Tender Sea

Chapter 18

Kushina had been mothering Kakashi when she sensed a group of familiar chakra signals and went to open the door for them. She was greeted with an unreadable Miyu, impassive Kurama, melancholic Minato and a surprisingly solemn Jiraiya. With a sigh she waved them in, seating the group with Kakashi, and rolling up her sleeves.

There was quite a lot of work to be done before she would be able to pull them all out of their depressing states. In the aftermath of war, Kakashi had taken to visiting the memorial stone for twice as long, his reasoning being that he now had twice as many people to visit.

Strangely enough, or maybe not so much, Miyu came with him, and they both just spent the time quietly staring at the many names. Kakashi usually alternated between looking at the stone, his right hand and then the girl. She hadn't once asked how Rin had died and he was in no hurry to tell her.

Eventually her fox would pop out of some bushes, at exactly the same time each day, and she would leave for some youthful training. The Hatake would follow along and watch their ridiculous routine before then walking her back to the compound and then heading to Minato's apartment for breakfast. It was an odd fact that he now spent more time in his sensei's home than his own due to constantly being pulled in for meals, not that he was complaining...anymore that is.

And slowly their relationship changed from niece and student of Namikaze Minato to what could be considered friends.

"Kakashi, what will you be doing today?" Miyu asked the silver haired cyclops.

"Hm, training most likely." He answered as they walked to the Uchiha compound, "I won't be taking any missions for a while."

"Why?" The blonde asked, skipping ahead and then stopping to wait for him. Kurama was obviously displeased by her jerky gait, jumping off his partner and walking on his own.

"I might try to get into Anbu." There wasn't much else he could do unless he was content with his current position, "Minato-sensei is one of the Hokage candidates and he's likely to be picked. I think it would still be nice to work directly under him." He explained. The whole village hadn't been surprised when they had heard of Sarutobi's oncoming retirement. Now it was just a choice between the two candidates but for her there was really only one option.

"I don't like Orochimaru," It was considerably difficult for her not to spit out the name, and acting civil when she had first saw him with Jiraiya had been a challenge. Honestly she was confused on how he had turned out so twisted in the end.

"He does seem a bit off at times." More often than not the snake Sannin smelled like death to him, and not the type that came with their line of work. "Ah, we're here." It seemed the short walk was over to his disappointment. He liked talking to her, she was refreshing and understanding. At times it was nice to just talk, something he hadn't appreciated much before.

"Miyu-oneesan." Itachi came out to greet the duo, instantly grabbing the hem of his sister's clothes.

"Oh, Itachi, morning!" Miyu ruffled his hair, beaming at the cute pout. She couldn't exactly remember when he had become so close but thought it was about the same time Kakashi had begun walking her back.

"Good morning." Kakashi greeted with an almost unnoticeable frown.

"Good morning." Itachi replied slightly tense. With Miyu's attention focused on her younger sibling she missed the glare shared between both males, though the fox was pleasantly amused.

3 Months later - July 23rd... Konoha Hospital

"Please come back Miyu-san!" A frantic doctor shouted as he watched his patient dash down the hallway.