"A Challenge of Love: The date."

After his mission in Rouran, Minato returns to the village of Konoha with his team to deliver the report of the mission to Sandaime. However, Minato was a little anxious to get home, since he'd promised to take on a date to a certain redhead.

Every year in Konoha, there's a festival called Sakura Matsuri, which celebrates the changing seasons and welcomes the spring. As expected, Minato took this opportunity to ask Kushina out.

It's been almost a year since Minato and Kushina have been going out as a couple, though neither of them has officially committed since both spend too much time on their missions and they didn't have time for themselves. Kushina was promoted to one of the highest ranks in the Anbu squad and Minato was being considered as a candidate for Hokage, as one of the strongest Jounin in the village.

Meanwhile, Minato made haste to where they were supposed to meet. As he walked to the meeting point in all he could think about was what to say to Kushina. He knew that she would get in a bad mood if he doesn't arrive on time and he feared for his life. Kushina always had a very explosive temper, but there were times that proved to be quite the opposite. She was so full of surprises that may not know what to expect, and that's what he liked the most about Kushina.

Nevertheless, Minato was very happy to see her again. They haven't seen each other in a long time and he wanted to spend some time with her alone.

When he finally arrived at the meeting point, he starts looking for the redhead in the neighborhood, but he couldn't find her anywhere. Did she blow him off? Or perhaps she went on her own? Either way, it wasn't surprising because Kushina had always been very impulsive and she always did what she wanted and when she wanted. But then, he remembered that she also likes to climb the trees in order to avoid the crowd; so he concentrated his chakra in his feet and climbed the tree that was closer. Indeed, Kushina was sitting on a branch of the tree.

"There you are." He said smiling. Kushina didn't respond and simply ignores him. She was obviously very upset since she had been waiting for him nearly an hour and she hated being kept waiting.

"You're late-ttebane!" She said annoyed.

"Yeah, I know..." he scratched the back of his head. "Sandaime wanted to see the report from the mission and I was late because of that." He shrugged. "You know how it is..."

Annoyed, Kushina got up and tries to leave the place.

"May I ask where you're going?" he asked the redhead.

"I'm going Home!"

"And… What about our date?"

"Well, you lost your chance!" She exclaimed and held her head up while walking past. In a quick move, Minato took one of her hands to prevent her from leaving.

"Please, wait ..." He pleaded.

"Forget it, Minato!" She dropped her hand. "I've spent almost an hour waiting for you. Do you have any idea of how hungry I am?" She said with a frown.

Confused, Minato looks at her with a puzzled look. He had completely forgotten her huge appetite for Ramen and he was fighting a chuckle to see her frustration.

"It's not funny-ttebane!" She said excitedly. "If it wasn't for you, right now I would be enjoying a huge bowl of..." Her words were cut out when she felt Minato's lips on hers. Kushina was taken off guard and Minato took the opportunity to give her a kiss. It's been a while since their last meeting and he couldn't contain the urge to kiss her. Meanwhile, Kushina recovered from her shock and immediately responded the kiss in the same way. Although she didn't want to admit it but deep down inside, she had missed him too.

After a while, both of them separated from their lips for air and Minato wrapped his arms around her.

"I missed you..." he whispered in her ear.

Kushina blushed and let out a slight chuckle. "Oh really...?" She said arrogant and then closes her eyes as she gets carried away by his tender touch. Minato was the only one capable to calm the Bloody Habanero, and it was only natural, since she had a soft spot for him.

After several seconds, Minato releases the hold and placed his forehead on hers to see her in the eye.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." He said softly.

"But don't think I'll let you get away with this." She teased him and Minato simply smirked. He was already accustomed to her surprising mood swings.

"I'll do anything to make it up to you" He gave her another kiss.

"Hmm... In that case..." She said thoughtfully. "You'll have to invite me to eat Ramen for the rest of the month." She said with a smile.

Minato granted her request and went together to the post of Ramen to buy her dinner with the money he earned in his last mission. Luckily, he had saved enough to invite her to eat 10 meals of Ramen.

While Kushina devoured her plates of Ramen, Minato was stunned to see her eat like that. He couldn't believe how a girl as slender as she could eat so much Ramen and still keep that figure.

Kushina stopped eating for a moment and stared him back confused.

"What, you've never seen a girl eat?" she frowned. Minato smiled at her and took a napkin.

"Look, you've got something here ..." he took the food from her cheek with the napkin. Kushina blushed slightly when she saw his gaze on her and turned her head away to hide from his gaze. Minato smiled at her and Kushina shook her head frantically to remove the blush on her face and tries to break the awkward atmosphere.

"So tell me, how did it go with the mission in Rouran?" asked randomly.

"Well, we had some setbacks but eventually the mission was completed. I recommended Kakashi for this mission and he proved to be of much help. Sandaime told me that soon will be promoted to Jounin. Just hope Obito not take it so personal." He let out a slight laugh.

"There's no doubt in that. But I can understand the frustration of Obito." Kushina lowered her gaze. "Sometimes it's hard to accept when your opponent is stronger than you, even if you do your best, sometimes is just not enough..." she trailed off.

Minato felt the mood change so sudden and tried to cheer her up.

"But that doesn't mean he has to give up, right?" He said smiling.

"Kushina looked up again and smiled."Of course not-ttebane!"

"And what about you? Do you still think you can defeat me in combat?" he teased her.

Kushina's eyes lit up to hear him say that. "Are you challenging me?" She smirked.

"Maybe...?" he also smirked.

Kushina bit her lower lip and jumped from her seat. "All right! You and me in the battle field, now!" she shouted while pointing a finger to him.

"But what about our date?" He asked incredulously.

"THIS IS a date-ttebane!" She said excited and left the place running.

Minato had no choice but to pay the bill and he followed her to the training camp to carry on with the challenge. It's been a while since he had seen Kushina so excited and he couldn't say no to her.

To be continued...