To be a father

by Angevelinka

Two single fathers - one rich, the other poor, one overprotective, the other neglecting, can they find the way to communicate? In the end, kids is all they have. 'All I fear is the ring of the phone.' 'Me too.' AU, hints, future GaaNaru, ShikaTema

26. 26: Bench

Brave. He was brave. He was driving his car with one hand! That's how brave he was!

'Do you see that, suckers?' he shouted to the cars on his left, but he forgot to open the window, so nobody heard him. It didn't matter though, opening it would mean he'd have to let go of the bottle he was holding, and it were the last remnants of his alcohol, so he would rather not lose it. Somehow down the one-before-the-last-one bottle an idea came up to him – to drive like he drove when he was young and stupid, only now he wasn't so stupid anymore (at least that's what he thought. He was married, and he had wife and, and, a job, and wore a suit and everything!) and since he was not buried under the baggage of responsibility for three little passengers, he could drive however the hell he wanted.

He drove like that, not even getting a glance from the police at all, even if his vision was blurred – the old habit of holding the dead still was even stronger than his alcohol. And thus, it quickly became boring. He found a good place to park and stopped his car with a loud screech, only to look into the mirror and drink up to it.

'Yeah! That's how I am! Master of the roads! Freakin' tsar!' he growled, all buff and almost tripped as he opened the door and wanted to get out trying to drink and step out at the same time. He finally managed to do it without landing on his nose as he downed two more gulps of his bottle. 'Now where the hell am I.'

He knew that place. Somehow, he recognized it. But he wasn't sure, so he decided to walk around and see for himself. It didn't take long however – his feet got tired and he was cold – he decided to rest. Now where could he rest and drink the rest of his liquid in silence…

'Tha… theee thee-has-no-nuts…' he read out of some freaky colorful plate that seemed to stand out proudly even if it was covered in the snow. A lame joke, he had to admit. But at least it worked. Not on him, of course. But it looked like a good place to sit down on the bench nearby. When he did, the clockwork nearby sung around eleven – or maybe twenty seven bells. A nice place to rest for a while.

#+#+#+#+#+#

It wasn't like Minato to pry. Generally if there were too many people watching in one direction, it meant a fight, someone had gotten hurt, an accident- none of these were the sort of things Minato was fond of getting into or even interested in. It wasn't strange that while he did notice a few of the parents that had come early to pick their kids look into the nearby park and mutter among themselves, he didn't feel particularly inclined to ask, other than to give a vague look in the direction. Of course, without his glasses he couldn't see clearly much further than a couple dozen meters, which probably explained that while he saw someone sitting on the bench, he didn't see anything particularly strange of it and just passed the strawberry-red haired and blonde women gossiping at the entrance with a small smile and a nod. It was a bit too early, still a few minutes until the kids were left out, and he supposed he could try luck on the small convenience store on the next block and see if he could find a decent package of smokes and some of those cherry tic tacs he liked so. Seriously, what happened with his brand? Had it been discontinued or so? He should have Googled that earlier instead of calling Sabaku…

At the kindergarten entrance indeed, things were happening. It wasn't a fight, though as some suspected, it wasn't very far from it. As for now, nobody reacted, waiting for the main teacher to react to the matter. And what has happened?

Nothing much, at least so it seemed at the beginning. At first, Daichi only sat at the bench like every homeless drunkard would and from time to time took a swig of remaining alcohol from his bottle, oblivious to the fact that he was being covered more and more in snow, looking more and more like a decoration, blending into the background. He was not feeling though – and that one was the doing of the alcohol and the alcohol only.

At some point, even that had ended. So, losing his interest in the emptiness, Daichi left the bottle on the floor and let it be covered in the snow, all the same.

He wasn't sure why he was here, wherever was said here, anymore. He didn't know also what he was supposed to do and what was going on. In his mind there was only one thing – a piece of the memory when he dressed up his children for school – at first he made Temari dress the maroon sweater, buttoning her up, then he hid Kankuro's brown hair under the kitty cap, smoothening it a little with care and then he covered Gaara in a little too big coat after his brother, tying the small scarf around the teddy's neck, because why not, and then they were ready to go, safely warm from any wheatear in the outside. And then he buttoned up Temari's maroon sweater, smiling at her, smoothened Kankuro's hair under the kitty cap… and yadda, yadda, yadda, repeat from beginning like a broken record.

It was all that mattered. He wasn't sure what's happened after as there was no after and also, there was no before. People passed him, small and big, ignorant, neutral, and he sat and waited for something. He didn't recognize any of them. Only when the door of the kindergarten opened and a big man with a beard and usual kindergartenish apron appeared, something clicked inside his head. That man. He knew that man from another dimension of his current reality (the sweater, the cap, the coat with scarf).

'You…' he muttered quietly, muted by the sound of the snow falling. Slowly, his brain started to function and he saw that there were much many more people around him than he saw when he was starring at his feet.

'You!...' he repeated, louder this time, grabbing the man's attention as he got up. The cold got to his bones suddenly, sharply, but he ignored it, just as he ignored his wet neck and burning cheeks 'Where are my kids?...'

The man had only stared back at him, unmoving big blob of a blur or maybe a blurred blob and he said something. Daichi didn't understand what it was but he didn't think it was important.

'I came for my kids.' he explained himself, walking up to the man 'For… Gaara and Kankuro… and Temari. Temari! Daddy's here!' he shouted suddenly. Somehow, in his mind it sounded like a right thing to do. Some people stared at him but he didn't find anything wrong with that. The man said something again, moving his hand out further in front of him, stopping him (how, he had no idea, because he knew he kept walking and the kindergarten was not getting closer, and it should?...). He tried to listen to him, but it all came like from the deep well, blocked by the noise coming out from nowhere.

It reminded him of the radio buzz. Or maybe ocean waves.

'Kankuro! Get ready to go back home!' The man said something again, but as it was just a babble, he didn't bothered listening to it to the end. 'Gaara!' he shouted. Then some child passed the man, grabbing his attention, so he caught it by a hand. It was blonde. And a girl.

'Temari?' he more said than asked. But then the kid looked at him and started crying. No, it wasn't Temari. If anything, he could recognize his kids by sound of their voice. He let go of her. 'Where are they? Where are my kids?'

But as nobody answered him, he went further, pushing the man back to the entrance and blocked it with his hands, looking around, making people inside also look at him.

'I'm looking for my kids! Where did you hide them?' he said to no one in particular, but because the bearded giant was the closest, he looked at him 'I'm not moving out from here until you give them back!'

Asuma stared at him, puzzled and truthfully, dumbfounded. It was obvious that the man was drunk as he reeked of alcohol and his stare seemed to be too fogged to even recognize what he was seeing, but he had no idea what to do. Sure, he could have pushed him out, but then the man could get police on his back for breaking his privacy as it happened before to him. He would rather not go through that again and as long as Sabaku had only stood there and hadn't attacked anyone (and he didn't seem to even try) he couldn't push him out as the one defending himself or others. So he once again pushed at his arm, trying to get it off the door frame.

'Mr. Sabaku, I have no idea what are you talking about.' he repeated once again, trying to sound as clear and understandable as he could, as when he talked to the youngest of his students 'Your kids aren't here as you didn't bring them here for a few days now. Please, let go of the door, you're hindering my job.'

By the time Minato was back, there was a bigger crowd, noticeably closer to the door of the kinder. Most of it was composed by women, though the dark haired boy he had noticed on some of his previous runs in to pick Naruto up was also there, dark eyes and a cold frown directed to whomever Asuma was talking to, as the teacher's large mass practically completely covered said person. Distractedly (and not for the first time) Minato wondered if the man had been in the wrestling team of his school, and what the hell was a man of such physique working taking care of little kids. The obsessive paranoid convinced his son could be snatched any moment secretly loved the idea of a man built like the terminator being in charge of it, and the same obsessive paranoid didn't like the idea of such a young kid close to whatever was making such a ruckus. Even if such a ruckus sounded vaguely familiar, but let the one blessed with muscles del with that.

'Hi, are you here for your brother?' he asked as he put a hand on the boy's shoulder, just long enough for him to stop looking in the other direction and up at him, then smiled lightly. 'You should go pick him up now, I bet he's waiting for you.' Yes, he was a shining beacon of subtlety in a dark world filled with forwardness, but as long as it got the job done…

The boy had looked at him for a long pensive moment, then his lips curled up in a nice smile.

'I surely will once that's over.' he said in a deep, a little too deep for his appearance voice, but that's what puberty did to you. Then he turned around to observe the entrance just as calm and patient as before. As far as he saw, the problem was only disturbing and not a dangerous one. He and his brother were taught well to wait through such were people better equipped than him solved it for them. And surely, Asuma, being as patient kinder teacher as he was, decided that he was not as patient as when it came to children.

'I'm sorry, everyone? Can I have your attention?' he said above the man's arm, making sure that at least front of the crowd listened to him 'Now I'm going to push that man out of the door because he is being a trouble to society. If anyone asks, my intentions are void of harm. Is that right?' And when some of the parents nodded, along with one woman shouting 'Just do it already!' he simply caught the man by his arms and pushed him out of the door. Sabaku could have been training some sports as he felt the muscles through that suit – and surely, they were something – but years of ignoring it and alcohol made him twice as weak as he could be. Not to mention that he barely knew what was going on.

'Hey! What are you doing?' he shouted, surprised as he did a few steps back 'There are my kids there, what are you-!' And then he stumbled backward even more as the man just kept pushing and landed right on his back off the safety three steps of the front. The snow was cold and his back suddenly hurt and everyone was suddenly loud and so loud, laughing at who knows what… and nobody seemed to understand.

'What are you doing? Stop it!' he shouted, trying to get out free, but the man simply flipped him on his face and caught his hands on his back. Maybe if he was more sober he could free himself out of such grip, but now he just tensed his muscles and nothing happened 'There are my kids there!... Give me back my kids!...'

'There are no kids of yours here, Mr. Sabaku.' said Asuma calmly, taking a deeper breath. Well, that went easier than he thought it would. 'And stop struggling or I'll call the police. Okay? I'm sorry for the trouble, everyone. You can get back your kids now, I'll come to you in a moment.'

And as people started passing through the entrance back and forth, Asuma sat on the man for a few seconds, gradually loosening the grip until he finally let go of him at all. The redhead didn't move from his position now.

'I'm sorry, but I had to.' said Asuma in a bit defeated tone, feeling a bit sorry for the man. He had no idea what was going on but surely, whatever went through in his life wasn't very pleasant. The sole look of his unshaved face spoke for it clearly. 'If you calmed yourself down, then please, go away from this place. You had scared enough of people for today.'

The man didn't nod nor move at all as Asuma stood up from the ground, looking at him for a moment. He wondered if the man could have passed out from drinking too much or maybe hitting himself on the head, but a few seconds later Daichi slowly stood up from the ground, brushing his wet hands on his wet suit.

'M'sorry.' he mumbled quietly as he looked at no one in particular 'I'm sorry.' And then he simply walked out to the bench on which he sat before and curled up on it like if he was wounded.

'Please, go home!' shouted Asuma to him as he turned to take care of his kids. 'It's too cold for you to sit there in such clothes! Take care of your kids or yourself!...' Daichi only shook his head slowly, defeated.

'I have no kids.' he mumbled as he started crying, easily pushed toward every possible direction by the alcohol in his veins 'I have no kids. No kids.'

At the boy's answer, Minato smiled a little uneasily, but stayed next to him simply out of concern, because it wasn't as if he could leave a little kid like that alone, even among the growing herd of mothers. He looked to be around sixth grade, and safe neighborhood or not, Minato wouldn't have dreamt of sending such a young kid to pick his considerably younger brother up, fancy school uniform or not. Now that it was closer, though, he realized why the voice sounded so familiar, even if the last times he had heard it the tone had been considerably less slurred. Sabaku.

The blond actually considered pinching himself and maybe rubbing his eyes cartoon-style to make sure he wasn't imagining things, but as Asuma turned to address everyone, it became painfully clear it wasn't a figment of his imagination. Unless it was a shared hallucination, but of course, he couldn't be that lucky, could he….?

'…kurwa.' The blond muttered under his breath, expression disbelieving. What the hell was Sabaku doing here now?

When the teacher turned around, he automatically ducked a little, suddenly glad for the crowd. That morning he had apologized to the teacher and he had been sincere about it, he actually did feel pretty bad about what he had said, but that didn't really mean he hadn't meant what he had said about the man using him to deal with Sabaku because he hadn't wanted to be bothered with himself, or that he still feel slightly irritated about it. He didn't want to be singled out and be specifically asked in front of this people to take care of Sabaku, because that would be a bit too manipulative at a moment where he still didn't quite feel like being so, or at least not for Asuma.

He was glad that it got quickly solved, but even though Asuma didn't use force and it thankfully didn't come to blows (which he honestly had been kind of expecting), the act the teacher had to literally throw the man down to the floor made him feel worse than what he actually expected. Now the man was clad in a half wet crumpled suit and then he just walked back to the bench- and now he supposed that's what the women had been talking about, the thing on the bench, that is- and sat now, the snow piling on him slowly as he cried.

And it wasn't snowing lightly either. It wasn't a storm or anything, but certainly not weather for one to sit clad only in one's suit… didn't the man have a jacket or anything? Stupid question, he had only seen the man with a coat once, and he had put it on his kids, and then he hadn't seen it on him again.

'…kurwa mać.'

As the mass of parents (and little dark haired boy) slowly drifted inside to pick up their kids, Minato couldn't help but stay right where he was for a moment longer, looking back at the man's shaking shoulders, wanting to go away and ignore it and feeling like pure shit for so much as wanting to. Realistically, Sabaku was bad news. He had brought him nothing but trouble, had complicated things needlessly, and he wasn't a person Minato could get along with, because he was too aggressive, too stubborn, definitely not someone he could like.

Then again, he himself wasn't someone he could like. And Sabaku might have a terrible temper, horrid manners and possibly be a natural ass, but he didn't deserve to be in the snow crying like if the world had ended while a bunch of stuck up parents whispered behind his back. Or at least he'd like to think so.

'Asuma-sensei…' he waited for the man to finish talking with the retreating parents so they'd have an ounce of privacy, his hands curled into fists inside his pockets 'I think I'm going to get Sabaku some coffee, could you keep Naruto with you a few more minutes? It shouldn't take too long.' Unless he decides to kill me.

The teacher had only looked back at him with a bit more relaxed pose than before.

'Of course, Mr. Uzumaki.' he said as he looked inside the room where the remaining children were waiting for their parents 'I don't mind. Just take my advice, he is too drunk to even understand what's going on around him. Maybe the fall sobered him a bit, but I'm not sure.' he said and scraped the back of his neck a bit 'What a troublesome man…'

'Asuma-sensei…' And with that, his attention went turned to new people entering the room.

The blond nodded absently, not that he was paying much attention. What a mess. Minato usually cried rather easily himself, but he knew it wasn't exactly a manly reaction, much less something members of his sex engaged on frequently. When if it had been, he had the strong idea Sabaku wouldn't be one of them, so he gave the man another minute or two to calm down… Not that the man gave much sign of it. When he couldn't pull it off for any longer, he finally just walked to the half-covered bench, the fresh snow crunching slightly under his feet.

'Sabaku-san…?'

With those words, the red-haired head rose up like if the man was touched by a whip. The image of his teared up face was far from anything classy or manly, especially as he had blue shades under his eyes accompanied with reddened nose and rims of the eyes. The most adequate word would be: hit by a truck. His glassy eyes were still far from sober though.

'I'm sorry…' he muttered again like if he was trying to apologize the whole world, but then his gaze focused, making his eyes widened. Then one of his hand slowly rose up, trying to touch the man on the arm or maybe the abdomen.

That blonde… couldn't it be?... Karura?... Why was she here?...

'I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry…' he repeated tearing up even more. Trying to get up from the bench, but failing considerably as his legs didn't want to support his drunk head anymore 'I didn't meant to… I tried to run… I'm sorry… I'm the worst… You know I didn't want to let go of them…'

But then his gaze focused even more and he stopped. Something wasn't right. That shade. That shade of the blonde wasn't right. It wasn't Karura. It was just someone looking similar. It was… Naruto's dad. Now he saw him. Oh. Now he remembered. The man with little kid. At the idea of the kid he felt another wave of despair coming to him so he sat down and hid his face in his hands and stilled. He already apologized.

Minato almost jerked back, but somehow refrained from the impulse and helped the man when he stumbled forward, not having an idea of what was happening, only that the man would end up sick if he kept rolling around on wet snow like that.

'Sabaku-san, what happened?' he asked gently, looking around. No signs of cute little girl with four ponytails anywhere. 'Where is Temari? Did something happen?'

The redhead only shook his head not removing his hands from his face.

'I have no kids.' he muttered pitifully just as he did before 'I failed.'

'What?' he didn't like the way that sounded. At all. Gently, he tried to pry the man's hands from his face, this not being a moment where he appreciated impaired speech. 'What happened to the kids?'

The redhead had only curled up in himself even more. It was obvious that if he could, he'd hide under his clothes and vanish. But after a long moment where he held his hands close to his face like if he glued them there to super glue, he slowly let go of himself, revealing even more blushed face as the pressure from hands made the blood flow up to his cheeks.

'He took them…' he muttered in a croaky voice, staring at the hands he took off from his face like if he still saw something in them and it was possible he did 'One after another, all of them… but I said everything like I should've!... And he said he was doing the right thing, why was he even working for me then!...'

Took them - the words felt like a kick to the stomach, Minato's heart seeming to stop for a moment before restarting painfully.

'Who took them?' he still had the man's' wrist around his hands, and he squeezed them less than gently. 'Where are the kids? What are you talking about?'

And now he wished Asuma was here, the man definitely needed more sobering so he could remember how to construct full sentences. He wished the man had left him on the snow just a bit more, just enough for him to make sense. Only now the man had slowly rose up his gaze and looked at the blond, his face stone calm in comparison to everything he did for the whole morning. The truth got to his brain in hard drops now in hard way, through small holes.

'He took them.' he repeated in a steady, calm voice and then paused, searching for the right word. He remembered faces, but words escaped him. Ah. There it is. 'Yashamaru.'

And then, like if the wall that blocked his mind, from one crack everything started falling apart, removing his difficulties with speech one after another, making him speak louder, faster and less understandable with every word.

'But I went to the right place and I said- I told them to leave them to me, but they took them anyway and Temari cried and I let go of her!' he said, everything making perfect sense to him 'And I didn't even see them! I haven't seen them for a week! I don't know where they are even… and he said I'm an exceptional worker but he fired me anyway and I don't know, I took the things from my home but and I went and now I'm here and this… this is not justice! Why didn't he work like he should have? I am their father, dammit!...'

Minato understood what the man was saying, at least the clear parts. Yashamaru took the kids. That was terrible. Only there seemed to be something about being fired and kicked out of his house as well, but that… it had to be the alcohol talking, right? Sometimes one had very realistic drinks when talking. He couldn't have lost his kids house and job, all in a week, right? It just wasn't possible.

'Okay, let's… You are all wet.' he drew his hands away from the older man, frowning at the sorry state of his suit, which looked like if he had slept on it, and then decided to roll around in it, and then maybe had a part or two- oh dear. 'And probably cold.' the skin of his wrist hadn't exactly been high on human warmth, at the very least. 'Come on, I'll buy you some coffee.'

And then he had to come pick Naruto up and see what to do with this mess. The man looked at him after a pause, then his gaze fell upon his held hands. It felt warm and it was something nice, for a change.

'Okay.' he said dully, feeling emotionally like a lost little kid – because really, at all that happened, and all that alcohol did to his brain, he saw simply no way out and if someone did, he had to be on the higher level of evolution. 'Coffee sounds good.'

And it did. He hadn't had a coffee from some time. He could have some. Minato blinked, utterly surprised by the sudden docility of the other man, but decided not to ruin his small burst of luck. Smiling lightly, he tugged at the man a bit to get him into the direction of a small diner he had seen nearby. It certainly wasn't a five star restaurant, but that was probably good on its part, considering he didn't think a restaurant would let a man in Sabaku's state get in. Still, he wasn't going to ruin his chances, so once inside, he quickly guided the redhead to sit in a corner and went to ask coffee from the waitress himself, rather than wait for the woman to come.

The woman looked surprised and offered to serve them anyway, but Minato said something stupid on regards of needing to talk something important and somehow convinced her to just give him the pot, giving the redhead's wet hair and reddened face and eyes a curious look as she left two cups in front of the males, before retreating. Minato didn't really waste much time on filling the man's cup, for once glad of the fact the other took it black and as sugarless as possible, but refrained from asking right away, instead preferring to wait a moment or two for the man to compose himself.

Daichi had only stared at it with empty gaze, the one which he held for the most of the walk as he let himself to be guided by the blond like a blind man. Only a moment after he rose his hands to curl them around the cup. It was hot, it warmed up his hands just like it should have. Reminded him of parental home.

'Nice house.' he muttered, not glancing around the room any more than he did when he entered the cozy canteen 'My mom used to have similar kitchen.'

Then he slowly rose it up to his mouth, like an old senile man as his hands shook and his vision couldn't really tell if he held his balance enough to not spill it. As much as he managed to do it without a spill, he burned his mouth on it and spilt it anyway. But for this suit, his best days were ended anyway. He looked at yet another stain on his left side and let out a defeated breath.

'Excuse me.' he said, meaning to apologize in more polite way. Then he simply drank from his cup again, this time more carefully and without spilling the liquid.

'It's all right, take your time.' Minato said pretending to be really busy adding some cream to his own coffee, as if the action took the concentration of a certified surgeon. A guy thing, Kushina would have called it.

The man had only murmured something in response and kept on drinking until he downed the half of the cup. The brown water warmed him up nicely, shaking him off a bit of the alcohol as the blood in his veins started flowing faster, and thus, getting the rid of it faster. He slowly put it down with a bit better vision and hooked his hands together before it, looking down. Now his face, after sitting for some time in the warmer place, slowly started to lose some grotesque red color and started evening out into the usual pale skin. Nice change.

Minato finally finished his thesis on how coffee with milk was made and gave the man a look, not really wanting to jump on the topic, but also not knowing what else to talk about. What sort of idle conversation did you make with a man who just told his gender confused brother-in-law took their kids...?

'Were you calling me about this?' he asked instead, not really thinking before delivering the question. The man didn't move from his position, slowly proceeding the words into his head.

'Yes.' he said quietly. Then, like if he remembered something, he added 'No.' He wasn't sure, but he had this dim feeling he shouldn't admit to the truth. But as for now he wasn't sure why yet.

The blond wasn't sure which was the answer, but the man calling him to tell him what had happened made a bit more sense than calling him to apologize for how he had treated him, as sad as that might sound.

'I'm sorry I wasn't around. There was no cover where we went, so I didn't even bother taking the phone with me.' In the city, the only ones who ever called him were his colleagues at the university, Asuma or Sabaku, and the last two had no reasons to call him at all, while he had ample time to answer to any call from college when he came back. The man had only shrugged apathetically. What did it matter? It's not like the man could help him while he was away. He felt like if someone changed his brain into the raw dough. Everything worked so slowly.

'They're gone.'

'What happened exactly?' Minato asked, thinking there was no way this could be as bad as it sounded. Someone, somewhere was misunderstanding something. 'He can't just take them, didn't you tell the police?'

Daichi sat in silence for a moment and then winced when the meaning of the word got to him. He finally moved, pointing one of his fingers into the table's surface, like if he wanted to show the blond something on the invisible map.

'I… called the police.' he said slowly, then blinked and moved the finger to the east, making invisible path 'Long time ago. It doesn't matter.' He paused then pressed the finger to the point where he held it. Then, his hand relaxed and went back to the first position of two hands hooked one on another. 'Not anymore. They're not mine anymore.' Then he shook his head like if the sole idea disturbed his brain greatly. 'Not anymore, not at all... they said it out loud…'

'I'm sorry.' the blond said carefully, his tone twanged with worry. 'Who said it? I'm… I'm not getting it. '

The in-law took the kids. That he understood clearly, and now he felt stupid for not thinking about it before- no wonder no one had come interrogate him, Sabaku had known all the time where the kids were, but then, why hadn't he simply taken them back? 'Mommy' gave him the creeps, he couldn't deny that, but Sabaku had already given ample proof that he wasn't shy about getting physical if needed. He blinked, remembering the man had had a nasty bruise on the side of his face last time he had seen him. He tried to have a look at it as subtle as possible, but the grayish light from the cloudy sky was hardly ideal, especially in this windowless corner. From what he could gather, it looked a bit discolored, a faint twinge of blue descending below the shadow of his hair.

'Can you tell me what happened after you left from my house that Monday? I've been kind of lost since…' Kidnapped kids that weren't really kidnapped, the redhead acting like if he had split personalities that hadn't been thoughtful enough to inform the other they existed, and Minato who only seemed to get memos that came with two or three weeks of delay. The redhead rose his head and looked at him in silence slightly closing his eyes like if he couldn't focus his vision (which he couldn't really do), then he finally gave up and got back to looking at the table.

'Monday… Tuesday, Sunday, Wednesday…' he started and frowned 'I don't know. Isn't the Monday today?...' Which would make it a bit strange, but hey, it was the blond who asked, not him.

'I got up.' he said, then sniffed up a bit as his nose got a bit warmer in the place, and thus, leaked 'Then they came and they told me to go out. So I went out. But… but I cleaned before I did.' he said, rising his hand to point out the very important thing. But then he frowned again and grimaced.

'No… that didn't happen today.' But when? He wasn't sure. Once he bought alcohol, he couldn't really tell when night started and the day ended. It was just a really long Friday for him.

Minato looked at the older man feeling even more confused at the answer he got, then a bit more disturbed when he started realizing what the other meant.

'How much did you drink?' from the way he asked, it was obvious he wasn't really looking for an answer, so much as the coffee pot – which he used to serve the man another healthy dose of the black liquid. He had to handle it to the guy, he might be still pretty drunk, but he didn't really act like it. 'Not today, Sabaku-san, I meant when you came to pick Gaara-kun and asked me for the boxes, remember? A week or so ago. Why did you ask for them if you weren't going to leave?'

'I was planning to leave, dammit!' said the man suddenly, slamming the almost full glass of coffee on the table, and thus, making half of the table and part of his suit prettily brown. Which he didn't seem to notice anyway. 'I was planning on going far, far away so he wouldn't find us, where nobody would find us and everyone would be safe but it didn't matter because he found us anyway!'

And then, oblivious to everyone's stares at them, the redhead's fighting pose slumped down and curled until he had laid his head on the table with a moan.

'I should have known!' he said and grasped himself on the head 'If we had only left sooner!... If it wasn't for that this stupid man!... But then!... And the money!... And then we would be gone, but now, we had breakfast and he came right in! He had bread and jam! It was o… orange! No, peaches! Why the hell did they have to eat his groceries? I had money!'

But then he stopped and looked up, counting on fingers.

'No.' he said finally 'I didn't have money. I had them later.'

'Jesus, be careful!' the blond immediately grabbed the man's hand by the wrist, prying the spilt cup off the fingers and grabbing a bunch of paper napkins to try and mop the worst of the mess away. Not because he had any actual hope of saving the suit, or that he cared much about it to begin with, but the coffee is still smoking hot and the amount he spilt on his hand had to hurt. Or at least he assumed, because the redhead kept ranting things that Minato planned to analyze as soon as he was done undoing the buttons on the cuffs of the man's shirt so he could get the soaked material away from the skin- and where was the waitress to clean this mess? What was this man made from? Didn't he feel the coffee? He couldn't be that sloshed- Minato could write a book about drunks and he had never been that coherent after a second or third bottle of anything, beer included.

The man let him remove his shirt for a moment or two, still droning on how he had money but not when he wanted, until he finally noticed what was going on and sharply took his hand back.

'Stop it!' he says, covering himself up now in wet and cold shirt 'I deserve it! I couldn't even protect my kids! You hear me? YOU HEAR ME, PEOPLE? I DESERVE IT!' And just to point that out, the redhead stood up, grabbing the attention of even more people, moving his hands around and looking like a politician, only to ungratefully land on his three letters and look back at the blond again. 'Did I tell you that he took the boxes I so carefully packed with himself? Like if it were his.'

'I'm sorry.' the blond said, not because he had anything to apologize or anything like that, just because he wanted to say something that would calm the redhead down enough before they got irremediably kicked out of the establishment. He should have bought coffee to go, but it's not like if he carried a thermos, and even if he had liked stars bucks, it's not like if they were any, or even any shops akin to it around.

'Please, calm down, I'm listening.' As usual, his voice was calm and composed, even lower than the usual volume as if he wanted to make up for the man's loudness as he futilely kept trying to clean the mess son the table with the paper napkins- he gave a look towards the bar, the current waitress girl gaping at them as if they were a soap opera, before becoming suddenly engrossed on some check she was writing. He debated going to the bar and dragging her, or at least an actual cloth to clean this, but decided against it. If she didn't want to clean it, he hoped she enjoyed scrubbing it off when it dried.

'Yes, of course.' said Daichi, like if Minato said something that agreed with his views, though it hardly made any sense (it did to him). 'You were listening and so was he when I told him that we were moving away. And he… he…'

He grimaced and caught himself by the side of his face, remembering how stinging the pain was. It echoed to him through the memory. He remembered very well his back, his tense arms, the way his face looked when unhappy – Yashamaru had such a scary range of emotions when he was not smiling. It was one of the reasons he felt threatened near him. You never knew what could jump at him from behind that façade. But he couldn't remember the sole hit, he couldn't remember what has happened after that too.

'He took Gaara and Kankuro.' he muttered, playing around the part of his wet part of the shirt, trying his best to remove a button from it 'When I woke up they weren't there… I should have let him play, you know. It was just a stupid game…'

The blond nodded, more out of encouragement for the other to go one rather than actually understanding what was going on, but with some luck, he'd get there eventually. So far, from what he understood, Sabaku had meant to leave, but before he could, his in law had come and forcefully taken the youngest pair. It wasn't much as far as feedback on the happenings went, but at least he was better off than the past week.

'Why didn't he take Temari?' feeling rather stupid for asking as that hardly was what mattered right now, but needed a lot more information to be able to make sense of this plotline, nightmare, soap opera this thing was turning into. 'Where is she now, Sabaku-san?'

Daichi closed his eyes and caught the cup with coffee, looking at it with glazed attention.

'With Yashamaru.' he muttered and started drinking the thing slowly but forcefully 'They said I'm not good enough to be a parent so she went with him. And she didn't want to go until the very end but I…' 'Let go of her' felt so wrong to say out loud. 'I made her.' And he continued on drinking.

The blond stared at the man at those words, frowning, but not really interrupting right away. Mostly because he wants to wait for the older man to have some more of that black tar that will hopefully clear his mind up some more. 'They said I'm not good enough to be a parent' Who were 'they'? Asuma? His neighbors? His boss? All those could be possible, but well thought, would any of them have enough push for the man to do it willingly?

'A social worker said that?'

'No.' said the redhead, frowning a bit. His head slowly cleared out, but it was a slow and painstaking process. 'My neighbor said that. He said I was too ignorant to take care of them… and my boss also said that, though it was not his thing to even say so. And Yashamaru said that…' he swallowed and looked up at the blond 'Who gave the court a right to decide who can take care of my kids? I was giving my all to them! Everything I could and they gave the rights to Yashamaru!'

Minato looked down at his untouched coffee, taking a careful sip simply to keep himself from having to look at the older man. The court. He hadn't known the hearing would be this soon, Sabaku had only mentioned it once when he'd first met his in-law, and never again since- he had kind of thought it would be next year, soonest, given how little about it he had heard at all. Sabaku had never seemed pressured, but then again, maybe he did stay to work so late because he was busy talking with his lawyer? And now 'mommy' had his kids. That could have been him three years ago. Would have been him if it hadn't been for Ibiki and Jiraiya and Sarutobi-sensei.

'Is it permanent? Aren't you going to fight it?' His lawyer had to have already prepared something, settled another hearing, at the very least. Daichi only kept starring dumbly at his coffee, without the sign that he heard anything that the man said to him. Only after someone passed by their table, the corners of his lips twitched in a twinge of a dark humor.

'My lawyer sucks my prosecutor's dick.' he muttered quietly. 'He didn't fight and said he was glad he didn't. I'd fire him if I paid him.'

Minato stiffened at the words of the older man. Obviously he thought the dick sucking was a metaphorical comment on regards of having lost the case, but the other part where he said he was glad about having lost? What sort of professional was the guy supposed to be?

'Then ask for a new lawyer! If yours is biased and he knows it, he should have asked for someone else himself, but as he didn't, you should have asked for a new one yourself.' Seriously? The redhead let a guy that was convinced he was unfit defend him? The man had only looked at him with the expression that could only say two things – that either his mind was virginal enough to act surprised at such idea or dumb enough to not understand what was said to him.

'Really?' he said, and the he slowly hanged his head down, looking even more defeated. 'Really.'

'Of course. How is going who doesn't even want to going to manage defend you fairly? It's-' he made a face at the man's lowered head, reaching for a moment as if to pat his hand, but quickly aborting the gesture to move the soaked napkins out of the way instead. 'It's not that big of a deal. You can appeal to court on regards of the last one, you just need a new layer, I…'

He balked off that sentence as I he had tripped on a stone, looking lost and unsure- yeah, he remembered how well did Sabaku take his offers of help. Off the top of his head, he couldn't remember a single one that had been welcome. But apparently he was dumber than a rock when it came to such things, because he said it all the same.

'I could help you find someone. If you want me to.'

'I don't have money.' said the man, grabbing himself by the head, as if the sole idea of the wallet gave him headache 'I can't pay, I can't do anything, I…' he closed his eyes, visibly in even more internal pain, as there was not a single thing that could hurt him here physically.

'I can't have them back now.' he muttered in a barely hearable voice, much to the contrary of his previous shouts 'I don't have money, I lost my job, I'm homeless- it would only hurt them to be with me now.'

At the words, the younger man slowly leaned back on the vinyl seat, eyes staring ahead blankly as he digested the redhead's words. He thought the other man had mentioned having left his department, but he had meant- at the moment. Like right now not being there. Not.. well- He was wrong… Sabaku had it a lot worse than he had back then.

'…your family? You could…' Surely they would help the redhead, no matter how bad they got along with him, this wasn't something you just ignored because you hadn't liked who you married. The man had had his kids taken by the king of creeps, they couldn't leave three little kids in the hands of a man, or whatever the guy thought himself to be.

Daichi rose his head at those words. His family? His family. He had thought about them only once, but not for one moment the idea seemed to be good for him – until now. Wordlessly, he closed his opened lips (because, what could he say at such awkward moment? He should have been the first to remember about this) and slowly rose his shaking hands to the clasp of his suit to get out his cell out of it. The forgotten number, the sacred third number to his home was still there. And gods, he hoped they hadn't changed the phone number. Though, knowing his grandparents, they were stable enough to keep on having one for their whole life.

'Excuse me.' he muttered as he got up from the table, putting the device near his ear. The phone beeped regularly, showing that if anything, the line was clear. His vision was still a little blurry, but he had now much better orientation than before, so he walked up to the counter on his own without bumping on the people that passed him by. The adrenaline slowly rose in his veins making him more and more sober. Pick up. Don't pick it up. But pick it up, damn it! No, please, don't. it's been such a long time. But I need you! But I don't want to need you. I can't. I have to. Please. Please, no. Grandma-

'Click- Hello?' And there. There it was. That old, known voice, that he could recognize anywhere, at any time. Even after so long. Even if it was even more croaky now.

'Hello? Who's there? Is that you, Michiko?...' croaked the phone while he stood, his lips frozen still and his lungs pumping the air like a running train. 'Speak up right now!'

That made him finally shrug off the covering shock.

'Gran- grandmother.' he said in a high, scared voice of a teenager he always was around that demanding tone 'It's me… Daichi.'

Silence on the other side of the phone. Between each heartbeats the man could have sworn the whole millennia had passed.

'Daichi?...' it muttered slowly on the other side, only to turn into 'What kind of stupid joke is that? Is that you again, Koota? I'll have your head for such stupid tricks, young man!'

'No- it's me, it's really me!' he shouted, a bit louder this time, getting few eyes of an additional audience, but as for now, he could barely care for them now 'It's Daichi… Daichi of Sabakus.'

'Daichi?' repeated the voice again, questioning him, but with much more believable note 'Where are you? You're alive?'

You're alive? Ouch. Now that stung.

'Yes, I'm- of course I am alive!' he said, a bit indignant at such words 'You didn't think I was dead, did you?'

'Of course we did! Do you know how much time had passed? And you ran away so long time ago!' said the woman, her voice standing out strong enough to not mistake it for anyone sick or weak. Which was good at some point to hear that she was not at bad condition 'And with that woman, of course!... It wasn't impossible she could had murdered you in your sleep!'

'Karura would never do something like that!' he said, raising his voice louder again. Oh, old good anger, where were you? He thought he had lost this impatience toward the old lady long time ago. As it seemed, he was wrong on that 'How can you even say it out loud!'

'Yes, of course…' an obvious lack of belief there 'So, how is she?'

Daichi breathed the air in to shout something bad at the woman, but then his mouth stopped, and all of his breath had gone out of him like from a broken balloon.

'She…' he said and maintained his breath on the calmer notice, feeling how the bitterness rose up to his throat 'She is dead.'

'Oh. Finally…' was muttered in the receiver very quietly, like if it was supposed to be said to someone else. But he heard it and his teeth grinded in anger. Oh for gods' sake!...

'So, when are you getting back home?'

'Grandma-!' he hissed in anger, wanting to tell her that he was not a hurt dog that got hit by a stone and now was getting back home with his tail between his legs, but he was interrupted anyway.

'Watch your mouth, young man!' said the woman rapidly, putting him out instantly. He closed his eyes and began massaging his forehead slowly. He felt the beginning of the headache.

'Grandmother.' he said finally, correcting himself 'That's not why I'm calling. It's about the kids.'

'Kids?' croaked into his ear almost asking 'What kids are you talking about, dammit?'

He sighed out, trying to control himself.

'Yes. It's about your grandsons and granddaughter.' he muttered. 'You know, those cute little things that I sent you photos of.'

'Yes, yes, those two that looked exactly like her.'

'Three.'

'Or three.' said the woman, obviously annoyed and impatient now 'What about them?'

'I have a problem.' he said and looked up, finally noticing that people were staring at him, so he turned sideways, hiding his face more into the corner and getting away from the looks 'Yashamaru- my brother-in-law had sued me in the court and he had taken them away… this is a long story, grandma-mother.'

'Yes?' said the woman, not sounding like someone who wanted or needed to hear it out. If anything it was even more dry now.

'I need… I need money.' he finally rasped, feeling more and more insecure. It didn't sound very good 'For the lawyer. To get them back.'

'You don't have the money for the lawyer?' said the voice with disbelief, completely ignoring the plea 'What kind of a Sabaku are you that you can't hire a lawyer? What kind of job are you doing?' 'I'm not doing anything- grandma, that's not what I was asking for!' he said forcefully, but with another interruption, he failed.

'Then you shouldn't be surprised that you don't have the money! Sell something then!' said the woman in criticizing tone 'You don't know even that? What kind of a Sabaku are you?'

'No!' he shouted out finally 'Grandma, listen! My wife's brother took away my kids! I need your financial help!'

'But those are her kids?' asked the voice, obviously outraged 'They are where they belong! Stop spitting nonsense, Daichi, and don't bring shame to your family anymore! Come back home and we will forget about everything!' Daichi looked up, breathing in and out, trying to calm himself down. Which wasn't easy. No, it wasn't easy at such situation at all.

'Grandmother.' he started once again, calmly, steadily 'I love my children-'

'Click-beeeeeep…' was the curt, quick and absolutely obvious answer. Daichi felt like everything around him froze, only to melt down slowly into the normal rush, with voices, with the clanks of the cutlery, with the lights…

Oh, you. You!...

'…you!' he muttered, grimacing out as the phone in his hand crunched suspiciously 'Then screw you too, you stupid, old wench!'

And then, the phone flied – flied miraculously, beautifully, with grace of a colorful bird – only to land in the puree with beans of some completely unsuspecting, and thus – surprised middle-aged man. But Daichi didn't stay long enough to see that as he marched quick enough from the local, forgetting he had left the blond behind, only to sit down in the snow three steps after getting out of the restaurant. He hated it. He hated his life. He wanted out. Now. And now he was getting sober. Wow. Great. Gods, why.

Minato could tell right away the idea hadn't even crossed the man's mind once, simply because of the expression on the other's face, but he was glad he decided to at least try. He also liked the fact that he moved away to try and get an ounce of privacy… not because he didn't want to eavesdrop (because Minato was human and as most of them, couldn't help but want to know secrets belonging to others even if he was willing to chew heads off to keep his own private), but because it spoke about the man sobering… and speaking of soberness.

He gestured towards the waiting girl and the mess of wet napkins and spilt coffee on the table. The young woman seemed to hesitate on the spot for a moment or two, but after risking a look towards the redhead and for all means silently counting the distance, quietly approached the table to clear up the mess.

Minato would have liked to dedicate some minutes to glaring at her into feeling guilty for her selective sense of work priorities, but the man's rising volume didn't let him, his head automatically moving to the tense shoulders. The redhead had curled away from everyone like a kid that had something embarrassing happen and wasn't willing to either admit or show it. He couldn't quite make out what he was talking about, but he heard him say 'Grandmother' at least half a dozen times, which made him wonder just how old the man really was. Because the woman would have to be at the very least forty years older.

The volume rose and lowered depending on what the man was talking about, whatever that might be, but even though he couldn't make out the specifics, it was easy to tell it wasn't going well at all. He was starting to regret having suggested it and actually stood up, walking to redhead- what he wanted to attempt to do would be hard to determine, considering he couldn't exactly step into a telephone conversation- only to nearly fall back on his as when the man suddenly stood up and hurled his cell phone across the room. Without even looking at him, he stalked out of the café, leaving the few people at the place gaping at them, and he had just enough presence of mind to be glad all they did was gape.

'Oh, gods, I'm so sorry.' the blond was instantly sputtering a torrent of apologies as he gingerly extracted the cell phone from the food and did his best to clean it with the near-by napkins. And he really was starting to dislike the paper items. If he had known how little use the man had for the cell phone he wouldn't have bothered, but as it didn't belong to him and to Minato, his cell phone was the only contact he had with people who needed to talk to him 24/7, he cleaned it as well as he could given the circumstances. He quickly took out some money to pay for the man's food and the coffee they had taken, leaving it at the counter, then ran out to find Sabaku. He hadn't taken too long inside the café, but still more than enough for the man to have gotten lost in the crowd if he tried, and he didn't want to think of the man alone on the streets right now. 'Homeless' and 'unemployed' and 'kidless' weren't very reassuring adjectives when one's mind stability were taken in account. In his haste he nearly ran past him, but the man's hair stood out like something very real and very alive in the partially snow-covered streets, so he quickly undid the path so he was next to him.

'Hey…' if he had been any other person, Minato would probably had shaken the man and asked him what his problem was, but as he wasn't, he did what he usually would do in such a circumstance. He reached for him, offering a hand. "Are you all right…? About the lawyer…'

The blond hesitated, leaning a bit closer so the man so he would see the hand and take it- he somehow doubted his pants were insulated, and the man was soaked enough from wrestling Asuma as it was.

'You can get one for free, you know? Even a really good one, they, ah… At least in Fire country. Even private ones do things for free because they need to answer to a certain number of free cases so they won't have to pay some sort of penalty or something.'

The redhead only now had looked up at him. As it came, his eyes were once again glazed over, and not from alcohol this time.

'Didn't you hear what I said?' he murmured, almost yowling 'I said: I have no home. I have no job. I have nothing! And you want me to think about the lawyer?'

Minato winced at the man's words, his own voice even lower, and he hoped that at least faintly reassuring.

'Well, then you need to get a new job and a new home.' he ignored the looks they were getting and carefully reached for the man's arm, giving him a small tug. 'When I was in college I used to make money preparing resumes. I can help you updates yours and find new places to hire you.' He didn't tell him in the best case scenario, it would take a month or two for people to actually contact him. And the man did need a stable house that he could give an address to when he filled it.

No money, no belongings… There was really only one way out of this, and Minato already knew his shrink would kill him for it. But really, what else was he supposed to do? 'You can stay at my house until you figure things out, okej? I'll help you.'

Daichi blinked, feeling if anything – plainly unhappy. Not because of what he heard, but because it all came to this – that he considered depending on others as something bearing the comfort. Like – warm food. Or space. Or… shower. He hadn't brushed his teeth for only two nights and he already had a problem with that. Right now, something so important like new job seemed a bit unreal in comparison to his natural physical needs, even if he knew that the man was right.

'Could I?...' he asked finally, looking a bit at the hand tugging at his shoulder. It was the closest he's got to the pat on his back from years. 'Stay at your place? Really, can I?'

'Of course.' the blond smiled, glad that at least he seemed to have found something to say that got as close to a positive reaction from the older man as he had in the past half hour. 'I don't mind, and I don't think Naru-'

Do you really want this man at your house? his mind suddenly shot up, as usual, growing a pair a little too late to do him any good. You want this guy alone with your son? Like if he'd ever leave them alone! Minato was always at home. 24/7…unless he was out for grocery shopping (he took Naruto with himself, his conscience provided) as for university, there was Iruka- And leaving Iruka and Naruto alone with the man is so much better an idea?

And what? If you were with them you could stop him? He should have bought that tazer when he'd arrived to this stupid country. He gave another look at the man, trying to not be swayed by the wave of sympathy he got from the man's desperate expression and failing utterly.

'I don't think he'd mind either.' he finished, giving the man's arm another tug. No, Sabaku wouldn't do anything to them simply because if he wanted his kids back, he would need Minato's help. 'If you help me, I think we can get the last room habitable before night time- if you don't mind sharing room with the things that are already there- we can get them against the walls and stuff, but it's not like if I have anywhere else to put them-'

'That's all right.' said the man, for once one of the lines grazing his expression smoothing over. It were good news after all. He had no idea how would he get on with that little kid of the blond's as any thought of any kids just made him wince, but he decided not to think about it. Not now. At the tug, he slowly scrambled on his knees and got up from the ground. 'I'll give you a ride.' he said, searching for the keys in his pockets. His car was just full of his things, but if the man took the box on his knees and the kid would just squeeze between his clothes and the food, he wouldn't have to get back for it later.

'I just need to… my phone. I threw out my cell phone.' and without a second glance, the redhead immediately shot back to the restaurant in the search of his belongings.

'I need to go get Naru, don't worry about it- Hey!' Minato tried to grab the older man, but the redhead seemed to be a lot faster than what he gave him credit for because he only managed to catch up with him when the man stopped. 'I've got, I grubbed it- here.' He offered the older man his cell phone, feeling himself blush from embarrassment when just about everyone went right back to gaping once they were back inside.

'I- I need to go get Naruto.'

'Oh.' said the redhead, completely ignoring the public as he grabbed the phone 'Thanks.' He didn't think that the man would think about such things for him, It was… nice.

'I'll give you both a ride.' he said.

'Okej.' the blond nodded, already walking towards the door, only pausing long enough to make sure the redhead was following. 'Where is your car?'

He redhead looked up, seeing the gates of the kindergarten, then the people going in and out and… …that was a good question.

'Give me a moment.' he said and ran up to the kindergarten, trying to think from which direction he actually came. He remembered the familiar path so it had to be… 'I will be right back.' he said and he ran out to search for the automobile.

'Wait, no-' The redhead might still be a bit better, but he was in no condition to drive. What had he been thinking? He sped up to catch up with the other. 'Actually, we can leave it there today, right? Come with me and we'll get Naruto and you can pick it up later.'

Daichi blinked, but shrugged at that.

'All right…' he was not very happy about it, especially as he was now wet, cold and wet but hey. He was now at mercy, so he had to bow down a bit more.

'Thank you.' the blond said, sounding a lot more thankful and relieved than what he had originally intended to, but at least he had diverted the man's attention again to something more normal- oh… That's right. The redhead had just made a mess at the kinder, and now he was even messier by being soaked in both frozen water and coffee- seriously, what was this man made off? Minato didn't think he himself could shrug off being cold or having burnt off his hand so easily. 'I- could you wait here a moment? I'll just go get Naru and then we can go all back, just- please stay here? Please.'

Daichi had only made a funny grimace. Like if he wanted to see bunch of kids now. He'd have to be stupid or drunk to get in there.

'I'll wait.' he said and hid his hands in his pockets.

'Thank you.' The blond was a bit more successful on not looking too relieved this time, and after a quick jog to the kinder, he picked his precious little fox up. Literally, because Naruto pretty much tackled him as soon as he appeared by the doors.

'You are late, daddy!' the blond protested I something that was trying very hard to sound angry, and being only partially successful. 'You are never late, what were you doing?'

'I- sorry, Lisku, I thought-' he gave the bearded man a reproachful look. Hadn't he told his son he'd take an extra moment? He hadn't even been gone forty minutes. Apparently, it didn't occur to him the man had told him and Naruto simply hadn't believed it.

Asuma had only let out a breath of nicotine he started as Naruto was the last child in the kinder right now and he could get an outside break. Especially after what's happened lately.

'Please, have a safe trip home.' he said around the cigarette as he looked back to the place 'It's not safe outside lately.'

He wondered if to ask about the man, but he decided to not to. If he was to hear out everything that parents of his kids did he would soon become too attached to every one of them, and as he knew, every kid had to grow up and get out of this place sometime. Minato just nodded, picking the little blond up and adjusting him on his hip as he gave the older man a look- another thing he didn't like was people smoking around Naruto. But then again they *were* outside, so…

'I'm sorry about what just happened.' he said, again forgetting he had told the man not three days ago that whatever the redhead did wasn't his fault or responsibility and that he hadn't even been there when this started. 'Sabaku-san is just having... He's having a lot of troubles right now.'

He bit his lip lightly, before continuing.

'He'll be staying at my home for a couple days. 'So please warn the police if you see us missing for more than a day.'

Asuma blinked, obviously surprised by what was said to him. So, now they were… closer than before? And even if not long time ago the blond seemed to be sure that there were no links that could lead him to the man and his kids through his family now he was going to become the personal host of the man? That wasn't even funny. Some people could really be strange with what they did.

'That's a good thing for you to do… I think.' he said, unsure why he was telling that to him 'Say hello to his kids from me then…'

Minato was at loss of what to answer to that, so he just repeated that it was complicated without making a reference to exactly what was complicated, and that's pretty much where his luck ran out, because Naruto finally clicked off his internal shock and immediately pushed away from him to give him an incredulous look.

'Wh- Dlaczego?'

'Lisku…'

'Po co!' Minato sighed, pulling the boy close so he would hopefully stop being so loud as he quickly marched out of the kinder.

'He's just having a rough time, Naru, It will be just a couple days.'

'I don't want him to.'

'Naru.'

'I don't' want him to! He's mean and he scares you!'

'He doesn't scare me-' Which wasn't that big of a lie, really: he just terrified him every now and then. It wasn't a very stable thing.

'You are always feeling bad when he is around!'

'I'm not, I promise, Lisku.' Naruto just turning to give a look at the redhead as they slowly approached, before turning and firmly burying his face on his father's shoulder.

'Then… is Gaara coming too? And Kankuro and Temari?'

Oh, gods… not this.

'No, Lisku, I'm sorry. And please don't ask about it, okej?'

'But-'

'Please.' And his daddy sounded so stressed Naruto swallowed the urge to keep asking and just stayed where he was. He did stop and turn to give the man a look, eyes ranking over him from head to toe.

'You are all wet.' he stated with the start sincerity only found in preschoolers.

'Naru!' he turned to apologize at the man, but then realized than more than apologizing, he should be agreeing with his son. 'Well, maybe… Do you want to take a shower when we get home? You really should.' It wasn't horribly cold because the wind wasn't blowing, but it was snowing intermittently, and had been so since this morning. The man had only glanced at the kid, trying his best to ignore it. It really was a painful stab to look at something that other man had and he didn't because… because of all of that. He didn't want to be jealous or anything, only he was, because gods, this kid was so blond. And he hadn't noticed it earlier. He was almost as blond as Temari, only more. Suddenly, his arms felt very empty, even if he didn't carry his kids around every day.

'A shower would be nice.' he muttered and closed his suit instead, feeling how all of the water on the cover already froze and how his fingers were already numb from the cold. It made wonders to his burns but at the same time it was just more annoying his body temperature. 'If that's not the problem.'

'Not at all.' turning around, Minato made a small, needless gesture for the man to follow him. Being only four blocks away saved him of more than fifteen minutes awkward silence, and once in the department, he was even luckier to be able to rush the man into the bathroom, given than he had actually started to shiver and his lips were tinged blue. Probably meaning that the levels of alcohol in his blood were lowering by the minute.