Life On A Movie Set
Summary: Fugaku is a professional and famous actor, known far and wide for his stoic and cold nature. So how did this upstart manage to drag out his emotions with a smile and laughing sky blue eyes?
Fugaku knew he kept staring at the blond, Namikaze Minato, for the rest of the meet and greet meeting only because a teen with silver hair and mismatched eyes kept glaring at him through the whole thing. The teen was pale and wore a surgeon's white mask over the lower half of his face, but he was of lithe, athletic build and about a head and a half shorter than his companion, but his one red and one black eye could be quite intimidating when he glared at you with them. They hid a scary intellect in their depth, much like Itachi's own black eyes and even Minato's.
Minato, in contrast to his younger 'protector', had very gentle blue eyes and soft features that were almost always set in a soft smile. They seemed to melt everyone's heart as soon as that face was turned towards them. Maybe it was his slightly naive appearance that had the kid so protective of him. Fugaku honestly wouldn't know, as he'd almost not even gotten a chance to speak with his co-actors, not that he actually wanted to interact with the female lead.
Haruno Sakura, while beautiful and appearing gentle mannered, was the picture definition of a spoiled movie diva you'd see on the films. She was snobbish, rude, thought herself to be flawless and perfect - Fugaku couldn't wait for her to actually meet Itachi and see the closest to perfect a human could possible get - and she truly was a slut. She actually tried to feel him up when they first met and spent the rest of the meeting pouting when he pushed her away. She hadn't dared to try it with Minato, what with his little guard dog glaring death at her after he saw the greeting Fugaku got. But she apparently really had talent to back up the praise and prestige she got, although not enough for her attitude. She also seemed to be rather ... hostile to the other actors, Minato especially. She played the girl who comes out of nowhere and whom Fugaku supposedly falls in love with because of her caring nature and because his kids lover her or something.
One of the said other actors, Hyuuga Hinata, seemed to sink into the ground with every word that came out of the woman's mouth while her cousin, Neji, only glared harder while slinking a protective arm around the shy girl. They were ten and thirteen respectively, child actors from a famous family of actors, the Hyuuga family. The Hyuugas have been in the film industry ever since the first day a camera arrived in Japan and at least two were magnificent actors with every generation of their rather big family. Fugaku was good friends with the fathers of these two, Hiashi and Hizashi respectively, and he had great hopes for them. They will be acting as his kids in this movie.
Another actress, although a lot longer in the industry than Sakura but not quite as famous because she had some dignity, honor, pride and self-respect, Sabaku Temari, got many ridiculing comments from Sakura for her humble style of dress and her wilder looking hair. Temari was playing Minato's older sister. It was through the 'siblings' that Fugaku's and Sakura's characters meet, as Temari is supposedly Sakura's best friend while Minato is Fugaku's best friend/best man/manager and his kids father in law and honorary uncle. It helped that both were blonds with bluish eyes, although Temari's hair was darker and her eyes were grayish-blue as opposed to Minato's startling sky blue.
Another person who the pink haired actress annoyed was said woman's - through some miracle - best friend, Yamanaka Ino, a world renowned costume designer. She first got noticed when she and her brother, Deidara, who was three years older than her, stopped a shooting because they thought that the wardrobe was all wrong for the decor they were using. Deidara's current boyfriend, Akasuna Sasori, had not agreed. An argument ensued between the two men until they came to a compromise and made the best wardrobe-scenery balance to be ever seen on the big screen. Sasori kept calling them up after that for every movie and Deidara and Ino started getting their own fame. Deidara worked with Sasori on the decor now while Ino had completely migrated to the domain of costumes. It was better that way. After all, she didn't need to run in on another alone time moment between her brother and her soon to be brother in law. She loved them to bits and she was a secret yaoi fangirl, but even Ino had her limits. Or so the story goes. And as amazing as she sounds, she still ended up with Sakura as a beat friend. It started on a movie set when they were both younger, like two years ago. They fell for the same guy, became rivals, asked him out only for him to turn them both down since he was in a relationship with the hair dresser, Haku. It didn't help that Haku was a guy with better hair than them. So they took out the ice cream and ate away their 'pain' before Ino resigned herself to holding Sakura's hair while the actress threw up the calories in order to stay in shape. They've been inseparable since, yet they still annoyed each other like no one else could. Old rivalries died hard.
Fugaku had to admit he was a bit surprised that both Jiraiya and Tsunade were in on this production. The power couple were the best in the business. They've been unofficially married from the day they were 13, and that was forty years ago. They were never going to get really married despite the fact that they were perfect for each other: they both drank, gambled and were the craziest people you'd ever meet. Not to mention they didn't look a year older than thirty. And they were the best in what they do. Jiraiya was the best director and script writer this side of the globe while Tsunade's skills in the make-up department got her the tittle if 'princess' many years ago. Fugaku was sure Mikoto would have killed for an opportunity to get her make-up done by Tsunade. She's gonna be so jealous when she hears he'd worked with two of the three Legendary Sannin, as they called them. They were unmatched in their skills.
The third Sannin was there, too. He was Sakura's manager, much to everyone's surprise. Orochimaru was the best manager in the business. Before Sakura, whom he picked up at 13, he's managed two other great movie stars, one football player and even one basketball team. They were the best as long as they had him. He was a dangerous one to be careless with. If you weren't paying attention, the snake might bite you.
Another surprise in the manager department was Morino Ibiki, who managed Minato. If Kakashi was the watch dog, then Ibiki was the brick wall you had to cross to even get to the dog. A few years back, he left the managing business when it resulted in his baby brother being kidnapped. It would seem that Minato was enough for the bald and scarred man to get back into the game, for whatever reason.
There were a few other interesting and famous people in the production. For example, Uzumaki Nagato and his wife, Konan. They were the best special effects managers, digital and physical respectively. There was Anko, who would help them with stunts. She was listed as the fifth best daredevil in the world before she decided to use her skills in the movie industry instead of pointless jumping over canons and what not. Interesting fact, though, was that she had left her business because of her manager's pushiness, who so happened to be Orochimaru himself. She was the only client who fired him. Sarutobi Hiruzen, the owner of the best studios in Japan, had offered them up his own best of the best studio he has for the movie, along with the equipment as a bonus. He was also the one who recommended Minato for the role, seeing great potential in him. Now their producer was an ass, despite, too, being the best in his line of work. Shimura Danzo has been obsessing over Itachi for seven years now, ever since he met Fugaku's older son on his first shooting under Danzo's production called ROOT. Itachi kept refusing him at each offer but the man was persistent. He made the mistake of trying to recruit Itachi in front of Madara, who immediately filed a lawsuit for disturbing personal peace and what not of the rest of that legal stuff. Bottom line, Madars was not losing his COO; he was too used to having the boy around to do his work for him to let him go. Danzo barely dodged getting locked up in prison. Barely.
All things considered, the cast and the crew were mostly top of the line in the industry, Fugaku could not fault them at that. And not to mention that the storyline was amazing too. Fugaku had no doubt that this film will be another success.
Yet he felt this movie will change the rest of his life, for better or for worse, as he drove himself home. Never had a film ft this important. If he wasn't careful, he ft like it could determine his fate at any turn, at the flip of the hat. He briefly wondered if this was how newbies felt before the filming of their first movies or before any movie until they finally make their breakthrough. He had never felt this way before. Fugaku had been thrown into the industry because he was smart and could memorize his lines on the day the actual child actor didn't show up. It had been a crucial meeting to make sure the production would even go underway and the boy hadn't arrived in time to film that all too important first scene.
It had been at a mall, Fugaku recalled now with wonder. He had been so small and had been separated from his no doubt panicking mother. The director had seen him, took him up off the ground and rehearsed the lines with him a few times before they began rolling. They finished the scene in a single cut and the man then helped him find his mother. She'd sobbed into his hair for half an hour. Such a warming woman she had been. Fugaku was always filled with warmth when he thought of her. It made him incredibly sad that the only thing either of his sons will feel when they think of their own mother would be a bitter coldness one would feel towards the murderer of their family and not towards the woman that gave life to you.
But that was getting off the topic. Besides, Fugaku didn't like thinking about it. It made him sort of guilty, to have been so fortunate while his son's were so not. They were good kids. They deserved far better and Fugaku tried with all his might to provide that better for them.
Anyway, after the actual child actor finally got there and they filmed the same scene with him, the director decided he liked Fugaku better and spent an entire week searching for him until he finally found the Uchiha Compound. Fugaku's four older brothers refused to let Fugaku be an actor while his parents were willing to let him, if he really wanted to. It wouldn't have mattered. Fugaku would always be provided for. Uchiha Incorporated was one of the best companies in the world and the Uchiha were a rich family. He didn't even need to worry about having to inherit some duty or something. Madara was going to inherit the company as a whole, being the main share holder and CEO, while Izuna, the second oldest, got the IT firm they ran, Sharingan Corp. Kagami got 5% of the shares and worked within the company as a lawyer while Rai went to work on the Wall Street and monitor the stocks. Fugaku was free to do as he pleased and he had thought acting would be fun. And look at him now. That movie got him his first Oscar and he's been getting better and better with each movie. And then his genius son stopped him from throwing it all away.
The thought of his kids actually alerted him that he had arrived back home, to the Uchiha family Compound. With their money, the Uchiha could have remodeled years ago and made it into a mansion, but they loved the humble style despite their extravagant lives. Besides, this was the home of their honorary ancestors, the famous samurai family. It would be disrespectful and rude to change this Compound.
With a sigh, Fugaku took his script and exited the car, locking it as he walked towards the door. He could already hear the half chaos he knew would be waiting for him. And indeed, there were his sons with his two nephews, playing video games. Well, it was Sasuke and the second oldest of the boys, Obito, Rai's only son, that were playing against a bored looking Itachi while Shisui, the oldest, laughed at the faces Sasuke and Obito were making, all the while trying to point out that Itachi already knew every combination of the game and that they were pointlessly struggling to beat the genius. Madara was knocked out on the couch near theirs, probably having pulled a few all nighters that finally caught up to him. That man really needed to start taking better care of himself.
''Welcome home, Chichiue,'' Itachi called out, not even looking up as he paused the game, much to the other two's complaints. Itachi possible had the best manners in the entire family, and the Uchiha prided themselves on being the best mannered people even when they tore apart someone's business. He wasn't going to talk with his father while playing a game, as such not really paying attention to what he was saying.
''Otou-san!'' Sasuke immediately went from pouting to excitement when he saw his father, a smile stretching across his pale face. Sasuke had gotten his mother's complexion and was a shade or so paler than the rest of the Uchiha, who all looking pale, yes, but not in the same way Mikoto and Sasuke were. He also got his hair color, the blue tint to his raven locks, from Mioto, but everything else was definitely Uchiha: the aristocratic nose, the black eyes and the potential to become very tall. The boy was dressed in a long sleeved, hight and wide collared shirt with the family symbol, a red and white fan, on the back and bleach colored shorts. ''Welcome home!''
''Hey uncle Fugaku!'' Obito yelled loudly, startling Madara awake, getting a glare from the oldest Uchiha and ignoring it. He was too busy grinning and waving to his uncle. Obito had mismatched eyes just like the silver haired kid did, only his right eye was red and the left was black, opposite to the other's left red eye and right black. Maybe they both suffered from the same disease? Obito had been born with his eyes like this. Izuna, too had had it, as had their father, Indra, but no one else in the family showed any hints of ever suffering from it. It was harmless to everything but his looks. People were creeped out by the red eye as much as Fugaku had been when he saw the other kid's red eye. But he found it endearing in his nephew. Obito had short, spiky, black hair, pale skin, and a strong build for a 16 year old. He was dressed in a black shirt, midnight blue trousers and the same colored jacket with the Uchiha fan at the back and orange lining the cuffs and the zipper, which perfectly matched the color of the goggles he refused to take off except for sleep or baths since he was a little kid.
''How was the meeting?'' Shisui asked politely, sitting now beside Itachi that the other two boys weren't going to try and push him off the couch in order to beat the genius. Shisui also had short black hair, but his was paler in color to the rest of them. Not quite the ash color Itachi's was, but definitely not like Obito's and especially not like Sasuke's. He had tear-troughs under his eyes, yet they weren't as pronounced as Itachi's, Fugaku's or Madara's. He wore a shot sleeved, dark shirt with a wide collar and also the Uchiha fan on the back, gray pants and a watch on his wrist. He was the oldest of the group, 19, and he'd taken an immediate liking to Itachi when the genius was born. He'd kept looking after the boy even after it became apparent that Itachi was more than capable of looking after himself. He had declared Itachi his little brother and he refused to budge on the matter. Itachi always smiled when he was called that but Sasuke, after he turned three, became Shisui's active rival for Itachi's attention. It was comical, watching them fight for the long haired Uchiha's attention, all the while losing to a good book.
Fugaku sighed, sitting beside his own older brother. Madara had long, wild, midnight hair and liked dressing in old fashioned clothes when at home, while he usually wore a suit to work and the such. He had pretty stern features and if Fugaku was the one saying this, then you've gotta realize that Madara was not an individual to be messed with. He was the head of the family and the oldest one at the moment, too. Their father had died during a family reunion, along with Izuna, Kagami and Rai, when a hired assassin tried to take out the whole family. As soon as he'd started shooting, Izuna had jumped to cover Madara and Kagami had jumped to cover Shisui and Obito, while Rai and Indra tried to get to the killer before anyone could get seriously injured. It ended even worse, the three middle Uchiha brothers dying and Madara and Fugaku had seen it all. Madara ordered Fugakut to take the boys out of there while he dealt with the assassin. When the police arrived ten minutes later, the assassin looked like a giant had stomped on him one thousand times, but it didn't change cold reality and the fact that three of their brothers were dead, as was their father. Madara took over as the CEO and the head of the family, taking on all of their duties and not letting Fugaku quit his acting because of this. He wanted to at least make his youngest brother happy now that he couldn't the other three.
''It went pretty well, actually, all things considered. The shooting starts in two days and I'd actually like for Itachi and Sasuke to come with me.''
The six year old grew excited while Itachi arched an eyebrow. ''That's strange. You never want us on set the first day of shooting.'' Shisui usually played babysitter on those days.
''There's apparently a lot more kids your age than ever. One of my costars even has a kid near Sasuke's age, so I thought it'd be good for you.''
The fifteen year old only shrugged. ''If you say so.'' He then turned the game back on, much to more complaining from Obito and Sasuke and making Madara groan as peace and quiet of his sleep will not be achieved in this room, but he didn't want to leave his family either. Shisui started laughing again and Fugaku couldn't help but smile.
Even if they didn't have a mother, Sasuke and Itachi had the best family ever.
