Originally, there were only three.
Just Minato, Fugaku, and Mikoto. Until the year they turned fourteen, it was just the trio who ran around Konoha, the latter two trying to rescue the village from Minato's ridiculous antics. They acted like a typical Genin squad together; only they weren't. The three had been scattered out into different teams, but despite the obstacle always managed to be the closest friends.
Then Kushina came around.
The daughter of a Whirlpool ambassador, she was a pretty girl with red hair and a rambunctious personality. She caught Mikoto's eye almost at once, and a few days later she approached Kushina, asking the girl if she wanted to join her and her friends in getting some ramen.
She was quickly integrated into the group, her cheerful, loud personality balancing out what had previously been a mellower trio, despite Minato's previous efforts to make Fugaku and Mikoto 'lighten up'. Even more quickly, word of the prowess and the trouble (even more so than before) they got into spread like wildfire all over Konoha.
When the four turned sixteen, the village gossip changed from "what did that blond and redhead get into this time" to "how do you think they'll pair off".
To most villagers, it was obvious. Kushina was constantly chasing Fugaku around Konoha, and while he was currently intent on escaping her, it wouldn't be that way for long.
They were just the sort of people to end up together. Fugaku was the heir of the Uchiha clan, the next in line to be Clan Head. He was a skilled ninja; already studying for the ANBU, and considered one of Konoha's prides and joys. Serious, hardworking, easily annoyed by his best friend, he was also rather popular with the girls.
Uzumaki Kushina was from good ninja stock in Whirlpool, though not nearly as prestigious as the Uchiha. She was loud, cheerful, optimistic, and carefree. A kunoichi to be reckoned with, Kushina was just popular with the boys in general. It was obvious that Fugaku would one day start chasing back.
With that dissertation, the villagers turned to Mikoto and Minato as the next most likely pair. Though Minato was too stupid to notice, it was always Mikoto who watched him train, helped him up when he fell down, and gently admonished him when he did something stupid. It was doubtless to the villagers that Minato would find love in his pretty, dark-haired friend.
They were very, very wrong.
"Hey baaastard!" Fugaku cringed in annoyance as he turned reluctantly around to face his best friend running for him.
"What?" he snapped, annoyed. Almost immediately, he was forced to duck down to avoid the fist swinging in his direction. "Minato, are you crazy?!"
The blond boy was too out of breath to answer, so Fugaku was forced to wait (while sitting on him, in case Minato thought it a good idea to up and attack him again) to hear what he had to say.
"Well?" Fugaku demanded, when it seemed as though Minato had enough oxygen to speak.
"Get off me first." The blond requested. Fugaku obliged, Minato quickly sat up and rubbed the back of his head, "Thanks."
Again, he tried to punch Fugaku. Again, he was pinned to the ground.
"Now you're just being ridiculous. What the hell is wrong with you?" Fugaku demanded, a muscle tic developing on his forehead.
"Nothing's wrong with me, what's wrong with you, bastard!" Minato's voice came out somewhat muffled on account of his face being shoved forcefully into the dust. "You broke it!"
"Your nose?" asked Fugaku, guessing, "But I do that all the time. Doesn't mean you should go crazy on me."
"No, you idiot! I mean the Boy Code! You broke the Boy Code!" Fugaku, blinked, confused, while Minato continued to flail underneath him.
"I broke the what?"
"The Boy Code!"
"What's that?"
"Something you should instinctually know! I'm not about to explain it because you should already know it!"
"How can I know it if I have no idea what you're talking about?" asked Fugaku, completely bewildered.
"Because—argh! I'm not going to explain it to you! You stole Kushina!"
"Because you're too inarticulate to—WHAT?"
"You heard me, bastard! You've given in to her chasing!" Minato manages to turn his head at an inhuman degree and Fugaku could see, despite the bravado, that Minato was hurt.
"Minato," Instead of being scathing, he went for conversational; "First, do you know why Kushina chases me?"
"Not really. I only see her chasing you."
"Really? Why do you think she chases me?"
"She likes you?"
"Wrong. She thinks my eyes look like a dead fish's and wants to beat the emotions out of me." Minato stopped struggling and turned to gape at Fugaku.
"Really?" Then he laughed, long and hard.
"Yeah."
"Well, that makes sense, at least." Now that the chances of bodily harm had been significantly diminished, Fugaku got off of Minato and allowed him to sit back up.
"Glad you've seen the light. Second, where did you hear that Kushina and I…were an item? Or going to be, in any case?"
"Some women…" Minato fidgeted uncomfortably. Fugaku groaned.
"During one of your 'training sessions' in the bathhouse with that idiot sensei of yours, I presume?"
The silence was a definite answer.
"You idiot. Don't listen to them when it comes to romance. I could be gay for all they know." Ignoring Minato's hasty retreat he added, "Or asexual. Sometimes I wish I was asexual; it would make life a whole lot easier."
"You…eh?" Disturbed, Minato was unable to find any words to voice his thoughts.
"Of course I'm neither of those."
"Good." Implication hit Minato, prompting him to ask, "Then who's the unlucky girl?"
Fugaku gave him a deadpan stare.
"Minato, if you can't figure it out; I'm not going to tell you." He got up, dusted off his pants, and began to head for the Uchiha section of town, blatantly ignoring Minato's protests.
"Fugaku! Come on! Ugh, fine. Any kids you have will be cursed with emotional constipation!"
"And yours will be idiots."
A couple nights later…
"Minato, what are we doing?" hissed Kushina, wondering for the thousandth time, what possessed her to tag along with Minato and crawl under bushes and get her clothes dirty just to see who Fugaku had hooked up with.
"I already told you; we need to rescue a hapless girl from Fugaku's clutches." Minato had really prepared for surveillance, wearing a headband with twigs and leaves glued to it. He was staring fixedly at the cherry tree that he had heard Fugaku was supposed to meet his mystery girl under. Forget what Fugaku said; the women's bath could be highly reliable at times.
"What if she doesn't want to be rescued?" demanded Kushina exasperatedly. "She is going out with Fugaku willingly, you know."
"Shh! Here he is! Ha, told you the women's bath is reliable!"
"And this is why you'll never find me at one."
"The gossip?"
"No, you."
"HE—"
"Shh!"
They returned to staring fixedly at the figure, which kept shifting from foot to foot nervously, under the tree. A flicker of movement at the corner of his eye caught Minato's attention and he turned his head only to see the mystery girl come into view.
It was Mikoto.
Minato would have screamed, had not Kushina, out of her sense for preservation, lunged and clapped both hands over his mouth.
"Do you want to get killed?" she hissed.
They watched (Kushina with interest, Minato with horror) as Fugaku greeted Mikoto and handed her a bouquet of red and white roses, which she accepted shyly with a glowing smile. Then, arm in arm, they headed off towards wherever their destination was.
Only when she was sure they were gone did Kushina release Minato.
"Mikoto!" Was all he could say in disbelief, too shocked to speak.
"I'm a bit surprised myself," admitted Kushina, "But not really. I mean, when you're off pranking everyone or I'm beating you up, they need something to do. And Mikoto's been acting all dreamy for a while now."
"Oh, he's gonna get it! Going out with Mikoto without my permission," Apparently unaware of what Kushina had just said, Minato was muttering to himself, and maniacal gleam in his eyes. "I'm practically her brother! Oh, he's really going to get it…"
"Or I'll treat you to ramen." Not wanting her best friend's night to be ruined, no matter that she didn't approve of the guy, Kushina found an easy way to placate Minato.
He perked up instantly, plans of revenge forgotten. "I love you, Kushina!" he declared happily, grabbing her hand and dragging her off towards Ichiraku's.
"Yeah, yeah." She muttered, turning a little pink, but smiling, nonetheless.
When their sons came to be full grown, the villagers who still remembered the case of Fugaku and Mikoto and Minato and Kushina watched curiously, wondering what would happen.
Instead of the case of the bright, loud girl and boy ending up together, and the quiet, dark boy ending up with the shy, dark girl, they made matches that their parents did not. The brooding Uchiha boy chose the sunny Sakura, and the hyperactive Uzumaki wandered around Konoha holding the hand of the shy Hinata.
The villagers wonder how the sons could choose wives so different from their fathers'; but then they see Sakura's soft smile as she watches her husband train her son, and Hinata's stern reprimand towards the Rokudaime for spoiling their daughter, and think:
Maybe they aren't so different, after all.
A/N: Written in one sitting after reading ohwhatsherface and allurement's great fics, and because I noticed that Naruto and Sasuke's parents' situation could potentially be the opposite of their own.
Trivia: The 'eyes like a dead fish' joke comes from Gintama. Watch it if you like craziness.
Reviews please!