Back again //English//

Ah. Back here again, after what he'd deem his best summer vacation to date. Rin'd stayed at his place for weeks on end, only once in a while going back to their parents' place, so she'd practically moved in with him, now. That, and regular visits to or from Kushina, which meant he'd seen Minato once in a while, too, and you had Kakashi's first, perfect summer. Therefore, a smile was on his face as he took his first run across the schoolgrounds after the holidays.

Minato was hanging about the school's outdoor gym, trying to work some strength into his muscles rather than just speed. He was currently doing pullups and breathing hard.

Some time later, Kakashi came upon the outdoor gym, an, of course, saw Minato there. "Hey!" he called out, a smile still tilting his lips. "Had a good summer?"

Minato looked over and grinned at him. "Yeah.. 'was pretty alright." Best one ever, since he'd spent most of it with Kushina. "How about you?"

"One of the best yet." No, the best. "Breakthrough, girl of my dreams and all," he grinned, even. He never would've, so readily, before.

"Heh.. yeah. Me too." He blushed a little with how happy he was, but still grinned. "Soah. Everything still working out?"

A nod. "Next holiday, Rin's moving in with me. Well, she sorta halfway lives with me already, but she's moving all her stuff next holiday."

"Nice," Minato grinned, pretty genuinely happy. "Me 'n Kushina 're gonna get a place after school."

"Nice. Well if you two ever need help in the start, well... Me and Rin'll be more than happy to help."

"Ah, we'll..." He nearly started on the 'we'll manage' talk, but stopped - that hadn't worked out well. "Yeah, we might. Thanks, man." He smiled genuinely at Kakashi.

"No prob. Hey, you helped me summon courage enough to go ask the girl of my dreams. Plus, I've never seen Kushina as happy as she is with you. It's the least I can do."

"Well... I sorta figured out that I'm only really happy with her.." it made him a bit embarrassed to talk like this with Kakashi, and he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, well... Sometimes you don't realize the value of what you've got until you lose it, huh? Good thing you found back together, though."

"Ah.. That wasn't really how it was.." He wasn't gonna argue about that again.. "But.. yeah. Good."

Another smile. "Nonetheless... Can see you're going for some strength now, huh?"

"Ah, yeah. I figured I'm never gonna get any bigger otherwise," joked Minato uncomfortably. (He was still not cool with the whole 'not realising what you have 'till it's gone' thing.)

".. Something the matter?" he asked, furrowing his brows. Oh yes. He'd gotten a lot better at sensing when people were uncomfortable or hiding something.

"Nah, it's cool. Don't worry," said Minato smoothly, and picked up a kettlebell and started swinging it around.

"... If you're sure." a small nod, and a smile as he watched.

An affirmative masculine grunt.

A shrug, then he went over to the weights.

Minato started doing squats with the kettlebell.

"Soah. No hurt feelings over... Well, everything? I know I was... Well, an asshole to you early on."

Minato flushed a little more red than he already was from the lifting and put down the kettlebell, crossed his arms and sighed. "Nah.. I.. well, you said some things I probably needed to hear, anyway."

"I... Also said quite some things I shouldn't have. Poked to things I should've kept away from." he sighed. "I...." h sighed. "Sorry for it all. I just.... It was my way of... Protecting myself. It's much better now." a small smile. And it really was. Once he'd actually opened up in therapy, it'd helped an awful lot.