Lest you fade here all alone

Chapter 17: Journey to the festival

"Rei! Rei! Rei!" With an excited shout, Naruto tumbled out of the forest, leaves and cobwebs entangled in his hair, and almost faceplanted when he tripped over a root hidden in the grass.

Rei watched the little blond fight with the stray branch that hooked onto his t-shirt, blue eyes bright with amusement. Even after an entire day running around, it didn't seem that the boy was running out of energy anytime soon. On the other hand, Gaara chose to leisurely walk together with him and Kakashi for the past couple of hours, leaving the other Jinchuuriki to roam around on his own.

Naruto rushed back to rejoin the three of them on the road but kept staring at Rei. Sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks created such a happy expression that it inevitably put a smile on Rei's face.

"What is it, kiddo?"

The fact that Rei paid attention to him and didn't simply ignore him only boosted Naruto's already high mood. "What do people do during festivals?"

Kakashi moved his book out of the way so that he could see the little Uzumaki. "Konoha has festivals, too," he said, a bit confused. "Haven't you visited them before?"

"Yeah, but..." Naruto's gaze dropped, and he fiddled with his t-shirt hem for a few seconds. "But I was always alone. I've never visited a festival with someone else."

Kakashi's eye widened minutely before it darted back to his book. But his brow was furrowed and his gaze unfocused, most likely already drowning in misplaced guilt about things he should have or could have done but didn't, despite not being in the best of state himself.

Rei never held his absence in his childhood against the man. And Naruto didn't either, especially when Kakashi was already present in his life so much earlier than in Rei's past.

"But now I have you, Rei, and Gaara, 'ttebayo!" Naruto stared at Kakashi as he spoke with nothing but pure happiness in his voice and a tinge of awe on his face, completely oblivious to the man's inner turmoil. "It's going to be my first time visiting a festival with my family." He perked up at the thought, dazzling blue eyes snapping up to look at his uncle again. "Can we eat yakitori together? And play games together? All three of us?"

"Sure, kit, but that's a plan for once we reach the place. It'll still take us a few more days." Rei brushed his hand through Naruto's hair, combing out leaves and cobwebs, and chuckled when the boy beamed at him. "We'll have to camp out until then. There's a small river up ahead; I think it's a good place to stop for today."

"Sounds like a good idea. Sun's starting to go down," Kakashi noted, gaze glued to the pages in front of him. "We could eat fresh fish tonight." He peeked over the top of his book at the kids. "You want to help me catch some?"

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered as he raced off ahead to reach the river first.

Kakashi's eye closed, mirroring the smile hidden under the mask.

Rei glanced at Gaara. Despite being quiet by nature, the redhead would have offered Naruto at least a few words. He always was carefully attentive to his friend. He still was. His teal eyes followed Naruto, but a pinch sat in between his brows as he pondered on something.

Rei had yet to learn what kind of problem the kid was working through. He would have to talk with him about it. Looking at Kakashi on his other side, he sighed softly. He would have to speak with that one as well.

"Hurry up, 'ttebayo!"

Rei grinned. At least someone was all but bursting with happiness and didn't require any pep talks for the time being. "We're coming, Naruto!"

To Naruto's absolute chagrin, the three of them didn't pick up the pace, no matter how much he urged them. When they finally arrived, he had already found a perfect spot for camping on the bank and stood on the rock, trying to spy fish in the stream that he definitely was going to catch today.