Teacup Sky

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.

In a moment she'll slip. Kakashi thinks dizzily. Which is ludicrous in retrospect, as Kushina-sama is a kunoichi of the highest calibre, and has balance down to an art form. She spins to glance at him then, the empty drop beyond the monument framing her form like a striking taunt. He doesn't even want to imagine what Minato-sensei would do to him if she fell.

Kushina shifts, the sun turning her hair a fiery vermilion, and emphasising the curve of her unborn child. The currents of air twist around her and Kakashi takes an involuntary step forwards as her sandals arch on the edge of the precipice.

"Did you tire of your team already Kakashi?" Her voice is bright and airy.

"Not quite, Kushina-sama. Minato-sensei implied that there were better uses of my time than distracting his guards." He admits, recalling his sensei's agitated aura and uncharacteristically mocking tone.

"If you're so determined to avoid gate-guard duty Kakashi, then perhaps keeping my errant fiancée company will prove a better use of your time and skills."

"He's been behaving erratically all week." Kushina snorts. "Something about the balance of his seals and fluctuations in chakra."

"He has been a bit on edge." Kakashi offers delicately, silently wincing at his wording. "It could be nerves over his impending fatherhood."

"A true romantic, isn't he!" A laugh. "I don't think so. More likely that Jiraiya's sudden absence left him off balance." She intones, leaning to view the sharp, downward drop, and missing the way Kakashi starts in vague alarm.

His figure tenses as she rocks forward, extending her leg in a high arc, reminiscent of a circus entertainer dancing on a too-thin rope.

"Kushina-sama! Please-" He cuts himself off, flushing as she casts him an amused glance. Kushina steps backwards in acquiescence, smiling fondly as she motions him closer.

"Sit with me Kakashi. I'm more than willing to adopt Minato's darlings during his darker moods." She makes no mention of the fact that Minato has only one protégé left.

"There was one mission you took with Minato-sensei, before he became Hokage that sensei refuses to elaborate on, but it seems to send Jiraiya-sama into fits of laughter every time its mentioned." Kakashi prompts, sinking down beside her. Her chakra is radiant with the arresting hints of a baby's chakra intertwined within.

The laugh he receives in return is compelling. "That mission was the one near Tea Country with the rather unusual whorehouse." Kushina's voice is full of mirthful amusement as she proceeds to regale him with an entirely filthy story involving an ornamental sword, a decidedly feminine kimono and a great deal of sake during his sensei's stint at a pleasure house.

The sun casts dark shadows across Konohagakure's buildings as it vanishes, and the village's young Hokage turns away from the rising moon. He does not need to imagine the stark ink of his seals hissing with a bjuu's poisonous energy, nor the indistinct nine tails which fan behind his pregnant fiancée's shadow.

Two days later, the Kyuubi is torn from Kushina's chakra lines and rampages, enslaved under a new master. Kakashi never forgot the darkness in Kushina's furious gaze.

"I won't fall sensei!" Uzumaki Naruto laughs, taking half a step forward on the edge of the Hokage monument. The sun turns his hair a windswept gold.

Author's Note: So, this is full of vague insinuations and obscure implications.