Yet another snippet for you Minato lovers!
Disclaimer: I suppose since these are required, I must say, "I do not own anything of this fic but the idea!"
xxxvii — soldier III
The dark-haired woman winced as she brought her bandage-mittened hands to her chest.
"Gomen," Minato said with an apologetic smile as he stood in front of her. "If I were a medic-nin I'd have been able to heal your hands perfectly."
She glanced up at him before averting her eyes to a tree at her right. "…There's no need to be sorry."
At her quiet response the blond shinobi did not falter.
"Now that that's settled, shall I escort you back to your home? It's dangerous out here for a civilian like you."
A peculiar silence stretched between them.
"No," she objected, directing him a stern look, "you will not."
Minato blinked, taken aback by her abrupt change in demeanor.
"There's—there's something I have to do." Her mouth pressed momentarily into a thin line. "I didn't come all this way… to be stopped by you!"
The man raised his palms before him in defense, taking a wary step backward.
She shut her eyes tight and turned her chin away from him, her cocooned hands shielding her vulnerable heart.
"How can you act as if everything's okay?" she whispered in a frail voice.
Minato lowered his arms to his sides and frowned.
"I tried to kill you…"
"You didn't know it was m—" he protested gently, only to be cut off.
"Yes, I did!"
Her tears were back again, streaming down her cheeks, and Minato drew his brows together; how was one supposed to deal with a difficult situation such as this?
"What is a man like you doing with them," the woman cried with her face now buried in the hands he had both wounded and mended. "What the hell did they do to deserve your kindness?"
Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.
—Albert Einstein
Author's Note: Planning on Kisame next, as requested by REVOLVUS!