They fell into pattern. Minato would work, work and work for about an hour, and then he would stop- because God forbid the great Yondaime Kazekage for actually asking for a pause- shake his hands a bit to let them rest, ask his sensei to oversee what he had done, then shoo him away when he started making poorly veiled jabs at the redhead's state, he'd let Chiyo have a look at Daichi and make sure his state was stable, Jiraiya would come with some newly sterilized needles, he'd slap Daichi's hand away so he wouldn't touch the seal, rinse, repeat.

Around forty an hour into the second hour Daichi had started picking up a temperature, and they had just slapped a standard forehead cooler on his head and made some seals to keep it from picking up too much and he'd continued. Normally, people varied torture because eventually the body would grow accustomed to it. If the way the smooth muscles tensed after too many pricks of the needle were any sort of hint at it, the exception to the rule was poisoned ink. Daichi was no stranger to pain, and much less someone to actually show he felt it. By the third hour the breaks were much more frequent and the redhead was covered in sweat. Minato found himself strangely compelled to wipe it off.

'Stop that.' he said, giving the curious hand another slap.

'Can't help that, it itches.' Grumbled the other man, for a moment looking at the blonde with something close, too close to annoyance and pout. The blond didn't feel it so he didn't know what he was going through so he could at least let him touch… Because he wanted so desperately to scratch it.

It didn't hurt as bad as he thought it would – of course, the pain didn't ebb away nor his muscles got accustomed to it easily – if anything, his body was fighting it with all its might going through first stage of rejection. He felt how his neck was swollen in the place where he was touched making him go through the higher temperature and how fragile to touch it became – and yet, the prickling that was there made him want to claw at it. Not much – a simple massage of the place would probably bring some relief. But Minato just kept slapping his hands away so after three hours he felt how his patience was starting to waver. Because it really felt like ants. Endless acidic ants – with the pressure on ants. Acid was feeling like if it was applied with ice - almost not traceable.

What was worst – was Minato himself. He was used to holding on his body signals and surviving through pain that made one choke on the tongue or even bite it off – but he was never touched so much by blond. Touch, sting, another ant. Touch, sting, another ant. Touch, sting, another ant… He closed his eyes, breathing through his mouth. The fireplace before his very own eyes was feeling like if it was being absorbed by his own skin, seeping through his veins. Along with ardor. Because it scalded his insides so good, it had to hurt. When he was not seeing it he felt more pain than the touch of latex fingers and he could concentrate on itching. But when he concentrated on itching – it itched. It felt like a torture of new sorts as he was never pushed off from the seductive side of touch so much.

And he didn't know how to defend himself from it. So he decided to not think about it. But his body reacted. Soon, he was covered in sweat from being endlessly pushed back and forth between those two factors. He opened his eyes. Oh gods… He moved his hand to touch his abused skin. And again, he was slapped away. Gods, why do you torture me so? I was a good bad boy!...

'This is nothing, just wait for it to start healing.' Minato brushed his forehead, clearing the sweat. It was really too hot in here, even if he had given up and taken his shirt off a little while ago, leaving him only clad in a fishnet undershirt. He tied the bandanna back in place to keep his hair off his eyes and inspected the original designs, inspecting the results on actual skin- so far, so good. Daichi had a net of chakra paths mimicking the central system of Shukaku with a binding seal to work on it. He leaned down to inspect the work again, the needle hovering cautiously over the skin, before pulling back, expression thoughtful. '…should I continue, Chiyo-sama?'

What worried him the most was Daichi's heart rate. The old woman had assured him several times that quickening heartbeat wouldn't cause another heart attack and to stop worrying over useless things, but he hadn't expected the fever to rise so fast, either. The large scar on his chest had been result of a direct attack of poisoned chakra, and he had had a horrible infection, which was the reason it had scarred so badly, but it has still been a superficial wound. Daichi was getting the poisoned chakra directly injected into his skin.

And he had just finished the first half. It was more intricate as it had sutras that were usually drawn in large areas and then crammed into small spaces by jutsu, but that he actually needed to get under the skin, so it meant that he actually had to draw them on scale. What came now was the much thicker and easier job of the lower instructions that were supposed to control it. That was comparatively easier job and Jiraiya would be taking over for a little while he rested, but it was also a much larger surface to cover and a lot more poison to add.

'Maybe we should wait a couple days before doing the rest.'

'What? Already? But it was looking so fine, sensei…'

Near the blond stood no one else but Kakashi. Because man! He was bored. 'Icha-icha' was a very interesting book, but it kinda got predictable after you read it twelfth time and he was yet to learn how to be happy about rereading it for thirteenth, fourteenth and bazeenth time. So he crept quietly inside to bug Jiraiya about some sequel or even quietly untold story, but when the white haired man just kept his mouth shut, gaping at the pair like if they were inspiration of ages, he decided to come closer and take a look himself. And it looked hard – as well to make as to obtain it – the Kazekage was behaving like if he was on a never ending strain even if he always looked like that and his sensei…

…his sensei was so concentrated he didn't hear him coming in. He looked at the base and saw a very cool design that he heard about already but it was first time to see it with his own eyes and admired how precise the blond was. When he got his tattoo it was just a machine quick, careless job, so it was looking kinda half-assed. Here it was a masterpiece of tattooing.

'I'd really like to see you continue, sensei.'

'Someone, get him out of there.' Could be heard from the table in a low growl. Chiyo just kept chuckling to herself as she examined Daichi from affair. To her he seemed to be having just average cold, though probably it was not that easy (if the constant need to scratch was any indication). But as far Daichi didn't moan, wither, babble and even bang his head on the table, so it seemed like if he was doing better than she thought he will. So her poisoning treatment was useable after all.

'I see no reasons to stop, please, stab him all over.' she said cheerfully as the man waved her of with something that could be classified as 'finger', only of wrong choice. Either Daichi was too angry or too polite. But he couldn't do anything to her either way, so she could as well not care about his feelings. And, for example, let the brat stay. Like now.

Minato turned to stare at his student, smiling a bit embarrassedly.

'Thank you, but I did learn from the best. Kakashi-kun.'

'Damn right you did.' could be heard from the white haired man, who finally had decided to get up and come closer uninvited. More than likely just to annoy the man on the table by hovering on his immediate personal space. Other than being slightly more swollen than if it had been normal ink and the redness making it look as if the tattoo was getting done with tabasco sauce, the design was perfect. All sutras and sigils were perfectly symmetrical and straight where they needed to be, and curved elegantly in the appropriate places.

And all that without Minato so much as complying about the way the man in the table squirmed. Jiraiya would have smacked him unconscious by the second hour.

'Good work, brat.' he said, brushing white hair off his neck, which was sticky with sweat. Really 'suffataking' for an atmosphere. How the smaller brat survived it with half his face covered in fabric, he didn't know. And if he was here, where was the smallest brat of the house?

'Thank you, sensei.' The blond said, leaning back and rubbing at his eyes. 'But I think I'm going to have a pause anyway. I'm going blind already.'

He had very good eyesight for his age and a person that went through a whole village's worth of scrolls almost daily, but almost five hours and such an intricate design had already given him a migraine. And the other probably could use the pause. Minato ran some sterilized gauze over the tattoo for maybe the millionth time in the afternoon, staring at it with a slight frown, fingers pulling at the hair in the base of the Kazekage's neck in a way that bordered too much on affectionate for being just pushing it out of the way, making his teacher frown.

'Say, Minato, why don't you give the kid a chance to learn the office?' he asked laying a large hand on top of the grey head and ruffling the puff of hair. 'He's old enough to start learning.'

'Hey, I have my free day, I don't have to do anything!' said 'kid' staring at his favorite author with just a little of a glare. But then he smiled '…unless you write me a sequel.'

Daichi groaned.

'Give him free day tomorrow and make him go out of there or I'm going to do it myself.' he said darkly, looking at the kid with a pained grimace. The disinfection of the tattoo felt like a kick on the natural pain of harmed skin which dulled the itching for a moment, but that didn't mean it didn't feel like if somebody wanted to cut his head off the neck. And by the way, what was Minato doing with his hair? That felt almost like if he was too sleepy to do it properly so he grabbed the strands and pulled them completely on the side. All he needed was falling into sexual fantasies right now. He glanced at the white haired nin.

He didn't know how harsh Minato had been on him. But of anything, the things will probably try to get worse from now on. He closed his eyes and caught the glass with water, sipping another gulp. That was not the main seal, he will survive. Just to kick this man's ass later. He will.

'On Kazekage-sama's back?' the blond gave the pair an unamused glance. 'With poison?'

'Don`t you trust your student, Minato?' the hermit asked, innocently. 'That's not nice, I was more supportive of you when you were his age.'

Kakashi looked at the back of the saffron haired man for a moment like if he reconsidered the idea. But then Daichi shot him a very nasty glare and started to get up from the table. Kakashi immediately hid himself behind Jiraiya.

'…maybe I will wait for release for a little longer.' he muttered, laughing nervously. Daichi rolled his eyes and fell on the table yet once again. Chiyo started to chuckle.

'Maybe let's order something to eat.' she said, standing up and stretching her bones. 'We've been sitting here for quite long… and I bet that Kazekage-sama wouldn't mind something to eat, right?'

'No.' For a moment the glares of two Sunanins crossed, making an unlimited tension. Chiyo smiled more.

'Oh, but Kazekage-sama, you must eat in that state…'

'I said no.'

Another silence, full of tension. Chiyo stopped laughing.

'Daichi.' she said with pressure. The saffron haired man tsked and turned his gaze away from her 'You must be hungry.'

'I must nothing.' he said and moved his hand to scratch the tattoo, but stopped himself just a moment before '…maybe a little bite.'

'Good! Then – Minato, order something for us, will you? Since you're used to standing on snow like that I bet it won't make you any harm to just run back and forth a few meters on the weather outside.'

The Hokage shook his head, disposing of the stained and slightly bloodied gloves in the nearby trashcan, stretching as he did so.

'As Chiyo-sama orders. I'm going to go get baby and take him with me.' Five hours of silence was definitely too much for a quiet Naruto, especially considering Kakashi was here. 'Please decide what you would like.'

'I wouldn't eat too much if I were you, Kazekage-sama.' the sage said once his student was out of ear line. 'You will probably be throwing it up sooner than later.'

Daichi had only shot him another nasty glare. He was too tired to respond.

#+#+#+#+#+#

'Naruto…?'

Minato looked around the house, trying to locate his son and starting to get worried when he didn't. He passed his room, a place so full of orange that almost made his eyes bleed – because Naruto hadn't only inherited his mother's personality and mannerisms, no… he had also gotten more than ridiculous and unexplained love for that color. Though at least blond went with orange a lot better than strawberry red… - and then through the bathroom and the sharingan user's room. No little blond there.

'Naru…!'

He was about to summon Kakashi, Jiraiya and whatever ANBU were in immediate vicinity when his son finally appeared, walking out of his own room and rubbing at his eye tiredly, a downcast expression on his face.

'Baby, why didn't you answer?' he asked with a frown, looking down at the pocket-sized version of himself plus whiskers.

'…didn't hear.'

'What were you doing?'

'Sleeping.'

In Minato`s bed...? The Hokage frowned, brushing a hand over the blond's forehead concernedly. Naruto had never in his life gotten sick with anything.

Typical temperature for Naruto. Nothing to worry about. Then…?

'It's only 7 P.M. Naruto. You shouldn't have taken a nap so late. Now you won't sleep at night…' The blond shrugged apathetically, making his father worry even more. '…what is it, baby?' he asked concernedly. Naruto stared to the side without answering. Minato waited patiently for several minutes, but just when he was about to give up, the small voice answered.

'No one plays with me and I'm all alone.' he said, his voice dripping misery. Minato sighed and picked him up, a little surprised about the fact Naruto immediately wrapped his arms around his neck and leaned on his chest, not unlike Gaara had done the previous day.

'You are just grounded, Naru. In a few days you can play with Hinata-chan and Neji-kun again.'

'I'm all alone.' The kid murmured against his neck, making Minato sigh and slowly turn to his room to get some warmer clothes for him. He had meant to just ask Naruto what he wanted and leave by himself, which would have been faster. Now he couldn't leave him like this. His son had had such spells of depression before, which happened all the more often before he had met the Hyuugas, but it had been a while since the last one. He had almost forgotten he could get like this.

'I'm sorry, baby.' he said, kissing his forehead as he looked around for something warmer in the mess of clothes the both of them had left. 'I promise I'll take you see the kids when you are done being grounded.'

Ten minutes later Minato was back with his son still on his arms, Naruto acting in the ungodly sticky way when he got in when he was like this, both dressed more appropriately for the weather outside.

'Sorry for the delay, did you pick what you want to have?'

Naruto stared curiously at the design in the redhead's back, then stared fixedly at him for some moments, though he didn't give any sign of acknowledgment. He did, however, wave lightly at the nice granny he had met while in Suna, when his dad made him give her the spider he had found.

Daichi stared back.

'Why don't you bring the whole circus there, huh?...' he muttered weakly. Because really, why not? There were only supposed to be three people as he was informed – him (the object), Chiyo (the medic) and Minato (the one who was supposed to pain on his back). And now there was also the white haired man who was having too much fun with giving him pain in the back – the ants started crawling in group as the thing that was now done didn't need much precision, more like much more filling up. Then the grey haired brat entered the room just to stare at his private naked back like if Kazekage's nakedness was a show off to everyone and now he brought the brat…

Had he got no mercy over him? He could as well just bring the Hyuuga family to just stare some more at his confused state and announce the world that this heartbeat that Minato was constantly asking about was not built on stress only. He was sure those white eyed honorificants could decipher such changes in chakra…

He hissed at particularly nasty sting, trying not to move as he looked back at the blond kid. For once, the thing was not staring at him like if he stole his cookies and threw them off the cliff. With that blank, coddled position he was looking rather cute. Almost like a mini-Minato. He wouldn't mind trying out how such thing reacted to petting.

How nice could it would feel? Were all jinchuurikis the same – the soft skin and fuzzy hair like the day they were born? Would it be nice to stroke such a mini-Minato like his own son?...

…he was sure that nothing on the world could be as nice as Gaara's hair. He closed his eyes. What now – the poison was making him emotional? He was beginning to think like if he didn't do anything else on that world but cuddled babies. Minato really could spare him the picture.

'I'll have this rice stuff.' he said, knowing very well that 'rice stuff' could mean one of two thousands of dishes and closed his eyes. Not that it mattered, he really didn't feel hungry now. Just thirsty.

'Oooh, what a nice kid!' said Chiyo, standing up from her chair and coming up to look at the little blond 'Now who is a handsome grown man there?'

She didn't really like or dislike kids – they were all future ninja to her and she could really careless about the age if the kid could throw a kunai on her. But this one was like a spitting image of his father. She just had to look closer.

'Is this that cute little baby that was said you're having? I could swear it's you with make up.'

Naruto clung closer to his father, though he didn't try to hide, he kept staring at the old woman curiously and even smiled at her a bit. Minato rubbed his back lightly.

'Sorry Chiyo-sama, he's usually more sociable. He's just grounded and feeling a bit neglected.' he excused himself, walking closer to inspect the works his sensei was doing in Daichi's back. 'Would you like for me to ask for sushi?'

Sushi for five could hardly be called cheap and it would take a while longer to get done, but he could leave a clone waiting for it while he went to get ramen for a kid that wouldn't touch raw fish if he paid him for trying it. Suna nins hardly ever got to eat fish after all, not to mention it was very fancy food. Very expensive too, so… Go kage's budget!

'Sushi? I haven't eaten this for ages!' said Chiyo. The man on the table didn't even move.

'He is going to feed us raw fish.' he murmured to himself in disgust. He never ate anything raw. It was enough for him that he got a bad poisoning from not completely dried up meat from Tsuchikage who thought it was rather funny he had to run back and forth to the bathroom while being on the important meeting in Iwagakure. Probably he did that deliberately. 'Why don't you just stop dancing around the bush and order fugu? Not like anything could be more poisonous than tha-ow!'

For a moment Daichi lied in silence, then turned toward the white haired nin.

'For an old man you surely have no gentleness in your hands at all, Jiraiya-sama.'

'I reserve my gentleness for art and beautiful women… None of which you happen to be, Kazekage-sama.' Jiraiya chuckled to himself, changing the needle for a new one. Minato rolled his eyes at the pair, then leaned in slightly and patted the redhead on the head as he often did his son.

'Don't worry, Kazekage-sama. I'll get you some rice balls or something like that.' It really would be better if Daichi didn't eat anything that would settle too heavily on his stomach. They had just started the design after all.

'So I believe you beat yourself up every day while you shave.' muttered back Daichi, feeling like a cat who has got stroked backwards. Really, the man could at least watch for acupuncture points and not poke at his nerves with that poison. The burning was already beginning to nearing the line of his patience and he just wanted to change the position. Why was the man so heated up over his obsession over Minato? Because it was surely what was going through the mind of Jiraiya. It's not like if he was going to even lick that candy through the wrap. That would cost too much of addiction.

He closed his eyes, for a moment wanting to not look at the fire in front of him and then he opened them with a jump, making the white haired man poke his nerve again – this time probably not because of his fault. It was just that his heart skipped a beat so his body had to throb for it in exchange to not let the blood stay still. Rice balls, he said…

'…with umeboshi.' he muttered quickly. He didn't want any rice balls. Heck, he was not even hungry. But if he was going to get rice balls from Minato then he wanted rice balls for him. He'd eat it whole night long if he had to.

The Hokage nodded obligingly and set to get the rest of the orders, which took some good ten minutes for him to get ready to go outside. Naruto was still clingy and quiet all the way to the restaurant (and the waitress had to point out to him he had the sweater again with the back up front) and after ordering and leaving a clone to pick up the serving, he took the little kid to Ichiraku's. Four bowls of ramen did wonders for the kid's general emotional weather, and by then time they went back home, Naruto was simply walking next to him, holding his hand loosely, even though he hadn't started yet. Minato, however, had the feeling he wanted to say something very important.

'Hey, daddy…'

He looked down at the little blond, smiling encouragingly. It took some more seconds of hesitance before he continued.

'…can Gaara come to play when Neji and Hinata-chan do?' Minato looked up at the dark sky, ignoring the softly flowing snow and sighed, blowing a small puff of mist as he did.

'Let's see how it goes with just him and you first, baby. Gaara-sama is not used to being around other kids.'

'Because of his mother?' He stopped at that, looking down at his son uneasily as he slowly crouched down to his height. 'Naru… The sand isn't Gaara-sama's mother.'

'But he said so…!' Minato put a finger to the blond's lips, silencing his protests.

'Yes. And he thinks it is, too. But it isn't the woman that gave birth to him, Naru. Gaara-sama's mother died giving birth to him-'

'Like mom?' Minato flinched, as if struck.

'…No.' he answered after several seconds, getting back up and resuming the pace. 'Your mother didn't die because you were born, Naru. She died because she never measured consequences. She knew you were about to be born and how important the both of you were to me, yet she put herself in danger for nothing.'

'Maybe she wanted to help you…?' the blond asked timidly, looking up at his father. Minato didn't want it disappoint him, but he couldn't help it.

'No… she wanted to do what she thought was right. It never mattered to her if what she felt was right was fair to other's or not.' Because Kushina had always been like that. Maybe she didn't consciously mean to, but that's how she ended up being in the end. She only ever did what she felt needed to be done, without caring if that hurt others. The little blond didn't answer, but he tightened his hold on his hand lightly, resuming looking thoughtful.

'When can I play with Gaara?' he finally asked after a while.

'As soon as Kazekage-sama says it will be okay for you to do so.' He answered blandly, choosing not to give a definite answer. It was still too soon to know how long Daichi would be down because of the poison, and even if the other two wouldn't affect him as badly as this one, he still wasn't sure how long would it take for the seals to be properly activated an tested. At the face his son made, Minato quickly smiled at him. 'Why don't you send him messages, though? As long as you don't make them too long, I'm sure Kazekage-sama will let you.'

Naruto seemed to give serious thought to the proposition, though a deep line of worry was back on his forehead sooner than Minato would have appreciated it.

'Hey, daddy…?'

'Yes, baby.' he said, mentally wincing. Would the 'hey, daddy's' never cease…?

'Why does that man look at you like that…?' For the second time that night Minato stopped, turning to look at the tiny blond fixedly, not knowing what to answer. '…is it another kage secret?'

Wordlessly, Minato leaned down and hugged his son tightly.

#+#+#+#+#+#

'Daichi…?'

He brushed the sweaty red bangs lightly, fingers soft now that the gloves had been discarded again. It was around ten in the morning of the next day, and the seals had been finished for several minutes now, most of which he had spent dressing the sore and swollen skin. Jiraiya had dragged Naruto to bed around midnight despite protests and Kakashi had gotten kicked out when he started nodding off around five in the morning. By then the sage and him had been deep into the design and Jiraiya had gone to bed just an hour or so ago, while the elder for all appearances dozed off on her chair.

He had offered her a bed earlier in the night, but she had declined, not that he wanted her too far away from the older male, and strange as it might sound, Daichi had more or less nodded off a few times while they finished the last seals. Not that he thought he was gotten used to the pain, just exhausted. Naruto had woken up at some point while he fixed the discarded materials around a bit and had, incredibly enough, brought a glass of water for the Kazekage. Minato was now in the process of very carefully helping the redhead into an upright position and getting him to drink it.

'Come on, I'm finally done.' he said, bringing the glass closer to the older male's lips. 'Have something to drink and then you can finally go rest.'

The other man looked at him in silence as he slowly took the water and drank in slow, long gulps until he saw the bottom and hit it. It felt somewhat good that he could water down his throat that was being drying up so quickly for the last night. The rice balls that he tried to stuff in his stomach hadn't tasted bad but it was like if every bit he took was bigger than the last one and after seven hours he could swear he still felt the sour taste of umeboshi laying in his stomach.

That was unnerving. But even after such a long night and exhaustion he barely took now as a kage or even tiredness of his own eyes that demanded the sleep of him somewhere in the middle of the night – he was not feeling sleepy. The adrenaline was starting to kick in now, making him strangely livid as well as on the morning light as the fact his body finally changed position. And also the fact that Minato was so close. So close…

He caught himself before he made his hand lay on the hand that was helping him up – it was so fragile in comparison to what this white haired pervert was doing it almost felt womanish if not womanly at all. He had an urge to just close his eyes and lean onto the arm near to him… But instead, he just looked at him. He felt a little sick, the pain on his neck now dulled, as well as the itching has vanished – but the icy acid from hours ago was starting to grow more and more annoying with passing time. It was almost like if it wanted to dig through his skin, muscles and bones and get right through his front, and yet, it didn't, just spicing his skin in one place.

He moved his fingers just to touch the skin around the tattoo and he almost broke the glass with his teeth. It was too swollen, too hot and too painful to touch. Maybe he shouldn't do that for the time being… He looked at the blond with concentrated gaze and slowly took the glass from his mouth.

'I'm not going to rest.' he said quietly. 'I don't even feel tired. I…'

He stopped, unsure. He felt tired. But then, he knew he couldn't just lay down or he'd go mad. His body wanted to move.

'I just have to do something.' he muttered, slowly wiping off the sweat from his head. The blond was touching him there probably just to piss him off. Had he not learned that his hair were untouchable by the fact he made him fry in the tower three months ago? 'I will lay down later.'

'Count sheep, you really need to rest.' Minato said, still practically sticking to his side in fear the redhead would collapse. Despite it, he helped him put on a loose shirt that buttoned up front. 'And don`t even think about using chakra for anything. At all.'

It would make the tattoo react. That, wouldn`t be pretty.

'I need to do something!...' hissed Daichi, turning to Minato with desperate stare. He couldn't... count the sheep, for god's sake! He'd go nut if he just have to lie down and live through that. Why was the blond\ acting like if he didn't know that not doing anything made one concentrate on pain? 'At least me take a walk or read something, I'm going to suffocate if you'll put me to bed now!...'

His hand sprung to his back again and fell down on his side in recognition. Somehow, he had a need to touch his back, like if his body was forgetting that touching the pain made the pain stronger. Freaking poisoning. Minato gave one look at his son, who was eyeing at them calmly from one side of the room. Naruto was still being oddly quiet since the previous night, but the case of depression seemed to have passed at last.

'Fine. Let's go for a walk- Naruto, do you want to come…?' The little blond quickly shook his head and continued drawing on the stray piece of paper he had found. Gaara's dad looked really sick. Really sick. He was sweating and looking both pale and flushed at the same time, and every now and then his whole body would bend in one big shiver, even though he didn't look like if he felt too cold anymore.

And he looked very angry. No, he didn't want to have to go. His father sighed, looking a little disappointed. He didn't want to be left with Daichi alone in this state, as he wasn't sure what would happen.

'I'll be back soon. Don't make too much noise, everyone is really tired.' Himself, to top the list. His eyes really were killing him, and everything looked kind of fuzzy on the edges. Helping Daichi into a jacket, he put his own as well and helped him outside, into the still crisp air of mid-morning. he couldn`t believe it had only been less than a day. It had felt like weeks.

Daichi hadn't noticed Naruto in the room before. The blond was sitting quietly and drawing, which made him almost invisible from his eyes as it was a little hard to focus in this state of lividness. He looked at him for a moment.

'What is he doing here?...' he muttered, noticing how the kid denied the offer and kept drawing 'Shouldn't he be in bed?... Little kids should sleep now…'

When the freezing air hit his warmed up skin it didn't feel as biting as he thought it would. More, it felt refreshing, even by his standards of cool air. It would almost feel strange if it wasn't so fine. He felt a little better by the fact that something was helping him with his bothered state. He turned to Minato. He seemed to be a walking dead. No wonder since he was working for almost twenty four hours with small breaks. Such job could be tiring.

That would be so selfish to drag him in that state outside. Not that he thought he needed any help. Actually, now he felt pretty fine. Fresh. His back still hurt and the jacket touched his neck in a disturbing way but it was… better.

'You don't have to come with me.' he said, going through crystallized snow 'I'm a grown man and you're falling dead. Go and rest, I'm going to just… walk around.'

Or maybe even jog around. He just felt like he had to use the chilling excitation he felt. Yes, running a circle would probably be good…

'Don't be stupid.' the blond muttered, following him outside. As if he would let the man out of his sight for a moment until he knew he would be resting. Which didn't seem to be going to happen for some time now. 'Daichi, stop touching your neck, you'll just make the gauze stick to it and mess the ink.'

'I'm not touching it.' said the man, absent mindedly toying with collar just behind the tattoo and looking around. This way? This way? Or that way? All seemed to be just as appealing. And shiny. And crunchy. And breezy. And full of fresh air. And they just begged to run on them. 'I would never destroy such work.' He muttered quickly, pulling on that collar a little too much even for a kid in kindergarten 'Do you think I'm stupid?'

Then he looked at Minato and dismissed the question without even waiting for an answer and just moved forward with quick step which turned into a light jog trot. Almost like if the pain was behind him and not reaching his back. Almost like if it was an inch from his skin… It burned, like hell it burned. It felt too hot on his back, too stingy. Absolutely not something that belonged there. But when air hit his skin he just felt it was not all to what his body was supposed to feel. Not all… He turned around, seeing that Minato was not by his side.

'What are you doing, if you want to keep me company then hurry up!'

'Have I ever told you you're crazy?' the blond called after him, taking his hands off his pocket and breaking into a loose jog to follow after the Suna nut. 'Friendly reminder: you are!'

But at least he wasn't curled into fetal position and muttering incoherencies, which was enough to make the blond relax a little. Not that anything said it wouldn't happen in just a few hours, but even so, it was always nice to be reminded of just what was Sabaku no Daichi made of.

'What are you talking about, there's nothing better than a nice jogging after a tiring work. Have I told you how I made a bet that I would run through the north side of our desert to get a porcelain doll for Kankuro? I did? Then listen again…'

He ran and he talked and talked long about the sun that shone impossibly bright just into his face, about the sand that turned into hard surfaces and mountains of dust, the blueness of the sky and how the wind almost made him feel like if he was going to die, but the sandstorm passed him by meters, about the oasis he found but that was so muzzy he could slice it with knife and chew on it like at pieces of baklava, about how the salty drains ran through his side making the air impossibly salty and letting him lose orientation and how it was hot, hot, hot…

'…it was so freaking hot I swear I haven't lived through that temperature through my life.' he continued babbling, not even letting Minato interrupt his words 'It had to be seventy degrees, there was no possibility I could stand on sand with bare foot and even stop because my feet were too hot even through material of shoes and the air was making waves like if it was made of water and I saw mirage, beautiful mirage…. It was a piece of green land I never thought I'd see again, so full of life. And then I realized, that it's hot too and that I just want to be home and that Kankuro is too old to have such expensive toys and that I was not going to get it anyway so I…'

He stopped, looking at the blond with widened eyes. '…what did I do then?'

He ran for a moment in silence, looking at the blonde like if the other knew, then shook his head and started talking again.

'…as I said, the sand was so hot even through materials of shoes but I was not bothered and I ran anyway until I reached the shore of the last oasis. Then I rested, because it's so hot, why it is so hot in this damn snow? I think I should stop running, because it made me almost too sweaty and if I run more the chakra may leak out and you said yourself it would be no good as the demon would react or maybe know… it is a smart beast so I'm sure he would react, he always reacts, when he looks at me with those black eyes I know he knows something and I don't know what and sometimes I wonder why did I do all of this and now I think that it was not worth it but after all everything I do is just a spin to make it worth it so I hope this will be worth it.'

With that he just stopped and undid his scarf, treating it like handkerchief for his sweating forehead. He looked at the ground. Strange…

'Have we not been here before?... I shouldn't be so tired already…' he muttered, then slowly unzipped his jacket. He felt a little too hot and it was not so cold anyway 'Are you sure it's going to work? This should work, right? Tell me it's working…'

Minato let the man ramble. Why shouldn't he, he knew perfectly well how much poisoned chakra could hurt and either way Daichi was too nervous and needed some outlet for it. His mind insisted there were other things that required less talking (and clothes) and were much more therapeutical than just listening, but as usual, he just ignored them. That was just the effect of several hours bent over sweaty, muscled back talking. It even made him imagine Daichi had smelled faintly perfume-ish at the beginning of the session. He just followed his friend up and down the small forest close to his house, keeping himself at a prudent distance to be able to catch the man in case he tripped and far away enough to avoid immediate and random violence. His right hand was sore enough as it was.

When Daichi finally seemed to run out of rant and stamina, he just gave him a good push in the back, being careful to do it near his arms and nowhere near the irritated are of his upper back, making the older man fall face first on the snow. He then carefully kneeled down next to him, patting his head. 'Of course it will work, you imbecile.' he said calmly. 'I did it. Just concentrate on not dying until it works.'

The other man looked at him through silted eyelids while laying full face on the snow. It felt too cold even now, but his strength was going away rather quickly, which resulted in making the body temperature rise as it was usual with long running. He lied on it for a moment more, just starring at the blond, for once only leaving his face to look at the hand that was patting his head. It felt so nice to be touched in that funny, nonviolent way by that man. He looked at the snow and closed his eyes as he slowly rose up, kneeling also and dusting himself of the frozen water.

'I told you to not touch my hair.' he said in a threatening, but a little too weak voice to make it sound angry or extra cold 'I'm not going to die anyway. If nothing killed me till now then there's nothing that can do it now, unless someone will go and directly stab me in the back in my sleep.'

He looked at the snow again. Then he pulled on his collar with force. His back was stinging. It would be good to make it feel colder… for sure…

'Can I lay on my back here?'

'Sorry.' The blond smiled apologetically. 'You can't get the tattoo wet at all until it scabs, and even after that, you can't let it get too wet or it will get ruined.' He chose not to mention Daichi liked being touched by him and always had. In his weakened state, who knew where an actual jab at what happened between them might lead.

'So I thought.' said the saffron haired man, still pulling on his collar and slowly turning away from the snow behind him to look at the snow in front of him. 'It just feels so strange…' He sat in silence for a moment, breathing in cold air. It was still looking so tempting… tempting… he had to stop thinking about shoving the damn snow down his back… but it looked so tempting… He turned to Minato. Damn.

Now it looked like some sort of completely different but just as nice sort of temptation. But then he reminded himself he was not supposed to touch that and he turned to snow in annoyance. But this looked so cold and so tempting… He felt his back beginning to itch.

'How am I supposed to wash down all this sweat?...' he asked slowly pinching the white surface just to form a small ball of ice and taste it. It felt also good as cold water. He mused for a moment. Then took a little more to lick off his hands. Thirsty… he was running for quite some time and now he felt thirsty. A lot. 'I suppose you don't have a good amount of sand that would stir my wounds anyway.'

He looked at the blond again.

'And what if I'm going to die?'

He haven't thought about this possibility and it felt ridiculous to even consider it. But just to ask that question. Poke him about it. He knew he wouldn't probably gain anything by that but he just wanted to hear the answer. The usual 'I would laugh at you' style, the 'I don't have time to come to your grave' thing and maybe even 'I would kick your ass if you did'. Because that would be reassuring at least someone would be saddened after his death.

'Like you do most of the time in Suna, with a rag and a basin of water.' Minato said, his tone vaguely mocking. 'I thought you Suna nin's loved to sweat…?' He watched as Daichi ate the snow like a kid would do, like he himself had done not a full week ago when he had been so worried something might have really been wrong with his friend he had gone all the way southwest to intercept him, only to find it was just a replacement and he had actually let the original safely at home. And really, what had Daichi been aiming for, if not just piss him off? His hand went to his neck and massaged it, even though he could even remember what having had it ripped open felt like. All because the idiot hadn't liked being called brother. He had clung to the clone, then.

'And what if I'm going to die?'

The blond didn't answer immediately. He didn't even seem aware to have heard the older man ask anything at all, much less such a loaded question, and in the morning air, the only thing audible were the faint chirps of winter birds. After a while, Minato finally reached for the redhead, fingers digging in the small amount of snow he still had in his hands and breaking at it apart.

'…I'd be disappointed on you.' he said, his smile almost sad as the last bits of crystallized water melted. He squeezed his fingers lightly over the other's hands, then let it drop to his side, looking away and deliberately creating distance. '…I'd be alone.'

Because Daichi was all he had left from then. Before it had been the three of them, and now...

The saffron haired man stared at him. His hands twitched at the remembering of the touch, feeling stirred. He felt how his heartbeat accelerated even against his will as he looked at the blond, breathing faster. It felt so awful he almost let out a whimper. What was the man saying? Alone?

He wanted to just wrap his hands around him and hug him there, maybe even coddle a bit to which he was not even used doing, but it felt just right. But instead, he just turned his head to his hands and started pulling on finger where, years ago, he wore wedding ring (which got buried along with Karura's body). He moved his mouth without audacity, wanting to say what he really felt – that there was no way the blond would be alone because he has always, always and would never, ever and even if he won't, ever, then he won't let him be alone anyway, but…

…how strange would that sound? He closed his mouth. Too much pushing on luck, on emotions he was not supposed to feel and Minato was not expected to have. He watched the serene snow with glazed over eyes and slowly dipped for another portion of snow, eating it slowly. Disappointed… He threw the snow at the man's head.

'What are you talking about? You always will have your lovely spawn. Don't say idiocies…' He scrambled, getting up and brushing off his hands like if he wanted to wipe out the touch of Minato. Which wasn't possible, by the way. 'Let's head back. I'm tired…'

And he really was. Somehow, his excitation slowly wavered away. Now he felt only uneasiness and too much warmth around the disturbed, stinging back. And Minato probably needed a rest too if he talked like that.

Minato waited. He waited like he always did, laying still and calm and waited for a sign, a chance, a symbol of something that would tell him it was all right to do this, to think and feel like this. All through his life he had had problems adjusting to changes, much less taking risk and provoking them; and to think of causing them himself was still a terrifying concept, because if he did, the responsibility would be all his. And maybe because he wanted to trust. Maybe he really wanted to trust in Daichi and know that he wanted him exactly as much as he thought he did, maybe he wanted more than what he could get out of tortuous little games that made him feel as sick as he felt addicted. You could trust reactions, words never were the same, but maybe he wanted words after all-

And would it be so bad he did? Was it really that much to ask for? He waited, and like always before, he waited for nothing. All he got was the usual burn of anger on his chest, that dark and bitter sensation on the mouth of his stomach (and oh, almost as if he had drank the ink, as if it distilled on his veins). If he had to say anything, why did it have to be that? Naruto wasn't Kushina. Having a son he loved would never take back what he had lost, the same way that the stupid idiot he had next to him could never have been replaced by his wife or son, no matter how alike and differently he had liked –loved, still- the both of them.

He carefully brushed the loose snow from his hair, without really turning towards the other.

'Yes. You really should go rest, Dai. You will need it.' Yes… It was nice to remember what the Kazekage was really made of.

The other man slowly turned to him, frowning. He did it again. Why was he doing that?

'Don't call me 'Dai'.' he said leisurely 'It's not like if we're in love.'

He stood there for a moment, then slowly, very slowly he moved his hand to brush one of the forgotten pieces of snow from blond's hair. It was already heatened by warmth of the skin so it melted against his fingers, changing into a drop of water. He put it in his mouth and turned toward the house he was supposed to rest in. Stupid Minato. He hated how he could not hate such a man. It felt disappointing he could do nothing. He proceeded in backing to his room.