Kushina was starting to get annoyed; she had been all over the village and had yet to find what she was looking for. Well it wasn't so much as a something as a who. She had tried his apartment, the training grounds, the Hokage Tower and was now combing the village with a fine tooth comb.

It had come to her last night while she was eating ramen, she was in like with Minato and if she wasn't mistaken he was in like with her too. He obviously couldn't muster up the confidence so Kushina had decided to take things into her own hands. Now if only she could find him. She had tracked down one of his students, Obito, and made sure he wasn't on mission but he didn't know where he was either.

On a side note, Obito was probably the only Uchiha she could tolerate, she thought. That Kakashi kid he was training with was in serious need of a vacation though. She knew there was a third member but she hadn't seen him or her and so had no opinion of the kid, she just hoped for Obito's sake the kid wasn't as serious as Kakashi.

Kushina put her hands on her hips as she looked around the crowded street for that bright shock of spiky blonde hair. Really, his hair was so distinguishable that it was even incorporated into his name, The Yellow Flash, finding him should not be this hard. Maybe she had just missed him and after all she had only been searching for three hours, it wasn't even noon yet. Maybe she should just retrace her steps, it wasn't the best plan but it would have to do for now.

XxX

Minato was in a good mood, he had just learned that he was one of the three men who might become the Fourth Hokage. The other two were Danzo and Orochimaru, in his opinion both were far more qualified than he was though both always gave him the odd feeling that they had hidden agendas.

He still couldn't believe that he had been chosen as a possible Hokage, Jiraiya no doubt already knew and would be coming to look for him so they could celebrate. He always knew he was a good ninja, he just hadn't realized he had been on kage level. Talk about an ego boost, the only thing that could make this day any better was if he could finally get up the nerve to ask Kushina out.

He had been attempting what seemed the impossible for over a month now and every time something would prevent it. Sometimes it was being caught in an awkward situation; sometimes there would be too many people around. He was almost ready to talk to Jiraiya about it but then he always remembered the black eyes and red handprints on his cheek, so Jiraiya probably wasn't the best one to ask on dating matters.

He walked aimlessly down the streets with a goofy smile, his thoughts now alternating between being the Hokage and Kushina. It was a minute before he realized that he was in front of the jonin apartment building where his apartment was. He wondered if Kushina was at home briefly before a brilliant streak of red hair caught his attention.

He turned his head to the left to see Kushina running up the street toward him. He wasn't sure if he should be happy that she found him or if he should jump out of her way.

"Minato!" she called when she saw that he had seen her.

He smiled and gave her a friendly wave as she drew closer. When she finally reached him he saw that she was breathing heavy and a little flushed.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

That peeked his interest. "Oh? What for?" he asked as he put his hands in his pockets to keep them busy.

"What are you doing tonight?" she asked.

Huh?

Wait, was she going to ask him out? Wasn't the guy supposed to do that? Well Kushina wasn't exactly conventional by any stretch of the imagination. "I didn't have any plans."

"Good! You're taking me out tonight!" she said brightly and then patted him on the chest. "Pick me up at seven." And with that she flounced off and out of sight.

"O-okay." He said to no one. How did she make that look so easy?

"I better not catch you two fornicating in public again!" came a loud voice next to him.

He jumped in surprise to see the same old lady who had caught them in the storage closet standing next to him. He jumped away in surprise and looked around quickly to see the villagers within ear shot were all glaring at him disapprovingly.

"W-we weren't," he couldn't bring himself to say fornicate. "Doing that, I swear." He said.

"Humph! I know your type you hoodlum!" she said wagging her finger at him.

Minato continued to back up with his hands out in front of him as she advanced on him. He decided now was a good time to make his getaway before she started giving him proper protocol on safe sex. Using the body flicker technique, he vanished in a flash of yellow. He really didn't need to be reprimanded by a crazy old lady in the middle of the street, besides he needed to get ready for his date tonight. His goofy smile was back in place with a vengeance.