Warning: OC and serious screw up of original canon/timeline. NonCanon. Tiny Itachi. Actually emotional Fugaku. The overused cliché of soulsearching/rebirth with a twist! So if you're oversensitive for previous lives affecting the present, well, perhaps its not a fic worth your time. Implied suicide.

A/N: Well then, chapter 2 of Trapped within Foreign Skin. This chapter is a bit Fugaku-centric. But that will change throughout the story and since I'm not set on a leading character yet that will probably vary as well. It's just easier to ease everyone in by using the surrounding characters right now. Oh, and don't forget! This is a very family oriented fic – Uchiha and all that. Which means that a lot will focus on Itachi, Sasuke and the lives around them. Just a... you know, little warning. Anyhow, thanks for the great response! Now, enjoy! – DR.

.oOo.

Chapter 2

.oOo.

Fugaku had to admit he was very grateful for Kushina's selfless nature. Even though he thought the woman beyond annoying and always pointed out her flaws to Mikoto during their early courtship, he could not seem to thank her enough when she offered to take care of the baby, such a foreign thing, as he waited for his wife to recover.

Mikoto.

He did not think his heart could have continued on beating if she had died that night. The split moment her chakra flickered out of existence his breath caught in his throat. Fugaku barely registered the newborn, still wet and bearing gore from its passage into the world, as it was set into his arms. The medic, cursing under her breath, working at unbelievable speed to stop the bleeding.

It had been so much blood.

When ninja reached his age, one many shinobi would be envious of seeing, you realized the simple facts about life and the curious circumstances surrounding the end of it. That no matter how severe the injury, the body's innate chakra system would work until the last possible moment to try and restore equilibrium. To keep the circulation of spirit energy running until the body had lost all hope of turning fate around.

To see that ancient warning system flicker out into nothing – fading out of existance – almost made his knees buckle, for it could only mean one thing. That death was inevitable. There was no chance of restoration, of mending the essential flow of life through her veins.

Tears burned behind his eyes, but he could not let them out. Fugaku would not let their watery hold over him blur his sight. It would only lead to disabling grief and he could not faulter now. Not now when another life clung to him, depended on his body heat and chakra signiture to feel safe.

Izue, the woman that had delivered Fugaku himself into the world over thirty years ago and was the sole individual still alive that had probably seen more of him than any one else, steered him out of the room. His feet moved on their own accord, somehow bearing him away from the sight of the room towards signatures he could recognize.

Itachi.

His face was stiff. Far more like a mask than Fugaku wished to admit at the moment. But he could not let his son see the extent of the fear raging through him. It was only the red eyes of his son that brought reality back to him. Itachi's bright, one tomoed eyes glowing eerily in the dark.

Ah.. Forgive me, Itachi. I never meant for you to feel so scared.

He pushed all his strength into relaxing his body, allowing his chakra to restabilize into a slow, continuous flow. The boy reacted instinctively, his shoulders loosening and the reflexive activation of his clan's cursed dojutsu retreating back into his normal, black obsidian.

Having his son – no, that's not right – his sons so close to him caused the surge of grief to abate a bit. Fugaku watched with guarding eyes as Itachi interacted with his youngest. A child he hadn't noticed until now was the split image of his mother. Down to the very dark indigo strands of his hair. How wonderful it would have been, to have a daugther exactly like her. But his mind reminded him of the joy the news of another son had brought him just minutes before. His fatherly pride inflating until it barely managed to fit inside his chest any longer, bringing an honest smile to to his face for once. A monumental day, surely.

"His name is Sasuke," he said, voice trembling with emotion. Anyone present in that single moment could have later testified of Fugaku, fourth head of the Uchiha Clan, being emotional. Itachi must have sensed how uncharacteristic it was of him, but as always, the boy held a tight leash over his own actions. Barely giving a nod in response as he continued to let the newborn hold his finger.

The rest of the night was a blur that faded into a long headache. For once he finally managed to set Itachi to bed and had handed Sasuke over into the safe care of his wife's former team-mate, who he had set up for the remains of the night in their spare guestroom, all the worries and fears melded together to make him very, very tired. Fugaku walked in a daze. Sending his worried clansmen home and asking his cousin and right hand man to take care of the meetings he would be absent from in the morning.

Izue, kami bless that old woman, received him into the room with careful hands and a tray of steaming green tea. The bedroom had been cleared, aired out and now infused with the strong scent of incense. Jasmine, his wife's favourite. But Fugaku doubted it was because of his wife's strong fondness of the flower that it burned thick enough to cause a faint smoke cloud high along the ceiling. But the scent was strong and fresh, enough to hide the overhanging smell of blood and death that clung to the room.

"Sit down, Fugaku-sama."

He allowed himself to be hauled into a seat. His eyes never leaving the bed. The sheets had been cleared, he noted. But the stark white of them only made his wife's pallid skin look even paler. She had been arranged comfortably, lying on her back with her long, indigo hair fanned out over her pillow. The medic still sat at her side. Palms infusing green chakra at a trickling flow.

If he had used his sharingan, he might have noted how much of the medic's reserves had been used up. But he didn't dare to, for activating it would also show him Mikoto's. Fugaku didn't know how he would react to see such a final veiw of her death. Of a body void of essential, life enabling spiritual chakra.

Hands clamped over his shoulders.

"She's going to be fine, Fugaku-sama. The birth was problematic, dangerous even... The complications were hard to pay, but she still breathes. She lives."

Fugaku watched the slow rise and fall of Mikoto's chest. Weak, compared to normal, but it was there. There was blood flowing beneath her skin, chakra pooling to commit into a weak but steady signature that buzzed at him even at this distance. His hands tightened around his tea cup, leeching every drop of heat it could offer him.

His eyes burned.

Izue exchanged a look with the medic as soon as the woman let up on her chakra transplantation technique. Her sceptical eyes lingered on Mikoto for a moment longer. It would have to do. There was little more she could do in this case. At least, now the Clan head's wife was stable. Even if not all had gone according to plan, she would recover.

The midwife steadied her a bit as she came to sit opposite the Uchiha. The normally stern man's face was drawn blank, as if this whole mess was too much too fast for him to comprehend.

"Izue-san is right. She will live." The breath that whooshed out of Fugaku's closed lips came as a surprise for the medic. "With enough time to rest and regain her strength there should not be anything to hinder her from regaining her full abilities."

Fugaku's brow furrowed. "But?"

The medic closed her eyes, before she turned her opened gaze on her lap. Normally, there would be time for her to conclude the best way to impart such news. But she wasn't in the hospital now and saying it in the intimacy of the couple's bedroom made everything so... personal.

She drew a deep breath, her voice clinical as she tried to make her point clear. "Your wife... She lost a lot of blood. We do not know what caused the premature delivery, but thankfully the child remains unaffected by it all."

Dark obsidian eyes bore into her and she felt like squirming beneath the heavy gaze.

"Your wife, however... It was not all without complications." She clasped the cup offered by the midwife, carefully drawing strength from the heat it exuded. "I have stopped the bleed and repaired as much as I could considering the surrounding circumstances. But there are things that may need... surgical mending. I am afraid her womb was damaged. Too much for it to allow another gestation."

"You.. You mean to say we cannot-" He stopped, jaw clenching for a moment before he gathered himself. "She cannot concieve another child."

"It is not that she cannot get impregnated. It is only my educated opinion that I seriously doubt she can carry another baby to term. It would be dangerous, both for her and the baby. The tissue, the amount of vasculature I had to cut off to stop the bleed. I do not think the current environment of her womb to be favorable for childbearing. It is too risky."

It was like looking at a stone statue. But she couldn't falter now. It is important that she get through to him about how important this is.

"It is my professional recommendation that you allow surgical removal of the womb. It will minimize the risk of it starting to bleed again."

Fugaku turned from the medic to Izue. The woman looked grim in the soft light, her wrinkled face pulled into a mask of sad determination.

"That is my opinion as well, Fugaku-sama."

The bottom of his stomach fell beyond his reach. But a single glance at his wife deep in medically induced sleep made his decision for him.

His throat felt raw, but his voice came out grave. "Very well."

Kushina never realized a baby was so much work. Well, to be honest, the first days were easy. The little Uchiha slept most of the day and only stirred for the bottle and when she changed him. Otherwise, the baby was blissfully asleep most of the time. Unknowing of the world and the happenings in the Uchiha houshold.

Kushina was not so lucky.

Four days had past since Mikoto was rushed off to surgery loaded on a medical transport with Fugaku following pale-faced behind. The compound was alive with whispers of Mikoto's state and many concerned Kushina's own presence in the main house. Matters where only made worse since Fugaku was not available to dissuade the false rumours. The man had practically locked himself inside his bedroom with his wife. Barely leaving the house at all these days.

So instead Kushina listened to the gossip regarding that fateful night. The stories ranged all the way from assasinations and failed attempts to overthrow the Uchiha Head's power to her being Fugaku's hidden mistress and Kushina now deciding to making her claim on Fugaku being her unborn child's father, the stress of the reveal pushing the Mistress of the Clan into a premature birth.

Frankly, that last one had Kushina rolling on the floor with laughter for a good half hour before she calmed. The ridiculousness of the statement was just too absurd to be anything but false. Not that Fugaku wasn't attractive in his own dark and handsome Uchiha way, but Kushina was happily in love with the sunshine of her life. And if anyone thought she would leave Minato simply because of the promise of being the wife of a clan head then they had a lot coming!

She stopped her inner ramblings to use the corner of a thin baby blanket to wipe at the dribble of milk that rolled down the boy's cheek. If she was to be honest, Sasuke made her feel like she was bottle feeding Mikoto most of the time and she could already tell the baby had the same temperament his mother had when they were young. The way his face scrunched up in annoyance at her probing fingers in the middle of feeding made that clear quite quickly.

"Oi, oi. No need to rush..." The boy ate like he feared it would end and leave him starving. Though, to be fair, Sasuke always cried when the bottle ran out. But since Izue-san said one bottle was enough for each feeding, Kushina didn't dare increase the dosage. The boy would spit up half of it minutes later, anyway. So she decided frequent but sufficient feedings would be most favorable.

After burping him, she settled Sasuke over her chest. The boy fit snuggly over her bump and the humming she made as they rocked in the little chair quickly had him dozing.

She smiled softly down at the sight.

Not for the first time Kushina wondered if her and Minato's child would be quite as managable. She had a inkling that both their bubbling and mischievous personalities would make a bit more... energy. But Kushina always wanted a lively child. One she could play and share her little tricks with. He would be half uzumaki, after all. They were known to be active.

Something crashed in the hall and sleepily – Kushina really hated how tired this pregnancy thing made her – Kushina got to her feet. Taking careful steps, she gently set Sasuke in his crib that had been moved into her temporary room. Wrapping the robe she'd been given tighter around herself she creeped out into the hall.

Then the shouting started.

Kushina neatly dodged the shattered pieces of clay that littered the floor. Nodding approvingly at the large hole it had made on its way through the shoji.

None too subtly, she peeked inside the bedroom, eyes going wide at the scene of a barely standing Mikoto leaning against one wall, another vase in hand. Her obsidian eyes wide with terror as she stared down Fugaku where he stood across the room, his hands raised in self-defense.

Her smile faultered. "Eh, Mikoto?"

Mikoto's panicked eyes flickered to Kushina for a moment, before they went back to Fugaku.

"Don't-" Mikoto paused to pant for breath, her shoulders heaving. "Don't you dare take another step near me."

One of Kushina's neatly sculpted eyebrows raised at the words. Now that sounded more like her Mikoto. Before the personality was forced out of her in order to become the perfect clan mistress.

"Mikoto.." Fugaku tried hesitantly. "Put the vase down."

The brunette only tightened her grip around the family heirloom. "I said... get out!"

Kushina decided that perhaps this was her time to step in. "Fugaku. Perhaps you should, you know, take a walk? Go play with Sasuke for a bit, I'll be right back."

The man blinked and looked like a huge questionmark for a second, but nodded and sent his wife a last wary glance before he inched his way along the wall over to the door. Once the male was out of the room Kushina barely had the time to rush forward in order to soften Mikoto's fall as her legs abruptly gave out beneath her. She clasped her friend's upper arm as she watched Mikoto struggle to calm her breathing. Her voice rambling something that sounded suspiciously like 'what-the-hell-is-this' and 'I've-gone-mad-completely-mad'.

Kushina lowered herself down on her knees, tugging the ceramic out of Mikoto's hold with a clatter before she grasped the panicking woman's shoulders. "Mikoto?" Kushina ducked her head, catching sight of the lines of water streaming down her her friend's face. "Oh, kami. Mikoto..."

She didn't struggle as the redhaired woman dragged her forward, enveloping her into a hug. She felt so shaken. So confused. Why was she here? Why was she even breathing? She shook her head from side to side, her face brushing against the woman's neck as she desperately clung to her robe. Was this god's way of punishment? To make her pay for taking her life in her own hands? No, she couldn't believe it! It was too strange, too concentrated around this new skin for it to be a plot of that caliber. But why then would she be alive?

"Hush, Mikoto. Everything's fine, dattebane." Mikoto's body heaved a great breath and Kushina could feel her chakra, what little she had managed to recover these last few days, stabilize. Kushina frowned, for the usual calm lake that was Mikoto's chakra was no longer the same. Instead, it fizzled. Not abruptly like the lash of a growing fire, but sedately as if in a jitter of sparks, all perfectly tuned together to form a uniform hum.

If Kushina wasn't such a good sensor credit to her connection with the kyuubi inside her she wouldn't even have noticed. The change was too fine to pick up on without the enhanced senses the tailed beast's chakra provided. But at this close a range it wasn't even debatable. It was as if her chakra had manifested a whole new form. Something that should have been impossible even after the most strict forms of chakra training. Hell, Mikoto haven't even been in active duty these last six years! Such a huge gap in shinobi training would make such a feat impossible, even by the best shinobi standards.

Kushina pulled away. Her blue eyes growing with question as she stared back at the now surprised, but thankfully more calm, woman.

"Who are you, dattebane?"

Mikoto froze and Kushina watched as her face went pale. The Uchiha's eyes grew wide as they stared at her, shifting from her face, to her hair to her face again. Her body drawing back, setting a distance that might as well have been a mile from the sense of rejection it gave Kushina.

"Ku-Kushina?" The redhead frowned, but did not move as Mikoto's gaze grew even wilder. "Uzumaki Kushina, is it?"

"Of course it is, Mikoto! Who else would I be?" Then her humor dropped a bit when she realized Mikoto was not joking with her as she thought. After all, the confusion on her face was almost palpable and made the kyuubi container feel a bit of alarm. Kushina laughed nervously. "Ne.. You're acting strange, Mikoto..."

Her friend's chakra jumped.

"Strange..?"

"Yes." Kushina said with pause. "Strange. As in really, really wierd."

Mikoto seemed to collect herself for a moment, her face smoothing out into blank calm. Trusting obsidian eyes boring into her.

"Kushina." She hesitated for a second, but quickly found her resolve. "Can I go home?"

"It's perfectly normal." His hands wound themselves in the fabric of his dark-blue haori, face hard as he listened to their words. "It's completely understandable that she would feel a bit.. off after the ordeal she's been through. A traumatic experience such as her own, we should be glad she's already up and on the mend."

"So I should just ignore my wife's disregard for me?" He spat, feeling conflicted. "To see her eyes gaze at me as if I'm some kind of stranger that just happens to be her lawfully bound husband?"

The civilian healer Izue had forcefully bothered to drag back with her to the clan head's home shifted in her seat. "It will resolve itself sooner or later, Uchiha-sama. Temporary memory gaps are not at all that uncommon. More often, it is due to a traumatic hit on the head or similar damage to the circulation of the brain. A simple disruption of the normal braincell function. Considering the amount of blood lost during the birthing process... It is not impossible that the lack of sufficient blood pressure left her brain without sufficient blood flow for a shorter period of time, resulting in temporary ischemia compromising normal memory function.

What you don't want to say is that my wife was dead for an undeterminable amount of time which is bound to have screwed with her head.

Fugaku knew he should be greatful. Count himself lucky even that his wife was alive and breathing, even if her mind had suffered a bit of damage in the process. But after seeing Mikoto, so clearly afraid of him once she woke up.. He never wished to see that expression her face again. It was like they had never met before. The wife he had come to recognize over the years fallen away into a total stranger.

"That is not to say there is no chance of her regaining what memories have been lost. Humans are resilient creatures, Uchiha-sama. You would be surprised what they can overcome with just a bit of determination. That she recalls names, people and other significant details is a good sign of a possible full recovery."

Fugaku clenched his teeth. "Forgive me for sounding pessimistic, but I have to be practical."

The two Uchiha women froze in their seats, Izue looking particularly affected by his shaken tone. Fugaku swallowed, forcing his voice to steady. "I cannot wait for Mikoto to come to her senses. I have a child – children – in need of their mother. A newborn that have not even been held by his mother's arms yet. Itachi, him I can manage. But to care for the baby on my own..."

He could not deny that at this moment he felt very hopeless. For no matter how much help he had from Kushina, he could not shake the fear that the child Mikoto had been waiting for so eagerly would never know her love. That Mikoto, his Mikoto, would never return.

The women across from him had no comforting words to offer and sat in silence. One that only cemented the fact that he was truly alone in all this. And for the first time in his life Fugaku wondered how he could have ever managed to live without his wife before they married. He felt so lost.

For he now saw that his life was not as easy without his silent pillar of support beside him and with all that was happening around him Fugaku feared he would lose it forever.

#To be continued...