He had to admit, it was certainly an unusual way of learning one was going to be a father.
"Happy father's day!" Kushina chirped as she hugged him in greeting.
Minato laughed as he hugged her back before he registered what she had said. "Um, why do you say that? I'm not a father," he pointed out just in case she had forgotten."
The twinkle in her eyes really should have been Minato's first warning sign. Alas, he ignored it.
The mysterious and coy smile she gave him should have been his second.
But really, when she dropped her arms from around his shoulder and flounced towards the doorway, beckoning for him to follow her, he should have stopped her right there and demanded to know what was going on.
He'd find out in about five minutes anyway, but it was the principle of the thing that really got him.
He followed after her like a loving sheepdog, bemused and confused as to his fate.
Kushina's figure was disappearing around the corner by time he exited his office, and he rushed to catch up with her. When he made it outside, he could see her red hair flying behind her as she ran across rooftops and made her way to the shopping district in the village.
Did I miss a lunch date? he asked himself, forgetting already about her greeting.
He landed on the outside of the square, where the smaller shops sat and looked quickly around. He couldn't see her anywhere. Looking at the store names, he couldn't even begin to guess which she had entered. She wasn't one to shop for clothes, they had no pets, her weapons were, he knew for certain, in expert condition, and a baby shop would be a ridiculous place for her to visit.
Yet, when he glanced across the windows again, it was the baby store that revealed the flash of red hair to him.
Minato shrugged, pushing the door open. A bell tinkled above his head.
"Ah! Minato-kun," a little old lady greeted him cheerfully. "I have heard much about you! Come, come," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him back to the rest of the store with her.
He followed warily along, looking for signs of his wife. All he saw were cribs, changing tables, and baby toys. Lots and lots of baby toys.
They entered a room in the back, Kushina sitting on a tatami mat near the front with a few other couples also in the room.
"What's going on?" Minato asked, nodding as he spotted Nara Shikaku and Yoshino, pregnant belly showing despite her baggy dress. Actually, as he looked around, he realized all the women in the room were quite pregnant, his wife being the notable exception.
Unless…
Unless… unless she was pregnant.
He fainted at the shock of the thought.
"Oh for the love of ramen," Kushina cried in exasperation, reflexively catching her husband's falling form before he could do any permanent damage to himself while he wasn't awake to brag about it.
Uchiha Mikoto, near the back of the group, tittered quietly to herself.
"I put so much planning into this. Sometimes, I hate this guy," Kushina grumbled, preparing to give her husband CPR.
The smack upside the head served its purpose as Minato essentially jumped into an upright sitting position. He turned to Kushina, looking almost distraught. "Is that… is that what you meant by happy father's day?" he asked in a voice that may or may not have been closer to a squeal than a baritone.
"Yes, it is." She crossed her arms in exasperation.
"Oh my ramen!" he cried happily, scooping her up and onto his lap. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Are you kidding?" she asked, deadly serious. "And miss a golden opportunity like this? You should have seen your face when I said 'happy dad day'. It was brilliant!"
"You're so mean," he told her. "I'm not letting you near my daughter."
"Son," she corrected.
"No, daughter."
"Son."
"Daughter."
"Son."
"It's hard to believe he leads our village," Shikaku muttered to his own wife.
"Yeah…" she agreed, silently resolving to keep her own precious baby away from the Namikaze's spawn. She needed a normal, motivated boy to carry on her family name.