Gen Summary: Dorea picks Naruto world to fall into, tries to seamlessly ingrate herself in Konoha and end causing trouble. The good sort.
Warnings: Kiss cannon goodbye. Fem!Minato and male!Kushina. Mentions of genderbent HP characters like Susan Bones (who is now Dave Bones). Shifting POVs. Dorea/male!Kushina (because why the heck not?). Meddling Mikoto.
Notes: This was made purely to help me grasp conversation flows… I suck at those, so if you have any pointers, feel free to add!
Intro
Red Heads
A little what if story.
Or the story in which Namikaze Minato is actually Namikaze Minako and Uzumaki Kushina is actually Uzumaki Shinaku and he meets Dorea Potter who is addicted to red heads.
Part: The Seventh
Date
Dorea slipped out of her hotel room dressed in a simple orange dress that had a cute bow on the back and daisy yellow neckline – not that Shinaku noticed. He did notice that once her hair was drier, it had strands of red that intertwined between black and brown locks – he noticed that because he had to be leaning against the door when she opened it, so Dorea got a good face full of sweaty chunin vest.
Disengaging once more from the green eyed girl, Shinaku forced himself to ignore the fresh scent teasing his nose and to grab onto her arms again, this time to pick her light weight up to carry her to their destination.
"If I fall and break something, I will break your nose!" Dorea screamed as she clutched tightly to his vest. Shinaku, trying to keep her as far as possible from himself, was carrying the poor girl at arms' length.
The red head winced, but felt bad enough that he was scaring her – it wasn't fair to Dorea he realized, so he pulled her body closer and tucked her head against his neck – all the while cringing and praying no one saw him like this and wishing the warm, tickling breath against his sensitive skin was not there.
He landed a couple of roof jumps later in front of an unassuming food stand, depositing his cargo on unsteady legs with a huge gush of air in relief.
Magnanimously allowing the shorter girl to use his arm to balance herself (It was so horribly blatant that she was no ninja, that Shinaku's guilt grew at his rough treatment of her) "And this is the place that serves the best Ramen in all the Elemental Nations, tebane!" He announced instead of apologizing a second time, already pulling Dorea into the stand and sitting her in front of Ichiraku-oba-chan who was minding the clients.
"You're making me blush, Uzumaki-kun" The older woman heard him and grinned behind a hand, putting down her ladle and picking up a notebook and pen combo "What will you and your friend be ordering tonight?"
Shinaku grinned brightly back, sitting himself with a flourish "The usual for me tebane!" he told the ramen stand lady (the only woman beside Mikoto and Minako who he could agree with – forcefully in Mikoto's case, but still).
"What about the young lady?" Shinaku turned his head slightly to watch Dorea. Her parlor was still a bit pale, but she had a bright flush up her cheeks from their small adventure through rooftops at ninja speed. For some reason, that made his palm sweaty and his stomach tight into a ball - her wide eyed flushed face sent tingles down his spine for some reason he wasn't ready to acknowledge yet.
"I will have whatever Uzumaki-san is having" Dorea answered, observing him back once she noticed his eyes on her. Shinaku's eyebrow went up in surprise and mirth. "What?" Dorea asked bemusedly when she noticed a couple of curious stares on her.
"Uzumaki-kun's usual is an extra large bowl of miso ramen, is that alright with you?" Ichiraku-ba-chan spoke to the green eyed girl, giving Shinaku a meaningful look from under her lashes. She seemed to be implying something that he was only too willing to ignore.
"Oh, yes, it's fine" The girl he kidnap- invited out from her hotel room told them, tilting her head in adorable confusion.
His heart skipped a beat like one of those corny characters in romance books.
Shinaku couldn't keep his mouth shut as he grew warmer by the second. "If you can't eat it all and ager the ramen gods by wasting ramen, I'm not paying for you tebane!" Mostly because she was a girl and was making him uncomfortable… He didn't have this amount of trouble with Minako.
The blonde always asked for the smallest potion available. (Mikoto told him that Minako didn't believe ramen to be very healthy, Lies, Shinaku knew, Lies spun by Mikoto to demoralize his crush)
"Don't worry… and I can pay for myself" Huffed his now annoyed guest to his actual consternation. He was here trying to be nice and she was snubbing him!
"No, this is my apology!" He told her seriously, graciously accepting the family sized bowl of steaming miso ramen being offered to him by an amused Ichiraku-ba-chan "Now shut up and enjoy the ramen, and you better lick the bowl clean" Was his order when Dorea also received a bowl.
They spent the next few minutes slurping their ramen in silence, concentrating on the food and not on the awkwardness between them. It was fine by the red head, this batch of noodles was particularly delicious.
"Oh hello dear, I see Uzumaki-kun is here!" Shinaku's eyes rose from his divine food to focus on the newcomer behind the counter.
Ichiraku-ji-chan smiled brightly at his best customer and the red head enthusiastically returned the gesture, glad for the small distraction "Hey Ichiraku-ji-chan!"
"Oho… I see you have a date tonight!" The mean, mean old man then grinned, showing vast amounts of teeth as soon as his eyes met Dorea's figure, who was sitting dangerously close to Shinaku and sharing his personal space.
Even the ramen stand owners knew of Shinaku's slight aversion to females.
"N-no! It's not a date! It's a debt being paid, an apology being made, good ramen being eaten, not a date tebane!" He denied post haste. Dorea raised her face from her own bowl of Ramen to look at him with something sharp behind her eyes. He resisted the urge to gulp.
"Whatever you say Uzumaki-kun, just don't let the young lady return to her home by herself, be a gentleman" was the piece of wisdom passed to Shinaku, along with a conspicuous eye wink.
Funny. There was this weird fluttery feeling around his stomach that made eating more than one bowl of Ramen impossible.
He blamed Dorea and the fetching way she looked in orange.
…
Part: The Eight
Acceptation
"Tonight was moderately weird, a bit confusing and painful, but I actually had fun" Dorea said to Shinaku with as much honesty as she could imbue into her voice. If Shinaku observed rightly, she was speaking the truth! He didn't know he had it in him to entertain female company without copious amount of mind (and voice) filters, but it should be good training for when he dated Minako-chan. "So thank you for taking me out, you're forgiven" The green eyed foreigner allowed gracefully, tentatively smiling up at him and staring with those huge eyes of hers.
Guh, his heart picked up pace again, so Shinaku scowled down at her in retaliation.
"Don't get used to it tebane! This was the one and only time I'm doing this with you!" He ended up the walk between the stairway and the hallway that led to door 404.
Dorea was escorted back to her room just like Ichiraku-ji-chan suggested, though Shinaku was sure the older man had something untoward in his mind when he even suggested such a thing. For some reason the word rowdy came back into his mind and he mentally tensed.
The red head had a valiant mind filter when he wanted to be oblivious. He put that part of him to work right away.
"Alright then, see you around Uzumaki-san" The girl had the nerve to shrug impassively. Shinaku felt oddly affected by that, as if she was not as interested in him as he thought she was. Not that he wanted her interested in him!
His saintly savior, love of his live Minako-chan was the only girl who understood him and the only girl he wanted or needed.
'You have beautiful hair, don't cut it just because those girls tease you' Minako-chan's voice echoed in his head – that day was an spectacularly horrible one. Granny Mito was telling him about her husband, the shodaime, and how powerful shinobi of that time had long hair. Shinaku decided to grow out his hair, but had to face a lot of opposition in the academy. 'I really like the color red' Minako had smiled, that bright innocent smile of hers and Shinaku was snared.
Just like that.
But something about Dorea bugged him greatly.
Her sudden indifference hurt.
Shinaku was not one to take offence quietly (When the girls teased him in the academy, he'd grow angry but restrained himself from outright violent revenge, didn't mean he wasn't impulsive though, he'd prank them relentlessly back).
"Wait!" He called out when Dorea got bored of staring at his face and was about to close her Hotel room door in a very familiar setting – almost like a déjà-vu. Shinaku couldn't allow that. He won't allow her to dismiss him when he wasn't ready to dismiss her!
"What is it?" Her face was as expressive as ever, showing a great deal of bemused confusion in the way her lips pouted.
Fluttering went his belly.
Cleaning his throat, Shinaku started "Look, I know I was not pleasant, and my apology sucked, but I was wondering if you'd like me to show you around Konoha sometime… I know how tough it can be when you're a newcomer" Mikoto would be probably proud of him for this gentle gesture (Or she might just remind him that the idea was hers to begin with)… And he truly wished to keep in Dorea's company.
She hasn't said a word about his hair so far even though he's been kind of a jerk to her. There something about her that intrigued him – like a fox with a puzzle.
Dorea was showing a very large, very deep pool of patience with him, more so than Mikoto on a good day – the Uchiha girl did not take his bullshit even when dishing some of her own, they worked perfectly as teammates like that.
(Unknown to him, Dorea has vast experience dealing with moody Red Heads or jerks in general. Ron could be awfully snappish given certain occasions and Draco Malfoy was a fixture in her earlier life she couldn't shake off).
The green eyed girl tilted her head in that curious way and stared up at him as if she could read his honesty on his face. Her eyes seemed even larger than usual, Shinaku noticed, and sparkled from within.
Finally, she took pity on him and announced slowly and with a lovely little blush coloring her cheeks a cherry red color "That would actually be lovely" her words were honest, he felt with some awe "I only know the landmarks by name, and got lost twice trying to find this hotel" She admitted, blush spreading and eyes shining.
Once more Shinaku felt that lurch in his chest that indicated a higher heart rate.
"Right…" Right. Shinaku had to expel a great amount of effort not to stammer. Girls were despicable beings who made his childhood a living nightmare (Mikoto included) and aside from Minako, who saved his life and appreciated his hair, he never felt this moved by a girl's eyes before. "Right... be ready tomorrow at five" He ordered, making his escape before he could fall into Dorea even more.
Part: The Ninth
Jealousy
"Oh, hello Uzumaki-kun" Minako greeted, smiling a small, peaceful smile at her old classmate and now shinobi colleague.
Uzumaki Shinaku.
Minako felt oddly attracted to the bumbling red head. He had a different sense of humor and never failed to make her giggle at his antics (and pranks, not that she'd let anyone know she laughed at his pranks – those ridiculous girls who teased him mercilessly should give more focus to their career, thus they deserved all retribution they got for distracting themselves with petty motives).
Shinaku had this weird magnetic aura that compelled Minako in some ways and attracted her in equal measures.
She didn't know how deep her feelings for the Uzumaki she saved once from kidnapping were, but they were there, that she knew and acknowledged enough to deviate from her current plans to include him, even if Kakashi-kun felt a bit cheated.
He was cute like that.
"M-minako-chan!" Shinaku greeted back, his face morphing into a dazzling smile that made her mood better just by existing, such a breath of fresh air! His deep green eyes bore into hers, and Minako was only distracted away from him when Kakashi-kun pointedly bumped into her sides with a muted grumble.
With half a grin, the blonde jonin pushed Kakashi forward, presenting him quite like a proud parent would a specifically gifted child, to Shinaku. Who had the manners to at least fake brief interest in the midget by her side.
Minako ignored this with practiced ease and continued the introductions because she felt proud of being a sensei already (and Kakashi desperately needed the guidance and adult supervision) "Have you met my new apprentice yet? This is Hatake Kakashi, Kakashi-kun, this is an old friend of mine from the academy, Uzumaki Shinaku-san"
"No" Shinaku grumbled, but tried to hide it quickly behind a sneer of derision that must have gotten deep into Kakashi's ego, to the red head's hidden glee. "I don't see why you have to tot the brat around Konoha though, if he has a headband I'm sure he knows his way around the village" Ouch. Shinaku was showing his claws.
The blond grinned and poked Kakashi's back when she felt the silver haired child shift slightly as if to reach a kunai. That wouldn't do, she had to teach her pupil some patience, and constant interactions with the red head chunin might just do it. "We're just browsing the weapon shops. Kakashi-kun needs a new blunt weapon for training" She explained, hoping to avoid the clash between Kakashi and Shinaku but also looking at the bright side. Both possessive and both hardheaded (It was endearing and Shinaku's apparent jealousy of a seven years old made her feel somewhat warm) "You… would you like to shop with us?" she invited in a moment of impulsiveness, thinking Shinaku would jump at the chance to spent more time with her.
His crush was so not a secret.
Minako smiled internally, flattered since she's never put much account on her feminine side to warrant male attention but accepting that her past actions toward Shinaku made him weak toward her.
"R-really?" The red head stuttered, wide eyes hopeful.
Only until Kakashi glared though "Do we have to take him along sensei?" her little apprentice growled out from behind his mask "He might hurt himself so close to pointy objects" (alluding they were going to the weapon shop). Before Minako could excuse her little minion's attitude, Shinaku was dishing back.
"No one asked you, brat!" Kakashi, as expected, bristled at the redhead's rebuke. He detested being called a child or any variants of it – he worked hard for his headband, ant that made him an adult.
"Uzumaki-san!" A surprisingly soft feminine voice called out from the throng of people, making Shinaku jump a bit and the deer-caught-in-the-head-light face he pulled off told of how he knew that voice. Kakashi cocked his head and Minako had to badly repress that urge.
It soon became so painfully obvious who the voice belonged to when a lean dark haired, green eyed girl slid seamlessly to Shinaku's left, eyeing them from behind thick lashes and a beautiful exotic face.
That made a feeling of odd inadequacy swell in Minako's chest. She's never been that feminine or that cute since she spent of her time focusing on her career and not looks – but suddenly she needed to be girly. Mysteriously so.
The blond haired jonin forced a grin… she kind of liked Shinaku a little, and if she's read him right, he liked her too… so what was the meaning of this other girl clinging to his arm?
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you had company already. You don't have to come if you don't want to, or you can ask your friend if she wants to come as well" Better thread carefully and gather information before acting, Minako told herself, hoping Kakashi went along with her.
Shinaku would agree, the blonde hoped, by the star struck glint in his eyes when he saw her, he still cared enough about her to come with even if he had another girl to his arm. Some part of her felt sorry for the slight civilian girl who was looking at Minako with something deep within the pools of green that made her eyes.
"Eheh… Minako-chan, this is Dorea, she's recently moved to Konoha and I'm showing her around. Dorea, this is Minako-chan and her apprentice, Bakakashi" Shinaku introduced hastily, doing his best not to appear to awkward.
Cute.
But it still sliced a bit at her chest when Minako noticed he didn't use any honorifics with Dorea-san's name.
"It's Kakashi!" Her apprentice continued to glare, though Dorea's eyes were now on him brimming with curiosity. It must be exquisite seeing a child shinobi around anymore despite the war going on, the jonin imagined, Kakashi was quite the exception to the rule since he was an incomparable genius.
"Right, Dorea! She's invited us to look around with her, would you mind?" Spoke Shinaku softly to his lady friend. He was being quite out-of-character-ly polite with the girl. She looked so small and helpless, doe eyed and rouge cheeked.
Another stab went through Minako's chest. Shinaku sometimes seemed incapable of being polite to girls who he didn't respect. That he respected Dorea enough to be polite to her meant…
"Not at all" was the answer the foreigner gave, smiling up at Shinaku with sparkles practically exploding out of her teeth. "I'm glad I can meet a friend of yours" she smiled too at Minako, seemingly honestly glad to have met her.
All in all, Minako found herself surprised at the fact that she could not trully dislike the younger looking girl. She was unfailingly polite and took great interest in Minako – asking questions about her studies and not pressing when the blond told her it was personal or a secret. Dorea was genuinely interested in getting to know Minako, which must be one of the reasons Shinaku was civil to the girl.
The worse part of all day?
She wouldn't be able to begrudge Dorea if Shinaku chose her instead.
But Minako was not about to give up. It wasn't part of her Nindo.
Part: The Tenth.
Advice
They were sitting in an insipid looking tea-house his friend liked to visit sometime to trade gossip. He had absolutely no idea why she dragged him along… It's as if the infuriating Uchiha woman forgot he had dangly bits most of the times.
"… and then we kissed and it was the best kiss I've ever had" Mikoto ended her tale with a far-away look in her eyes.
Shinaku rolled his in answer. "And you assume I want to know about your annoying love life because…?" His old teammate's (friend?) engagement to the clan head (the supposedly love of her life) has been approved by the clan Elders pending a nuptial meeting between their families.
Mikoto was over the moon.
She's been pining after the handsome Uchiha for quite a while now to the red head's great chagrin – she often dragged him into these kind of off-topic conversations that she should be having with a female friend.
The Uchiha chunin gave him a long flat look, as if he was the dimmest dork around Konoha that she's ever set eyes on.
"You know, I told you all about my dates to Fugaku, and about my struggles to have his family agree to welcome me… and here you are, tight lipped and not telling me about your own dates" She hissed the last part, making a shiver run down his back. "Come on, you can tell me, after all I'm the relationship godmother"
Shinaku didn't even pretend to understand what she was talking about. But he did sputter nervously when what she said finally clicked. "I'm not dating Dorea 'tebane!"
"Funny how you assume it's Dorea-chan I'm talking about" Mikoto expertly tossed his earlier words right back at him. She was having ungodly amounts of fun, Shinaku realized. But it did work to shake something inside of him "I could just as easily be meaning Minako-chan… my my, Shinaku, having two girlfriends when I labored to get my one!" her words were teasing, but said in the least amount of jest she was capable of.
The evil, dark hearted bitch had the gal to smirk tauntingly.
Shinaku scowled at his friend.
"Enough about this! I'm not dating anyone, and I like Minako-chan datebane!" He gnarled between clenched teeth sounding horribly petulant. Mikoto's face then turned serious, making Shinaku's eyes widen at the sudden change of humor.
"Either Dorea or Minako, you can't string both of them along" His oldest friend said, making his chest fill with some unknown emotion that he couldn't describe. "Both of them like you, you know? For some reason I can't explain, they care for you… so just pick one and stop being a cad!" The seriousness was gone from her mien, but Mikoto didn't need to appear serious to be taken as such.
"I don't like Dorea like that tebane!" Shinaku repeated, tasting ash in his tongue. His heart lurched painfully and he could scarcely believe how it was reacting.
Dorea has only been in the village for a couple of months (finally renting an apartment of her own and getting a job in a shop), and though he reluctantly kept to his word at first, by taking her all around Konoha, recently these outings have become genuinely fun.
He simply liked having her around.
Dorea was easy to deal with since she had so much patience – which was a pre-requisite to dealing with Uzumaki people in general (It used to be a clause in old marriage contracts, actually, it went that far) – And didn't let him trample all over her at the same time. She allowed him to be himself without taking insult to his sometimes brash nature.
"Then why do you look as if you just sucked a lemon?" Mikoto burst his angst bubble by poking his cheek with the tip of a really sharp nail.
"I dunno what you're talking about" Shinaku denied, trying not to stare into his friend's eyes. At Mikoto's second flat look (the third ended being far more painful if she reached the far end of her wits with him) fell upon the redhead. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up at the sign of danger.
He met her eyes.
They traded looks.
Shinaku looked away first.
"Alright… IkindoflikeDoreatoo" He mumbled, nearly puffing out his cheeks. "But Minako-chan… she's just… she's like the sky you know? She makes me feel safe and her smiles make me happy. I've liked her since the academy because she's never made fun of me and was really nice… And she said my hair's pretty" He finished with an absent pat down his long red mane. Blood colored strands spilling through his fingers.
"And what about Dorea?" Mikoto inquired softly, aware that this was a delicate subject she half-bullied Shinaku into. She just wanted to help him, he knew, so he'd let her in his woes with the hope that she'd have some of those mystical feminine insights.
"Dorea… she's not a shinobi – she's soft and welcoming. When I'm with her I just want to impress her, make her notice me but at the same time I think I fear her a little" Shinaku finished with an embarrassed blush staining his cheeks. Mikoto hid a grin behind her hand before catching her friend's finger in her own.
"Like night and day?" She asked, definitely finding amusement in his (troublesome) love life. Shinaku nodded to her comment though. "Do you want to hear what I think?" It was nice of her to ask… she usually just spoke what was going on in her mind not caring a bit about what he, himself, thought.
"That's why I'm telling you tebane!" His voice sounded exasperated, he was sure he was displaying some emotional distress to his chagrin. "You're like, the one who knows me best, I trust you" The admittance made him feel lighter though.
Mikoto squeezed the hand she had caught on, obviously moved. "Minako represents safety. Dorea the unknown. Minako's dreams are large, she wants to be Hokage-" Shinaku winced slightly, that was his dream! "- and she's an accomplished kunoichi. She'd make a good partner for you, you'd be comfortable, happy even, since you don't care she's more powerful than you"
His friend pointed this out as if he hasn't spent many a night wide awake picturing how his life with Minako-chan would turn out. His teammate was right.
He didn't mind that Minako was only slightly more powerful than he was. He was a sealsmaster, and was nothing to scoff at ninjutsu and taijutsu. Plus the Kyuubi power boost and his Uzumaki lineage.
But Minako was a genius at Ninjutsu (already developing her own jutsus), tactics and varied ninja arts. The blond was a hard worker, brilliant kunoichi that was already being compared to Tsunade-hime… Last Shinaku knew of Minako's exploits, she's been entrusted with the Second Hokage's Forbidden Scroll of jutsu by way of her own old sensei, Jiraiya-sama.
For the sake of not admitting his own shortcomings, Shinaku vehemently denied "No way"
His friend ignored him.
"Dorea is new. You don't know her as well as you know Minako, but you like what you've seen so far. She's level headed and calm, and perhaps equally important is the fact she's a civilian woman. She won't always understand your shinobi career, but she will be there for you whenever you need her… She will make an equally good partner for you" Mikoto continued with her analysis. "Think about what you want the most, what each girl can give you and what you can give each of them, then decide who you want"
The red head sat there on his stool, looking at his friend while she calmly sipped tea, wondering just when Mikoto grew up.
...
TBC~