Updated: May 30 2014

12. Red

Besides the fact that Kushina didn't seem much taller than five years ago, she had changed in many other ways. Her round, pink cheeks had evened out, her hair had definitely grown and – Minato didn't allow himself to notice too much – she had neither a flat chest nor a shapeless body any more.

Her eyes, on the other hand, still had that glowing, unpredictable hint to them, and they widened as she realised who it was she was staring at.

"You're kidding -" she said in surprise, but a smile grew on her face. "Minato?"

Minato grinned back; Kushina didn't seem to have lost her ability to express herself in fine ways either.

"Oh, whatever," she said and turned back to the chef. "Chicken soup, then."

"And you, Minato?" the chef asked with his round-cheeked, aged smile and shifted his head to look past Kushina (he wasn't particularly tall either).

"The same, thanks," Minato replied, got up and walked to the counter to get his soup.

"Oh, damn," Kushina said, staring up at him. "So you are one eighty tall."

"Barely," Minato said, gazing down at her. "I guess if I was still one sixty, I'd be ashamed of myself."

He received a light, playful hit to his arm.

"One sixty-five, actually," Kushina said triumphantly.

"Oh, really?"

They went back to the couch, and Kushina and Rabi sat down in the available arm chairs. Rabi shook hands with Minato; he looked a little uncomfortable, maybe because of the fact that he was once one of the worst bullies in their class, but Minato greeted him without any sign of recalling such things.

"So, how are you?" Kushina asked and picked up a piece of bamboo from her soup. "You haven't been home once since you left, have you?"

Minato shook his head. "No, I got too occupied here," he replied. "Because of my job, I've never had enough spare time to make it home."

"But what happens now?" Kousuke asked and put his book down. "Have you heard from the general?"

"I've heard from Hizashi," Minato said. "We get new orders tomorrow, but he said the general assumes we're going back to Konoha soon."

"So the war's over?"

"I think so," Minato said with a hopeful smile. He glanced at Kushina, and suddenly found the situation rather awkward; there they were, five years later, eating chicken soup in a tent like it was commonplace. He quickly looked down at his soup when Kushina met his eyes, but decided that he was acting stupid, and mastered a new look at her with a smile to go with it. Kushina smiled a little goofy back as though she hadn't expected it, and Minato nearly laughed when her cheeks reddened.

"How about you?" he asked to cover the situation. "How're things at home?"

"All right, I guess," Kushina answered for the both of them; Rabi was too busy eating his soup. "I'll be happy when the war's over, Konoha is way too depressing without half of the villagers there."

"That's a shame," Minato said. When he pictured Konoha, it was sunny, there were smiling people and busy markets – and a blushing, young girl with red hair standing speechlessly in the crowd.

"It's not as crowded as it used to be," Rabi said through his last mouthful of chicken soup and pushed his bowl away. "It's not quite the same, but I guess things get better once all you guys come back."

Kushina nodded in agreement, and Rabi got up to find the showers.

"Has Kemaru always been that big?" Kushina asked, looking at the large, hairy dog taking up half the couch on his own.

"Huh," Kousuke said and observed the dog. "Maybe not … I never noticed, he grew so quickly."

Kermaru barked, and Kousuke turned to the tent's entrance.

"My sister's outside," he said and got up. "I'll go say hi."

When he left, Minato was very aware of him and Kushina being the only one around the table filled with bloody weapons and empty chicken soup bowls (it also hit him that the combination wasn't particularly hygienic). He quickly searched for something to talk about.

"How's teaming up with Rabi these days?" Minato asked, remembering how the two team-mates had never really gotten along well.

"It's all right, actually," Kushina said. "He's improved, you know, on a social basis ..." She shook her head. "But he's still a brainless git, there's no denying that."

Minato laughed.

"We've heard quite a lot about you, though," Kushina said with a curious look at him. He stared expectantly back. "A 'dangerous, cold-hearted assassin', huh?"

"Not convinced?" Minato asked.

"Not quite," Kushina grinned. She fished a bingo book out of her pocket and threw it to him. "Found you in this while I was on a mission in Iwa a few weeks ago. Look at the comments they've made about you."

Minato quickly found the page dedicated to him, and his first reaction was the picture.

"Where on earth did they get this from?" he said in wonder and removed it from its clipper. "It used to hang in the dorm tent ..."

He moved his gaze to the comments.

"'Don't let the looks fool you', are you kidding me?" he said in mock hurt. "They make me sound like some of the things you used to call me."

Kushina snorted in her soup. She had once used to call him things like weak, flaky, girly-boy, baby and wimp.

"Just admit it," she said. "You don't look much like an assassin."

"But then again, they didn't exactly choose the most threatening picture of me either," Minato said, staring at the photograph. The sun was hitting his face, he was freshly showered and dressed in a clean, comfortable shirt, and he was grinning. He remembered that the picture was taken on a day when Ino-Shika-Chou had been visiting, and since there wasn't much to do, he and Shikaku had been running around doing all sorts of pranks that could affect the others at the camp.

"Oh, stop it," Kushina said. "I'll never take you seriously. Didn't I mention that?"

"You liked to remind me now and then, yeah," Minato smiled and winked at her.

It didn't seem so hard to keep a conversation going with his earlier best friend, after all.

It was getting late, and people left the tent in favour of a good night's sleep. The rain had stopped, but the air was still damp and misty, and the tent's sheets were clammy and cold. The light had been turned on a long time ago, but was dimmed as the tent was emptying. Minato and Kushina, on the other hand, had stretched out on one couch each. Minato's weapons were sharp and shiny, the soup bowls had retreated to the kitchen, and Minato was beginning to feel sleepy.

"This is almost like old days," Kushina said while she was staring at the roof. "Except that we used to watch the stars, not some kind of … whitish sheets."

Minato chuckled, and thought of the wonderful night skies hanging over Konoha every night. A comfortable silence fell between them, before Minato's curiosity failed him and he turned to look at Kushina.

"How's the war been for you?" he asked.

Kushina sighed. "Frustrating."

As expected.

"I couldn't leave Konoha once in the beginning, you know … When I was finally allowed to take missions again, we were never directly involved with the war, so I couldn't do much to help. Today was the first time we had a chance to do something useful, but … we were too late."

She turned and met Minato's eyes.

"Why didn't you get sent to the front lines?" she asked. "Of all people ..."

"I was recovering," he said.

"Recovering?"

"Yep. The Rain tried to get rid of me two weeks ago, so I've been kind of useless since."

"Wait, wait, wait," Kushina said and sat up. "Are you saying what I think you're saying? You were almost defeated?"

Minato looked back at her and nodded.

"And you've been disabled for two weeks?"

He nodded again.

"I don't believe you."

"Hey, I'm not immortal," Minato said with a regretful smile.

"No, but … Not even I could do much to you, other than scraping you up a little, except from the few times I actually landed a hit."

Minato laughed. "Is it really that hard to believe?"

"Hey, I'm not lying," Kushina said with her hands raised in defence. "I've never been worried about you dying, I thought it was impossible to even knock you out."

"You've knocked me out."

"Yeah, but, not during sparring or anything."

"You're right, the first time was because I wasn't aware that teasing you could be deadly if I didn't watch myself."

Kushina glared a little sourly at him, and he smiled innocently back.

"You look good for someone who's been disabled for two weeks, though," Kushina said.

"Well, first of all I had spent all my energy and chakra," Minato said and sat up as well. "So the first week, I was completely out of it. I was hit a couple of times, and then I was stabbed here -" he pulled at the neck of his T-shirt to show her the still red-glowing would on his shoulder, "- and then here -" he lifted his T-shirt to show the wound on his stomach, which had luckily not been as deadly, but severe still.

Kushina was looking at the wounds as though each of them were a miracle. "Who did it take to get you into this state?"

"Uh, a battalion," Minato replied.

"Seriously?" Kushina said, but sounded amused. "They sent a battalion to kill you and they couldn't do it?"

"It was a close call," Minato said, leaned back against the couch pillows and placed his legs on the table. Kushina seemed to be digesting the news of his attempted murder, but after a moment, she moved her focus to his weapons, picked up one of the heavy Hiraishin kunai and placed herself in a similar position. In the meantime, Minato stole a look at her and found it hard to believe that she was actually really pretty.

"You know, I was quite shocked when I saw your kunai landing right in front of me," she said, and began to look tired herself. "Thought you were showing up any moment. And the enemy was so scared that they backed off."

"I'm just glad you got the message," Minato said. "Otherwise it wouldn't have worked."

"Well, duh," Kushina said with a raised eyebrow. "I was the one who taught you the message seal, wasn't it?"

"True," Minato smiled.

"I was a bit happy too, though," she smiled and moved the kunai between her hands. "Apart from the bingo book, I haven't seen a sign of you since you left." She dared to look him in the eyes. "I guess I've missed my idiot."

Minato smiled back. "Likewise."

"Hey, Minato, wake up."

A hand was shaking Minato's shoulder, and he opened his eyes. Kousuke was hovering over him.

"The general's calling us in for a meeting," he said.

"Right," Minato said and sat up, stretched and looked around. He had fallen asleep in the couch, and on the couch by the short end of the table, Kushina lay curled up against a large pillow and breathed steadily in her sleep.

"Should we wake her?" Kousuke asked with a low voice.

"Nah, let her sleep," Minato said, but before they left, he took off his jacket and covered her with it; she was shaking a little.

It was a cool morning. The sky was still hidden behind clouds, and there were traces left of the mist that had infiltrated the camp the day before. Minato and Kousuke walked to the meeting tent and found the general and the few remaining soldiers of border squad eighteen there.

"Right," general Hiromu said when they entered the tent. "Now that the last have showed up, let's sit."

They sat.

"We've declared defeat," he began. "Iwa and Suna have already drawn back, and the Rain has accepted their triumph. The war is officially over."

There was a weird atmosphere in the tent. Everyone were relieved that the war was finally over, but the outcome had not been as wished; they had suffered great losses, and was now among the weakest countries.

"We lost many during the last battle against the Rain. Many good shinobi. We're lacking arms at the moment, so I want all jounin to accept the Hokage's request to lead a genin team as soon as you're back in Konoha. He will hold a meeting the day after your arrival."

"And when do we leave?" Kousuke asked.

"Tonight," the general said. "So I want all of you to pack your stuff, clean up and get ready to leave at seven. That gives you twelve hours."

This was surprising for everyone; to leave, just like that?

"Minato, you're in a different position," the general said. "But you will leave at the same time, because I have a meeting with the other generals in the village."

Minato nodded, and could barely stop himself from smiling.

He was finally going home.