Queen Kushina nervously paced up and down the halls of the private wing in the Royal Palace. Today was the day. The day she had been endlessly waiting for since that horrible night all of those years ago. Or rather the day that was second on the list of moments she eagerly anticipated. Today she was to be spent with her complete family, including her eldest child.
I'm finally going to meet him!
However, they would not be reunited. Not yet, anyway.
This fact was practically the only thing that could possibly dampen Kushina's mood. Yes, she was unnaturally nervous, but happy too. Naturally, all of these thoughts prompted her mind to recall the conversation she had with the Yaunkur leaders the other day.
It was in the afternoon on the day the Yaunkur tribe arrived in Konoha when the royal couple invited the leaders to the Royal Palace. It was tradition to meet the performers or their leaders in the palace before the festival began. They were located in one of the reception rooms in the private wing, which were usually reserved only for meetings with very close friends. No one but members of the royal family, their personal guards, and those invited could enter the private wing. The only others who entered were the maidservants in the morning. Even the unshakable attendants weren't allowed in! They would have had the meeting to welcome the Yaunkur to Konoha in one of the public reception rooms, but Minato and Kushina had a feeling something different was to happen this year.
They were right. The moment they entered the room, Kushina instantly recognized them as the two she entrusted her son to. She had committed their faces to memory, and could never forget them. The two married couples sat across from each other on couches, a low table lying between them. The conversation started off in the usual formal manner, asking if they were well, if there was any trouble on the road, and continued that way until the usual pleasantries were finished.
Then the real talk began.
"It is you, isn't it? The ones from that night eight years ago." Kushina asked with certainty and desperate eyes. She knew that a Queen was never to act in such a manner, but just like at any other point in her life, she didn't really care.
It was the woman, Kahina (if she remembered correctly), who responded with soft eyes. "Yes, that would be us."
"Is my baby okay? How has he been doing? Has he made any friends? Has the Old Fuzzball been bothering him? Has he been taking proper baths and eating enough? How-" Kushina was cut off when laughter erupted from the two Yaunkur tribe members. To his wife's surprise, Minato was also softly chuckling. She glared at him for a short moment, causing him to shrink in a bit and stifle his laughter.
"He's been doing just fine, your Majesty." Replied Kahina. Kushina smiled in relief before saying, "Kahina-san, just call me Kushina. I've never really been one for formalities."
"Well then Kushina, there is no need for those titles for me either. To you, it's just Kahina." The two grown women burst into a fit of giggles out of nowhere, acting like little schoolgirls.
"Neh, neh," Kushina giggled. "Isn't it weird that our names are so similar?"
"You're right, they are, aren't they?" They burst into giggles again.
Their husbands looked knowingly at each other. These two certainly didn't have any trouble becoming friends. The giggles quickly grew to a stop though and the solemn atmosphere returned.
YOU ARE READING
People of the Land
Hayran KurguThe Yaunkur were a strange people. They sang as they worked, danced rather than walked, and smiled more than the Sun Himself. But in them Hinata finally found the family she always wished for, along with her oldest friend, who looked far too much li...
