Daichi didn't want to go to the summit. Not when he heard that the Hokage decided to skip it. He felt like if he had no reason to do that anymore. He spent two days on sulking about this. The third day he woke up with the new idea: going to summit and terrorizing all the guests – even the legendary Mizukage to the point that they would have no other choice but drag the blond in. And if that wouldn't work, it was still closer to Konoha from the place of summit than from Suna. It was a good opportunity either way (and he could even make some paths, wow).

So when he arrived to the place of the happening, he was in the mildly sour but tamed mood. That was also the reason why he passed the corridors without even noticing anything abnormal, and only when the stated summit decided to gather in the place, he finally saw what he did not expect to see. Minato was on the meeting. He looked like if someone chew on him and spat him out, but he was still there.

His sour mood immediately changed into the melancholic-full-of-adoration-generally-happiness mode and immediately made him want to hug the man for that he decided to come and scold him for looking like if he went through hell to do that. And then hug him more and scold him more. Because he hadn't seen him for so long and because he actually gave him a stress back then. Only a very loud sound of clearing the throat had got him back to reality as he saw that everyone was staring at him. He lost the track on reality, apparently.

'The Fourth Kazekage.' he said simply to introduce himself 'Suna's leader.' It was curt but it was okay for him. Nobody had to know his name here, even if they were noble.

The redhead was the one furthest away from the meeting point when compared with the other villages, explaining why the messenger hawk had arrived well after the Kazekage had left the capitol. Under normal circumstances Minato might have realized this and been thoughtful enough to torture his poor desert familiar to find the redhead, but given what had happened before he left, he'd barely been able to nod when Setsuna suggested to send a hawk warning the other kages to expect his arrival.

Daichi hadn't been the only one to notice the way the blond looked either. It didn't even look like he had bothered to try and hide it or even lessen the damage, the red and black coat he wore to replace the white and red one made the pallor of his skin stand out all the more. That had always been a problem with Minato, his total inability to hide the fact he felt sick because he just had the kind of unfortunate skin that shower right away when he felt ill or had suffered blood loss. There were bruise-like shadows under his eyes and the humidity of the air had his hair drooping slightly into a more tamed mess, giving him a softer, somewhat feminine look.

Despite all of this, the blond managed not to look fragile, and the expression on his eyes was anything but weak. Minato was resting on his seat in a comfortable slouch and was alternatively staring off into nothing or answering the death glares the Raikage randomly threw in his direction with a smile ranging just on the side between amused and carnivorous.

'Greetings, Kazekage-sama.' he said smoothly, though he didn't look away from the dark skinned man he was engaging on a stare off with. He wasn't done seeing if he could make the man have a stroke solely out of suppressed hatred, and He didn't want to see Daichi right now. It would be too much.

Daichi had only nodded in response, but as the blond didn't look away from the Third Raikage, he slowly tore his eyes off his and moved toward the rest of the table, looking at the man from water lands who had his whole face behind a thick curtain of the material and the old Onoki.

'It would probably be the end for his old bones soon.' he thought quietly to himself 'His hips are killing him, and that's usually a bad sign at such age.' He pitied him a bit, regretting his kids won't grow up to meet with him. Maybe he was not the most interesting kage on the whole world, but he was surely something you wanted to see on your own. But then, it was the old man's fault he had problems in life. So maybe it was better.

'We're opening the Kage Summit.' said Mifune, the mediator, who never seemed to change, no matter how many times Daichi saw him. Somehow, he suspected he might have been a druid or a pagan god who decided to live undercover 'First, we will start off with the issues between the Land of Stones and The Land of Thunder…' The old man started talking and slowly, carefully, the talk started blending into the back of his mind, making him lose interest and understanding in what was said. With the corner of his eye he saw the blond looking cheap, trashy and not too good and also not taking much part in the discussion that seemed to start heating over.

He didn't like the way it looked. But he also didn't like the fact he had to resort to such things as his skills to actually get something out of this. As Minato proclaimed not coming to the summit, they didn't even begin on wondering how and when would be their 'private time'. So, Daichi decided to take matters in his own hands.

He crossed his hands under his chin, and as he had his sheet of material over his face, it also partially covered his fingers. On the other side of it he had smeared five dots of different poisons he could use to knock himself out instantly if his lips ever had touched one of them. It took years to practice how to wear such material and talk without licking off the things of it. And now, it was very helpful. The powder he had smeared upon his thumb was transparent, small and gave only a blueish tint.

The weakest cheating potion for an ultimate spasm of coughs that could go as the poisoning and get him out of whatever boring meeting he was on. But as now he had to get out not only alone but with the man also, he had simply made a wave of the hand toward the blond, very similar to the one when the bug bit the skin. Thanks to his small amount of chakra, the powder polluted the air for a moment and landed partially – because the rest was lost on the journey – inside Minato's cup. Voila. Now he had to wait for the effects.

There was no sign the blond noticed the poison landing on his water, so it was difficult to say If the fact he waited until Konoha had updated the treaties between them and both Thunder and Rock before so much as taking one sip of the water. He casually did so as they were updating Mifune on what had already been privately decided between Suna and Konoha while the Kazekage had been on the lead just a couple months ago.

'And here I thought Konoha you had finally outgrown running off after Suna like puppy.' the white-haired man said just low enough to be able to pass it off as a muttered remark. This time Minato actually turned his head to fix him with a look, lips slowly curling into a sleepy, sweet smile.

'We decided to go back to being best friends forever.' he said softly, and given the fact the man had only thrown a random jab at him without asking any sort of reply and how little sense his own answer had made, it was solely for the benefit of making the man angry.

'Hadn't you two had a fallout?' the man spat back, an eyebrow twitching slightly.

'Yes, but I forgave him.' he said as he took a second sip of water. '… I'm a very forgiving person, you see.' One of the masked ANBU behind him shifted slightly, and he wondered if Hizashi was finding this as horribly amusing as he did. He doubted it, given how inclined towards humor the man normally was, but surely he'd think such levels of irony directed towards the Raikage were only to be expected of his 'destiny' after what he'd tried to do to his brother and what had nearly happened to him.

The redhead on the other hand, kept on keeping an eye of the blond every now and then, but beside that, he was engulfed in a steady, treacle talk with Mizukage – which seemed to be dangerous and threatening to his very position. Fabulous.

'Dear Kazekage-sama, you seem to be in a very good condition.' said the man drawing the quotes like long knives. It practically meant 'Why aren't you dead yet.'

'I happened to be sick some time ago, but I licked my wounds out of it. Thank you for asking.' said Daichi in the same tone. Which meant 'Just to disturb your very presence a bit longer'.

'That's good, very good. (we will fix that soon) I thought that since you're feeling so well we could talk about the matters of rain clouds being blocked by the newest dunes of the sand on the northern side.' (take your shitty sand offa my lawn, heffa, I warn you)

'Oh? Is it disturbing you? Forgive me, I had no idea.' (your lawn? Hahahahaha)

'Yes. It seems that it passes the circulation of the wet air and disturbs our country weather.' (so get it off) 'I believe there is something that can be done about it.' (get it off now, or I'll screw you over)

'I also do believe that. (I don't take it from anyone) But I'm afraid that some of my people might be living there by now.' (so… in your face, hahahahaha).

Ah, the lovely mood of political talks over the kage's tea.

The first few coughs went unnoticed by the table, possibly by the owner himself. When after an hour they not only didn't recede but started appearing more frequently, his ANBU wordlessly changed the water for something that tasted faintly minty to help his throat calm down, but of course, by then the damage had been done.

The redhead observed this with the corner of his eye, still bussing himself with the talk he had with the Mizukage (which went, to make story short: 'Get out of my country' 'Lol, no.' 'Angry face.' 'Roflmao.'). He saw the water being changed, but it was futile by now. The poison was already at the back of Minato's throat and that was all that it needed. He sat calmly, ignoring it, only a one particularly loud cough made both the Raikage and Tsuchikage stop their conversation, and naturally – Suna-Mizu sweet talks also. He slowly turned his head toward the blond, trying to look as disturbed as the others, which didn't take much considering he had his veil on.

'By dear gods.' he said finally as no one spoke anything, only watching the blond curling up in the coughing attacks 'Are you all right there, Hokage-sama?'

'Yes, of course.' the blond managed to sound saccharine sweet even between coughs 'I was just feeling n-neglected and wanted some atten-' whatever he wanted to say next was cut off by even more violent coughing. His ANBU took this as a sign as good as any other to cut this meeting short. While the one with the bird mask helped the blond up, the female walked towards Mifune, excusing them for the time being while the blond was quickly extracted from the room before he could leave his lungs on the polished table.

'Interesting.' said the Mizukage, watching the door rather greedily after they closed 'I didn't know that the Hokage had such a sickness on himself.' Daichi had only blinked from his position and looked back at the other kages. It seemed that the old man decided to go to the restaurant to have warm meal in-between, as such breaks usually didn't happen, the Raikage shortly on his heels. Whatever the duo was up to it was better to not leave them alone, but that was how the world had changed anyway. He looked back at the Mizukage.

'Indeed.' he muttered 'Me neither.' Then simply stood up and exited through the same door.

'We will resume this meeting in two hours.' said Mifune as he exited the room 'If by then the Hokage cannot be there, the meeting will be called off due the further date.'

'That's problematic.' said Mizukage. He didn't hear the rest. The door closed and he quietly strolled down the corridor.

'Baki.' he muttered. The shadow of the man instantly appeared behind his back 'I'm going to visit Hokage-sama. You know what does that mean.'

'Yes.' said Baki, a bit repulsed. Frankly, it meant to keep an eye on everything but one certain room. The one that the redhead had only entered- no, wait, the other one. The first was empty. With a sigh, Baki vanished.

#+#+#+#+#+#

'Kazekage-sama.' was the voice of one of the ANBUs, obviously strained from panic he didn't want to show. As much as the medic of the country tried to look up where was the injury, he couldn't find what he was searching for, while Minato now coughed up quite nice big blotches of the red. Daichi felt an urge to smile. If anyone tried to doubt the blood for a moment, they'd discover it was a colored thickened saliva. But obviously, everyone instantly assumed that since it was red and the blond couldn't now even say a word between the cough, that it had to be an injury.

'I was wondering if everything was all right.' he had just stated plainly 'I didn't know that Hokage-sama was so sick.'

Minato said something amidst a fit of coughing. It didn't sound particularly civil, so it was probably a good thing for everyone involved his throat self censored it, especially considering that after traveling with Jiraiya for several years, Minato had picked up a particularly colorful language.

'This is troublesome.' said one of the ANBUs, still more than alerted. 'We have discovered it's a poison, but we don't know what is it, we suspect the coup-'

'Shut up!' hissed some female ANBU behind him, making Daichi smile a bit, obviously, they were a pair. 'Don't spill the data to anyone!'

'I know!' said the man, sounding a bit annoyed as he stroked his head behind his ponytail 'Only that Kazekage-sama is skilled with poisons, so I was wondering…'

The sentences was left in the air as every head in the room turned toward him. Except Minato, everyone were dead still for a second. Daichi couldn't help but smile under his mask. Then he uncrossed his arms and slowly came up to the man. 'Let go of him.' He said to the medical ninja, and he slowly, carefully laid the sitting man across his arm, so he could turn his chin upward and inspect his throat from the close.

'No out injections.' he stated after a moment of looking at how the skin twitched under the coughing. Then he simply laid his hand on the throat and caressed it down in a light stroke. That was so pleasant, to just have the man laying down across his torso like that, to breathe into his smell and to feel his vulnerable neck in front of everyone. Daichi was not an exhibitionist – more, he was actually a very closed person when it came to sexual themes – but it was oddly erotic, to touch that man in such way when everyone thought he was only checking him up. 'I see.' he said, for a moment almost too affectional, but he caught himself just in the nick of the time 'I know what is it. It's treatable. But quite dangerous.'

'Dangerous?' gasped someone, probably a rookie who didn't take it too well 'Oh no, Hokage-sama!'

'Not for him.' said Daichi, then smirked under his mask so visibly it actually showed through the material 'But for you. Such thing requires a strong antidote I can do right here and right now, but I need everyone who is not sick or immunized out of the room.'

'Then…' said one of the ANBU's, trying to see any hint of the answer on the blond's face '…then we can arrange the separate room and-'

'If you want him to die in-between then go ahead.' said Daichi simply and slowly let Minato lie down on the bed 'I cannot guarantee his life then, everyone bleeds just as much and just the same.'

Then he stood up and crossed his arms.

'But if I do it near him, the fumes will soften the effects of the poison. So, how would you like it to be?' After a moment the room was very, very empty, while Daichi delicately opened his set of a 'little poison master' to make it look like a big work, while he himself simply took out a black bead out his pocket and put it near Minato's mouth. 'It's bittersweet, but suck on it slowly.' He muttered as he held his head up carefully 'Unless you want your lungs to clamp down upon you. It will gradually pass away.'

And as he gave it to him, he gave him a quick kiss upon the temple with murmured 'sorry' as he went back to his little set of herbs to make something that could make fumes and would smell like a medicine. A syrup for burning blisters on the internal wounds sounded just about right.

Minato glared murder at him from under slightly bruised lids, not really protesting the treatment even though he was unusually tense under the redhead's touch when he'd normally just let the redhead do what he pleased if it meant stopping the annoying itch on his throat. He wasn't quite so certain when Daichi put the little slimy ball on his mouth, making a very childish face as he fought the urge to spit it out or just swallow it to get the horrible flavor off his mouth. That he was capable of eating almost anything remotely edible didn't mean he liked it so, and he hated the main herb used in this pill with all his soul.

When he'd been a genin lacking just about any sort of natural immunity children his age had, one of the things he'd caught the most was bronchitis, which had lead to pneumonia more than once. It usually went away the moment Tsunade turned around so Daichi sneaked to make him drink tea made of this horrible stuff. And by 'made' that usually meant bodily pin Minato to the bed while his teammate poured the stuff down his throat regardless of if the feverish blond felt like swallowing it or not. He had the feeling he had finally developed a more or less decent immunological system out of sheer hatred for the thing. And it didn't really help that Daichi's notion of 'sweet' was vastly different than the one Minato had of such a concept.

'Be careful with what you do.' he managed as he shifted the 'candy' around in his mouth. 'I brought a Hyuuga.' And if he knew the man one bat, he was spying on them under the anonymity of the mask. He just hoped the man would be too embarrassed by what he had just seen to try and discuss it with him. Sometime she was almost glad about how prim and proper the clan could be. Just in case, he raised a hand in a symbol that plainly meant 'Turn it off.'

'Couldn't help myself.' said the man simply as he mixed four different ingredients together. Slowly, the thing started seething out faint fumes smelling like a bunch of dates and herbs 'You look so bad that it wakes up my motherly instincts in me. Can you tell me what's happened?'

'That's a stupid question.' the blonde said flatly, no hint of the normal humor in his voice. Of course he couldn't. Technically, he wasn't supposed to even be friends with Daichi, but again, that was dodging the question. He made another hand gesture towards where he could faintly feel his jounin's chakra. 'I mean it, turn it off.'

Daichi sighed and left the potion on a small fire, letting it cook. Then he walked up to the door and opened it, meeting the jounin face to face.

'He told you to turn it off.' he muttered in an annoyed tone 'Then turn it off!' And with that he slammed the door behind him and walked up to his cooking experience once again.

'That's not a stupid question, Minato-kun.' he said as he started mixing the thing again 'You look worse than I remember you from our sparring and that says something. Is it about something connected to the new village?'

Minato moved the marble around his mouth, a faintly wet, if not particularly sexy sound coming from the thing as he coughed a bit more, controlled this time.

'I want to have my council replaced.' The blond said after a long pause, looking at the redhead from under his lashed, but not making any effort to approach him.

Daichi looked back with attentive gaze as the sound caught all of his attention. It sounded like something that he would like to hear in a more erotic context, though he couldn't say that this didn't give him a reason to breed out a few nice images. Finally, he returned to look at his potion that started to look like a green glue.

'So that's how it is.' he said in a tone that seemed to be just as stable as before 'That's a problematic thing indeed. What did the old one do?'

And they surely had to do something big if Minato was pushed up so far up his drive. He liked to think of himself like of someone of a harsh character, but he would rather get his throat bleeding from screaming than try to replace half of them. It always brought a little apocalypse in the training and knowing unknown secrets. He couldn't really think of a good enough reason.

'They tried to burn the village down?' That one sounded good 'Spied for the S-ranked criminals?'

Also good enough. He tapped the little spoon against his moth to feel the tingling and wiped it off immediately. It wouldn't be good for him to swallow it when he had no internal injuries. It still needed to burn more. He turned toward the blond.

'Tried to kill Naruto?' This one sounded even more believable. 'They've been doing that since he was born, Dai.' the blond said in the raspy new tone Daichi's little stunt had left him with, but even that wasn't enough to mask the pain and anger laced in the words that followed '…they killed Kushina.'

At that, the mixing of ingredients abruptly stopped. Daichi looked up, frowning. That wasn't something he knew about.

'What?'

'They killed Kushina.' the younger man repeated, the sentence drawing a grimace of him, as if it had had been physically painful to say it. 'They killed Kushina.' he said a third time, something odd on his voice that had nothing to do with tears or sobbing and all with Minato's mercurial temper.

'They didn't feel I was killing myself hard enough so they put my pregnant wife in a big red X in the middle of the Fox's path so I would have a better motivator-' he laughed at that, a short bark of sound scarcely less rough than when he'd been coughing. 'And I didn't get on time. I didn't even know until it was too late, but oh, they got what they wanted? And I… I lost everything. I forgot. I knew it then, but I still forgot, how can I do sort of thing?'

Of course he had forgotten, how else could he have lived. It was too easy not to wonder why the Sandaime had kept Naruto alive when it was obvious that the council wanted him dead just in case turned awry- as it turned out, guilt was a lot more potent Sarutobi than in the 0other three. A desperate, sharp intake of breath. Of course it had been easy. That's what he had been raised for, forgetting and moving on, forgetting for the sake of living.

'I lost it. Everything. I lost Kushina and I lost Naruto and I didn't care about anything anymore, so I called him- Him, when I always, always promised- I knew what would happen! I didn't even care- and He came, and I gave him my life. I gave him- I told him he could take anything he wanted, but he didn't take it because it wasn't right, because it was all a mess. Kushina was the sacrifice not me. They messed up everything, I wasn't supposed to survive. They messed everything, and they will pay.'

The last venomously spat, lips twitching into a grimace between a deranged grin and a growl.

'He will have me for lying to Him, but they will pay for what they've done.' Because Minato was cruel. Like the Death God, like the Fox, he was petty and unforgiving, but above it all, he was patient. All he had left was time now, he could pretend for a while he had never learnt of this, but deep down he'd know everything had changed. He would never be able to trust Sarutobi again, and he wouldn't let the other three go unpunished. He wouldn't allow it either way. Nothing displeased a God more than an unwilling sacrifice.

But nothing would give him back what he'd lost. He didn't have a home anymore, only a prison he wouldn't be able to escape. Because he had run out of options. Because he was trapped by the Village by chains he wouldn't' dare to break.

'They ruined everything I had. I should have never followed Him to Konoha. I- I should have never left the mountains, Ari-Nee was right, but… I couldn't live there, I couldn't live alone all my life, what else was I supposed to do? Humans weren't meant- They might be able to live, but they can't be alone. And now I'm not alone, but I'm still trapped. I'm trapped. I'm trapped. I can't do anything. I can't go anywhere. He trapped me here, I'm just a toy, and He'll eat me in the end. He'll eat me.'

'What are you talking about?' finally the redhead burst, interrupting the paranoid chanting. He could barely understand what this all meant, but if he heard correctly, even half of it was hard to comprehend. It turned the world 180 and one more degrees. But the last words, he could not stand. 'Stupid! Nobody is going to eat you! Do you value everyone so little?'

And with that he grabbed the man by arms and shook him hard, once twice. And after that, he hugged him in a tight protective hug – light enough to take pity on his bones but hard enough to not let him get out of it.

'You egoist! You think that everyone around would let you fall down like that? That your son would let you be eaten? That I would let such thing happen? Stop talking nonsense!'

Because even if it was somewhat illogical and somewhat unnatural, it was indeed scary and unnerving; it wasn't impossible and he had all right to doubt that if the Demon Fox or the God of Death (stupid! Stupid Minato, what he was thinking, calling such thing upon himself alone? If he only knew he would get out such ideas out of his mind! Why didn't he say anything?) came back to actually do anything that even the whole four of the kages would do anything against them. He couldn't believe that the council would do such a thing. Didn't they love the blonde? He thought everyone admired the man in his own village. How little did he know actually!... And Kushina…

Even in his state of mind he felt the aghast emotion growing. She was no one and she was annoying and she was a bitch, but then she was anything and a princess of a sister he never had. It was just unfortunate, all of that… He turned the knuckles of one of his palm into fist.

'What you shouldn't have done was keeping that in secret.' he muttered and stroked the blond hair, watching them moving under his fingers 'I will help you in this. As much as I can.'

And he really would. That's why he was there for his whole life, right? Adoration contained also such duties along the care and memory. He frowned lightly about the mentioned 'Ari-Nee' which was something completely new, but he decided to hold his lips shut about it. It seemed like a sore spot, especially as the man seemed to just snap out of partial amnesia. Which just sucked when it came out what it hid.

'You're not trapped.' he muttered and cradled the man in a gentle cuddle 'I'm here for you. I will protect you.'

'He'll eat me. He's marked me already.' the blond said apathetically, letting the redhead hold him forcefully without trying to shrug it off. Minato wanted this, desperately wanted to be told this things and believe even for a few seconds there was a way out of it, but he'd been taught too well for it. 'I should have died. I should be dead.' And if he wasn't, it was because there had been a breach on the deal, and for that he would be punished. Out of a deal with a God, he had been gifted with a son to love and he had been granted a life that was just wrong. And Daichi couldn't help him. No one could help him now, there was no way he could run out of Konoha, not lie when he'd run out his first home.

'No, Minato.' said the redhead and looked down at him with a frown. It was painful to hear that he had such thoughts; it wasn't right for him to be that way. He had all reasons on the world to live. 'You should live. For the sake of your son if not for everything else. Do you think Kushina would be happy if she knew what you're thinking? She died so you wouldn't have to die. Don't belittle her sacrifice.'

The blond remained silent and limp on the other's grip. When he reacted after almost a full minute of silence, it would be hard to determine who was the most surprised by the action.

'Don't you get it?' Minato suddenly pushed against the redhead, violently enough to pry the man's arms off himself. One fisted on his shirt and a little to the rest, clutching the front of his own shirt in a vicious grip that threatened to break apart the silver necklace still sporting the missing link. 'You've seen this, haven't you? Did you see what it did to me? I was dying! I should have died, do you know- do you have an idea of how much poison it put on me? *You* know!'

He couldn't hold back the accusation- yes, Daichi would know. Because the only person he knew with more experience on poison and what it could do to a human that Daichi was Chiyo. Tsunade might have an almost visceral understanding on how to treat them, but what they could do? Professional poison-masters couldn't be topped on that aspect.

'You know! So don't come tell me everything is fine, It changed me, and I don't know why-' he suddenly chocked, as if he had meant to say something else he had swallowed the words, the next ones he uttered down to a harsh whisper. 'How old would you say I am? Do I look my age to you? My blood changed- it doesn't even taste the same, I noticed. I can eat fucking strawberries, Daichi.'

And that might sound so utterly stupid and ridiculous, if it weren't for the fact that Minato had always been mortally allergic to those. It was bad enough he'd actually gone into anaphylactic shock during a mission after biting a kunoichi vain enough to favor strawberry body butter. Daichi had only looked at him, and his frown slowly deepened.

'It's not fine.' he stated calmly. If that was what blond wanted to hear, then it was fine with him. He was sure it wasn't the right path to go, but he was the one who chose the truth and not the soothing. He calmly looked at the blonde and slowly pointed his finger at his chest, touching the material and the skin through it lightly. 'That amount of poisonous chakra is not something much bigger than you could survive. You should have been dead the moment half of it got into your blood stream and your bones should have been burned to ashes, and ashes into nothing.'

He breathed in and out and moved the finger down, slowly touching the harsh skin through it until he felt the beginning on normal one, way beyond the breast plates.

'You say it's a curse.' he muttered, and then he looked back at the man and his flustered features 'Did you ever thought about how blessed you are? I mean – you can even eat fucking strawberries.' He smiled a bit ironically at that, but it was true at some point. 'If you want to know my opinion, there's a very simple fact about poisons.' he muttered and moved his hand even lower, until he could touch the brim of the shirt, and then, he slowly rose it up, revealing the damaged skin 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And if that didn't kill you…'

At those words he once again pointed his finger at the scar, touching only the skin this time.

'…then your age means you haven't been born yet. In my humble way of seeing this, you will have way above three hundredths of years to worry about your life.' And it was a bit saddening, because the longer you lived, the more you lost. He wanted to be by his side, but he doubted he would match even half of that time and if Naruto will also. But he knew he would try. 'You're blessed.'

Those words made the light smile on the red-haired man's lips widen ever so lightly. It still wasn't a response of the romantic, safe kind, where on every 'love you' was whispered 'love too' with thousand of kisses following, but heck, that was a freaking life and he expected nonetheless. Or rather – he didn't know what he had expected. For the first half of his life he expected to be laughed at or maybe having some bones broken in return as he knew that he wouldn't just stand simple refusal and would sooner or later lower himself so much he would beg for acceptance. And everything about this idea was sad, painful and totally hilarious, in that wrong, pitiful way.

Then he stopped thinking about saying anything at all. And now? Now he simply stood his ground and everything that had to be said was already said, so what really could have been expected here? He closed his eyes for a moment, delighted with the hold that was put on him, even if it seemed to be lacking firmness. For real? Nothing. He didn't expect anything. He just went with the flow. And it seemed to be right, so… He opened his eyes.

'I just wanted you to know.' he murmured, then pulled the man into a hug himself. It felt good, to move his hands around the warm body and feel its presence, its curves and its strength and weakness. He loved this form. The sound his hands made when he slowly moved them up from the waist to the shoulder blades was a pleasure itself. For a moment it felt like if doing that was the best thing he could ever do and he didn't want it to stop. He smiled again, finally stopping his hands and moving them down to waist again. 'So don't forget, okay?'

The blond couldn't help squirming a bit and leaning more into the hole at the way the other touched him, sort of ticklish in a not really annoying way, more like nice, nodding at what the older man said, and yet… This felt a little too real and a little too overwhelming, and despite his best efforts he couldn't help the feeling of happiness.

The redhead's words brought a real, if slightly panicked small laugh from the blonde, his body automatically trying to jerk away from the close touch before he could actually bring himself to stop trying to squirm away from the touch. Blessed. He was blessed. People like us are blessed, Minato. Strawberries or hearts or roses wouldn't made a difference, only they did, and he hadn't been warned so. All humans may speak to Gods, but only we are the ones who know what to do to get answers. Only he hadn't understood that didn't mean they would be the ones they had asked for. Prices and sacrifices. Regardless of what Daichi might think about his situation, he worried, and he worried now. It was always 'now' for him- dream now, fight now, love now, want now.

And he wanted to run away. Only he couldn't, because Konoha was the only home Naruto had and he could try to run away, he could get out and they wouldn't ever find them. Only they would try. Only if he did, his son would lose the only friends he had in the world and be forced to become a fugitive and a missing nin. Konoha might want the Kyuubi's vessel eliminated, but it sure as hell wouldn't risk letting another village get a hold of it. Naruto would never had a chance at a normal life, he'd force his son go through the same thing he himself had suffered as a child, and he couldn't do that.

Only if they did go, he didn't know what he would do about Kakashi, because he didn't know if Kakashi would leave the village with them. His father had been branded a traitor and he had suffered for years of ostracism and whispers behind his back that survived even into this day despite how hard he'd fought to clean his family's name and reputation. He wouldn't because he now had Sasuke to take care of, and he'd never leave the young Uchiha behind, not when the risk of Itachi coming back to 'finish the job'. He couldn't tell him that would never happen because that would put him in a risk- but if he were to leave without Kakashi, he'd have to kill him.

As the closest nin to them, the one dispatched to track them and find them would be Kakashi. The one with the actual biggest chance would be the white head, so he would have to eliminate him, and he couldn't do that. He loved Kakashi in this fierce, protective way that wouldn't let him hurt him or leave the village and betray him.

And even if he were to leave, where would he go? Thunder would only be too glad to get rid of him. No other nation would hide him without demanding something in payment. If he were to leave, he could always run to Suna, Daichi would do anything in his power to protect him, no matter what it took.

Only he couldn't do that to Daichi either. The moment he became a fugitive, Daichi would be demoted from his position as a Kazekage, he didn't have a doubt about it. Because he'd been stupid enough to think he could help when in reality he was only tying a noose around his own neck- By tying the control of Suna's Bijuu to Daichi and Daichi's control of it to himself, he'd turned the redhead into a liability. Even if the seals would only be turned off, how would Suna allow their leader to be someone whose control of their greatest weapon depended on a Missing nin? Chiyo would talk, regardless of how much she loved Daichi, her loyalty to her country would come first.

And that would ruin Daichi. He'd been born and raised for this position, and Minato wouldn't, couldn't stand between that. He would never dare to put himself in a position where there might be a chance of him being on the losing end of a choice. Just like Jiraiya, who might love Minato, but never dream of putting him above his Village. Jiraiya would turn against him if that's what it took to preserve peace, and that was something Minato couldn't bear to even think about it. Not even the actual fighting his sensei, but just thinking Jiraiya would be willing to eliminate him. He had nowhere to go.

'I guess. Strawberries are awesome.'

The redhead had only smiled at that, finally losing his frown.

'And don't you ever doubt about that.' he said, lightly stroking Minato's cheek, only to lean into the slow reassuring kiss. The man looked saddened, and he hoped that if anything, he could lift his mood a bit by that. He slowly swallowed, and stopped when he felt the candy taste in his mouth. 'That's not fair.' he muttered as he backed off a bit, feeling the medicine on his tongue 'Come here.' with that he kissed him again and gave him back the candy.

'Eat it till the end.' he said and stroked the man's hair for a moment. Then he got up and leaned over his chemical set again, getting back to the forgotten potion that seemed to have hardened at the neglect. After adding the water it became gluey again. 'And after that… I still remember what have you written to me in your letter.'

That was the furthest thing from Minato's mind at the moment, so it wasn't entirely surprising that for several seconds he just stared at the redhead's back without having a clue about what the other was talking about. It was very noticeable when he did, because he choked on the candy on his mouth, having to actually spit the thing out to get over the new round of coughing that immediately ensued.

'W-hat letter?' he asked when he managed to get back under control, placing the sticky and rather unappetizing candy back into his mouth, then licking his palm to lick the gooey residue off it. 'The one where I ask you if you remember the definition of 'maybe'?'

The man had only smiled under his nose, not for a moment stopping his doings.

'Maybe.'

'You suck.'

The man's smile had only widened as he rose up his stare to look at the blond. 'I believe it's other way around.' he said smoothly and added another spoon of the grey colored dust.

Minato smiled a bit, leaning back into the bed and just enjoying the fact Daichi was there for him again. It made worth the fact he'd walked right into that one.

The redhead continued on making the potion until he felt the burn on his lower lip being hard enough to mistake it with the pain. The best medicines tasted the worst after all. Through the whole process of mixing ingredients till the last moment of turning the heater off so the silver fumes wouldn't make the air completely fogged, he observed the man on the bed. He was beautiful, the picture of his love and desire. He loved how the hair just curled upon his ears and how the clothes laid on his chest, so nicely accenting the shape of his muscles and sometimes masking them. He missed seeing him, his image of a breathing relaxed form.

He wanted to take him to his home so much. It was so bad he couldn't. He would simply shower him with attention so much it wouldn't last for the rest of the world. Here, they couldn't even go to have a nice dinner together as summit was a strict meeting held under harsh laws. The fact they were alone in the same room was an exception alone. Too good. Too bad.

'Hey.' he muttered as he slowly got back from his ended work. 'Give me some space here. I want to rest after my job.'

Minato's reaction was automatic- he scrambled up and curled on one side of the bed, leaving enough space for the redhead. It was only when he noticed what he had done that he smiled, something warm and maybe a little embarrassed on his face. As a teen, it had always been a variation of that sentence, Daichi telling him to move so he'd have room when they shared the redhead's bed, back when Daichi still had to share his room with his other teammates and Minato slept four nights out of seven with the Suna team simply because he preferred Daichi's company to his teammates snores.

Or more accurately, simply because he preferred the redhead.

'Why do you keep wearing these stupid masks?' Gently, he reached for the fabric hanging around the redhead's neck, feeling the silky texture wit curiosity. Maybe he couldn't run away, but at least like this, Daichi would still be happy and he could still have the redhead. Minato wasn't sure he would be able to handle the idea of not seeing the other like this.

'Ah… hey, hey, hey, don't touch that!' says Daichi, immediately catching his fingers after they've fumbled with the material. Now look at this – the faint blue-yellow taint only shows that he already mixed both potion for coughing and the paralyzing venom extracted from the desert snakes. As the first one doesn't make a difference where it is unless it touches the mouth, the second can be very much life threatening if not removed within few seconds. 'Hold still.' Its good he had only opened his medical set, so all materials are wet from using. It's only a moment before the fingers are clear again, but he wipes them very carefully, just to be sure. He can't make the man lose his hand because of something irresponsible.

'There.' he mutters as he sniffs up the digits 'Now it's good. Please, don't touch this if you don't want to be in mortal danger.' But just in case, he takes it off. When laying, it brushes slightly against the skin, and even if he is immune to the most now, it's always be better safe than sorry.

Minato stared back at his fingers in surprise, as if wondering where the color came from, and just as the one coated in blue started to twinge a little uncomfortably and go numb, the redhead yanked him forward by it and started lathering it on something that looked vaguely like mustard and was unfortunately immensely less pleasant to the touch.

'Is… is that… poison?' he asked through squinted eyes, taking shallow breaths to keep the worst of the fumes from whatever the redhead had been playing with in his chemistry set 'You kept po- why do you keep poison near your mouth? Are you nuts?'

Stupid question, of course he was nuts, this was Daichi they were talking about. Maybe it was the fact they started giving their babies such dangerous substances before they weaned them from milk or maybe it just ran in the bloodline, but all Sunanins he knew were certifiably insane.

'And you kissed me! Are you nuts?' he said in a hiss, grabbing the man by the shoulder and giving him a rough shake, just like when they were in a team and either of his redheads did something he didn't agree with. 'I could have died horribly!'

'Every ninja has its secrets.' says the redhead stoically as he folds the cloth away, only to be shaken roughly back. Now there was the old Minato panicking now. It felt kind of reminescencing, but they're not a leader and a rookie, but kages at the same level so he doesn't bow down his head nor he says he is sorry. He has nothing to be sorry about his lips are clear, he knows it – he wiped them at least ten times when he made the potion for internal blisters, but it seems that it somehow got away from Minato's attention. But if that's how it is, he can as well play along.

In one of his pockets there's a black lip balm, the kind of that makes you look worse than death once you put it on. One of his standard ones he always used to use, but not so often now. He applies it just right in front of Minato, looking at him cockily, with perfection nearing the one hundredth and three percent even if there's no mirror to look at. And then, he simply leans forward and kisses Minato with tongue, kisses him long and hard, until the taste of black currant doesn't mingle with the taste of the bittersweet candy and his morning tea, until not only his mouth, but also Minato's lips, their teeth and tongues are inked back, grey and purple, flushed and hot. That's how he likes it.

'You couldn't have died horribly.' he says as he moves away to close the lip balm into his pocket again 'Because if I wanted you to, you'd be already dying. For example, from my lip balm.' and he smiles, sweetly and cockily. 'I hope this death sentence agrees with your taste.'

The blond just gave him an uneasy look, eyes following the movement attentively- he didn't think he had ever outgrew liking to watch the other doing this sort of thing, working on his puppets, practicing calligraphy on those special scrolls, preparing his kunai so they'd be adequately embedded in poison, putting on makeup (forgive him, war paint)... It's not that he didn't trust Daichi with poisons, it's just that after years of being next to the redhead, Minato had kind of developed the slight paranoia someday the older man would just forget not everyone came equipped with natural immunity to most poisons.

He knows the redhead's lips were clean, he'd be dead otherwise already, but the idea of the redhead with something like that so close to his mouth also upsets him. Daichi might be able to take something as aggressive as diluted bijuu's blood without his skin melting off, but poison I still poison and another thing he was positive he would never outgrow is worrying over the older man, needlessly or not.

When the older man leant closer with less than subtle intentions, Minato thought of maybe dodging, or playing a bit, doing or saying something to frustrate the older man and have him be a bit more violent, but oddly enough for himself, he didn't quite feel like it. Maybe he was still a bit shaken by everything that had happened and maybe he really wanted (needed) to just sit there and see what the redhead would do to him.

The kiss is harsh and demanding, vaguely dirty and surprisingly satisfying. Not that the one before hadn't been, but this is more like what he wants right now so right now it's better, which makes a lot or sense (or very little, depending on the perspective). His lips feel greasy and he wipes at his lips with his sleeve, not at all surprised when it comes out smudged in black -and really, he will never figure out how puppeteers manage to drink, eat or simply function with that thick make up and not stain anything under the sun)-

He smiled back at the redhead, amused and affectionate as he pushed the redhead back into bed, and he's on top of the shorter man almost before the other hits the mattress.

'…this better wash off with water, Dai.' The tone was soft and affectionate, but the kiss he gave the other right after wasn't anything very different from the way the redhead had kissed him. Only Minato had the nice idea of sneaking a hand under the redhead's pants to give him a purposely messy and playful squeeze.

And that surprised Daichi. Not much, not as much as it would surprise a youngster and not as much as it would surprise an inexpecting and longing teenager in love he once was – it was hard to surprise a ninja of his age and experience. If anything, it was a mild confusion that made him fall on his back and push lightly at the shoulders that hanged above him as supporting bridges for the body. That was an act of pure instinct – as brief as his confusion.

'It washes off-' he murmured between one gasp in the kiss to another '-only with dust-' when their teeth clanked and their lips smacked '-what kind of wasteful person-' and it felt good, so good and sweet, a feeling he didn't think he'd be able to endure in this life at all '-are you-' And the rest drowned in a deep rumble in his chest as the blond decided to show affection to lower parts of his body. Surely, his bodily memory remembered well what goods had happened to it before, in the dark of the night. Somehow, it was not a scream, but somehow it was also not a whisper. He knew that people on the other side of the door had to rise their heads and ears, because for a ninja there was never a noise that was too quiet to not be interested in.

He knew he should care about that, he knew he should have, but then, he really didn't want to.

'Minato-kun.' he muttered at the thin line between the kiss ending and endorsing into another one and then he grabbed the man like a drowning man caught anything, addicted, drunk and wanting more. He missed him in his life so much. He missed his face (which he kissed up, ravished in a heat as his hold tightened and his arms moved upward, pushing at the man, turning them upside down) his stare (if he could he'd steal this gaze and tape it on the walls to never leave the room again) his smell ('You are- I am- Oh, gods' and his neck tasted of sweat and everything that he wanted) and the need to be needed in his gestures, his posture, his being.

He wanted to own him. In his deepest pocket of his heart.

'Like this.' he murmured, moving the hand out of his pants and reopening the shirt and kissing up the skin that contained the necklace, licking around it, licking it-

'Kazekage-sama.'

'Go away, Baki.' he muttered, freezing in annoyance, feeling disturbance, anger, embarrassment.

'No, Kazekage-sama. The ANBUs will enter the room any minute now. Please, step aside.' No. 'Kazekage-sama.'

'No…' he murmured and laid his head down, feeling the necklace on his forehead and the material under his hands. But it wasn't long after he got up and pushed the man off the bed, already suiting his suit, straightening his hair, paling his skin. He managed to give a quick nip at the collarbone before that though.

'Hokage-sama?' said Shikaku after the door opened not a few seconds later.

'He is all right.' said Daichi, not feeling very all right on his own. 'Tell Mifune we will continue the meeting in another set of minutes. Now excuse me.' And with that, he went out, leaving the man on his own with his crowd to handle. Minato hadn't meant for things to go very far, just one little grope for the sake of groping itself, but the noise Daichi made in response –not a purr or a groan, but something perfectly balanced in between – had made him stop and then continue because he had never heard the redhead do that sort of noise before in his life, ever. It was almost as pleasant as that helpless little whimper when he touched the base of his column or his nape over that messed up scar.

There wasn't much decision on his part to be made, though. Daichi had grabbed him and started stripping, and the coherent part of his mind politely cleared its throat and reminded him this was an interlude of counted minutes and that the leaders of three other nations (not counting Mifune) were waiting for his return, and that without considering the fact in the hypothetical case that Daichi had managed to cower Hizashi into turning the byakugan off, chances it remained that way were very low and lowering the longer they stayed in there.

His libido kind of blinked at it blankly before bashing its head in with a club. Tsunade-sensei as right after all. Men only had enough blood in their bodies to think with one of their heads, two at the same time would be asking too much of evolution.

The next thing he knew was that Baki was talking from somewhere and that Daichi had at some point managed to get most of his shirt off without him even seeming to realize. It didn't speak well of his shinobi abilities, sensei would be appalled if he knew- not that Minato was going to tell. And even if he did, he would probably be more appalled at his choice of partner, so he was provably over thinking it. At any rate, the redhead's frustrated expression bordered on pouty, and if he hadn't pushed him off bed, Minato might have felt a bit sorry about him. Maybe.

At any rate, he managed to settle himself enough that by the time his ANBU decided to remember what their main duty was about, his shirt was back in normal and he was wiping at his mouth with an appropriately sickened expression, glaring daggers at the retreating redhead.

'Oh hey, thanks for coming back when he was almost done with chocking me to death.' he said, turning to give a sullen look at the other males and female. His mouth was reddish, but practically all of the black paste was gone, mostly having ended up on his sleeve.

At those words some ANBU moved a bit nervously which could mean that he either hit a nerve or that they paled to the third shade of white and questioned their whole career as an ANBU. Which looked exactly the same.

'Are you all right, Hokage-sama?' finally one with a bird mask dared to ask. Asking such a question as 'really, he was?' was a bit too much and everyone knew it.

'Of course I'm not, do you know bad this thing tastes?' he showed them the stained sleeve, using the other one to wipe at his mouth some more, even if he could tell by the feeling it was already pretty red. At least it wouldn't show he had been kissing. The woman moved a bit restlessly, he tone curious when she dared to talk again.

'The medicine?'

'The torture.' Minato sniffed, as if the difference had only been too obvious. 'Bastard sat on me poured that thing down my throat. Do you know how much he weights? More than he looks, I tell you.'

The ANBUs once again shifted a bit, this time obviously from laughter. Only the Hyuuga seemed to look prettily unconvinced, for some strange unexplained reason.

'But you seem to be much better, Hokage-sama.' he finally said, not looking also very happy. ANBUs also nodded to that. A bit, to pretend in case if it was a bad answer, that they didn't.

'Well, the cough's gone, but that's no excuse.' he massaged his neck a little, finally pushing himself up with a bit of effort 'You know why he always was so nice to me at the academy? So he could use me for guinea pig for that paste he wanted me to swallow.'

'You can't really expect medicine to taste like candy.'

'They don't even have to be so disgusting, he just makes them that way! On purpose. Because he knows I hate bitter things.'

'Men are such babies…'

'I tasted like propylene and plastic currants decided to blend and make tar.' he said, pointing at the stuff the redhead had left smoking on the little fire. One look also showed he had left his mini kitchen for little poisoners in there. 'And it sticks to your throat.' The cougar mask stared at him in impressive silence. 'Go on, have some. I dare you.'

The silence emerged as people around the cougar mask decided to not to stand out on the given task. Who knew how such thing could taste after all? And they weren't sick, so…

'Ho-Hokage-sama.' spoke one of the ANBUs finally as the man was painfully slowly bending over for a drink 'I wanted to inform you that the meeting is restarting and they're waiting for your presence in the main room.'

'Right… just let me wash my face… Hawk, get me a clean shirt, please. I can't go back smelling like burnt sugar cane from hell. Deer, Cougar, do me a favor and open a window before we suffocate.' It took him a minute or two to compose himself, even if the area around his mouth looked a little too red and he generally looked like crap because magic for curing poison-induced pneumonia or not, Daichi's antidote wasn't going to make the stress and lack of sleep of the pasty months go away. But at least he *felt* better. Mostly because he couldn't remember much of whatever he had told the redhead, only that Daichi had said he shouldn't worry too much about it, and that made perfect sense for Minato.

He wasn't going to think about it or make himself questions until he absolutely had to. And speaking of questions… There was a knock on the door, Minato taking a steadying breath and closing the faucet before calling the man in. The ANBU with the hawk mask quickly walking in with the new shirt.

'Thank you.' he smiled at the other man, taking the shirt and putting it on, his movements a lot slower than usual as he fussed with the Chinese fastenings on front 'Is there anything you'd like to say, Hizashi-san?'

The Hyuuga had only looked back at him with his usual expression, though if anything, there was still a hint of disbelief and sour hidden in the corner of his lips.

'I'm afraid I wouldn't know what to say.' he stated simply and turned his head sideways, avoiding the direct eye contact, beside the fact he still saw everything around his head.

'I would say when one's Hokage signs you to stop snooping, it's as good a time as any to actually obey.' the younger man said with a small smile. 'Sometimes they are doing it for the good of their poor guard's psyche.'

'My duty is to think of your safety despite anything you might or might not say, Hokage-sama.' said Hyuuga, taking the proud stance 'I'm not ashamed of my duty, because I do not have anything to be ashamed of.' …unlike some – hanged in the thin air like fumes.

'As expecting of the best shinobi from Hyuuga.' the blond said, the sentence sounding sincerely like a compliment while internally he was just amused they were so proud of what basically came down to snooping. 'Thank you for taking care of me.'

'I guess it's better this way.' Minato finished with the shirt, letting the silence settle for a moment while he inspected his face- yep, still looking like he was in the early stages of some plague. 'Not because I wouldn't want to lie to you, it just would be kind of hard. Then again, I did choose you for this mission specifically, so I provably…' The blond trailed off, feeling around under his shirt for his necklace until he finally pulled it out leaving it on sight. There, better.

He finally turned around, leaning on the basin as he stared at the older man.

'I trust you, Hizashi-san. I think you know that by now.'

Hizashi had only stood in silence, looking in front of himself like a soldier.

'I don't know what are you talking about Hokage-sama.' He spoke curtly.

'No? Don't play dumb with me, I'm not your council.' the younger man said, as good natured as ever. 'I trusted you and your brother with the most important thing in my life three years ago, and you have never made me regret it.' Neji and Hinata had been the best thing that had ever happened to Minato, not because they were well bred and high class, but simply because they were loyal to a fault and they loved Naruto. Even if there had been a war, that alone would have been enough to make Minato step in between the negotiations between Cloud and Hyuuga before they were stupid enough to send this man to get killed. He hadn't known back then, but as usual, things around him had away to work and entwine themselves, paths crossing and (trapping) canceling each other out.

'I'm trusting you with this too. Can I?'

The man didn't meet his eye on that one, but observed him closely. It was true he owed a lot to this man and without him his life would be pretty much over by now. He was still after the slight shock of what he observed so he couldn't really be sure if he did the right thing. Nevertheless, he nodded.

'Sir, yes sir.' he said out loud. Personally, he was still confused.

The blond smiled, honestly relieved. Hyuuga could be haughty, but they wouldn't go back on their word or lie- that would be dishonorable a thing to do. Minato was honestly relieved by this, because if Hizashi had disagreed, he wouldn't have had any other options than to threaten him, and when one wanted to make a man sweat, the first targets were his immediate family. Minato would honestly hate himself if he had had to hurt Hotaru-san. And Neji… it was better not to think how that would hurt Naruto.

'Thank you.' and with that out of the way 'We better go back before Cougar needs to have his stomach pumped. We need to finish this meeting so we can get back home.'

Hizashi let go of a small breath. So he chose well after all.

'Yes, Hokage-sama. Preparations will begin shortly.' Finally, he was going to be back to the place where everything ran the usual way. In a matter of minutes the blond was back, not that anyone seemed to have missed him- Daichi and the Mizukage were still threading thinly veiled jabs at each other and Raikage apparently wasn't as attached to Minato as the blonde obviously was, because in his absence he seemed to think the Tsuchikage was as good a replacement as any and if the scorched crack on that side of the table was any clue, the two older men had already come close to blows.

He walked to Mifune, quietly apologizing to him (he sure as hell wasn't going to apologize to anyone else) and on his way back, stopped long enough to drop Daichi's bag of poisons on Baki's hand.

'Please tell Kazekage-sama that next time he can get his stuff down his own goddamned throat.' he said smiling sunnily at the Sunanin, knowing that Baki was probably going to be horrified by the double meaning, but Minato wasn't going to shy from it. If he couldn't traumatize his own jounin, he was going to traumatize Daichi's out of pure pettiness.

He wasn't sure if Daichi had bothered to teach Baki what the code team Red has used for their missions was, but either way, it didn't matter. The note and the seal hidden in the pouch weren't meant for him in the first place, but he made sure he knew it was there all the same.

'I'm back.' he finally said as he resumed his seat, for all means acting as if he had gone out to pick a coffee instead of nearly having coughed a lung out not a full hour ago. 'Where were we?'

The mediator smiled lightly at him and clapped lightly his hands to get attention to him.

'We're glad we can see you in good health again, Hokage-sama.' he said, while Baki did his best to not look horrified. With half of his face he was partially successful. 'Now, let's go back to the main track of the meeting…'

And thus, the meeting continued. Daichi mainly kept on dodging polite venoms coming from the Mizukage who tried to stand on his weak points by accidentally spilling out water from their teas which he treated like 'nothing', but he couldn't shake much. Basically he was left with feeling of dissatisfaction and longing and couldn't help but look at the blonde man on the other side of the table everytime he did not focus his eyes.

He was not sure if he wasn't caught on it, but then, everyone knew how 'close' they used to be, so he didn't try to care much. After four long hours, the meeting had finally been announced as ended, without much of a change to the political arena (with sand staying in the Water Country too). The redhead got up with a feeling of wasted time. Why was this meeting even made? He couldn't do anything with such connections and h couldn't even smooch the man properly. It all went wrong.

'Kazekage-sama.' he looked back at Baki with distaste, but accepted his potions without a word. Only when a note was passed to him too, his eyes twinkled a bit more brighter.

'You're a good soldier.' he said and Baki grimaced like if he had been just offended. Which wasn't very far from the truth – in such matters, he would rather still stay oblivious. After a short goodbye – or rather, the lack of it as the setting out was a top secret information guarded before any possible attacks, his carriage slowly moved out to his national home. The snow snowed through the way and the vision was cold and blurred, but the redhead kept a content smile on his face as he kept on staring at his personal treasure now. It felt like a wish from a genie and boy, he was going to use it.

And when he was ready, he caught the shuriken and let it jab the floor near his feet with such precision he could feel the woosh of the air on the straight line.