Summary: Kakashi and Sakura in the eyes of a very curious observer.
*Set towards the end of the Fourth War.
It was endless, he remembered; her long flowing hair billowed like fiery cardinals seeking flight. She was bewitching, yet utterly frightening. So they scorned her—a natural human reaction to something that was much too exquisite for understanding. She was considered strange but Minato knew the moment he caught that single red thread floating through the brisk autumn air, that it was a sign gifted by fate.
Of course, he hated the idea of Kushina as nothing but a means to his own end. And yet he truly did feel more complete with her. Like summer complementing winter; two opposing forces finding harmony to move with each other to create the other beautiful seasons in between.
"Find someone like your mom.." he wistfully asked the boy, because what father wouldn't want the same for his son? He would have seen to it, even in the afterlife.
This remarkable resurrection jutsu however, presented a more direct opportunity than a poetic one—he was not alive, yes. But here he was, moving, thinking and talking. Getting in the way like a wandering refugee, while medics worked around him to tend to the wounded survivors of this god-awful war. They had won, but at the cost of so many.
And as the dark cloud of destruction thinned out to give way to early efforts of new beginnings, the looming truth finally peaked through the haze—he couldn't stay here.
Minato had spent most of the remaining hour with Naruto, catching up like any father and son would do, though a little desperately as he crammed in as many last words he could. He then happily listened for the rest of it.
The soon to be Hokage reminded him so much of Kushina, always punctuating his energetic ramblings with arms akimbo. Minato had smirked at his son's early rivalry with Sasuke and beamed at his son's personal triumphs at the chuunin exams. He had swelled with pride at finding out that Kakashi had passed down the same bell-test to his own students, and then had shaken his head amusedly as Naruto divulged all his exploits with Erro-sennin—a nickname he wished he'd been clever enough to come up with. There had been so much laughter in between these frenzied narrations, though sadly far too little to makeup for a lifetime.
And then there was Sakura-chan. The awesome, beautiful, really cool, super lovely Sakura-chan—the same pink-haired medic-nin he had seen attending to all the injured shinobis, as Minato caught whispered appraisals of her already surpassing her master. If she truly is the one, Minato couldn't be happier. What father wouldn't?
Ambling through countless of injured shinobis and medics a last time, the Yondaime finally found the silver-haired jounin sitting on top of one of the medical beds, lost in thought with his hands braced on both knees. Ever the pensive one, sitting there with one arm held up by a sling, shirt bunched up to the torso to make room for the thick wrap of bandages.
"You look awful, Kakashi. And that's coming from a dead man." he teased with a smile.
"Sensei," he said as he struggled to get up from the stretcher, only for his efforts to be halted with a wince.
With a gentle pat on the shoulder, Minato motioned him to stay seated, amused at how his former pupil sprouted so tall —taller than him even as he sat slouching.
Carefully, he bent to sit next to him on the beaten stretcher. "The sealing rituals will start soon, I came to say goodbye."
"I see," Kakashi nodded as he stared at the worn palms of his gloves. Minato nearly ruffled the unruly head of silver hair, before catching himself. His former pupil was no longer a young boy, not nearly the same arrogant teenage prodigy from his memory. Instead, he glanced sideways to examine the worn out person next to him, exceeding all of his expectations and more, and yet still hunched over like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
No amount of time would ever be enough, but in that moment, Minato wished he had a few more.
"Obito's death wasn't your fault Kakashi. It was mine." There was as much conviction in those words as the same ones he uttered many years ago. It was strange, if not utterly sadistic, to have to mourn someone a second time.
"You did what you had to do, sensei." The jounin managed a weak smile, seen only through the crimping of his cheeks underneath his mask. "But this is one among many for me. I've already failed the people I cared about in so many ways, there's no escaping that."
"It gets easier," he offered with a half smile. If it wasn't for Kushina, he would have lost that battle a long time ago. The burden of responsibility and failure would easily knock him out of center, making him drift and spiral aimlessly into darkness. Of course, the fiery woman would not have any of it, and had threatened to bear him down in place, knock some sense into him with her own hands if she had to.
They were content to share silence for a moment until Minato was once again reminded of the time he had left.
"Please continue to guide Naruto," he said. It was his last request, even if he knew Kakashi need not be told. "The Shinobi world will never be the same again after this war. He would need a mentor more than ever."
Kakashi's eyes crinkled with pride. "Naruto has more to teach us now than I have to teach I will be there for him, I promise."
Minato nodded, satisfied. "So.." he uttered casually as he crossed his arms. "Tell me about this.. Sakura-chan."
"Sakura?" Kakashi jutted an eyebrow. "What do you want to know?"
"What is she like?" It was just a father's curiosity. He wanted to learn more about the girl, besides being really cool, awesome and pretty. Sakura was not at all like Rin, the Yondaime could see that now. Their Rin was a gentle soul, meek and tender. This young woman however, was much more mercurial. As expertly as her hands could heal and mend, she could also just as easily shatter the earth with them.
"Hmm, let me see," Kakashi let out a small chuckle before raising his uninjured hand to stroke his chin. " She's a very gifted student, with a superior mastery and control of chakra — easily surpassing Naruto and Sasuke." He waved his hand firmly in the air, in utmost certainty. "Hardly anyone would doubt her bravery...especially in this war. She's also very smart... though temperamental.."
Minato listened intently in an effort to piece out a more complete picture of the pink-haired girl.
"She can be emotional sometimes… but she's also quite selfless…" His voice took on a more somber tone. "She's perceptive than she lets on though… but also very rash.." Kakashi trailed off at the end, before turning to him again, this time with a mock-serious expression. "I could go on, and on sensei, but that's not really what you're asking, is it?" Kakashi gives him a knowing wink that Minato couldn't help a sheepish smile.
"If you came to learn about her feelings for Naruto, I'm afraid I have no idea." Kakashi flicked a hand dismissively. "Last I dabbled in my student's personal life, she was all about Sasuke. But kids these days can be so changeable.."
"Sasuke, huh? Yes, Naruto did mention about Sakura's affections for the Uchiha." He must've looked visibly worried that Kakashi placed a hand on his back.
"I wouldn't worry too much about your son's love life, Minato-sensei. These things have its way of working out."
"I..I just want Naruto to be happy, that's all," Minato admitted earnestly.
"They're still young; their future will likely will be riddled with nothing but awkward dating, terrible sex and heart breaking rejection." The hint of amusement in Kakashi's words only added to the horrified expression on Minato's face and before his former pupil could mortify him further, a female voice barked from behind both of them.
"OY! SENSEI!" the voice called out again before the two men turned their heads towards a very peeved pink-haired medic walking in wide strides, her hands balled in fists. "
"Tsk tsk," Kakashi shook his head as she approached. "You always forget to call me taichou-"
"You're unbelievable!" Her voice was already laden with annoyance as she began to roll up her sleeves. Minato knew this type of temper all too well that he wisely pondered leaving.
"I instructed you to stay in the tents and lie down! Why are you out? Why are you sitting up!?" Sakura quickly set her sights and hands on the bandages around his abdomen. "Let me look at that."
"Sakura, I'm fine. I'm just having a chat with the Yondaime, that's all."
Minato nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
"Gomen, Yondaime-sama." Sakura's expression softened as she turned to him. "I didn't mean to interrupt." Assuming a deceivingly harmless look, she began to tie her pink hair up in a short pony-tail. "I just need to look at Kakashi-sensei's wound. It's having trouble responding to my chakra."
"Oh don't worry about it," Minato said shyly.
"Ah, all that amazing new power, for what? When you can no longer heal your poor old sensei," Kakashi teased— a rather foolish move, Minato deduced, as he watched the jounin swallow a hard gulp at the kunoichi's deathly glare, boring into Kakashi like sharp daggers.
"Well, if you had properly stitched your wound, maybe, you wouldn't have contracted that weird infection in the first place!" Sakura jabbed her finger on his chest, making Kakashi wince, before bending closer to inspect the stitched up laceration underneath the bandages.
Minato moved more to the edge of the bed as Kakashi bowed to take a peek at his own injury, hovering just above Sakura who was busy infusing her own chakra into injury. Seeing as they obviously couldn't continue with the topic of conversation, he stayed silent, happy to just observe. This was his chance to get know the Sakura-chan he had heard so much of, in her element.
"This would be easier lying down," Minato heard her mutter under her breath, that he instinctively moved further away, just to give her more room to work.
"Sorry," Kakashi mumbled, voice dramatically softer, speaking only to her that Minato had to strain to catch it. "I could lie down, if you like?"
"This is.. fine." She wounded a little more disarmed, if not for the lingering annoyance just beneath the surface.
He caught sparse phrases after that. Something about "feeling worried", and a peppering of "sorry" and "I know", that he could hardly make out. When did they start whispering?
Minato observed how gentle Sakura was with her touch, determined not to aggravate the injury as she examined Kakashi's flimsy stitches.
Occasionally, she would apply pressure using her two fingers on the areas around the cut, while the man let out grunt to communicate where it hurts. In silent harmony, they continued with this non-verbal examination for a few more minutes, and Minato started to feel like an intruder to something private that he instinctively turned his head away.
"Unfortunately, it's still not responding to my chakra." Her voice was more audible this time, speaking as if to both of them, while she remained bent there, still fixated on Kakashi' flesh wound. "But the e good news is that it's on a slow normal wound recovery," and she punctuated this positive assessment by quickly lifting her head up, not expecting Kakashi's just above hers. Minato barely had time to warn the both of them as Sakura's head nearly collided into the older jounin's lowered one. It would have been a painful headbutt, but Kakashi managed to move his head backwards, avoiding the dreaded collision as their faces brushed against each other softly.
Thank god, Minato sighed with relief for a moment before he processed the startling scene before him. Two pairs of eyes stared at each other in shock as Sakura's face remained grazed against the fabric of Kakashi's mask. Blushing, they quickly pulled away - the female one turned left, the older man turned right, flustered still as they muttered quick apologies to each other's shoulders.
"Everything..uhm, looks good. I'll leave you two to say your goodbyes!" she chirped, despite the still creeping blush on her face. "Just..take care of that wound sensei, or I'll head-butt you square this time! Ha ha ha."
Minato instinctively echoed an equally manufactured laughter before Sakura finally skipped away nervously.
"I guess this is goodbye," Kakashi declared, easily finding the energy to stand this time.
A silent protest was waging inside Minato then as the truth finally hit him just merely minutes away from leaving and with too little time to process. What about Naruto?
He felt so foolish to be fretting about his teenager's love life, when his much, much older surrogate son was smitten, and he didn't even know it.
"How old are you?" he asked him.
"Thirty." Kakashi answered before frowning. "Er..I guess it would be thirty-one now."
"Thirty-one," Minato repeated. He looked at his former student with narrowed eyes, as Kakashi smiled aloofly under his scrutiny. She would be at least seventeen or eighteen surely. There were no written rules against it, last he checked. But that was only because the contract between a sensei and a pupil was innately made sacred by time and shared experience, arguably more binding than a few words in an old paper. Lived and understoo—
Something small interrupted Minato from his thoughts, and he reached for the delicate thing that now drifted on top of Kakashi's left shoulder, pressing it between two fingers.
"Mm? What is it?" Kakashi asked.
"Oh, nothing," Minato replied as he faced him; the younger man looked visibly livelier now, perky even that he would bet a million ryo purely on a suspicion.
"You deserve to be happy Kakashi," he said softly as she patted his hand across the taller man's chest. "It won't be easy, but I want you to know that."
His former student could only furrow his eyebrows.
"Mah', you're a genius aren't you? You'll figure it out." Minato smiled at him one last time, before turning around to walk away.
The Yondaime quietly let go of a lone strand of pink hair between his fingers, content to let it get swept up with the wind. He always believed in signs after all.