Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
A/N: -sighs- Just finished watching Spirited away, and I'm obsessed with reading fanfictions of it.
Red Thread Of Love: Chapter 3
Kushina glanced at her reflection in the mirror, then placed the scissors back on the sink. ''Were her words... true?'' She wondered, remembering the harsh words Arisa had told her.
''He pitys you because he feels sorry for you.''
Kushina never really thought about what Arisa said until now, and thought maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe...
Minato is actually the jerk she thought he was.
''Everyone hates me because of this stupid hair.'' She glared at her reflection, loathing her hair even more. ''Stupid kids... stupid hair... and... stupid me...'' Letting out a breath full of frustration, she picked up the scissors again and snipped a piece of her red hair off.
Biting down on her bottem lip, she began regretting it. There was a time when she did like her hair, it used to make her feel like she was unique. Now she only thought of herself as a freak everyone made fun of.
Stinging tears swelled up in her eyes, ''Why can't people just... accept me for who I am?'' she began snipping off more pieces of her hair and the entire floor began filling up with red hair.
Her hand which held the scissors began shaking in fear, and anger. Her figure was shaking with every sniffle from her sobbing. Kushina's heart nearly stopped, and her entire body froze when she heard a knock on the bathroom door.
''Kushina? Are you alright in there?'' Kushina recognized the voice to be Mikoto's, and she merely ignored the call.
''She probably feels the same way about me.'' Kushina muttered under her breath about the Uchiha girl. ''They're not really my friends...'' she clenched the scissors tightly, and felt pulses of pain from her bruises.
''Kushina!'' Mikoto called out again, in a worried tone and knocked on the door.
''Go away!'' Kushina spat out. ''I don't need your fake words, just to pity me.''
''What are you talking about?'' Mikoto asked in a calm voice, ''I'm just concerned.''
''You're lying, you and Minato are just a bunch of liars.'' Kushina shook her head, not being able to believe a single word Mikoto said. While Kushina spoke, she failed to notice the door opening. ''I'm tired of people just continuing to treat me like I'm trash who doesn't deserve to exist.'' tears continued to stream down her cheeks, her fingers roughly clenched the edges of the sink as her head hung down. Her breathing became heavy and her chest heaved up and down.
''Kushina-chan...'' a soft voice spoke, along with a hand that grabbed her arm and gently pulled her in front of their figure. Kushina's eyes widened as she saw Minato in front of he, his face was full of worry. Kushina immediately pushed him away from her, since it was a small bathroom he nearly tripped over a small trashcan.
''Stay away from me.'' Kushina clutched the arm he had grabbed, ''Y-You, I won't take anymore of your lies.'' a glare from Kushina shot him like daggers, but Minato knew well that they weren't full of hate, he knew she was just confused. Her face was stained from her tears, what surprised him even more was when he noticed her hair that was torn apart, with pieces all over the floor, the length of her hair was only up to her neck.
''I never lied to you.'' He walked slowely towards her, ''Arisa told you something didn't she?'' Minato stopped, hoping he didn't upset her. Kushina stood silent, continuously glared at him without speaking and just backed away from with and slid down on the floor using the wall as support. She hid her face in her hands, and tears continued to pour out of her eyes.
Minato took that as a yes to his question.
He kneeled down in front of her, and gently stroked her hair. Regardless of how much she cut it, it still felt silky and smooth. Kushina slapped away his hand,
''I don't want anymore of your pity.'' She coldly muttered.
''It's not pity.'' He reassured, ''You're my friend, so of course I'm going to try to comfort you when you're in pain. How is that pity?''
Kushina looked up at him with anguish in her eyes, ''I don't know what to believe anymore...''
''I know what you can believe...'' a small smile formed on the Namikaze's lips. ''You can believe that I'll always support you when you need someone to be there for you.'' his hand reached up to touch the tips of her formally long, red locks. Kushina stood silent, and brought her knees up to her chest.
Minato noticed she still didn't seem to believe him, but still wanted to find a way to atleast make her smile. He let out a sigh, he knew well this was partially his fault since he never really paid attention to Arisa and never saw this situation coming.
''Even if you don't believe me, just know that I'm sorry you had to go through all of this. I might not know you aswell as I hope to, but I know that I'll have to protect you every way I can.'' he brought his hand from her hair, and gently caressed her cheek to get an opportunity to lock eye contact with her.
''Destroying yourself inside over what an irrevelant girl said, you know as well as I do that whatever she had told you is a lie.'' His eyes bored into hers, ''Admit it, was she really worth you doing all of this?'' his tone was firm but his words were nothing but true.
''M-Minato...'' her lips quivered, and she leaped into his arms and cried into his chest. ''I'm sorry, I just... I couldn't take how her words were mocking me.'' she sniffled.
Minato wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back up and down. ''There's no need to apologize to me, I'm just glad you finally accepted my words.''
''I made myself look even more hideous than before by cutting my hair.'' she clenched his gray jacket.
''Don't say that, you're beautiful whether you have long hair or not.'' He kissed the top of her head, ''Besides, it'll grow back soon.''
Hopefully.
He felt her entire body shaking in his arms, and held her closer to him. ''Do you wanna go back to your bed?''
''Yes please...'' Kushina wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and felt herself being lifted. Never before had she felt safe in someone's arms, and never had she felt that she had someone who she could share her feelings with.
Being placed back on her bed, Minato covered her with the pink quilt that was on her bed. Kushina grasped onto his hand tightly, ''Is it okay if you stay with me for a little while?'' She asked
Minato hesitated for a moment about the idea, since he did have to go back to school but just the thought of leaving her alone here because of school seemed like a selfish decision. ''Sure.'' he said with an enticing smile.
It has been two months since that day, and things have changed for the better. Kushina's hair grew back, and she even allowed it to grow below her back. Her face beamed with a smile every day, especially when she was around Minato. Although, the young Uzumaki tend to be clingy and stood by Minato's side whenever she was able to, he didn't mind since it was better than being called names like she did when they first met. The students at their high school didn't tease or bully her as much as before, but Arisa still held a grudge against her and refused to accept Kushina.
''Wanna take a little walk with me to the park?'' He teasingly poked her forehead with the tip of his index finger, as they stood outside the school doors. Kushina irritatedly rubbed the spot where he poked her with a glare then her face softened at his question.
''I'll think about it, but if you keep poking me then you're going to be missing that finger.'' She playfully jabbed his chest with her warning, a smirk resided on her lips.
''I'll take that as a yes then?'' Minato chuckled, and entwined his fingers in her red hair and felt the smooth movement it made through her beautiful red locks. Everytime Minato messed with her hair, it caused her heart to flutter and she got immensely embarassed by her feelings about it like she was now. Kushina's cheeks were a shade of rosy pink, his laugh was enough to melt her insides but she wouldn't dare let him know that. His smile, his eyes, his laugh, his words, everything she couldn't help but admire.
''Kushina?'' Minato raised an eyebrow when he saw her acting weird, well it was weird in his opinion.
''W-What?'' Kushina blinked and shook her head to snap out of her little daze, ''Sorry.'' she looked away from him, even more embarassed than moments before.
He tilted his head and wondered what was troubling her, ''Anyway, I wanted to ask you something.'' an warm was wrapped around her shoulder as they finally started walking.
''You probably wonder why you hang around such a weirdo.'' She rolled her eyes as the thought came to mind.
Minato eyes were clouded with sadness for a moment, his smile fading as the words painfully escaped his lips ''At the end of the of the school year, I'm planning on moving to Tokyo with my godfather for a while.''
Kushina's eyes widened as she turned to look up at him who was still walking beside her, ''What? Why?'' her lips quivered, knowing she only had a certain amount of time left with him nearly made her stomach drop.
''He wants me to progress my studies over there, so I can end up with a better career after graduating.'' The tone of his voice become melancholy, he didn't even sound excited about such an opportunity. He could see the restlessness in her face, he knew what she wanted to say, that's why he made a decision.
Kushina opened her mouth to say something since the sudden news had hit her pretty hard, but she wasn't given the chance to ''That's why I want you to come with me.'' a smile managed to form on the Namikaze's lips, hoping she wasn't too taken back by what he had suddenly thrown at her.
''I-I...'' she mulled over and tried to figure out what to say, it had all came so fast. Noticing they were in the park, she had to sit down on a bench and figure out what to do and what to say. Kushina let out a much needed breath, looking down and clenching her fists open and closed repeatly. ''I'm sorry, I just... I... I don't know.'' Kushina said lowly.
''I don't expect an immediate answer, it's alright.'' He sat beside her on the bench, the light of the incoming sunset covering the entire park they were in. Despite how late it was, they both didn't seem to care. Time always seemed to flow by when Kushina was with Minato, and likewise for him.
Minato let out a soft sigh, ''I almost regret telling you this out of the blue.'' his arms laid on his legs which wore his gray uniform pants, saphire orbs wandering to the left to look at the Uzumaki who still didn't speak a word.
''You're such a jerk.'' she muttered childishly, ''A jerk, a huge jerk.'' His eyes slightly widened at his words, but he wasn't surprised at her angry reaction. ''You're lying aren't you.'' Kushina turned to look at him, with an angry scowl on her face.
''Why would I lie to you about something like that?'' Minato almost laughed at how she assumed he was lying, but decided against it since she'd probably slap him for it.
''How would I know the kind of person you might be?'' She explained like it was most obvious thing in the world,
''Kushina-chan I-''
''You could be a drug-dealer for all I know!''
''Kushina-chan.''
''Or maybe a serial killer...'' Kushina continued babbling on, ignoring Minato.
''Kushina-chan...'' Minato slightly raised his voice, but was near his breaking point.
''And here I was, starting to get feelings for a SERIAL killer.'' she raised her voice, and didn't notice those saphire eyes beside her widening.
''Last thing I need is for you to start killing my cereal, I actually really enjoy my cereal in the morn-'' her babbling was finally stopped by lips that were pressed against hers. Kushina would've shoved him away, but she couldn't help but enjoy feeling his lips on hers and kissed him back before he pulled away.
''Minato...'' she was in awe, and realized she had actually blurted out how she felt about him while she senselessly talked about the most ridiculous subject.
''Sorry to disappoint you, but I won't be killing any of your cereal.'' He couldn't help but let out a laugh, regardless of the odd things she blurted out randomly, he couldn't help but find her adorable when she did so.
''Heh...'' She awkwardly laughed along with him, with a nervous smile. ''Minato...'' Kushina twirled a strand of her hair nervously with her fingers, and looked away from his direction.
Minato frowned in concern, he always hated when she was upset, especially when it was his fault. ''What's wrong?''
''It's just that... moving to Tokyo is such a big thing.'' Kushina nervously started biting down on her bottem lip, ''If I want to stay I won't be able to see you anymore, if I go... I'll leave everything here in Konoha town behind.'' Mikoto and her aunt Mito immediately came to mind when she said that, it was such a hard decision.
''It's alright, I won't leave until June which is 4 months away.'' He reassured her, ''And even if you decided to come with me, you can always come back and visit them.''
''What if I burn down the airport, and your godfather somehow mysteriously appeared?'' She fidgeted innocently with her fingers, actually considering the idea.
''No.'' Kushina pouted when he refused, but he still shook his head.
''Last thing I need is a murderer in the family.'' Minato purposely poked her forehead again, and saw her reaction looking even more violent than the last time he did it. Her glare was directed at Minato as she turned her head, a vein nearly popped out on each of her temples, then she tightly clenched her fist while a growl seethed through her teeth. He got off the bench and prepared to run for his life.
A/N: Now lets all send out prayers to Minato. lol
