Disclaimer: I don't even know the names of half the ninjutsus they do. What do you think?

Title: Not Close Enough

Characters/Pairings: Kushina, Minato, Minato/Kushina

Summary: "I'm the hokage," he says the word as if he wasn't sure whether he should hate it or not, "It gives trouble as much as it gives fame. Everything is at stake and everything that matters is used against you."

Kushina looks at Minato uncertainly and wonders if she should say it. She does anyhow. "Is there something wrong with…me?" She almost said us, but it didn't seem appropriate, there was no us.

The blonde turns to her with a vague amount of surprise. "What?"

She turns away uncomfortably and wonders if she really wanted to do this, wasn't it such a touchy thing to talk about? She furrows her brows and feels the tiny emotion of embarrassment in the pit of her stomach. "Y-you…" she doesn't know what to say, there had always been a silent agreement that they wouldn't bring this up, let alone converse about it (but conversing is a too casual way to say it, no?). "We…we've known each other for a while now, right?" More than a while, really. "We've….well, we've always been close." She turns away again and she hates acting so weak like this, wasn't she always so straightforward before? "But, when we get too close, you pull away. As if, as if there was something stopping you, or as if…there was something wrong." She doesn't know what to say after that, so she doesn't. She looks down and wonders if she should look at him or not.

Minato doesn't know how to respond to this. He's the Fourth, and relationships aren't supposed to happen to hokages. It's an unwritten rule, and he knows what would happen if he went against it. He doesn't know if he should tell Kushina this.

He says this in the softest tones, "I don't want you to get hurt." He expects no less when Kushina snaps at him with the strongest glare.

"Hurt?!" she says with a bruised tone, "You don't want me to get hurt?" She's confused, angry, surprised, hurt. It's almost funny, he doesn't want to give her pain, and he was doing just that. "Minato," she almost yells, "What do you think you are? What do you think I am?" she hisses in upset.

She thrashes out the words, jumbled in raw emotion and confusion. "Minato, do you think I can't take care of myself? Am I that stupid? Or weak? Or what? Minato, what-I don't know if I should feel flattered, or hurt, or angry, or anything anymore." She thinks of all those days wondering if she should bother, it was obvious Minato never wanted to get any closer than they were. But to think…to imagine all that happening just because he didn't want her to get hurt? What was she? Some pathetic damsel in distress?

She continues to yell (she wasn't really, but then, honestly, it wouldn't have made much of a difference if she had) and panic and hurt all over and Minato doesn't do anything but look at her with an expression Kushina couldn't see through unfocused eyes.

"You don't understand," he whispers almost harshly. She turns to him sharply, even more unsure and lost than before. "What?"

Minato gives back the look, nearly as sharply. Kushina is taken aback but she tries not to show it. "You don't understand," he repeats, and Kushina wonders if it's hesitation he hears in his voice. "I'm the hokage," he says the word as if he wasn't sure whether he should hate it or not, "It gives trouble as much as it gives fame. Everything is at stake and everything that matters is used against you. Hokages don't have a lot of relationships, personal ones, because anyone close enough to him can and will be used against him." It's almost like a lesson, Kushina thinks. He says it so formally and rigidly she remembers one of her teachers back in her hometown. But she sees his eyes and she wonders how much of hell he goes through. She's almost ashamed of being so selfish. "It's hell. You don't," he looks at her and his voice dies down his throat. He's forgotten he was talking to Kushina. Talking about this to Kushina. He silently gulps.

"You don't know how much it hurts thinking you could be the reason they get harmed."

Kushina stares at him and a new wave of emotions come crashing down on her. She's finding it hard to keep contact with her eyes.

Minato continues. "I know you can take care of yourself," his voice is no louder than a whisper, "But how long? What if they catch you? What if they do something to you, and I…" Kushina bites her lip. "…and I wasn't fast enough to save you?"

But I trust you to be. She wants to say that, but she can't. She believes it, but she doubts Minato would. She stares at Minato and, for the first time since they met, he looks like a lost boy. She's not sure what to do, so she uncertainly steps closer to him. She wants to hug him, she's been wanting to do so much now, but she can't, it's not supposed to be done, it's not meant to be done. She tries to smile, but it's a weak one, and maybe it was a fake one, too, but she still smiles. "I won't let that happen." She wavers, "You're my best friend."

Minato forces out a smile. Kushina holds his hand.

And, in the end, they both try convince themselves that this was good enough. That this was what they really only wanted.

These are a bunch of drabbles I think of randomly. Half the time, the characters are strangers to me. Naruto is the kind of anime that has every character and every relationship you can possibly think of (or atleast, it comes close) so I decided to write down teh good ones and make them fanfiction and post them. :D

It was hard choosing the pairing for this scenario, this was the closest one I could think of. Naruhina isn't good for this, Naruto's not the type to think these things, at least, not in my eyes. Since nothing was better, I decided to just wing it and edit the whole thing over and change a few things to make it better. They're minor though, so it's still good.

After writing this down, I like this pairing more, they're fun to write together. Though I think I made them a little OOC, I don't really know, I don't exactly follow Naruto and all. ^^; Hurrah for Kushina! She needs more attention, Minato keeps hogging it all =3=.