Ch7

Packing the homemade pie atop of the rest of different food supplies, which the women in the house were very keen on making for the Namikaze brats, Nagato closed the full trunk and waited for the boys to say their goodbyes to their new… 'friends'. Though friends would be an incorrect term to phrase those notorious mobsters such as Gamabunta, Gamaken and Katsuyu. If only those kids knew what kind of allies they've just made.

"Nagato." Stuffing hands in pockets from the cold wind, Jiraiya looked sheepish as he came to stand next to his student. "I'm sorry for yesterday. I didn't mean to."

"Nothing to feel sorry for… sensei." Jiraiya smiled, glad that, even with difficulty, Nagato still cared enough to call him his teacher.

"Make sure you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Clean your teeth before each meal. Take regular baths. Go to bed on time and don't sit too close to television." Naruto and Kyuubi dared not roll their eyes while their strict, motherly aunt Tsunade tied warm scarfs tightly around their necks, all the while laying down ground rules regarding health issues. "And remember to always dress warm before going out."

"Yes, Grandma~." small twin voices nodded to the woman's demands. The sight was so unseemly to the gathered adults; because it was so rare to see Tsunade's genially caring side, which was by no means hiding any of her usual cynicism.

Katsuyu and Shizune cooed as they watched Tsunade hug the blushing boys close to her bosom before ushering them to Nagato. "You. Nagato. I expect nothing but responsibility from you."

The unwavering hitman tried to keep impassive and definitely not shoot a snide remark back at her. How many more people were going to teach him how to do his job?

Escaping his aunt's hold, Naruto grinned in full as he ran over to the smoking men hanging around by the porch and jumped on the stone-faced Gamabunta. The rest of the men found it amusing of course, and had no shame to hide their laughter for long.

"Oi! Shut up you lot!" despite his tremendous embarrassment, Gamabunta could do nothing but complain while the boy struggled to reach the croaking toad on his head. Taking the toad off his head, he allowed the persisting brat to pet it and hug it too while he's at it.

"Bye Froggy." said Naruto before handing the croaking toad back and then bestowing Gamabunta with a bear hug, his small arms only reaching as far as the man's sides. "Bye Mr. Boss."

Sighing at his failure in scaring the annoying boy away, Gamabunta consented and petted Naruto lightly on the back. "Goodbye, little snot."

"Check it out." Elbowing Nagato lightly to the side, Jiraiya nodded in the general direction of the gathered male circle. "See that? That's called attachment."

"It's called surrender."

"My god. There's no pleasing you, is there? Would it hurt you to act just a little bit emotional and a bit less of an ass? Seriously, even Gamabunta is handling things better than you. And he hates kids."

"As do I."

"Fool." Nagato's eyes flashed dangerously at Jiraiya. "Oh you can glare all you want you bleedin' Tsundere. You can't fool me. I've seen you looking at them with those eyes."

"What eyes?"

"Caring eyes." Nagato hissed at him. "Ah! There you go again, denying reality. That's very unbecoming of a parent you know."

"I'm not their father, Jiraiya. You know that more than anyone." Turning back to the crying group of females who refused to let the boys go unless they got to pinch their full cheeks, Nagato felt his heart thump in ache once more. "They're but my job, nothing else."

"Providing those kids with love is your job."

"What was that?"

Jiraiya felt like he was going to die if Nagato kept glaring at him like that. Sighing lightly, he petted the man encouragingly on the shoulder, "I understand if it's uncomfortable for you, Nagato, but don't fret. You'll do good. Just try and open up to them a bit more, you'll be surprised what you see."

Leaving Nagato to think things over, Jiraiya ran over to the women and snatched Kyuubi away from their grabby hands. Jiraiya hugged the smooched and exhausted boy with his own sets of 'goodbyes' and 'I'll miss you kisses', against which Kyuubi 'eww'-ed and whined and fought with all his might.

Nagato silently wondered to himself, would he ever be able to do something this simple without feeling like a complete idiot? He suddenly jerked in startled when he felt someone take his hand; it was Naruto staring at him with a big smile and those large pools called eyes. 'Maybe,' thought Nagato, enclosing his fingers gently around the smaller hand, 'One day'.

…

For the first time in a long while Nagato felt like a normal person. The morning came at the right hour, he slept well, his mood was good and the children were having fun. Nagato was glad. Rising from the bed, he prepared himself for another day. The kids were already in the kitchen and happily stuffing their faces with Tsunade's baked food, which wasn't exactly suitable enough for breakfast.

"Mornin' Naga-chan!" Naruto greeted him cheerfully, bits of sugary cake falling from his mouth. Kyuubi gave Nagato a brief glance before turning back to his meal, mumbling a silent 'morning' under his breath.

Nagato sighed, things were still a bit edgy between them. While Naruto was a forgiving person, Kyuubi was a grudge holder. Nagato could respect that, he was no different sometimes. Taking the dismantled cake away from the table, Nagato ignored the twin complains of 'hey-s' and made them both cereal instead. At least this was something he could make properly without people whining at him and his poor cooking skills. Not that he had them, he was a good cook, Nagato argued in his head.

Overall, the day was turning out good. Boys were back to their carefree, juvenile selves. There were no more signs of awkwardness and discomfort between them and Nagato was pleased to note that they were warming up to him once more. It was a nice turn of events.

Sliding off a high chair, Naruto tugged at the man's navy jeans while pleading Nagato to take them somewhere fun. Nagato consented. He was off duty and thought it'd be only fair to grant the kids such a wish, especially after what had happened a few days back, they certainly deserved to be spoiled a bit.

"Finish your meal. Then we'll go." Fishing his vibrating phone from the pocket, Nagato shooed Naruto back to the table while he answered the call, "What is it, Jiraiya?"

"You sound cheerful this morning. Having a good day?"

Nagato's eye twitched, "What do you want?"

"Have a spare minute? Come down. I'm by the building."

"Why are you here?"

"Why must you question everything? Come on, hurry it up! Get your butt down here, before I miss my flight!" Jiraiya's loud voice could be heard in the entire room.

Sighing irritated, Nagato hung up the phone and told the boys to finish their meal before he gets back from dealing with an 'annoyance' as he so called it.

Waving at Nagato's retreating back, Naruto smiled at his brother and quickly dug his dish. Kyuubi was watching Nagato's back carefully, secretly hoping not to be caught staring. Naruto suspected that it had something to do with his brother's secret yearning for acknowledgment from their godfather, which, of course, he was too stubborn to admit. Naruto had no doubt that even a small look his way would be more than enough to satisfy his fiery brother. And he received it, when Nagato turned to close the doors, his eyes looked at Kyuubi, who huffed and looked away with a glare and red cheeks. Naruto couldn't help it, he spilled the cereal from his mouth with a loud laugh.

Nagato locked the doors with a small smile, his ears catching Kyuubi's yell of 'what are you laughing at!" before he disappeared down the stairs.

…

"Nagato! Finally! Did you get lost on your way down or what?" pushing himself off the cab with an impatient driver sitting by the wheel, Jiraiya met Nagato halfway.

"How lazy of a man are you, Jiraiya? Why couldn't you simply come up and save me the trouble of walking to you?"

"No respect for the elders," Jiraiya tut-tutted his student, "Why should I, when I have such a promisingly tough youngster doing it for me?"

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Nagato tried again. "What brings you here?"

Jiraiya extended his arms widely open. "Can't I just ask for one final hug before I head of to my week long trip?"

Nagato took a large step back, "Not unless you wish to cancel it due to sudden injuries."

"Not cute. What the hell! You used to be such a plushy kid when you were younger."

"Jiraiya!"

"Fine fine! I'll get straight to the point." rising his hands in surrender, Jiraiya pulled the side of his coat open and retrieved a white envelope. "Here's that ID we talked about… Mr. Pain. Decided to deliver it to you personally before I leave; can't trust a lot of people these days you know?"

Nagato could feel the rough edges of a passport lying inside the envelope with his fingers. Along with the pass, a couple of cards were adding an extra weight (bank cards, license and other). "Thanks."

Jiraiya grinned and suddenly pulled the unsuspected man into a tight hug. "Awwww… why can't you say more of such nice things?"

"Sensei."

Heeding the warning in Nagato's tone, Jiraiya ceased the opportunity to ruffle that crazy orange hair before running back to his cab and telling the driver to go. "Bye, ya brat! Say hi to kids for me!"

Nagato closed his eyes against the rising smoke of a burning rubber, as the driver hit the gas and the car drove off.

"Such arrogance."

…

Competing boys slammed their empty bowls down with victorious shout, "DONE!"

"I win!" yelled Naruto.

"No way, I was done way before you!" argued Kyuubi.

"No! The winner is the one who places an empty bowl on the table first!"

"Which is me. My win!"

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

Knock-knock!

Naruto and Kyuubi looked towards the doors. Someone came for a visit.

"I'll get it!" jumping of the chair, Naruto ran to get the door.

Who was it? Kyuubi knew it couldn't be Nagato, he never knocked. …And didn't he tell them to never answer the doors, not to anyone… even friends? Kyuubi was suddenly having a really bad feeling. He jumped and ran after his brother, "Naruto, wait!"