A/N: Re-written as of April 6th 2024
Here is the Tuesday chapter of Ex, and you know what? It feels really freaking good to have this out today, and because I really felt like it was ready (probable silly mistakes aside), not because I felt obliged to put it up just because I said I would. I'm really happy with this chapter now, and polishing it up was actually strangely therapeutic— which is kind of hilarious to me because when I sat down to work on it I thought 'this totally bites', because it just isn't as light or fluffy as the last chapter and I was really craving more fluff, or so I thought.
Anyway, I've decided that I'm not going to stress myself about trying to get more than one chapter up a week at least for the rest of this month. Thank you to those who expressed concern for me, and/or urged me to take my time getting back rather than trying to force more updates out. I think perhaps my wording in the last A/N might have been a bit misleading, with the bit of me still reeling. I meant that I'm still, in a way, shocked that the chain events even occurred. I assure you that I'm in a good place again now, and that I didn't really force myself to post last week =)
Actually there is a kind of funny little story about why I posted on Monday rather than Tuesday. I had every intention just to upload the chapter into my documents on the site and wait for the next day to update the fic itself, until I saw that there was a new review that hadn't been there the last time I'd dared to look, pronouncing that it was a shame the fic had died… I sort of posted the chapter right after I read that on impulse, lol. Which was perhaps a little immature of me, but seriously, it felt good to be able to be like "Ha ha, it's not dead anymore, random guest reviewer!"
Anyway, enough of my rambling yes? On with the chapter~
Chapter XI: Dauntless
How exactly had he ended up playing a game of shogi (badly) with Shikaku while Inoichi played some silly game with his little brother? Minato was honestly not exactly sure. When they'd finally gotten to the Nara estate, Shikatsu's wife had swooped in and whisked Makiko away. Before he could utter so much as a single word of protest, and the sleeping girl did not so much as stir. Masato had almost immediately taken that chance to abandon Inokai and tug away at his older brother demanding to play, and they were directed to a place where he could let the boy do that… but Minato was completely unable to follow just what sort of game Masato seemed to be playing. Or games? That might be a more apt description really… It was kind of like the boy was switching between made-up games with no warning, and Minato had no time to figure out just what he was supposed to be doing.
Masato had loudly declared "Minato-ni wrong!" More times than he had cared to count before he had somehow found himself completely benched in the activity of his little brother's play. Inoichi easily filled the role of playmate in his place. Masato didn't seem to care much in the slightest. Shikaku roped him into a game after that he supposed, though he didn't actually remember being asked to play shogi. He just was.
And he had just lost.
"Troublesome," the Nara boy muttered with a sigh. "Inoichi isn't going to let the kid hurt himself, Minato." It felt like he was being lectured almost… damn Nara. "Pay attention to the game this time."
Wait… they were going to play another?
Minato grimaced at the idea, but at the same time, couldn't make himself voice a refusal. Shikaku was just trying to distract him or something, right? His thoughts were all over the place ever since they'd finally gotten back to Konoha. Well, since they'd encountered his mother before finding the twins actually, but then he'd had a firm goal in mind keeping him focused. Finding the twins. Getting them to Konoha. Things he didn't need to think very hard on how to accomplish. Now that they were here he wasn't so sure on what he should be doing to be honest.
There was so much he had to consider now.
Maybe just trying to focus on a game of shogi wasn't a bad idea. Shikaku was probably right. Masato wasn't going to hurt himself under Inoichi's watch… besides, Masato looked like he was having a blast.
"Right… okay… yeah, let's go again," he replied at last to his friend, giving him a bit of a sheepish grin. "I won't be so easy to beat this time."
"Says the guy who's only won once," the black haired boy replied, but he was grinning back at him now.
But then… maybe he should go check on Makiko real quick first?
No. One game wasn't going to hurt. Makiko-chan was probably still sleeping anyway. Right?
But what if she wasn't?
"Minato…"
"Wha—Oh right, my move!"
The blonde flushed in slight embarrassment that once again he'd started to space out, even as he scanned the board before him so he could place his piece.
Why couldn't she have just stayed asleep? She didn't have to think, or try not to think, when she was asleep. Why couldn't she just go back to sleep now?
It was useless really. She'd been laying there for what was probably at least half an hour now, doing everything from counting, to regulating her breathing to try and fall back into slumber. None of it worked. Especially when her mind just went ahead and wandered all on its own. The cover over her was soft and smelt so good. The fabric enclosing her body was also very fragrant and far more comfortable than anything she'd felt on her skin in this life.
She was wearing a yukata now, she eventually realized when she turned from her back to her side to curl up in a last ditch effort to lose herself in the oblivion of sleep. Where was she now? What had the man said? His name was… Shika…. Something. Not Shikaku… but it sounded similar. Shikatsu. Yeah, that was it. And he said something about how they would be spending the night at his place, didn't he? So this was the Nara estate, she guessed. The Nara was a very powerful clan, so it was no surprise that all the fabric she could feel was of such good quality.
It didn't help her to go back to sleep. Her little body was so used to being at least a little uncomfortable that these comforts actually made it harder. She never thought she'd be in that sort of position again, really. It was something that had happened back in her genin days, the first time she'd taken a long term mission where they had to sleep outside all the time. Coming home to her own bed had been such a relief, but she hadn't been able to sleep well at all for those first few days. By the time she'd died though she was past comfort levels having any effect on how well she slept.
With a tiny sigh the girl rolled onto her back again before opening her eyes to stare up at the ceiling. The ceiling was wooden of course, with planks of wood running lengthwise above her, and thin beams of wood dissecting the ceiling into squares. It was not at all that interesting to stare at and did nothing to keep her from her thoughts.
Makiko, the one who was actually the owner of this body, was dead. It was her fault…
Was it truly her fault? Did the real Makiko die because she was there, or had she (Naruko) just survived something that was supposed to spell out the girl's death in the original timeline? How long has 'Makiko' been dead?
How the hell was she supposed to know?
Maki bit her bottom lip, using the pain to interrupt that train of thought. Don't go there. It's not worth it. Not right now. She repeated those words like a mantra in her mind, controlling her breathing and wiping the morbid thoughts away. Her hands clenched in the cover as she forced herself to simply not think about those things. To think of anything else.
There was a metallic tang on her tongue.
She blinked, and brought one of her small hands up to her lip, realizing it stung slightly. Her tiny fingers came away with a drop of blood on them. She'd actually broken the skin of her lip. She stared at the tiny drop on her skin, and unbidden visions of red came to mind.
Hinata covered in blood, flying through the air from Pain's attack.
Neji's blood splattering on her face when he took that blow for her in the war.
The red blossoming in Sasuke's arm just before they both lost consciousness after blowing their arms off.
Her own blood coating her hands and torso as she was ran through.
No more. Her breathing hitched, and she snapped her eyes closed, but that only made the images more vivid.
Life-blood spurting from the neck of one of their assailants.
"Ma—k—ch"
A pale, bony hand arching through the air, hot blood dripping onto her cheek.
Please just stop. She whimpered, curling her knees up to her chest and burying her face into them.
"—aki—an"
A tiny broken body sinking into black depths.
Don't! She tightly gripped her knees, dull pain springing forth where her fingers dug in.
"Maki—ch—!""
Endless streams of red pouring from the gaping hole in the child's stomach. No. no, no... no… stop!
Trying to play like a kid actually would was both easier and harder than he thought it would be. Games that such young children could be expected to come up with were terribly boring really. He didn't even know if a kid less than two would even come up with some of this stuff. To him though, it was so simple he found himself forgetting what he was actually supposed to be doing, and having to come up with something else.
He completely lost Minato to the point that Inoichi had pretty much forced his brother to the sidelines. By contrast, Inoichi was able to keep his strange games on track with 'is that so's and 'well what if I do this's until he found himself playing a game that was Inoichi's design, rather than some haphazard play he'd tried to come up with to look like a child.
It was a game he could vaguely remember Hinata playing with their kids in his past life, though he didn't know what it was called. Inoichi would say he spied something of a certain colour and Masato had to go find it in the garden, with Inoichi telling him when he was getting warmer, or colder. It seemed to be a game to teach young children in shinobi families to pay attention to even the smallest of visible detail, as the things that Inoichi had him hunt for progressively got smaller. He'd almost forgotten he needed to be trying to seem like a toddler when Inoichi had said "something brown circled by blue," and had just about gone right to the tiny flowers that had those colours.
Instead he'd petulantly snapped "That two colours! Inoichi play wrong!" Inoichi had apologized, and told him to look for something blue instead. He tried to make a show of really looking for the blue thing Inoichi had spied. He hoped he was convincing enough.
When he finally got to the small flowers that he'd known all along were the target, the Yamanaka boy came over to squat beside him, and pointed out how the center of the flower was brown, and the petals blue. He explained it a little more simply, and slowly, which was annoying, but Masato knew it was because the boy thought he was talking to a toddler. So he couldn't be doing all that bad then. He hoped.
And then a wave of negativity invaded his senses, and he tensed, eyes snapping towards the building in search of the source. "Masato?" Inoichi inquired softly, but concerned over what this was, he ignored him. It felt like… like Makiko. Makiko was awake.
And upset.
How the hell did he know that?
"Masato-kun, you okay?" Inoichi asked, a hand now on his shoulder. He tried not to frown as he turned to look at Inoichi.
"I okay," he assured, and then nearly went on to say that Maki was awake and upset. But realizing he'd then have to explain how he knew, and he just didn't know how he did, he snapped his mouth closed and averted his eyes. "Kind of cold," he muttered, because he had to say something with the way Inoichi was looking at him so intensely he could feel it. It wasn't really that cold out, but he was a little bit chilled from occasionally crawling in the dirt to find what Inoichi was making him hunt for.
Looking back at Inoichi revealed the blonde was smiling kindly at him. "It is a little chilly out." Not really that chilly… although maybe for a child as thin as him? "Are you sleepy at all?"
Tired? Well… he wasn't really sleepy, but his body did feel kind of heavy in what he recognized as the beginning of muscle fatigue. He hardly had any muscle mass at all after all. He screwed his face up into a frown. "just little little bit."
Inoichi seemed to take that as a child trying to deny how tired he was, as he chuckled, and then gently took one of his hands. "Lets go inside and wash up okay? After that, maybe you'll be sleepy enough to have a nap."
He almost nodded until he realized nap wasn't actually a word he'd heard in this life. "Nap?" he asked with all the child's curiosity that he could muster, while pretending to fight back a yawn for show. "What that?"
Inoichi looked thoughtful for a moment as he gently pulled him towards the house. "Well, a nap is what we call sleeping in the daytime. It helps you get through the rest of the day until bedtime at night."
He screwed up his face further as if he was trying to comprehend what he had been told, before he gave a tiny nod and a soft "okay." Then he looked up from his feet towards where his brother was playing shogi.
Where his brother was supposed to be playing shogi.
Shikaku sat by himself in front of the shogi board, a slight scowl on his face. Minato was nowhere to be seen. When had his fa—brother left? Where had he gone? He unknowingly came to a stop, causing Inoichi to look down at him in concern again. "What's wrong Masato-kun?"
"No Ni-san," he mumbled, and the upset was more genuine sounding than he had meant for it to be. Maybe he was being affected a little by the age of his current body. (Maybe Makiko was as well. It would explain some things)
Inoichi gave his hand a slight squeeze and offered him a reassuring smile. "Minato isn't far, I promise," he assured before gently lifting him up onto the deck around the house. "He's inside checking on Makiko-chan." Inoichi deftly removed the shoes from his feet, before sitting next to him and taking off his own. "After washing up we can go see them."
"'kay," he replied with a nod, letting the other boy take his hand again to lead him through the house.
Inoichi clearly knew what he was doing when it came to small kids. Minato couldn't help but be impressed with the way the yamanaka guided Masato's play into a game to teach observational skills to the children of shinobi families. He would definitely ask him for some pointers later. He was going to need it.
Too bad there wasn't really anyone he could ask for additional shogi pointers. He was still losing, though not as badly as he had last time. He could see how he could be beaten in the next three moves, and if he stopped that, he was probably going to lose in five moves. Damn. It was always a little humbling to play shogi with Shikaku, because he started off thinking they were on even terms. Then as they neared the end of the game and he spotted the ways by which he'd just failed to understand Shikaku's strategy he was reminded of how much of a genius his friend was.
Still, he had managed to win once. He was determined to do it again, some day.
Today was clearly not that day though. He'd just spotted another opening Shikaku could take, and there was no way he could prevent all three. Not that he could think of at least. His friend hadn't pre-emptively declared himself the winner, telling him there was something he wasn't seeing that Shikaku did. Maybe if he…
"You're going to lose again," Shikaku stated flatly after he placed his piece.
Of course he was.
Minato gave a sigh before asking "What am I not seeing here?" Because he really did want to get better at the game and improve his strategy in general. Shikaku just pointed at a spot on the board before muttering that it was too troublesome to explain. Typical Shikaku. "Thanks," he murmured back, even as he examined the pieces in that portion of the board and thought about how each of them could be moved and… yup, there it was. Four turns, six turns, or seven turns.
Before he could try and figure out what he could have done to avoid falling into this particular trap his thoughts were interrupted by Shikatsu's deep voice.
"Minato."
That was all the man said. It was all that needed to be said, as when he looked towards the call of his name he could see the unspoken order to follow the man in his body language. He glanced into the yard to make sure Masato was still happily playing , before he got quickly to his feet
He was led to the room Makiko had been put down in, and greeted by the sight of the girl curled into her knees and trembling. Inokia was sitting next to her and softly calling her name, but she gave no reaction. The Nara gave him a light push into the room when he momentarily froze at the scene from worry. Just what was wrong with Maki-chan now?
"Don't touch her," Inokai-san warned as he moved quickly to her side, one hand reaching out towards her. "You'll panic her more. You need her to acknowledge your presence first." he said softly. "Start by trying to get her attention with her name. Hopefully she'll respond to your voice."
Minato swallowed hard, dropping to his knees next to his sister and clutching his hands into fists to keep from pulling her into a hug. "Makiko-chan," He called softly, doing his best to keep his own concern out of his voice and sound as calming and friendly as he could manage.
She gave a jolt, and he glanced over at Inokai in further concern. The man smiled back at him and then startled him with words directly into his mind. "That's a good sign. Try again."
"Makiko-chan," he repeated the call, just barely keeping his voice steady. Her head shifted slightly, and it seemed perhaps she was peeking through her hair at him. This was good, right? "Makiko-chan," he said again, making himself smile softly at her.
Her head lifted slightly, and it was clear she was looking at him now. Her hands slackened around her knees, and then reached towards him shakily, a desperate plea in the form of "Nii-san," slipping from her lips.
"Ask her if it's alright to hug her before you pick her up. Move slowly." the Yamanaka advised him
He almost had to grit his teeth at this, because Makiko looked as though she would be totally inconsolable if he didn't sweep her into his arms right in that moment. But instead he moved slowly. "Would you like a hung Makiko-chan?" He opens his arms slowly in an invitation, resisting his urge to grab her and pull her to him.
Makiko made a strange sort of choked humming response before she pressed herself into his open arms and promptly hid her face in his shirt. He slowly closed his arms around her.
"PTSD," Shikatsu spoke in a whisper… and he was left wondering why he bothered to say it out loud at all. Surely the two clan heads could speak discreetly through the Yamanaka jutsu, just like how Inokai had given him instructions?
His eyes snapped over to the man, who was clearly looking at him. Not Inokai. So he was saying it to make it clear to him? He looked to Inokai questioningly. He was the expert wasn't he?
"Highly likely… there have been several signs over the last few hours," Inokai agrees. "It's still a little early to tell for sure," the man went on to explain softly. He felt his stomach knot in unease at the very idea. PTSD. Post traumatic stress disorder. It was something that was sadly very common among shinobi… but it wasn't something they usually had to worry about small children, toddlers, suffering from. At least, not since the establishment of shinobi villages.
But his siblings hadn't been raised in a village. They'd been out in the elements, and on the run with his mother. His mother who had suffered some serious injuries the night they'd come across them. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the twins might have seen some of those injuries being inflicted. It wasn't that far of a leap to assume that that hadn't been the first time the trio had been assaulted either.
"Minato, stay calm," Inokia warned him again, once more in his mind. "Your agitation could upset her."
He could only manage a nod as he forced himself to be calm, relaxing his tensed shoulders when he felt Makiko press her face deeper into his jacket, dampness seeping into the fabric from her tears. The man then he speak to her, reassuring her that she is safe. He hadn't been sure exactly what to say, but he stumbled through it with as controlled of a voice as he could.
The relief he felt when her hands slackened their death grip on his jacket was intense.
"Good. See if she will stand up for you now." Inokai had suggested next, so he had gently shifted her so she was looking up at him, and he tried to get her to stand. But she only leaned back into him once more, shaking her head, and grasping once more tightly at his jacket.
The unease returned in full force.
Being an older brother, and the only living relative of toddlers really was going to be the biggest challenge he had ever faced in his life.
He refused to be daunted.
After getting cleaned up and changed into a yukata, Masato allowed himself to be led by Inoichi again, until they passed one of the rooms. The room he got a sense of negative emotion from. He came to an abrupt stop before he realized what he was doing and tugged his hand impetuously away from the older boy. "No further!"
Inoichi looked at him with a look meant to seem coaxing, but he knew he was hiding how troubled he was. "Masato-kun, don't you want to have a nap?"
"Makiko first!" He insisted.
The boy looked for a moment like he was at a loss, before he tried to reason further. "Makiko-chan is coming after. She needed the bathroom."
It was a lie. But he shouldn't know it was a lie, so how could he say it? Unless they just played it off as some sort of twin thing? Though that might be a bit risky… still, with the negativity he could feel coming from Makiko she was definitely upset. After what had happened before with her nearly abandoning everything, Masato didn't want to take his chances with letting her wallow in these feelings. Not at all. Clearly Inoichi was hoping he could get him into a futon and that he would be too sleepy once he was in bed to kick up a fuss about Makiko not being there.
He wasn't going to play along.
"Liar!" He snapped, stomping his foot. Inoichi tensed and his eyes narrowed slightly, showing he was now just a little suspicious. Still, Masato had to risk it. "Maki dere!" he jabbed his finger at the shoji next to them to indicate the room.
"Masato-kun, I think your just really tired," Inoichi tried again. Did he honestly think that would convince him? "Come on, let's go for a nap. We'll see Makiko-chan when we wake up, okay?"
"No! Said after wash. See Maki NOW!" Maybe he was playing the act of temper-tantrum a little too well, because Inoichi winced, and even sighed in the sort of weary way of someone who had come out on the wrong end of one too many temper-tantrums. He opened his mouth to speak again, but the shoji next to them slid open, causing whatever the Yamanaka was about to try and say next to die on his lips.
Minato stood there, with Makiko supported on his hip, her face buried into his shoulder as she clung to him. "Masato, calm down," he spoke soothingly, and stretched the hand that he had used to open the shoji out to him. "Why don't we all sit together for a few minutes, and then you can go for that nap, alright?"
He stared up at his brother, then to the form of his sister who hadn't moved to acknowledge him at all, and finally at the proffered hand. He chose to ignore it. Now that she was right there, he could feel grief and guilt rolling off her in waves. "Makiko." He called her name insistently, moving up to his brother and reached up to tug at her leg (her arms were too high to reach). No response. He glowered, and looked up to Minato again, ignoring the feeling of Inoichi's eyes on him, and the sounds of approaching footsteps. "Ni-san, down!"
"Masato," the other Namikaze spoke in a tone he instantly labeled as nearly patronizing (though he probably didn't mean to sound that way). "Makiko-chan doesn't want to be put down."
He huffed, and shook his head. "Not Maki! Nii-san down." After all Makiko was using Minato as a life line right now. He remembered Naruko clinging to him when she'd been the most upset in their mindscape meetups that now felt like an eternity ago. She wouldn't let go until she was snapped out of what she was feeling… and she wasn't just going to come out of it very quickly on her own. That was okay. He'd just give her a push in the right direction. He'd done it so many times before. Even before they'd actually met.
"Ni-san!"
Minato put on a smile again, and used his free hand to ruffle his hair. He swatted the hand away, continuing to glower even as Minato finally moved to sit down, his legs hanging over the deck edge. He followed his brother, but shook his head vehemently when Minato softly invited "Sit here," with a pat of his hand to his other side. Instead he made a grab for Makiko's closest hand. He didn't try and pry it away, just wrapped his own hand around the back of hers.
"Makiko."
He repeated her name again, and her hand twitched, but he wouldn't have even noticed that reaction if he hadn't had his hand over hers to feel it. She was purposefully ignoring him calling her name.
"Baka-Maki!"
Her hand clenched. But she still didn't turn to look at him. Stubborn little sister! Minato was frowning at him in disapproval, and he felt his brother put a restraining hand on his shoulder. He quickly swatted it away. Now was not the time to play it nice. He was going to get through Makiko's thick fucking skull and wake her up if it was the last thing he did.
He was angry despite himself.
"GIRL!"
Oh. Shit. He should not have said that.
Minato's eyes were wide in shock. Inoichi's eyes burned into the back of his skull. And two more sets of eyes burrowed into his frame coldly. Calculatingly.
But Makiko had jerked, her hand loosening its hold in shock, and he tugged on it, because despite having done something that was absolutely stupid and was definitely going to cause even more suspicion, she'd finally fucking reacted and he wasn't going to miss this chance. Even though it really stung when her head finally turned towards him and there were fresh tears sliding down her cheeks. Tears he had just caused by calling her girl.
But he couldn't apologize just yet.
"Look!" he shouted at her, tugging at her hand again, before he pointed roughly with his other at the blue sky that was just starting to get painted with pinks on the horizon. "Blue! Bright!" he continued. Fuck, having to talk like a toddler was making this pretty difficult. "Always come back!" he went on to insist as her wide eyes flicked between him and the sky in confusion.
Forget those dark skies. Forget the dark waters. Forget the blood that stained them. He willed. Tried to communicate with his eyes.
"Dark always go away!"
Paint them all Blue again.
"And if dark not go, I make go!"
I'll help you!
The assembled adults simply stared, he wasn't sure if it was because they didn't know what to do, if they were waiting to see how this played out, or a combination of both. Minato was simply too shocked by his outburst it seemed, and the fact that Makiko had finally lifted her face out of his jacket.
But what if I can't? More tears streamed down her cheeks, and she vehemently shook her head. "Bu—"
"No but!" He cut off her protest swiftly. "Maki," and he pointed at her before pointing at himself "And Masato together."
You're not alone!
Again she shook her head, the tears still flowing. "No kaa—"
No. She was not going there. "Minato-Ni-san here too!" he insisted. "Makiko never 'lone! Have two Ni-sans!" He pointed at himself with his left, and at Minato with his right.
We're a family.
"We make all the sad and scar and dark go away whenever it comes," he assured her, before he finally looked at Minato. "Right, Minato-ni-san?"
Minato's eyes were in turmoil, he could see. There were emotions of guilt, sorrow, and doubt. But with the question, they hardened, and all he saw was a dauntless determination as his older brother's lips curved back upwards into a confident smile. He couldn't tell if Minato was really feeling confident or not, because the expression was so flawless in his perception. He didn't have that kind of confidence in what he was doing until he'd been Hokage for a few years!
It could be just airs… but that didn't matter though. He'd known for a long time that his will to never give up hadn't only come from his mother, after all.
"Yes, we will, Masato," the Namikaze spoke calmly, an unshakable conviction in his voice. He lifted Makiko from his lap to have her stand before him, and her eyes immediately moved to his face. It was probably exactly what Minato had wanted to accomplish from the action. "We're a family. And that means we stick together," he said firmly. "So whenever you're scared, or hurt, or you don't know what to do, we'll do whatever we can to help you, Makiko-chan."
Makiko looked intently at Minato, before her eyes furtively sought out Masato. He smiled back at his sister widely and chirped out a "Yup!"
Jeez… even though they know it's impossible to always be together.
Her voice rang in his head clear as day, and he blinked in surprise, his smile faltering for a moment. Quickly he put it back in place as he held her gaze.
Well obviously we both just have to learn the Hiraishin whenever Ni-san makes his version of it.
She blinked back at him in her own surprise, and then a smile spread over her own lips. She rubbed the tear streaks from her cheeks as she wrapped her other hand tightly around his. Then she grabbed at one of Minato's hands and squeezed it tightly. "Okay." Her voice shook slightly, but her smile widened. "But… Makiko wants to help Masa-ni and Ni-san too!"
Minato looked clearly relieved as she spoke the first sentence he'd heard from her since the meeting with the Hokage. "That's what Family is for," he assured her brightly. "Now, let's go have a nap, okay?" This was more directed at him, so he nodded in acquiescence. Makiko nodded to, after a moment of thought however, not that he was surprised. Her panic had probably worn her right out again.
Minato got easily to his feet, and took hold of his free hand before he ushered them both into the room. There was only one futon, but Maki insisted they could sleep together, so they both settled in next to each other. He didn't mind really. There was plenty of room.
But the measuring looks of the two adults continued to linger right up until the shoji was slid closed again.
Fuck.
They definitely suspected something.
Minato let out a sigh of relief when both of the twins breathing finally evened out into the easy rhythm of sleep. Carefully he disengaged his hand from Makiko, wary that he would wake her. When she continued to sleep easily he rose silently to his feet to slip out of the room.
That had been nerve wracking. When he'd heard Masato making a fuss over seeing Makiko he'd hoped that showing his brother the girl was okay would stop the brewing temper-tantrum in its tracks. He had not expected the way Masato had tried to get Makiko's attention with a one track mind. He sure as hell hadn't thought the boy would start shouting at her either.
That was the least of his worries about the scene though.
He needed to talk to Inokai, and probably Shikatsu as well. Because the way Masato had spoken to their sister made him suspect this wasn't the first time he'd seen her in that state. And that he understood, in some way, what had triggered it. There was also the possibility of Makiko having PTSD, which was brought up before.
And then there was how Masato had finally gotten a reaction out of his sister, and how she'd reacted to it. It was almost like she was used to being called that. Girl. Yet she'd started crying again because of it, so somehow it was also upsetting. It was made stranger because Masato had called her 'baka' and the way it had made her tense slightly had made it obvious she had some understanding of what that word meant. Where could she have learned that? Did children learn such insults so young?
And why would she be used to being called girl? Why had that managed to get her to react when she'd been clearly ignoring calls of her name from Masato?
Did he really want to know?
No, it didn't matter if he wanted to or not. If the reason was something that was causing Maki emotional duress, he needed to know it. No matter how unpleasant. Just like he needed to know whatever traumatic event she'd seen or been through, and whatever had triggered her today. How could he avoid a trigger if he didn't know what it was? Or help her overcome it if he needed to? How could he help her without knowing what was wrong to begin with?
So he would find out. And he wasn't going to let the 'adults' reason that he was too young. He was a damn shinobi. He may be just a genin, but a shinobi was considered an adult. And they were his siblings. It was his fucking business.
He wasn't going to back down. He wasn't going to be made to back off. And he sure as hell was not going to sit around anymore feeling indecisive and lost on what to do. That wasn't going to get him anywhere, and was just a pathetic waste of time.
He'd kept himself together when his dying mother appeared before him. Managed to keep himself going and focused in the following days to get the small Namikaze to Konoha.
Now was not any different. He had to help his siblings. Had to make sure he was there to care for them, protect them, and to help them heal as was now painfully obvious. Yes. He had a mission. One he couldn't afford to fail.
No.
Namikaze Minato would succeed.
Word Count: 5892
To the Reviewers:
Zeldawolf200 : Thanks so much for your concern, I appreciate it. Don't worry about the weekly chapters, I'm definitely up to that. But yeah, your right, it's not a good idea to rush myself, so like I said before the chapter, I'm going to hold off on trying to do two chapters a week for now.
I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and that it accomplished what I hoped it would~
Riku Uzumaki : Oh yes, baby-sitter Kushina will happen at some point. Can't say when though, that would spoil too much. It's going to be hella cute though~
And maybe sometimes a little dangerous
Setokayba2n : Thanks for letting me know there were things you were unsure about! I already said it to you, but don't hesitate to ask me if something else comes up in the fic you are unsure on~ I'll try and explain to the best of my ability without spoiling anything.
Thanks for reading and reviewing! Hope you keep with us~
To all my readers : If you guys ever have questions about something, or maybe something I wrote is confusing to you, don't hesitate to let me know! I totally don't mind getting PM's with questions, or you can just mention it in a review. I'll always answer the best I can without spoilers, and you guys letting me know something was confusing will help me improve my writing to avoid doing that in the future (and go back and fix the confusing bits if I can).
Thank you all for reading & Thanks for the reviews~
