The Undesired Second Chance

Chapter 31: Tomorrow

Kushina was of the firm belief that she just needed to get the two blond dinguses to talk, so her blond goof would stop acting all mopey.

Shinobi may be inept at working through their own emotional issues in a healthy manner, but they're pros at reading others and nosy enough to want to do something about it. And right now, she knew that Minato was definitely worried.

And she knew it had something to do with his best friend.

Well, his best friend that wasn't her—duh. She was his girlfriend and his best friend, but she figured she could let Axel have the 'best' title. Kushina herself had a best friend, after all, so it was only fair to let Minato have one too.

That's all beside the point, though, except the part where Minato is clearly still worried.

She had managed to push him into crashing the blacksmith lesson, hoping she could get him to unwind if he got to talk with Axel, but that ultimately hadn't gone anywhere. In fact, it might've been a little bit counterproductive since the lesson had to be cut short.

Whatever those weird coin-like things are, seeing them had made Axel go all... quiet. And distracted, which is not a good state to be in when dealing with weaponry.

Honestly, after seeing him like that, Kushina was getting a touch antsy-worried for Axel, too.

Anyway, seeing as Minato had missed his chance to bring up whatever was bothering him at the lesson, she had nagged him into stopping by the next day to try and follow up on things.

Which he did.

However, given he was still all nerves when he got home, Kushina assumed he'd chickened out at the last second. She knew she should have gone too, because even though he's a charming genius, he's also kind of ditzy: sometimes he needs her around to give him that last shove into action.

So she knew what needed to be done next.

"Well alright then," she said, tone determined, and Minato paused his pacing to glance at her. "Tomorrow you'll try again, and this time I'm going with you."

"What?"

She huffed. "Clearly you need an intervention. Or Blondie does—not sure—but either way, I'm coming to make sure it gets done."

"Oh, c'mon, Kushina..." He sounded unsure, or maybe even uneasy.

"You're all antsy about something, and he was being all weird yesterday, and—" She shook her head. "I'm just... I'm worried too, ya know?"

He looked away, to the floor and the path he'd been wearing into the rug for the past half hour or so. "I know, but—"

"What are your little kiddies gonna be up to?" she asked suddenly, glancing toward the window as if they might coincidentally be passing by at just that moment.

Minato blinked at the quick topic change, smart enough to be suspicious of the question. He shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure, really. I gave them the day off." Then he smiled fondly. "They certainly deserve it, they've been working so hard."

"We could invite them to come, too," Kushina mused.

"No way!"

She crossed her arms, benevolently giving him a chance to explain.

"It's just, well..." He sighed. "I don't think Axel would appreciate a big crowd, if we're going to convince him to tell us anything."

Kushina gave him a long look, then a smug grin.

Realizing that he had just implicitly agreed to her coming along—saying 'we' instead of 'I' might as well be an open invitation with her—Minato pressed a hand to his forehead.