Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters.

Hey, apergis here. Just another story I cooked up. I've been having MAJOR writer's block lately, and I'm OCD about the smallest things in my writing. I'm sure you other writers understand. Well alright, hope you enjoy this and please don't be too harsh in the reviews.

No one ever stood in Kushina Uzumaki's way. At least...that's what she thought until she met him. Somehow, some way, Minato Namikaze always found a way to ruin Kushina's day. Kushina had graduated a year earlier than usual from the Shinobi Academy to become a Genin; Minato graduated three years earlier. She had aced nearly every test in the Academy, while Minato had aced all of them.

Then he had gotten Jiraya for a sensei, one of the Legendary Sannin. No doubt he was learning all kinds of sweet techniques, things she may never learn. Whenever she saw Minato over the next few months, Jiraiya-sama had been close behind, always teaching and guiding. She had been...annoyed by their relationship. She didn't want to use the word "jealous".

She had breezed her way through the Chuunin exams, carrying her team through every challenge that came before them, only to be easily defeated by a quiet kid with yellow hair. And what pissed her off even more was that he had basically carried her off the battlefield and told her she had fought hard and should be proud. Proud of what? Give me a fucking break.

When the time came for her to be promoted to Jonin, she was ecstatic. None of her peers that she had grown up with were even close to reaching that level of responsibility. All except one. Fucking Minato. She saw him very few times after she reached Jonin, and that was fine with her. Every time he spoke to her, she had the strong impulse to deck him square in the face. Maybe because he was so ridiculously polite all the time. What was the word she had used to describe him once? Flaky. Yeah, that was it. He was a total flake. A flake that was better than her at virtually everything.

And now, as she sat in the first war meeting of the month, she realized she was glaring at him from across the table. She looked away quickly, thanking everything that is holy that he hadn't noticed. But had anyone else? She looked around the table quickly at all the other important Jonin that the Hokage had deemed fit to call to this meeting. Everyone seemed to be looking at the Hokage, who was sitting on the end of the table, listening intently to what he was saying. Shit...I should probably be doing that. God...I gotta get outta here.

Kushina had been sure about one thing her entire life...and one thing in particular. She had severe ADD, or attention deficit disorder. Her talent as a shinobi usually made up for it, but it was real bitch getting through long briefings without her mind wandering in a hundred different directions. At the moment though, it was only going in one direction, and that was enough to cause her to tune out everything the Hokage was saying. Fucking Minato Namikaze, and her hatred for everything that he did and said. His name from the Hokage's mouth jerked her attention to the old man for a moment.

"Minato, I'll need you to take your Genin squad into Iwagakure territory and oversee the destruction of the Kannabi Bridge. That'll cut off a major supply line for our enemies. There'll be some resistance, but I know you can handle it. There's no one I would trust more to look after a team of Genin." The Third said, earning a smooth nod from Minato.

"There won't be any resistance if all the enemies run away like last time." Shikaku Nara said, earning a few laughs around the table. Kushina rolled her eyes and remained silent.

Shikaku thoroughly annoyed Kushina. She had never met someone who was so lazy but still managed to succeed at most everything they tried. The fact that Shikaku could slack off and still be an elite Jonin, while she had to work hard to maintain it, pissed her off. Of course, she would never let him know that. Plus, he had been one of the leaders in what Kushina called "make fun of Kushina because she has funny-colored hair campaign" back in their Academy years. They were all too old for such jokes now, but Kushina was still self-conscious of her hair beacuse of all those times.

"Alright, I'm sure everyone knows what they have to do. If you have any questions, you all know where to find me. Things are stacked against us right now, as much as I don't like to admit it. We're fighting a war on two different fronts and trying to save our allies in the process. I want you all to know before you leave that I have supreme confidence in everyone in this room. Thank you for coming and godspeed." The Third said, approving nods and words of approval from many of the Jonin in the room.

Kushina stood up and stretched, yawning as she did so. Chairs were pushed out from the table and one by one, the elite Jonin of the village filed out of the conference room. Soon the room was filled with conversation of Jonin who hadn't seen each other in months because missions kept them apart, or just friends who hadn't left yet, She was about to leave when Fugaku Uchiha approached her.

"Hey...Uzumaki, you're looking good as usual. What's up?"

"The usual shit. You need something?"

"I was just gonna ask if you wanted to grab some dinner with me tonight. I'm buying." Fugaku said, obviously trying to be as smooth as possible.

"I think I'll pass. I got some stuff to do tonight." Kushina said, hoping he believed her. Her night was completely free as far as she knew, she just didn't feel like going out, especially with a stuck-up Uchiha that would probably try to get her drunk and take advantage of her. She had heard stories about Fugaku and his womanizing ways.

"Suit yourself. I got another girl to go with anyway." He said, crossing his arms and giving her a confident look.

"Have fun with that." Kushina said, turning and starting toward the door with a quickness.

"Oh I will. You're gonna miss out on the fun tonight, sweetheart. I'd love to get a sexy little thing like you, but I heard you were a cold fish...from a few people, actually." Fugaku said cockily, causing heads in the room to turn and look at him in surprise. Kushina's cheeks started to burn, from both anger and embarassment. She spun around and squared up to the black-haired Uchiha, ready to kick ass if need be.

"You better watch your damn mouth. I'm not one of your whores that you can just say whatever you want to, and I never will be. Now fuck off, dirtbag." Kushina said, mouth flowing in her anger. It occured to her that the entire Uchiha clan would probably be out to kill her now that she had talked to one of their most prized members like that, but she really couldn't bring herself to give a shit.

"I'd be careful, Uzumaki. Wouldn't want anything to happen to that pretty face of yours. You piss off the wrong people, and bad things could happen. Very bad things."

"How about I do some bad things to you right now. You and your Sharingan don't scare me. It's not gonna stop me from beating your face in." Kushina said, her blood boiling. She was definitely hoping he'd throw the first punch. She had always wanted to pound on one of those cocky Uchiha, thinking they're better than everyone else.

"Both of you, calm down now."

Kushina turned to see who had spoken and was shocked to see Minato standing there, looking from her to Fugaku and back again. His cold blue eyes rested on her, and she froze in place for a moment. Just when she was ready to speak, Fugaku spoke first.

"How about you keep your nose out of this, Namikaze?" Fugaku said, staring down the blonde-haired Jonin. But Kushina heard something else in the Uchiha's tone...hesitation perhaps? He had sounded like he didn't want to say anything to Minato at all.

"Hey, you keep talking to Minato that way and I'll beat your ass! He deserves more respect from a punk like you!"

Kushina froze...her mind taking in what just spilled out of her mouth. She looked from Minato to Fugaku what seemed like ten times, both men looking at her, before she turned and ran from the room. A few people tried to stop her on her way out, people she recognized as friends, and she thought she heard Minato yell her name, but she paid no heed. Within minutes she was out of the council building and running down the street towards her apartment building.

She stopped outside her front door and sat on the top step of the stairs leading up to her porch. What the fuck? Was I just defending my worst enemy? What the hell is going on? She had raised her voice in Minato's defense, when Fugaku had told him to mind his own business. The Uchiha was right, even if he was a dirtbag. That argument was between her and Fugaku, Minato shouldn't have butt in, but the words had just popped right out. And then I just ran out...like some sort of coward! They all probably think I'm a complete idiot!

"Are you alright, Kushina?"

Kushina nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice from the foot of her stairs. She looked up, ready to explain that she was perfectly fine, when she saw it was Minato standing there, looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face. In all the time she had known him, he never let his emotions show on his face, and he was very good at it. She tried not to let her utter surprise show, but she knew she was failing miserably. She decided to resort to her usual means of defense in these sort of situations.

"I'm fine blondie. Go bother someone else, I'm busy." Even though she clearly was not. It occured to her that she had reprimanded Fugaku for speaking to Minato the same way she just did.

"You don't look very busy to me." Minato said with an amused smirk.

"Well I am dammit! What's it to you anyway, Namikaze? Why do you have to stick your nose into everything for?" Kushina asked, perhaps more angrily than she had intended, but her mind was still racing over what had happened just moments before.

"Because we're going to be working together on my next mission. I needed to talk to you. The Hokage didn't bring it up at the meeting and he was going to tell you before you...well...you ran out."

"WHAT? The Hokage is making me work with...you?" Kushina asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Is there a problem?"

"Hell yeah there's a problem! In case you haven't noticed, Namikaze, I don't like you. And I probably never will. So, you're gonna have to tell the Hokage to find someone else to go with you, because this just isn't going to work out...are you even listening to me?" The entire time she was talking, he just stood there and stared at her, an unreadable expression covering his face. He didn't respond for a few seconds, and suddenly he turned and started to walk away.

"Hey...where you goin'? Don't just walk away when I'm talking to you!" She said, about to go after him when he turned his head slightly and said...

"Tomorrow morning. The front gate to the village. Bring plenty of supplies and ninja gear."

"I told you already! I'm not going! Find someone else!"

"See you tomorrow, Kushina." And with that he was around the corner and out of sight.

She nearly collapsed on the steps in front of her own home. How do I always get into these kind of situations?