It's a pleasant night. The summer air is warm without being muggy and, every now and then, a breeze whispers through the open windows; with it comes the scents of the night (grass and fireflies). Minato's happy they've made this little trip to the hot springs. He's even more pleased it's not just him and Kakashi, but Kakashi's team too. The teenagers bring a boisterous energy that often has Minato smiling even when all the kids are doing is chatting about the friends (and lovers) they left behind in Konoha to come with them for the weekend.

"What was Kakashi-Sensei like as a student?" asks Sakura from across the table.

It's just the two of them in their room right now. Kakashi is with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai at the springs and dragged Tenzō along with him to "supervise" the trio. Minato had considered going too, he's always eager to spend more time with Naruto and Kakashi, but Sasuke and Naruto have been bickering for the last couple of hours. He's a little sick of it.

Minato remembers all too well from his days as a teacher to Kakashi and Obito that sometimes it's best to take a break. He can't be a good teacher (or, rather, company, in this case) if he has a headache from teenage antics.

Sakura had also declined going. At the time, Minato thought it was for the same reason as him. Now he's wondering if the pink-haired kunoichi hadn't been waiting for an opportunity like this. He smiles at her and doesn't miss the intensity of her seafoam green eyes as he languidly cools himself with one of the complimentary paper fans the hot spring gave their group.

"Hmm," he starts as he pretends to ponder. For Minato, Kakashi being his student is a very recent memory. In fact, sometimes he still startles when Kakashi comes to stand beside him. He expects to look down when, in fact, they are more or less at eye level with each other.

"He was quick," he says to Sakura, who nods, clearly wanting more. "A joy to teach, honestly. Near the end, we collaborated more than I taught. If I lived, he likely would have grown into being my closest advisor and protégé," he admits. He chuckles and shakes his head. "At the same time, he was such a headache! I've never met somebody else who is as obstinate as him. There were days we spent arguing from morning to night about something or other. He was a very jealous kid too."

She perks up at this descriptor. Minato is not surprised. Kakashi seems to have a handle on his possessiveness these days.

"Jealous?" she echoes.

"Yep," he replies. "He hated to share. It didn't matter if it was Jiraiya-Sensei, Naruto's mom, my friends, or even his own teammates. He'd find ways to steal my attention from them. Kakashi wanted me to watch him as he reached every new height."

The teenager purses her lips and tilts her head. "I can't picture it," she confesses after a beat. "Sensei isn't like that now."

"No, he's gotten much better," Minato says. Minato's smile turns into a facsimile and his voice dips into bitter as he mutters, "A part of growing up, I imagine."

Sakura flinches back and lowers her gaze. "I'm sorry, I upset you,"

Minato puts the fan down on the table with a clatter. "No! No," he hurries to assure the teen. "I'm just sad that I missed him growing up. He—" he stops and considers Sakura. She's peeking up at him, unsure but hopeful. "Do you know when Kakashi became my student?" he asks.

She gives a helpless shake of her head. "No, sorry." Sakura bites her lip before she admits, "Sensei doesn't talk a lot about his genin team."

He sighs. Minato isn't surprised. Talking never has been a forte of his student. Especially when it's about himself. "To call it a genin team is a bit inaccurate," he remarks, which earns him Sakura lifting her face to look at him in his entirety. "He was a chūnin when Obito and Rin joined us."

"Really?" she murmurs, leaning forward with her elbows on the table.

Minato nods. "Your teacher is a genius," he says. "I'm a bit of a prodigy too, actually. He graduated from the Academy at five years old and was assigned to me. I was sixteen and had been a jōnin for all of four or five months at the time.

"It was just us for a couple of years. It might be where some of the jealousy came from, actually. Sensei wasn't in the village a lot, Kushina and I had just started dating…" he trails off, thinking. "Yeah. Sakumo died around then too," he murmurs more to himself than to Sakura. He smiles and exclaims, "For at least a year it was pretty much me and him day in and day out!"

Sakura returns his grin. "You must have been so close," she remarks.

"We were," he replies. He looks down at the tabletop; face hot. "Kakashi is… Well, I think of him as my little brother."

Sakura exhales. "Sometimes, people can't speak past their grief," she says. "That's probably why he's never mentioned any of you very much."

Minato thinks there's truth to her words. Kakashi certainly couldn't talk about Sakumo back in the day (or now). "You're a very wise young lady," he tells her.

She giggles. "I don't know about that…" she mumbles, rubbing her chin. "I trained as a medic-nin. I know a bit about grief, how it can affect people, their health," she lists off.

Minato settles an arm on the table and his chin in his palm. "Kakashi mentioned that," he says.

Her head snaps up, eyes wide. "He did?"

"When it's just us, he tells me about you all. He's very proud of how you all turned out," Minato explains.

"Oh," she whispers, still so wide-eyed it hurts.

He can't help but frown. All the ways Kakashi has changed have felt so stark to Minato; the things that have stayed the same? Not so much. At least not until now.

"I see for all Kakashi has grown up he's still not very good at sharing how he feels about others," he says.

"We know he cares," Sakura assures him with a gentle, earnest expression.

Minato dips his chin. "That's good," he replies. Minato swallows. He is not soothed in the least. "Sometimes," he beings only to stop.

"What?" breathes Sakura, concern clear in her voice.

Minato turns his head. "It's nothing."

Sakura's hand scrambles across the table to grip his forearm. "No, no, it's okay. I won't tell on you!"

Minato, with hesitancy, meets the honest gaze of the teen. After a long, long moment he tells her, "I can tell you're a trustworthy kunoichi. It's," he sighs. "I don't want you to think poorly of Kakashi." Sakura stays silent; urging him on with her pleading eyes. "He's a good kid," Minato says only to wince. "Sorry, man."

Sakura's form shifts minutely; melting, in a way. "You still see a teenager when you look at him, don't you?" she murmurs. "He's older than you now."

Minato leans back, taking his arm from her grip. "He fit in my arms once," he says, holding his empty limbs out in front of himself. He stares into the void that Kakashi, once so small, rested in. Was protected in. "You don't forget a feeling like that."

"I'm sure," she says with empathy.

Slowly, he curls his hands into fists. "I swear he's good. I worked to keep him human," he tells her, begs her. "That's not an easy thing when we're taught and trained to be tools of our village."

Sakura starts to reach for him only to abort the motion and clutch her hands together instead. "You did a good job," she reassures. "Kakashi-Sensei is kind. My teammates and I have always known we can reach out to him and he'll help us."

"I'm glad," Minato whispers. Still, he looks down in shame. "It's too late, though."

"Too late?" she repeats, confused.

"The kindness," he explains as he raises his gaze and meets the worried one of the kunoichi across the table. "I'm not sure either of his teammates died knowing he truly cared about them as people. Or that he would have helped them if they asked. Kushina didn't. Even up until Naruto's birth she fretted. She and Kakashi never got along and she was afraid he'd show our baby, at best, indifference, at worst, bitterness." He firms his lips to hide how they want to sake. "She didn't believe me when I said Kakashi loved her, loved Naruto."

"I'm sorry," Sakura says, voice cracking. "That must have been awful."

Minato shrugs and turns his attention to a small crack in the ceiling near the corner of the room. "It was what it was," he replies. "It's simply a relief to see he has grown. It would have been so easy for him to just—" he pauses suddenly and furrows his brows as he searches for the right word. "Wilt, I guess. We were all gone." Minato groans. "I let him be in the ANBU," he chides himself. "That's the last place he needed to be in the aftermath."

"Minato, Kakashi is okay," Sakura says. "I… He might be happy these days too." She whispers this like she's afraid someone or something might overhear. Minato gets that. Sometimes, to make such a statement feels like a challenge to the world. Kakashi has faced enough challenges and tragedies. He doesn't need them attracting any more to him.

"I know," he says after a long exhale. "It's just very easy to fall into ruminating when I think of the past."

Sakura's lips quirk. "That must be why Kakashi doesn't like to talk about it, huh?"

He chuckles in spite of his current melancholy. "Kid's always been smarter than the rest of us," he says.

The girl reaches over the table and touches his hand. "Let's go find some tea," she says. "It always makes me feel better when I'm feeling sorry for myself."

Minato smiles. "Tea sounds good," he agrees.

I swear the next chapter is light and that there will be a couple more like it mixed in with stuff that's only mildly angst-y over the next few updates.

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!