Hey, Merry Christmas (or any holiday that you celebrate) sorry it took so long to post, but I've been a little depressed lately so this chapter came out really bad, put i wanted to post so here it is, review and flame please and thanks to everyone who reviewed! -Roxie

Farewell

The next morning Minato rolled out of bed with a yawn. He had been up all night thinking about ways that Kushina could possibly stay in the village. He had eventually given up and fallen asleep at one point in the night, though.

There was a soft knock on his door and he crossed the room to open it. It was his mother. She was a woman of medium height with light brown hair and freckles decorating her face. It was a mystery to her how her son's hair had turned out to be blond but it didn't matter much to her.

"I'm going on a mission today, Minato. So you'll need to make yourself dinner tonight" she said with a sigh. She didn't like leaving Minato home alone. Her husband had died about two years ago so there was no one to stay with him.

She had considered quitting being a kunoichi, but decided against it since there was the war going on and because the pay was better than a normal job. She bent down and gave Minato a quick hug before she left.

"Bye" she called as she went down the stairs

". . . Bye" Minato said as he walked back into his room. He was used to his mom coming and going, and even though she tried, the two weren't extremely close. They were more like roommates then mother and son.

Minato sat back down on his bed and yawned again. He was really tired, he wanted to go back to sleep but he knew he wouldn't be able to. So he stood back up and threw on some combat clothes.

To pass the time he decided he would go train. Then after that he would go and find Kushina so they could hang out. I wonder when exactly she has to leave. . . she said a few days but that doesn't really help

He sighed as he hopped out the window, to lazy to walk downstairs and use the front door. He landed on the street with a soft thump and then continued on his way. He walked in a daze past all the shops while thinking about what he could get Kushina for a going away present.

He snapped back to reality when he slammed into someone. The person fell to the street with a thud. He looked down and was surprised to see a very annoyed red head staring back up at him.

"Kushina!" he said a little surprised, he smiled at her as he offered his hand. She didn't take it and got up on her own frowning at him in clear annoyance.

"You have to pay more attention to where you're going. This is the second time you've walked straight into me" she complained. He smiled sheepishly at her and scratched the back for his head

"Sorry" the blond said, he had been zoning out lately, he promised himself that he'd work on that later

"Whatever" Kushina muttered. She noticed that Minato was armed as if he was heading out on a mission. "Are you leaving for a mission today?"

"Nah, but I was heading towards the training grounds to get some practice in" Minato answered. Kushina sighed in relief.

"That's good, cause I found out that I'm leaving tonight, and it would suck if you had to go on a mission and leave before that" she said while brushing her bangs back from her eyes.

"What!" Minato exclaimed, clearly upset by the news "You can't be leaving so soon"

"Of course I am" Kushina said with a sigh then lowered her voice to a murmur "I have to get back to whirlpool . . . the war is going on, you know"

He frowned but remained silent. He couldn't argue with that, and since Whirlpool wasn't one of the five great shinobi villages, they did need everyone they could get.

"Geez, don't look so sad" she said while she flicked his village headband "As I said yesterday, I'll be back"

"fine" he said with a sigh "Then what do you want to do today? I'll train later, after you leave"

"Well we've been to every shop in the village" she said while trying to get her bangs to stay back behind her ears "so how about I go back to my apartment and pack then we can go out for lunch!"

"We can go out to eat but I'm not paying for you again" he said remembering how much he spent yesterday "I'd go bankrupt if I did"

Kushina smiled and laughed at this and he smiled in response. Her mood was always catching. "Alright fine, I'll meet you at the Yamanaka flower shop in about an hour"

"Why the flower shop" the blond asked. He tried to picture the red head going in there to buy flowers but the opposing images wouldn't mix in his head. Kushina sighed and rolled her eyes, guessing what he was thinking.

"My sister likes flowers, and since we live around water they're hard to find so I thought I'd get her some while I'm here." Kushina said flatly

"Oh. . ." Minato said, a little disappointed by the simple answer. "See you in an hour then"

He said as he began to walk down the street. Kushina gave a wave and turned the opposite direction. After Minato took a few steps he turned and watched her as she walked down the streets.

She had worn her hair down today and it barely reached past her shoulder, just long enough to put up. And she was wearing a baggy t shirt and some shorts that went down to her knees. He smiled a little at this; she was just like a boy.

She looked so different from the time he had met her at the festival. She had looked like a girl then while she was wearing her kimono. Kushina felt someone's eyes on her back and she looked out of the corner of her eyes to see who.

She blushed slightly when she realized Minato was watching her. She stumbled a little and suddenly felt a bit self conscious. Did she look weird or something? She walked a little faster until she rounded the corner, and out of his line of sight.

One hour later they met up as planned; Kushina was holding a red blossom in her hands and smelling it when Minato walked up. She looked up at him and quickly put the flower back down, looking slightly embarrassed.

"You ready to go?" she asked cheerfully, Minato grinned and nodded eagerly. She laughed at his excitement and then stifled a sigh; she was going to miss him.

The blond noticed her distracted expression so he flicked her forehead like she often did to him when he was spacing out. Her emerald eyes focused on his blue ones for a second before narrowing into a glare

"What did you do that for" she demanded while putting her hands on her hips, he laughed at this.

"That's for spacing out" he said while he reached for one of her hands "Come on"

". . ." Kushina allowed him to pull her along, her face feeling hot for some reason that she didn't understand. He guided her back through the unfamiliar streets back to that same ramen stand they had eaten at yesterday

They ordered a bowl and Kushina started to eat her immediately. Normally, Minato would have shoveled his ramen down along with her, but he was just watching her. He was trying to memorize her face.

She looked over and their eyes met and he looked down hurriedly at his ramen, already feeling a blush spread across his face. He felt a bit silly for looking at her like that and the more he thought about the more embarrassed he got.

Kushina didn't notice his red face and continued to eat her ramen while rolling her eyes at his strange behavior. She had already decided that Minato was weird a long time before they had actually become friends.

When they finished, and paid the two of them decided to go to the lake, since Kushina was more comfortable around water than she was around trees. As soon as the red head saw the water she dashed out onto its surface with an impressive display of chakra control.

Minato walked to the shore and stared at the water uncertainly. He hadn't exactly learned how to walk on water yet. He didn't want to admit to that though so he shakily stepped out onto the surface of the water.

Kushina was staring at him (she couldn't figure out why he was walking so slow). He had managed to take a few steps out before he lost control of his chakra and fell into the lake.

Kushina bit her lip trying not to laugh at the sight before her. Minato was completely drenched and his hair (which was usually spiked up in a messy disarray) was now hanging down in his face.

She walked over to where he had fallen in, still shaking with the effort of not laughing. But when he grabbed her hand she bursted out laughing. Minato frowned at this and his cheeks grew red from embarrassment; he didn't like being laughed at

A smirk crossed his face as he pulled down hard on her hand causing her to fall into the water next to him. She came back up a second spitting out water and coughing. Minato started laughing at the look on her face, she looked dumbstruck.

"That's for laughing at me" he said while snickering. Kushina shook her head slowly debating about whether or not she should be angry or laugh with him. She settled on a wary smile that soon turned into a wicked grin.

"I can't believe you can't walk on water" she said while laughing "and I thought you were some sort of prodigy"

Minato frowned and swam over to the shore before responding "Well you don't learn that until you're a chunin in Konoha"

"Really?" Kushina choose to back float in the water rather than join him on land "It's one of the first things you learn at the academy in whirlpool; probably because of all the water"

"Yeah, probably" Minato said while emptying his pockets so all his belongings could dry off "In Konoha we learn how to climb trees"

Kushina raised an eyebrow at this and snickered at the idea. It wasn't that she thought learning how to climb trees with chakra wasn't a valuable skill, the idea just seemed so foreign to her and where she lived there was no point in climbing trees because there weren't any.

She floated over to the edge of the lake and pulled herself out of the water and onto the grass next to Minato. She took of her shoes and emptied her pockets like Minato had. Then she peeled of her wet shirt.

She had a black tank top underneath but she laughed when Minato's face turned red. After he had calmed down he decided to take off his shirt too so it could dry out. Kushina didn't seem to mind and she laid down on the grass and started up at the sky watching the birds fly over head.

Minato joined her a few seconds later, and they laid there without speaking for a while. It wasn't an awkward silence, . Minato glanced over at Kushina and smiled. She had fallen asleep. Typical he thought while looking back up at the clouds.

Minato closed his eyes, not to sleep, but just to rest. The sun was still out even though it was getting late. His eyes shot open as he felt Kushina roll over onto him. Her head resting on his chest.

Her breathing was deep and slow so he assumed she was just asleep, but his face was bright red despite all that. He was sure he looked as flustered as he felt and that made him feel even more embarrassed.

"K-Kushina" he murmured. He wanted to wake her but then again he didn't; how would he explain their awkward position? He sighed and went to push her head of his chest but stopped.

It doesn't really matter he told himself as he lowered his arm she has a long trip to make anyways so I should just let her sleep . . .

As he was debating what was the right or wrong thing to do, to Minato's horror, Misaki gasped as she saw the sight of her best friend with Minato. She had been looking for Kushina all day and figured she would be with Minato, but not like this. . . Her cheeks turned red at the thought of what they had been doing. She turned around to leave

"Ah wait!" Minato said while sitting up, causing Kushina's head to fall rather hard to the ground

"Ow" Kushina moaned not fully awake

"I'd rather not" Misaki said as she took another step back "Kushina we leave in an hour, meet us by the village gates when. . . you're done. . ."

Misaki's tone was full of implications, and she quickly ran away before Minato could explain the situation to her. He hung his head and sighed loud enough for Kushina to hear. Kushina sat up slowly holding her head that was throbbing and looked at him curiously

"What was that all about?" she asked, referring to Misaki "Why'd she rush off?"

"She misunderstood. . ." Minato murmured his cheeks red. Kushina debated about pressing for more information but decided to drop it. She only had an hour left in Konoha and she didn't want to waste any time.

"Okay I only have an hour left here, so lets do something fun" Kushina said while standing up. Minato reached for his stuff but Kushina shook her head.

"You'll only end up getting wet again" she said smiling widely "I'm going to teach you how to walk on water"

"Really?" Minato asked feeling excited. He'd probably the first out of his friends to learn how to walk on water, she nodded once and shrugged.

"You have to learn sometime, but you probably won't get it before I leave" she said, sighing at the thought of leaving

"I bet you I will" he said confidently. Kushina just smiled and rolled her eyes

"Sure you will" she said sarcastically. He was clearly underestimating the difficulty of walking on a moving surface. She explained to him how to do it and showed him a few times.

She sat back on the edge of the lake, dipping her feet into the water. She watched as Minato took a few steps in and collapsed like he had the first time and each time he did it never failed to amuse her at how difficult this was for him.

After he fell in the water once again, she stood up walked out across the lake over to him and grabbed his hand. She snickered quietly and pulled him to his feet on the surface of the water while holding both of his hands.

"Try one more time" she said smiling at him. The blond frowned but did as he asked. He took a step and she moved with him. They walked about ten feet before Kushina let go of his hands. He immediately fell into the water and she laughed.

"That's weird" she said with a shrug "I guess I better get going though. . . I'll see you as soon as I can, okay?"

"It's time already" he complained while looking up at the sky; the sun was already setting. Their hour was up. "Bye, Kushina. . . Oh wait!"

He said excitedly as he swam back to where his stuff was. He pulled out a small box that had a ribbon on it and tossed it to her. "It's your going away present" he explained while scratching the back of his head.

"Oh" she said as she tried to undo the bow. It wasn't working out so she dashed over to the shore and picked up a kunai to cut it. She pulled of the lid and inside was a hair clip.

"It's to keep your hair out of your face" he said while pulling himself out of the water. She smiled at him brightly and he smiled in response.

"Thanks" she said. She put it on and then sighed; it was time to go "I have to go now. . . bye Minato"

"Bye Kushina" he grumbled his good mood evaporating quickly. He watched as she put her baggy t-shirt on and gathered up her stuff without a word. It looked like neither of them were good with good byes.

He watched silently as she ran through the trees until she disappeared out of his sight

Roxie: Thank god i finished this! Took forever to write! PLEASE REVIEW AND FLAME!!!