How She Loves

"A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you."

~ Elbert Hubbard

.9

Minato is not one hundred percent sure what he's looking at. But it appeared his students were all getting along. He'd only had the other two for a month, they were still working on the whole team thing. The third war had been raging for almost a year, Tsuyuko had spent the first ten months of it on the border then only to come home to spend all her time at the hospital. It didn't surprise him, per say, Tsuyuko knew how to run the hospital just as well if not better than Tsunade. Needless to say he hadn't seen a lot of his little sister since her return to the village. So imagine his surprise to find her sitting with his team holding Kakashi in her lap as she tended to do despite the fact he was now seven and a genin. Of course Tsuyuko also frequently hugged her very scary teacher on a regular basis so he wasn't surprised that she still insisted on cuddling Kakashi.

"I'm teacher Rin iryoninjustu." She tells him when he finally walks up to them. Minato sits on the ground next to Obito.

Well that would explain the fish then.

"Does Rin want to learn iryoninjutsu?" He's half asking Tsuyuko but more so asking his student. If Rin didn't want to learn he could make Tsuyuko back down. But Rin nods her head with a smile.

"I do sensei!"

"I wouldn't be teaching her if she didn't want to learn Mi. Also do you know if sensei is in the village? I haven't seen him since I got back." And she's worried, and teaching Rin iryoninjustu is a distraction from her worry. He pegs her with a look.

"I'm not sure… Sorry Tsu." She waves off his concerns then settles on petting Kakashi hair. Obito looks like he might snicker, but Tsuyuko raises a brow at him.

"Cuddles are good for the soul kid, if you laugh your next." She tells Obito plainly before pinning Minato with a rather disappointed look.

"Minato you need to cuddle your students more. Obviously they are starved of affection." Ah so she was disappointed. He shrugs his shoulders. She opens her mouth to say something but is interrupted by Nawaki appearing by shunshin. He's leaning on a crutch like he's almost forgotten about it, but it never leaves his side.

"Suyu most shinobi would disagree with that statement. Just because you're a weirdo, who loves hugs, doesn't mean others will." Nawaki teases and she grins at him. Kakashi takes that as his cue to move despite not wanting to.

There was something very warm and calming about Tsuyuko's presence. He was sad to let go. She smiles and pats his head once more after she stands.

"Tell your dad I said hello. Bye kids, see you at home Mi." Minato waves her away and ruffles Obito's hair. They watch as she leans into Nawaki's good side and hugs him before the two disappear in a puff of smoke.

"So what's with her, is she your girlfriend or something sensei, and I can't believe you sat in her lap willingly or that she threatened to hug me." Obito shoots off thoroughly confused by the events.

"Don't be silly Obito-kun Minato-sensei is dating Uzumaki-san, remember we've met her. Kakashi-kun has known Raida-san for a long time, remember she used to pick him up from school." Rin half heartedly scolds. Kakashi nods when Rin looks to him for confirmation.

"Tsu has been holding Kakashi like that since he was three, she's been on the border and hasn't seen him in almost a year. Honestly I was surprised she let him go so easily." Minato adds Kakashi glares at him, the betrayal.

"It's too much trouble to fight her over it."

"You can say that again Kakashi-kun, not even Orochimaru-sama fights her on it, I've seen her hug him several times." All three kids get this look like they think he's joking. He grins.

"You're kidding! Orochimaru-sama is so scary strong, and she just hugs him?!" Obito exclaims, not believing it for a second.

"Sensei, is there a particular reason Raida-san is so affectionate. I thought that wasn't usually typical behavior for kunoichi." Minato eye smiles at Rin's thoughtful question.

"Tsu loves very strongly." Is what he tells his students about the behavior of his sister. What he doesn't say is that for Tsuyuko any other way seems unnatural or wrong to her, she had a very hard time hiding her emotions. She loves so she must show it. She is affectionate because she trusts the rest of them not to take advantage of the kindness. She's soft where most shinobi aren't because she refuses to let go of her humanity.

Minato knew that for himself, and even most of their group relieved very heavily on how much she loved them. No one in their group ever refused a hug, or hair ruffle, an offered hand. She offered them a kind gift of platonic affection that they'd never been given before. Security and a sense that they were not alone. He smiled to himself, Minato really did love Tsuyuko.

…

She gets to bother Sensei once before he's off to the Ame border to rotate out with Jiraiya. Tsuyuko is not happy about it in the slightest. Nawaki is offended. "Am I not good enough for you Suyu." He pretends to whine, she reaches over and tickles him. Orochimaru rolls his eyes at their never ending antics, trying not to think about the missing student and how he would have taken Nawaki's side and teased Tsuyuko relentlessly.

"I see you all the time Nawa, sensei is always busy and now he's leaving me." She pouts. Orochimaru shakes his head. So dramatic. Especially considering that he kept hearing those from her border rotation refer to her as a scary mini Tsunade. If only they knew.

"Behave. Tsuyuko no reorganizing the lab while I'm gone." She looks even further vexed by his statement. Feigning hurt. How dare he accuse her of such, or deprive her of a distraction.

"You know the filing system was ass. I made it better." Orochimaru pins her with a dry look.

"Stay out of the lab." She crosses her arms and pouts. But quickly relents and then reaches for him and wraps her arms around his core. Tsuyuko's hold is tight, and he can hear the tell tale side of her punching down tears.

"Be safe sensei." He smirks at the top of her head, she had barely gotten any taller in her time away from the village. She'd probably always be the shortest. Orochimaru ruffles soft curls.

"Of course. Be good." It sounds like a warning, but she lets him go and smiles. It contrasts with the tears brimming at the corner of her eyes strangely. But he expected nothing less.

"We're always good sensei." Nawaki grins walking up to stand next to Tsuyuko. He waves them goodbye and heads for the Ame border.

Quite frankly that was a lie if he'd ever heard one. Although he would be rather disappointed in them if they didn't get into some trouble while he was gone.

They were his students after all.

As long as the trouble didn't involve his lab, he didn't care.

…

Sakumo has come to a decision. He invites Tsuyuko over for tea while Kakashi is doing D-ranks with his genin team. She arrives right on the dot, apologizing about not arriving earlier but there had been a brief incident at the academy that she was asked to help with.

"Incident?" She sighs.

"Unfortunately. I was already there doing health evals for the academy kids, and some kids got into a fight during recess time. It was a mess." He hands her a cup of tea before settling across from her in his kitchen. She offers a nod of thanks.

"That sounds hectic. How long have you been doing the medical evals at the academy?" He wonders, Kakashi had never mentioned healthy evals and he usually mentioned anything he found out Tsuyuko was involved in. Sakumo watches as the girl gets a sort of forlorn expression on her face, she takes a sip of tea not even bothering to do a poison check.

Well at least she trusted him.

"Only recently, they were previously done by a medic who died on the border." He offers a somewhat apologetic smile. Sakumo had liked Itoka, they were a very competent ninja. It was a shame to hear what had happened.

"I am sorry to hear that then." Tsuyuko was quiet, she took another sip of tea to save herself from having to answer. He watches her closely.

He couldn't deny the similarities between his late wife and the girl. Tsuyuko was practically the spitting image of her mother. The only distive difference was the texture of her hair and the freckles that were dusted across Tsuyuko's round cheek. Suyuri had looked more like a doll, unblemished complexion, with soft silky straight hair. It was their eyes though that really rung in their similarities, slightly larger than average, transfixing, a clear warning if you looked to close.

Suyuri never wanted her to know. But Kakashi deserved to have a line of family somewhere if anything happened to him. Sakumo had to do what was best for his child, just in case… He received orders soon.

"Tsuyuko do you know what happened to your parents?" He questions after a moment of thought. She looks up meeting his gaze, a bit of confusion lingering in her gaze.

"No, I was brought to the orphanage as a baby. As far as I know whomever they were they aren't around anymore." Sakumo nods, he carefully pulls out a photo from his jounin vest. He hands it over to Tsuyuko. She regards it carefully and curiously.

"This is your late wife? Suyuri-san correct?" He nods. She hands the picture back slowly, hands are slightly shaking.

So she could see it then.

"That is correct. You remind me a lot of her, she had a soft heart and free emotions. Some would say it caused her a lot of grief in life, but I believe that she wouldn't have wanted it any other way." Tsuyuko takes in the words he says, carefully turning them over in her head for a moment.

"You've compared me to her before. But for other reasons I believe." Tsuyuko's words are shaky here. Like she isn't too certain of them as she speaks them. Sakumo nods.

"Yes I did. I'm pretty sure you're smart enough to figure out why I showed you that picture." Tsuyuko sets her teacup down, just in case she decides to bolt, and draws in a breath.

"Based on your first question, I am assuming you are trying to tell me that Suyuri was my mother. Considering with the exception of the texture of our hair I look almost exactly like her it's not a hard conclusion to jump to. She could have been my sister, but you wouldn't be as tense and wouldn't have insisted on this meeting being when kakashi-kun isn't home. Because Suyuri is my mother, but you are not my father." Tsuyuko speaks carefully, her words are chosen deliberately. The feeling of wanting to run and hide swell up inside her and she has the bat it down fiercely. Least she accidentally disappeared again.

Sakumo nods, he watches her closely. Tsuyuko stands carefully. She cast her eyes down and refused to make eye contact with him. He doesn't know her as well as he should, so he's not too sure how she'll react. But if she is at all like her mother… there would be yelling.

"Excuse me Sakumo-san, thank you for the tea but I must go."

Except Suyuri may have given birth to her but she was not her mother. Sakumo sits back in his chair and watches as she leaves. He'll give her time. She will come back with questions when she's ready.

XOXOX

Wow.. I don't know what to say about this chapter except it came together a little differently than I originally intended but I still love it all the same.

Thank you everyone who had liked/kudosed, review/commented, favorited/bookmarked! You all rock, thank you so much for the love and support!

~LaRae