Misplaced Love
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Part I
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Really, she was not surprised. Why would she?
After all, luck had never been on her side. Bad luck impersonated—how utterly laughable. Besides, it wasn't like this was the first time where she had been dropped in an irreversible situation.
So, it was with thinly, undisguised resignation that she took in the sight of confused, ocean-blue eyes and promptly turned on her side, falling in the lands of dream.
"...Kushina?"
For all that Namikaze Minato was fierce, loyal, protective, frighteningly intelligent, humble, (at times even shy), his wife was the one thing that kept him on his toes. How right he was about that statement.
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Yawning quietly, amethyst eyes checked her surrounding. Here she was again, in another body and in another life.
"Am I some bloody ragdoll to be dropped wherever God sees fit?" Her voice was laced with a hint of defiance and anger.
Yet, after all these times, her anger was nothing more than a simmering fire, ready to be extinguished. Only her stubbornness kept that weakly-burning fire alive. Suddenly, another voice spoke up. Tired and in slight disbelief.
"...Kushina, are you alright?"
Locking eyes with worried ones, she almost flinched at the amount of love that was reaching out to her. She gritted her teeth and clenched her hands, fingers digging in her skin. An action that didn't go unnoticed by the observing eyes of the Yondaime Hokage.
"I am fine," she replied robotically.
This time, it was Minato who flinched. Her voice laced with nothing, but the most frightening part were her eyes. There was no mischief twinkling, no love held for him, no remembrance of all their shared time.
...like his Kushina had become a stranger.
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She was soon becoming his walking nightmare.
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For all that she remembered of this despicable show, she knew full well that her role was a major one. Her role to procreate with the man that this soulless body loved with all her being. She could sift through the memories and almost think that it was she who was reliving them.
Only to be disappointed afterwards.
What she once had loved in her Real Life, had only left her with feelings of revulsion and disgust.
Of all the lives that she had been pushed into, this one was starting to become her most hated one.
Her lips almost curled into hatred when feelings of love and happiness threatened to swallow her. All lies. This was the first time she had been forced into a body that came to know love. All her other ones had been doomed into a life of misery and hate.
"Tadaima."
Her eyes never acknowledged his presence, staring at the Hokage Rock with emotionless eyes.
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Their relationship became non-existent, to the point where Minato had been forced to take his wife to the Konoha Hospital. That was when Kushina had been declared pregnant, much to the horror of the emotionless woman.
That moment was truly the moment that Minato despaired the loss of his beautiful wife.
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(He had almost sent his wife to the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force, but had refrained from doing so. He still had hope that his Kushina would come back.)
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Cold eyes stared at her so-called husband, surrounded by locks of blood. A scissor in her hand.
Minato raged and screamed, glaring hatefully at his wife. His patience had snapped when she wanted to abort the baby. He had never known that he would associate the feeling of utter hatred to his gentle wife.
And here he stood, spatting out insults at his emotionless wife. The statue of the Hokage Residence.
The Medical-nin had prescribed her anti-depressiva and a Yamanaka therapy. But till now, nothing seemed to help. His wife remained hateful, angry and cold as ice.
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She turned around and located the stalking ANBU that her dear husband had ordered to follow and keep her out of trouble. Which also meant that all her choices had been taken away from her. Minato had exploded the moment she had said that she wanted an abortion.
Never in her life had she seen someone so furious. And the once goofy Minato changed into a heartless bastard.
...and Time kept ticking away.
As did her patience.
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That day at the market she had stumbled upon her so-called best friend, Mikoto, and her firstborn son, Itachi.
Future mass murderer and heir to the Uchiha clan.
She scoffed in dark amusement. What an honour it was, to be a part of that accursed clan. Nothing short but doom and despair was linked to that clan.
"Kushina!"
The false Kushina glanced at the woman and when she looked at the little boy, her cold heart froze. Her mind was unable to link the psychopathic mass murderer with the tiny toddler that stood next to his mother. He squirmed at the intense look and sighed in relief when Kushina spoke softly, greeting the Uchiha Matriarch. Flashes of memories flickered before her.
Annoyed, she tugged at her short hair, resembling a tomato.
Mikoto was horrified when she saw that her best friend had cut her beautiful hair, knowing for sure that Minato would have never approved of it. But having heard the rumours of the Lady Hokage having gone crazy, she was forced to acknowledge it. Especially when those normally mischievous eyes were nothing but a shell of her previous self.
Her heart broke in pieces.
"Mikoto. Itachi."
Cold, unforgiving. Even Itachi became uncomfortable, wanting to hide behind her mother's skirts.
Mikoto flinched when Kushina placed her cold hand on her cheeks, murmuring, "I'm sorry."
The Uchiha duo could only watch with widened, horrified eyes at the back of their Lady Hokage. Those had surely been tears, Mikoto was sure of it.
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Minato glared at his wife as she stood in front of him. His heart clenched painfully—how had things deteriorated so fast and so ugly?
"I want a divor-" Her words became jumbled and she almost choked on her spit. Coughing loudly, she tried again. And again. Again. Until she screamed in irritation and ran out of his office.
He sat there with wide, terrified eyes. Those words she tried to utter but was unable. A divorce. Kushina wanted to divorce him.
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That night, Minato hadn't returned home. Kushina was alone, scared and guarded by pitying eyes.
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The first time it happened, Kushina, had been shocked to find Minato smelling like sake and shit. Their living room had been turned into chaos.
She sighed in resignation and started cleaning up the living room, ignoring the pitiful-looking Yondaime. How the mighty have fallen. And all for a single woman. Kushina couldn't stop the pang of regret and the sheer pain of seeing this body's beloved husband.
That day in his office, she had been unable to finish her sentence. It was as if this body was fighting tooth and nail for it.
Having finished cleaning the living room, she took out a bowl with lukewarm water and a small towel. With a gentleness that she thought unable, she started dipping the towel in the water, cleaning the vomit residue and spit on his face.
His smell was making her nauseous, but she persevered. Like she always did.
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That was the sight Minato woke up to. His estranged wife cleaning him up with such tender care that he broke down.
His chest rumbled in deep sobs, trembling and teeth chattering wildly. "Kush-ina, I-I..."
Her cold, violet eyes flickered with uncertainty and fear. Fear for him. He resigned himself to sign those divorce papers and closed his eyes.
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Once upon a time, a red thread had brought them together. But it seemed that even those threads weren't strong enough to keep them together.
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"Good morning," she mumbled quietly, unable to look at those broken blue eyes.
Minato almost tripped at the soft chimes of her voice, eyes wide and mouth agape. He almost forgot to answer, almost. "G-ood m-orning..."
"I've made you some breakfast."
He almost teared up. It had been seven months since he had last eaten Kushina's home-cooked meals. "I-I...thank y-ou..."
With ghost-like silence, Kushina set his plate of delicacies in front of him. She had stood up early in the morning, unable to sleep because of the baby, and started baking pastries from her previous lives.
If she saw Minato eating it while crying silently, then she chose to ignore it. She finished the dishes and turned around, intense violet eyes on her husband. And only thoughts of that tearful smile kept her from ruining the pleasant mood. Her lips twitched slightly at his flushed cheeks when he noticed her staring and turned around, leaving a dumbfounded Minato behind.
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Minato couldn't stop smiling for the entire week. Not after having seen that beautiful smile on his wife's face. Maybe hope wasn't lost.
Hell, he even loved all the paperwork in his office and that was saying something. After some time, he looked up at the polite knock on his door and froze when he saw his wife standing there with a nervousness that he hadn't seen for a while.
That picture right there made his heart flutter again.
"I brought you some food. Thought you might be hungry." She jiggled the large bento in her hand and bit her lip, "I hope I am not disturbing you, Minato..."
He swallowed loudly at the mention of his name, "Thank you, Kushina." Such a long time that he had heard it from those plump, kissable lips.
Those words weren't only for the food, she knew.
"You're welcome," she replied softly and left after handing him the food.
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She was walking around the house and constructing the nursery room when she felt a strong kick from her unborn child. A soft gasp escaped her lips and before she knew it, Minato stood in front of her. His eyes shone with so much worry that she broke in sobs, despising herself even more.
Before she crumbled on the wooden floor, Minato encircled his arms around her waist.
Her heart stopped, eyes wide and shocked. Just like Minato.
This had been the first time that Minato had touched her. She couldn't stop the blush from spreading. To her amusement, Minato was blushing as well.
That was when the baby kicked. Hard.
Minato gasped loudly, having felt it for the first time.
"M-ay I...?"
Even after all these times, he stuttered around her. His previous self-confidence shot down below zero.
Ignoring her flushed cheeks, she gave a jerky nod. She closed her eyes when she felt Minato kneeling on the ground—the scene becoming too much.
But the moment she felt Minato's lips on her clothed stomach, her eyes fluttered open. Her face resembling a real tomato. "...idiot."
He chuckled and stared warmly at her, his hands caressing her swollen stomach.
.
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Kushina didn't dare admit it, but it was the truth. She was falling head over heels for Minato.
How cruel of Life.
She swallowed heavily and forced the sobs away. Despicable, she was a disgusting creature. Stealing nothing but the souls and lives of people.
"Kushina!"
Her sobs increased in volume when she heard Minato's loud voice, especially when he engulfed her in a warm, loving embrace.
"I'm so sorry. So sorry..." was all she could repeat as tears dripped down.
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After Kushina's mental breakdown, the Yondaime had decided to temporary give the Sandaime leadership until his wife became better. Hiruzen had no qualms about this, having already proposed this to Minato several times.
He became her pillar of support.
Minato knew that Kushina would never be the same. He could see it in her eyes. Nevertheless, he was only glad that their strained relationship was still beating.
Though he found it strange that Kushina had forced him to keep her pregnancy an SS-rank secret, even from Kakashi as well. Begrudgingly, he had allowed this. He hadn't wanted to break their already fragile relationship because of that, no matter how much it pained him to keep his student out of this.
Slowly on, they rebuilt their relationship, to the point where he was comfortable with touching her.
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Oh, he hadn't missed the way Kushina started to glow, her red locks blazing with life.
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"Minato, you really need to finish that stack."
He blinked his eyes and looked at his wife who was sorting through his papers, focused and glowing. Flickering his eyes to her stomach, he had the urge to touch it but refrained himself. Kushina had become rather annoyed with his clingy behaviour.
Sighing in annoyance, he continued reading another monotone paper about the necessary changes in the Academy's curriculum. If it wasn't for her persistent obsession with paperwork, Minato would have already given up.
They had been in his office since the start of the morning.
Kushina had nicely kicked out the Sandaime and forced him to do his job like a man. He had never known her to be patient enough around paperwork, only when she was working on her Fuinjutsu projects had she shown such concentration.
Peeking another look at his wife, he forced himself to remain on his spot instead of taking her right here in his office. It had been such a long time ago that he had been inside of her. He swallowed loudly, almost hissing when his member constricted painfully, to the point where thinking became difficult.
"Minato?"
He hid his trembling hands and thought of less pleasing things. Jiraiya in a dress. Danzo tap-dancing with his cane. Koharu and Homura making out.
Blanching in hidden disgust, he looked at his wife, "Yes?"
"Are you alright? You're making weird faces." She raised her eyebrows, staring at him with her intense eyes.
Minato shivered.
"It's just that I...hate paperwork?"
"Why does it sound like a question?" Frankly, she was weirded out by his sudden trembling, followed by his very expressive face.
He mumbled something unintelligible and blushed fiercely.
Deciding to let the subject go, she shook her head, a tiny smile present on her face. "Alright, pretty-boy." She ignored the sudden thud, knowing that Minato was doing something clumsy again.
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Kushina stared in disbelief as Minato finished his nervous rant, cheeks flushed.
"...are you drunk?"
He choked on his spit, shaking his head vehemently. "No!" He continued, wanting to get this over with, "I miss sleeping in the same bed..."
Her eyes widened at his implication, her cheeks blushing like her namesake, "...only sleeping?"
Minato wanted the earth to swallow him up, "Sleeping only."
She hid her long, tanned legs from his sight and made place for him. "Nothing funny, Namikaze."
"I wouldn't dare," came his reply.
With that out of the way, Kushina closed her eyes and slept better that she had in months.
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Waking up snuggled against Minato became something precious of her. She had never felt so protected. Yet, she feared that soon, she would die again and be reborn, leaving Minato in the belly of the Demon God, known as the Shinigami.
Mind made up, she felt her resolve change.
This time, she would not let Fate play with her life. Neither would she play with Minato's.
She turned around, locking eyes with ocean-blue eyes and knew that she would die for this man. He had stuck to her, even when she was an emotionless bitch, trying to see the good in her.
Finally, after all these times, Kushina accepted her life.
"I love you."
That night, she hadn't heard his reply. But they did say that actions spoke louder than words.
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Kushina felt her cheeks heat up at the thought of yesterday. Her eyes swept over Minato's naked chest, moving downwards and stopped.
"Good morning, Kushina."
Her eyes snapped back to Minato and she squeaked a reply, suddenly feeling like a teenager again. She looked down, trying to force the blush away at the thought that she had slept with Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage.
How utterly unbelievable.
She felt his chest rumble as his fingers tugged at her red locks, making her look up, "I love you too, Kushina."
Eyes wide and mouth parted slightly, she could do nothing but stare, until Minato swept her in another passionate kiss.
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That was the first night of many where he had left her speechless.
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Minato whistled happily as he worked on his stack of paperwork, enjoying the curvy figure of his wife working on sorting through his paperwork. This had become a ritual for them, one that he certainly enjoyed.
Though, on the safe side, he kept an eye on his wife to make sure she didn't stress herself out.
Looking at his wife, memories of last night and this morning replayed in front of him. He felt his member twitch at the reminder.
"Keep your mind out of the gutter, husband-dearest."
He swallowed quietly and wondered how Kushina always seemed to read his mind.
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"Jiraiya."
Black, twinkling eyes shone with mischief, "Kushina. You look ravishing."
She raised her eyebrows when she saw Jiraiya's sudden flinch at her movement. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Both Jiraiya and Minato stared at her in sheer disbelief.
"Mindless violence is for brainless fools."
Jiraiya sweatdropped, "Euh...thanks?"
Kushina chuckled softly, "You're welcome. Now," She took out Jiraiya's first book, "Can I have your autograph? Minato was right about the book. You're really good."
The Toad Sannin blushed at her radiant smile, hair fixed in a messy bun with red locks framing her face. "I didn't know you were a fan."
"I didn't either. Even your porn books are very artistic." Both men blushed at her implication, their wide-eyed expression amusing her. "Can you sign my book so we can start on dinner?"
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Even in this life, the name Naruto stuck. But this time, no one would hurt her baby boy.
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"Please, Jiraiya, can you stay until after the birth?"
The man known as the famous Sannin could only gulp at her pleading voice, "Kushina-chan, you know that I can't do that-" "Please, I'll even help you with your research. Just stay until after your godchild's birth."
He raised his eyebrow at her offer, "...you'll help me with my research?" He shook his head, "Are you really Kushina?"
No, an impostor, but I've accepted my fate. Instead, she crossed her arms over her ample chest, "Two months of help with your research and I'll keep you safe from the aggressive females."
Kushina knew she had him when a lecherous grin appeared on his face.
"Deal!"
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She was subtly changing the plot. Step by step.
With Jiraiya's presence, she knew that things seemed to look up a bit more.
Rubbing her baby bump unconsciously, she glanced at her serious husband as he worked diligently on another paper stack. Lying on his lap, she smiled softly at his warm expression, "At least your mind is out of the gutter."
He chuckled gently and kept one hand on her soft, red crown while he used the other one to keep working.
"Minato, can you help me retrain my body after Naruto's birth?"
Both his eyebrows rose up, "Of course, you don't need to ask, my love."
She licked her lips, ignoring the way Minato followed the movement, "Thank you."
He chuckled and leaned down, his lips softly touching hers, "I know a way for you to thank me."
Kushina chuckled and pushed him away, "I'm not having office sex while your creepy ANBU guards are going to stare."
Minato grinned goofily, his eyes twinkling mischievously, "We could give them a good show."
Ignoring her blushing cheeks, she turned around to face his stomach and closed her eyes, "Keep your mind out of the gutter, Yondaime-sama."
"Then you'll be forced to keep my little fellow entertained."
She chuckled quietly, feeling his restrained, hard member poke her, "How rude of him."
Minato let out a loud laugh, happiness and love warming his heart. It had been such a long time that he was fully comfortable around her. After her sudden change, it felt like he was married to a complete stranger. Even up to now, he didn't know why she had changed so suddenly and become so serious, so un-Kushina. He didn't dare asking, knowing that it would strain their relationship back to the beginning.
Those days still scared him, at times even appearing in his nightmares.
Thankfully, they were becoming less and less.
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Minato flatly stared at his giggling sensei. "From you I can believe." His eyes moved to his guilty wife, "But from you I cannot."
Kushina replied without any shame, "It's for the greater good."
His deadpan stare became even more unimpressed with her.
"No need to be so serious Minato!" Jiraiya rumbled, snaking an arm around his wife's shoulders, "We were only having a peek, nothing untoward!"
Minato hid his face in his hands and groaned pitifully, "What have you done to my wife, sensei?"
His teacher only rumbled unashamedly.
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Her eyes widened when she felt a strange liquid drip down her legs. No! It's too soon!
It wasn't even the tenth of October.
She felt fear clutch her heart, "Minato!"
Her breathing became heavy and she ignored the loud sounds coming from their shared bedroom. In an instant, he appeared beside her and without any words, he picked her up bridal style and disappeared in a yellow flash.
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What do you think of this idea? It had been circling in my head for a while. Thank you for reading (and possibly reviewing!).