Kakashi sighs.

Beside him, Minato laughs dryly.

Right on Itsuki's hospital room door, was a huge, colourful list of names. Apparently, blue ink was 'you're allowed, i guess', and red ink was 'go away, Anko bites'.

Kakashi's name isn't anywhere on that list, but Pakkun's name is, along with a wriggly scribble of a henohenomoheji beside it. Minato's name is stuck on with a piece of paper that labels him 'TBA'.

Minato observes the biggest red writing ('Tsunade-hime go away', and a scary depiction of a demon hag or something) with a sort of amused understanding. Maybe there's a story there.

"I'm pretty sure 'Kakashi' is easy to write," he spites, grumbling ways to punch that girl in the head for this evident discrimination.

"Now, now, Kakashi," Minato soothes the boy, "maybe she just forgot?"

Kakashi scowls at that, but doesn't say anything else. He lifts his hand, and knocks like a normal human being.

"What's the password??" a female voice inside the room pipes up with an annoying amount of cheer, and Kakashi has to physically restrain himself from kicking the door down.

Minato flusters, "oh no, quick, Kakashi, what do you think Anko would--"

"This is Kakashi, I'm coming in, Itsuki," he decides to ignore the teacher completely, reaching for the doorknob and unhesitatingly wrenching it open.

Then he stops.

Because the second he steps in, he finds Itsuki on the bed, Anko sprawled over on top of him straddling his little figure.

Kakashi freezes, takes two breaths. Minato facepalms.

"It's not what it looks like!" Anko says.

"I don't know what this looks like but it's not what it looks like!" Itsuki parrots.

Kakashi doesn't hear a word of it. He marches over, face criminally stoic, and grabs Anko by the scruff before tossing her to the side.

"Alright, you're officially fired from babysitting," he declares.

"Stingy!"

"What do you mean 'stingy'?!"

"I've been taking care of Itsuki this whole time! You don't get to steal him from me!"

"You've been obsessively clinging onto him, that's what!"

In the next second, Itsuki is tugged back and forth between the two bickering forces, swinging from one arm to another.

Eventually, he's scooped up into someone's arms.

He's spent the majority of the past few days huddled into someone's arms like a baby anyways, so maybe another day of it wouldn't hurt.

It's a big person, so at first, he wonders if it was Kakashi, then he remembers that Kakashi was tiny now. Maybe it was Dan. He feels the hard chest of the Konoha Flak Jacket, and these arms were wide and homey.

"Both of you, please calm down," and the voice, Itsuki realizes, isn't Dan's-- "you're going to confuse Itsuki-kun at this rate."

"But, Minato-sensei, Anko's definitely taking advantage of his blindness," Kakashi accuses, "didn't you see that just now?"

"I tripped! And then Itsuki wouldn't let go of my hand so he fell too," Anko announces boldly, "then Bakashi didn't answer the password so he's at fault too!"

Itsuki wraps his arms around Minato's neck, and sighs.

Maybe he should've expected the Fourth Hokage to be alive too. Like, why wouldn't he? Why was he still surprised?

Once again he finds himself missing his eyes. Missing the light that was so, so necessary, and so, so robbed from him.

He can barely remember the painfully yellow shade of his hair. Because really, no one had hair that bright a blond, not even Naruto. But they had the same eyes. Itsuki knew because he'd seen Naruto look at him the same soft way Minato once had, with those eyes that really had no business being so blue.

So he breathes in.

The faint smell of posies, wafting from his perhaps freshly washed flak jacket. The man smells like sunshine and baked pottery, with a gentle hint of spice.

Itsuki almost laughs.

"C'mon, kids, we're here to take Itsuki-kun home," Minato urges them, a hand running soothingly up and down Itsuki's back, as if he wasn't too sure what else to do about the child in his arms, "Kakashi, why don't you gather his stuff? And Anko-chan, you can go look around and see if we've missed out on anything."

Incredibly, the two cease fighting. With a simple obliging response, Itsuki began to hear shuffling around the room. Occasionally Anko would go 'there's nothing outside the window!' and Kakashi would go 'why the heck would you check there?', but in a fast few minutes they were done and ready to go.

-

"So, Itsuki-kun, would you rather walk on your own, or should I carry you home?"

When Minato finally speaks to him, Itsuki isn't really sure how to respond. A greeting? Long time no see? An apology for the trouble?

"I-" he tightens his grip on the man's shoulder-- he pushes back, only to realize with a start that he's airborne and there's nothing under his feet. Fear overpowers him and he's clutching closer to Minato. His voice is a near squeak when he manages to say "I'm fine like this."

He wants the ground, actually. Solid ground that doesn't feel like he's floating in someone's chokehold or something, but then again, he doesn't think he'll be able to walk far today. Especially after what happened the last time...

Minato takes a step forward. Itsuki jerks, grasping at the man's sleeves as he felt himself move. A moment later, he decides a little too desperately, "I'll walk!"

The air is scary. The ground is nice, let's not defy gravity today.

Reluctantly, Minato puts the boy down, standing him on his feet. Itsuki is old enough to not require being carried around, (and since he was a Genin, that meant he was a legal adult despite everything,) but in his current state Minato wonders if it's childish stubbornness, rather than shinobi maturity.

Itsuki stretches one hand out warily, the other closed tightly around the leg of Minato's pants.

"Eh, if you hold onto me like that, I can't walk," Minato rubs him on the head, "alright then, Kakashi and Anko, which one of you wants to hold his hand?"

"Me!"

"No, you're terrible at it!"

"No I'm not!"

Minato falls silent as the two start raising their voices. Itsuki wonders why the nurses aren't here to make them quiet yet, but he decides to tug twice on Minato's clothes, hoping to get his attention.

Minato hums, then crouches down to put a hand on Itsuki's head before he asks, "what is it?"

His voice is close, but Itsuki doesn't tear away. His chakra is warm and sizzling, not quite as blazing as a sun, but gentle and calming, like a sun-baked road on a nice spring day.

"How's... Orochimaru-sensei?"

The moment the words spill from his lips, he flinches. Why did he ask that? He hates the man with a burning, boiling passion (hotter than the hells itself) and if possible he would never want to interact with him again, time travel or not.

But it hits him harder that inside, something deep inside-- he wants to see the man again. See the man before he was what he became.

...why was it, that in this time, Itsuki adored Orochimaru-sensei so much?

(Because the one that gave him the ability to be so fearsome-- that was you, Itsuki.)

(It's your fault everyone suffered.)

(It's your fault Anko suffered, and our last Uchiha defected.)

(Your fault.)

Minato seems surprised as well, and his answer is laced with a chortle.

"He's pretty depressed," Minato responds easily, "because his dear little student rejected him so strongly, and also because he's been disallowed to see you. I'm here because he told me to look after you in his stead."

Itsuki flushes red. He hears Minato mumble something under his breath, but he doesn't hear anything more than 'and because Tsunade is grounded'.

"So once you get settled at home, you should go talk with him, alright?" Minato urges gently, grasping fingers over his until they were holding hands.

Itsuki squeezes back hesitantly.

"I'll try," he promises.