Chapter One

Namikaze Minami

Namikaze Minami is her new name. Her new identity…her new life.

She was born on January 3rd as the daughter of Namikaze Eiji and Shinju, jonins of Konohagakure. She was reborn into a fictional world as a relative? of the fourth Hokage. Honestly this isn't what bothers her. Fictional or not this is where she was reborn into and as far as she sees it it's real.

What bothers her is the fact she doesn't remember any of Minami's memories before she came to. From the bits and bobs of Minami's parents' conversations she can make out she is at least 2 months. What happened to those 2 months? Why didn't she remember anything? Had she taken over this baby's body? If so where is she? What happened to her?

In the end she comes to the conclusion that she has taken over Minami's body and the baby girl is most likely dead. Why? is the only question she can ask herself. She had wanted to die...she had been ready to die so why was she alive! Why was she alive in the place of an innocent baby girl?

Guilt eats away at her alongside her nightly terrors. Minami's parents try their best to care for her and she can feel the love and worry they have for their daughter.

She feels sorry for them. They've lost their daughter and are unknowingly raising her murderer as their own. She tries her best to be the best daughter they could ever have but fails miserably.

The memories of her past life are too fresh and too vivid. It doesn't help that she doesn't have her coping mechanism to help her. Her tightly terrors have Minami's parents on edge. They've taken her to the medics time and time again but they can't seem to grasp what is causing her to be so restless. If only they knew...if they knew how terrifying it is to see each and every time she falls asleep too deeply.

"Bitch"

"Slut"

"Murderer"

"Hana-chan"

She isn't Minami.

But she isn't Hana either.

She isn't a 2 month old baby.

But she isn't a 27 year old office worker either.

Just who was she? Who is she?

"You're my sweet little sunflower Hana-chan. My sweet sweet sunflower."

She would always be his little sunflower but maybe...just maybe she could become a whole new person...

She might not know who she is anymore...but maybe she find that out for herself this time around...

She is 4 months old now. Nothing much has changed since then but it has gotten better. She still can't bring herself to call Minami's parents her own but she's getting there.

She's developed a new coping mechanism. Instead of her lover's voice she uses Minami's mother's voice as her coping mechanism. While it isn't as effective or relaxing as her old one, it helps keep her night terrors at bay.

Minami's mother has caught onto this and talks as much as she can around her. It takes a small toll on the older woman's throat which makes her little more than guilty. She tries to show how grateful she is by hugging her but fails to do so as she still has barely any control over her body. She actually ends up in tears from exhausting herself too much.

Her body is still too frail to do much less anything than rolling over. Minami's mother seems happy enough about her development so she must be developing normally.

It still frustrates her that her body is sluggish most of the time. Another thing she has a hard time with is controlling her bodily fluids. Drool is one thing but not being able to control her 1s and 2s is embarrassing.

Teething is another problem she is going through. It's not as bad as her night terrors but it's close. Her gums are aching up a storm. Minami's father has brought her a few things to chew on which have helped her a lot through the horrible experience. Though she doubts she'll need all 6 of them.

"Look Nami-chan. Papa brought you a new toy!"

"Eiji, you need to stop buying Nami-chan new teething toys. She already has 5. She doesn't need anymore!"

"But Shinju~ I can't help it!"

"..."

As she grows older it has been getting easier to deal with her night terrors. Now that she can control her body to some degree she can demand hugs and give Minami's parents sloppy kisses on the lips. Even though it's only for a few seconds the voice of her lover helps her immensely.

Minami's parents love her new found affection. The few worries they have disappear and are steadily replaced by more laughter and happiness.

Guilt washes over her again because she knows she doesn't deserve this happiness.

"Everyone deserves to be happy Hana-chan. Especially someone as kind as you."

Then does that mean she can be Minami? Can she really replace her? Can she really be this selfish?

...yes...

She is Namikaze Minami. She is the daughter of Namikaze Eiji and Shinju, jonins of Konohagakure. She is a 6 month old baby whose current goal in life is to become the best daughter her parents could ever have.

September 25th. It's her mother's birthday today. Minami has devised the perfect plan for her birthday present. She's been practicing for months so she is sure she won't fail.

It doesn't go exactly according to plan as she accidentally sleep through lunch and basically ends up blurting it out after dinner.

"Mama!"

Both of her parents freeze in shock. Her mother is the first to snap out of it and start squealing in delight about how her daughter's first words are mama. The older blonde picks Minami up and twirls her around while doing a somewhat awkward dance of joy.

Her father on the other hands starts to sulk in the corner of the kitchen. Minami giggles at his childish behavior before saying her second words,

"Papa"

Her father lightens up at this. He joins her mother in their joy dance.

Minami feels her chest tighten up but ignores it. She lets herself enjoy the rest of the evening celebrating her mother's birthday with cake, sweetened baby food for her, and kisses. The smile on her face doesn't fade even as she drifts off to sleep.

That night she dreams about the future...about a spiky blonde haired Namikaze who has their mother's spiky blonde locks and their father's bright blue eyes...

Minami's first steps are a few weeks after her mother's birthday. They are delighted at this and proudly show her off to their friends. The demonstrations she has to give her parents' friends are enough practice themselves but her parents also have her practice while they are at home. It's no surprise that she masters the art of walking faster than any of her peers.

Now that Minami is walking her parents start taking her out the house more often. Oddly enough they don't take her out to the playground like most of their friends do with their children. Instead they take her on long walks around the village. Sometimes when they come across buildings like the academy or the Uchiha police station, they'd stop for awhile to explain what that building is for and when to go to it.

Minami's favorite place so far is the corner shop near the market place. It's similar to the one she regularly visited in her past life. The sweets and trinkets are slightly different but they bring her the same joy as they did in her past life.

Once a week they would pass the shop while going to the market place to shop for groceries. Her mother has made grocery shopping an educational game. She, and her father would read out an item from the shopping list and Minami would point it out and read how much it cost. If she got at least half of the list correct they would take her to the corner shop for a small bag of treats.

Since Minami knows most of what her mother says the game is easy for her but she holds herself back at first. The first time they'd played the game Minami had purposely gotten most of them wrong. She had pretended to ponder a bit before randomly selecting an item from the stall. Each week she had allowed herself to get a few more right or purposely dropped a few others. Eventually she started to get past the half way line and gain her treats.

"My, my I guess you managed to win this time Minami-chan." The shop keeper says as she skips through the front door and heads straight to where the sweets are.

"Un! Minami win!" She says childishly before turning attention to the large collection of sweets before her.

The adults chuckle at her and chat while waiting for the youngest Namikaze to finish choosing her prize.

"Bright little thing isn't she." The shop keeper chuckles. "My niece is about her age but she still can't say much besides 'mama' and 'no'."

Minami's parents nod in agreement.

"It honestly surprised me when she started to win the game. I had thought it would take at least until her 2nd birthday for her to start winning but look." Her mother says proudly.

It's just then that Minami rushes over to them with a small bottle of Konpeitō grasped tightly between her fingers. "Mama look! Pretty!"

Her mother smiles and picks her up in her arms while her father pays the shop keeper. "Wow, they're really pretty Nami-chan. Do you want mama to hold them for you or do you want to hold them yourself?"

"Herself! Minami holds!" Minami exclaims, causing the adults to chuckle once more.

The shop keeper then ruffles Minami on the head and slips another bottle of Konpeitō into her hands. "Make sure you win next time too kiddo."

With a giant grin on her face Minami nods and says, "Un! mata raishu (see you next week) oji-chan!"

After another round of chuckles the Namikazes leave the shop and head home. On their way home Minami slowly begins to drift off to sleep. Her grip on the bottles loosen so her father holds them for her..

"Konpeitō huh? I wonder what it'll be next week."