Brilliance in Shadows

Chapter 13: Dinner in House Namikaze (2/2)

Minato returned with a wooden box and set it in front of Ikuto. Kakashi took that as a sign to leave and he gestured for Tsukina to follow him, she did, hesitantly. Ikuto watched them until they vanished somewhere in the house out of sight. Minato scooted his seat to be closer to Ikuto as he opened the box. "You probably don't remember but when we graduated you gave me this braided charm. I used to wear it all the time but there was this one mission I was on where it had gotten cut and I nearly lost it."

The braided... he said charm but it was a bracelet, was pushed in front of Ikuto. The strings used to make it had the same shade of yellow and blue that matched Minato's and darker shades of brown and green. It seemed similar enough to the ribbon he made Tsukina, on a much smaller scale. Was it something he liked doing? Making braided accessories? Ikuto picked it up and understood that this must have been something important to them if Minato had kept it all this time.

"Kushina fixed it for me, but that mission happened to be during the time you vanished. It must have been a sign... I thought to myself, 'but since I haven't lost it', and hid it in this box. If it getting cut was a sign that something bad happened to you then I thought me finding it was a sign that you were okay. So I kept it here hoping you'd return."

Ikuto found the hardly noticeable section where the strings were cut and tied off to new string and reworked. "What exactly was our relationship?" Ikuto asked, setting down the bracelet and closing the box. It was obviously important to Minato but Ikuto felt nothing looking at the bracelet.

There's a thoughtful pause before Minato answered as he brought the box closer to him. "We were friends since we were kids. You started the academy late, you told me it was because you'd rather spend your time in the libraries than 'roughing it up' on the academy fields. But you were eventually forced to attend since you were one of the exceptionally talented and people liked you since you were very accommodating, I suppose that hasn't changed much, huh." Minato chuckled. "I say accommodating because you certainly weren't a push over! We made quick friends and the three of us, Kushina included, it was thanks to her that we got together after all, we were always together. Of course things got difficult after we graduated the academy, being in separate teams and all... but we always made time to hang out but with the war and everything ... and then you went missing and well, you can see how things went from there."

Ikuto allowed himself to accept that as truth because he saw no reason for Minato to lie to him. "And them?" Ikuto pointed to the picture on the wall.

Minato beamed, his eyes going alight. "That was taken on one of those rare days that we all had off! Kushina and I were on a potential date when we ran into you all."

Ikuto eyed the Hokage and criticized his selection of words. What the hell was a potential date anyway, he thought. It was a date or it wasn't.

Minato must have noticed something as he felt the need to explain. "I say potential because we were both technically in a stupid bet at the time and weren't seriously considering a relationship just yet but we both knew the cards weren't completely off the table, of course."

"Bet?" Ikuto asked.

Minato chuckles. "I really rather not elaborate, I'm still so embarrassed by it. But we ran into you and your teammates that day. I think you were just coming out of Yakiniku Q, to celebrate a mission well done. The girl with brown hair is Chouko Akimichi and the blonde next to you is Inori Yamanaka. They are your teammates." He laughed again and excused himself for doing so. More inside jokes that Ikuto should have understood but didn't. "I'm sorry. You see, it's not unusual for the three clans, Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka, to often be placed in a group together. It's usually called team Ino-Shika-Cho. It's taken from the beginning of the first names of its members. It's unfortunate you were Sei and not Shika! Or at least, Inori usually complained about it. Everyone named you Team Sincerity."