A/n: Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted this chapter last week; I deleted half the page and added a thousand words more because the first version was honestly quite half-arsed.

Chapter 34: Uncertainty

Despite having a child to care for now, Minato was a Konoha shinobi first and foremost. So, it didn't surprise Kakashi the slightest when the blond was called to the Hokage Tower for a mission not soon after Kakashi was finally settled in Minato's apartment.

Although, to be honest, Kakashi hadn't expected to be called along with Minato for the pre-mission briefing as well.

As Kakashi made his way towards the Hokage's office with Minato by his side, they boy allowed his mind to drift off, trying to remember all he knew about the missions Minato had once been deployed on. But it was to no avail; this was long before the six-year-old boy of decades ago actually had cared about the blond, had actually paid attention to Minato outside of the man's role as team commander. Well, Kakashi certainly cared now, and his lack of knowledge was beginning to diminish Kakashi's appreciation of his previous child-self even more than it had before. Even if the Kakashi of that time had been so bent on keeping the world around him at a distance, that was no excuse for him to be so self-absorbed and uncaring – especially towards Minato who always had so blatantly held Kakashi's wellbeing in the forefront of his mind. The least his past-child could have done was take note of his sensei's health from the missions he went on.

Now, in this present time, Kakashi had absolutely no idea how Minato's mission would turn out (assuming that he did have this same missions as before) other than the fact that he would survive. This ignorance of his was making Kakashi's stomach flip, and it only increased as the clock ticked away, closer and closer to Minato's designated departure time.

In the Hokage Tower, the two of them reached the Hokage's doors easily, and was led inside just as quick. "Minato. Kakashi," the Hokage greeted as soon as the two walked through.

"Hokage-sama." They bowed in unison.

The Hokage had clearly been waiting for their arrival, as the stacks of unfiled papers on his desk were pushed aside to avoid obstructing his view from his incoming visitors. The old man's eyes watched as the two made their way into the office, eyes lingering contemplatively on both of them. Kakashi stood patiently by Minato's side, wondering the importance of his own presence in the office, as Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe before getting onto business. The Hokage's eyes seemed to focus directly on Kakashi as the man spoke in a voice that bordered soothing and apologetic, "Now, Kakashi, Minato, I know the two of you are just getting to know one another, but I'm afraid, Kakashi, I will have to pull your guardian for a mission."

Kakashi dipped his head into a nod. "I understand," the boy responded immediately, conditioned throughout the years to answer promptly to the Village Leader's direct orders without too much question. Kakashi watched as the Hokage looked consideringly over at him, as if expecting something more than Kakashi's quick acknowledgement. But the six-year-old had no clue what Sarutobi wanted. This situation was different from his past, from procedure, and Kakashi wasn't even familiar with what a normal six-year-old in his position would actually think. Minato was standing anxiously beside him, trying to channel feelings of placidity over at the younger boy. Clearly the blond knew what was going on, so, Kakashi supposed, it had to do with him. "I don't need a babysitter," Kakashi tried, because Minato seemed like someone without a lot of connection with child caretakers, and who knows, maybe he couldn't find one?

"I'm not suggesting you do."

Kakashi furrowed his brow. If that wasn't the case… Kakashi tilted his head, looking thoughtful as he continued speaking, regardless of the confusion, directing his gaze over at Minato because he knew very well Minato had been the root of this meeting. "I realise that I may seem too young to be alone, but your worries are unfounded. I can take care of myself; it wouldn't be the first time. I've always taken care of myself when my father left for missions in the past." Kakashi paused suddenly as his own words sunk in. Oh. Suddenly Kakashi knew exactly what this whole meeting was about.

Sakumo's last mission.

"What resulted from your father's mission…" the Hokage softly began when Kakashi held quiet for much too long.

Kakashi clenched a hand tightly beside his thigh. "Yes sir," Kakashi interrupted abruptly. He wasn't sure what he was 'yes'-ing to, but he just didn't want that sentence to continue anymore that it already had.

Minato twitched discreetly beside him, letting his arm brush over Kakashi's shoulder. Kakashi loosened his body, even though it hadn't been obviously tense to begin with, giving the blond a small smile in response. During this, Sarutobi looked away, undoubtedly giving the two a moment of family time, before he turned back to Kakashi a minute later. The old man spoke unassumingly, "I understand if you are wary missions, or Minato taking part in missions, but the chances of what had occurred and grown so unjustifiably repeating once more … Please, child, be at ease that such things won't happen to you again."

Kakashi could hear the Hokage choosing his words carefully, trying to curve his words so it they would not be a lie. Kakashi knew as well as Sarutobi did that people did not change overnight; if the same choice fell on another shinobi as it had to his father and the shinobi chose the same route, the results would've led to vilification as quickly as it once had. The truth about humans was that they were so damn unreasonable.

Kakashi closed his eyes, letting out a low breath. "I know, Hokage-sama," he said, because Sarutobi was trying his best to comfort whatever dread that the six-year-old was supposed to have without explicitly lying, and lingering on the fact that the Hokage was slipping unfairly through his promises with carefully worded assurances would have been impudent. "I know," Kakashi said once more, because he honestly knew so much. He knew there was a low probability of it happening again. He knew Sarutobi was as worried for him as Minato was. He knew he was acting too odd for a six-year-old, which only fed to Minato and Sarutobi's concern for his mental health. But above all, what Kakashi also knew was that should, on the off chance, he'd somehow affected the future enough that it did lead to the result that the Hokage thought Kakashi was scared of, Kakashi's spirit would break and wither away until this second chance was nothing more than hell on earth for him.

A part of Kakashi's brain was certain he was only overreacting, but by this point his nerves were pulled taut into a strained tenseness that wouldn't relax, always mixing in a taint of fear with every idea that crossed his mind. Kakashi felt stuck in the middle of his so-called adventure, not sure if he'd changed enough for the future to diverge into a second path, or not enough so that the future he once knew was still somewhat on course – supposing that he could change the future, that was. And wasn't that last point just so damn infuriating?

Perhaps a majority of Kakashi's fear was actually coming from the nightmare that he wouldn't be able to do anything to fix the future when he needed to the most. Despite the small nudges Kakashi had tried to direct the course of his future, he still hadn't gotten proof that events to come were not set in stone.

Life was becoming confusing with so much uncertainty flowing in from the multiple presents and pasts, unlike the life he once had when the idea of time-travel had been so unthinkable to him.

Sarutobi was looking at Kakashi again while the boy had allowed his thoughts to roll off into numerous tangents. The old man's face was slowly pulling back into concern, like he was certain Kakashi was still in a ball of terror of what could happen to Minato on his next mission. Kakashi shook his head clear, finishing his sentence, "I know Minato is a shinobi of Konoha, and I have no reason to nor will I get in the way of his mission." It was barely anything similar to what had truly been floating through his mind, but Kakashi wanted to head towards the less depressing route of conversation if possible.

The Hokage held to Kakashi's gaze, preferring to see for himself the certainty of Kakashi's words, rather than hear Kakashi's half-truths. Kakashi held his face passive and his posture straight, trying not to let his unease flit through for the world to see. There was a silence before the old man sighed. He didn't seem as though he liked all that he saw on Kakashi's face. "Perhaps you do," Sarutobi began in a voice that gently suggested otherwise, letting his sentence hang. He let out a short sigh when Kakashi's expression didn't change. "Very well, then." He turned towards the blond. "Minato, you will join your team to set off tomorrow oh-five-hundred sharp."

"Yes'sir," Minato replied accordingly, but his cerulean eyes were on Kakashi, much like Sarutobi's own were.

Kakashi shot them both a strong smile, stretching obviously across his mask. The Hokage softened his gaze. "Kakashi, you know you are allowed in my office whenever you wish to speak to me, don't you?" the man asked.

"Thank you, sir," Kakashi answered. But his fears were nothing the Hokage could know of – not yet.

The Hokage nodded, "Very well." The old man tilted his head, giving Kakashi an informal dismissal as two Jounin entered the room at the same moment. "If you don't mind waiting outside a little while, Kakashi," Sarutobi said, "I will send Minato out as soon as I finish briefing his team." Kakashi nodded, turning on his heel. As he left the room, Kakashi could still feel the old Hokage's eyes lingering worriedly on his back, but Kakashi held strong.

x

Kakashi woke up early to see Minato off the next day. The blond hadn't said much the day before, perhaps accepting the judgement of the Hokage to be more accurate than what he knew himself about Kakashi and kids' temperament in general. Kakashi was grateful for it since he knew that the moment Minato started to voice any of his worries, Kakashi wasn't sure if the dam of fear he kept locked up so tightly in his chest would be able to hold, because everything that was making him restless at the moment revolved around that dear man.

The two of them were standing by the Village Gates at the present moment. Kakashi could see Minato talking to him – or rather, at him, really; Kakashi wasn't paying his words any heed. Kakashi was sure Minato knew of his inattentiveness, but the blond continued talking regardless; he was certain Minato was doing it for his sake, hoping his voice would salve the boy's wounded fears.

"Kakashi?" Minato nudged gently, breaking from his longwinded rambling.

Kakashi's eyes flickered upwards. "Ah, nothing," he said plainly. Minato studied the little boy in front of him with cerulean eyes narrowed into a frown, but he soon continued whatever topic he had been previously talking about, when Kakashi didn't budge and only kept a tighter hold on his internal qualms.

It wasn't Kakashi's fault he felt so paranoid about the future. Kakashi didn't know what to do; Minato, as the future dictated, would do fine on his own. But the problem he kept coming back to circled around same questions: Kakashi hadn't tried to change anything major, but what was major? What did one consider to be major? How did he know that just by being in Minato's life so early, he hadn't already changed Minato's fate of this mission? How sure was Kakashi that Minato wasn't going to die?

Maybe if Kakashi hadn't gone through the second loss of his father, he wouldn't have been this worried, because now, Kakashi saw what his so-called confidence was like. He'd been sure Sakumo was going to be fine (and yes, maybe he started to feel a bit nervous near the end, but under that, he'd honestly thought he'd already directed the future to a different branch on that Tree of Life with its multiple limbs that spread through all the world's possibilities) but Kakashi had been wrong about that. This time, Kakashi didn't know how strongly he could say he was 'sure' Minato would be fine, because he wasn't sure about anything anymore. And what was worse, he was starting to feel nervous like he had before his father's end - but this time more so due to his inability to trust the ever-shifting timeline, than anything - but still, look where that ended up when he ignored it. Kakashi didn't want to lose another member of his family from carelessness.

Never again.

In the end, when Minato left, his motions were stiff and hesitant, continuously glancing back at the young boy bidding his guardian good luck. The two Jounin beside Minato arched their eyebrows at the blond's endearing actions, but the man never noticed, too fixated on his dear charge. Despite the slow beginning to the journey, the three Jounin eventually disappeared into the horizon. And by that time, Kakashi had made up his mind.

Dropping a clone with just the slightest puff of a smoky breeze, Kakashi slipped silently after the departing group. The two gate watchers never noticed a thing, because honestly, who expects anyone to sneak out of the Village?