Change | Minato Namikaze

五

Airi's back slammed into the ground, the air being knocked from her lungs. As she gasped for air, a shadow loomed over her and she made eye contact with the blue eyes of the person responsible for her current predicament. Minato had that apologetic look in his eyes yet again.

She didn't know why, but it had been permanently etched into his features since they began training together. It wasn't as if getting roughed up didn't come with the territory. Training with the strongest shinobi of their generation whilst not remembering any ninjutsu at all... well, this was bound to happen.

"Are you sure you don't want to start with the basics? It's okay if we do-"

"No... as you said before, it's all there, I just need to trigger my muscle memory." Her voice was hoarse from all the effort she had been putting in. Exhaustion creeped in, but she had to push through. It wouldn't be long before he had to start going on missions again. It wouldn't be but six more months before he took command of his genin team.

"Ok, do you want a break?"

"No I'm- shit... ok maybe a short one." She groaned after realizing she may have pulled something in her leg. Minato helped her up and they sat beneath the shade of a tree at the edge of their training grounds. It wasn't so hot at this time of year so that was a plus.

"It seems like you might be remembering some taijutsu. So maybe it won't be long before you start to grasp ninjutsu."

"Yeah... maybe." She mumbled, cringing inwardly. Airi didn't really remember anything at all. It had been six months and nothing. It didn't feel like she had recovered anything. Not even muscle memory.

"I know it's been a long time, but I won't give up and neither should you."

"Maybe you should just forget about me. I might just be a lost cause at this point."

"If I had believed that at all, I wouldn't have spent all of six months trying to help you. You've just gotta believe that this will work."

"Six months is a long time, Minato. What if it's all gone? What if I'm useless now?" She wanted to cry but she couldn't. Not again. Not in front of him.

"Even if you never remembered ninjutsu or taijutsu, you wouldn't be useless. Not to me." He was so serious it almost caught her off guard. Not to me. It had been six months since they started training together. Six months since that day in his apartment when she left him after his confrontation with Kushina.

~

Airi had been avoiding Minato for a week now. She felt guilty for trying to put herself in his life when Kushina was already in it. When she heard them talking she realized she needed to let them be. She could figure out another way to save the future.

Currently, she was hiding out at ANBU headquarters, training with what would one day be her subordinates. They were extremely skilled. Far more than the show ever let on because they all died so quickly whenever an attack happened. Her thinking was that he wasn't allowed here so he wouldn't come find her.

But then she heard some loud cheers and laughter at the entrance to the training room and turned her head. Spotting that beautiful blonde head that was in her dreams. "Ack!" She was thrown on her back, the breath exiting her lungs with haste.

"Stop getting distracted, Airi." The boy across from her sighed, annoyance in his tone. He was already tired of her, he wasn't being paid to babysit.

"S-sorry. H-hey you know a good place for me to hide?"

"What?"

"Nothing." She sighed, watching as someone pointed to her, and Minato's blue eyes made contact with her own amber ones.