highest level." He said it through his teeth to control the sound of his exhales. "If I can understand how to drain it, I can understand how to control it. Then I can shape it."
The Hokage looked at Minato's closed hands.
"I thought you were still in the theory stage."
It made Minato smile, just a little, and he tucked his chin a little as well.
"I got tired of thinking about it."
The fox snorted and rolled back over. The Hokage cracked a smile.
"I see Jiraiya was right about you being determined."
"Sensei calls it 'stubborn' when he's talking to me," Minato remarked and the Hokage chuckled. Then he nodded as if reaching a final decision.
"Namikaze, I have a mission for you."
"Sir?"
The Hokage waved his hand.
"It's a C-rank mission. You're not going for yourself. I have a team of two Genin and one newly made Chunin who have recently lost their sensei. However they had already contracted as escort duty to a small shipment headed inland. They need a Jonin to watch over them and right now my Jonin that aren't already guiding squads are out searching for some answers to the many questions you've brought me lately. I think you would be appropriate to lead them on their mission. Uzumaki says she is a Chunin. I think you should both go on this one."
The little fox had rolled over to watch the Hokage as he'd talked and she smiled now, hands curled loosely over Minato's knee. The feel of her fingers there was… distracting but he managed to ignore it.
"You want him to judge my skill level," she didn't sound offended and the older man smiled at her.
"Among other things, yes. If you decide to stay with us, which you are welcome to, it would help to know where you fit in."
"I like that," she agreed and he nodded.
"It always helps to have a place to fit in to."
"I like here," she clarified and her hand patted Minato's knee lightly. He didn't know if she'd intentionally meant she liked resting on his leg or if his leg was just in the way and she meant Konoha specific. He assumed the latter. The Hokage's smile widened and his eyes caught light.
"Yes. I thought that too."
The two of them shared a grin that was all teeth and left Minato feeling as if he'd missed something. He made a noise in the back of his throat.
"When do we leave, Hokage-sama?"
"Tomorrow. You can pick up the mission details in my office later." The Hokage rose to his feet and dusted off his robes. The smile stayed in the corners of his mouth. "It should give you more than enough time to put those back – " he gestured to the dusty scrolls that should have been locked away, "where you found them when you're finished."
His little fox's huffing laughter followed the older man back down the shelves of books. Minato touched the top of her head and she rolled onto her back to look up at him.
"He likes you."
Her smile was wide and bright.
"I like him too. He reminds me of Grandfather."
He noticed, however, that she did not label the man 'good'. He reached down and rubbed his thumb down the top of her nose and her eyes lidded as her face relaxed.
"Why aren't you seducing me, little fox?" he asked softly and her gold eyes opened. They looked very deep and burnished. She raised her own hand and the tips of her fingers touched his mouth. For a very long minute she didn't say anything. Finally, very softly, she confessed:
"Because I like you too much, Yondaime. I want you to like me too. I have wanted you to like me for a very long time."
His fingertips touched the line of her cheek.
"Since the trap I took off your leg?"
She nodded.
"A bad man set that for me. I tricked him but I was still dying. You found me and you saved me and you never even cared why it was on me or that I could give you nothing back. I was just a fox to you and you still cared. I knew you were good. I knew I would help you."
"You got caught in my snare on purpose, didn't you?"
She made a noise and sat up, both hands on his leg, fingers curved around his thigh as she leaned in to him to nip the tip of his nose. His body wanted to react to her but he forced himself to remain still.
"No. That was my curiosity. I wanted to see what you had done and I got too close."
Despite himself, it made him smile and he cupped her face in his hands. Her skin was soft against his palms.
"Serves you right."
She snapped teeth playfully at him but she was grinning. Then her face, framed by his hands, shifted and her eyes were soft and young as the smile faded.
"You do like me, Yondaime? Don't you?" she asked quietly, brows pulled close together. It drew the weak smile to his own lips.
Too much. He liked her too much.
"Yes, little fox," he leaned in to rub his cheek against hers. "I like you."
She made a soft humming noise and her eyes closed. Her hands left his leg to come up and wind around his shoulders and he barely remembered to move the scroll before she was in his lap sideways and curled against his chest.
Yes. He liked her too much and it was only going to hurt him at the end of it. He lowered his face into her hair and wrapped his arms around her and she curled close and small in the shelter of his body.
He thought of her as more human than he should. But it was only right. She made him feel more human than he had in a very long time.
"Namikaze-san?"
He lifted his face from her hair just enough to look over the top of her head at the source of the interruption. It wasn't an entirely friendly look.
"Uchiha Fugaku."
His fox turned her face enough to peer at the man from the edge of an eye, recognizing the first name.
The dark haired man didn't sit down and Minato didn't stand for him and it had nothing to do with the fox in his lap. Uchiha's eyes traveled slowly over the position they were in and Minato watched him without apology or expression. Finally Uchiha spoke first.
"You are going to take charge of Akiyama's team for a mission?"
Minato was a little surprised at how quickly the news had traveled. Though he hadn't been told the number of his temporary assignment, if Uchiha said it was Akiyama's old team – it was Akiyama's. He nodded.
"Yes."
Uchiha nodded as well and folded his hands behind his back. His chin went up a little and then he realized he couldn't keep eye contact and brought it back down. Uchiha had aspirations of becoming the head of Konaha's Military Police and, since he was an Uchiha, Minato didn't see that he wouldn't reach that position.
"You will be in charge of training a member of the Uchiha clan," he began, voice emotionless. "Uchiha Obito is the son of my brother's sister in law. He is – lacking. His last sensei was too slack with him. While you are his teacher, the Uchiha clan requests that you treat him as a member of our clan should be treated and not as his personality lends itself to."
Minato's face remained expressionless and he simply looked at the other man. After a minute, Uchiha felt compelled to add:
"He is on the same squad as the son of the White Fang of Konaha. We had hoped that this would spur him to fulfill his family's name. So far, that has not been the case. We hope that being trained, even temporarily, by the Yellow Flash will finally awaken his responsibility in him."
"How does his mother feel about that?"
Uchiha looked a little surprised by the question but he shrugged.
"She is soft on the boy. She doesn't understand the responsibility that comes with possessing the potential for an awakened Sharingan."
Minato nodded. At least the child had someone.
"I will treat the boy the way he should be," he answered, voice inflectionless and Uchiha seemed to think that meant the same thing to Minato that it did to him because he relaxed slightly.
"Good then." He turned to leave and something in Minato roused.
"Uchiha."
"Yes?" The dark haired man turned back to him.
"How is Mikoto?"
The other man's face tightened and there was a flicker of hurt through the red eyes before his expression went blank again.
"She has been ill lately. She assures me she will recover completely and that I may see her then."
It was more information than Minato had expected but the other man obviously thought Minato was privy to more of Mikoto's life than he was. At Minato's nod, he turned on his heel and strode off. Minato watched him go and his brows came down over his eyes.
"Mikoto doesn't get sick," he muttered and in his arms the fox stirred.
"She is not sick, Yondaime." At his look, she rested her head on his shoulder and watched him. "I smelled it. When she came to you, she was carrying a kit inside."
