A/N: With this, the last chapter has been reached. Thanks to anyone who enjoyed this story, and who dropped me a message to let me know! (Thanks, Rachel :)) You will find (hopefully understandable, accurate) definitions of the chapter titles below this chapter. Also, here the (previously announced) slight deviation from canon plot is taking place, though you will see it changes little of the outcome.

vi. Fractality

…

("Do you always get what you want?" –"Depends on whether I really want it or not."

She had laughed. "Heavens, you are a spoilt kid."

Actually, it had taken a lot more to convince her, but the end was worth the wait.)

…

The birds were singing outside.

Minato was a trained shinobi, used to rising with the sun, so his mind was clear almost instantly. His internal clock, though, told him he still had some time, so he relaxed and kept his eyes closed. These days, his work hours were long and exhausting. That in itself was not the problem. He could deal with work and council meetings, desk time and lunch breaks barely long enough to swallow some soldier pills. Had he fallen asleep on the field bed in his office again? If so, the small, creaking thing had turned surprisingly comfortable suddenly. Kakashi probably would come to wake him soon, with the newest reports and that face that, to the world, seemed to hold no expression but for Minato spelled out his failure in capital letters every day. Obito had died at the Kannabi bridge. Neither Kakashi nor Rin had ever been the same again. But who was he to judge, he thought, feeling the thorn of agony twist inside him. None of them would ever be the same. They had lost Obito and so many others in this war. And despite everything there had been happy moments, because he'd had his team – his kids – and because Kushina had loved him back, and had agreed to marry him, and had become pregnant. And then she had died giving birth to Naruto, and the kyuubi had gone on a rampage, and Minato had been forced to seal the ninetails into his newborn son.

And at the end of the gruesome day Kushina was dead.

He had known her for eight years before he had fallen in love with her. He had loved her for more than three years before she had died. Such a short time, compared to his entire life, so how could it be that nothing seemed to be worth anything with her gone? Oh, Minato still cared for his village, and for his team. And for his son. And still. Kushina was gone and nothing he did could change that. Nothing he ever did would ever bring her back.

He was on his own.

The wind was rustling the leaves of the trees. Soon, Naruto would wake and demand his breakfast, the four-month old baby had lungs like his mother. Minato ought to enjoy the peace as long as it lasted, he knew. Sighing, he buried his head in his pillow, slowly gathering the strength for another day with a toddler, two heart-broken children, a war and a village that had to survive at all costs. He would get through the day because he was strong, because he was the Fourth Fire Shadow, Konoha's Yellow Flash, and-

…

And because Kushina would have wanted it.

…

A long-forgotten memory of his childhood:

The ocean is green, blue and grey, all colors at once after the storm. The air is heavy with the scent of rain but the clouds are clearing away. Already, sun-rays fall onto the sea, refracting, and the song of the ocean is the only sound he hears next to his steady heart-beat. A bird's call shatters the air. The ocean is his home. Minato knows nothing else. He knows its faces and its moods, its sound and scent. He knows there is something on the other side of this vast horizon, a place, a time, maybe, something he hasn't yet learned of. And he knows with a certainty he never even as much as doubted that there is someone on the other side of it, calling out to him.

Waiting for him.

...

Exhaling slowly, he basked in the warmth of the familiar figure next to him. Kushina had been dead for four months now and yet he could still feel her small figure curled up next to him. She'd always slept like that: curled up like a cat, facing him. When he woke up late at night the first thing he saw was her face, peaceful and calm and beautiful in her sleep. The memories were so vivid he could almost smell her. Apple and lilacs and baby lotion. It took Minato a few seconds to realize the scent wasn't only in his memories, but real, and that the warm body so close to his was not a dream, either. His eyes snapped open.

Kushina's green eyes were the first thing he saw, her hair falling into her face, untamed. A smile blossomed on her lips. Minato had only seen her cry three times in his life: once after her kidnapping, once when they had fought over whether he was allowed to love her, and one final time when she had given birth to Naruto. Now, again, her beautiful eyes were full of tears. Minato didn't even bother to check whether she was real or not: he wrapped both arms around her and held on to her like she was the only thing that could save him from drowning.

"Damnit," he said, a long, long time later, and his voice sounded matter-of-fact even to his own ears. "I'm dead."

Predictably, Kushina rolled her eyes at him. "Way to go, idiot. Good to see you haven't lost your observation skills."

All in all, Minato had to say, he had the feeling he was taking it remarkably well. It actually felt like something he had carried on his shoulders for a very long time – a very heavy burden that had cut into his flesh and ground down his bones – finally had been taken from him. He'd been a shinobi since the age of ten. He'd always known that he'd die one day – now it had finally happened. The pang of regret that shot through him was completely anticipated and yet managed to take away his breath.

"Kakashi," he sighed. "Rin. Naruto."

Kushina hung her head. Her beautiful hair fell into her face, obscuring her features. "I know."

She looked so fragile. Minato embraced her again, as tightly as the first time, and realized she was holding him together as much as he was holding her. Together, they let the waves of pain brand over them until it calmed to a constant, dull pain in their hearts: always there, but bearable. The pain was the same: the one of the people left behind, and the pain of the people leaving.

"You did it, Minato," Kushina finally said and carefully pulled back to look into his face. "You ended the war. You saved Hidden Leaf. Everything will be alright now. You defeated Madara, he can't hurt anyone anymore. They are safe." Her face twisted. "Naruto will be safe."

Minato passed a hand over his face. "I should have stopped it faster. It's too late for so many people. So many children…" His voice hitched. Both of them were thinking of the same people.

"There is a future for them, now." Kushina smiled at him softly. "You did well, Minato."

Neither of them wanted to think of the consequences of his actions.

Strangely, her words made tears come to his eyes. He wiped them away furiously, ignoring the sparkle in her eyes that made her so Kushina.

"Have you been able to see them? Tasuku, Hidetsugu and Naoki, I mean? And-"

"Naruto?" She finished, her face losing her smile for the fraction of a second. Then it was back again. "Yes, I watched. I'm so glad all three of them survived. And Naruto!" Her eyes lit up. "I'm so glad he's okay. He's become so big, and it has only been four months. I wish…" She stopped herself, her arms falling again helplessly. "I wish I could hold him one last time," she said quietly.

"He will be fine." Minato felt the absence, too, the gaping hole in his heart. His arms that had held his son so often for the past months felt empty and without purpose. "He'll grow up to be a great shinobi. Who knows? Maybe he'll be Hokage once. He sure has the best genes. And Rin and Kakashi will take care of him, I know they will. The entirety of the village will soon be doting over him."

Kushina laughed; a small, surprised sound. "He's just like you, then."

"He's very much like you," Minato contradicted. For a while, they were silent.

"Minato," Kushina finally said. "I need to ask you something."

At the serious tone of her voice, he looked up and found her staring at him directly. Looking like that, Kushina's eyes were almost grey, a color he associated with when she was dead serious – and very much depended on the answer one gave to her inevitably following question. He'd only once found himself at the receiving end of that glare. That time, he hadn't needed to think about the answer. It had been clear as a day.

"That day…" Kushina stopped and seemed to think over her question one last time. Then she plunged forward without hesitation. While she spoke, her voice changed. "That day Naruto was born – why did you seal the kyuubi into him? Why didn't you seal it back into my body?"

Minato literally had no words. The only thing he could do was stare at her, breathless: Kushina was beautiful, as always, and her face was hard and cold. Dangerous. This, he realized, was what her enemies had seen before she had taken them down. This was Uzumaki Kushina, last child of Whirlpool, heiress to the Uzumaki name and clan. Uzumaki Kushina, bearer and wielder of the kyuubi.

"I…," he said lamely. "I thought…"

"Obviously, you didn't think," Kushina cut him off. "Because if you had thought about it for a second you would have realized that the simplest answer would have been to seal the kyuubi back into me. I was dying, either way. I could have taken it away with me. The ninetails would have disappeared with me, and it would never have been able to threaten Leaf again. I died due to its violence, it would have been different than Mito-Sama's death. I could have made it. It could have destroyed it. But…" Her voice was rising slowly. "But you chose to seal it into Naruto. Into Naruto, Minato, into our child. You doomed him to a life as the vessel of a nine-tailed beast. Instead of sealing it into me, who was already dying, you forced it onto our newborn son."

Minato hadn't realized he'd moved away from her. Her anger was palpable now, radiating off her in invisible waves.

"Why did you do this, Minato? I don't understand. And there are only two possible reasons why you, Namikaze Minato, prodigy, Yellow Flash and Fourth Hokage, could have done something that careless and stupid. And don't tell me you didn't think of it because I don't believe you for a second." She narrowed her eyes. "The first reason is that you thought the kyuubi was too valuable to lose it forever. I can accept you couldn't seal into yourself, seeing as you were the one performing the ritual. But that would also mean you knowingly doomed our child to carry Kurama, and that is inexcusable. And besides, in that case, why didn't you bring another person to act as the vessel?"

Minato lowered his head, unable to meet her eyes.

"The other reason is that you still, despite everything, thought there was a way I could survive. So you sealed the kyuubi into the other person available at that moment, as to not weaken me even more. But that would mean…" She took a deep breath. "That would mean you burdened Naruto with the nine-tails because I was too weak to take it back. That you stupidly and idiotically chose not to kill me but to try and save both of us. You loved me too much to let me go, and that was why you sacrificed Naruto. To save me."

When she did not say anything else, Minato slowly lifted his head to look at her, and saw a world of grief shine from her eyes.

"Minato, if it was that – that you loved me and did not want to let go – that would be too much. I couldn't bear it. Please tell me you had another reason, a good reason, for doing what you did that day."

The scent of forest lingered in the air. Unable to hold her gaze, Minato looked down again. Time passed, slow and fast, and nothing broke the silence between them except for the chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves. There was nothing he could say to reassure her in her doubts. There were no words to sooth Kushina's pain, the pain of a woman who had lived a life other people barely could fathom. She'd been taken from her family at the age of six to be brought to another village where she was held as some sort of hostage. She had endured loneliness and exclusion. She had had few friends only and even those she had to fight for. She had been abducted, had seen her village in ashes and her family dead, had taken on the burden of the kyuubi and had been shunned for it. Uzumaki Kushina had given her life to the village that was Hidden Leaf and nothing she had ever gotten for it would be enough to weight up the debt Hidden Hidden Leaf owed her. Not even Minato could give her enough, and he certainly had given her more than others ever had. He had, at least, tried.

…

But there was nothing he could say.

…

And then: a miracle.

For the first time since Minato knew Uzumaki Kushina – and probably for the first time in her life – she left one of her own questions unanswered. She did not push or prod or even just look at him. Instead, she looked down and shook her head softly, smiling a smile that threatened to turn watery at any moment. Minato touched her face carefully, lifting her chin so she had to look him in the eyes. Everything he felt – everything he'd ever thought of her, everything he loved about her and how much he loved her, he tried to convey with his eyes and his touch.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

He didn't know what he was apologizing for.

"I didn't want glory and honors," Kushina whispered. "I just wanted someone for me. Just you, Minato. I'm sorry it turned out like this."

A voice, clear as crystal, calling out for him. Waiting for him, however long it would take. Eyes as green as the ocean.

I'm not.

He kissed her eyes and her forehead, her nose, her cheeks and her lips. She tasted sweet. He never wanted to stop.

"I just…" She hesitated.

"Go on."

"I just wish I could see Naruto one more time. When he's a bit older, maybe. To tell him I love him, whatever happens."

"You will." Minato thought of the piece of Kushina's and his own chakra he had anchored in Naruto, and wrapped his arms around her. "I promise. You'll see him again one day. And he'll be amazing."

Kushina smiled into his shoulder, her arms around him tightly. "I am sure he'll be."

Strange how sometimes, symmetry only became visible when looking at it from far away. Kushina's body fit his like she was made for him, and Minato was pretty sure that was the case.

Always had been.

"I love you."

A/N: Definitions from the Oxford Dictionary, Wikipedia and myself. Just for fun. (And those who didn't want to look it up :)) (Some definitions result from a combination of wikipedia entries in two languages and thus might not be worded mathematically correct.)

1. Asymmetry (Noun, plural asymmetries). Lack of equality or equivalence between parts or aspects of something.

2. Point Symmetry (Noun, also: point reflection). An object subjects to point symmetry when it can be copied unto itself by a reflection at a symmetry point in the plane.

3. Reflection Symmetry (Noun, also: axial reflection, line symmetry, axial symmetry or mirror symmetry). An object subjects to reflection symmetry when it can be copied unto itself by a reflection along a vertical axis.

4. Prochirality (Noun). In stereochemistry (chemistry of the relative (spatial) arrangements of atoms in an organic molecule), prochiral molecules are molecules that can be converted into chiral molecules in one single step.

5. Chirality (Noun). A chiral molecule is a molecule that has a non-superposable mirror image, meaning the two mirror-images cannot, under any circumstances, be superimposed (neither by point or reflection symmetry, by rotation or such). The example generally used to describe this effect is the one of a pair of hands: while right and left hands are mirror images of each other, they cannot be superimposed by any symmetrical action.

6. Fractality (Noun, derived from: fractal). A fractal is a natural phenomenon describing a pattern which is not symmetrical itself but possesses a repeating pattern when regarded from the distance.

For more information, check wikipedia or other references.

Thanks for reading!