Hello again, I'm back with chapter six! It might be a bit on the short side but I hope you all enjoy it! This chapter is the start of an idea I've had since I started thinking about this story. There's a character in the world of Ranma 1/2 that, under the circumstances of this stories world, has no reason to wait till later in the story to show up. I've been working out how I should bring them into the story and I think this is the best way.

(Marshalanime does not own Naruto or Ranma 1/2)

Kushina, while being a single mother who hasn't officially worked in years, was quite the busy woman. She was use to being the responsible one of the group who watched out for the others, cooked most of the meals, made sure everything was neat and tide, and all of that and more on top of being Naruto and Ranma's instructor alongside Genma. Now that they were living with the Tendo's she'd have to get use to sharing this work load with Soun's eldest daughter, Kasumi Tendo. It felt odd to the woman, sitting there on the walkway with a cup of hot tea sitting next to her as she watched someone else take care of the laundry. Heaven knows how many times she had to fight tooth and nail just to get Ranma or Naruto to help her do it, making this situation even more alien to her.

You'd think it'd be normal to take this kind of opportunity to just sit back, relax, and enjoy a day like this, but without Ranma or Naruto around she found herself without anything to do. In other words, she was board. "Kasumi, is there anything you need me to do?" Kushina asked the young woman as she moved her head to rest in the palms of her hands whit her elbows resting on her thighs.

Pausing as she hung up one of Kushina's dresses Kasumi looked over her shoulder at the red haired woman watching her, a thoughtful look on her face. "Well... I'm not sure there's I need, but if you're looking for something to do then, I guess you could go out and pick some things up for dinner" Kasumi told the woman.

"Just leave it all to me!" Kushina responded, quickly standing up with a smile on her face. It's been years since she went to the shopping district so it'll be fun to see it again.

"Okay, just give me a minute and I'll jot down what we need" Kasumi told the woman, happy to see her so full of energy.

As Kushina walked from shop to shop looking for the best prizes and chatting with the owners her mind started to wonder. 'It really has been a long time, hasn't it?' Kushina thought to herself as she looked around at all of the new buildings and shops, a warm smile gently gracing her lips as she thought of past memories. The last time she was in this part of town was when her and Minato had visited Soun and his family. She was already pregnant with Naruto during that visit, but they wouldn't have know that for another four days after that. Kasumi and Nabiki were so little back then, it's no wonder neither of them really remember her.

"You're a natural, Minato. You'd make a wonderful father" Mrs. Tendo, a woman with gentle features and short, slightly curvy sky blue hair told her blond friend. She was sitting in the parlor with him and Kushina and had given Nabiki to Minato to hold for a bit.

Sitting there with the young girl cradled in his arms the man gave her a sheepish grin. "You really think so?" Minato asked the woman with a faint tinge of pink on his cheeks. "I'd be lying if I said I'd never thought of it" Minato told her.

"Not so fast there mister" Kushina said to her husband with a playful smirk as she leaned over and gently flicked his forehead, getting his attention. "I'm the one who has to give birth before you become anyone's father" Kushina said with mirth as Minato blinked a few times and looked into her violet eyes. Kushina had thought about what it'd be like to have a child herself, but she wasn't about to let this chance to tease her darling go to waste.

"Well I think you'd both make wonderful parents" Mrs. Tendo told them as her oldest daughter came into the room. "I can already picture it, our children will be the closest of friends, I'm sure of it" the woman said as Kasumi stumbled over to her mother and Mrs. Tendo's hand came up to pat her head as the young girl clung to her mother's dress.

"Of course they will!" Kushina happily told the woman. "We'll bring our little girl over to play all he time" the red haired woman said with a big grin from just thinking about it.

"Girl?" Minato questioned as he looked at his wife while Nabiki softly yawned in his arms.

Seeing the look on his face had Kushina stifling a laugh. "I've got a fifty-fifty chance of being right, don't I?" Kushina remarked, getting blank looks from both Minato and Mrs. Tendo.

After a moment Mrs. Tendo's hand came up to cover her mouth in an attempt to cover up her chuckle. "If you have a daughter then Minato might just worry himself ragged with all the boys she's bound to attract" the woman told them.

Folding her arms Kushina nodded. "She'd be a handful alright" Kushina said, getting another chuckle from her friend as Minato sat by her with a strained smile. He wanted to be a father, but there were some things the man looked forward to more than others.

Kushina's eyes began to moisten at the thought of her late husband and deceased friend and her hand came up to wipe away the fledgling tears. The last time she had walked down this street was during that visit when her and Mrs. Tendo went out to pick up some ingredients. After what happened on the day Naruto was born Kushina had become to weak and sickly to safely leave the village for quite a number of years. As a result that was one of the last times she had seen her friend.

With her eyes dried, for the most part, Kushina turned her head up to the sparsely clouded sky above. 'I doubt it's the way you pictured it, but Naruto's finally getting to know your daughters. Fortunately I didn't have to worry about girls flocking around him, even if he took after Minato in the looks department. It's probably good for Akane too since they might get married. If everything goes well that is. Doesn't that sound wonderful? Oh, I guess I should mention that Genma's little girl is getting to know them too. She has a crush on Naruto so there's a little tension between her and Akane, but I'm sure they'll be inseparable once they get to know each other' Kushina told her old friend as she looked up at the vast sky while people walked by her with a few odd glances her way.

Lowering her head a small smile graced her lips as the woman lightly shook her head, her red locks of hair gently swaying with the movement. 'What am I thinking? If you could hear me from a place like this then you'd already know that' Kushina thought to herself, feeling a little silly. 'I need to pick up the rest of these items' Kushina told herself as she started to walk again.

'Hmm... Ranma...' the woman thought as she passed by a few more stalls. With all of this thought about the Tendo family Kushina had almost forgotten about the Saotome side of things. 'I wonder how Nodoka is? The last time I saw her was before our trip to China' the Uzumaki woman started to think as she walked up to a stall run by an elderly woman with a welcoming smile and hand carved cane.

Ever since her health had improved enough for her to leave Konoha Kushina had been paying regular visits to Nodoka Saotome, even getting into the habit of ferrying letters between her and Ranma after a few of her visits where she'd talked about how the young girl had been doing. Kushina could still fondly remember the time when Nodoka had opened up one of Ranma's latter to find that the girl had slipped a picture of herself in for her mother. Nodoka was so happy to see her little girl, even in picture form, that she cried tears of joy. Kushina then took a photo of Nodoka after the woman told her that she wanted Ranma to have one of her so that she'd always remember her dear mother.

"Genma, you idiot" Kushina said under her breath as the old woman tending the stall handed her her change.

"What was that missy?" the old woman asked, holding a hand up to her ear to hear better.

"Eh?" blinking in surprise Kushina stared at the woman as she pocketed the change. "Oh, it's nothing really, just talking to myself" Kushina told the woman with a short wave of her hand.

"Ah, I see" the old woman responded with a big grin. "I can relate! Yep, I can relate!" the woman told her as she placed both hands on her cane. Leaning over the counter the woman gave Kushina a mischievous look. "Sooo, tell me missy, what's on your mind?" the woman asked.

"Oh, no, it's really not that interesting" Kushina told the woman with a gentle smile. not really wanting to get into something like this with a complete stranger.

"That so?" the granny responded, her enthusiasm pittering out as she leaned back to stand straight up behind the counter. "Well, if you ever need an ear to talk off you know where to find me" the woman told her.

"I'll keep that in mind" Kushina told the woman as she left the small store.

Back on the street and left to her thought again Kushina's mind went back to her friend's family. As much as she didn't wan to admit it, she could understand why Genma took Ranma with him when she was so young. He wanted her to grow up into a skilled and powerful fighter, but to keep daughter and mother from seeing each other at all was beyond Kushina's ability to understand. Had she not been stuck in a hospital bed at the time she would've tracked him down and hauled him back to Nodoka before and after beating the living hell out of him. Often Kushina had thought about just taking Ranma with her on one of her visits but there was always something that came up, preventing her from reuniting the two.

As the thought passed through Kushina's mind her eyes widened and she came to a sudden stop again. Ranma was going to be staying at the Tendo residence for a while and Nodoka's house wasn't too far away. Realizing that she's never had a better chance to bring Ranma and Nodoka together a wide smile spread across Kushina's face.

Picking up her pace Kushina was practically floating on air as she worked to get the shopping done quickly. The sooner she can get everything back home the sooner she can go get Nodoka and the less time anything has of ruining this. Just thinking of the moment the two finally meet face to face made Kushina giddy.