Idea: After a third disastrous try at the dating game, Namikaze Minato gives up on finding love, only to find that a mysterious man has taken an interest in him and begins trying to court him This man, is really the Kyuubi and has been the one sabotaging Minato's romantic attempts. At first Minato rebuffs the man's advances, but soon can't resist. He's always known that he would have a child…
Summery: After three failed attempts to find an everlasting love fail, Namikaze Minato swears off love entirely believing that he will never find 'The One'. He rejects every offer, but there is one that refuses to be rebuffed. Minato always knew he'd have a child… Kyuubi/Minato, mpreg. Massively AU but still Ninja, if you don't like it, you are free to leave.
Disclaimer: I wish I owned Naruto but… * glances nervously at lawyers * …Maybe its better that I don't… *laughs*
Title: Kyuubi's Mate
(Chapter Three: Meeting Kyuubi)
The next morning Kyuubi was treated to a nice sight, as he would soon have to patrol the borders of his Territory, this was something he would always remember, for the trip. His beautiful Blond Mate had two kits cuddled into his sides, sleeping peacefully, with the youngest kit sleeping on his chest. He took a minute to memorize the peaceful looks on his Mate and the kits' faces before he left for the edge of his territory.
Inside, Minato blinked awake and looked down. His three kids looked so relaxed asleep, like the children they really were, not two fully trained shinobi and a Kunoichi, he had to smile. These mornings were the best. Minato turned his head slightly to look at Obito, passed Kakashi's head of silver hair. The boy looked much more relaxed then he had the day before. "Up you get Kakashi," Minato breathed in the boy's ear, waking the child. "You need to get up so Tou-san can wake your sister and new brother."
Kakashi blinked awake. "Comfy… don't want to move Tou-san…" He then closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.
Minato chuckled quietly. That was usually Kakashi's response if there was nothing pressing waiting for them later in the day. "But don't you want breakfast?" Minato asked as Rin began to stir. "I can't make your favorite breakfast if you don't get up…"
"Tou-san is so mean…" Kakashi grumbled as he got off of Minato's chest, "resorting to bribes…"
Minato laughed jovially as he shook Rin softly, "Wake up Rin-chan." Minato smiled as her eyes opened, glazed slightly with the remnants of sleep. "I'm making your favorite for breakfast too."
"Yeah, Nee-chan, wake up, wake up!" Kakashi jumped on her, to which she rolled, rolling off the bed and starting a wrestling match, causing Minato to laugh at their antics.
Minato found himself reminded of fox kits (why he wasn't sure) as he watched them play for another minute or so. Then he turned to Obito, who was surprisingly still asleep. "Time to get up Obito, even though we don't have any appointments, today is going to be long."
"Mm…" Obito opened one Sharingan red eye. "I want to sleep some more…" He complained.
"I can't let you." Minato replied, "Even if that was the first night of real sleep you've had since your last mission with that team. If I let you get away with it then I would have to let Rin and Kakashi get away with it too, that is bad for our professionalism."
Obito whined. "But…"
"No." Minato told him in a gentle but firm voice. "But I will tell you this: if you come to me when you have a nightmare then you will get a better night's sleep and will stop feeling sleepy in the mornings."
Obito nodded as he sat up and turned to watch Rin and Kakashi rough housing on the floor. They stopped, watching as Minato got out of bed. Then they grinned at each other and jumped on him. Rin and Kakashi were feeling especially playful that morning.
The Genin and Chuunin easily pulled their Tou-san into their game. Minato quickly ended their game. "Now, now you two, if it was the weekend I'd let you play," He told them sternly with mock-seriousness, "But it is Wednesday and we have no time."
They pouted but quickly left to get changed. Obito pulled himself from the bed and also left rather reluctantly.
Minato changed and went to make breakfast. Obito was in for a real surprise soon, Kakashi projected a completely different personality in public. Kakashi became cold and could be cruel to everyone, even if he was slightly less cruel to his teammates, although he walked on pretty thin ice with his Sensei when he was. Kakashi was usually careful to be neutral to Rin, and extremely respectful to Minato. He just hoped that Obito wouldn't be hurt by his new teammate's seemingly out of character actions.
Minato watched Obito over the months after that. Slowly, after timidly reacting to Kakashi's cold but protective persona, the four grew closer. A month after joining the team, Obito was drawn into the wrestling and rough housing of his younger teammates and as he grew more comfortable with them and Minato, Tou-san was heard more and more. Soon Obito was a cohesive part of the team.
About ten months after Obito joined Team Minato, on a chilly, windy day, they found a ton of paperwork on Minato's desk. Up until that point the paperwork had been relatively light and was easily finished in the mornings allowing the team to spend lunch together and then get a mission in the afternoon. It looked like it wasn't going to be that way today.
Kakashi was the first to speak up, "Why is there so much?"
Minato shook his head. "I don't know, let's find out." Where there was usually a small neat stack of paper, there were now at least three tall, messy stacks of paperwork. [1] "Help me sort through this mess."
"Yes Tou-san," his kids chorused and the four tackled the piles of paperwork. Most of it was actually paperwork that the Elders and Civilian Counsels should be doing. The Hokage directed his three students to make three piles, one for the Elders paperwork, one for the Civilian Counsel paperwork and one comprised of the important documents that had to be seen by the Hokage himself.
"I'm going to get my work done," Minato said, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that only half of one of the stacks of paper was his responsibility. "Rin, Kakashi, can you take the rest to the proper places?"
"Yes Minato-sensei." Minato carefully helped his students seal the paperwork into scrolls and they were on their way. Minato watched them leave with a frown. Why were the Elders and the Civilian counsels sending their work to him? It didn't make much sense.
"Umm, Tou-san?" Obito looked up at the blond teen questioningly.
"Yes Obito?" Minato looked down at the twelve-year-old. "Is something bothering you?"
Obito nodded. "Yes actually, why was there so much work on your desk when not even half of it was yours?"
"I don't know." Minato answered, sounding puzzled. "But I'll find out." There would be hell to pay if this was what he thought it was. Minato sat down and got to work.
"I don't think that this will be finished in time for lunch though." Minato gave his student a wry smile, causing Obito to laugh. Minato grinned, to think that Obito once would have never laughed at the joke…
At lunch time, after Kakashi and Rin came back, there was still half of the stack to deal with. "I'm never going to finish at this rate…" Minato moaned. "And I have to man the missions' desk too this afternoon…"
"It'll be ok Tou-san…" Rin told him quietly. "We'll think of something, I think you need to take a break…"
"You might be right." Minato muttered, looking from her to her teammates thoughtfully. He wasn't sure if it was affordable but… "How about I take us out to eat hm? Get away from this for a while, it would do us all some good." He motioned to the still rather tall stack of documents that needed his attention.
"Yeah!" All three shouted, hugging him as he came out from behind the desk. "You're the best Tou-san!"
Minato chuckled as they raced out of the room ahead of him. He shook his head, they were such kids, and they couldn't hide it from him. They might be trained killers, but they were still kids – his kids. Minato walked down the winding stairs to the front door where the three were waiting for him. It was in the middle of November, and quite chilly. Minato noticed that they were wearing their hats and scarves but Kakashi hadn't wrapped his yet. "Do you still need me to do this for you?" Minato asked without any heat as he wrapped Kakashi's scarf around his neck and covered his mask with it.
"Not really, but I like it when you do it Tou-san." Kakashi admitted as he took one of Minato's hands and pulled him out the door. "I can't ever seem to get it to lie right."
"That's too bad." Minato mused as Rin and Obito followed them. He frowned slightly when he felt Kakashi's hand tighten in his, his hand tightened in an instinctive response. None of them noticed the man that was on a collision course with the Hokage.
Minato let go of Kakashi's hand when he felt something slam into him. "Oof!" Minato's head snapped up when he felt a hand close around his wrist to keep him from falling. His breath caught as he stared into crimson eyes set into the most handsome face he had ever seen. [2]
"Sorry about that." The stranger said, his voice was a deep baritone that sent shivers down Minato's spine. The man's face was really masculine with high cheekbones, a long straight nose long lashes and really dark silver hair. "I didn't mean to bump into you."
"N-no, t-that's alright…" Minato replied breathlessly, a slight pink dusted his cheeks. "We weren't really paying attention either…" the edges of Minato's lips turned up just slightly in a tiny smile.
The man pulled him up so that he was standing. "Where were you going in such a hurry?" he asked, genuinely curious.
"We were going out for lunch." Minato replied. "We're taking a break, so much work to do…"
"I see." Inwardly Kyuubi grinned, his young Mate had responded favorably so far, now to begin… "Did you have anywhere in mind?"
"There's this nice little Barbeque restaurant right near where we live, my kids and I were headed there." Minato told him, the man before him was quite friendly, had he found another friend? He hoped so. "It's rather cheap, and they serve a lot of food for little, it's always a treat to go there."
Kyuubi took a good look at his young Mate's face, it wasn't really visible but he either wasn't getting enough sleep, or he was stressing over something, there were the beginnings of dark circles under his eyes. Now was as good a time as any to start the courting rituals… "How about I treat you all to lunch then, since I did almost knock you down…"
Hope flared in Minato's eyes. If this man was willing to pay then… "…You really don't have too…"
"No, I insist." The silver haired man replied, "You can take it as an apology if you wish." [2]
"…Alright…" Minato answered hesitantly.
Throughout the whole conversation, Team Minato had been silent. The three looked at each other in mounting horror, had some strange man just asked their Tou-san on a date?
"Did I just see what I thought I saw?" Rin asked her brothers in a scared tone. "Did Tou-san really just say yes to a date? With a man?"
Obito nodded silently. "I don't think he realized it or knows…" Then he frowned, "We'd better keep a close eye on this one."
Kakashi nodded silently. "Tou-san said that he's not interested in love anymore, I believe Tou-san, but how could he not see that this guy is using pick-up lines?" His older siblings shrugged. [3] "Did you see his eyes? Something isn't right with this picture…"
Team Minato followed their Sensei and the strange man to the restaurant. They almost gaped when the man held the door open for their Sensei. They were even more surprised when their Sensei only blushed. They were tense when Minato ushered them in and the door closed behind the man as he followed them in.
"Table for four, Namikaze-san?" the hostess asked politely with a smile on her face.
"Five today Akimichi-san," Minato replied. "Is our usual table too small?"
"No it isn't, Namikaze-san. We'll have an extra seat set up for your friend." The hostess told him.
"Thank you Akimichi-san." Minato smiled as he herded his team to their usual seats. When they reached the table the young Hokage's team boxed him in, trying to keep the strange man that had intruded into their lives as far away from their Tou-san as possible. "Oi, what are you three doing?" [4] He asked with a smile.
"We are protecting Tou-san from strangers." Kakashi retorted, glaring at the man that dared try and flirt with his Tou-san.
Minato blinked, not sure what his kids were talking about. "What do you mean Kakashi? He's just being friendly."
Kakashi, Obito, and Rin turned as one and stared at their Tou-san. They could not believe what they were hearing. As one, his kids face palmed. How could their sharp Sensei be so dense sometimes?
"Tou-san… he's flirting with you!" Rin tried to tell him, but she had the feeling that he wasn't listening to her. "Why do I even bother…?" She wondered.
Kakashi sighed. "He can see fan-girls from a mile away but…" He started, shaking his head sadly.
"Can't see an honest, genuinely interested person to protect himself from them…" Obito finished with a sigh. He and Rin agreed with Kakashi. Why couldn't he see that this strange man wanted to get him in bed?
Kyuubi smiled indulgently as he wanted his Mate interact with his kits. He couldn't wait to be a part of that. He didn't mind that the kits wouldn't let him sit across from his Mate; they had a right to be suspicious of him. Tradition dictated that he let his Mate set the pace. Or in this case, his kits.
Kyuubi thought it was cute how they all seemed to vie for his attention without realizing it. Soon, a waitress made her way over with their lunch.
"Thank you." Minato told her as she bowed and backed away. He picked up the meat and set it to cook over the pit.
Lunch was boisterous and loud as usual; laughter and funny stories were exchanged. Team Minato actually learned a lot about the man that had bumped into their Tou-san, though they didn't learn his name, which irked them. [5]
The important thing to Kyuubi was that Minato always reacted favorably to all his advances.
Once lunch was finished, Kyuubi paid the bill and then held the door for his Mate and his kits.
"Thank you very much for treating us to lunch, you didn't have to." Minato told the man as he followed them back to the Tower.
"Maa, you needn't thank me at all…" Kyuubi replied, he wanted to know the blond's name.
"Minato, Namikaze Minato." Minato replied, "I'm the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure."
Kyuubi nodded. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Namikaze-kun." Kyuubi liked his blonds' name; it had a very nice ring to it. "We could do it again if you'd like."
Minato looked thoughtful, "That would be nice… the kids and I very rarely go out to eat you see." He told Kyuubi. "We must do this again, just come find us when you want to do this again and we'll see."
Kyuubi nodded. "Thank you, what if you aren't around?"
"That just means we're on a mission." Minato explained. "As the Hokage I don't usually leave the Village. But…" He wasn't sure how to explain it, they'd been having skirmishes with Iwa for so long… but it wasn't war; not yet. Minato was doing everything he could think of to avoid war, official war.
Kyuubi nodded, he understood. "I'll see you later then, Namikaze-kun." Kyuubi then walked away.
Minato smiled as he watched the man walk away. "That was fun, but we have work to do." He turned, to see his team glaring at his new friend's back. "Now, now guys don't be like that…"
"He should stay away from our Tou-san…" Kakashi muttered as they got back to work in Minato's office. He looked away when Minato gave him a confused look. "Nothing Sensei,"
"Good." Minato replied. He and his students had a system for paperwork; he would read through everything once and then would place the document in one of three stacks: 'Denied,' 'Important and Must Be Looked at Again before Signing,' and 'Signed' usually the second was the tallest stack.
After that, his kids usually filed the documents away in the proper cabinets. Still, Minato had to be really careful. They were on rocky ground with Iwa to begin with; it was hard enough keeping Onoki from declaring full on war as it was. Minato really didn't want to go to war. [6]
The month of December brought the beginnings of Minato's heat again. The first week of the three month period he was really out of it. After the first week it was easier to hide.
It was the last week of December that Kyuubi made himself known again by asking Minato if they could go out again. Minato was halfway through signing all the paperwork needed to have the New Year's festival.
Minato looked up from his paperwork to see Kyuubi standing there. "Hi," Minato looked down, wondering why he was blushing. "What's up?"
"I was wondering if I could take you and your kids out again." Kyuubi replied, enjoying the way his voice sent shivers up and down his Mate's spine. "It's been a while and though it was brief, I enjoyed spending time with you."
"I… don't see why we can't…" Minato told the man, "There is a festival coming up… we usually don't go though." With Obito Rin and Kakashi a year older, he felt like he needed some help. He just hoped that his new friend wouldn't mind.
"Well, why not?" Kyuubi asked, having moved behind Minato, whispering into her ear.
Minato shivered not sure why he was letting his new friend into his personal space. "We either don't have time or we don't have Ryo to spare." He explained, watching his friend from the corner of his eye. "You don't have to take us to the festival you know…"
This statement intrigued Kyuubi, "Why not? Don't you want to go Namikaze-kun?" He asked.
"Eeh, well… I don't have time you see. As Hokage there is so much that I need to do and…" Minato blushed fibbing slightly, his kids were sworn to secrecy but Minato had a very nice voice to listen to, he and Kakashi had been part of the Festival entertainment for years Rin had helped once and now it would be Rin's second time and Obito's first. Why was he getting so flustered? It made no sense at all. Maybe his kids were right then, and he was being flirted with? If that was true though, he would have to tell the man off. Minato turned when he felt the man leave, he watched the attractive silver-haired man leave the room slowly. "Oh god… what have I agreed too? I don't want this… I don't want to get hurt again…" [7]
(End Chapter Three)
Things you want to know:
Minato is an adult but to the elders and the counsel he is still a child, and children should do as they are told right? Not here, where Minato is the most powerful Ninja around and on top of that he is in charge. Minato can't really afford to date, he has no time. Taking care of a Village is a full time job and on top of that he is taking care of three ninja, his students (kids). He has had to learn to manage his time and train three kids when he is not working. You can bet he's not sleeping. As for the account that the Sannin were talking about opening for him? They haven't told him yet, and the books haven't been released yet either.
For fluffikins: I hadn't thought about that actually… I'm not sure when Jiraiya took the Ame orphans on as students… I'll think more on that… *eyes dark muse thoughtfully* we'll get back to you on that, not sure what to do about Madara either…
Footnotes:
[1] This is the Elders and the civilian counsel trying to turn Minato into a figurehead who doesn't have much power; of course this is not going to work… Minato is young and sharp, unlike Sarutobi, who was old and tired especially in canon.
[2] This is Kyuubi, I read another fic where his hair in human form is silver and I liked it, so, credit where it is due. Kyuubi is such a smooth talker; Minato doesn't even know what is going on… He is going to be pissed later.
[3] In canon, Kakashi didn't care, here; he sticks to his team like glue. There is no way that this Kakashi would put any mission before his teammates.
[4] Minato is being oblivious, he needs to be this way otherwise certain situations can't happen… I have something special planned for Gaiden…
[5] This is a demon custom. Dominant demons usually only tell their names to their mates the day they mate.
[6] War won't happen for several chapters, hopefully. I still have to get Minato with Kyuubi.
[7] No, Minato still doesn't know what's going on. But he is very smart, a genius in fact. He is starting to pick up hints of what is going on. As for how his body is reacting to Kyuubi? Minato is a Demon Fox, he is reacting favorably because his instincts are telling him that Kyuubi it acceptable as a Mate, not that Minato understands that. His instincts are telling him to find a strong Mate (in this case Kyuubi) and to have kits. The way I've set this up however, Minato is barely out of childhood himself and with three kids that he already has to look after, having Naruto isn't on his mind, in fact having Naruto now would be… Ah-ah… that would be telling…