𝑯𝑨𝑳𝑪𝒀𝑶𝑵 𝑶𝑩𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑰𝑶𝑵 •𝒃𝒙𝒃•

The Fountain of Consciousness ~ Age 10

"There's something I failed to tell you." Aizen blinked and looked at him.

"What?" He cautiously asked, fearing his next words.

"I got a team." Minato confessed, looking off to the side.

He got a team...? Which meant... He got someone from Aizen's class, "Who did you get? They must be from my class, right?" He watched as Minato bit his lip and glanced at him, before he looked away again.

"I got Obito." He got... Obito? Obito was on his team?

Aizen kept blinking, as if that would help him understand, "You got Obito... Which means you also got Rin and..." Minato noticed his tone lower as he neared the last name, but the name was left unsaid.

"Yeah." Was the answer he got.

Really... How lucky and unlucky at the same time.

"Seriously... It wasn't good when Obito got onto the same team as Kakashi, but now you're their Jounin leader..." Aizen slipped past Minato, heading towards his own bedroom.

"Aizen, wait!" Minato called out after him, the man's light footsteps making small creaks resound through their family home.

Aizen opened the door and walked straight to his bed, before he let himself fall onto it, breathing out a sigh. Not a moment later, Minato walked in and the bed dipped as the man sat down.

"Listen... I know you and Kakashi started on bad terms, but the boy isn't at fault... He's just confused... He's lonely and lost," Minato's fingers softly threaded through his hair, "His father... His father was a great man, one worthy of every praise he received..."

Aizen already knew all of that, he knew of the White Fang of Konoha, as the man's nickname was.

"And yet, people didn't accept him, they didn't accept his decisions, right?" He mumbled out into the bed covers, causing his brother's hand to falter.

"Yes, they didn't." Minato's fingers slowly left his hair and settled onto the small of his back.

"Neither did Kakashi," the fingers lightly pressed into his back at those words and Aizen turned to face Minato. To his surprise, the man had a sombre expression on his face, "What's the matter, nii-san?"

"There is something we need to talk about." Surprised at Minato's serious tone, Aizen sat up, causing the hand to slip down his back and onto the bed covers.

"About what?" He questioned, furrowing his brows.

"About Kakashi." Of course... Minato always needed to butt into his life like this. Why couldn't he just drop the subject? Why?

"Do we really?" He looked away, not wanting to look into those eyes so similar to his own.

"You need to understand some things... We should have talked about something like this a long time ago." As if he was disappointed in himself, Minato grit his teeth.

Aizen was beyond confused at his words, "Things? What things?" He didn't know what Minato meant.

"Let me ask you something and I need you to only answer truthfully to me, can you do that?" Taken aback at the sudden grip on his shoulders, Aizen could only nod in reply.

He wasn't prepared for what followed after that.

Minato took a deep breath and looked at him... Really looked at him. He looked at him as if he could see into the deepest parts of his being and Aizen was convinced that he could.

"If Kakashi's life was your own," the hands on his shoulders tightened, "If his father's life was my own," Aizen's heart drummed inside his chest, "If I was the one who saved my teammates," the wind blew through the open window, tousling the curtains, "If I was the one who was ostracised and shunned by others for what I believed was the right thing to do," static filled Aizen's ears, "If I was the one who got dishonoured," the hold on his shoulders grew, "If I was the one who was in so much pain," Aizen's hands shot up and grabbed at Minato's wrists, "If I was the one to take my own life," Aizen's heart constricted at his words, "If I was the one to leave you all alone," the ringing in his ears increased, "And if you were the one to find me," Minato's voice cracked at the last word, "Tell me... What would you do?"

What would he do?

"You can't ask me that." His voice trembled.

"Answer me." He couldn't.

"You can't ask me that." He repeated his previous words, unblinking eyes staring into Minato's own.

"Aizen... Tell me the truth," the grip on his shoulders harshened into an almost painful sensation, "What would you do if I left you alone? What would you do if you lost all that you've ever had? What would you do if the one person who you thought was always going to be by your side left you?" Aizen bit back a wince as Minato's fingers dug into his bone.

"Nii-san... Stop." He lowered his head and closed his eyes.

"Answer me." Yet, Minato continued, ignoring the state he was put in.

What would he do? What would he do? What would he do? What would he do? What would he do?

"I don't know!" He sobbed out, hands gripping the cloth of his pants, "I don't know..." Droplets slid onto his white knuckles.

The pain in his shoulders disappeared as Minato stood up.

Aizen didn't dare look up. He didn't dare look at Minato's expression.

Minato never did something like this. Minato never hurt him like this.

Why? Why did he have to ask something like that? Why? Why did he have to make him imagine that kind of scenario?

"Do you see now? For you, it hurts to even imagine something like that, right?" Aizen gave no reply, "Kakashi had to live through it."

Never had Minato thought he would be the one to cause such terrific pain to his little brother. Never. He promised that he would take care of him... Protect him... Always be by his side.

Even as the pain inside of him went beyond the pain Aizen was feeling, he held himself back from taking the smaller boy into his arms. This was something Aizen needed to hear. This was something that Aizen needed to understand. Even if tears needed to be involved.

He watched as Aizen sat on the bed, shoulders trembling as sobs resounded through the room.

This was Minato's fault.

He had been too soft on Aizen from the beginning. Always granting his each and every wish. Spoiling him rotten.

This was Minato's fault.

If only he had been a little more careful in raising Aizen, a little more committed... They wouldn't have needed to go through something like this.

The pain they were feeling could have been avoided.

But no, Minato couldn't deny him anything. He became too invested in making sure Aizen was happy and content...

This was Minato's fault.

Their parents died when they were young... Too young... Minato couldn't hold himself back. He didn't wish to lose Aizen, so he did everything in his power to make the boy happy. To make him content. To make him stay.

He didn't want Aizen to leave him like their parents did.

This was Minato's fault.

He knew that it will take a while for their relationship to mend itself and he knew it would. They were brothers.

He knew that it will take a while for Aizen to forgive him for something like that, but he knew he would. They were brothers.

He knew that it will take a while for Aizen to make peace with it and Minato was sure he would. He was his little brother.

He knew it would take a while for his own heart to stop hurting over broken promises. He knew he would have to give Aizen his space. He knew he would have to step back a little. Aizen had a team of his own and he wasn't a little kid anymore.

He was a shinobi.

But Minato would deal with it. Even if Aizen were to start hating him, he would deal with it.

He was his older brother.