AN: So, I haven't really been keeping track of how many fics I've done, but by my count this'll be 25. Kickass! That's half way to 50, yosh, so excited! I wanted to thank all you awesome readers for helping me get this far and I also wanted to give you this, a new fic! oAo

So please enjoy and tell me what you thought about it!

Disclaimer: nothing of Naruto belongs to me...I'm just a Narutard =D

That woman.

She always seemed so distant from everyone else.

Almost like she didn't want to be there.

Around other people.

But she was absolutely gorgeous, and I envied Jiraiya sensei for having spent the most time with her.

The few scarce times she was at a gathering, she had my full attention. Those eyes, a mix of honey and whiskey, would just absolutely glow and sparkle in the sun. Like coffee colored jewels cut at the perfect angles, they caught the sun and reflected the beams.

"Listen kiddo, I know she's hot, but you can't just stare at her like that. It's way too obvious!" Jiraiya sensei's big hand would come down on my back whenever he caught me staring. And I would jump, so lost in my own little world with her as the sun.

So I would try better the next time, I would inconspicuously hide half of my face behind my sensei's leg, the other half focused on her. I'd use his long alabaster hair as a sort of shield to hide my own blonde spikes. But she was sharp, and she would always feel my eyes on her and turn to meet them.

I remember it was the first time I saw her, I was still very young, just past my seventh year when she came striding up with my perverted sensei.

They sway in her hips was hypnotizing.

The way her hair shone in the sun, like strands of gold.

The way her eyes met mine instantaneously.

And then the look of shock -or was it curiosity? - that crossed her soft face.

"Minato my boy! This is my teammate, Tsunade-hime." He jerked his thumb over to where she was standing, an awkward two-foot distance between her and I.

How I managed to croak out a greeting is beyond me, but the way she answered was the most stimulating but calming thing I've ever heard, to this day, nothing comes close.

"Hello Minato." It was like she already knew me, like she had studied me for years before she first spoke to me. And I felt it too, like I had seen her somewhere before, or had spoken with her once before.

Like we had known each other since birth.

That night I ran home, eager to get to a mirror.

When I finally flooded into my small apartment, I was barely able to kick my shoes off and drop my bag near the door without tripping.

The days' excitement had me eager, the thoughts that went through my mind the moment I saw her were too much to keep to myself and I was bursting at the seams with questions and doubts.

I knew from the taunting I'd received at the Academy that absolutely nobody in this village had blonde hair, that blue eyes were foreign here and that it wasn't normal. That I wasn't normal.

But that woman.

She was blonde; a light blonde with highlights of gold streaking through the tresses like it had been sprinkled on like sugar.

But nobody made fun of her.

Nobody dared so much as look at her wrong.

But they'd look at her, and then they'd look at me.

Curiously.

Did you see that boy? He looks like-!

Hush! Don't go saying things like that!

It was the oddest thing, and at first, I paid it no mind.

But now,

It was getting worse.

Now that I had been placed on Jiraiya sensei's team, it was becoming more and more frequent.

Looking at myself in the mirror, tugging at one of my blonde spikes, examining it like some rare and costly specimen, that's when it clicked.

It was an infantile reason for me to think so, but it was enough to get me excited.

The colors matched.

To the t.

"Hey, Minato." It was the other boy on my team, Sarutobi.

He strode up to me in our line, eyeing the back of our leader's head with some kind of questionable gaze, then turning to me with a face that looked like satisfaction.

"You look like her."

"Do not!" I snapped back quickly, face flushed at the audacity.

"Do to." His smirk was evil as he cocked his head over in her direction.

"You've got that temper too." That's when I started to ignore him completely, not wanting to give him that satisfaction.

But as I looked back to the briefing Lord Hokage had delivered himself, with an ill looking Jiraiya beside him, my resolve may have weakened.

"As you three can see, your sensei is a tad under the weather." Lord Hokage smiled, a worn hand holding the dark pipe he sucked on. His white robes were loose and I couldn't see why he could wear something so ridiculous in this heat.

"Its just allergies! I'm fine." He went to get up, but a manicured hand grabbed him by the shoulder and sat him back down.

"Right, and I'm a man." It was her again, but she was dressed differently, in combat gear. Her jounin vest looked worn and faded, and the forest green coat that draped from her shoulders and ended at her knees added even more to the blended look of her.

It was just that shock of blonde that made her stick out.

I had the same problem.

"My other student, Tsunade-hime, will be leading you on this mission. She has just as much experience as Jiraiya here, so you three are in excellent hands."

"You know I'm right, dude."

"So what if you are?" For being such a mellow kid, he sure knew how to get on your nerves. I miss him.

Pissy as I was, I didn't even notice the trap that lay before me.

To this day, I can still feel the sting.

It was a flare trap, used to pelt intruders with any and every sharp object imaginable and a bright flare shot up in the sky to alert the guards that there were enemies.

I caught the girth of it, nine kunai in my left leg, three shuriken in my back, and eighteen senbon in my chest.

And I froze where I was, standing there in shock for a second before I tumbled to the ground, my head inches from hitting a rock.

But she caught me, her arms were so comforting as she brought me close to her body, picking me up and darting off into a nearby tree where the others had scattered to.

"Minato!" She hissed worriedly, her eyes wide and fearful as she examined me over and over. I think I groaned or emitted some pained noise that got her even more panicked.

"Hold on, kiddo. It's gonna be okay." Her voice was so smooth and gentle, like she was talking to a little baby.

I felt her smooth my hair back and out of my face, wiping away the chilling sweat I had broken out into.

My vision was getting fuzzy and my hearing was starting to dull, so much to the point where her worried cries were muffled into blips of white noise.

Her hands travelled down my body, numbing the places where sharp objects had embedded themselves in my flesh and then pulling them out.

I thought to myself, at least she'll be the last thing I see.

As I started to close my eyes, I felt this drop of moisture fall to my face, exploding on my cheek. It made my eyes snap open and meet hers; those beautiful whiskey orbs were bleeding on me.

"C'mon Minato, honey. Stay awake."

"Okay." Her eyes widened and she smiled, her healing hands pressing down further and pumping more and more healing chakra into me.

And that's when they came.

Hoards of them, a small army came charging, I could hear the beat of their feet on the earth below as they came closer.

She finished with me, smoothing my hair back a few more times and telling my other teammate how to hold the bandages down so I wouldn't bleed out anymore than I already was.

She said she would go deal with our guests.

"Blondie!" It was this grotesque holler that made me cringe, and she turned on the tree branch, eyes piercing the ugly man.

"Well holy shit, there she is! And she's got brats with her too, fellas!"

She stood up.

Her coat billowed in a small wind.

Her hair floated around her.

Her fists curled into shaking white knuckled balls of fury.

"Who laid the trap?"

He was the first to go.

When she finished, she came back up onto the branch, blood splattered on her vest and a few drops on her ivory skinned face, checking on me first and smiling when I was able to sit up straight.

"You're quite the tough guy." She laughed, ruffling my hair.

"Well, I got what we came for, so lets head home." She pocketed the scroll she flashed and picked me up, gently heaving me onto her back and jumping down from the tree.

But not all of them were exactly dead.

"Good god…" He panted, gathering himself and standing up, holding a hand to a very bloody wound on his chest as he stared in utter astonishment.

"You have a son."

That's when it finally clicked for me.

All the anxious meetings and awkward hellos, it all finally made sense.

"You have a son!" The dying soldier screamed, throwing a kunai our way with all his remaining strength and turning to run.

"She has a son! The sannin woman has a son!" There was nobody within a good mile of our location to hear him, but I could still feel her shoulders tighten after every shout the man bellowed.

It was unnerving her.

She put me down, making sure I was stable enough to stand, and then chased after him.

Like lightning she moved, chasing him like a lion chases a gazelle.

Taking him down.

Tearing him up.

Leaving his bloody carcass there for the vultures.

She hefted me up on her back again, silently heading the line as we made our way back home.

"Wouldn't want to put you in unnecessary danger." That was all she said when I asked about that man. And I knew not to press any further.

Ten years later, I was back in the Stone, and being hunted my first day in.

It wasn't because we were in the middle of a war.

No, no, no, that would be too simple.

They hunted me because someone heard him.

Because I was blonde.

Because I was hers.

Ahhhh, yes! Twenty-five, bb! It feels good! I liked this one, it was fun to write because it was trippy the way I was writing, it must be the allergy meds or whatever. :)

I hoped you all liked!

PEACE :P