A/N: Who else went "Awwww!" after the last chapter? Come on, I know you all did. Review! :)
i. sunset
How had he not noticed before? Minato looked at the girl he was sitting with. Her hair was red; of course, he had known that. Still, he had never compared it to anything, least of all the sun. Yet, the color was just so reminiscent of the sun's journey through the sky that he had to say something.
"Your hair is–" Minato began.
She glared at him, as if she knew what he was going to say.
"The color of blood, I know," Kushina interrupted. "It's unfortunate."
He rolled his eyes. The insane kunoichi couldn't even let him finish.
"Kushina, I wasn't going to say that," Minato told her.
"I thought you would know not to go there," she retorted, ignoring him. "I've gotta get home."
Minato watched her go. He'd never been the most vocal person and, if she didn't want to hear what he had to say, it wasn't worth saying.
ii. nightfall
He didn't even bother to hide his surprise. The red hair that used to, in his opinion, outshine the sun, now made him think of Uchiha Fugaku.
"Excuse me, who are you?" Minato asked sarcastically, as she walked up to him.
"Shut up," Kushina told him.
She tucked a newly black strand of hair behind her ear.
"You look ridiculous," he whispered.
He wasn't sure why he was whispering. It couldn't have been that he didn't want to embarrass her, seeing as her hair was already taking care of that.
"Don't be an idiot," Kushina replied, glaring at him. "There were lots of boys staring at me on my way here."
"Because you look like a freak," he muttered.
"Whatever," she said.
They studied in silence that day.
iii. dark hours
"I heard Kushina-chan dyed her hair," Jiraiya remarked.
He was working on his newest idea for a novel and the thought had just slipped out. Minato and Kushina were good friends, perhaps more, and, somewhere in the back of his mind, Jiraiya was interested in Minato's reaction.
"Yeah," Minato answered.
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow in confusion. That was not the answer he had expected. The blonde teen had liked Kushina for months and, when prompted, he would often go on and on about the girl. The short answer was very out of the ordinary.
"What do you think?" Jiraiya asked casually.
"I think it's stupid," Minato told him. "I think it's really stupid."
Jiraiya didn't press him further. Evidently Minato had very strong opinions on the change.
Well, it wasn't as bad as the time Tsunade had decided that the whole team should have purple hair.
Jiraiya shuddered.
iv. dawn
Kushina came bounding up to him, her ever dark hair flying behind her.
"Minato!" she called. "Minato, guess what?"
The blonde boy didn't look up. He already knew he was about to be tackled, so why expose his face to Kushina's happiness?
Kushina landed on him with a thump. When Minato finally got a look at her face, he nearly winced.
Her grin had almost blinded him.
Shouldn't her face have split apart with the mere effort of holding that smile in place?
"I have a date!" she sang. "I think he likes my hair."
"Great," Minato replied.
It came out sarcastic. He didn't have the strength to sound genuine when all he really wanted to do was punch out whoever her stupid date was.
"In case you want to check him out," Kushina continued. "Which I know you will, you overprotective dolt, we'll be at my favorite ramen place at eight tonight."
v. sunset
Minato sat alone on the bench for a little while after Kushina left.
He definitely wanted to go check out her date.
That boy deserved to be beaten up. How could he like something that was so completely not Kushina?
Whoever he was, he didn't deserve Kushina, or her red hair.
So, at eight, he went to Ichiraku and hid himself.
Minato sat, hidden, for about five minutes, but there was no sign of Kushina.
Then, seven glorious minutes later, he heard her voice.
"Teuchi, a salt ramen, please," Kushina said. "I guess he's not coming."
Minato jumped up in outrage. First the guy had liked her false hair and then he stood her up? Oh, this was getting ridiculous.
"Oh, there he is!" Kushina exclaimed suddenly.
For the first time in his life, Minato was about to do something going purely on his emotions.
Then he noticed something that changed everything.
Kushina, who was pointing out her date, was pointing at him, Namikaze Minato.
Minato thought this through for a moment.
She was pointing at her date. She was pointing at him.
He was her date.
Minato took a quick look around before going up to Kushina.
She was wearing a dress, for once, and a hat, hopefully to cover that obnoxious hair.
"You're late," Kushina declared. "I told you eight, idiot."
"Perhaps I was late because I wasn't aware that I was the date," Minato replied.
She laughed as she reached up to free her hair, her beautiful red hair.
"You were right," Kushina admitted. "It wasn't me."
Minato swiftly threaded a hair through the hair that he'd come to love, pulled her closer, and pressed his lips against hers.
"I'm glad," he muttered. "I missed it."
Kushina chuckled and pinched his cheek.
"Aren't you the sweetest?" she teased. "Ever the gentleman, hm?"
Minato ignored her; instead, he glanced at the sky.
The sunset simply could not compete with her hair.