The Undesired Second Chance

Chapter 28: Halfway Realized

Axel would probably be pretty pissed if he saw what he was doing at the moment. Even Minato himself was feeling a little guilty about it... but he wouldn't need to sneak around his friend's house if the man would just open up about what was bothering him so much!

And yes, he was perfectly aware that, as a shinobi, complaining that someone was being overly secretive was kind of hypocritical.

Using a few tricks to unlatch the window he was perched beside, Minato pushed away his doubt. "Oh well. Better to ask forgiveness than permission."

Though when he'd first heard that saying—from Axel, ironically—it had been a bit hard to parse out the meaning from his word choice. That had been just a few weeks after they first met, back when he still stumbled over some of the most basic phrases, and it had gone more along the lines of 'more good to say sorry than please'.

Minato quickly scanned the area again, noting that one of the two canine chakra signatures he'd already been aware of had moved. One was still milling about the backyard, and wouldn't be a problem. The household dachshund, however, had come upstairs and was now just down the hall.

Pausing, he considered that possible complication. And quickly decided that it wasn't really a complication at all, given that the dog would probably side with him on this break-in instance.

Ducking his head through the window he'd just opened, Minato took a moment to tune his ears to the quiet house before actually stepping down inside. An extra precaution that usually wasn't necessary, but given Axel's uniquely undetectable chakra, he couldn't trust his skill as a sensor to tell him if his friend had somehow come back without him noticing.

So he settled, and listened closely.

No sign of Axel.

Which, having watched his friend leave nearly ten minutes ago, was to be expected. Axel had left with an empty shopping bag tucked under one arm, a sort of burnt bread smell hanging on his clothes (odd), and he'd heard him muttering under his breath about 'pretzels'. Whatever that was about.

Minato latched the window behind him—making sure there was no trace that he'd come in—and he scanned over the room quickly as he passed through.

The second floor had five rooms, only two of which saw any kind of regular use: the master bedroom and the bathroom at the top of the stairs. The other three rooms, including the one he was in now, clearly hadn't been touched in years.

Since any furniture Morimoto had left in the house wouldn't exactly be the best place to look for clues on his friend, Minato only gave each of the unused rooms a cursory check.

"He should really do something with all this space," he murmured quietly, after the door to the third and final empty room closed behind him with a soft click. "Maybe rent one out or something."

That last bedroom still had a bed frame and everything. There could have even been a mattress hidden under the protective dusty cover. By shinobi standards, that's basically fully furnished.

"Akaiko would probably take him up on it," came a gruff voice from behind. And from about foot-height.

Minato chuckled, turning to give the short dog an amused grin. "I guess she might; the rent'd probably be cheaper," he replied. "Sorry to bother you, Dach. I'm surprised you're not out with Axel."

"Don't pretend you didn't know I was here the whole time," the dachshund huffed, glancing between the intruder—who was also a friend—and the closed doors. "What's this visit about, anyway? Like you said, my human's not here."

He hesitated, scratching the back of his head as he considered what to say.

Minato knew what he was here for, of course: he needed proof. A pretty ridiculous theory had been bouncing around in his mind for a while, built by all of the little oddities he'd noticed over the months. It hadn't been much more than an idle thought before, just a curious what-if that he'd toy with occasionally.