Karma Marga: Chapter Two

Oh Karma, you silly goose

You can't really call Uzumaki Naruto spoiled.

He has never really had the pleasure of having anyone spoil him, even though Sarutobi and Iruka both managed to get close with their ramen-flings back when he was a kid.

The thing was that he always earned those meals somehow. Be it because he helped clean up something, because he passed a test or simply just to celebrate a joyful occurrence. And it's not like it was a regular thing either.

No, he has never been spoiled like the other people of his generation.

Most of them were the sons and daughters of the clan heads, and thus they got special attention and training because of their status. Sakura might not have been from a prominent clan, but her academic skills ended up putting her high on every sensei's list while in the academy, and at home she was her parents' little princess.

Maybe it was time for someone to spoil Naruto a little bit as well?

It wouldn't hurt just to give him a little boost sometimes, would it?

If the gods decided to shine a little light on him and let someone spoil him, he knew exactly what he wanted.

He wanted to feel what he was feeling right now as he ran through the thick forest with a dark haired goddess in his arms.

Sasuke would have a fit if he knew that Naruto had not only discovered Uchiha Mikoto in the coffin Sasuke summoned, but also found the Uchiha's mother to be incredibly attractive.

Is this perhaps considered borderline necrophilia?

Naruto can't help but wonder, but the thought itself was quickly shot down as her warmth penetrated his guard as she unconsciously snuggled a little closer to the man carrying her bridal style through the forest as they headed for the closest safehouse.

'She looks so fragile,' he thought as he let his gaze strafe over her frail features.

The safehouse he was heading for is the same one Yamato created with his Mokuton jutsu back when they headed out for their first mission together, supposedly to meet Sasori's contact on the Heaven and Earth bridge, and they had later added seals and genjutsu to keep it hidden from enemy shinobi. The only ones able to find it are ANBU and Naruto's best jounin since they needed a seal on their body to cancel out the effects of the genjutsu unless they wish to take a dive head first into a deep ravine and fall to their death.

I don't think anyone would want that, but it's not as if anyone knew that would happen anyway.

Feeling the slight shimmer of his surroundings as he walked, Naruto entered the genjutsu field and headed towards the safehouse. It looked just as it did when Yamato made it all those years ago, only now Naruto had turned it into his own personal hideout, complete with a little training ground for himself to train his jutsu away from monkey eyes, friendly or not.

He noticed the woman in his arms started breathing irregularly and twitching in her sleep, and he softly let his hand touch her forehead so he could check her temperature.

'She seems to be running a small fever here. I should probably get her to bed quickly so she can get better quickly.'

He hurried inside the house, heading straight for the bedroom where he gently put her down on a bed. As a shinobi, Naruto has learned to never underestimate a kunoichi, but he couldn't help but think that this woman looked so frail and delicate.

Her pearly white skin looked so perfect, and as a man, he couldn't help but let his eyes wander over her sleeping body. Her hair looked matt in the light, and her lips were turning blue from lack of blood circulation, so he snapped back into action.

He couldn't let another person suffer because of Sasuke. Not again, not ever!

He shot through the house, heading for the bathroom to get a wet cloth for her forehead. He wasn't used to tending to sick people, but he had seen how Ino had taken care of Sakura when she was sick, and decided to emulate her. For a guy who had never been sick, he really should ask more questions from normal people.

"God, I should get someone to help me with her. I don't even know who she is, and I can't even begin to imagine what she would feel when she wakes up and finds a total stranger with her."

As he filled a small bowl with water, he looked into the mirror. Not surprisingly, he looked pretty tired after the fight with his old teammate. Grabbing the bowl and a towel, he walked back to the room where he left the unconscious woman.

Entering the room, Naruto wasn't prepared for what he saw. The woman was standing up, her clothes around her ankles as her hands roamed her body. He tried his very best to respect her privacy, although she wasn't really helping with the way her hands moved over every perfect curve of her body. Her dainty hands were roaming over her ivory skin as if she was proving to herself that she was really there.

Blushing up a storm, he looked away and coughed to get her attention. The woman jumped at the sudden noise and stared at him with confusion clear in her eyes and a healthy blush covering her face from the embarrassment that comes with getting caught roaming her own body by some strange man.

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better miss, but you should really go back to bed," Naruto said gently, trying his best to keep his eyes from taking in the sight of her body. Most men would probably have tried to take advantage of this situation, but luckily for the woman, Naruto was not "most men".

She stared back at him, seemingly forgetting her state of dress… or lack thereof.

"Who are you?" she asked before coughing sharply. After all, her voice had not had much of a workout since that day so long ago.

Naruto blushed again. Here he was, the god damned Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, a brilliant ninja and a political genius, and he forgets his manners so easily in front of a beautiful woman.

"I'm sorry for my lapse in manners miss, my name is Uzumaki Naruto."

He could see the surprise in her eyes. Did she know him? Well, it's not surprising seeing as his name was known pretty much all over the world. The jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, son of the Yondaime Hokage and also the late Jiraiya's priced pupil. Oh, and let's not forget that he's still the Rokudaime Hokage and the most feared foe any enemy ninja could ever stumble across.

He watched as she stumbled around from the shock- her legs weak from lack of use. This woman had been summoned with that disgusting jutsu, so does this mean she's dead?

He took a step forward, trying to approach her gently and help her back to bed. However, as she noticed his close proximity to herself, she jumped away with a fearful expression in her eyes. An expression he had not seen since he was a young genin. It was a look of both fear and disgust… the look only reserved for the jinchuriki.

He stopped his approach and sighed. She obviously knew who and what he was now, and she was not about to let him get closer.

He walked over the bed stand and put down the bowl of water on top of the towel he brought. 'Way to go Naruto,' he thought to himself with a bitter grin on his face. "I'm sorry miss," he said again, his voice low and full of sadness, "I'll leave this here for you. I'll make sure you'll get to Konoha safely in the morning, but for now please try to get some sleep."

With that said, Naruto left the room and a very bewildered woman. Was this really the demon boy she remembered? But he was just a little boy, so how come this person looked so much like him?

No, it had to be a coincidence. This could not be the Uzumaki Naruto she remembered, because that Naruto was only a little child, no older than her youngest son.

Suddenly she felt a chill run down her spine.

The thought of her son.

Her family.

There was something she just couldn't quite remember, and it had something to do with her family. Were they alright? While she didn't have much love for Fugaku, he was still her husband, and she would honor their marriage to the day she died. And don't forget that he did give her two beautiful children. Her little boys, Itachi and Sasuke.

She slumped down on the bed, holding her head in her hands as images flew through her mind. Images of death and destruction. Of her husband's lifeless body, lying in a pool of his own lifeblood. An image of a shadow approaching her, the glint of steel and the horrible stench of blood oozing from the shadow, and then, two bright red Sharingan eyes spinning.

She reeled back on the bed and let out a bloodcurdling scream.

-

In the living room downstairs you could hear the sound of feet pacing. For the first time in years, Naruto didn't know what to do. He had once again proven to himself that he was still stronger than Sasuke, and he had won yet another battle with his former friend. That much is easy to figure out, since that happens all the time, but try figuring out what to do with a recently revived dead woman who happens to hold your very being in contempt. He had no idea what he should do.

'Should I call for someone to help me? She probably won't let me help her, and I'm not sure we have any medic ninja available at the moment, and I don't think I can trust anyone but Sakura with this.'

He stepped up to the wall and glared at the paint.

"Why does women have to be so God damn complicated?" he asked before bashing his forehead into the wall.

Then suddenly he heard the woman he left upstairs let out a horrible scream.

Did someone find them already? That was supposed to be impossible, so what happened?

He ran up the stairs four steps at a time, and bounded into her bedroom ready for a fight.

"What's wrong?" he yelled, looking at the woman rocking back and forth on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest. Tears where streaming down her cheeks and her bloodshot eyes were red from crying.

Oblivious to a woman's feelings he may be, but Naruto knows what to do in times like these. He hurried over to the bed and scooped the woman up in his lap, and pulled her into a warm hug.

"Don't cry princess, please don't cry," Naruto cooed softly as he let his fingers gently wipe the tears from her cheeks, never noticing the new nickname he had just awarded the crying woman. "You're safe here with me, I promise. No one will hurt you as long as I'm around, so please calm down and tell me what's wrong."

Mikoto tried to struggle from his grasp at first, but she needed human contact. She needed to feel something real, if only to prove that she was indeed alive. She could feel his strong arms wrap themselves protectively around her, and his warmth and his scent were filling her senses. How could this be the brat she remembered?

A couple of minutes later, she had calmed down enough to speak, but didn't leave his embrace and Naruto didn't seem to mind. She looked into the azure blue eyes of the man who held her, knowing she needed answers.

"W-why am I here?" she asked, already fearing the answer to that question.

Naruto arched an eyebrow at the question. He was expecting questions, or maybe some answers, but this wasn't what he was expecting at all. Pulling her from his chest, he looked into her eyes, noticing how frightened she looked. 'I guess she's entitled to fear, especially after what she went through.'

"You're here because I brought you here," Naruto answered cryptically.

Mikoto gaped at the answer, but decided to follow the answer up with another question.

"I mean, where am I, and how did I get here?"

Naruto's eyes had a gleam of mischief in them, and he decided to keep playing with her. He figured that getting her annoyed with him would be better than having her afraid of whatever was bothering her, and if there's one thing Naruto is good at, it's annoying people out of their minds.

"This is a Konoha safehouse, near the Heaven and Earth bridge, and I carried you here in my arms."

Inner-Naruto was dancing in glee. He hadn't played a prank on anyone in a while, and this was getting interesting if he was translating the darkening eyes of the woman correctly.

Mikoto was getting annoyed now. How dense is this person?

She fought down the blush from the image of him carrying here in his strong arms, and her eyes quickly scanned his upper body. He might be an idiot, but God damn this man was hot. Shaking her head, she glared at him.

"Alright, if that's the way you want to play it, I'm game." Mikoto said with a huff, pulling herself from his lap and plopping back down on the bed. "How did you find me, and what happened to me? How can you be Uzumaki Naruto when he's only an 8 year old brat, and do you know what happened to my family?"

Naruto decided to stop playing now, since he wasn't in the mood for a beating and he knew no enemy was as dangerous as a pissed woman.

"Alright I'll tell you everything I know," he said, getting into a more comfortable position on the bed. "It all started when I was fighting an old friend of mine. He betrayed Konoha many years ago, and I've been hunting him ever since and we have met up and fought many times since then. This time, we battled at the Valley of the End and our battle had been raging for a while before I started to get the upper hand. Sensing this, my old teammate decided to use a disgusting jutsu to bring back my father so I would have to fight him, by using the forbidden jutsu "Edo Tensei". I was getting tired already, and knew I wouldn't be able to fight my own father, even if I was at full power, so I tried taunting him to make him lose his concentration."

Mikoto was silently absorbing every word the blond man was spouting at her. What kind of a sick son of a bitch would use a jutsu like this to fight a friend? And how could anyone betray Konoha like it meant nothing? And why did he summon her? She decided she needed to hear more.

"He managed to summon a coffin before he ran away, and I was as ready as I could ever be to face my father in a battle to the death. Then I noticed that the coffin Sasuke summoned had the Uchiha-emblem engraved on the lid, and I could hear you inside. So I opened to coffin, found you inside and took you here."

That's where Mikoto noticed something.

"Sasuke? As in Uchiha Sasuke?" she asked, her voice trembling in anticipation of the answer.

Naruto looked confused for a moment before nodding. The silent confirmation of her question made Mikoto break out crying again, and Naruto was afraid he had said something wrong or particularly insensitive to make the woman break out in tears again.

"W-what did I say? I apologize if I said something that upset you."

Mikoto wiped her tears and looked at the blond man again. She had just received knowledge of her youngest son being not only a traitor, but an honest to God rotten bastard as well. What did she do wrong do deserve this?

"No, you didn't do anything wrong Naruto. It's just that… Sasuke… he is my son, and as his mother it's not easy to hear what kind of person he turned out to be."

You know the feeling you get when someone gives you news that totally blows your mind? You know, the way you'll stand there like an idiot, completely unreachable and not knowing what to do or say… well, that's what Naruto was feeling right now.

His mouth was opening and closing in two second intervals, like a fish caught on land. Mikoto couldn't help but giggle at his expression. Sure, she had created a somber mood with her news, and his news didn't give her any reasons to be all happy and full of pep either, but she could not deny that he looked absolutely undeniably adorable.

She giggled again and raised a hand up to his cheek when noticing that his mouth had decided to stay open, and she gently closed it.

"You don't want anything to fly in there, now do you Naruto-kun?" she giggled.

Naruto snapped back to the same plane of existence as she was currently living on, and he looked deeply into her eyes. Her eyes were dark like dual pools of ink, but as beautiful as the night sky. He blushed and for a moment he lapsed back to old habits as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I guess I spaced out for a second," then he remembered what she had told him, and his face adopted a mournful look. "I guess that makes you Uchiha Mikoto then?" he asked, earning him a nod from the woman. Naruto took a deep breath and stared at her again. "You have been dead for over ten years Mikoto-san, so a lot has happened since you left us."

Mikoto's eyes widened at the news. This wasn't a very good day for her, and to be honest, the day of her death still feels like it happened on that very day. All of this added up, and she could feel a headache approach, making her groan a bit and clutch her hands to her temples.

The next hour went by quickly as Naruto filled Mikoto in on everything she had missed since her death, and Mikoto was falling deeper into a depression. She felt as if it would have been better if she had remained dead, but here she was… alive again, talking to the unfortunate son of the Yondaime of all people. She had always thought that her own children were perfect, and she had pegged Naruto as a troublemaker and a nuisance at best, but she was proven wrong.

In retrospect, she should have seen the signs earlier. Naruto would never look down at people or hate anyone, although God knows he has every right to do so, but he always kept on working harder to keep his peers safe and gain their trust, and look where he was now. The pariah of Konoha was now their greatest shinobi warrior… their Hokage. And what happened to her sons? Both her sons betrayed the country and village she loved with all her heart… her home. Both of them had killed Konoha shinobi in cold blood, and her oldest son was even the one who had killed her.

She couldn't help but see the irony in this whole deal. Her sons and family were practically worshipped as royalty in Konoha, while Naruto used to be the perfect scapegoat for the villager's hatred to fall upon. Her sons grew up with riches and people who adored them, while Naruto was hated by everyone but the Ichiraku's and the Hokage. Her sons were hailed as prodigies, while Naruto was pegged as a talentless loser no one with half a brain would dare help because they feared him gaining power would just make it easier for him to kill them all in the end.

All of this should lead to her sons growing up to be loyal to their friends and village, and great men as well as shinobi, yet they both turned out to be evil bastards without honor. Naruto on the other hand had always claimed he'd protect everyone, that he would become the greatest and in the end their Hokage. Everyone had laughed at him, sneering at the hyperactive child and trying to destroy his dream with mean words, yet he always shrugged it off, and he had proven everyone wrong. He was the strongest shinobi in the village, just like he promised. He was the Hokage of Konoha, loved by everyone and he had earned their trust, just like he had promised. In Mikoto's eyes, the blond man had grown up to be her dream man.

Strong, kind, loving and with the brightest eyes imaginable. And don't forget that the man was hot as hell… don't you think for a second Mikoto didn't notice, she is a woman with urges after all, and damn good taste in men.

But hot as he may be, the revelations received about her children and family brought her down low, and she could feel the tears press behind her eyelids before they managed to break free. Naruto just let the distraught woman cry her sorrows out, sensing that a good cry would do the recently revived woman some good. The silence had gone on for ten minutes before Naruto decided to break the tension.

"Mikoto-chan," he began, "if you wish for me to bring Sasuke back to you in one piece, I will do everything I can to do so."

Mikoto's eyes snapped back up and connected with Naruto's sky blues. She could see it in his eyes that he meant every word he said. He would give up everything he knows if it would bring her happiness from having her son back with her. Everything he had worked so hard for, he was willing to give up for her, as bringing Sasuke back would without a doubt mean trouble for him.

For the first time since the early days with her husband, Mikoto could feel her heart skip as she looked at a man. She couldn't deny the fact that Fugaku was gone, as she had died a bit after him, and had seen his dead body. He might have seemed cold to anyone who didn't know the man, but he had a warm heart and loved his family, and she had loved him. What would Fugaku say if he could see her now? She was given a second chance at life, and she had been thinking about spending her life mourning her family alone… what the hell was wrong with her?

Fugaku would have been disgusted with her actions. He always valued the mindset of a person who would be able to stand his ground, no matter what kind of resistance he faced. To accept their pain, live with it and move through it to find happiness. That was the kind of person Fugaku had been, and that was the kind of person she wanted to be, and… that was the kind of person Naruto was.

Naruto could see the change in her posture as she looked back up at him, eyes gleaming with conviction and a hidden power he couldn't help but find incredibly attractive.

"You don't have to do that for me Naruto-kun," Mikoto said, shocking the blond kage. "You don't have to bring Sasuke back as that man is not the son I remember raising. I gave birth to Uchiha Sasuke all those years ago… I gave him life, and now Sasuke made me return to life again, giving me a second chance for happiness."

Mikoto moved closer to Naruto, eyes filled with a strange expression that made Naruto draw a deep breath without noticing.

"As far as I'm concerned, that makes us even!" she stated firmly as she let her hand stroke gently across his whiskered cheeks. Naruto could feel his cheeks turning a bright red as a blush that would have made Hinata proud graced his cheeks.

Both of these people had suffered great loss, and both of them had decided to look to the future with a positive attitude. However, they both knew a pain so strong it saturated your entire being, leaving them with a hole in their heart. But now that they had connected through this pain, they had established a bond, and together they would fill the hole in the others heart.

Naruto looked into her eyes, forgetting his own doubts. Just a couple of hours ago, this woman looked at him with eyes like the villagers he remembered from his childhood, but it had all changed when he found out who she was and they managed to fill in any blank spots in her memories. Their souls had touched each other, and two complete strangers had found love at first sight in the least expected place.

Sasuke had tried to summon Naruto's father to kill him, but had ended up unknowingly summoning his own mother instead, and screwing up the handseals he had created a technique that would completely revive a person from death. Without knowing it, Uchiha Sasuke had created one of the greatest jutsu in the world, and he had tried to use it to hurt Naruto, but instead he might have given Naruto the one thing he had wished for his entire life.

He had given him someone who would love him unconditionally.

Sasuke had made his bed, so now he would have to lie in it.

As Naruto and Mikoto's lips met in a loving kiss, the last thing on Naruto's mind was something that will define this story.

'Ain't Karma a bitch'

And the two lovers united for the first time of many.

AN:// HOLY SHIT, this chapter was hard to type. I completely lost my marbles here, and couldn't figure out where I wanted this to go. To be honest, it was my own fault as everything I wanted was to provide fluffy smut in a severely underused pairing, but I didn't think I would dislike writing this second chapter this much. The first one was easy, and I love Naruto/Mikoto together to the point where I can (and will) promise you I'll write another fic with this pairing later on, but as I can't stand writing adult Naruto when I never wrote his background first. Call it nitpicking, but I want to start at Naruto's genin days and write his life my own way, and then introduce Mikoto in some way or another (I already know how I want to do it though, so that story will be a lot longer and meatier than this one) and have them grow together both as lovers and characters in a fanfic.

I'm sorry I took so long to get this out here, but I haven't had much time for writing because of university taking up a lot of my time, and when I did have the time, I couldn't come up with anything.

To make up for this travesty, I'll make the epilogue full of lemons and fluff, and I'll finish off this fic with a huge WAFF!! Smut-lovers and perverts, please stick with me for the epilogue, and I'll promise I'll do my best to make it worth your time. For the rest of you, please look out for my next Naruto/Mikoto-fic which will be published within a couple of months. The epilogue will be up within a month's time as well, so I'll see you then with more information.

Thank you!