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[Fluff Fridays are organised by vesperlionheart and thefreckledone]

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Prompt: rivalry

Pairing: MinaSaku

Edit: As a guest was enough to point out, I totally forgot to mention the pairing! Sorry about that.

this was supposed to be much more angst-y but ended up being very silly and light and I kind of lost track of the prompt halfway through?

Warnings: language, Minato being...me

She'd missed him again.

Or her. But her ever-reliable instincts told her it was definitely a man.

For three months now, every time Sakura came home after a particularly hellish day, she'd find a takeout bag containing a box of fresh anko dumplings sitting on her doorstep. If she hadn't been so tired and miserable, she might've been somewhat alarmed and creeped out, but at that moment she could only thank all the powers above for this little blessing.

She did check for poison, of course. But it was clear the first time, and it was clear this time around, and as she switched on the TV, she decided that her mystery Dumpling Guy really did have good intentions.

Now if only he could reveal his identity and not just vanish into the night right after delivering the sugary goodness. She was pretty sure he wasn't a civilian, not with how fast he moved. She had never even managed to catch a glimpse of him-not for lack of trying-and that wasn't the strangest part.

Sakura could proudly admit that she was familiar with all the joints that sold her favourite kind of dumplings. She had been to all of them at least once, and she was a regular at Kaede-san's restaurant. Well, she had been, until three months ago. Since then she had visited quite a few of the places again, even saving some of her dumplings for Choza, to see if he recognized them. She needed to know where they came from.

He didn't, to his dismay. And he was quite sure no one in Konoha sold these, or he'd definitely know about it. They both reached the same conclusion with similar, grim looks on their faces.

Her now favourite dumplings were home-made.

Minato rarely lost his temper.

He respected everyone, displaying his modest and down to earth personality, never one to show-off too much despite his flashy title. His peers thought he had an endless well of patience to draw from, with his calm expression and gentle smile that rarely, if ever, faltered.

But fuck, there was a limit to everything. Even his supposedly unlimited supply of patience, which he found quite surprising. And now, he could barely restrain himself from grabbing Hiashi's ridiculously silky locks and throwing him off the Hokage Monument. Contrary to popular belief, he was not Konoha's most generous man, and there were some things he refused to share. That included the precious time and attention of Haruno Sakura.

Fingers twitching with the urge to wrap themselves around the Hyuga heir's neck, he observed them from across the street, eyeing the way he touched her forearm just casually enough, spouting some nonsense-no doubt-with a sincere expression on his face. A soft giggle drew his attention back to Sakura's face, and just as he decided to go over and see what was going on, he was interrupted.

"Why are you sulking?"

Turning to look at the couple he was having dinner with, Minato attempted to smoothen out his expression, hoping no one noticed the angst-y look on his face.

"Oh, I believe he just saw the object of his affection being flirted with and his ego can't handle that."

'WHY, KUSHINA?'

The jinchūriki's boyfriend and his genin teammate, Natsu, just looked at him sympathetically as the Uzumaki cackled evilly. "It's okay, man. It's not like she's interested in him or anything. I don't think he's her type."

'No, her type is tall, blonde and idiot,' Kushina thought exasperatedly.

Minato just scowled at her. At least Natsu was trying to make him feel better, unlike the spawn of Satan next to him. "Why are you listening to her? I just haven't seen her in a while and-"

"Oh? Okay, then. Let's fix that." He watched with rising panic as she stood from her seat, waving energetically at the pair standing a few meters away from the café. "Hey! Hey! Sakura! Hiashi! Over here!" And just like that, he was ready to drown himself in his glass of iced tea. Natsu's whispers of 'Be cool' and 'It'll be fine; you can't possibly be worse than Hiashi' didn't help much.

"Hey guys!" Sakura greeted happily as she ran over and practically jumped into Kushina's arms. "Oh, Minato! How's your shin? I'm sorry I was in such a rush yesterday, there was an emergency at the Hospital," she explained with that little smile she always seemed to reserve just for him. He was sure that Kushina would disagree, which is why he would never mention it to her.

"It's perfect, don't worry about that," He told her, pointedly ignoring the disbelieving stares being aimed at him. He spent ten minutes with her, it didn't count.

"Good evening, you two," her companion greeted politely. "Hello, Minato." He got an extra polite greeting. How sweet.

"Hello, Hiashi." He fixed an icy smile on his face as their stare down commenced.

'I hope all your hair falls off.'

'I hope you lose all your teeth, Namikaze.'

"…Right. So," Kushina began. "How have you been? You had the day off, right?"

"Some of it. An ANBU team was rushed in around noon and I was called in. The surgery ended about an hour back. There were some…difficulties." This was news to Minato, who turned to her at once, examining the bags under her eyes. She looked like she was ready to fall over, but not particularly annoyed. She loved her job, and loved saving lives. Everyone knew that. Minato was one of the few who had witnessed the downside of her compassionate nature, especially every time she lost younger patients.

The rest of the evening passed by quickly, and when it was finally time to leave, he made his move, offering to walk her home.

"Oh, um." She looked a little uncomfortable as she glanced at Hiashi.

"Unfortunately, Sakura has some business with me. Sorry, Minato," his lips curved up in what looked like a sinister smile to him. "Maybe next time."

The blond man clenched his fists, flashing them a strained one in return. "No problem." 'Fuck you, Hyuga.' But it was fine. He had things to do.

"Shit, that was so awkward."

"Sakura."

"You don't think that Minato thinks something is going on between us, do you?" She looked anxious.

"Sakura."

"But I couldn't possibly tell them the truth, they'd think I'm crazy!"

"Sakura!"

"I mean, you're helping me look for someone, and I'm not sure why I'm so desperate to know who they are, but I really wanted to thank them and-"

"Sakura, be quiet. I understand. You have explained it several times already."

She took a deep breath, cheeks flushing slightly. "Yeah. Yes, sorry. Okay so, what now?" He almost sighed in relief.

"Well, your part is done. Hopefully, your admirer would have heard about today. You can go ahead to the compound and deliver the medicines to father. I'll head to your apartment soon."

"Admirer? Oh, no. You've got the wrong idea." He simply laughed in response. "Okay. Right. Um…good luck?"

He was late.

To be fair, he couldn't have known about the emergency today. His contact at the Hospital had the day off. No matter; he could leave them outside and disappear within seconds. She'd never know.

As he left his apartment, he briefly toyed with the idea of ringing the bell and handing them to her, letting her know just who it was she'd been searching for, but decided against it. It might make her too uncomfortable if she knew it was him, and she might even stop accepting his little way of trying to brighten her day. That was unacceptable, but mostly because he knew how much she appreciated it.

Appreciated him, in a way.

Approaching her house stealthily, he focused his senses for a few seconds, frowning when he couldn't sense her chakra signature. A glance at the windows told him the lights were off. She wasn't home.

'Damn Hyuga…' He stood outside her home for a few seconds, unsure of what to do next.

"There you are."

Whirling around, his eyes widened in shock when he saw the figure standing behind him.

"What the-"

"Wait, what? Namikaze?" Hiashi's eyes drifted down to the bag in his hands, and his fingers tightened around it almost defensively. "Oh. Um. So you're the Dumpling Guy." The what? "That's…okay, I'm not that surprised. Only you would be creepy enough to pull something like this."

His shock at being caught all but forgotten for a moment, he bristled in response. "Says the man who follows Hiyori around on a daily basis, like some weirdo stalker!"

"At least I don't follow her to her home!"

"And that makes it okay? Also, that is not what I've been doing."

"Oh? What is it then? What exactly have you been doing?"

"I…I..um. Wait, I should be the one asking that question!" He rolled his eyes when the pearl-eyed male looked confused. "I was under the impression that you're interested in Hiyori! Why the heck have you been sniffing around Sakura?"

Hiashi brows just about flew upward and into his hairline at the other man's possessive tone. Oh. Ohhh. I see. "What's it to you?"

"What?"

"How is it any of your business?"

"I…"

"Yes?"

"Well."

"Go on."

Minato grit his teeth at the challenging gleam in his eyes. He knew the arrogant Hyuga thought he'd chicken out and go home. Well then, it was time to prove him wrong. "I love her," he finished just as someone landed next to them, his triumphant look morphing into one of mortification as emerald eyes looked at him in surprise.

"You love…who?" He couldn't get a proper read on her. Before he could hide it from her, she glanced at the paper bag. "Wait, that's…!"

"I…found it here," he said, trying not to cringe at Hiashi eye-roll. He knew he was being a coward. He silently handed it over to her.

"Oh, for God's sake, Namikaze! It's food, not a diamond ring!" Hiashi snapped at him, his rival's sudden vulnerability annoying him to no end.

"What are you talking about?" The blond man asked weakly, wondering why he couldn't just shut up and let the other man tell her the truth. "I just got here…" He wasn't ready. Somebody, turn back the clock! He was supposed to be the fastest man in all the nations, and here he was, frozen in place under the gaze of the girl he had fallen in love with.

"Fine." Hiashi, in a rare display of consideration, decided to let it be for now and turned to leave, when Sakura spoke up.

"Minato?"

"Yeah?" He couldn't quite meet her eyes, choosing to have his own focus on her nose. It was on the sharper side and she hated it, but he would plant a kiss right on its tip everyday if he could; if she would let him, he'd worship her like the queen really she was.

"You smell…sweet. Sugary," she told him evenly as Hiashi turned to see what she was doing. "Did you say you just got here?"

"Uh…yes?" Why did that sound like a question?!

"Okay. So, why do you have dry dough stuck on your hands?" There was a sudden stillness in the air as Minato looked down at his hands in growing horror. In his haste to get the sweets to her, he had decided to wash his hands after the delivery. He wanted to lay down on the ground and never move again.

Hiashi was strangely torn between laughing and sympathising with him. He contemplated interfering and securing a favour from the Namikaze, when the decision was made for him.

"What were you saying when I got here? That you love someone?" He fled the scene quietly, knowing it was something he should definitely not intrude upon. Perhaps Hiyori would be up to having coffee with him?

"You heard that."

"Yep."

He could only sigh and drop down to sit on the door step, Sakura following his lead wordlessly. Minato did, however, raise a brow when she took out the box and set to eating the contents. "What, I had a shitty day. I need this."

"So I heard." They sat in silence for another minute or so. Taking one stick from the box she held out to him, he took a bite and tried to get his thoughts in order.

"I do have to say, though…you make the best dumplings in Konoha. But why all the secrecy?"

"Would you really accept them if you knew they came from me?" He answered before she could. "Maybe once or twice, but you'd feel weird after that. I make them for you about thrice a week."

"Because it's…You do have a very busy schedule, everyone knows that. So the fact that you actually manage to make time for something like this…" Her eyes asked him a question he wasn't sure he was ready to answer.

But he wanted to, he realised. He was tired of her…not knowing.

"I do it because it makes you happy," he told her honestly. "And I want to make you happy. I love you." He could feel his throat closing up.

"…" Her cheeks were brighter.

"And it only takes about thirty minutes," he couldn't help but add. "That includes twenty minutes of prep time. So, not too long."

"Um."

Maybe she wasn't ready to give him a straight answer? "It's actually a family recipe. I don't mind giving it to you if you're, you know, not comfortable with…this." Was that a good way out? He was getting flustered, trying to fill in the silence when he felt a sudden warmth on his cheek.

Pressing her lips to his soft cheek, Sakura pulled away, her cheeks flaming. "Okay. Yes, okay. I love you. Too." She told him before suddenly dropping her forehead onto his shoulder, unable to meet his eyes.

Blinking in slight bewilderment for a few moments, Minato tried to smother his growing smile, turning to take her into his arms instead. He couldn't help it; he laughed, relief spreading into his very bones. Her arms came to wrap around his midsection as she grinned at his joyful reaction. They sat still, both of them processing the revelations silently when he pulled away a bit, trying to look at her face. "Are you sure?"

"…eh?" She furrowed her brows, not sure what he meant.

"You're not just going along with what I said? Because I've said it already. I want you to be happy. Even if it's not with me."

"What? No. I love you!" She rushed to assure him, flushing when he grinned, hugging her again. She buried her face into his chest, thankful that the weather was more pleasant than usual. It was silent again.

"Or is it for the dumplings? Oh my, a dumpling-digger?" He laughed when Sakura pulled away, ready to make him pay for that comment. Before she could pound him into the ground, he took her chin between his thumb and index finger, ducking his head to press his lips to hers. He licked his lips when he pulled away; Sakura might just make him develop a sweet tooth.

She gaped at him, unable to form a proper response. Cheeks flushing, she let him bring her into the safety of his arms yet again, placing a quick kiss to his jawline before getting comfortable.

They could figure out the details later. She still had to ask him how he had the treats delivered when he was out on a mission.

...Yeah.