Naruto x Digimon

Alive - Team Minato's Digidestined

Chapter 038

Song: Daughter - Medicine (Sound Remedy Remix); Madeon - Be Fine

Originally Written: Monday, March 27, 2023 313PM to 350PM

. . . . .

When Minato gave him his current mission, Kakashi was expecting to be placed somewhere more extravagant. All the Hokage's tended to live in lavish houses compared to the rest of the population. He wasn't expecting the home Kushina or Minato lived in when they were younger either. Yet, their current home seemed like a placeholder. Yes, it looked like a place they would both like, but it was so out of the way, no one would come visit them and Kushina wouldn't be able to take the time to visit anyone else. Not often at least.

He would have further racked his brain for why the current Hokage's wife would need such security detail besides the obvious. He didn't remember The Third's Wife, Biwako, going into hiding like this. However, he was missing something very important, and looking for it was taking far more attention than it needed to on a mission like this one.

"Where is it?" Kakashi growled low in his throat. He searched in his pack.

"She threw it out." Matadormon stood off to the side, hidden mostly in shadows. His team was stationed in their various places, though the one closest to him was laughing in amusement.

Kakashi stared at Matadormon. He only had one eye to glare with, but that was all he needed. Too bad his glare didn't really work on the Digimon. He knew his human partner too well. Kakashi switched to looking for a particular scroll, but he couldn't find that either. He looked at Matadormon.

"She got that one too."

Kakashi chucked the pack off to the side. It slid against the wooden floor and bumped into the wall next to Matadormon. "She threw it all out?"

"Yeppers peppers." Matadormon played with one of his knives, juggling it between his fingers.

He heard Kushina Uzumaki whistling as she made her way from the bathroom to her and Minato's quarters. "Did you-"

"Nope. Didn't ask her to." Matadormon answered.

Kakashi ran his hands down his face, as he kneeled on the floor. He mussed up his mask in the action. He pressed his hands against his normal eye in frustration. Kushina Uzumaki was driving him up the wall. "That's an entire bottle wasted. Does she have any idea how much it cost?"

"I'm certain she does." Matadormon dismissed the knife within his sleeve. "She's just decided you're worth more than the alcohol she poured down the drain."

Kakashi glared at the digimon and just barely remembered the Digimon's complete devotion to him before he gave him an order he'd regret. Fine. That's fine. He'd just have to get more, again. For the third week in a row. He clamped his lips shut tightly and breathed in heavily instead of screaming. This was going to be a long seven months.

While taking a walk through the village later that day, Matadormon idly pulled Kushina away from something that had caught her eye on the ground. Something small and insignificant that most people wouldn't notice or care about. The tiniest starts of plant growth where there used to be none. She looked at the Digimon. He said something to her, and stood up from her crouch.

He had noticed as well, but he hadn't realized she had. For as long as he had known her she had always been a space case, except for things that were right in front of her. Most of Konoha wouldn't notice nor care. Konoha's citizens were surrounded by greenery for most of the year. Most of Konoha didn't know what he knew however.

She stopped a few more times, looking at the same thing in curiosity. She remained quiet each time after though. He would need to do something about that. He had a source, evidence for his concern. He wondered what made her suspicious, if anything. Maybe she was just curious. Either way, he wished she'd look at something else. He signed to his team. They subtly guided her back home.

Ramen from Ichiraku's Stand was her favorite food, but she wasn't above cooking. She went through the recipe she was following with a meticulousness that she was only known for when working on her seals. Kakashi remembered Grandma Masumi teaching her how to cook using learning seals for examples. Until that point, Kushina couldn't cook well at all, managing to burn water and salad greens. After Masumi passed, she further respected the art of cooking a good meal well. She forcefully invited him and his team for dinner, sad yet understanding why Minato wouldn't make it again.

She talked their ear off, even as she swiped Kakashi's beverage of choice without him noticing. By the time he realized, she had already dumped the contents in the sink and replaced his drink with a soft clang of the cup against the table and a Well placed "...dattebane," daring Kakashi to say anything. Kakashi stared at the bland drink she placed in front of him like it stole his weapons, but he remained silent.

Kushina only stopped looking at him as she rambled when he picked up and took a sip of the drink. She looked at Matadormon and asked, "Just what or when do you eat, dattebane?"

"You'll learn in time, little one." Matadormon just smiled and twirled away in a swirl of billowing pink sleeves when she fumed in frustration and the long strands of her habanero red hair flowed around her in reaction. He slipped into the shadows just as easily, laughing in amusement.

She looked back at Kakashi and his team. She blinked, a hand over her stomach. "Did he just call me little?"

"He calls everyone little." One of his teammates replied.

He wasn't sure what caused it, but Kushina sat through the rest of dinner barely holding back tears the entire time. She ranted about being called a little, weakling child who couldn't handle the burdens and responsibilities given to her. Her hair drooped so low he couldn't find it within himself to be upset with her for throwing out his alcohol. He figured being the Hokage's Wife came with a whole slew of risks and danger he couldn't begin to imagine, if the Hokage had given him this mission. He let her rant, though his team looked taken completely off guard. Maybe she would give him some clue of what exactly he was in for.