Chapter Text
Kakashi sat at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal.
It was four in the morning.
The whole house felt like someone had thrown a blanket over it. Everyday sounds went quiet in the presence of drawn curtains and thickly shaded lamps.
All noises dampened by the knowledge of urgency. An uncertainty that drifted like fog across the floor.
A new kid.
A sick one.
And they weren’t sure if he was going to make it.
The house, once bright and lively, had become a place of shadows.
Minato padded down the dark stairwell, his footfalls silenced by his thick green socks. The orange and yellow sweater he wore was the only bright thing left. He carried the bowl of soup he had gone upstairs with six hours ago.
He sighed when he reached the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and disheveling his glasses.
“You’re up early.” He poured the full bowl of soup into the trash before quietly washing it and placing it on the dish rack next to five other identical bowls.
“Couldn’t sleep,” Kakashi said as he poked at his now soggy cereal. Kakashi knew from observation that the child hadn’t eaten in the three days he’d been there. Kakashi himself had barely eaten. His hands felt like they should be shaking but they were steady as he held his spoon. They were always steady.
“Do you have training today, or school?”
“Training.” Kakashi folded his hands in his lap and leaned back in the chair. Sliding down so that he was slouching. His eyes felt heavy with want of sleep but it evaded him. Too many nightmares. Too many sounds howling at his door.
“Have you spoken to anyone about what happened?” Minato leaned against the counter, his own exhaustion readable on his face.
What a strange thing the hours of midnight to five am were, Kakashi mused, So much can be read on a person during that time. So many things left open and unguarded. As if everyone expects to be hidden in the silence and darkness. So many ghosts, suddenly visible.
“Have you?”
“You’re evading.” Minato frowned at Kakashi, whose face remained nonchalant.
“Am I?”
“I’m not playing this game. You don’t have to talk to me but you should talk to someone. Gai maybe?”
Kakashi made a noise of distaste which caused Minato to raise an eyebrow at him.
“Kakashi, he’s your friend.”
“He’s a nuisance.”
Minato sighed and rubbed his face again, “Alright. Alright. I’ll stop pressing.”
They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Minato’s phone buzzed and he flipped it open. He sighed again and left the room.
Kakashi got up and dumped his cereal in the trash, washing his bowl and placing it next to the six others. He had a sudden vision of dragging the drying rack off the counter. Watching each of the identical bowls smash across the floor. Instead, he turned and walked away from them.