SPOILER ALERT! If you don't read the manga and/or are not caught up with it (at least to a while ago) then THIS HAS SPOILERS! If you aren't totally caught up with where the actual plot of the anime is, then THIS HAS SPOILERS!

In any case, this is the birthday fanfic for Namikaze Minato – for those of you that don't recognize that name, he's the Yondaime (Fourth) Hokage. I'm going to try my hardest not to put any real spoilers in the author's note or the first bit of the fic, so that way people who aren't caught up with everything won't see something to ruin other things, and I'd appreciate it if reviews had minimal spoilers as well, because I know of a few people who like to go read the reviews of a story, and there are things involving Minato and his wife, Kushina, that I believe people should see for themselves in the anime/manga and not be told by another person or a fanfic. So yeah, this takes place...probably just over 16 years before Shippuden (so about 12 – 13 from the first series), and sadly, it will most likely be very short, seeing as I don't really know enough about either Minato or Kushina to write a longer fic. I hope you'll all enjoy it anyway.

Btw, in case you can't figure it out, this is going to be MinatoKushina. I guess that would be...MinaKushi? XP

Chapter 3

Minato

Minato sighed. There were times when he really questioned whether being Hokage was worth all the paperwork and boringness. He loved his job, because it meant he got to protect his village, but at the same time, it wasn't always as exciting as he'd originally thought it would be.

"You should be happy about that," Kushina had said when he'd mentioned it to her. "The less exciting things are, the less you have to worry about the safety of Konoha, right? And I know you like to play the hero and save the world and all, but even heroes need a break every once in a while."

He shook his head, clearing it of those thoughts, and focused back on his work. Once it got to the point that all the letters were starting to dance around in front of his eyes, he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face. Guess it's time to go home, he thought to himself, and got up.

Kushina looked up as Minato walked in the door. She went right up to him and started waving a spatula in his face. "And just where have you been?" she demanded. He started to answer, but she shushed him. "Nuh uh. I don't want any excuses. You just go sit yourself down, and I'll serve dinner. Go!" Minato chuckled and went to sit down obediently. Kushina served dinner, as she said she would.

"You know," she said as they ate, "I totally get that you love your job and everything, but did you really have to stay so late on your birthday?"

"I'm sorry, Kushina," he replied. "I had a bunch of paperwork that needed doing tonight, and if I'd left it for tomorrow, then I would've forgotten about it."

"That's what you say every night." Kushina pouted cutely. "Am I not good enough for you?"

"You know that's not it," Minato said, "and before you ask, no, I do not love my job more than you. I told you, right at the beginning, that it would be a lot of responsibility for me, and that I might not get to spend quite as much time with you as I did before. That's all this is."

"I know...it just gets so lonely here without you, you know?"

Minato smiled. "Well, I'm sorry about that. I'll try to get better at not staying so late. Anything new happen today?"

Kushina shrugged. "I talked to Mikoto earlier."

"How is she doing?"

"She and Fugaku are both excited for this next baby, though it's more her than him, and Itachi is looking forward to having a little brother or sister." She looked at her husband. "Do you ever want to have kids?"

"Of course I do," he replied, smiling. "We'll have a nice family, with at least two kids, and one of those kids will become Hokage later in life."

There was a pause while Kushina cleared the dishes and cleaned them up, then the both of them sat on the couch, Kushina's head on Minato's shoulder. "What will our kids look like, do you think?"

"Well, I know at least one of them will have your beautiful hair," he replied, kissing her forehead. She giggled.

"They'd all better have your eyes," she said. "Yours are much nicer than mine."

"What are you talking about? Your eyes are beautiful."

Kushina laughed. "Yeah, right. Gray is such a boring colour, especially for eyes."

Minato pulled her close and kissed her deeply. By the time he pulled away, she was staring at him in a daze, a faint blush on her cheeks. "Your eyes are beautiful," he repeated softly. Her blush deepened.

"Minato..." She blinked and looked away. "Happy Birthday," she said with a smile. He gently took her chin and made her look at him.

"What's wrong, Kushina?"

"Nothing, nothing at all!" she insisted. "Do you want your birthday present now or later?"

"Later," he replied, "after you tell me what's wrong. And don't try to say it's nothing again, I know you better than that."

"I just...are you absolutely sure that you want kids?"

Minato looked at his wife for a long while. "Are you...is there something you're trying to tell me?"

She hesitated. "Well, I don't know for sure, but I think...I think I'm pregnant."

He blinked. "Really? Kushina, that's great! That's amazing! That's..." He pulled her close and kissed her. She giggled into the kiss, then pulled away.

"I'm glad you're so happy about it," she said, "but don't get your hopes up just yet. I could be wrong."

"You haven't been wrong about anything before," he replied. "Except for your ridiculous thought that your hair wasn't pretty."

She smiled. "Well...that's true...but just in case, why don't we go make sure that even if I'm wrong, we can turn it around? It's my birthday present to you."

Minato stood and helped Kushina up. "After you, my beautiful wife," he said with a smile, gesturing her out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nine months later, in early October, Naruto was born...

End

Yay! I'm really sorry it was so short, I honestly couldn't think of anything else to put for them... Okay, for those of you who are kinda confused, Kushina WAS preggers already. And for those of you trying to do the math, don't forget that Kushina was the previous Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, and any time a Jinchuuriki gets preggers, it takes TEN months instead of the usual nine. I forgot about that until I was just randomly looking up stuff about Kushina (I forgot what colour her eyes are...technically they're violet, but they're portrayed as gray in the anime, so that's what I went with. XP) and I was originally planning for this night to be the night Naruto was conceived...I thought it'd be kinda romantic. But then logic just had to go and ruin my plans...stupid logic. XD Please review and let me know what you thought!