Author's Note: Here's the thing guys…the reason it took me this long was—I was bullied by these two HUGE giants, called STUBBORNESS and WRITER'S BLOCK. The latter was great company.

This chapter is SHORT and doesn't have SASUKE or THE MIZUKAGE in it.

Don't kill me. I apologize in advance. I just starting writing again. And I thought I'd give you guys SOMETHING since you've been waiting so long.

Disclaimer: I definitely don't own the way the sunlight hits Minato locks, oh yeah, or Naruto in its entirety which is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. I just write for fun, not profit. SERIOUSLY, I GET NOTHING. NO MONETARY GAIN WHATSOEVER. BELIEVE IT.

Chapter 14- Minato's light

Kakashi ran his thumb unconsciously over his glass, its contents long finished. He sat in his apartment, night fallen across his white blinds, alone. His thoughts were on overdrive, tunneling into different directions. The only sounds were the soft squeaking that emitted from his hands as they rubbed the glass absently.

Kakashi was far away into distant memories.

"You wanted to talk." Minato sat down next to Kakashi, a gentle smile on his face.

A young Kakashi stared back at him blankly. "I didn't say anything."

"People don't just talk with their mouths."

Kakashi looked down and frowned. In seconds his face molded into an impenetrable mask. He had a 'do not disturb' sign clearly written on his face. He didn't want to open up.

The night air tickled their cheeks in a sharp burst of cool air.

The camp site was silent as the minutes ticked by without anyone uttering a word.

Kakashi was stubborn and could sit for hours without a care, ignoring his companion. He didn't have any opinion of people, he didn't care what they thought of him and since he never sought to please anyone nor gain anything from them, no one ever really got anywhere with him.

But Minato was different….

Kakashi couldn't help but feel a slight urge to fidget. Normally, he was stone cold to any prodding. If it was a teammate and he was in a particularly good mood, they'd get an amused chuckle, at their expense, but that was it.

Kakashi by principle didn't feel comfortable around loud people. Those that by the natural decibel of their voices were noisy. He also didn't appreciate people who prattled on. Those who tried to be 'helpful' to him didn't get anywhere either. They inevitably poked the wrong place, as Guy often did.

But Minato…

He was too quiet.

Disconcertingly quiet.

He was quiet in a way that was too loud for Kakashi to bear.

The sliver haired young boy could feel almost to a physical level, the weight of the words that Minato had to say to him.

Always had to say to him, but never did.

They were on a mission and he did have something to say, he had moments dispite how far he'd retreated from the graces of others, when he wanted to bounce his thoughts off something, someone.

Earlier today when he was feeling that way. Minato had looked over at him. Over the heads of a bragging Obito, and a giggliing Rin.

Kakashi wasn't even in Minato's sight, but his sensei had turned around expressly to look out for him and finding his form had a curious look in his eyes.

What had Minato seen? Kakashi couldn't help, even now the guilty tremor in his blood that foolishly made him almost flush with embarrassment that someone could read his intentions.

The way that a parent could gauge the fact that their child had gotten into some trouble and the extent of it without even turning around. Minato seemed to call out 'Are you okay,' with his eyes, when Kakashi was physically unhurt.

If it was anyone else, he would have been angry. He couldn't be with Minato-sensei. For the first part, such emotions slide off of him and it was exasperating to attempt to provoke him with your worked up state.

The Yellow Flash had the quality where he neutralized it on the spot. It was gone. Your anger, frustration, whatever.

Secondly, he was resilently calm. As if he'd walked through a minefield and grown wary by nature of needless squabbles.

The Yellow Flash…

Yes, Kakashi suspected that it wasn't so much admiration on his part that lurked behind his motivation to tolerate Minato more than others, as it was purely…just…vanity.

Kakashi was vain and superficial. He cared about power. It grabbed him by the neck and prostrated him.

That..he couldn't change. People who have felt weak, never forget it and always become attracted to the opposite.

Kakashi sought to constantly hone his techniques, learn better Jutsus, and counter blind spots.

It was nothing. Minato was nothing. If the next Shinobi with half Minato's strength passed by, Kakashi would graviate towards them with a blink, as if to gain their power in his proximity.

Kakashi glanced sideways at Minato who sat next to him, staring up at the stars with a douse of contentment in his eyes.

Kakashi's eye wrinkled in near petulance before Minato's faint smile snapped him out of it.

A blue eye winked at him.

Hmpf. He was being mocked. Leave it to Minato to make it look like he was absorbed one moment and completely at attention the next.

No, that's the thing about Minato, looks could really be deceiving.

A man who looked like he could be broken by the wind, bent, but who sliced through it with strength attached to his speed.

His yellowed hair and blue eyes lapping like ocean across the shore out into the world, seemed, hinted out to others a sense of surrender, a nature that was too soft to be anything else. Weakness. And that was the last thing the man was. There was a ferocity burning in his eyes in battle like nothing else.

So Minato had always been paying attention. He 'd never lost focus for a minute.

Kakashi mentally grinded his teeth before he spoke almost with resignation.

"Earlier, that mission—wasn't what I wanted."

"…"

"I don't agree that we should have taken it. Why would that old man waste resources in bringing his grandson back, hiring us, after someone who doesn't want to be found. It's a waste of our time, and a waste of his."

Kakashi sighed. "It's stupid." He continued. "The way he carries on. The way you indulge him, all of you. It's pathetic. People have their own minds, what's the point trying to change something that can't be changed. People have shown time and time again that once they decide to do something…selfishly..they can't be talked out of it. Only a fool doesn't realize when to stop trying."

"Hmm." Minato mused. "So you're saying that we shouldn't have hope?"

Kakashi didn't reply, he let his face do the talking for him.

"I can see what your point of view is, but I don't think it's right. Imagine if we never had people to talk us out of our bad choices. Sometimes the things we have to give to others are not freely accepted, warranted or wanted. But there's a part of us that would be unsatisfied if we didn't try. And for loved ones, it's worth it. It's only a bad thing if you abandon something easily, not the opposite. Anything worth it, is worth fighting for. That boy, you might see him as a misguided criminal, but what if from trying, and from giving the part of yourself that person needs, taking responsibility, you could create a different path for them—maybe even for yourself."

"That's wishful thinking."

"Everything begins with a wish."

"?"

"But beyond a simple wish it's a service, not just that person, but to yourself. Failing after not having tried feels bad, don't you agree? Sometimes we have to have the guts to look past our personal reluctances. It may not be that we don't want to help someone else, but are afraid of something in us that could be potentially awakened. Something good that we refuse to recognize."

"It's pathetic." Kakashi repeated adamantly. "You can't help someone who won't help themselves and if I think someone is an idiot for wasting their time, then…."

"People do have to realize things on their own and at times it's the only way, but if the person who loves them turns their back at them, it makes it that much harder for them to return. And..that's selfish."

Kakashi had been sitting closer to the fire, and was rubbing his hands over it, staring deeply at the flames as his sensei spoke.

Minato's hands rested in his lap, his body still, but his mouth was moving passionately. He faced Kakashi fully. His eyes were more searing then the flame.

Was Minato alluding to Kakashi's father? The way he said selfish, the same way Kakashi had said it. He pushed that thought out of his mind as Minato continued speaking.

"It's not like the problem will go away if we ignore it. It will just become a bigger mess for someone else to clean up. If they can…"

Kakashi turned dubiously towards Minato. The anger and annoyance at the old man seemed to be ebbing, though he still couldn't actually understand the motivations. So according to Minato-sensei, out of love, not wanting to make big messes, causing someone to lose themselves permanently-and-but what was in it for him? The old man suffered, each time pulled up with false hope….ugh. Whatever.

Kakashi switched gears, sounding almost teasing."So—you're saying I should be like Obito and keep helping old ladies cross the street even though I might be late to every single thing?"

Minato's laugh rang high, his yellow locks swaying as he laughed with mirth. He reached out and ruffled a reluctant Kakashi's hair. "Maybe start small and one day you'll be like Obito."

Kakashi made a face but managed to crack a small smile. He knew Minato was obviously teasing him because he and Obito didn't get along, otherwise in what way was that goofball idiot better than him?

Minato made it sound like Obito had something that Kakashi should acquire. Something positive. As if.

Kakashi looked offended and turned away, although the mood was very light now, he wouldn't shake that feeling that Minato hadn't been joking with his last comment.

Kakashi's cup was sitting on the counter and when the morning rays peaked out of his curtains, they caught the glass with beams of light.

Kakashi had left.

He had remembered the words of a wise man. He wasn't going to a coward, or selfish. He wasn't going to run away from something inside him he was afraid of embracing. He knew he didn't like Sasuke cultivating the type of dependence he'd suspected, of paternal leanings.

Was he contradicting himself? What about Naruto?

But…Sasuke…the boy was too much of himself for Kakashi to face without bias. He'd first wanted to train Sasuke because he suspected they shared a similar talents, and now he avoided Sasuke because of a similar of darkness that Kakashi had struggled hard with, after losing the people he'd loved.

What was he thinking? He knew all this time that he could in fact do more for Sasuke.

He'd disappointed himself.

He could protect one light, without burning out another.

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