Hello my dear readers. It's been a terribly long while since I last updated this story but I've had my reasons. I've had tons of homework along with technical difficulties with my laptop but here it is. I have noticed that although new readers keep appearing some old ones who have been witht his story from the beginning have disappeared and this saddens me but well I've had this story going on for almost four years now so some might have moved on to other things, but anyway for those of you still here I hope you'll enjoy this.
Chapter 28 – Minato's return
Minato and his team had been offered to camp with the people of Rouran for the night until they were ready to go back home to the Leaf village but Minato had turned down the offer. He wished to get home as soon as possible and he wanted the journey back to begin this very evening.
His teammates had said nothing but had followed his orders. So hence they had set out and had traveled along the path from which they came. Minato had ordered all the members of his team to take a soldier pill so that they would be able to make the journey through the night without stopping.
Neither Chouza nor Shibi had questioned his decision. And Kakashi seemed just as eager to get home as he.
There was so much going through Minato's head right now. So many questions. He wanted to get home and be able to think about it all in peace.
Kushina was sitting in her reading corner of the ramen stand. She had dubbed it thus because it was where she always sat down to enjoy a good book when she got a break. But the breaks got rarer and rarer as the Ichiraku ramen stand's popularity grew. She would always blush whenever a costumer would complement her cooking, a bad habit she tried to get rid of but with no luck. Minato had called her constant blushing charming, which for some reason only made her blush even more.
Anyway, she had left early in the morning and it was now a quarter past eleven. Soon it would get very busy when people would take their lunch break. She didn't mind all the work though; it occupied her, which was good because with Minato gone she had nothing else to do really.
She suddenly realized how dependent she had become on Minato and his company. It was actually embarrassing now that she thought about it. Now that she thought about it she could hardly say she had a life. She ate, slept and worked at the ramen stand and talked to Minato and his team whenever he was there. She really needed to get out more. Or maybe she needed to get her own place. She had been in this village for more than a year now, the entire time living with Minato, she should move out soon, Minato was probably dying for her to move out.
Too late she realized what a horrible thought that was. Minato dying. He could very well be dead right now. She hadn't heard anything from him yet, she hoped he was well and would be back soon. She really missed him.
"One bowl of beef ramen, please". Her thought were interrupted by this familiar voice.
"Coming right up," Kushina said. She made sure to treat Jiro Uchiha like a regular costumer and held the small talk to a minimum. She wished he would eat somewhere else. He came to Ichiraku's almost every day now and he always made conversation with her. She wondered what he was up to. She didn't like him. Actually the only Uchiha she could stand was Mikoto.
From the looks of it the only people who could stand her were those in Minato's inner circle. People didn't seem to like the fact that she was a foreigner. Tsunade had told her that it was because of the war. People were especially skeptical of foreigners these days. Kushina could understand that, after all her own village had cut almost all connection to the rest of the world, but that was the point, her family had had no part in this war, she was not an enemy. But Kushina didn't really care what other people thought of her. She didn't need other people to tell her who she was.
She placed the beef ramen in front of Jiro and went to sit back in her reading corner. She could feel his eyes on her. Man, this was uncomfortable. She wished for some more costumers before he would start talking to her, conversations with Jiro were never particularly pleasant.
Minato and his team reached the gates of the Leaf village. They didn't bother to greet the two chuunin on guard duty but went straight for the tower to give the Hokage the mission report.
Minato was slightly taken aback when he spotted Orochimaru standing beside Sarutobi's desk.
"Sorry to interrupt," Minato said.
"That is alright Minato," I was just having a friendly chat with my sensei," said Orochimaru. "I will leave you to talk now".
When the sannin had exited the office Sarutobi said, "how did the mission go?"
Minato briefly wondered if he should leave out the part with Naruto but he decided not to lie to his leader so he proceeded to tell the old man everything.
Kushina sat in her reading corner. The book she was reading at the moment was titled Inuyasha. It was about a girl that fell through a well that sent her back in time to an era with demons before ninja. There she met an old priestess and a half-demon that couldn't take his eyes off her because she supposedly looked just like his love that had died fifty years prior and she accidentally destroyed a precious jewel and now she had to help the half-demon search for the hundreds of shards around the feudal lands. Supposedly those two fell in love.
Kushina thought the book to be confusing. She didn't know what to think about it but something about it had made her hooked.
She had just finished a chapter when she heard someone sit down in front of the counter. She closed the book and went to see who it was.
She almost knocked over the boiling noodle pot when she spotted her spiky-haired roommate.
"Minato!" she exclaimed.
"Surprise!" he said, grinning. "Now I'd like one miso ramen with barbeque pork".
"Coming right up!" Kushina said, also grinning. "I'm so glad you're back, I've really missed you!"
"You have?" Minato said with a smirk. He didn't know why he was acting all flirty all of a sudden. She wasn't like those girls he had tried to get to date him in the past. She was just plain old Kushina. Right?
"Well after a week of talking to the walls I decided I'd rather have some human company," Kushina joked.
Minato laughed. "Glad I'm home then".
Kushina placed the miso ramen in front of Minato and watched him dig into the soup with his chopsticks.
"So you still can't tell me anything about the mission?" she asked.
Minato swallowed a piece of egg. "No, I'm afraid not," he said.
"Alright," Kushina said. "But anyway do you know anyone by the name Jiro Uchiha?"
Minato almost choked on his ramen. "I do, why do you ask?"
"I've met him a couple of times," Kushina said. "Besides Mikoto he seems to be the only Uchiha who wants to talk to me".
"You've talked?" Minato asked in shock.
"Yeah, what's the matter?" Kushina asked.
Minato felt the jealousy mix with the ramen in his stomach. That bastard had flirted with Kushina? Of course Kushina was the most beautiful woman in the village, or rather in the world, but he hadn't thought Jiro would try to make a move on her, he'd thought any Uchiha except for his best friend and maybe Obito would ignore her, because she was a foreigner and all but now his insides were screaming.
Where had all these feeling come from?
"Just stay clear of him Kushina, trust me," Minato said.
"I'm trying to, but he eats here almost every day," Kushina said.
"What?" Minato yelled.
"Keep it down, you're scaring away the other costumers," Kushina hissed. "And what is it about him anyway, tell me why I should absolutely stay away from him".
"He's a womanizer," Minato finally said.
Kushina raised her brow. "You think he can make me fall for him?" Kushina asked dryly. "Really Minato that idiot doesn't stand a chance with me, I've actually never been in love so you don't have to worry about him taking advantage of me or something".
"I just thought I should warn you," Minato said apologetically.
"Thanks then, but you better head home before you make me more mad, I still have a few hours before I close up. What do you want for dinner?"
"Anything you want is fine," Minato said.
"I'll make sushi then," Kushina said.
Minato paid for his ramen and told Kushina he would see her at home and then he left.
Please review, I want to know what you think and how many of you are still there. Hopefully the next update won't take quite as long.
