"What do you want to do in the future?"

Kushina back up at Minato. The two were sitting there, bone weary from training, and they had collapsed so that she lay across his legs and he lay across the arm of the couch. Neither of them could even be bothered to get food, it was that desperate, and they'd been spending the past hour half heartedly arguing about who'd be the one to get the food. It was their last night together and she knew that she was supposed to be making it up to him somehow… but Kushina was too tired.

She hesitated and then answered slowly, "I… don't know. I don't think beyond tomorrow if I can help it. What about you?"

"I want to be the Hokage."

Kushina was surprised and shifted over so that she could see his face better. He wasn't joking either, he was deadly serious and he was looking at her as if he was afraid that she'd laugh at him. But Kushina thought that it made sense, somehow, everyone seemed to hold him in high regard and he did love this village and everything in it. "That's great!"

"You really think so?" He relaxed and smiled. "I was afraid you'd laugh at me."

She was right- he had thought that. Kushina reached up to stroke his face with the palm of her hand. "No, really. It's great. I think you'll become Hokage."

He flushed and glanced away. "Most people already think Orochimaru-sama is going to be the fourth. But… but… I'd like to be the Fifth."

"Then I guess I'd like to see you become Hokage." She had almost said 'I'd like to be with you when you become Hokage', but Kushina was too afraid to say things like that. How could you assume you'd be with someone like that?

"What about for your own future though?"

"I'd like…" She hesitated and smiled shyly. Kushina hadn't actually admitted this to anyone, 'liking kids' was often seen as a female thing and she wasn't used to behaving as a female. Minato was the only one who was allowed to see her more vulnerable side. Kushina answered with her eyes preoccupied with the floor, "I'd like to become a jounin and get the trust of Konoha… and then have my own team. Like you have. I don't mind kids. Or maybe, maybe I'd like to become a teacher at your Academy."

"You would be a good teacher."

"You think so?" She laughed when she realized she'd said what he'd said earlier. Kushina understood just how nervous he'd been when he'd said that now. "Hokage and a teacher. Scandalous. You corrupt the shinobi, I'll corrupt their kids."

He felt a bit surprised when she implied that they'd be together then, surprised and delighted. Minato could picture the two of them like that; he as a Hokage and her as the teacher, and he would go to the Academy to see the younger shinobi and be rewarded with her face at the same time…

"I mean…" She had noticed how he hadn't answered and went red. "I mean… you know, if we're together… if… yeah."

"I'd like that." He leaned down to kiss her hand, it was the only thing he could be bothered reaching for, and added, "Do you want your own kids?"

Kushina flushed and glanced away. She still hadn't told him that there was a big question mark beside her name as far as 'pregnant?' went… but she'd already been thinking about that over the past week. Kushina had deliberately pretended to have less chakra than she really did, she was afraid that if she was pregnant that she'd harm any possible babies who might need it too. She'd also realized that she'd known nothing about babies and pregnancy, not as far as a shinobi went. Did it matter if she trained hard, did it matter if she used Chakra?

"I… do you?" She was afraid of his answer. What if he said no, and Kushina was pregnant? She'd come back to Konoha in a few months because they'd sent her back pregnant and he'd reject her…

"Yes."

The relief was obvious on Kushina's voice when she said, "Me too."

They both went quiet for a few minutes, both preoccupied with their own thoughts.

Kushina decided to break the silence with, "…so you're getting the food, right?"

He laughed and slowly got up. "Okay. I'll get it tonight."

The last day. The last day and then…

Kushina stood there numbly, staring at Minato's sleeping reflection in the mirror, barely aware that she'd stood there like that for fifteen minutes, or that she was shivering from the cool morning air in her half-dressed state, barely aware of anything but him and his placid face. He only had to turn over in his sleep so he was facing the bathroom, only have to shift in her direction, only had to look so …so…

She was already falling apart and he hadn't even woken up yet.

Kushina wondered what he'd say if he woke up and found out that he'd slept through her departure. She'd done what Tsunade had suggested, drugged him with a mild sleeping sedative. It was so that it'd be easier on them both. He'd wake up, she'd have gone, and she wouldn't have to walk from Konoha knowing that Minato's eyes were on her as she took every step away from him.

It was crazy. Absolutely crazy. Kushina didn't know if she'd have been so infatuated with him if they'd have met in different circumstances, or that she'd fall in lo… she'd feel so strongly in such a short time… if things had been different. Maybe it'd been because she needed to have that over the past few weeks? Maybe she'd leave for a few months and one or both of them would forget their feelings, would find another, they would think 'What a fun couple of months we spent together' and when she returned, it would be awkward for the two of them. Would she wait for him to ask her to come back to the apartment or would she automatically find her own home, assuming that it was just a short fun fling between the two of them?

Sunlight half blinded her as the sun peeped over the roofs of the surrounding buildings and spilt into the apartment. Kushina went back to dressing. Long tough pants, jacket, boots… her hand hesitated over Minato's forehead protector. He hadn't asked for it back since he'd swapped their Konoha band. She picked it up… even thought they might forget how they felt now… she was going to try her best to stay feeling this way for as long as she could. It was the best feeling, the best thing that Kushina had ever had, she'd never felt quite so comfortable and attracted to anyone before. She didn't feel one bit of shame for the speed they had gone at or what she hoped they might eventually have together. It was sort of exciting and frightening. The ultimate mission, she'd heard someone call this sort of thing, and Kushina understood why.

He shifted over in his sleep again and she tore her eyes away from the back of his head. Kushina had to go. She hoisted the pack over her shoulder and left him there.

Minato opened one eye, grinned and leapt out of bed. He had originally thought that he'd kill her the night before, he wasn't an idiot shinobi who didn't know when to spot that sort of thing, but this idea was so much more fun. He strode across the room to the window and watched till she left the building and went down the street. Did she really think she was getting to the Hokage uncaught?

He snatched up parts of his clothing from the ground. Minato pulled them on as fast as he could manage, almost tripping over some of the clothing on the floor as he hopped around pulling a sandal on, and then jumped out of a window, onto a roof and somehow made it to the ground without breaking an ankle.

She was not getting to the Hokage uncaught.

Kushina walked down the long hallway, staring around her, feeling just as intimidated as ever by the large building. Shinobi passed her without any hint or suggestion that she mattered in any sense to them but Kushina knew better- they would tense, she knew that they would probably watch her when her back was to them, and no one really trusted her as a Konoha shinobi yet.

A hand covered Kushina's mouth, another around her waist and she was pulled into a closet. Kushina's instincts didn't fail her, a kunai was out and already going for the attacker's soft waist and there was the feeling of metal against metal when a kunai deflected her attack.

"You're not allowed to stab me." Minato whispered into Kushina's ear and laughed softly, lis lips finding her soft earlobe. "Till I'm done."

"Mi…Minato…" She watched him jam the door shut with a chair and then he had pressed her against the wall, his hands pulling… no, ripping… at the jacket. She could see several buttons flying off into the darkness. "I need that top, Minato, don't rip it."

He laughed. "I won't rip it then." Minato started to shred it to bits with the kunai instead, dropping large strips of her clothing onto the ground around them. He ignored her hands, they were attempting to push him away but they weren't resisting too much and bit at Kushina's soft neck, her ear, her shoulder, kissing and biting, growling a little when she went to dodge under him.

"I… wait, I need to see the Hokage… and …I'm leaving!" Kushina gasped when his hand, the one that wasn't trying to cut the pants off, found a breast and was stroking the tender skin. "Don't cut that…" There was the shock of the air against her legs as the pants finally slid down onto the ground. "I need my clothes, Minato!"

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, but I seem to have lost my clothing. Send me another day." Minato dropped the kunai and pressed up against Kushina, pulling her legs around his waist, his mouth shifting from its attentions on her neck and ear to her lips. She may have been pretending to resist but the kiss didn't hide anything.

"I… can't… we're in a broom closet."

"You're very observant." Minato's hands were sliding along Kushina's bare legs, up along her sides, Kushina's body shuddered when they touched the part of her waist that was unusually sensitive, they were behind them, and she arched her back when his mouth left hers to find one of her breasts.

He glanced up at her, pleased by the way her face was flushed, her chest was heaving, her body was sweating and so was his, it was getting hard for Minato to hold her up with the way their bodies slid against each other, the way his body was so aware of hers being so near and yet so far… he couldn't wait and pressed up into her, watching her face as he slid into her body, her eyes met his and he swallowed, hesitated, afraid that he'd loose control. The look on her face was… was… and her lips, they were parted, she was begging him to kiss her with her lips, begging him to move with her eyes…

Kushina gasped when he pressed into her, her legs tensing around his waist before she forced them to relax, her back arching so that her hips pressed into his. She couldn't believe how much her lips ached to touch his. He seemed to know it; Minato's lips were suddenly assaulting hers again, their tongues trying to work together, and heads bumping. Kushina reached up to pull his head away from hers an inch, ignoring the little whines of protest he made when their lips parted, the way his body seemed to make up for the lack of lips touching by his hips moving faster against heres, her darker eyes gazing into his beautiful lighter ones. He had such beautiful eyes….

"I love you too." He whispered, very aware of how she looked, aware of the way her legs hugged his body, the way her body was tight and perfect fitting around him… and he couldn't get over the look in Kushina's face, every time he moved in her, every time he kissed her or his lips brushed her lips, he was in total awe of how he did that to her. Minato leaned forward to kiss her lips, her flushed cheeks, her forehead, her neck, her ears, trying to memorize the feel and the smell of every inch of her. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you." Kushina shut her eyes and tried to forget that they'd be apart for so long, that maybe he'd forget her, she was starting to feel that if he did forget her… if he didn't feel like this when she returned…. Maybe she wouldn't be so okay with it after all. She didn't mean to say it, Kushina never liked to talk about the weaker side… but it slipped out anyway. "Please don't stop liking me."

"Loving you? Never." Minato froze; his head back to stare at her. Her eyes were avoiding his now and her lips were trembling. He felt the urge to prove it to her then and there with everything he could think of. Why hadn't he brought food too? He could feed her till she didn't feel so bad anymore.

"Okay."

"I mean it." Minato's entire body stopped moving then and he stared intensely into her eyes, moving one hand to move her face back to his. "I mean it, Kushina. I'm going to wait for you, and I'm going to bring you back to this closet the second I can touch you again, and then I'll make sure you can't ever leave my sight again."

Kushina felt tears fall then and he was kissing them, kissing her, kissing her weak smile. "I'll… wait too."

"Good."

"Can you… keep going now…don't stop." She whispered and hid her face in his shoulder, embarrassed, but who could blame her? Kushina hadn't noticed when her body had gotten into this state but now that it was, and now that he'd made her cry like this, it'd be cruel if he stopped.

Minato hoisted her up against the wall, readjusting his hold on her lower half, and was thrusting into her again, faster, his lips were against hers again, their mouths were trying to mimic what their bodies were doing, she was moaning and he tried to quieten her moans with his mouth… but he was moaning just as loud, he knew it, and then he felt her shudder against him, her eyes widening, her body doing something amazing around his body…

She gasped and cried out loudly, Kushina's voice echoing around the tiny room, her hips shaking and body arching as something seemed to spill over from inside her, she couldn't do anything but cling to him with her arms and legs because she had lost all sense of being able to do anything else.

Minato lost completely control at the sound of her and came, his legs giving way, the two of them falling to the ground in their pile of clothing, the dust sticking to their sweaty bodies, several brooms and buckets being knocked to one side.

They clutched to each other, unable to move, Kushina against the wall with her legs still around his waist and his body kneeling over hers. It was several minutes before they were able to shift into better positions.

Minato knew that she was late and started to pull the shredded remains off her.

Kushina stared at the clothing on the floor. It was totally unwearable. "Minato…"

"It's okay. I brought you spare." He grinned at her in the near-darkness and started to dress her, pushing her hands away when she tried to help. "No… I'm dressing you."

"What will I tell them? I'm so late…"

"I was training you."

She laughed and he laughed too. Kushina leaned up to kiss his swollen lips. "You're getting good at training."

He blushed and busied himself about getting his pants onto Kushina. And then the bra thing…

"I can do that one."

"Thanks." He waited and pulled his top onto her, the jacket, Minato pulled at her beautiful hair, gently, running fingers through it and watching carefully so he didn't pull on any knots.

"Are you two done yet?"

They jumped and stared at the door. It was opening a crack and someone was peering in. "I need to get to the brooms."

Minato stood at the gate and watched as she walked away from Konoha. He understood, logically, duty was always the first thing in a shinobi's life. He understood. It was a life he'd agreed to, the life he'd lived while Kushina was in Konoha, and he'd gone on missions while she waited.

Was this how it felt to watch someone you loved leave on a mission? He'd enver experienced it before, that horrible torment- daydreams of pulling her back, of the Hokage changing his mind at the last minute, of Kushina hesitating and turning around to tell the Hokage that she'd had enough of war and that she'd like to become a 'desk shinobi'… but Minato knew that nothing like that would happen. This was the life they'd chosen.

She didn't turn around. Kushina could feel his eyes on the back of her head and she understood now why Tsunade had suggested the sleeping potion. Every step, every movement of her legs, it was like she was made of stone or of stiff metal… it was agony. Kushina didn't look back. She wanted to remember him as she'd left him in the broom closet, pink faced, grinning sheepishly, trying to blurt out any old excuse to the bemused cleaner who didn't look at all fooled.

Finally they were out of sight of Konoha and out of sight of Minato. Kushina sighed and tried to relax, it would be a long trip.

It wasn't till later that night that she found the present he'd left in her pack- the strange looking kunai with the scroll around it, and a small note that said 'use only if all other fighting options are gone'. Kushina hadn't any idea what that was supposed to mean. And several 'use in emergencies' chocolates. Kushina didn't know if she was supposed to laugh or cry, so she did both.

She'd miss him so much.

A/N Thankyou for the reviews! o

Picture of them in the closet here-

http://sessy. PG picture, at least. XD

This was FIVE pages in word. XD Darn you for making it look shorter.