Chapter 2
Kushina started her three year old Mitsubishi Mirage and waited for it to heat up while she checked Mikoto's address on her phone. Hokage Avenue was one of the neighbourhood she passed by on her way to work daily so she did not need to use GPS to find it. It would be a short ride since the housing area was located to the right of the road on the way to her office.
Since two weeks ago prior to her transfer, she had been searching for places to live. Thus she had looked up addresses that were on the way to her workplace. One of those place was Hokage Avenue and she found out that it was within her budget though she had thought it expensive.
After Phoenix Technology the company Kushina worked with was bought by UchihaSenju Corps, she found herself handpicked by her new employers to head their Operations Department. They had offered her a very generous salary package with a lot of perks, and one of those was housing allowance. She jumped with joy as throughout her studies and while her original company was still a startup, she had been staying in shared cramped apartments back in Suna.
Suna was a metro, though the rents were high the public transportation were aplenty. Kushina only bought a car after four years of working because she had to travel between Suna and Konoha almost every week. When Phoenix Technology was relocated to Konoha, she took the opportunity to accept the move instead of hanging back at Suna. She had no one around anymore, even her high school friend had emigrated to other places.
As she manoeuvred her car out into the road, suddenly Kushina's thoughts began playing on what she would actually talk about with Mikoto. She had met Fugaku when she was still with her old company, and they had never interacted. Their roles in the company did not need them to interact directly, thus she was surprised when Fugaku came by her office that evening to greet her. Only then did she realised that her new role as Vice President of Operations means that she is part of the policy makers in the company instead of handling the operations part like before.
At the traffic light just before she enters the main road heading back to her house which is also the road to Hokage Avenue, she texted Fugaku's driver to notify the COO that she was heading to his house to send his private mobile phone. She didn't know how Fugaku would react but that would be something to worry later. She had a friend to meet.
Mikoto placed the two cups and pot on the tray and carried them to her coffee table. The coffee table which was a gift from Obito and Rin, her niece and nephew from Fugaku's side when they first bought the house right after Itachi was born. She smiled when she recounted the fact that she could say the house was a month short of being the same age as Itachi.
She looked at the hanging clock on the wall and estimated that Kushina would arrive in another fifteen minutes. She flipped on the television but lowered the volume to a whisper as to not awaken her son up. While she waited for Kushina, she called the security guard stationed at the entrance of Hokage Avenue that she was expecting a guest from UchihaSenju Corps. She then settled down to read on a magazine Fugaku had bought her because he had thought she would grow bored staying at home.
"Hi," Kushina waved a little hello to Mikoto and then bowed down to take of her heels. She mumbled to herself for forgetting to change her footwear, wearing high heels to someone's home a few hours after office hours feels a bit workaholic to her.
"I am Kushina Uzumaki, the one who called?"
"Hi, come in," said the woman in a baby blue sweaters and pleated skirts. Her raven hair let loose at the back. "I am Mikoto."
Mikoto extended a hand and Kushina gladly grabbed it. She was mesmerized by the soft skin of the woman's hand in contrast to her calloused finger. Kushina blushed slightly noticing that the woman's skin was fairer than her sun kissed skin. She had always been very keen with every new prospective friend she met. Kushina smiled at the thought of being friends with the other woman.
She placed her shoes near the shoe rack which contained about ten flat shoes, two pairs of loafers and a row of small shoes, maybe a toddler she guessed. Kushina had not been around children much to notice what size shoes fit which aged children.
"Let me lead you to our living room. One can get lost getting through here."
She stepped inside the house and was met by a corridor filled with arts hanging on the wall. There was even a description on each of the art. She inspected a few but saw that none of the artists were an Uchiha so far, so they were some kind of a private collection.
Then she saw an abstract painting in a shape of a whirlpool in blue, black and white. She was getting a feeling of being sucked inside the drawing and quickly averted her gaze. Some painting have a mesmerizing effect on its viewers, and this was one of those. Then she remembered to check out the artist's name. The artist was Minato Namikaze from Konoha. So a local artist, all the other artist were from Japan, Iwa, Suna and Ame. She grabbed her phone out and took a quick photo of the art and it's description.
"So, you like art?" Mikoto stood smiling at Kushina. Kushina grinned at the woman, she had taken her own sweet time to check out the arts.
"My husband found it entertaining that his guests took hours to reach the living room when they use this corridor. Come, let's have tea. There's plenty time to check the arts again."
As Kushina nodded and left the whirlpool painting, Mikoto glanced at the artist's name and grinned widely. Not many people had admired the drawing before, she thought. She followed her guest into the living room and pondered the notion along the way.
~~~~dcfm~~dcfm~~dcfm~~~~
"Here's the phone before I forgot." Kushina placed the phone on the coffee table near Mikoto. She had sat a good few feet away from Mikoto on the same long sofa. It was common sense to be within a comfortable distance, as they weren't friends yet. Strangers, yes.
Mikoto nodded and took the phone as soon as it was placed on the table. She unlocked the phone and saw that it's battery icon was already red signalling a weak battery. She unlocked the phone and set it back on the table.
"Thank you for bringing it back here. I rarely ever need to call Fugaku this late, but today he didn't call as usual."
"You're welcome. I… I hoped I wasn't being too intrusive or anything coming here."
"That's alright. It's rare for his co-workers to drop by actually. Usually they drop things at the receptionist counter to be fetched the next time."
Kushina sipped on her drink, "Well. Umm… I thought I'd survey this area too. Like I mentioned I wanted to rent somewhere closer since my job often needed me to come home later."
"I think one of my neighbour did mention about moving out at the end of this month. Maybe I could recommend you to her. She's a single lady too and she is leaving her home fully furnished as her fiancee already has a home in Japan."
"Wow, thank you Mikoto. Please do send me your friend's number."
Kushina grinned happily while Mikoto smiled and started munching on her biscuits.
"Have some?"
"Sure." Kushina inspected the dark brown cookies before popping one into her mouth.
"So you are single?" Mikoto suddenly asked. She had been itching to ask the question ever since Kushina stepped into the house.
"Yes. This is delicious. You made this?" she said popping another biscuit inside her mouth.
"No, I bought them from the UchihaSenju Corps fund raiser last month."
Kushina wiped the corner of her mouth with her fingers.
Mikoto jumped to her feet when she realized that she had forgotten something. "Sorry, I forgot the tissue. Wait while I fetch one. Switch the channel if you want."
Kushina just waved her hand, "Ok."
As Mikoto rushed to the kitchen to fetch an unopened box of tissue, her mind started marvelling at the fact that Kushina was still single. Just perfect for her best friend, she thought. Kushina's chaotic personality greatly contrasted with Minato, her and Fugaku's best friend.
Mikoto was very taken with Kushina's red hair and non existing initial nervousness at meeting new people. That was perfect for Minato whom she knew had a great affinity towards very confident woman.
