Author's Note

Again, sorry for the late update! Real Life keeps catching up with me, and I really don't have nearly as much time on my hands to write fanfiction. Still, considering it's Valentine's Day, I felt it was time for an update, so I sat down to write one.

I'm sorry for the last chapter feeling as forced as it was, but I had to get it out of the way. I promise this one will be at least a little better, if not somewhat short. At any rate, it ties into the manga a little!

Lots of love,

Rii

-///-

Kushina woke up to find that her pants were missing. All of them. She didn't really notice it until she had groped around in her closet drawers to find that everything but her underwear had been stolen.

Immediately, she began to have suspicions as to who might be behind it. They were confirmed when she found a dress laid out on her couch with a note attached.

Kushina,

Put this on and come to my place by noon I'll explain everything there.

Love you!

Minato

Cute as the ending of the note was, it didn't stop Kushina from growling and yelling “MOTHERFUCKER!” before she angrily put the dress on and marched outside.

True to his word, Minato was waiting for her there with a smile on his face. “My! That looks nicer on you than I thought it would,” he said, and leaned in for a kiss.

“Cut the crap and tell me why we're here,” she said, stopping him with her hand. She could feel his laughter in her fingers and groaned.

“Well, I finally came up with a name for the baby,” he said. “I was hoping that the both of us would be able to tell Jiraiya-sensei about it.”

“Oh yeah? What kind of name?” Kushina said, though her eyebrows, raised in curiosity, quickly dropped. “Wait, why do we have to tell Jiraiya about this? Is this some sort of scheme?”

“No, no, it's not a scheme,” Minato laughed, and reached for something on the table. It was a small paperback book with a blank and inconspicuous cover. “The name came from a character in one of his books, so I thought he should be the first to know. See, here it is. He sent me one of the first copies.”

“...wait, doesn't he write, like, erotic stuff?” said Kushina, and scowled. “I won't have anything to do with this if we name him after something like that.”

“He writes adventure stories too, you know,” Minato said, and patted her on the shoulder. “I wouldn't do anything like that. Besides, I haven't even told you what the name is.”

Kushina smiled slightly. “All right, what is it?”

“Naruto.”

“...wait, what? Naruto? Like the little fish cakes you get in your ramen?” Minato nodded. “Oh god, that is absolutely ridiculous...”

“Just bear with me, Kushina. It's a strange name, I know, but it's got a nice little ring to it, doesn't it?”

“No.”

“Hey, I'm the one raising it, so I get the final say.”

“And I'm the one that's actually gonna have it, so I get some say too, all right?” She thumped him on the shoulder with her fist. “It's a weird name, yeah, but it's not bad,” she admitted. “I just think we could pick something better.”

“He's the main character in a series of books he's been working on since forever,” Minato continued, holding out the book for emphasis. “He only finished it recently. This Naruto guy's a wandering shinobi and a real cool guy. Heck, you should read it sometime.”

“Aren't there any other characters you could name him after, if this book means so much to you?” Kushina sighed, after taking the book and flipping through the pages, but not reading them.

“Not really. Most of them are girls.”

Kushina raised an eyebrow and shoved the book back into Minato's chest. “I thought you said this was an adventure book this came out of, not a romance.”

“Who says there can't be romance in adventure stories? Besides,” he added, “they're not all there for show. They're all great warriors! Somehow, I think this is because of Tsunade-sensei.”

“Whatever,” she said, faking a yawn, and he laughed.

“Are you okay with this, though?” he asked her.

She thought for a moment, and laughed as well. “You know what? Sure. I don't really care. Your fault if our kid gets teased for being named after a fish cake,” she said, and smirked in spite of herself. “Promise me you'll rename him if something better comes along, though, okay?”

“Kushina, you are absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much!” he said, and kissed her.

“Hey! Stop that, okay?” she said, pushing him away with her arms. “So, what do I have to do?”

“Just wait in the kitchen until my cue, okay?”

“And your cue would be...?”

“Just come in after I tell him that we're going to name him after the book. And tell him what you think of the name.”

“So... I'm supposed to tell him how weird I think it is?”

He laughed again, putting the book back on the table. “Well, something a little nicer would be better, but I'm sure he'd still appreciate it, hearing it from you.” He gave her a hug. “Really, I appreciate this so much.”

“Enough with the hugging! There'll be time enough for that later,” she said, tugging herself free but still ruffling his hair with affection. “When's he coming over, anyways?”

“Oh, in about five minutes.”

Kushina almost punched him again. “You could have had me get here sooner! God, you're so inconsiderate!” she said, and went stomping into the kitchen. “And I'm hungry on top of that, what the hell...”

“Help yourself to some food, by all means!” he called. “I'm sorry if you skipped breakfast for this!”

“Yeah, sure,” she said, and began to search in the pantry for something to munch on. Jiraiya arrived shortly afterwards, as she heard the door open and close and Minato yell something happily from a bit further away. Hoping her crunching didn't cause too much noise, she stood and waited and listened while eating a bag of potato chips she had found.

“...really glad you could make it. Have a seat!” she heard Minato say, his voice getting louder as the two of them drew closer. “You want some tea?”

“Heh, thanks.” Jiraiya's voice sounded tired. Did he get up too early, maybe?

“I'll go get us some,” Minato said, and entered the kitchen. A teapot sat waiting on the stove, and he poured two cups while winking at Kushina. She stuck her tongue out at him and winked back.

“Here we go...” Minato said, with a light clunk as he set the glasses down.

“So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?” Jiraiya asked.

“What do you think? That book you just finished! I just finished reading it and I gotta say, I'm really impressed!”

Kushina almost laughed. Minato sounded just like a little kid, gushing to his childhood hero.

“Eh, it was okay. I don't think it's my best.”

“Oh come on, you put so much time into it.”

“Time wasted.” His tiredness became much more apparent here, and Kushina stopped eating and put down her bag of chips to listen better. “It's not really worth anything.”

“Come on, you don't really mean that, do you?” She could practically hear the grin in Minato's voice. “I loved it!” There was a rustling of paper as Minato flipped through the book. “It felt like I was reading about your life. It's practically an autobiography!”

“Oh, come on, kid. It's a flop, I've barely sold any copies,” Jiraiya said, his tone almost defeated. “Maybe I should make it more of a harem plot in the next book, I'm a lot better at those...”

Kushina sighed, rolling her eyes. Typical Jiraiya. Still, there was something in the way he said it that seemed unusually sad.

“Nah, it was fine. Don't go saying things like that,” Minato said. “You know what, I think the best thing was that the main character didn't give up. Kinda like you, sensei! It's really admirable.”

“You really think so, huh?”

“Oh yeah. In fact, I was kinda thinking...” Kushina could tell that it was almost time for her entrance, so she brushed the chip crumbs off her dress and took a breath in and out.

“Kushina and I want our son to be a shinobi like the one in that book!”

Kushina almost started laughing from the complete and utter cheesiness. What the hell, Minato!

“That's why we're naming him after the main character,” he continued. There was a pause. “So, what do you think?”

Kushina stepped forward, holding back her giggles, when Jiraiya started to talk.

“Minato, are you kidding me? You're gonna name your kid that?” Jiraiya said. “I just picked it when I was eating some ramen and stuck for ideas.”

“Naruto's a nice name, though,” Kushina said, leaning on the doorway with a smile.

“Kushina?” Jiraiya said, and started laughing as she stepped forward and put her hand on Minato's shoulder. Her grip was fairly firm. “Oh man, now I know you're not kidding.” He scratched the back of his head, before stopping his laughs. “Wait, does this make me his godfather or something? You guys know what you're getting into?”

“Well, yeah!” Minato replied, his smile growing a little smaller and more serious. “You're a great guy, sensei. I couldn't think of a better person for my son to use as a role model.”

“Because naming him after you would be weird, you know?” Kushina added, with a smile of her own. “Better to use a guy who's kinda like you, right?”

“Kushina...”

“What, I'm only telling the truth,” Kushina replied. She winked. “I think it's a pretty good name, myself. And you're gonna have to let me read that book of yours before we decide on anything final, okay?”

“What, so are you going to name him Naruto or not?” Jiraiya said.

“We are!”

“Planning on it. It's still no sure thing, you got me?” Kushina said, squeezing his shoulder a little harder with a mischievous smile. “I'm okay with it for now, but I told him that if something better comes up then we're changing it. No hard feelings then, okay?”

Jiraiya burst into laughter. “Oh man, oh man, you two...” His laughter faded into chuckles. “Come to think of it, since when were you guys making decisions together?”

“Huh?” the two of them said, at the same time.

“Nothing, nothing,” Jiraiya replied, and they turned towards each other, confused. “Either way, I'm absolutely touched. Wow. I'd never expect this, not in a million years.”

“I'm glad you feel that way, sensei.” Minato's smile was a warm smile. “You really mean that much to us.”

“Him, at least.”

“Kushina!”

Jiraiya began laughing again.

-///-

“You didn't have to be that rude to him,” Minato said, after Jiraiya had left.

“Ah, who cares? He didn't. He thought it was hilarious,” Kushina replied, her face stuck in a near-permanent smile. She was most certainly in good spirits. “Come on, I was pretty funny.”

“If teasing me counts as funny...” he said, almost sourly.

“Oh come on, it's adorable. Come here,” she said, and gave him a kiss. “You were good about it.”

“And you were good for coming today,” he replied, smiling warmly as they pulled away, but still held each other. “Does that make us both good sports?”

“I dunno, I just want you to give me my damn pants back.” Minato began laughing. “Come on, where the hell are they? This dress was completely pointless.”

“Well, you do look nice in it.”

“Shut up and give me back my pants!”

“All right, all right,” he said, and began walking into the hallway. “Come on, aren't you coming?”

She sensed more scheming and, laughing a little, followed. He had hidden the pants in the nursery, neatly folded into a shopping bag. “What's this, did you add more?” she said, looking around. Everything was still the same warm green.

“I thought you might want to try the rocking chair, seeing as you didn't have time last time you came over to visit,” he said. “If it's not comfortable enough then I'll just have to get a new one. Maybe you can come, too?”

She looked at him with skeptical eyebrows, before shrugging. “Sure, if the chair sucks. And I hope it doesn't.”

Sitting down, she found the chair to be quite comfortable. “Looks like we won't be going shopping,” she said, with a wink. “It's a nice chair.”

“Then I'm glad I got a good one,” he said, and leaned against the back of the chair, stopping its rocking. “To think that we'll be holding our little Naruto in this chair soon. How much longer now?”

“Two months or so,” Kushina replied. “Or is it one? I can never count these things properly. He's due in September. And we haven't decided on a name, remember?” she added, tugging on his hair playfully.

“We can call him Naruto for now, though.”

“Sure, sure,” she said, and rocked the chair back a little violently to get Minato away from her, giggling as she did so. “Now give me my pants.”

-///-

Though it was only mid-afternoon, Jiraiya finally felt like going to sleep.

He hadn't slept since the day before, his stress and nightmares keeping him from resting peacefully. But hearing Minato and Kushina playfully bicker and tell him they were naming their child after something he had created—almost like they were naming it after him—it was almost exactly what he needed to hear.

Stepping into his house, the cause of his stress lay on the floor, underneath a copy of his book.

It was a letter from Orochimaru saying, in his beautiful handwriting, that he was never coming back. Jiraiya had given the book to him a week before he fled Konoha, and it took nearly a year for the book and the reply to come back.

Taking a deep breath, he took the letter and the book and put them in a drawer before going to sleep and dreaming of happier things.