Kushina stood outside the Namikaze residence, a fancy single story house that was closer to her hotel than she had previously imagined from Tsunade's directions. It was a shabby little place and it certainly didn't look like a place where a shinobi as famous as Minato would live. The garden in front was well tended, however, which surprised her. And I expected the place to be all clean and orderly. Watch...the inside will look like a hospital waiting lounge.
She knocked on the door and after a few minutes of recieving no answer, went straight in. Her mouth hung open as soon as he entered. The entire place was the tidiest bit of living space she had ever seen. Nothing was out of place. Every pot and pan hung perfectly from the rack in the kitchen, each pillow was arranged perfectly on the sofa, and the rugs lay straight and undisturbed. She stepped gingerly, afraid she might disrupt the order of it all. This is more than just a little bit creepy. Now where is the guy?
She searched deeper into the house. She explored every nook and cranny, careful not to disturb anything in his bedroom. She stopped to look at the pictures on his mantle above his bed. One included him and Kakashi, along with two other kids wearing Konoha headbands. That must be his team. She had already met Kakashi. She wondered what the other two were like.
A little more exploring and she came to a staircase leading down into a basement area of the house. She took it carefully and she heard a few voices talking quietly in the room below. Eventually the ground level and she finally saw Minato, leaning over a table, doing something that she couldn't see due to him standing in front of it. She could make out his words however.
"Holy cookie cutters Mr. Wiggles, you almost stepped on my potatoes....." Minato said in a squeaky voice. Kushina moved in closer and realized what he was doing. Playing with stuffed animals. Kushina didn't know whether to break out laughing or keep staring in disbelief.
"Oh I'm sorry. You just have them laying out here...in the middle of rabbit season of all times. In fact I could swear I saw an armadillo earlier eyeing these potatoes!" Minato said in a deeper voice now. Kushina still couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Um....Minato." She said cautiously.
Minato jumped and literally screamed in fear, sending his stuffed animal table crashing backwards, him along with it. Stuffed animals flew all over the basement. Kushina shielded herself as the figures seemed to have minds of their own, flying in every direction and not stopping to spare her. Minato climbed out of the wreckage looking angry.
"Couldn't you have knocked!?" He shouted, face going terribly red as he noticed his prized possessions all over the floor.
"I did you big moron! Three...count it THREE times!" She said, yelling back and showing him three fingers to emphasize her point.
"Well then you should have just left! What were you thinking barging into someone's house like that without even KNOCKING! I could have been taking a shower...or...." Minato said, faltering, but still looking angry.
"Or playing with stuffed animals?" Kushina said, smiling and picking up one of the little guys.
"It isn't what it looked like." Minato said desperately as Kushina examined the little critter, which looked like a teddy bear.
"Is this Mr. Wiggles here? Awww, how cute Minato." Kushina said, laughing when Minato's face went even redder and he lunged for the bear. She moved it quickly out of his grip. Now she was really making him mad. Minato stomped around the basement, careful not to step on any of his stuffed animals.
"I don't know how you people in Whirlpool do things...but HERE...in Konoha we don't walk into people's houses without permission!" Minato said, lunging for Mr. Wiggles again and managing to grab it from her grip. Kushina pushed him backwards, sending him crashing into his stuffed animal table again. She advanced on him and grabbed his shirt collar, pulling him close to her. Minato looked taken aback by her anger.
"Oh yeah? Well I'll have you know that Konoha is full of the rudest, snobbiest, ugliest guys I've ever met! In fact...I'm looking at one right now!" Kushina said, releasing his collar and dropping him to the ground.
"Yeah? Well if every Whirlpool woman is like you, I never want to meet another one in my entire life!" Minato yelled back, throwing Mr. Wiggles at her. Kushina dodged the flying Mr. Wiggles and rounded on Minato again.
"Oh shut it! Why don't you just keep playing dress up with your dolls, stuffed animal boy!" Kushina shouted, stepping on a doll's head and laughing as Minato seemed to visibly suffer. She continued to grind its head into the basement floor but stopped when Minato doubled over and seemed to shake.
At first she thought he was crying, but after pushing him backwards and turning him over she realized what was happening. He was laughing.
"Hey, what's so funny? Are you laughing at me?" Kushina asked angrily. Minato stopped a moment to take a breath, and then without warning pulled her down into the ground with him, flipping her over as she fell into a pile of stuffed animals. He advanced on her before he could react, tickling her ribs without mercy.
Kushina could barely breathe as Minato assaulted her ribs with his tickle power. She saw Mr. Wiggles lying amongst other stuffed animals and reached for him, only to have Minato quick the stuffed bear away.
"No! I won't let you use Mr. Wiggles as a weapon anymore! He deserves better than that!" Minato yelled in between his tickling, causing Kushina, despite her anger, to erupt in laughter as well.
Needless to say, when it was all said and done, both Minato and Kushina lay amongst stuffed animals, out of breath and still giggling off and on for a few minutes. Silence followed for a solid five minutes before Minato finally broke it.
"So....what did you come here for anyway?"