A/N: 'The next chapter will be up in two weeks at the earliest'...
Yeah right I seriously have to stop making false promises in my Author's Notes, don't I, I said it'd take two weeks and how log did it take? Three days. I seriously need to focus more on school, tomorrow I have math, my worst subject, but I don't care, the chapter is here, YAY! Nothing too important happens in this chapter but new characters are introduced, e.g. Sasuke's mother, which we will be seeing more of from now on, or not, because you can't trust me, can you? Anyway enjoy the chapter, and it's longer than usual, almost 5,000 words. Also, Tsunade is older than Jiraiya, I failed to notice earlier, so she is 34 also.
Information Area
Mikoto Uchiha is Minato's old teammate from their genin days. She is 21 years old. She is engaged to Fugaku Uchiha, the head of her clan, though she is not in love with him, as she did not choose him for a husband herself. She is one of Minato's closest friends though they don't see each other so often anymore because of her clan duties. They are almost like brother and sister. She is a very kind and gentle woman and it is impossible not to like her.
Kisa Yamanaka is 22 years old. Her cousin is the soon to be clan head, Inoichi. She was in Minato's class back in the academy and she has always found his looks attractive and she is still trying to win him over, but she doesn't seem to be succeeding.
Chapter 13 – Events
On Kushina's first day filling in for Teuchi at Ichiraku Ramen Kushina got a pleasant surprise.
"Three beef ramen and one miso ramen," a soft male voice shouted.
Kushina, who's back was facing the costumers, turned around and smiled at the sight in front of her. A very familiar blonde man was sitting on one of the stools. Next to him three kids were sitting. One girl with brown hair that reached her chin, a boy with black hair and dark eyes and a silver-haired boy with a mask covering his entire face except for the eyes.
"Hello Minato," Kushina said. "I assume those kids are your students?"
"Sensei," who is she?" Obito whispered to Minato.
"This, squad, is Kushina Uzumaki, a friend of mine".
"Oh," Obito said, with a huge grin plastered on his face, "so this is the lovely cook you were talking about sensei".
Minato had to use all his self-control and strength to avoid blushing.
Kushina just smiled. "Your orders will be done in a minute".
Kushina placed the food on the counter in front of Minato and his squad and three of them grabbed their chopsticks and dug into their meal immediately. The only one who was reluctant was Kakashi. It didn't take long for Minato to notice it and he said, "Alright guys eyes on your own food and only on your own food".
Kushina wondered what that was about but then she saw Kakashi slowly pull his mask down and Kushina figured that Kakashi covered his face for a reason and didn't want his teammates to see it. She decided to look away from him as well.
Running the noodle shop was not bad, though she sometimes felt bored when she had nothing to do. After the first day Kushina decided to take a book with her to work so that she would have something to do when there were no costumers or when her costumers were eating. So no, working at the ramen stand was not bad.
A mere week after Kushina had decided to help Teuchi out his wife died. Minato and Kushina were the only ninja who attended the funeral. Kushina attended as Teuchi's colleague and friend, Minato as Kushina's escort. Kushina was dressed in a black kimono that had belonged to Minato's mother. Minato had ditched the vest, since his outfit was mostly black anyway.
After the ceremony the two ninja had a talk with the ramen chef. He was holding his little baby daughter in his arms. Ayame was sleeping. Kushina looked at the brown-haired child that was peacefully resting in her father's secure arms. She felt sorry for the girl. It would without doubt be difficult for Ayame to grow up without a mother even though she barely knew her, and Teuchi would live in grief for some time. She was happy to help them out in the ramen stand. Currently she was running Ichiraku Ramen by herself, cooking the food and all, while all the money went to Teuchi. Teuchi had offered her payment but she had declined, they needed the money more than she did, or right now anyway, she didn't plan on staying at Minato's forever either.
After giving Teuchi their condolences Kushina and Minato left.
On November 11th it was Jiraiya's 34th birthday. Minato and Kushina were having a special dinner in his honor, but Jiraiya was not in the village at the moment due to his information gathering, which now in war times was more needed than ever. Tsunade had been invited but she had refused to come since she thought it pointless to throw a special dinner when the one they were honoring was absent, plus her own daughter had her birthday only a week after, she and Dan had many preparations to take care of.
On November 18th it was Shizune's eighth birthday. The party started right after Shizune was finished with her classes in the academy. Her entire class was invited.
Kushina felt very awkward attending a party with so many children. She didn't like when they were staring at her, it made her feel uncomfortable. She was glad Minato was there too; at least she wasn't the only adult (but she wished that she wasn't the only teen in there, true Minato was only surpassing her age by one number at the moment but still, it made her feel like she didn't belong).
"Kushina!"
The redhead turned into the direction the voice came from. The one who had called her was Tsunade.
"Hello," Kushina said. She was glad to be in some more adult company and she gladly accepted the drink Tsunade handed her.
"What is it?" she asked suspiciously, eyeing the liquid in her cup.
"It's green tea," Tsunade said.
"Oh". Kushina took a grateful sip. She felt relief when the hot lemony liquid ran down her throat. November was a really cold month, especially for her, who was used to living in a warm country. But she was slowly getting used to the temperature in Fire country.
"I heard about what you are doing for the Ichirakus," Tsunade said.
Kushina nodded.
"And I think it's a very great and selfless thing you're doing," the blonde sannin continued, "you're really something else".
Kushina didn't know how to react to that comment but she chose to just smile.
"It's a terrible thing that happened to his wife," Tsunade continued, "I was the one leading the surgery. Poor Teuchi, and his daughter, growing up without a mother must be terrible".
Kushina nodded, she couldn't agree more.
"Do you know how they are coping?"
"Well he seems to be doing fine as a single dad," Kushina told honestly, "but I haven't seen them for a week".
Tsunade nodded. "Well I better go over to Dan, I think he needs help with the pancakes, honestly I don't know why he insists on doing it himself, we have plenty of maids for that".
Kushina nodded. "Oh, by the way," she said when Tsunade had turned away from her. "Congratulations on your daughter".
Tsunade sent her a grateful smile.
After drinking her tea she decided to find Minato, it had been quite long since they separated and she wanted to see how he was doing with all the kids.
When she finally found him, after searching for half an hour he was talking to some brunette. When he saw her approaching he smiled.
"Hello Kushina, I was wondering where you had gone," he said, his signature grin was plastered on his face as always.
"I was wondering the same thing about you," Kushina said, blushing immediately after she had said it.
"Oh I forgot to introduce you," Minato said. "Remember her?" he asked and Kushina looked at the little girl. She looked familiar.
"Kushina this is Rin, one of my students".
'Of course,' Kushina thought, 'I knew I had seen that face before'.
"Oh yes I remember now," Kushina said, "it's nice to meet you again, Rin".
"Well I'll see you tomorrow Rin," Minato said and the girl nodded.
"So what was she doing here?" Kushina asked Minato. "I thought she graduated the academy".
"She did," Minato confirmed, "but apparently she is a friend of Shizune's even though she's older, you know like you're a friend of mine, you don't have to be the same age".
"Thank you for the lesson, Professor" Kushina said sarcastically and rolled her eyes".
"Apparently both of them are interested in medical jutsu".
Kushina nodded. "Oh look there's the birthday girl, let's go and give her our best wishes".
The redhead nodded again and together with Minato she went over to Shizune.
Kushina was happy with her new job at the ramen stand and what made her even more happy was knowing that she was doing this for someone else, to help a friend in need.
As the weeks went by she found less and less time to read since she got more and more costumers as the words about her ramen being better than Teuchi's spread.
When Kushina was working late Minato ate dinner there and the two friends would chat happily about their day.
At the end of the month Minato decided to take his squad out on missions again since they would need experience on missions as well to make them able to enter the chuunin exams, as there were certain requirements for entering. But currently Minato did not feel his genin were ready to be promoted. Though the missions were still D-rank.
On December 4th it was Dan's birthday and Kushina and Minato were invited to dinner at the Senju mansion. It was a very lovely gathering. Only the closest friends were invited and Kushina wondered why she was among them but Tsunade and Dan already considered her a part of the 'family' and she blushed when thinking about it.
The celebration of Dan's 35th birthday was very nice, Kushina really felt like she was a part of their 'family'. She liked every single one of the people there, Minato, Tsunade, Dan and Shizune. She was starting to really like the Leaf village.
December was a cold month for Kushina. She never left the house without a scarf and a thick coat. Minato had given her his mother's clothes. Kushina had stopped counting how much Minato had done for her but she had stopped refusing his gifts since running the ramen stand had taught her a few things and she knew why Minato was doing it, his mother didn't need the clothes anymore and she didn't have any clothes of her own except for those she wore in the Sea country, she knew Minato would hate to see his mother's clothes go to waste. Minato was only trying to help her, like she did now for the Ichiraku family and she herself had to use almost an hour to convince Teuchi that he should let her help him.
And she had to admit; his mother had good taste in clothes, though she never wore the pink clothes.
She enjoyed living with Minato, he was kind, helpful and gave her many good laughs, and he let her read all the books she wanted and over the time she had become quite addicted to novels, especially the romance ones. She even enjoyed cooking for him; it was like taking care of an older brother when she did that. She was glad to have a friend like Minato.
On December 31st it was the last day of the year and the village was decorated nicely and almost every shop sold fireworks, of course fireworks had been available all December but there were many people who made their last minutes' shopping.
The Hokage was throwing a party to celebrate the new year's arrival and it was to be held outside in the middle of the village. Tsunade had told Kushina that it would be a great party and Kushina thought that by the sound of Tsunade's voice she must have enjoyed the previous parties very much.
Minato also spoke very highly about the party and it made Kushina excited.
Kushina was also happy to get a day off from her work at the ramen stand. She liked her job but not so much that she would work on the holydays.
Around 7 o'clock the celebration started.
First there was a table with punch, which was the welcoming drink. Kushina hadn't tasted alcohol before in her life so the taste was completely new to her and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not.
Kushina felt uncomfortable in the beautiful red kimono that had belonged to Minato's mother. It was clearly visible that Minato's parents hadn't been rich but the kimono was still beautiful and she felt like a thief wearing it. She had been reluctant when Minato had asked her to wear it but the look on his face had told her that if she kept refusing he would go down on his knees and plead, he was not as stubborn as she but he had his moments as well and so she had in the end given in but only because she didn't have anything else to wear for the occasion and she had made it very clear that she would not keep it.
Minato didn't have anything that formal so he was dressed in a pair of black pants, the kind you wear at a wedding or other celebrations alike, and a white shirt with the buttons at the top unbuttoned, which made him look very good. He only missed the tie and the black overcoat and he would look like a businessman or a groom without a flower in the stud hole. And Kushina was glad he didn't have it.
While walking with Minato she noticed she got several strange looks from strangers.
"Minato I don't like this, people are staring at me," she whispered.
"Well you're new here," Minato told her, "it's normal for the people to act like that, especially since you're with me".
"What do you mean?" Kushina demanded, though her voice was still low.
"I'll tell you later," Minato promised, but for now, enjoy the party".
Kushina's mood went better when they met Tsunade and Dan.
"Where's Shizune?" Minato asked the other blonde.
"She went along with some friends from the academy," Tsunade answered.
Minato nodded.
Five minutes later Dan and Minato went away, talking and Tsunade dragged Kushina along to the drink table. Each bar had delivered some bottles.
"So? Have you ever tried sake before?" Tsunade asked Kushina, who shook her head.
"Well that's a shame," the blonde said, taking a cup and poured some of the rice wine into it and then handed it to the redhead.
Kushina didn't feel completely sure about this but she thought it to be rude to not drink it so she slowly raised the cup to her lips and took a small sip from it.
"Well?" Tsunade asked.
"Not my cup of tea," Kushina told her honestly.
"No it's not, it's sake". Tsunade chuckled a bit over her own joke.
Kushina rolled her eyes and passed the cup back to Tsunade, who took it eagerly and emptied it all in one sip.
Some time later after following Tsunade everywhere Minato and Dan, who had a sleepy Shizune on his shoulders, found them and told them that the dancing was about to start.
Kushina sighed when the word dancing was mentioned. Luckily nobody heard it.
Near the dancing area, where lights and lanterns were, the music was already playing and a few couples were already dancing.
"What do you say, Tsunade?" Dan asked her, "want to go join them?"
"I'd love to, Dan but what about Shizune?" She looked concerned up at their daughter.
"I can watch her," Kushina offered.
"Really?" Tsunade asked, "I thought you and Minato were going to…"
"I'm not going to dance if that's what you mean," Kushina said, "now do you want to dance with your husband or not?"
Dance took Shizune down from his shoulders with a smile and Kushina took her hand and led her over to a bench where they could watch the dancing couples.
Shizune looked at her with sleepy eyes, which were half closed already.
"Why do parents always dance?" the little girl asked her in a wondering tone.
Kushina looked at the little girl with surprise. That question was unexpected.
"I really don't know," she answered truthfully. She never liked dancing much and she didn't know why so many people were always so eager to dance, like Tsunade and Dan. And well, she wasn't a parent either.
"I don't get it, what's so good about dancing anyway?" Shizune continued and Kushina smiled. "I know, I don't get it either".
Minato was watching the dancing couples. In his hand he was holding a cup of punch; he didn't really like sake. Tsunade said he was crazy when he told her and she kept telling him that whenever he would refuse some of it. He took a small sip from his drink as he saw how Dan twirled Tsunade on the dance floor. He smiled. They became more and more in love each day. He was happy for them; Tsunade was like an aunt to him. He wondered if he would ever fall in love and dance with his girl on the dance floor at New Year's Eve.
"Minato?" a female voice asked in surprise.
Minato turned to face the voice's owner. He smiled when he saw who it was.
"Long time, no see," she said, smiling.
"Indeed, Mikoto," Minato said. "How are you doing these days? I heard you are engaged to Fugaku".
"Stop that," Mikoto said, "he's not that bad, he's kind".
"Well that says a lot," Minato said ironically, "do you love him?"
"That hardly matters," Mikoto said, "It's not up to me to choose my own husband".
"You Uchihas are weird," Minato said.
"It's not just my clan," Mikoto answered gently, "you wouldn't know, you were born into a civilian family".
"Yes," Minato said, "I suppose you're right".
"I heard that you have a girl living with you," Mikoto said, smirking.
"Well, well," Minato said, "news travel fast".
Mikoto chuckled. "Well? Tell me about her".
"We're only friends," Minato said in a defensive manner.
"Take it easy, I didn't suggest otherwise, so who is she? How did you meet?"
"Her name is Kushina Uzumaki, she's from a foreign country named Whirlpool, her home was destroyed and I found her unconscious in a forest when I was on a mission," Minato said, all at once.
"Oh that sounds terrible," Mikoto said, "poor dear".
"She's been through a lot of terrible things lately," Minato said and nodded.
"I hope she's well?"
"Oh yes she's better now," Minato said.
Mikoto placed an annoying lock of black hair behind her ear.
"So where's your fiancé?" Minato asked.
"He's working late at his office," Mikoto answered; in Minato's eyes she looked a little sad.
"On New Year's Eve?" he asked her.
"Yes," Mikoto said, "but he hates celebrations anyway so he's not losing much".
"Sounds like a cheerful guy," Minato said.
"Minato please stop talking that way about him," Mikoto pleaded
"Fine, but I think he's a bad fiancé when he doesn't even take you dancing on New Year's Eve, knowing how much you like dancing".
"Well there'll be dancing on our wedding," Mikoto said cheerfully, "that will be enough for me".
"You don't mean that," Minato said, "I know you, you have loved dancing ever since you were a little girl, he sounds like an asshole to me for not taking you to the dance".
"Well," Mikoto blushed, "alright, maybe he is a little, but I forgive him, he's the head of the police force he has more important things to do than dancing".
"You still want to dance?" Minato asked.
"Of course I do but…"
"Then may I have the pleasure, miss?" Minato cut her off and offered the Uchiha his arm. Mikoto chuckled and accepted it.
Kushina now had an arm around Shizune who was snuggling into her, half asleep. It was hard to stop smiling. The little girl looked so cute snuggling into her like that, with her eyes closed. Right now she thought that it would be wonderful to have a little daughter of her own. But she dismissed those thoughts immediately.
Her gaze fell upon the dancing couples. Now they were playing a rather quiet song, that kind of song only lovers were dancing to, according to her knowledge.
She saw Tsunade and Dan, Dan had his arms around Tsunade's waist while she had her arms around his neck. The sight of them made her smile; she could see how in love Shizune's parents were. She wondered if Shizune was aware of it.
Then something else caught her eyes. It was a blonde, she was ninety-nine percent sure that it was Minato, and he was dancing with some black-haired woman. They weren't as close as other couples but still, Minato had one arm around her waist while the other was holding her hand. The woman had her other hand on his shoulder.
She looked away and instead focused her gaze on the now sleeping Shizune. She moved a little, which caused Shizune's head to fall down on her lap. Kushina stroked her hair and arranged the girl's position so that she would be comfortable.
About half an hour later she felt a presence approach her and she looked down on Shizune, ignoring the person. She gently stroked the soft brown hair on Shizune's head, careful not to wake her.
"Enjoying yourself?" Minato asked her.
""A bit," Kushina answered, "what about you? You seem to be doing really well".
"You saw me and Mikoto?" Minato asked her.
"So that's her name, Mikoto," Kushina tasted the name with her tongue. "Weird name for a woman".
"Is something wrong?" Minato asked her. Kushina could clearly hear the concern in his voice and she looked at him with a smile. "No," she said, "there's nothing wrong, I'm just bored".
"Well that sounds boring," Minato said playfully and Kushina pinched his arm. "Ha-ha".
On midnight the fireworks started and Minato and Kushina were reunited with Dan and Tsunade and Tsunade smiled with love when Minato handed her her sleeping daughter. The fireworks were beautiful; especially Kushina hadn't seen anything alike, though they had fireworks in her country. When it was over Kushina decided that she had had enough though she admitted that she had enjoyed it very much. Minato, feeling it was for the best, followed her.
January was an even colder month than December and Kushina hated it. The winds were so cold that she had to wear a scarf to work and to make matters worse the chill went right through her white uniform, which had been intended for Teuchi's wife to use but which Kushina was now using. At least the hot steam coming from the boiling soup made it somewhat better.
But Kushina got less and less costumers as the people preferred to dine at a restaurant where you were actually sitting inside with walls and doors between you and the cold. Kushina surely didn't blame them; she would do the same if she was in their shoes. Fortunately she was only working half a day now, when she didn't get any costumers in the evenings anyway, all because of that damn cold weather.
It was now January 18th and she was alone in the house. Minato was currently on a C-ranked mission with his squad, he had been gone for five days and was expected to arrive back within the next couple of days.
Kushina was happy for him, he had been so exited about finally being able to take his squad on a C-ranked mission after doing D-ranks for a long time. He was practically shining with pride.
It was a bit lonely without Minato in the house but she managed. She used her time reading, watching television, which she rarely did since there were only boring shows on, but it was a great time killer when you could find nothing else to do.
Of course with Minato out of the house she didn't bother cooking a proper dinner and was content with cup noodles, it was not healthy but she couldn't really care less.
Kushina was currently sitting in the sofa with her knees hugged to her chest and with a book in her hands. The story she was currently reading was about a girl coming from a family of robbers who met a boy from another family of robbers, the two of them became friends and together they tried to get their two families to get along as well. Actually it was more of a children's book but she had never read books in her childhood, it was first now when she really had the time that she had started reading.
She flipped a page and sighed, Minato's absence made everything so boring, with him gone there was no one to tease, to joke with and laugh with or cook for. Now when she was only working half a day she felt so useless. She feared that she would soon die in boredom.
On January 19th she finished the book. It ended good and the two robber families got together and became one and the girl's father became the head of their new bigger family and they defeated their common enemy through many years. But with the book done what was she supposed to do then?
She fell asleep in the living room, the finished book lying on the coffee table.
That was how Minato found her. She was sleeping peacefully on the sofa, her head and upper back resting against the pillows. The adorable sight made him smile. Though that didn't prevent him from carrying her to her bed, which he did. For anyone who had seen him it would look like an older brother tugging his younger sister in. Kushina moaned slightly as he laid her down on the soft mattress. When he placed her head on the pillow and put on the covers he gently moved her hair away from her face and let it spread all over the head area. He was smiling with love when he gently told her sleeping form good night.
On January 25th it was Minato's 21st birthday. Kushina felt strange as she watched guest after guest enter the house, for the first time in over a month she felt that she was not home, not with all those people in the house, which she didn't even know.
She found herself in a rather merry mood while cooking the food. Minato had assured her that she really didn't have to trouble herself with this but she wanted to do something for him on his birthday, since she didn't have any money to buy him a proper gift, especially since he had done so very much for her during the last couple of months.
To the party, which Tsunade had forced Minato to throw in honor of himself, only a few familiar people attended. There was Tsunade, Dan, Shizune, Rin and a black-haired woman that she swore was Mikoto. The rest were people she had never met.
Kushina was in the kitchen, making the last preparations for the food while Minato bade everyone welcome.
When Kushina went to put the last bowls of snacks on the table she felt something hit her hard. She hissed and turned to see what it was and then she gasped when she saw it. It was a brunette, about her age; her clothes were a little too revealing for her taste.
"Hey," she said, "would you like watch where you're going?"
"Excuse me?" Kushina asked, offended.
"Well you can't just walk around bumping into people like that".
"I didn't do anything," Kushina hissed, "I think you are the one who should watch where you're going, now excuse me I don't want to spoil the party for Minato". Kushina turned to leave when the woman grabbed her by the wrist.
"Who are you anyway?" she asked, "usually Minato only invites friends and family, this is the first time he has included servants".
"You little-" "Is there a problem here?" another female voice interrupted them. Kushina sighed in relief under her breath. It was Mikoto..
"I'll go," the brunette said. Kushina glared daggers at her.
"Are you alright?" the woman asked her. Her voice was very gentle.
"I'm fine," Kushina said.
"Don't mind her, that's just Kisa, she's had a crush on Minato ever since the academy".
Kushina nodded.
"I'm Mikoto, I don't think I've seen you around before," the raven-haired woman continued.
"I'm Kushina, I'm new in this village," the redhead answered.
"You live here with Minato, right?" Mikoto asked.
"Yes, I do," Kushina said, a bit startled, "how did you know?"
"Oh Minato has told me about you," Mikoto answered, "I'm sorry for what happened to your home".
"Thanks," Kushina said, "if I may ask how do you know Minato?"
"We were on the same genin squad when we were kids," Mikoto answered with a smile. "He's my best friend actually, like a younger brother".
'How much older than him is she?' Kushina wondered. "I see".
"Ah, I see you have met Mikoto," a very familiar voice sounded next to her. Kushina relaxed, she felt better being in his presence.
"We've had a little talk about ourselves," Mikoto told him with a smile, which Minato returned.
"Good," Minato said contently, "It's nice to see that you two get along".
And Kushina would have to agree with him.
The party went well for Kushina except for her unfortunate encounter with Kisa. Tsunade and her family were the last guests to leave and they stayed behind for a little while longer to chat, which Kushina was glad that they did.
Before she went to bed that night she did something that was totally unexpected for both her and Minato. She kissed his cheek. She kissed his cheek and wished him happy birthday.
A/N: Okay I'll try to control myself with those line-breaks, sorry if it's bothering you. If you have noticed, then yes, Minato is starting to fall in love with Kushina, or is he? LOL. Just joking, you'll see eventually, right? I hope you didn't midn the surprise of a chapter this soon. Review please, it keeps me going.