[FIC] Heartbeat: A Bird in the Hand (- Fluttering in a Cage -)
Minato stewed for three months, carefully analyzing his own feelings while juggling the concerns of his teacher. Even so, he didn’t stray too far from that clearing where he’d first glimpsed the young boy with the strange fey power of captivating him.
Hatake Kakashi, such a strange mix of a born killer’s predatory grace and child’s ignorance, fluttering in the wind without guidance, yet wholly unaware of his own vulnerability.
The blonde jounin tried to stay away, yet still he found himself on that same hill looking into that clearing where the silver-haired child once again enthralled him without knowing. And when Minato forced himself to walk away, somehow the boy stayed within his sight and the jounin found he’d merely walked in a circle.
But the blond told himself saying that it was alright, because the circle was a safe distance away, outside of the boy’s awareness and close enough to deter outsiders who may wish harm upon him.
But days passed as Minato thought deeply upon his answers, and the circle became less innocent. The blond’s gait stretched into a fluid, loping kind of stalk and the circle became smaller, no longer a safeguard but a trap for the innocent boy and a barrier to any potential rescue from this strange infatuation.
By the time the blond jounin realized what had happened, he wondered if the boy had noticed that this circle had become the limits of his world as long as he was in that clearing.
And for a second, Minato doubted his actions and felt a momentary pang of guilt at the thought of trapping such an extraordinary boy, but that second was short and gone before it was even noticed.
Thus, Minato repeated this bizarre dance day after day, observing the boy as he trained. And the vague fascination began to solidify into concrete knowledge and concern as he learned little by little about the deceptively fragile child in a killer’s guise.
Kakashi was single-minded in his efforts to grow stronger. The young boy didn’t allow others to make mistakes and was even harsher on himself. He was like a tarnished, mal-formed sword, pounded too harshly and heated to such extremes that his edge was preternaturally sharp, and his form left too flexible to hold its own shape and show its underlying core of strength. Unbalanced, and liable to shatter, unable to absorb a greater shock than what he’d already endured.
Minato could see now what his teacher had been trying to convey. The silver-haired child needed someone to fix him, and then wield him with love and care once he’d been perfected. That was no easy task, Minato frowned. But it wasn’t an altogether different battle as his teacher had implied. To the blond, it seemed the fixing and the love was inexplicably entwined. Whoever wanted one had better be prepared to take on the other.
Jiraiya had said that approaching with merely a vague sense of fascination would be of no good, but what if that fascination became mutual? Blue eyes gleamed as scores of plans began to take form within his mind, and Minato found his answer.
He could do this. He would do this.
Love like a father, and a man. Damn him if he did any less. He would shelter and nurture this silver-haired child until that enticing vulnerability was towards him alone, and then he would give the grown man-child the equal, passionate love of a man that would leave him wanting for nothing but perhaps escape.
And so Minato continued to close the trap until he was circling close enough to see the individual gleams of sweat dripping down the white, still tender skin of the young boy. To see the growing, taut muscles moving under small lithe limbs and hear the small harsh gasps of exertion.
And then the blond stood there, willing for the silver-haired child to notice, to see him, to question, and to yearn.
Even more time passed, and no amount of willing seemed to make a difference in Minato’s plight. But there were days when the boy seemed just a little more wary than usual. However, those days were few and in between, until they stopped happening at all, as if the child had summarily dismissed whatever irritant had caught his attention.
This irked the blond jounin even more than the occasional interlopers that frequently tested his patience, skirting the circle that marked the world and the line between Minato and Kakashi.
And so it was one day when Minato couldn’t find a trace of silver or black within the clearing, that he stepped closer than he had ever before, worry and caution causing him to tense, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. Keen slits of blue flicked back and forth across the training field as Minato searched for his quarry, but not once did he step past the last line where the trees gave way to the empty clearing.
And suddenly, there was the flash of silver and black he’d been searching for, right before his eyes. For a second, the world froze as Minato set his gaze upon the young child who’d ensnared many men his better with his ignorant and childishly arrogant ways.
Dirty, worn sandals, scrapped knees above slim calves, baggy blue pants and shirt leading to a face mask hiding what apparent vulnerability was left in his small, unblemished face. But Minato could have told him the face mask meant nothing when the child’s blue-gray gaze was telling enough on their own.
Hard, accusing, and wary, but with a helpless curiosity that couldn’t be denied.
Triumph erupted and squeezed the breath from Minato’s chest, and the frown and suspicious blue eyes changed into an altogether different expression that caused the silver-haired child to frown in confusion.
Kakashi was too young, too inexperienced for all his trial-won maturity and grace to understand just what he’d set into motion by this act of confrontation. But Minato knew, and he would teach the young boy exactly what he’d done. The blonde jounin finally stepped forward into the clearing, doing away with whatever imaginary line he’d created, and he stymied a smile when Kakashi made no effort to maintain the distance.
The long struggle Jiraiya had tried to prevent had begun.
AN: Isn't this just so OOC? Yeah, the only thing I liked about this was Kakashi. You can tell I was feeling rather dark when I wrote it, and now I just don't have the patience to re-write it or write a new one. >.<
Let the criticism begin!