Healing
Between the time he was unconscious and the time he spent recovering, Keigo hadn't realized that the funerals were already taken place.
That thought hit Keigo during breakfast. He had missed his last chance to say goodbye to his mom. Now he could only talk to a stone.
"What put that look on your face?" Kakashi asked entering the kitchen. Keigo's head snapped towards him. He was lost in his thoughts while feeding Naruto.
"Nothing" he muttered to the older boy. In that moment he noticed the box Kakashi was carrying in his arms and the two that were piled up at his feet.
"What's up with the boxes?" He questioned. If Kakashi was throwing some of his stuff away he wanted to dig into it to find something he would like.
"Nobody told you the news?" Keigo had no idea what Kakashi was talking about and he told him that.
"Obito and I will share an apartment not far from here. He couldn't bear to continue living in the Uchiha district and it was time for me to find my own place". The silver haired teen explained.
"But I, I thought you would use dad's old office and Obito is welcome here, I can share my room with him too" Keigo's suggestions fell on deaf ears.
"I'm sixteen, Kei, it's time for me to go my own way and perhaps we'll be just a couple minutes away you can come whenever you like and I'll come quite often anyway" Keigo had never been good at reading people but in that moment he knew that Kakashi had made his decision and that continuing to insist would make it even more uncomfortable.
"Okay, I'll going for a walk now" and that was is goodbye.
Keigo's wandering took him to the cemetery. Naruto was being carried with a sling across his chest. His little face squished on him while he slept and his hands held his older brother's fingers. The baby was the only thing that reassured him.
He had found the stone that marked his mother's resting place. Too clean and too shiny.
Too perfect.
His mother wasn't like that, she was loud and bright and messy. Never perfect but he liked her just like that.
"I'm finally here mom, I made it out. Also Naruto and dad. Dad's back to the office, I think, I haven't seen him since last night. Oh, and Obito is alive, crazy uh? Him and Kakashi are moving out and I'm the only one at home. Well the only one that's older enough to clean his own needs. A little lonely if you ask me but anyway- " Keigo's speech was interrupted by an old voice.
"Kushina would revolt if she knew her son was talking like that. What happened to the happy and mischievous child I remember?" Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third hokage, asked.
"He died with her that night" Keigo replied.
"Oh boy, you have the reason to be that child again right in your arms" Lord third had a sad smile as he looked at the two boys.
So alike and yet so different.
Both carried a burden too heavy for their small shoulders.
From what he could see of little Naruto he knew he had his mother's face with his father's colors. While Keigo was the spitting image of Minato with his mother's fiery red hair. The child who had once been so open was now a shadow of his former self. Too good and clever and too young before being thrown onto the battlefield.
"You can't control the winds but you can adjust your sails" it was the only goodbye Keigo received from the Third.
"I'm not a sailor" was the only thing that came out of his mouth.
Even though he was so strange the old man was right. His little brother was the reason to get better and even though he was sad about his mother's death he wouldn't dishonor her by living as a shell of his former self.
With a not-so-well-formed plan in mind, Keigo marched towards the hokage tower. The frown on his face made sure nobody tried to stop him and in the blink of an eye he was at the door of his father's office.
The door was ajar and therefore he was sure that there were no appointments at that moment. The secretary was absent from the desk at the beginning of the corridor so he decided to invite himself in alone.
Keigo found himself inside the circular room in front of the desk where his father was sitting and who was now looking him in the eyes with surprise.
His plan only went so far.
Dad had his usual shinobi uniform with his hokage cloak hanging on a coat rack behind him. His blonde hair kept out of his eyes by his hitai-ate.
Wrinkles of tiredness traced his face.
"Were you thinking of coming home tonight?" His father deflated at the accusation.
"Kei you know that being hokage is a hard and long work"
"Yeah, but you know what, your first job is to be our father"
Keigo was getting angrier and angrier. His hair almost seemed to move like the nine tails.
"If it was just me it would have been the same but now Naruto is here too and mom is no longer with us and I'm the only one who takes care of him. I can't do it alone" he shouted.
"It's been two days since I'm out of the hospital and I'm tired, how can I heal if all my energies are spent on making sure Naruto is okay? And you have to remember that I am a Shinobi too. I can't be always with him, I have to train and do missions." He was so angry that tears started coming out of his eyes. "You can't be here all day everyday like when it was with mom"
His Dad was now standing in front of him and looming over him. His face which had been like stone until then broke and he fell to his knees before his sons.
Keigo didn't know what to do he had never seen him like this.
"Oh Kei, my little boy" his dad took Keigo in his arms, careful not to crush the baby between them "You're right as always" he whispered to him.
"Before Kushina my dream has always been to be hokage and after the war when I became it I lost myself in it, but now I don't have that privilege, you are right that my first job is to be your father" Keigo was left without word as his dad continued speaking, "Kushina was my everything, all my power, but the you and your brother have become the sweetest joy I've known"
That evening a pact was made between the two of them, his father would undertake to be home at least every evening.
As they returned home together, Naruto in his father's arms and Keigo riding on his back laughing, no one had a hard time believing that the promise would be kept.