Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto or its characters if U did Naruto will be female.

Author's note There are two female Narutos one being a red head Narumi and the other a blond Noriko.

CHAPTER ONE: Heartbreaking News

"I know you've been having an affair with my husband! I've known about it for weeks now. And if you want him you can have him. I don't even like him any more!"

Noriko watched in horror as the bitterly angry woman let loose that tirade, her mouth twisting in humour, laughing openly as the woman took off her wedding ring and threw it at her.

"Okay, cut—that's a take. Noriko, you're becoming so convincing as the super bitch that I'm beginning to wonder about you,' Kakashi, the director, drawled dryly.

Noriko's laughter had faded at the word 'cut'. She had played this scene half a dozen times today already, and each time she became more disgusted with the way her character in this weekly soap-opera was developing.

Originally she had been signed for a three-months contract only, but the character of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had become so popular with the public that she had signed a contract for another season. The character of Kaguya was so against her own nature that she wasn't sure she wanted to negotiate another one. She had certainly had plenty of other offers the last six months!

"'Don't wonder, Kakashi"' she advised wearily. "It will be for nothing. I'm nothing like Kaguya.'" She came off the set and stood next to him, a frown marring her smooth brow. "In fact, I don't like where she's going at all. So far I've—she's—blackmailed her stepfather for his attraction to her, told her mother about it anyway, almost wrecked her sister's marriage, and now she's had an affair with a married man simply because his wife once slighted her at a party. What sort of woman is she!" she grimaced, running a hand through her perfectly smooth and shining hair, instantly ruffling it into disorder.

"'Beautiful," Kakashi leered lasciviously.

"And evil," she said disgustedly.

'You bet,' he nodded with a grin.

"You wouldn't sound so happy about it if she'd decided to get her claws into you!" Noriko said raising her golden brows at him.

The director shrugged. "The excitement might be worth it. When you've been married to the same woman for fifteen years that's a quality that seems to be missing."

Noriko smiled, her own naturally bright and friendly smile, the character of Kaguya discarded as soon as the scene ended. 'I'll mention that to Kurenai when I see her next," she teased, knowing Kakashi had been happily married from the moment he and Kurenai had been pronounced husband and wife,

"She'd kill me,' he grimaced. 'And you're supposed to like Kaguya if no one else does. After all, she pays your rent."

She knew that, but it didn't make the public reaction to her personally any easier to accept. Soap-operas were entertaining, and there were half a dozen of them made at this studio, but until she actually appeared in Power Trap herself she hadn't realised that the viewing public really believed the characters existed. A lot of men admired the character of Kaguya, liked the danger she emitted, but normally women reacted in a hostile manner, treating her like an adversary, watching their husbands closely whenever she was about. Even some of her so-called friends had become a little wary of her, sure that she couldn't have developed the character of Kaguya the way she had if there weren't some of tic man-eating bitch really inside the out spoken Noriko Namikaze.

Over the months she had hardened herself against the insulting comments she received whenever she went out, although it didn't stop it hurting any less. When the new scries came out in the fall her reputation—or rather, Kaguya's—would be damaged irrevocably.

She went back to her dressing room, switching on the television for relaxation as she changed into her own denims and orange silk blouse, tall and slender, dulling the make-up down to be less dramatic and brushing her hair free of lacquer.

"You were great today!" Shikamaru Nara came into the room after a brief knock, and kissed her lingeringly on the mouth.

Noriko returned his kiss, glad to see him. Shikamaru played her brother in-law in Power Trap, and the two of them had been seeing each other out of work for the last four months.

"Thanks,"she smiled up at him, her arms about his neck as he held her close. "How about going to your beach-house tonight?"

"Sounds good,"he nodded. "Barbecue dinner?"

'Lovely, she agreed, turning to pick up her purse.

—and it's now known that Narumi Namikaze and her husband Sasuke Uchiha were on the aircraft that crashed late last night on its way from Konoha to Suna. There are thought to be no survivors from the crash, now believed to have been caused by engine failure. The television newsreader then went on to another topic of news.

But for Noriko the world seemed to have stopped. Narumi and Sasuke.. .! It couldn't be, there must have been some mistake. And yet Narumi had insisted she wanted the baby born in Suna, and she was in her seventh month now. God, the baby too . .. No !

"Steady, honey!' she didn't realise she had spoken out loud until Shikamaru answered her, sitting her down in one of the plush armchairs in the room.

"Shika, did you hear—Did she say "

"Yes" he confirmed heavily, frowning his concern of her paper-white face. 'I heard it too, Noriko.

"My God—Narumi!" she choked, too shocked to cry yet, too numbed by the horror of hearing on the television of her own sister's possible death.

Possible .. .! Who was she kidding, there were hardly ever survivors from those sort of disasters. Her parents! They would have to be told

"We'll call them in a minute," Shikamaru soothed as she once again spoke out loud without being aware of it, kneeling beside her to comfort her in her distress.

Narumi. Her elder by two years, her fiery hair matching her equally fiery nature—she couldn't possibly be dead! Air crashes happened on television, to other people, other families, they didn't happen to young fun-loving couples like Narumi and Sasuke certainly not to unborn babies!

She couldn't believe this was happening, that her sister could actually have been on the plane that had crashed late last night. She had heard the first reports of it early this morning, had felt saddened for the families of the people on the plane, never dreaming that she would be one of them!

Narumi had been a successful actress herself until two years ago she had married Sasuke Uchiha, a businessman from Konoha she had met and fallen in love with in Tokyo. —had been? Heavens, she was already talking in the past tense, as if she accepted that Narumi and Sasuke were dead.

'I have to call my parents,' said Narumi in short jerky gasps. 'If they should hear the news in the same way.. .I'

"They probably already have," Shikamaru soothed.

Oh Kami, this was a nightmare! Her mother had probably collapsed, her father would be bottling his emotions inside him as usual. He wasn't a man who found it easy to show his love, although she and Narumi had never doubted his love for his family. But this was something no one had expected in their wildest nightmares!

"I have to get home "

"I'll drive you," Shikamaru instantly offered as she stood up agitatedly.

"My parents' home,"she pointed out. "They're going to need me"

"I'll still drive you," he insisted.

"You still have a scene to shoot this evening," she reminded him calmly, thinking logically despite the panicked racing of her brain. "Kakashi was only complaining yesterday that we're behind schedule."

Shikamaru shrugged. "So we finish shooting mid-September instead of the end of August," he dismissed. "The network can't complain, not with the ratings we're getting. I hear we're very popular with the Konoha audience. Hell, what am I going on like this for?'" he muttered. "What do you care about the reaction of the Konoha audience at a time like this! I'll just go and tell Kakashi we're leaving." He gently touched her cheek before going to talk to their director.

Noriko stood in numbed silence waiting for him to return. Shikamaru was wrong about her not caring about what the Konoha audience thought of the show. A couple of months ago Naru mi had called her in a great state of agitation, crying and muttering what a bitch her mother-in-law was. Apparently Mikoto Uchiha had taken great delight in the fact that Narumi's sister should be appearing in something so lowly as a soap-opera, had taken every opportunity she could to be derogative about Power Trap and Noriko's part in it. Normally Narumi would have been unmoved by such taunts, but her pregnancy had made her more susceptible to showing emotion, and she had been very distraught.

Kakashi himself came into the room just then, his face creased into lines of sadness. "Hell, Noriko, Shikamaru just told me." He grasped her forearms, frowning down at her. "That's a hell of a thing to hear on the television,"he growled.

"Yes." She was still too numb to respond to the sincerity of his regret.

"I was fond of Narumi." he continued softly. "She and I worked together a couple of years ago, before she got married" he grimaced. "We're all going to miss her."

Noriko swallowed hard, as nausea started to rise within her, the numbness leaving her at Kakashi's way of talking about her sister as if she no longer existed. "Excuse me," she muttered, pushing past him to run into the wash-room, waves of nausea racking her body as the full horror of her beautiful and fiery sister dying in such a horrendous way struck her. Narumi had always been too busy in her life to think of death, and Noriko certainly doubted she ever expected it to happen in such a violent way. None of them had.

"All right?" Kakashi was helping her wash her face in cold water when Shikamaru came back into the room.

"Better"she nodded, swallowing the nausea down. She had to pull herself together, had to be strong for her parents' sake, her strong attorney father, her homemaking mother. They were going to be devastated. "I'll have to pick up some things from my apartment," she told Shikamaru as he drove her.

'Sure,' he agreed easily.

Strangely her apartment still looked the same as when she had left it early this morning, the same casual untidiness that she liked, the galley kitchen, scatter cushions placed on her corner unit in the lounge, a cup still standing on the dining-room table from where she had had breakfast, plants arranged about the whole apartment, one of her weaknesses, her other one being the Walt Disney posters in her bedroom. She knew that the general public, after her portrayal of Kaguya, would never believe her liking for all things Disney, but it had remained with her from a trip to Disneyland when she was a child. A trip both she and Narumi had loved. Oh God, Narumi . . .!

All this was a terrible dream, one that she couldn't believe until someone could tell her it was true, someone who really knew. After all, the news item could have been wrong; maybe Narumi and Sasuke hadn't been on that flight, maybe they should have been but something had prevented them making it, maybe.

The telephone at her bedside began ringing, and she snatched up the receiver, feeling her heart plummet at the sound of her mother's voice, a strangely strong voice, her mother seeming filled with a determination that wasn't a normal facet of her nature, their father the strong one.

"You've heard, Noriko?" she asked briskly

"Yes" her voice caught huskily. "It was on the television just now."

Her mother sighed. "I wonder if they realise how cruel they can be," she said "Itachi Uchiha called us a short time ago, so at least we didn't hear that way."

Itachi Uchiha. A picture of a tall dark-haired man with a remote manner, autocratic features; piercing onyx eyes came to mind. Sasuke's brother, the elder by five years at thirty-five, he ran the family business and had little time for the rest of the human race, having no wife and apparently no steady woman in his life either. Noriko had met him only once, at the wedding two years ago, and she hadn't liked him due to his arrogance and his haughtiness.

"I would have called you at the studio"her mother continued, her voice showing some sign of strain now. "But I've been busy with—Your father collapsed, Noriko." her voice broke, still a little trembly as she continued. "He answered the phone r Uchiha called and he seemed all right at the time. Then he just—he's had a heart attack!"

This was worse than a nightmare, the whole world was going crazy! "I—Is he-

"He's in hospital, but his condition has stabilised,"her mother hastily assured her. "The doctors are sure he's going to be all right."

"I'm coming home "

"No! Nori-chan, I told Itachi Uchiha we would be coming to you—that was before your father collapsed, of course. He said he would get in touch again when he knew anything more than that Narumi and Sasuke were on the plane." The line went silent for several minutes, as her mother fought for control. "He was expecting to know more later today.'"

Itachi Uchiha would be the type of man who demanded, not asked for, that information. And he had such a presence of authority that he would get the answers too!

"I'd rather come home. Mr Uchiha will realise I'm there when he gets no answer here."

"I'm not at home, Noriko," her mother told her softly. "I'm going to stay at the hospital with your father tonight."

"Are you sure there's no danger?" Noriko asked sharply, wondering if her mother was telling her everything.

"'The doctors assure me there isn't," she was hastily assured. "But I'd rather be with him tonight. Please stay in Suna and wait for Mr Uchiha to contact you. I'd hate for us to miss his call."

Her mother was right, she knew she was, and yet she felt she should go to her lather. But if Itachi Uchiha should call while she was in transit . ..! "I'll wait, Mom," she said softly. "And I'll call you at the hospital as soon as I know anything. Give Dad my love."

"I will, dear. And don't worry, things could still be all right with Narumi and Sasuke."

She couldn't move after putting down the receiver. Her mother was being optimistic, and they both knew it. Narumi was going to be dead, Sasuke too, and their poor little baby that hadn't even begun to live. And no matter how light her mother made of the heart attack she knew her father was gravely ill.

"I thought I heard the telephone "

With a strangled cry she turned and flung herself into Shikamaru's waiting arms, a dam seeming to burst as she sobbed it all out to him, finding comfort in his lean strength as he led her back to the lounge, holding her close against his chest as she sat close beside him on the corner unit.

"She was so beautiful, Shika." she choked, her tears having wet his shirt front. "I can't believe she's dead— and in that way. No wonder Dad took it so hard," she shuddered.

"I know, honey. I know," he soothed, smoothing back her hair with a gentle hand, surprisingly so considering their size and strength. Tall and slender as she was, Shikamaru made her feel cherished and cared for, his manners were always without fault, never too forward, but always friendly.

"You never met Narumi, did you?" she mumbled into his shirt.

"I've seen her in the movies. She was beautiful," he acknowledged. "Very like you."

Again they were talking in the past tense, and it was with a sense of deep pain that she realised she would probably never see her sister again. Of a similar age, the two of them had always been very close, had shared friends and clothes during their teenage years, continuing to keep those same friends as the years passed. Everyone was going to be heartbroken when they learnt the fiery-haired Narumi was no longer with them.

"Everyone loved her, Shika," she continued huskily. "She was so much fun, so—so full of life!" Her voice broke over the last.

Everyone had loved Narumi except the Uchihas. Narumi and Sasuke had a private wing in the Uchiha house, the widowed Mikoto Uchiha and her bachelor son occupying the other wing, while the married daughter Izumi lived several miles away with her husband and two daughters. Mikoto and her daughter Izumi had shown their disapproval of Sasuke marrying an actress from the beginning, while Itachi Uchiha had been indifferent.

Noriko pulled herself together with effort; she was not one to allow emotional trauma to take her to the hysterical stage. "You should be getting back, Shika," she told him in a firm voice. "I shall be all right now, and you do have that scene to finish."

"Kakashi told me to stay with you."

"But I don't need "being with"! She sounded brittle, highly strung, knowing she needed to be alone for a while to come to terms with her loss. She deeply appreciated his gentle care, but no amount of talking was going to help her through the next few hours as she waited for Itachi Uchiha's call. "Really, Shika," she insisted as he made to protest. "I need time to—accept."

"Time alone" he nodded understandingly, having lost his young wife in an automobile accident four years ago when they had only been married a year. "If you need me, any time day or night, just call, hmm?"

. "Thank you,"she blinked back the tears. 'Until I get this call from Itachi Uchiha my hands are tied. I can't go to Konoha where the crash happened, and I can't go to Dad either.'

Shikamaru bent and kissed her lightly on the lips. "I'm sure he won't be long."

But the evening passed, and then the night-time hours, and still Itachi Uchiha hadn't called her. Noriko paced the room most of the night, the time dragging slowly, until finally in desperation she telephoned the Uchihas' house herself.

If took some time to convince Kenji, the Uchiha butler, that she really was Narumi''s sister and not a reporter trying to get a story.

"Mrs Uchiha has been sedated and is in her bedroom and Mrs Hyuuga,' he spoke of Sasuke's married sister, "is at home with her own family."

"And Mr Uchiha?" she asked breathlessly.

"Mr Uchiha isn't at home" she was told.

"Not there?" she frowned.

"No, miss," the man sounded affronted that she should dare to question his statement, 'he left the house several hours ago.'

"To go to where?" she demanded impatiently.

"I wouldn't know, Miss Namikaze" Kenji sounded surprised by such a question. 'Mr Uchiha doesn't inform me of his movements."

"Then in the circumstances he damn well should!" slammed the receiver down, too angry to question more.

Damn the man! Where could Itachi Uchiha have disappeared to, and apparently without telling anyone where he was going?

But all this didn't change the fact that Itachi Uchiha had promised to call, that she had held off calling the hospital about her father in case she missed that call, and now he had disappeared. She had been relying on his authority to find out what was happening, having called the airline herself only to be told things were too confused and panicked at the moment for any information to be given out by them. It was their way of saying they didn't know what was happening either!

But that didn't help her now, and after calling the hospital to check that both her mother and father were sleeping comfortably she rang the airport to book a flight out to Konoha, only to be told the first available seat was late morning. She took it, knowing she was doing no good sitting here.

Dawn saw her seated at the breakfast bar in her galley-kitchen, drinking the remains of her third pot of coffee, the heavy look in her eyes evidence that she hadn't slept at all, her almost fixed gaze on the wall telephone telling its own story. Itachi Uchiha still hadn't called

Her mother telephoned a short time later to assure her that her father was doing well, that he seemed a lot better. She seemed as perplexed as Noriko over the Uchiha's silence.

Her suitcase was packed, her creased denims changed in favour of a tailored dress, her hair flowing freely about her shoulders, and she couldn't stand to

sit here in her apartment another minute longer waiting for a call that obviously wasn't going to come, so she called for a cab to take her to the airport.

When the doorbell rang a few minutes later she expected it to be the driver, but she opened the door to a barrage of questions and flashing intrusive lights.

"How do you feel about your sister's death, Noriko?"

"Will the funeral be here or in Konoha?" asked another reporter.

"Will Narumi and her husband be buried together, Noriko?" persisted another.

Noriko had blanched at the sea of faces outside her apartment door; microphones and cameras were pushed into her face, a couple of them for television.

She had remained undisturbed by reporters all night, as her address was known to few but her closest friends, although it now seemed someone had released the wolves at her heels.

"Were you close to your sister, Noriko?" another asked.

"We hear your father collapsed when told of the crash—can you confirm this, Miss Namikaze?' one determined reporter pounced.

'Did you-- '

'That will be enough!' rasped an authoritative voice, startling the members of the media into stunned silence.

A man was pushing his way through the crowd to Noriko's side.

Uchiha Itachi. It could be no other man. She might only have met him once, but the memory of him had stayed indelibly printed on her brain for some unknown reason. Possibly because she had never met anyone quite like him before.

He grasped her arm in a vice-like grip. " Let's go inside," he muttered.

"Who the hell is he?" The members of the media weren't silenced for long "Where did he come from?"

"Ithought she was seeing Shikamaru Nara,"murmured someone else.

"I believe Miss Namikaze's privacy has been invaded enough for one day," he snapped, his hand firm on her arm now as he turned her back into her apartment. "If you'll excuse us—lady, gentlemen,"he nodded dismissively pushing her the rest of the way into her apartment and closing the door in the face of the renewed questioning. 'Like vultures!' he muttered as he followed her through to the lounge, then his onyx eyes narrowed as he saw her packed suitcase standing next to a chair. He looked up at her with a frown. "Are you going somewhere?"

"I—I'd given up on your call.' Her voice came out husky—and slightly defensive. "I'm booked on a flight to Konaha in a couple of hours time.

He merely nodded acknowledgement of the fact, seeming impatient to end the conversation before it had started. " Is it true, has your father collapsed?"

"It's true," she admitted heavily. "There's no danger, but it's hit him hard, harder than I realised." she admitted.

"I had no idea your father had collapsed.' Although it's been a shock to all of us."

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Noriko swallowed hard in the face of that detachment. "They said—on the television—that there were no survivors."

"They were wrong." Itschi sated flatly.

Hope leapt in her heart. 'They were?'

"Yes. It appears—Sit down, please," he told her abruptly.

She looked startled. "I—I'm fine. I-"

"I said sit down, Noriko." He didn't raise his voice, his expression didn't change, and yet she sat, knowing the words were an order and not a request. "It appears there were half a dozen survivors—all of them severely injured, but alive nonetheless."

'Narumi-- '

'Was not one of them. Neither was Sasuke.' Still the man showed no emotions.

Her breathing became ragged as the full impact of his words hit her. 'They—they're both dead?' she choked, having been given hope for a few seconds only to have it taken away from her again.

'Yes,' he stated flatly.

"Oh, God" she sobbed.

"But their son is very much alive," his softly spoken words interrupted her weeping. "And well."

Noriko raised a tear-wet face, swallowing hard. "Their—son?'

He nodded. "Narumi was one of the survivors. She lived for two hours after the crash, badly—fatally injured herself. And somehow she kept alive long enough to give birth to her child. She had a son. His name—the name she chose for him—is Minato."

"Minato .. .!'she gave a choked sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a cry. "That's my father's name!"

"Yes,"he acknowledged. "And I'm sure your father will be very proud of his grandson."

"Have—you seen him?" She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.

"Briefly,"he acknowledged tersely.

"What docs he look like? Is he like Narumi or Sasuke? Is- "

"He's like all newborn babies," Itachi dismissed impatiently. "Small, pink, and he cries a lot. And incredibly like Narumi," he added gruffly.

"I want to see him," she decided firmly.

"I have no doubt you will," he drawled. "But there's something else I think you should know before we go any further. Narumi also made provision for her son's future. She made you and me Minato's legal guardians. Jointly,' he added pointedly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXAND CUT!!!!I HOPE YOU ENJOY MY NEW STORY PLEASE READ AND REVIEW.NAMIKAZE ICHIME