Updated: June 10 2014

- Ramin Djawadi: "You'll Be Queen One Day" (Game of Thrones)

20. Sunset

The fortress was quite impressive, and much larger and different from the border post Minato had once lived at. It was made of light masonry to match the snow - no one told him, but he figured it was probably of defensive purposes - and there were hallways and shortcuts everywhere, which also made it difficult to remember the way, so after Kushina had been lost three times the first day, Minato never allowed his team to go on their own. But not only was the fortress tall and well built, but the people who lived inside the walls were genuinely happy. There didn't seem to be any poverty; the only difference noticeable was the lord and a few of his high-ranked men, who wore strong colours. In a matter of minutes, Rin, Obito and Kakashi had been approached by several orphans, and had disappeared inside the orphanage; Minato wasn't particularly worried about this, but marked Obito's sleeve before they were dragged away.

They were shown to their rooms. The general and Minato had small rooms of their own, while Kushina was sharing with Rin, and Obito was sharing with Kakashi (Minato had to remember to check that they didn't destroy the whole room in a fight). They had soft beds with thick quilts and blankets, lit fireplaces and cosy furniture.

After breakfast on the second morning, Minato closed the door behind him, took a shower and rummaged in his bag for clean clothes. He pulled out a fresh pair of sweatpants and a new shirt, and had just pulled on the pants when the door burst open and a grumpy Kushina strolled in. She looked so annoyed that she might have been oblivious to the fact that he stood there shirtless, but threw herself down on the bed instead, facing the roof.

"Who does that girl think she is?" she asked the roof, quite irritatedly.

Minato knew who she meant, and grinned.

"What?" he said, fumbling with the shirt to avoid putting it on the wrong way. "Is it that bad to be accused of being my girlfriend?"

Kushina glared at him for a moment, then couldn't hold it back – she giggled.

"Well, not really," she admitted; not the answer Minato had expected at all, but she continued speaking before he could ask what on earth that meant. "But really, who is she to attack anyone who's not part of the fight? Isn't that just cowardly?"

"Well, you heard her reasons," Minato said while he succeeded in putting on his shirt correctly and lay down on the bed, staring at the beamed ceiling as well. It wasn't that interesting.

"Hey, are you taking her side?" Kushina asked warningly.

"Frankly, I thought she was after you because of the Kyuubi," Minato said. "The other reason's a bit better, don't you think?"

"Well, if you put it that way," Kushina snorted. "You know, I think I agree with her."

Minato was so surprised of this sudden twist that he sat up and glared at her.

"You know," she said, glaring back. "About the part where she wanted to find out how we protect each other. See, shinobi are either cold and living their lives as soldiers and weapons, or, they have people they are fond of, and live for them. I think she was trying to find out if we were worth trusting at all, and not only that, but that she doesn't want to relate to heartless people."

Besides her restless attempts to let him know that he looked like a flaky wimp, Minato had never heard Kushina describe something so comprehensively, and it was obvious that she had put a lot of thought into this. Minato could only look impressed.

She turned on her stomach and smiled at him. "You know, she might have been an unfair cow in the beginning, but I respect her, really."

Minato blinked. "You were mad half a minute ago, what happened?" he asked and received a poke to the ribs. "Also, sorry for calling you a weapon earlier. I know you hate it."

But Kushina just waved it off with a smile.

They were spending the next few days at the fortress, where the lord showed them how it was built and Naru showed them how her snowmen worked. Rin, Obito and even Kakashi had discovered the fun of snowmen and had spent hours making their own immobile soldiers – which Naru managed to give life to – and Minato, the general and Kushina spent most of the day meeting new people and talking about everything from strategies to food. Kushina had also, to Minato's general amusement, become good friends with Naru, but when the two girls had retired to her bedroom, Minato couldn't help but think that she was no doubt going to ask Kushina about their relationship. He was close to giving in to temptation and eavesdrop at the door, but came to the conclusion that if he was caught, he'd receive damage worse than the thousand assassins he had faced almost a year ago.

Although they were staying there for some days and were on a B-ranked mission, there was little to do. They were already at peace with the Northern Islands and their people, and had even made good friends with many of them. It was the perfect place to celebrate Rin's tenth birthday, too; the chef made a delicious cake, and she had made so good friends with the orphans that she was drowned in congratulations and home made birthday cards. They had already been informed that the country was not taking part in any war, but if they were nearby and saw that Konoha was in trouble, they would not hesitate to aid them in any way they could. Minato had no doubt they would; even as a peaceful country, its soldiers were well disciplined and strong, both physically and mentally.

So Minato approached Kushina one day and suggested they continued the work on her seal. They had, after all, gone on this mission the day after he had succeeded in making a functional compression seal, but it was not perfect yet. He needed every detail of her seal to get it right, and he needed her help as well, because he was not that familiar with the Eight Trigrams Seal on her stomach.

They had worked on the seal every day in her bedroom, she lying on the floor in front of the fireplace, he trying to memorise every part of the complicated seal on her stomach and drawing improvements of the compression seal he had made. The first day had been rather awkward, but Kushina now seemed so used to it, and comfortable with it, that she easily fell asleep in front of the warm fire.

"Kushina, you're doing it again. Wake up."

"What?" Kushina said drowsily. "Oh, sorry."

She activated her chakra again, and the seal reappeared at her stomach.

"This just makes me so – so -" she yawned widely, "- sleepy."

"I'm nearly there," he said. "Try to mix the Kyuubi's chakra again."

She did, concentrating hard, drawing more and more of it, and when he noticed that she was losing control, he made the necessary seals and placed his hand on her stomach.

The chakra stream died away immediately.

"It's done," Minato smiled. "Can't get any better than this."

"I could feel it," Kushina said and sat up. "It was like an immediate barrier. How come you're so good at fuuinjutsu?"

"I had a good teacher," he smiled as he dragged his bag closer and rummaged in a pocket. While Kushina observed him in an admiring way (he didn't notice), he drew out a sheet of paper, similar to the ones he had around his Hiraishin kunai, but smaller. Repeating the hand seals, he transferred the compression seal on to the piece of paper and held it up to Kushina.

"I can place this at your forehead or anywhere else, and it'll work the same way," he explained. "Much quicker, and safer when you're training."

"It's great," Kushina said, taking the piece of paper and examining the seal. "Thank you."

"No problem," he replied and got up.

"You're leaving?"

"Gotta get packed."

"Oh, right."

There was something close to disappointment in her voice, but Minato didn't question her about it.

They left the day after, and the trip home took longer time than the trip to the Northern Islands. They had decided to go ashore on a different spot, somewhere without people, so they could get home unnoticed again. They managed to pass the villages without trouble; it proved to be a lot easier to be unseen when you knew where your enemies were, and two and a half weeks later, they neared the front gate of Konoha.

"It's gonna be good to get home," Kushina said, stretching. "All this travelling has made me really stiff. Hey -" she looked somewhere between the trees, stopping, "Look over there."

Minato joined her. A short distance away, there was a small house. It looked abandoned; the windows were shattered and the wooden walls were rotting away; no doubt an old, forgotten house.

"How come no one's done anything about it?" Kushina asked.

"This is not a traditional path to take," Minato said. "Not a lot of people walk here. Maybe no one's noticed it until now."

"Let's check it out," Kushina said, looking like a child who had discovered a secret passage.

"You can do so tomorrow," the general said. "I'm sure the Hokage would like to hear what we have to say."

A little disappointed, Kushina turned and joined the others in walking back. Soon, they walked through the large gate of Konoha, registered their arrival and headed for the Hokage Tower. The third smiled as he saw them enter his office.

"Ah!" he said. "You're back. How was your trip?"

"It was good," the general said. "They are trustworthy people, and we connected well. We have discussed strategies as much as it could be done, as they don't want to take any part in the war."

"Of course," the third said. "But at least we have made some foreign friends. Congratulations, team nine, on your first B-ranked mission. It was a success, as I can tell."

Rin and Obito beamed, and Minato thanked him.

After telling the Hokage in detail the outcome of the trip, the Hokage wanted to discuss darker matters.

"I received your letters about the abandoned villages," he said. "Did you investigate any more?"

"Yes," general Hiromu said. "The chef on the ship could inform us that the villagers fled to larger towns for help. Apparently, someone unknown has been taking their children."

This was alarming news to the Hokage.

"Was this the case for only the Earth country, or has it happened elsewhere?"

"I'm not sure," the general replied seriously. "When we passed the country of the Grass village, we met no one. Neither did we pass any villages, but it was unusually quiet."

"They're sticking together, no doubt," the third said thoughtfully. "We'll be on the alert. You may leave, if there's nothing else."

The general nodded, and they made to leave.

"Hold on, Minato."

Minato turned.

"I have a mission for you," the Hokage said, handing him a scroll. "You're to join two of my ANBU to retrieve something for me. They return from missions tomorrow."

"All right," Minato said, ignoring the curious glares from his little soldiers, who wanted to read the content of the scroll. They left the Hokage Tower. Despite the fact that the winter had finally come to Konoha as well, fifteen degrees at night seemed more merciful than the forty degrees colder country they had been in two weeks ago.

On the afternoon the day after, Minato met one of the ANBU on his way to Kushina's, who told him they were leaving for the mission in an hour and a half. After telling the ANBU he would most likely be at the North-East track five minutes from the front gate, he finished the few meters left to Kushina's apartment and knocked on her door. They headed out to the abandoned house they had seen the day before.

"Wow, this thing's really old," Kushina said as she removed the rotten door from the entrance – it was not stuck to its hinges – and walked inside. It looked like an old workshop. It was mostly empty, but it looked as though small plants had begun to adapt to the rotting wood and had crept in from the windows. Broken furniture and tools were placed at random.

"No one's used this for a while," Minato said.

"D'you think someone owns it?" Kushina asked.

"Doubt it, why?"

"Wouldn't be that hard to fix up," she shrugged.

"You know what," he said. "That's not a bad idea. I have more weapons than Jiraiya's house can hold."

"Just a bit impractical to have a weapon storage outside the village," Kushina pointed out.

"Nah, I'd just take a shortcut," he said and placed a seal on one of the old walls. It smouldered away in pieces. "You know, once it's fixed up."

Kushina chuckled. "It just needs some -" she brushed off a thick layer of dust from a table, "- cleaning."

It didn't take long to go through the whole workshop, as it was only one room. They began to throw useless things out the window (almost everything), and after a while, they opened a large chest placed on a table and searched its contents. It held everything from hammers and nails to books.

"I have a question for you," Kushina said, picking up a weird tool and examining it.

"Fire away," Minato said, flipping through a dusty book.

"Remember what you told me, ages ago?" she asked, keeping her eyes determinedly fixed on the tool. "You know, when you left for a mission. You told me a secret."

"I remember, yeah," Minato answered, wondering what came next. She hadn't mentioned the subject once since he had told her.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Well," Minato began. "I didn't think you liked me back. Remember how you used to hate me?"

"I didn't hate you," Kushina said, finally looking at him. "I just ..."

"Didn't care?" Minato helped with a grin. Kushina gave him a look of dejection. "But why, should I have told you?"

Kushina shrugged. "Could've helped."

"Helped?" Minato repeated.

"You know, when you left for the border, I thought I was going to lose you."

"What d'you mean?" Minato asked genuinely confused - after all, Kushina had viewed him as close to immortal - and received a look that said he probably should have known already.

"Not by death, stupid," Kushina replied.

Minato could not believe it. "You were afraid I'd forget about you?" he asked.

"Yes," was the simple answer he got.

"No," Minato said at once. "During those five years, I missed you like mad."

"Five years is enough to forget a lot about people, too," Kushina reminded him, though she beamed at him.

"But I promised you I wouldn't."

At this, he didn't get an immediate reply. Kushina stared at him for a moment that seemed rather long; had she not trusted him to keep his promise?

Minato grinned and shut the book. "You still don't take me seriously."

"Try me," Kushina said cockily back.

She might have just blurted it out by accident, without seeing the whole wide world of opportunities Minato began to see. In the dimmed light of the last streaks of sun playing through the dusty, dirty windows of the old workshop, Kushina's eyes seemed a warmer shade of violet than ever. Standing so close to her, he could see every strand of her hair flowing in gold in the gentle breeze coming through the gaps where doors and windows had once been; automatically, he reached out and let his fingers glide through the red strands, thinking only of how much silkier it would have felt against his hand had he not worn his fingerless gloves. A blush developed on Kushina's cheeks, but Minato felt rather undeterred by the situation. He smiled.

"You're blushing."

He was not surprised when he didn't get an answer to that either, though he thanked whatever gods out there for not getting a fist slammed in his stomach for pointing out something he believed she thought of as highly embarrassing.

Even when an ANBU showed up at the removed door behind him and spoke, Minato didn't take his eyes off her.

"Minato, we're moving," the ANBU said; no doubt masked with a bear's face. Minato remembered his voice from earlier.

"I'll be there in a moment," he replied, at which the ANBU left the doorstep.

He had made up his mind. He was done pretending.

"I never told you the whole truth," he said, blue eyes looking deeply into violet ones. "I never stopped liking you."

With a last, warm smile at the speechless girl in front of him, he threw the book back in the chest, turned and walked away.