Time to meet the parents! [During the summer holidays at Kushina's house. Open to anyone who'd be there, I guess :)]

"Or I should just actually set my phone to remind me of the birth control and begin again..." she muttered, sighing. "I just keep forgetting to do that. And to take them. Always got too much on my mind..."

"Mh. Like what? Seems like not getting pregnant would be, I dunno, pretty important!" Slight hysteria crept into his voice.

She blushed, deeper, and hugged herself a little. "... I know, but, I just... Get distracted so easily, and, and then I forget about whatever else I'm doing, and.... Yeah." she muttered. And the past few weeks she'd been working on a secret gift for him, but... Yeah.

"You never look at your phone anyway. I just.. Well, I just gotta remember condoms. I'll do it. No problems."

She bit her lip, nodded. "... Sorry." she repeated. Then sighed. "I... Let's just get back to bed. Just... Can you remind me to take the other pill tomorrow? Just so I'm sure I won't forget..."

"Yeah. I'll set an alarm. I usually check my phone in the mornings," he said wryly. Slowly, he dragged himself up from the toilet and grimaced. "Ow."

She blushed, again. ".. And I usually only pick up mine when I have to call somebody..." she did have a clock on her beside table so, no need to check the time on her phone in the mornings, either.

"Yeah, I kinda got that when you didn't answer my texts. The twentieth time."

"Uhm... Yeah. And sorry for the short replies, as well. I usually prefer skype. Or talking to people in person."

"Mmmh. Me too. But.. I can't afford the train all the time. So."

"Then just... Skype me, instead." she shrugged. "I'm usually online from about 8pm until I go to bed... Or I could pay for you, no problem at all... I wouldn't mind you being here more often."

"I..." he sighed. "Let's just talk about it in the morning. I don't wanna.. keep you from having fun or something. Just because I'm"... really lonely..  "bored at home. I'll just train or whatever. Play games."

She shook her head. "You won't be. You'd just have to deal with going to the dojo and the shooting range with me." a slightly crooked smile. "I'm not really the partying type. As you know."

He grinned. "Aw, too bad. I was really looking forward to hitting all the discos. Because, you know. I do that all the time. Totally."

"Oh yeah, you'll totally own the dance area." she chuckled, and then kissed him once more. "But seriously. I'd love it if you could be here more. Just... Not doing anything in particular, just... So we could chill, ya know."

He smiled. "Me too.  But.. I.. kinda feel like I should be home. Even if... it doesn't make a difference if I'm there. He.. hardly seems to notice me. Which is kind of an improvement."

"... Improvement?" she furred her brows worriedly. "... "He's been... Doing worse?" Since she had loving parents, she could hardly imagine anything worse.

Minato regarded her incredulously, then sighed. "I guess.. I kinda got used to it, so.. I never. Well, it just got normal. He used to hit me. That's why I started doing martial arts," he said quietly. "And, shout at me and throw my things out the window, but the hitting was worse, well, until I got too fast." He shrugged. "Now, he only speaks to me like, I dunno. Like, only stuff like, "We're out of milk" or "do the washing." "

... He'd see the very obvious crying just the second before she hugged him real close.

A surprised gasp before he returned the hug. "It's okay, really. I.. it just got normal after a while. It doesn't bother me anymore.."

She shook her head, her crying causing her voice to sound very, very shaky. "You... Y-you shouldn't, 'Nato... N-nobody ever should... Have to... To d-deal with that... I'm... So, so sorry for you...."

He gave a pale smile. "That's .. nice of you." He never knew how to respond when people told him that. "But.. it kinda.. Well, it helps but.. It doesn't change things. But. Yeah, now you know why I didn't mind getting my own apartment before I turned 18. Part of it, at least. Anyway. He seems to be doing better. He's still got his job."

A small sniffle. "I... Guess that's always something..." but the words were hard to distinguish in the midst of her sniffling.

"And, well, the reason why I spent all that time in therapy. Foster home, too. For a year or so. Soah. You just keep finding fucked up guys," he shrugged. "Sorry."

She shook her head, violently so. "Don'd. Don't say sorry. I like you for a reason. If you weren't like this, I, I wouldn't have fallen for you, and, an I'd never ever have gotten this happy, 'ttebane. Don't you dare apologize."