Intermission 3
- a love story in bits and pieces -
He's the first one to suggest a rematch.
Namikaze Minato's eyes are a bit too bright as he explains what a thrill it was to fight her the first time. Kushina's stamina is amazing, he effuses, and the honesty in his voice rings clear as a bell. That was one of the first times he's been pushed by someone his own age, he tells her. In the process, he's worked out an interesting phenomenon in chakra infused weapons. He may be on to something big here. Something to push his battles to be faster, better, so that he wouldn't lose to hardier, bigger opponents.
One rematch turns to two. A whole series of matches are scheduled, one for every Monday, before it turns to one every day.
Kushina is more than happy to comply, especially since these extra sparring matches are helping her with her own training as well. She almost always looks forward to them, except on days when Jiraiya is finishing up on training Minato and his genin teammates in the late afternoon, and the old pervert would leer at her before she "humphed" and dragged Minato with her as soon as it was their appointed time.
One time he asks her why she chose him as the recipient of her letter of challenge.
They've just finished a particularly long, four-hour sparring session. Both are lying on the grass, watching the clouds drift by and nursing their sore muscles.
Kushina replies as if it's the most obvious thing in the world:
"Because we're rivals. Because you want to be hokage, but I called it first."
After a pause, she adds:
"And because you're strong and, um, pretty reliable."
It takes Minato a while to process that this is the first time she's praised him aloud, to his face.
Suzu: Workin' to keep up the crazy update schedule. Won't you leave a comment?
