Back again //English//

"Minato, I've been lied to too many times in my life to not recognize one as badly delivered as that was. You really do suck at lying." but his voice wasn't unkind, no, rather the opposite. Quiet and gentle, for once.

"...I know," Minato sighed in defeat. "Just my luck that Kushina's too, well, naïve to ask. You.. you need to promise not to tell her, okay?"

A small nod. "You have my word."

"My Dad," said Minato quietly.

A small furrowing of the eyebrows. "... Why?"

Lalala, much better to be asking things about another's father. Yes, yes. Suppress everything about your own father that wants to resurface. Lalalalalala.

"Because.. look, he's.. he's better now, really. But.. well, my Mum died, and he.. was depressed. So.. He got drunk and.." Minato trailed off.

".... Ah." he sighed. "... Sorry to hear." Himself he would've actually, on more than one occasion, been happier about such a response from his own father, rather than the total neglect and lack of reactions at all.

"---he's really better now," mumbled Minato.

A small nod. "To be honest, I'd have preferred if... If mine had been like that." he sighed. "At least that would've meant he knew I still existed."

"Uhm.. okay..." Minato kicked awkwardly at a clump of snow. "That... sounds really fucking bad. Sorry, man."

He sighed. "It was. Nothing I did caught his attention, he just.... Sat there. I guess he did find time to eat just a little whenever I was in school, though. I never saw him move for anything else than the bathroom when I was at home." he sighed. "Started with some military mission. he was totally fucked up when he returned. And discharged."

"Wow. Uhm. Didn't they. Help him or.. or something?"

He shook his head. "It was too late when they started to." he shrugged. "He committed seppuku shortly after they began trying to help him."

Minato winced. "Sorry..." he mumbled awkwardly.

"Don't be. I was.. Rather glad he was gone. Meant I got a chance to get away from Japan and bad memories." he shrugged. "A few months later, and I was adopted."

Minato nodded. "In the US." He kicked some more at the snow. "Uhm. I got.. removed from home, too. After, well, that. I was ten. And a half. Then I didn't see him for a year."

A small nod. "They adopted since, well, something with the hormone balance ensured Lorelle couldn't get pregnant. And she'd always wanted three kids, so I became the third and last when I was eight and a half." he shrugged.

Then sighed. "... Well... Perhaps it was good with a 'pause', after that...."

"I'd gone up three... well, belts, really, when I came back. He couldn't catch me after that, and he stopped trying to hit me," Minato said quietly.

"... Ah... Well. So. You said it's been better the last while. He's not drinking as much, or?"

Minato nodded, though without any outward joy. "He's.. Got a job. He's had it for nearly six months. That's... the record. And, well, I'm not around. Maybe that's what's helping him."

"Don't be hard on yourself. You can't possibly make anything worse, the way you are. You're a nice guy. Don't blame yourself." Ironic, with Kakashi saying this.

"I look like my mother," Minato shrugged. "That's the problem."

"Ah..." he muttered. "But... I still don't understand, with that." he sighed. "If I were him, I'd be happy to have, y'know, kind of like a memento of her around. That'd mean she's not 'really' dead. As long as you're around. The last piece of her, so to speak."

"Yeah, well, he doesn't think like that, apparently, or he wouldn't have punched me into the wall, then kicked me when I fainted, would he?"

"Then he simply doesn't know how lucky he is." he sighed.