*Author's note: Skips around a lot! Sorry about that!*
"Whatever hole you crawled out of you can return to it because we're not interested in anything you have to say," Tobirama Senju said with his lip curling into a snarl at the sight of Madara Uchiha walking into the conference room.
Madara gave the white haired man the nastiest glare he could muster. He never liked that one. Not ever.
"Madara, while I am very happy to see you, it is a bit unexpected," Hashirama said. He wore a friendly smile when Madara walked in the room and looked at Madara like an old friend—which they were not.
He had to swallow his pride though. While he still wanted at least some control of Konoha Enterprises (since you know, he helped build the damn thing), it wasn't worth it to go about it the way he was. He let his pride and ego get the better of him when Danzo Shimura contacted him with some grand plan. And now that the plan was about to come to fruition, he was about to set fire to the whole thing because of a stubborn dark haired girl he met several years ago when she came into Mangekyo demanding a job.
"I am here to provide you with an answer to your current dilemma," Madara said through his teeth.
The brothers were silent.
Madara took that as his cue and he pulled out photos from a folder and slid them over to the brothers. The photos were of emails, text messages, and written agreements between himself and Danzo. The documents included just about every detail they needed, only lacking the parts about Nagato being a crime boss and who he would put a hit on. But the part where Nagato and Danzo agreed to frame Minato to proceed with a hostile takeover? That was included.
For as smart as Danzo was, he was an idiot for having everything in writing.
"I should have you taken out of here in handcuffs," Tobirama snapped after his eyes grazed over the papers in front of him.
Hashirama frowned and rubbed his forehead with his thumb, seemingly deep in thought. But he addressed his brother before he addressed Madara, "I'm assuming Minato knew about this, or had a suspicion, because of how hostile he and Danzo were to each other during yesterday's meeting."
Tobirama nodded in agreement as he put the papers back on the table.
Hashirama then looked at Madara, "we're grateful. We are. This lawsuit could have been the end of the company. But why are you telling us about it if you were to benefit from everything?"
Madara pursed his lips as he tried as hard as he possibly could to swallow his pride, all while simultaneously glaring at Hashirama.
"Because someone who is very dear to me almost got hurt in all of this."
"Yesterday's shooting," Hashirama stated. Madara didn't dignify that with a nod or response, but Hashirama wasn't stupid. He obviously knew that was the reason.
"Makes sense you'd want to protect this person. After what happened to Izuna I'm sure you still blame yourself," Hashirama said.
Madara once again didn't dignify that with a response.
His little brother was killed in a drive by shooting many years ago. It happened at the same time he was booted from his own company, and it was one the darkest periods he had ever entered in his life.
Pouring all of his energy into Mangekyo was the only thing that kept him going.
"What's your price for this information?" Tobirama asked.
"That you leave me out of it," Madara responded, not missing a beat.
"That's all?" Hashirama asked incredulously.
Madara huffed and crossed his arms, "that's all. I'm sure you'll find a fitting punishment for Danzo, so I don't need that in my terms."
Hashirama briefly looked at Tobirama, but then his eyes were on Madara once again with a look that Madara knew was going to end with Hashirama asking him to stick around. So Madara rolled his eyes and braced himself for the worst.
"Thank you, Madara. We'll be able to put an end to this lawsuit and Minato will keep his job," Hashirama said with a smile on his face. "I'm sorry about how this all turned out, and if we never pushed you out you wouldn't have ended up in the position you are in now. I'm sure we could speak with the board about issuing you some shares and—"
"Brother," Tobirama snapped.
Madara scoffed, "thanks for that, but no. I don't need any of this business's shares. I've got my own business to take care of."
Hashirama's face fell, but he nodded nonetheless. Madara hated the fact that he had to do this in the first place, and the least Hashirama could do was let him leave with his dignity. Accepting some shares because Hashirama pitied him was the last thing Madara would ever be caught doing.
The important thing was that the Senju's had all the information to press charges and deal with Danzo.
And that meant his pain in the ass dancer that he did this all for would be safe from Danzo and Nagato's guys.
For fuck's sake. When had he gotten so soft?
"That was Hashirama," Jiraiya said, coming back into Minato's hospital room.
Minato was more lucid today than yesterday now that the anesthesia had completely worn off. He couldn't remember much from yesterday, only that a bunch of his coworkers stopped by in the evening. He vaguely remembered Shikaku, Kakashi and some of the other salesmen, and Hiruzen, but that was about it. His memory of the day was still really foggy.
"Did he call to tell you that I'm fired?"
Jiraiya shot him a smirk, "actually, it was good news. For you and for the lawsuit."
Minato stared, waiting for Jiraiya to continue, "spit it out then."
"He didn't say where he got the information, but he did say that he knew about Danzo working with Nagato. Police arrested him this morning and they're pressing charges."
Minato was silent. So… Was that it? Was it over?
"So… I'm off the hook?"
Jiraiya's face split into a grin that lit his entire face up, "you're still gonna have to be interrogated by the Senju's and the board, but yes, Minato. You're off the hook!"
Minato rocked his head back against the pillows, putting both of his hands to his head. It was done then. He never felt so relieved before in his life. He wasn't going to lose his job, Danzo wasn't going to go ahead with his hostile takeover—if he wasn't confined to a hospital bed, he would have had a glass of vodka to celebrate.
Kushina came in then, pausing to raise an eyebrow at Jiraiya.
"What's got you so happy?"
"You wanna tell her?" Jiraiya asked.
Minato looked at Kushina as she crossed the room to sit in the chair beside his bed. She held his gaze, but didn't smile at him or anything.
"The Senju's found out that Danzo was behind the lawsuit and that he was working with The Akatsuki Group. So my job is safe," Minato said, smiling in spite of himself. To be able to say that after all the bullshit felt so incredibly good.
"That's great," Kushina said. She gave him an incredibly tight smile, and Minato felt the corner of his lips tug into a frown. Something was wrong with her.
"I'll give you two a minute," Jiraiya said. Then he walked out of the room.
"What's wrong?" Minato asked, pulling himself up straight, grunting in the process as pain shot through his chest and shoulder.
Kushina laced her fingers through his and was quiet at first.
"Kushina—"
"I don't want to get married."
Minato held his breath, staring at her like a deer in the headlights. He definitely had to be imagining this. Kushina would never really…
"And I know that you don't want to either," she said as she looked up at him through her lashes, Minato let out a sigh and squeezed her hand. He didn't even know what to say to that. So he just shook his head as his eyes fell.
It was quiet again, the only sound in the room coming from medical equipment and the clock on the wall.
"…I think I'm in love with someone else," Minato said, so softly he wasn't even sure if either of them heard it, but Kushina did. She was nodding while wearing a bittersweet smile.
"You only think? Because I know you are," she said.
He looked down, ashamed of him and said, "Kushina, I'm sorry."
Kushina nodded. He could see how busy her thoughts were just from the look on her face. She was probably trying contain an angry outburst. And if she did decide to rip him a new one, he would have definitely deserved it.
"It's Nina, isn't it? Someone doesn't take a bullet for a coworker unless they're in love with them."
Minato held in a sigh, "yes."
Kushina let go of his hand and leaned back in the chair. She rested her chin on her hand and studied him with those big blue eyes of hers, "I should have guessed. She looked like she had seen a ghost when she realized that we were together. And whenever I asked her about the guy she had a thing for she got all fidgety and would always deny that anything was going on."
Minato squeezed his eyes shut, trying to compose his thoughts, "nothing was going on."
"Well I know you kissed her. She told me," Kushina remarked. There was only a slight edge in her words, and Minato really felt he deserved worse than that.
"That was it and it only happened recently—Kushina, I'm so sorry. If you want to punch me or slap me or anything else—you have my full permission," Minato said. God, he really was an awful person, wasn't he?
"While I'd love to," Kushina said, still working hard to compose herself. "I can't do that when you're in the hospital. Dr. Nakano worked very hard to save your life and I don't intend to throw that in her face."
Minato didn't have anything to say to that.
"But for what it's worth, I'm not in love with you either," Kushina tacked on after Minato had ample time to hate himself just a little bit more.
Despite the initial shock at hearing her words, Minato wasn't actually surprised at all. He knew that for quite sometime. But hearing it still stung just a little bit.
"You haven't been for a long time," Minato said with a smirk to spite himself.
Kushina laughed, "no, I haven't. And I haven't been very good to you either."
Minato scoffed. That was an understatement… But Kushina shot him a glare sharper than daggers, so he shut up real quick.
She then softened her gaze and smiled at him, though it was still bittersweet, "I do love you though, I'm just not in love with you. You're my best friend, Minato."
Minato let a small smile sneak its way onto his face, "couldn't have said it better myself."
Kushina got up from the chair and sat on the edge of his bed, and Minato took her hand once again, and rubbed his thumb against it. There was too much history between them for him to not at least be a little upset over how everything went down.
"I'm gonna go stay with my aunt for a little while—at least until I get back on my feet."
Minato's eyebrows furrowed, "Kushina, I'm not kicking you out."
"I know," Kushina said with a chuckle under her breath, "but the condo is really yours. You bought it. You pay for it. It's yours."
He went to interject, but she used her free hand to put it over his mouth and he huffed with an eye roll and shut up.
"We haven't been ourselves for a long time. I mean really, when was the last time we were actually Minato and Kushina? We've changed so much since we first got together as kids that we're really not the same people anymore," Kushina paused and looked to the side. "But that's okay."
Minato looked at her with fond eyes. He spent nearly half his life with her. She was his best friend. His rock. Nothing could ever change that. But she wasn't the love of his life. Not anymore—not for some time now.
"Don't hold it against Nina," Minato said.
Kushina shot him a look, "I don't. I think she holds it against herself though."
Of course she did. Nina didn't know how not to hold something against herself.
They were quiet again, until Kushina looked at him and leaned forward, kissing him briefly on the lips one last time.
"I'm glad you're okay," she said softly.
Minato gave her a bittersweet smile, "me too."
Nina huffed when she looked at her apartment. The doorknob was shot, hanging on only with the help a mangled screw. There was broken glass on her floor, her coffee table was destroyed, and part of the wall was badly damaged. But aside from that, the rest of her shitty apartment seemed to be okay.
She sighed and sat down on her sofa, assessing at the damage. It would take several weeks of saving to repair and replace everything.
And after she handed in her resignation to Jiraiya, she knew she would be lucky if that's all it took, since she was going to have to go back to working one job.
Plus, forget paying for her father's medical bills. It's not like he had health insurance.
She was going to be taking her clothes off for cash until she was an old hag at this rate.
The only good thing was that she was out of the hospital and away from everyone from Konoha Enterprises who were visiting Minato. She didn't want to see all of their judging faces since it was her father who attracted the shooter in the first place.
She actually wasn't even planning on going home, worried that one of Nagato's guys was going to get her while she was alone, but after a brief phone call with Madara where he told her she didn't have to worry about that, she decided to leave and go home to see the damage for herself.
She didn't know how much time passed since she sat on her couch and stared at the mess that was now her home, but she broke out of her trance when she got a phone call.
"Hello?" she asked, not even looking at who was calling her.
"YOU QUIT?"
Nina held the phone away from her ear and winced, putting it back when the yelling had stopped.
"Hi, Obito," she grumbled when he stopped.
"Why?" Obito shouted again.
Nina frowned and pinched the bridge of her nose, "it's complicated."
"Well you better get explaining," he demanded.
Nina wished she could tell him what he wanted to hear. She wished she could tell him that she wasn't actually quitting, that it was all just a mistake, but she couldn't. Jiraiya was more than happy to accept her letter of resignation and she was more than happy to give it.
"You'll hate me if I do," she said softly.
Obito hesitated before he responded, "I highly doubt that."
Nina reclined into her sofa, running her fingers through her inky black hair, absentmindedly examining the ends. She needed a cut, and preferably before her next shift at Mangekyo.
"I don't," she said.
"…you okay?"
Nina's first instinct was to tell him that she was. Force of habit dictated that she lie and assure him that she was fine, but this was Obito, and he deserved the truth.
"No," she answered.
Then she hung up.
Minato was in the hospital three days before he was finally allowed to leave. His shoulder and chest were still extremely sore, but after being given some painkillers, he was allowed to be on his way. He had tried to find out how Nina's father was doing, but no one knew and the hospital staff wouldn't tell him because of privacy reasons, and Nina never stopped by to see him. So he was in the dark about the whole thing and when he was released, Jiraiya brought him straight to the car and didn't let him stop to check.
"Any word from the Senju's?" Minato asked as Jiraiya headed in the direction of his condo.
"No," Jiraiya mumbled.
Minato rolled his eyes and rested his head against the car window. Kushina left him and when Jiraiya found out, he chewed him out for at least ten straight minutes, seemingly without stopping to even breathe. And as it would appear, Jiraiya was still pissed.
"Christ, Jiraiya. Give me a break. I was just shot," Minato said.
"You were shot because you took a bullet for your secretary," Jiraiya hissed.
Minato's jaw clenched. He was getting real sick of Jiraiya's shit when it came to Nina. He had been making snide comments from the minute he woke up to the minute they got in the car to leave the hospital.
"How do you really feel, Jiraiya? Because I have no idea," Minato remarked.
"Don't give me attitude, Minato. Don't," Jiraiya snapped.
For Christ's sake, Jiraiya was just not going to let up was he? He was going to take this thing to his damn grave. Minato could have been on his death bed and Jiraiya would still be holding this over his head.
"My problems with Kushina started long before Nina came into the picture," Minato pointed out, hoping to make Jiraiya see the light.
It didn't work.
"We're not discussing this," Jiraiya interrupted. "You're just lucky that your secretary is smart enough to leave before she gets fired. Because that is the only saving grace in this whole fucked up situation."
Minato narrowed his eyes and craned his neck over his shoulder to look at Jiraiya from the passenger's seat.
"What was that?"
"You heard me," Jiraiya snapped. But then it seemed that Jiraiya just realized what he said, because he was suddenly clearing his throat and trying to look nonchalant while merging onto the highway.
"She quit?" Minato demanded.
Jiraiya, not one to lose his pride, puffed out his chest, "as a matter of fact she did."
"When?"
"The other day," Jiraiya said, still clinging to his sense of what was right. "She handed me a letter and I accepted it. She left quietly and we'll find a new admin to help Obito—and I'll be the one to interview them this time. I'm not going to let you further embarrass yourself. We'll find someone who isn't too pretty, who can do the job, and we'll make sure Obito is the only person who will be working directly with you."
Minato gaped at Jiraiya. It was like he wasn't the same person. The Jiraiya that Minato knew would never be so spiteful. Angry? Sure. Spiteful? No.
"Do you hear yourself right now?" Minato asked.
"I'm saying this because I care about you!" Jiraiya argued.
"Jiraiya, listen to yourself!" Minato shouted, finally having enough of Jiraiya's shit. "Do you have any idea what you're saying? I get that you're pissed at me because of everything with Kushina and because I acted like an idiot, but do you honestly hear yourself right now? You'll find an admin who isn't too pretty? You'll make sure Obito is the only person who will work directly with me? You sound ridiculous."
Jiraiya clenched the steering wheel, "what am I supposed to say? I watched you just ruin your relationship with Kushina all because you had a girl with long legs and a tight ass working as your admin. What the hell else am I supposed to say? I'm on damage control here, Minato," Jiraiya shouted, focusing solely on the road and not so much as even risking a glance at Minato.
The only thing Minato could do was stare at him and shake his head.
"You know what? She has a name, Jiraiya. And I'm sorry you hate yourself so much for what happened with Tsunade that you feel the need to vicariously live through me but—"
"Wow you really went there, huh?" Jiraiya said with a scoff.
Minato squeezed his eyes shut. He shouldn't have said that. He really shouldn't have gone that far.
"I shouldn't have said that," Minato admitted.
"You think?" Jiraiya grumbled.
Minato huffed and turned his head to face the window. He was still doped up on painkillers, so he was a little foggy, but not foggy enough to justify his words—no matter how true they were. He knew how Jiraiya felt about that subject, and he knew better than to bring it up.
"I'm sorry. But Kushina and I were not going to last, and if we did actually end up getting married, we would have been divorced. She knew that and so did I. We just didn't know how to end things."
Jiraiya didn't say anything and Minato rubbed his arm awkwardly as the silence stretched on. If Jiraiya didn't want to talk then he wouldn't force it. But he would get to the bottom of this one way or another.
Nina couldn't just quit…
Could she?"
"Back again, Kid? Shouldn't you be with your old man?" Tsunade asked. She stood behind Nina as she sat in front of the mirror at Mangekyo and glued her false eyelashes on.
"Doctors say he'll be in there for a while and I have to start saving so I can help with his medical bills and put my apartment back together," Nina's eyes flickered to the worried look on Tsunade's face and she flashed the woman a smile. "Ain't no rest for the wicked, right?"
"I guess not," Tsunade said.
It had been a little over a week since the shooting and Nina was slowly starting to fall back into a rhythm. She visited her father every day at the hospital, avoided Obito's phone calls like the plague, and went back to devoting her time and energy to Mangekyo. She hadn't heard from Kushina or Minato, not that she expected to. And in fact, the only contact she had with anyone from Konoha Enterprises at all had been with two of the organization's attorneys who were pressing charges against Danzo.
It was a slow and painful process, but Nina was finally starting to pick up the pieces of her life.
Nina looked away from Tsunade and went on fluffing her eyelashes. She wasn't scheduled to go on for another hour or so, but she was going to go to the front of the house to try and push some drinks on the floor for extra cash.
When she was satisfied with her hair and makeup, Nina stood up and smoothed out her little black dress. She would have to change before she went on stage, but this would do for the front of the house.
But when she turned around to leave the back, Tsunade stood in her way.
"What's wrong?" Nina asked.
"Are you okay?" Tsunade asked, putting her hands on either side of Nina's face and looking her in the eye.
Nina tried to play it casual, rolling her eyes with a fake laugh, "come on, you're being weird. I'm fine."
Tsunade definitely wasn't fooled, but she let go of Nina nonetheless and gestured for her to go to the front of the house. Nina smiled at her, but Tsunade only returned it with a half hearted one.
Nina made her way to the bar, smiling at the clientele and flirting with them or throwing a wink at them if needed. Her usual clients seemed ecstatic that she had been around lot more lately than she had been for a while, and her tips were already seeing a healthy increase. So yeah, being there all the time was annoying, but there were worse things.
She narrowed her eyes when she saw that Ay was out from behind the bar, standing by the door with Bee. That usually only happened with the rowdiest club goers—you know, the ones like Hanzo who punched girls and left them with black eyes. Nine out of ten times Bee could handle it, but sometimes he needed backup.
So naturally expecting the worst, she walked up to them to see what was going on so she would know whether or not to get Madara involved.
"If you got any sense of self preservation you'll leave, you little punk," Bee warned.
Nina craned her neck to look over Bee's shoulders. It didn't look like they were in the middle of a fight, so she figured it was safe enough for her to get closer.
"What's going on?" Nina asked, squeezing between the brothers.
"Nothing, we were just kicking this punk out," Ay explained, forcefully shoving the person back.
When Nina finally got between them, she blinked, completely dumbfounded at who they were kicking out.
"Obito?" She asked in disbelief.
Obito's dark eyes fell on her and then they did a sweep of her attire and his face was turning a light pink as he focused on her face again.
"What are you doing here?" She pressed.
"You know him?" Bee asked.
"I'm here to see you! You've been ignoring my calls for a week! What gives!" Obito shouted, gesturing animatedly at where she stood.
"He's my friend and Madara's nephew, so you two better back off," Nina said to Ay and Bee. She watched Ay and Bee give each other a look, but she was shooing them away nonetheless. "I'm serious! Everything's fine. I'll holler if I need you."
Obito stood there and crossed his arms, glowering at her.
Nina sighed, "come on, let's go outside where I can hear you."
They stepped outside and Nina put her hand on his back and ushered him between two buildings so they weren't in the middle of all the people on the street.
"What the hell, Nina? You just leave without an explanation?" Obito asked, looking at her with those big dark eyes.
Nina sighed and crossed her arms, "what do you want me to say? I couldn't stay after that. It's my fault Minato got shot. If it wasn't for my father—"
Obito interrupted her right away, "you didn't quit because of the shooting. You quit because you and Minato had a thing and you felt guilty."
Nina's mouth was suddenly very dry and her stomach leapt into her throat when the realization that Obito knew hit her like a semi.
"Yeah, I know," Obito mumbled. "Everyone knows."
"Oh God," Nina groaned. She could feel bile rise in her throat and put her hands to her forehead and was overwhelmed with the urge to bash her head into the brick wall behind her. She really couldn't go one week without screwing everything up, could she?
She dared a glance at Obito, "how?"
Obito looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "what? Are you serious?"
"Obito!" Nina shrieked.
Obito suddenly cracked a smile, "Nina, the guy took a bullet for you. What do you mean 'how'?"
Wait… So that was it? There wasn't some scandalous news story covering the story about Konoha Enterprises' unfaithful CEO? Just… Some speculation?
"That's it?" Nina whispered.
Obito chuckled, "well that's not it. He took a bullet for you and then when he came back to work the news that he and Kushina called their engagement off spread like wildfire. It was the only logical explanation and if you asked him about it he never denied anything."
"Obito, I'm so sorry. I know how much you love Kushina."
Obito shrugged, "Kushina's great, but everyone knew they were about five seconds away from killing each other. People who are always in that state probably shouldn't get married. Shit happens, you know?"
Nina sighed. For some reason his words didn't make her feel any better.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Nina finally asked. She was tired of how nice everyone was being to her. Even Kushina had been relatively nice when they talked at the hospital. Why was no one getting in her face and calling her a good for nothing home wrecker? Hell. The only person who treated her the way she deserved to be treated was Jiraiya.
Obito looked confused, "what do you mean?"
Nina groaned, "It's my fault Minato and Kushina aren't getting married!"
Obito shook his head, "uh they weren't going to get married, Nina. And if they did, they would have been divorced in a year. You just… Helped the process along," Obito snickered at the end of his comment and Nina just looked at him dumbfounded.
"Stop being so dramatic. This whole thing is blowing over," Obito said with a grin working its way onto his face.
Nina could feel her forehead crease as she looked at Obito. He really wasn't mad at her. He wasn't holding any of it against her…
"So much for us being old hags with a bunch of cats. I'm gonna be on my own," Obito tacked on when she still was silent.
And it worked, because a weak laugh escaped from Nina's mouth, and she couldn't help the smile that she was giving Obito.
"Oh no you're not. I'm cursed to be alone," Nina said with a smirk in spite of herself.
"Yeah? Does Minato know that? Because I think he'd disagree," Obito teased.
Nina hated the fact that at the mention of him her stomach did flips. After all of the bullshit you'd think she would have learned her lesson. But apparently not so much.
"Shut up, Obito. I'm swearing off men. I'm going to become a nun," Nina said, softly smacking him in the arm.
"Oooh, stripper turned nun. How very exotic of you, Katia," Obito snickered when her stage name left his mouth. Nina gaped at him, and didn't even bother asking how he found that out.
When he stopped laughing he gave Nina one of his huge smiles, the one that started all the way down at his toes and reached all the way up to high heaven.
"How 'bout it? You gonna come back? Or are you gonna leave me to drown in ordering binders and managing schedules on my own?"
Nina sucked in a breath and shook her head, "probably not for the best if I come back right now."
Obito scoffed but he shrugged again, "that's okay. I'll change your mind soon enough."
Nina chuckled and smiled, "I'm actually really glad you stopped by."
"Me too. But next time call off your guard dogs," Obito said.
Obito held his arms out and Nina hugged him with all her might. Even if everything else turned to shit, at least Obito would be there for her.
And she could live with that.
"You've been hovering around me a lot, and normally I would be pissed, but since you're buying me food I'm going to shut up and ignore it," Nina said to Tsunade. Tsunade took her out for brunch one morning downtown after Nina got back from the hospital from visiting her father. From what she gathered, her father's gunshot wounds were pretty serious because of the fact that they were in his abdomen and since he was at a much higher risk for infection. So he was going on two weeks being stuck there.
"You're working yourself to death, Kid. It's the least I can do."
Nina looked up at Tsunade as she sipped her coffee. Ever since the shooting Tsunade had become a protective mother bear around her. She wasn't even letting Madara give her a hard time lately, which just downright weird to not have to be bickering with him all the time. But Nina knew that this wouldn't last, so she figured she would enjoy it while she could.
They were at a little café, sitting at one of their outside tables since the weather was nice enough for it, and it was the first time in a long while that Nina actually felt content.
But of course that couldn't last, now could it?
And that was because Tsunade loved to people watch whenever they went out to eat, and that people watching was the exact problem with what just happened.
"Jiraiya?" Tsunade blurted.
Nina's eyes doubled in size and she turned around in her chair to see Jiraiya walking down the street in a suit, looking at his phone as he did.
But when he looked up and saw Tsunade, his whole face whitened and he just stood there, jaw slack and eyes glued to the blonde woman without saying a single word.
"Holy shit," Tsunade said. She stood up and walked over to Jiraiya, wrapping her arms around him for a brief hug, before pulling back and looking at him like a long lost friend.
"Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked. His voice was softer than Nina had ever heard it, and she was immediately narrowing her eyes and analyzing every little interaction between the two of them. Jiraiya had been nothing but cruel to her, and to see him all star struck at Tsunade was enough to warrant suspicion.
"How many years has it been?" Tsunade asked.
"Uh, a few," Jiraiya said slowly. His eyes shifted from side to side, as if he wasn't sure if he was in a dream or reality.
"How've you been?" Tsunade asked. Nina ducked her head in case Jiraiya looked in her direction. She was finally starting to feel better, and if Jiraiya noticed her, she was sure he would have something nasty to say and it would have ruined her whole mood.
"Just been working. Some crazy shit has been going on," Jiraiya said.
Nina wasn't looking at them anymore, but judging from how soft his voice still was, he was probably totally absorbed in Tsunade. She tended to have that effect on men.
"Same here," Tsunade remarked. "Do you… Do you wanna sit down? It's just me and my friend and I'm sure she won't mind the company."
"Tsunade, don't. No, no, no," Nina whispered to herself, ducking her head farther down.
"Nina, you don't mind, do you?"
Nina hissed through her teeth as if she was in pain, and slowly brought her head back up, knowing full well that her face was contorted into a grimace.
She met Jiraiya's briefly and then looked at Tsunade when Jiraiya let out a loud scoff when he saw her.
"You are just the problem that never goes away, aren't you?" Jiraiya asked. But he didn't sound mad. He just sounded fed up.
Nina's shoulders slumped forward and she rubbed the back of her neck. She could have said the same thing to him.
"Excuse me?" Tsunade snapped, immediately turning on Jiraiya in an instant.
Jiraiya huffed and gestured to Nina and then Tsunade, "so you're with her?"
Tsunade crossed her arms, now glaring at the white haired man, "as a matter of fact I am. Is that a problem?"
Jiraiya rolled his eyes and looked back at Nina, "you know, I hope you're happy. You broke up an impending marriage. Hope you're real satisfied."
Nina's heart hit the floor and she put her elbows on the table and put her hand to her forehead, looking down as guilt washed over her.
"Jiraiya, I'm gonna need you to back off right now," Tsunade warned.
Nina didn't hear him say anything, so she lifted her head to see the two in the middle of a staring competition. Trying to get a hold of her nerve, Nina cleared her throat to get their attention, and right on cue, they both turned to her.
"I haven't even talked to him once since the shooting, Jiraiya. Thought you might want to know."
She looked away from them and took a sip of her water, careful to avoid even looking in his general direction. She didn't want to see the nasty look on his face or get verbally ripped apart in public. She didn't need that.
Tsunade could be heard saying something, but Nina tuned them out. So far, Obito and Shikaku were the only ones who reached out to her. Obito obviously making a big display by coming to Mangekyo, and Shikaku being more reserved with just sending her a supportive email with his contact information in case she ever wanted to talk. She didn't hear from anyone else, which was fine, but more importantly, she didn't hear from Minato.
She could have texted or called him, and she thought about it too because she was worried about him after the shooting. But she knew he had to be okay because he was back at work. Which meant he just didn't want to talk to her.
Even though she knew it was for the better, it still sucked.
But if Jiraiya wanted to come up to her and give her hard time about it, fine. But she wasn't going to let him get carried away and accuse her of still talking to him because she wasn't.
Nina's mind came back to reality when Tsunade was sitting across from her again, scowling and angrily putting her water to her lips and chugging it in one motion.
"How do you know Jiraiya?" Nina asked quietly.
Tsunade rolled her eyes, "tch, we used to be together way back when."
Nina blinked.
"What?" She deadpanned.
"We dated. For a while too. And we were totally in love," Tsunade explained, her voice clipped and still looking supremely agitated with a slight curl to her upper lip. Nina didn't speak. She just stared at Tsunade, astonished. She knew about Dan, but that was it. She never heard the name Jiraiya before…
"Sooo," Nina muttered, hoping she would continue.
"Cheated on me. And that was that. I kicked him to the curb and never looked back," Tsunade said without missing a beat.
Nina gaped at her and sucked in a breath. It all made sense. Jiraiya's nasty attitude towards her. The way he was just horrible to her. No wonder he was so awful. Nina was a constant reminder to him about what he did to Tsunade. He had to watch Minato, someone he loved, struggle with his own relationship and make the same mistakes he made.
"No kidding," Nina said under her breath.
Suddenly Jiraiya didn't seem so bad.
"Don't listen to him, Kid. He's just still mad he screwed up with me and he's taking that anger out on you. He'll come around. He always does."
"Yeah…"
Minato stared at his phone on the coffee table.
He didn't know how long he had been sitting there, but it felt like days.
He wanted to talk to Nina. He wanted to talk to her the minute he woke up in the hospital, and he should have tried to reach out to her the minute he was out of the hospital, but he was still adjusting to not having Kushina around, and to all the gossip at work. Not to mention he was spending, on average, three hours a day, with attorneys who were building a case against Danzo. With the way everything was turning out, the Senju's were not going to let him get away with anything.
So his days were packed, and when he got home he just kinda sat there, stretching out his arm so it didn't hurt so much. He had plenty of painkillers to take to alleviate some of the soreness there, but he didn't want to rely on them too much and then have to up his dosage. So he would just sit there at night, staring at his phone, and moving his arm in pain.
He might have called her sooner if he didn't ask Obito how she was. Obito told him that she was okay and working at Mangekyo still.
The thought of her having to work there made his stomach hurt, as he just absolutely despised the fact that she was taking her clothes off for money just to get by. If she wasn't so stubborn and would just come back to work… Who cared what people said? She needed a job that didn't consist of taking her clothes off and dancing to shitty music.
Giving it absolutely no more thought, Minato snatched his phone off the table and went into his contacts and dialed a number.
The phone rang once. Twice. Three times…
Minato squeezed his eyes shut, about to hang up on the fourth ring until…
"Hello?"
"I'm gonna throw up," Nina said to herself, tapping her foot on the floor and looking around her shitty apartment for the millionth time. It was as put together as it possibly could be after the break in. She replaced the doorknob and locks on the door, and threw out her busted up coffee table. The one wall still had a hole in it, and she was pretty sure that there might have been a bullet up in the ceiling above the couch, but there wasn't much she could do about that until her landlord decided that he wanted to fix it.
"Oh God, I'm gonna throw up," she hissed to herself and got up to pace around the living room, taking deep breaths to calm her nerves.
Minato called that afternoon.
It was awkward at first, neither of them really knowing what to say. But he asked how her dad was, and she asked how he was. And after some small talk, somehow he ended up suggesting that they should meet up to talk face to face, and somehow the place they came to agreement on was her ratty little apartment.
Nina was out when this conversation happened, so when she finally got home, she didn't have time to change to make herself look more presentable. So she was going to have to talk to him looking like a hot mess, in some ripped jeans and an old band t-shirt with day old hair.
Knock knock
Her heart damn near exploded.
Nina held her breath as she walked over and opened the door to let Minato in.
He was dressed down again and Nina's stomach flipped. She almost wished that he came in a suit, because it was easier to remind herself that she had no business having feelings for him when he was dressed like the hot shot corporate executive that he was. But when he was dressed down? It was like he was on her level again.
"Hey," she said, her voice squeaking.
Minato smiled at her and her stomach continued to do more somersaults.
"Hey," he said back.
Nina ushered him inside and she closed the door behind him. And just like that, she was supremely self conscious of the state of her apartment. The one end of her couch had springs sticking up in it and there was a giant hole in the wall for Christ's sake. Why she agreed to let the CEO of Konoha Enterprises come to her crappy apartment she would never know, but she was already seriously regretting it.
"Sorry, if you want to sit down you have to sit on this end of the couch because—"
"I know," Minato said, offering her a shy smile. "I've been here before, remember?"
Nina had almost forgotten actually. But then she was recalling it all in an instant, being at the bar with Bee, Minato being completely wasted and the two of them dragging him out the bar before someone mugged him… But what she remembered most was what a funny drunk he was.
"I almost forgot," Nina admitted, sitting down on the couch beside him. "Don't know how because you're hysterical when you've had too much to drink."
Minato chuckled and scratched the back of his head, "so I've been told."
Nina bit down on the inside of her cheek and looked around. Why did she agree to this?
"So uh," he cleared his throat, "your apartment…"
Nina sighed, "yeah, it's a little worse for wear. Those guys that broke in trying to get to my dad really did a number," she pointed her thumb to the wall that led to the hallway and Minato's bright blue eyes followed and he frowned when he saw it.
"Nina, I'm sorry," Minato said, those blue irises coming back to rest on her.
"Eh, it's fine. My landlord was… Well he was an ass, but he said he'll get it fixed eventually."
Minato shook his head, obviously not happy with her answer, but at least he left it alone. He never looked happy when she mentioned things like the state of her apartment, or the fact that she had to walk home from work in the dark, or anything like that.
"I'm sorry I didn't call sooner," he said, his eyes falling away from her face. Nina shifted where she sat and brought her legs up to sit on them and leaned far back into her couch cushions, as if that would somehow make her smaller.
"I didn't expect you to call at all," she admitted under her breath.
"What?" Minato asked, his eyes on her once again.
Nina shrugged, "well I mean with everything that happened—why would you want to?"
Minato's eyes narrowed and a crease in his forehead appeared, "you don't really think that, right?"
When she was silent his frown only intensified and he scooted a little closer to her.
"Nina, I took a bullet for you—"
"I know and everyone on this planet seems to want to remind me of that," she bit back without warning. She immediately pursed her lips the minute the words left her mouth, because Minato actually looked kind of… Well upset actually.
"And why do you think that is?" He pressed.
Nina looked to the side, "uh probably because they want to make me feel horrible."
"Nina," Minato moved even closer to her, his thumb and index finger holding her chin and directing her to look at him. "Everyone is bringing it up because anyone with common sense knows that I took that bullet for you because I'm in love with you."
"…"
She froze, mouth dry, palms sweaty, locked in a stare with him.
"Please say something before I have an aneurysm," Minato said softly and letting go of her chin, but still sitting close enough for her to feel his breath on her face.
Her eyes flickered away from his, "that's sweet, Minato. It's really sweet. But you're probably not totally right in the head right now since you and Kushina broke things off and you might just be lonely so I don't think you should say something like that."
Now it was Minato's turn to be silent, probably thinking of some way to let her down nicely when he realized that she was right. But he didn't.
"…You are the biggest pain in my ass."
Nina's gaze flashed up, "excuse me?"
Minato pulled back a bit and let out a laugh in spite of himself and looked at her as he shook his head incredulously, "you heard me. You are the biggest pain in my ass. I'm literally sitting in your house, after taking a bullet for you, telling you that I'm in love with you and you're still pushing me away for some reason."
Nina blinked dumbly.
"Kushina and I ended things not just because how I feel about you, but because we weren't supposed to be together, and we really should have ended things a long time ago. I know you two were friends, so you feel really horrible, but Nina, it's okay. I'm telling you that everything is okay," Minato promised, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking at her with those sky bright eyes of his.
She pulled back, trying to muster up a glare. Was she the only one with a conscience here?
"It isn't okay, Minato!" She snapped, finally getting ahold of herself. "Forget the fact that you were sneaking around with me while you were still engaged, and to my friend no less. How the hell am I supposed to look at you and not feel like a giant piece of shit when I'm the home wrecker here, when I'm the reason you were shot, and when I'm the reason everyone is gossiping about you at work? Hmm? Care to explain that to me?"
Minato paused and tilted his head to the side ever so slightly, studying her with those blue eyes of his. Despite the fact that he was dressed down, and looked more like Minato and less like Mr. Namikaze, when he looked at her like that, he looked like a businessman who was assessing a new investment.
"All I can say is that the Kushina thing is not your fault. It's my fault and her fault. One of us should have ended it. So fine. I shouldn't have snuck around with you, but you really can't be a home wrecker because there was never a home for you to wreck."
Nina scoffed, "don't try to be all clever with me."
She could tell he was fighting down a smile, but he still continued anyway, "and yeah. You were the reason I was shot, and don't think I won't tease you about that every single time I see you, because I absolutely will."
Nina glowered at him, but he was still fighting down that smile and kept talking so she couldn't interrupt him, "and people have been gossiping about me at work long before you came along. And I hate to break it to you, but no one at work is remotely surprised about me and Kushina. Well maybe Choza is, but he's not all that observant, so that's not saying much."
Nina didn't have a response to that. To any of that. It seemed that no matter what she said to him, he was going to come back with a rebuttal until she accepted his feelings.
"So unless you really don't feel the same way about me," he intertwined his fingers with hers and was smiling at her. "You're stuck with me, because I'm stupidly in love with you."
She took in a deep breath and watched him with careful eyes. He was being serious. Like really serious.
Not knowing what to say, she hesitantly rested her hand on the side of his face and tried to get her thoughts together.
"You know, you're a pain in my ass too," she muttered. Minato chuckled, but still leaned into her touch. "I mean really. I have to drag your drunk self out of sketchy bars, you're horrible at managing your own schedule, and you hardly know how to work the coffee machine."
"I know how to work it, I just don't have time," he said, now grinning at her.
Nina couldn't help the smile that snuck onto her face, "but despite all of that, I'm in love with you too. I have been for a while now and if you knew how long, you would be embarrassed."
It could not have been humanly possible for Minato to smile any harder than he was in that exact moment, because it lit up his entire face and Nina found herself smiling back at him without even meaning to.
Then he was kissing her, hard and passionate.
Nina wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. His arms immediately snaked around her waist and pulled her into his lap.
It felt so good to finally kiss him without all the guilt from the previous times. This time she could kiss him without constantly thinking of Kushina or of who would catch them. This time she could kiss him and really enjoy it, because this time he was hers.
He moved his hand to the side of her face to cradle it, and kiss her deeper, but was cut short by him pulling back and seething through his teeth suddenly.
"What's wrong?" She asked, immediately backing off and looking at him with wide eyes.
But when his pain subsided, he was giving her a reassuring smile, "just my shoulder."
Nina's eyes darted to his injured arm and then that's when she realized that her couch cushions, which belonged in a goddamn dumpster along with the rest of the furniture at this point, was offering almost zero support for his back and shoulder, and that he was probably leaning against some sort of jagged edge.
"I'm sorry, I need a new sofa," she said under her breath, and it elicited a breathy laugh from Minato, and he rested his hand on the back of her head and pulled her closer.
"It's fine, just c'mere," he muttered, already kissing her again.
But Nina didn't want him to be in pain, not after all the shit that was finally over with, and not after he had gotten out of the hospital not that long ago. So she pulled back and stood up, holding both of his hands in hers to pull him with her as gently as possible.
"My bed is softer," she explained when he was raising his eyebrows at her in confusion for getting up.
"You don't waste any time, do you? You invite me over to talk and not even an hour goes by and you're already taking me to bed?" he teased.
She cracked a grin as they walked into her room, and she looked over her shoulder.
"I was just trying to be considerate of your shoulder, but if you want to be like that then we can go back to the couch and have a nice evening watching jeopardy."
A grin split across his face and he shook his head, pulling her back into his arms, "not a chance."
Nina stood up on her tip toes so he didn't have to lean down so much, as to keep his pain to a minimum, and kissed him slow and deliberate, not wanting to rush anything. She wanted to take her time, and with how soft his touches were, he probably wanted the same.
Her knees then hit the back of the bed, and before she collapsed back onto it, she switched places with Minato and made him sit down on the bed.
"Let me help," she said softly.
He looked up at her with hungry eyes, but obliged and let her pull his shirt off.
Her eyes fell on his gunshot wound that was still bandaged on his chest and shoulder and her face fell.
"I'm so sorry," she said, feeling guilt wash over her.
But Minato was standing up again, bringing her into his arms.
"Stop," he whispered against her lips, kissing her softer than could have ever imagined.
Then he was slipping her shirt over her head and kissing every exposed inch of skin, starting at the base of her throat, going down her shoulder, across her chest, and eliciting a soft sigh from her.
"I'm sorry you got shot," she muttered.
Minato stopped kissing her and rested his forehead against hers, holding her with one hand on the back of head with the other on the small of her back.
"I would do it again if it kept you safe. Don't let it bother you because it doesn't bother me," he insisted. Nina bit her lower lip but still nodded.
"Okay you win," she relented.
"Finally," Minato teased, smirking at her again.
She chuckled softly and kissed him again, deeply enough to feel his arms ripple with gooseflesh and for him to pull her tight against him and guide them to her bed.
He hovered over her, resting most of his weight on his good arm, and kissed her hard, moving down and kissing that sensitive spot on her neck that was just below her ear.
She let out low moan and arched into him, just like last time. He was probably way too proud of himself for finding that spot on her, and she moaned again when she could feel his teeth graze the bottom of her ear.
He came back up to her lips and she bit his lower lip, knowing that it would do the same thing to him that kissing her neck did to her, and he groaned, kissing her harder as his free hand went down her body, sliding over her chest and down to the band of her jeans.
Nina pulled back, putting her hands on his chest and pushing him so she could start to get up, and once she had enough space, she gently pushed him back down on the bed, careful to avoid his bad shoulder, and straddled his hips in one fluid motion.
He didn't fight with her, though Nina was pretty certain that he was someone who usually liked to be in control, judging from the way he had a tendency to kiss her neck hard enough to bruise. And instead he looked up at her through half lidded eyes.
She leaned down to kiss his neck, occasionally nipping at the skin there to make him moan, all while she unbuttoned his pants, and then hers. He helped her slide them off, and then his hands were on all over her body, touching her soft and slow and giving her entire body goosebumps.
His arm then wrapped around her hips and he flipped them back over so he was hovering over her.
"Hey," she whined.
He smirked at her, "is there a problem?"
She chuckled and pecked him quickly on the lips, "no, but maybe I wanted to be on top."
"Maybe next time," he said, silencing her before she could argue with him, his lips were on hers, this time slipping his tongue past her lips and squeezing her hips hard enough to bruise, which drew a moan from her.
She could feel one of his hands make quick work of her bra and the rest of their clothes, and then he was pulling back, his blue eyes taking in the sight of her.
"God, you're beautiful," he said with his pupils blown.
Nina rolled her eyes, "you've seen me naked before, at your bachelor party. Remember?"
Minato's eyes flickered back to reality, "that was different and I really wish you hadn't brought that up."
She laughed at his unamused expression.
"I'm sorry," she said, kissing him and running her hand across his strong chest. "I'll make it up to you," she added lowly.
He pressed his lips to hers, and as he kissed her, grazing his teeth across her bottom lip, she trailed her hand down his chest, down his abs, lower, and wrapped her fingers around him.
He sighed against her and she wrapped her legs around him, not sure if she had ever wanted anyone so badly before.
Minato used his free arm to slide his hand under the small of her back and lifted her hips ever so slightly, and Nina rested her hands on his chest when he pushed into her.
She groaned and could feel her thighs tighten around him as her nails raked down across his chest.
His head dropped into the crook of her shoulder as he rocked his hips with a slow rhythm and Nina's head fell back into her pillow.
It couldn't feel anymore mind blowing then right there, that moment. After so long, to be able to touch him and kiss him like this, to not have to show restraint was something she wanted in the worst way, and every movement lit her body on fire.
She tangled her fingers in his hair, pulling hard when his began to move faster, eliciting a low moan from his lips. His hand moved from the small of her back to her hips and squeezing there as he grinded into her.
Her breath was ragged as she leaned closer, kissing the base of his throat as her fingers knotted themselves in his hair, and nipped at the skin there, which made him groan and push harder into her. She gasped and arched into him, wrapping both of her arms around his neck and holding his gaze.
His eyes were half lidded and then he kissed her, frantic as their tongues wrestled, and her nails left marks down his chest and back.
Heat pooled in her stomach when she could feel his hips beginning to move faster and faster and when he brought his hand between her legs, rubbing his thumb in a circle in that spot, and her head fell back at his touch and a loud groan came from her lips.
It was like she had been dipped in fire, and every inch of her seared at his touch. She could barely move, only anchoring herself to the moment through one arm wrapped around his neck with the other braced on his shoulder.
The heat in her stomach only continued to grow hotter and hotter before her legs squeezed impossibly tight around him and she gasped, seeing stars and riding out her ecstasy.
He wasn't far behind her, and he grunted when he finished, pulling away from her just before he did.
And then just like that, she was catching her breath and it was over, and his lips were soft and tender against hers again.
He lied down beside her and brought her closer, wrapping an arm around her as she rested her head on his chest.
She felt him kiss the top of her head and a smile snuck its way onto her face.
"I love you," Minato said, absentmindedly playing with a lock of her hair.
She propped herself up on her elbow and looked into those sky bright eyes.
"I love you too."
Yo I tried my hardest to get this up yesterday, but I couldn't access the site, and by the time I could, it was late and I decided to go to bed.
Last chapter will be up tomorrow along with the first chapter of my Tobirama story!