A/N: So if you're wondering, the reason I'm publishing a new story on this site (when I said I wouldn't) is to get my creative juices flowing again. For me, copying things over and trying to improve them works, although I usually move my chapters from here to ao3.

I still have some other stories on that site (ao3 dot com) that aren't available here. At least one of those is pretty good.😅

Anyway, I hope you like this one...

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own.

Thinking (or flashbacks, speaking to Kurama, etc.)

Emphasis

Biju, etc. speaking

Biju, etc. thinking

The Yondaime Hokage knew that this was going to be an awkward conversation, but it was one he certainly put off for too long. He activated the privacy seals in his office and asked his one living student and apprentice - the boy who was as good as his son - to help him secure the room further.

Kakashi immediately knew that something was off but complied and found one listening device near the large window looking out on the village. Kakashi was angered by someone having the nerve to do such a thing to their leader, but it seemed that his sensei expected it.

Minato rolled his eyes and internally cursed the Elders who were probably responsible for bugging his office again. He desperately wanted to replace them with Hiruzen, Jiraiya, and Tsunade but knew that would most likely further aggravate Orochimaru for being excluded from the honor. And there was no way he was going to make Orocho-fricking-maru an advisor. The man was a creep and a thorn in his side as it was.

"How are you, Kakashi-kun?"

"Fine, sensei." Kakashi was brutally aware that he was by no means fine, but had no right to share that with anyone, considering what he did or what he failed to do. Images flashed by in his mind of Obito's crushed body and empty eye socket and his hand through Rin's chest. He's made sure that no one really knew just how haunted he was by the ghosts of his team and best friends, although it was more difficult now that he nearly lives with or near the Namikazes. Minato-sensei still seemed to notice the slight twitch of his hand (the one that killed Rin-chan,) but didn't say anything.

For that he was grateful.

"Kakashi-kun... you'll be coming over for dinner tonight, ne?" The Hokage looked into his student's apathetic gaze and wondered what more he could do for him. Kakashi just wouldn't talk, and even after being forced into therapy, he knew that the boy was stubbornly clinging to his overwhelming grief. Minato tried to keep the boy busy and hoped that his current assignment guarding his pregnant wife would help bring him out of his near-suicidal darkness, but so far it's only done so much. "Forget I asked. You WILL be coming over for dinner. That's an order." The way Kakashi slumped in defeat was almost amusing.

"Ooo! Order him to help me with the vegetables," Kushina said giddily as she waddled back from the bathroom. "If he weren't a Jonin I could order him, myself! And we've gotta get started soon, 'ttebane! She'll be here in about an hour."

"She?" Kakashi couldn't help but wonder. Knowing that another person will be at their weekly "family dinner," as Kushina calls it, is both curious and a bit alarming. "Friend-killer Kakashi" isn't exactly a sought-out dinner companion outside the First Couple of Konoha, who shouldn't want him there, either.

"Ah yes, about that... I was just about to tell him, Kushi," Minato said while rubbing the back of his neck.

"You should have told him a long time ago," Kushina responded in a voice that was between flat and angry.

"Yes! Well... Kakashi-kun, Kushina and I have a... well, we umm..."

"SPILL IT OR I WILL!" Kushina ordered, her hair beginning to fly in nine directions.

"Scary!" the two males thought simultaneously.

"Our daughter, Mito, is going to be in town," Minato finally said, closing his eyes for a moment before seeing what Kakashi's reaction was, a soft smile now on his face.

Kakashi's one visible eye bugged out of his head; he was obviously stunned. "Your... daughter?" The young teen's increasingly deep voice cracked - something that had been happening less and less as time went by, but Kakashi didn't even realize it this time. Kushina was immediately in his face, stroking his masked cheeks with her thumbs.

He wished he had his ANBU mask on, additionally, so that she couldn't do such an intimate thing.

"Yes, Kakashi-kun. Minato and I had a daughter early in life. A little... blessed mistake, ya know?!" Kushina could feel her cheeks heating up, which was dumb, but she was more excited that her little girl is going to be back than anything in the world right now. Kakashi's just going to have to deal with it! "Now, I know what you're thinking, 'ttebane. 'Why would they keep this a secret? Is it because they don't trust me? Is it because I'm not good enough..?'"

"Kushina," Minato interrupted. "I don't think guessing what Kakashi-kun's feeling is going to help the situation, honey." And what a way to start out the conversation: "...because they don't trust me…" Kushina's wordiness could really be troublesome sometimes.

"Oh! Right! Well... you're wrong anyway, 'ttebane! Don't think that Mini and I think any less of you, sweet boy," she said as she ruffled his wild hair and lamented that Kakashi was getting so tall. "It's just that we had to protect her, ya know? Now you're one of the few that knows! If word got out..."

"I understand," Kakashi assured her, although he really didn't. How could he have not known that Kushina-chan was pregnant before this? Sure, he wasn't normally stationed with her during the war and only saw her when either back in the village with his sensei or that one time in a Konohan hideout outside of Iwa, but... Pregnant kunoichis were not allowed to serve outside of the village, and as a Jonin, Kushina definitely played a big role in the war effort.

"Don't interrupt me!" Kakashi took a step back, and Kushina tried to calm her raging hormones. "Mito-chan's the daughter of the Flasher over there and me, of course, and everyone knows how awesome I am. Tsunade-hime's been taking care of her most recently because of the danger she's in just from being our daughter, and by being one of the last Uzumakis, of course."

"O-of course," Kakashi replied with a weak nod. "If you'll forgive me for asking, how old is little Mito-chan?"

"Ten!" Kushina said, clapping her hands together. "She just turned 10; her birthday is September First!"

Kakashi's mouth was agape. No wonder his sensei pounded "abstinence until you're married or over thirty!" Hypocrite! They must have been what? Maybe 17 when they had her?! Seeing his mentor and his wife's pinkening cheeks, though, he almost laughed. "I see... I see how it is, sensei," he nearly snarked, feeling a tiny bit mischievous.

"Oi! Do as I say and not as I do or did, brat!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

Kushina chuckled at Minato's reaction to his student's cheek. It felt so good to see a little life - any life - in Kakashi again. She deeply hoped that her little daughter and Kakashi could one day be good friends. Grabbing her husband's cute masked student by the hand, she dragged him across Minato's office, telling him how they needed to get the ramen started and what exactly his duties in the kitchen would be.

"One more thing, Kakashi." Minato's student turned around while Kushina waited at the office door. How to say it? Well, might as well get it over with so he doesn't get pummelled. "Just... try not to aggravate Mito-hime, okay?"

Kushina absolutely cackled then agreed as she wiped a tear from her eye. Kakashi couldn't imagine why in the world his sensei would think to ask that of him.

Oh, but he would soon find out!