Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: MinatoKushina
Summary: On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. That was how Minato and Kushina's relationship had always been. But when two people keep going back to each other, it's usually meant to be.
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies.

Chapter One: Fugaku Has Homosexual Hair

"Hey, Uchiha, I heard you—"

"Get. Lost," Fugaku hissed, fingernails digging into the cafeteria table he was sitting at.

The boy being addressed widened his eyes and raised his hands in defence.

"Whoa, man," he said, not giving up. "I heard from someone that you said you were—"

"You. Heard. Wrong." Fugaku fixed the boy with a murderous glare that told the young usually confident redhead that he would be waking up with a horse's head next to him the morning after if he didn't back away slowly right then and there. After he was out of sight, Fugaku closed his eyes and sighed, rubbing his temples.

Minato, who was sitting next to him, scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"That's the… wait, what number was he?"

"Number twenty-four," Mikoto clarified. She poked her chicken salad warily, before looking up from her food and brightening up, throwing Fugaku a cheeky grin. "You're really reeling them in, aren't you, Fugaku? Who knew you would be so… popular?"

"Shut up," ordered Fugaku, still not opening his eyes. "I don't even know how this happened."

"Well, you see, you turned gay—"

"I am not gay."

"—so now, half of Konoha High's male population are coming out of the closet and asking you out. Imagine that, eh?" Kushina said, grinning.

"I am not gay," Fugaku maintained. "I don't know why everyone thinks that. Is it my hair? It's my hair, isn't it." It wasn't a question.

The other three sitting at the table exchange vague looks.

"Yes, that's exactly it," Kushina said sarcastically.

"Mmhmm, Fugaku. You totally have homosexual hair," quipped Mikoto.

Fugaku stared at Mikoto.

"I hate you guys," he seethed, whilst Minato applauded Mikoto and Kushina snickered.

So… What's up with you and Minato now?

Mikoto folded up the piece of paper neatly and slid it towards Kushina, not taking her eyes off the Powerpoint presentation in front of her.

"Eh? What's this?" Kushina whispered, swatting away the note Mikoto was poking her with.

"Just read it," Mikoto said, not moving her lips. It slightly disturbed Kushina, so she took the piece of paper and unfolded it.

Nothing, she wrote back. The idiot keeps asking me to take him back. Like that will ever happen. Again.

Mikoto snorted gracefully (how was that possible?) when she read Kushina's note and scribbled Hah. That's what you said the last time, and the time before that. And the time before the time before that. Face it Kushi-chan, he's got you wrapped around his rather large pinky finger.

The redhead scowled at the note and immediately began writing her reply. Okay, first of all, don't call me 'Kushi-chan'. Seriously, it's weird and you sound like that random freshman that tried to hit on me when I first came here. And secondly, I mean it. I won't take him back, not after what he's done to me, Kushina wrote, pretending that she was taking notes on the Biology lesson being taught.

Mikoto let out another derisive snort and slid the paper back to Kushina in a flash. Riiiiight. Anyway, pay attention, Kushina. These notes are going to be included in our final exam, so you can't afford to slack off.

… You're the one who started—

"Uzumaki! What do you have there?" their teacher, Tsunade, barked.

Kushina glanced to her left at Mikoto for help, but the raven-haired beauty continued looking ahead, the picture of innocence.

"Nothing, sensei," Kushina said hastily. "I confused about what was on the board. I get it now, though."

Tsunade looked at her skeptically before returning to the board and resuming her presentation.

Kushina let out an audible sigh of relief and closed her eyes. Mikoto lightly poked her and mouthed 'Sorry' when the she looked her way, putting on her best puppy-dog expression, making Kushina melt.

This was definitely not how Kushina had imagined her new life to be.

When she had transferred from Whirlpool High, she had resigned herself to be somewhat of a loner, deciding that she would keep to herself and just study hard to get through the rest of her academic career. She wasn't prepared in the slightest for the ups and downs that came with her transfer document to her new school. She hadn't expected to be taken under the wing of Konoha High's three most popular students, she hadn't expected to find a best friend in the school's most beautiful and sought-after heiress, she hadn't expected to be so comfortable and herself around the school's most enigmatic pretty-boy, and she definitely hadn't expected to have gone out with the school's resident sweetheart (multiple times).

Now that she thought about it in more depth, at first, she couldn't really see how Minato fitted into Fugaku and Mikoto's inner circle. Mikoto came from one of the town's most affluent families and had suitors lining up at her doorstep in the dozens, and Fugaku was an Uchiha. (Kushina hadn't really understood what that meant when she had first arrived, but by the way her pink-haired class president had uttered his name in such awe and reverence when showing her around the school, she had no doubt that in Konoha High, Uchiha Fugaku was royalty.)

But after two weeks of observing the trio, it was clear why the two spent so much time around him. Despite having countless boys chasing after her, Mikoto was quite a reserved girl, having been brought up with grace and manners and poise, even though she did have her mischievous moments. Minato was the one who warded off the "horny, testosterone-filled twats" and who brought the sunshine into Mikoto's otherwise colourless world. He was undoubtedly Fugaku's best friend (although the Uchiha would never admit it), and he knew him better than even Mikoto did, despite her knowing him since they were toddlers. He knew exactly what to say to wind Fugaku up, yet he would be the first to rush to his aid if the situation ever called for it.

Fugaku was always the one that girls (and now apparently, boys) lusted after, but Minato was the one that they fell in love with. His goofiness, charming attitude and ability to instantly light up a room meant that he had more than a few declarations of love, and being the strapping, teenaged boy that he was, he was very open to pursuing them without much coaching.

Kushina was no different. Once Mikoto had introduced her to Fugaku and Minato, one sly grin the blonde had given her had her smitten. So naturally, when Minato had casually asked her out a month after, she had said yes despite Mikoto's warnings and Fugaku's furtive glances.

Regardless of those tell-tale signs, she had ignored the actions of the two people who knew him the best. She had fallen so hopelessly and helplessly in love with Minato that she had turned a deaf ear whenever Mikoto had told her that Minato wasn't the most loyal of people when it came to girls, confident that she would be enough to change his ways.

Until she caught him in the library with a long-legged, doe-eyed blonde three weeks later.

To say that she was hurt would be an understatement.

She left the room quickly, without a sound, completely forgetting that she was supposed to meet Fugaku there so they could go over their Business Studies notes for the upcoming exam.

The next morning, Fugaku didn't tell her that she had missed their study session. Kushina reckoned he must have walked in on Minato as well and had realised where she had went off to. Right before break, when they had their Philosophy class together, she thanked him before going to her seat. He replied with a noncommittal grunt and a "Minato's a moron anyway".

She broke up with Minato at lunchtime, in an empty classroom he had brought her to. Judging by his reaction, she was probably the first girl to have ever dumped him, which wasn't very good for his track record.

From then on, he pursued her more relentlessly. Kushina had to give him some credit; he was determined. She was the only girl to have ever refused him anything (on multiple occasions) and that didn't sit well with him.

Because when Namikaze Minato wants something, Namikaze Minato gets it.

And get it he did. After two months of "But Kushina, baby, she jumped me. I was just surprised, that's why I didn't move!" and "I promise it will never happen again. I promise", Kushina decided that she couldn't stay mad at him any longer and took him back.

That was, until he did the exact same thing again, only instead of the library, he did it in one of Konoha's many chemistry labs, and in place of the tall, svelte blonde, a short, petite brunette was occupying his lap.

Kushina, having gone into the lab with Nara Shikaku to collect some books their teacher asked them to fetch, had merely stared at the couple in stunned silence before clearing her throat loudly, trying to keep calm when all she wanted to do was punch Minato's lights out.

And kill that tiny slut that was glued to him.

Shikaku, however, wasn't privy to her thoughts, and he would be later seen telling his friends Akimichi Chouza and Yamanaka Inoichi about the whole incident. After witnessing her calm and collected composure, he had told them how he wished Yoshino would be as easy-going as Kushina, instead of beating him up all the time.

"That's it," Kushina had told Minato later. "No more chances."

She took back her words (as well as him) two weeks later, after promises of "It was just a moment of weakness. It won't happen again, I'm serious this time, Kushina, I swear", and was disappointed yet again.

Kushina had no idea where her rationality had gone. Maybe she had left it back at Whirlpool High, she thought bleakly. Back in her old school, she was considered as the tomboy-ish street-smart girl who knew everything and trusted no one. Then came her inevitable transfer to Konoha and her complete change in personality. What would her friends back in her old school think of her now?

Maybe it was just Minato. He just had this… effect on her that she couldn't even describe. She had never felt this way about anyone else in the past, and he had made her feel special. When his face wasn't glued to another girl's one, of course.

Kushina sighed and turned back to the presentation, looking over Mikoto's shoulder and copying down the notes that she had already written whilst Kushina was reminiscing.

Ironic that just after she thought about that topic that it would come up once the lesson was over.

"Come on, Kushina," Minato coaxed. "Just one more chance."

Kushina snorted.

"It's always 'one more' with you, isn't it?" she snapped. "That's what you keep saying, and every single time, it's not just one more."

"Please Kushina," Minato persisted, gently gripping Kushina's wrists and preventing her from walking away. "I care about you. I really do. Those other girls—they mean nothing to me."

"Ugh!" Kushina cried, frustrated. She forcefully pulled her hands away from Minato and took a few steps back, grabbing fistfuls of her hair. "That's exactly it, Minato! You say that you don't care about these girls; that they mean nothing to you. But the thing is…" Her voice softened and she pierced him with a hurt look. "If they don't mean anything, yet you still choose them over me… what does that make me then?"

"I—er—" Minato began, and then stopped. For the first time in his life, he was at a loss for words.

"You see?" Kushina asked softly. She fixed him with one more look before turning around and walking off, leaving Minato standing in the middle of the deserted corridor hoping and praying that she would turn around and change her mind.

She didn't look back.

A/N:

NB: Yorino (see paragraph that Nara Shikaku is mentioned in) is the name of Shikamaru's mother. No, I did not look that up on Google, and yes, this is going to turn into a full-blown parent-fest! Wait until I find more.

This was originally supposed to be a medieval-fic, and it turned into one of those AU high school fics that I dislike reading. And now I'm turning into a hypocrite.

Please don't tell me that Minato would never do this. He's dead, so for all anyone knows, half the kids in Konoha could be secretly his. Plus, he's just a boy, who knows how to grasp an oppurtunity (skirt) whenever he sees one. Kushina lacks judgement because she's still young and she's prone to making bad decisions, as I'm sure we all are. And the whole Fugaku's-hair thing was my attempt at humour. I shall now go off and apologise to my brain.

So please give me your thoughts on this, yes yes?