Father Figure

Chapter 6: Things Unspoken

Kakashi flipped the fish in the pan, his senses overwhelmed with the wonderful smell and sizzling sound in front of him. He always did love this recipe. Although, he did admit, his father's was superior. Or perhaps it was the company of his father that made his father's fish always taste better.

The last time Kakashi made this meal...

Rin and Obito's faces appeared before his mind's eye. Kakashi shook the thought out of his head, focusing his attention on the horribly familiar looking blonde man kneeling on the tatami mat by the table. He glared at the man with coldness in his eyes, portraying none of the emotions inside. The man dared to glare back, but with a softer demeanor. How the older man could remain so kind despite Kakashi's coldness was baffling, to say the least. Most people shriveled in his stifling cold presence, with the exception of Minato-Sensei who saw past it and Kushina-San who was a stifling presence to be reckoned with herself.

"So..." Naruto muttered. Kakashi turned back to the sizzling, hot pan and poked the fish with his spatula, testing to see how far it would bounce back, how cooked it was. "Did your cookbooks teach you this recipe too?"

Kakashi let the question hang in the air for a few moments before muttering, "No, my father taught it to me." He didn't know why he even bothered opening up to this stranger. Yet, somehow, some small part deep within him felt a sense of comfort in the older shinobi's presence. Like he could abide in him. Though, most of that calm was so buried beneath irritation and coldness that it barely mattered.

Naruto remained silent for another few moments, tension thick in the air. He opened his mouth, as if to speak, then decided better of it.

Kakashi served the plates and knelt across from Naruto. "Itadakimasu," they said in unison.

"Your father was a great cook too, then."

Kakashi didn't look up from his food, didn't touch it either; didn't dare take his beloved mask off, Naruto assumed. "My father was a great many things."

"Sakumo Hatake, White Fang of the Leaf. I heard a lot of things about him. Though I'm not sure what all is true."

Naruto peered up from his fish just long enough to notice Kakashi had paused entirely, arm resting and chopsticks still. Though there were a few bites missing from Kakashi's own plate. Damn, stealthy ninja.

"My father was a great man."

"I don't doubt it. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Now Kakashi was glaring straight at the blonde man across from him, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Minato-Sensei had told him to keep quiet about his suspicions... which simply confirmed them, though he knew Minato knew this. But Kakashi felt an eagerness rising in his chest, unable to contain it.

"Right back at you," Kakashi said.

Saying the words out loud was both a relief and a burden. Minato-Sensei was going to pound him. He'd probably punish him with a month of village security duties.

He watched Naruto carefully to gage his reaction. Naruto was a cool, calculated man on the outside, much like Minato. Kakashi could see this clearly. But he had no idea how the man dealt with stress--if it was anything like Minato, he'd ignore what Kakashi had just said and move on to a different topic. Kakashi, mid-sigh, was interrupted and taken by surprise with Naruto's response, "I need to know what happened between you and Obito."

Kakashi had never stood up from a dinner table faster in his life. He was already in a fighting stance, one leg in front of the other and his hands at the ready. He made mental note of the knives in the kitchen drawers to his left and the possible exits on his right.