Deeper meanings

Summary: Minato is in a particularly good mood today... everyone notices and reacts accordingly. Kushina doesn't notice and still... reacts. OneShot.

Warning: POINTLESS FLUFF! Not exactly random but close to it. Quite plotless, too, but come on... There has to be something like that once in a time.

Based on "Wise Guys – Ich hab geträumt…". Wise Guys are a German A Capella group and the music they produce without any instruments is more than brilliant. "Ich hab geträumt" means "I have dreamed" - and about what exactly will be revealed in the story...

He'd fallen asleep.

Namikaze Minato started up suddenly, snapping to attention from one second to another. Guardedly, he took in his surroundings and was rather surprised to find himself on a small clearing in the forest of Hidden Leafs. How the hell… Ah, yes. Of course. Memory floated back within seconds, making him shake his head in disbelief. He had actually fallen asleep! He checked the sun overhead: it was early afternoon. He hadn't slept long. But…

He felt great.

Getting up and stretching, he tried to make out the reason for the feeling of euphoria that was cursing through his veins. There had been something, something he couldn't quite grasp yet, but it was important and it most certainly was the reason why he felt as if he was about to… No, there was no comparison. He just felt great, like something good had happened, and…

"Minato-sensei!"

Obito's voice sounded clearly annoyed and Minato quickly dusted off his behind and prepared for his students to scold him this time. A few seconds later, three figures appeared on a near tree.

"You're late for training!" Obito grumbled. Kakashi, as usual, kept a straight face, and Rin was smiling. Apparently, nobody except Obito was enraged at his tardiness. "I was on time today and you weren't even there!"

"Sorry, Obito," Minato apologized seriously. "I somehow fell asleep. I don't even know…"

"Have you had a good dream?" Rin asked, still smiling. Minato shifted his gaze to her.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because you're grinning from ear to ear, Sensei," Rin answered and chuckled softly. Obito crossed his arms and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously disrespectful. Kakashi mustered him with his eyebrows raised.

"Am I?"

One should think they already had become used to his usual cheerful expression. But Rin shook her head.

"You look like they've made you Hokage over night."

When her three teammates stared at her doubtful, she sighed in exasperation.

"Really, you should see yourself," she told him and produced a small mirror from her pocket. Kakashi raised his brows at her as well and her cheeks reddened.

"A gift from my mother," she mumbled and held out the mirror for Minato. He regarded his own image and, of course, had to pay his respects to her observing skills: He indeed was grinning unusually madly. Seeing his face in the mirror, he suddenly remembered why he had felt so good when he had woken up…

"Oh," he mumbled, trying to hide the happiness he felt bubbling up on the inside. "Yes. I really had a good dream."

Good was an understatement. Absolutely. He had dreamed of Kushina – he had dreamed she had kissed him, and – although little experience didn't give him much to compare it to – it had been the best kiss in his life. No wonder he felt like he was floating, like he'd be able to do anything today. Her lips were soft and she smelled like soap and lavender and forest, and…

"Looks like you're thinking of going back to sleep," Rin said as she took back the small mirror and hid it in her pocket again. Minato grinned.

"Nah. Get going, kids, we're late for training."

Which was a lie. He totally considered disappearing for another hour, trying to sleep, hoping against all odds the dream would return and he'd be able to kiss her a second time. Or rather: to kiss her back.

"Watch out, Sensei!" Obito yelled, two hours later, when he distractedly stepped backwards and fell into the river. He was so surprised he didn't even consider to do anything and just paddled back towards the river bank where his three students were staring at him in amazement.

"I've never seen that kind of evasive maneuver before," Kakashi remarked, drier than Minato felt. Rin managed to keep a straight face as well.

"Is that the new strategy you wanted to teach us? Just let yourself gracefully get drenched?"

Minato wasn't the person to believe in overly much affection.

Yes, of course, he showed what he felt – even if other people called him naïve or childish, he believed in the importance of smiling when you felt happy. And then, he also believed in smiling when you didn't feel like it. His trademark grins had caused a few uproars, especially when other people felt he was laughing about them. It wasn't like that. It was that Minato smiled when he was embarrassed, when he was happy, when he didn't know what to say, and when he was sad. And when he was angry, his smile became feral but only few noticed the slight difference. Growing up in times of war, the blond shinobi had learned his lesson when it came to showing emotions and had found the easiest thing was to smile.

Showing other emotions, though, was different. He usually guarded both his thoughts and his feelings carefully and there were few people who could say what mood he was in from just seeing his face. Bristling with pride after being named jounin, crying when losing his parents, screaming in rage at the news of new losses at the front lines, or making puppy-eyes at pretty girls just wasn't like him. But today, his grin spoke volumes of what he felt.

"Hey," Minato said happily without listening to them. "The water's perfect!"

He climbed out nevertheless and shook his head like a dog. Water went splashing in every direction and Obito leapt out of the way yelping. "You lazy brats won't get another high-ranking mission unless you stop smirking like idiots and beat me seriously. It's impossible you three still aren't able to land one punch, even if you're working in a team. What would the enemy say?"

"The enemy wouldn't just weasel themselves out of every trap with your special jutsu," Obito mumbled darkly. Rin shook her head.

"Come on, Sensei, you know we're still not good enough to beat you, and-"

"What I know and what you know are two different things," he told her sternly. "Now get ready again."

"You're not even concentrating, Sensei!"

"So what? You can't even beat me when I'm distracted?"

Seeing his widely grinning face, Kakashi tried to surprise him by attacking full-force. Minato dodged him, disappearing from the spot and appearing again a few meters behind them, leaning against a tree trunk, his arms crossed.

"You can do better," he smirked.

A bundle of cloth hit him on the head. "What…"

Rin grinned this time as the mist bomb took its effect. "You are distracted. Is it still the dream you had?"

"Not everything has a deeper meaning, Rin," Minato said from behind her, his blue eyes shining with joy. Kakashi, Obito and Rin sighed.

He felt like walking on air.

It still was the elevation the dream had brought, he guessed, and he couldn't help it. He'd somehow, unexplainably, fallen in love just because he had dreamed of a woman. He'd been pondering the fact for the entire afternoon already, causing Kakashi to criticize his lack of concentration and Rin to smile kindly. Obito had muttered under his breath and thrown him dirty looks. But nothing could destroy his good mood today. Neither the people who called after him angrily – maybe he had run into them without noticing – and neither the people who laughed at him – he guessed his clothes weren't really dry yet, even if he didn't feel their dampness and weight. He had fallen asleep on the little clearing, and he had had a wonderful dream, and now he was wondering whether Kushina's lips really tasted that sweet. If her hair really was that soft.

If she felt for him the way he suddenly found himself feeling for her.

"There you are," Sandaime-sama greeted him when he knocked at the door of the Hokage's office. Minato stepped inside and put down a stack of papers.

"Here are the files you wanted me to have a look on," he said and slumped down in the chair just to jump up again and brush trough the room restlessly. "I really don't know why it has to be me, Hokage-Sama, you have enough people to help you whenever you need help…"

"But I want your help, Minato," Sandaime-sama said gently and puffed his pipe. Minato sighed. He enjoyed helping, but then he really had no reason to be the one chosen by the Hokage to do the paperwork…

"You seem agitated," Hokage-Sama observed and chuckled when Minato spun around so quickly he almost hit the corner of the table.

"Oh, no, absolutely not." Minato smiled. "I had a good day, Hokage-Sama."

"Well, that's nice to hear. May I ask what has happened?"

Minato squirmed slightly.

"Well, I had a good fistful of sleep, I guess."

"So, did you." The smile was even more cryptic. "I assume you're fresh and ready for the huge amount of files and papers we have to check today."

Minato sighed.

He concentrated on his work, but only because he was able to split his mind in two.

Kushina. Kushina.

The name kept replaying in his head and he suddenly found the sound was the most beautiful one in the world. She was twenty, like him, and he had known her for such a long time he couldn't even remember how old they had been then. They always had been good friends. She was funny, and brave, and had so much more energy than necessary… She was enthusiastic and impulsive and her behavior never had been particularly like a lady's. He had never thought of her other than a valuable friend, a great teammate and a good person. But now, after this dream, he knew she was a lot more to him than just a friend.

It was like someone had opened the blinds in front of the window and he suddenly was able to see the sun was shining, like he had been blind and realized he could see again, and…

"Would you please stop humming, Minato, I'm trying to concentrate."

"I'm sorry, Sandaime-Sama."

… and he realized he saw her as a woman.

Her hair was a beautiful cherry-red, her face soft and her features delicate and the curves of her body … were feminine. Very. And sometimes, when she sat next to him, he had smelled her scent, lavender and cherries and forest all in one. Her hands were soft, even though they bore calluses like his, and her eyes were of a deep brown, warm and friendly and amused and laughing and mocking.

He had fallen in love in a dream. But that didn't mean the woman he loved was unreal. If he…

A soft knock made both Minato and the Sandaime Hokage look up from their work.

"Come in!" Sandaime-sama called. The door opened carefully. Still bend over his files; Minato didn't realize who was stepping into the room until he heard her voice.

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama. I just wanted to ask whether…"

His head snapped up. Kushina was standing in the door frame, her cherry-red hair carefully arranged into one long braid, her usual uniform and fighting gear replaced by a simple skirt and shirt. Minato found himself staring at her, totally at a loss of words.

Kushina saw him and, interestingly, blushed to a red as deep as her hair.

Sandaime-Sama watched them with interest.

And Minato definitively was sure her lips were as soft as they had been in his dream.