Kushina dreams were full of fire and death that night, as they often were. Except this time, instead of waking up violently, covered in cold sweat, she was gently nudged awake by Minato, whose girly face and spiky hair was illuminated by the full moon behind him.

"Kushina….are you alright? You were crying out in your sleep."

She sat up groggily, peering about the makeshift camp they had made hours before. Her dream started to come rushing back to her, but she pushed it away, and all the thoughts it brought with it. She had had it so many times before that it was almost like a weekly routine.

"Was it a nightmare?"

"Get out of my face and go to sleep. I'll pull guard until morning." She said in as gruff a voice as she could manage.

"Suit yourself. Make sure to wake me up if something happens though." Minato said, standing up and walking towards his bedroll. As he slipped into his sleeping bag, Kushina felt him staring at her as she put her shoes on. "Are you sure you're OK? You were yelling pretty loudly."

"YES!" She replied, a lot louder than she had intended to. "I…I'm fine. It was nothing….just a bad dream."

Minato's breathing pattern soon revealed that he had fallen asleep….but she could already tell he wasn't like most men. There was a part of him still awake, still on guard, ready to fight at a moment's notice. That's more than I can say. I hit the pillow and I'm out like a light.

She stood looking into the forest for about an hour, hands in her pockets to guard against the chill of the night, and her hood up. Her mind went in a dozen different directions, as it usually did due to her ADHD. She couldn't stop thinking about what awaited her and Minato on this mission. She looked over at his sleeping mass, wrapped up in his sleeping bag.

Sometimes she would think about him fighting, or training, or talking at the Hokage's meetings. Except….she would replace his face with her own, or imagine moving and fighting in the same way. It was nights like this, when she was alone and no one could see the stupid look on her face, that she could acknowledge to herself how jealous she had always been of him.

That way, she could hide the adoration in her eyes and put a scowl on her face instead. That had always been the way she dealt with the world….with a scowl.

Before she knew it, she was reminiscing about the Chuunin Exams, the first time she had gone. Minato had carried her out of the arena. She had been completely out of chakra and so exhausted she couldn't even stand and he had picked her up like a ragdoll and cradled her like a child. She remembered looking into his deep blue eyes, seeing the way his hair shone yellow in the sun, and wondering if she'd ever be able to fight like he did. He had been so fast.

A few days she had woken up in her room fully recovered, and went out into the kitchen to find her caretaker, the Third Hokage himself, making dinner. She had cried then, longer and harder than she dared to in front of anyone else, and asked the Third if he could teach her to fight like Minato. He had smiled and ruffled her hair.

"You should fight with the heart of a lion, and never give up. In other words….fight like Kushina Uzumaki."

Back in the present, she was still staring at Minato's bedroll, at the way his chest rose and fell slowly. And here we are…..ten years later and he'd still beat me.

But he liked her smile? Was he making a pass at her earlier? The idiot's probably in love with me or something. If that's the case he needs to get his head evaluated, or reassess his taste in women.

She chuckled at the thought of anyone having any sort of feelings for her. Uchiha had just wanted to bed her when he asked her out after that meeting, just to brag to his friends. No man in Konoha would want to deal with the Hot Red-Headed Habanero, least of all the Yellow Flash, who had mobs of women dying to even speak to him.

I don't think anyone else can make me feel so fucking inadequate, anyway. She told herself, not for the first time, that she would make a shitty girlfriend.

As the hours dwindled away and the light started to creep back into the world, Kushina's last private thoughts before she shook Minato awake were about the dream…..the dream she couldn't stop dreaming.

Minato poked his head out of his sleeping bag; his hair actually messed up for once, looking completely out of it.

"Did anything happen while I was asleep?" He asked as he rolled his sleeping bag up and secured it on his backpack.

"Actually, yeah. A bunch of Mist ninja came and rubbed their balls all over your face."

"And you just let that happen?"

"Yeah, I figured you were into shit like that. You always looked like you'd be into dudes." She said matter-of-factly, trying to contain the smile that threatened to paint her face.

"You don't think I like women?" Minato asked as he munched on a leftover graham cracker.

"I'm going to guess….probably not. I've never even seen you with a girl."

"I've never seen YOU with a guy!" Minato shot out, spreading his hands in exasperation.

"Because….I've never BEEN with a guy, moron. I'd rather sit at the front gate and beg for yen then go on a date with ANYONE in Konoha." That was a lie….but she was convinced that it sounded convincing.

"You should've gone out with Fugaku. I always see him looking at you. He thinks you're really pretty." Minato said, looking at her for an extra second to see her reaction.

"If you're trying to get kicked in the face Namikaze, you're on the right track."

They started walking again, their breath misting in front of them from the morning chill. The sun faintly shone through the trees and made the forest quite beautiful, in Kushina's opinion. She appreciated things like nature. The birds chirping always made her smile in the morning, but she refrained from doing so this time to avoid unwanted comments from Minato.

"I wasn't joking earlier, you know."

Kushina was so busy admiring the forest around her and listening to the sounds of nature to hear him correctly the first time.

"Huh? What are you blabbering about?"

"About your smile. Fugaku saw you smile one time…and it was all he talked about the entire day. He just has a hard time expressing his feelings."

"Maybe because he has the social intelligence of a fucking hamster."

Minato's laughter caused Kushina to look at him in surprise, and when she really thought about what she had said, she started laughing too. They laughed as they walked, and it died soon after, leaving the trace of a smile on both of their faces. Kushina felt Minato's eyes linger on her a moment too long after the laughter ended, and she cut her eyes at him quickly. She got a good look at his face.

He was blushing. The Yellow Flash was blushing.

What the fuck.

Hey, apergis here. Thanks to those that still read this story. I'm sorry I've been so slow about updating. I was actually on hiatus for awhile. Now that the story's going I'll be updating much more frequently, and look forward to any reviews you guys feel like writing. (Please fucking review, I will love you forever)

The next chapter is from Minato's point of view, so we'll get to see his side of things. As you can tell from this chapter it'll be pretty...interesting. Thanks everyone and hope the Holidays are treating you well.