One of Those Things

            Hatake Sakiko met her reflection in the large full-length mirror one of her fathers had given her with a smile. Excitement bubbled within her as she tied her shoulder-length hair back neatly into a small ponytail. The shorter strands slipped out, but she brushed them back behind her ears hastily and grabbed her schoolbag full of books and other school supplies from the floor before heading out of her room.

            Finally, after all of her years of intensive studying at the academy, Sakiko was going to take the test to graduate and become a gennin. Just the thought of becoming a ninja apprentice brought a large smile to the young girl’s face and made her all the more determined to succeed. She was the daughter of two great ninja after all, one being none other than Kakashi, the renowned Copy Ninja, and the other, Umino Iruka, a very well-respected ninja at the academy itself.

            As she entered the kitchen, she already saw a large breakfast laid out for her. Her older father was busy getting his daughter’s lunch ready while keeping a wary eye on the clock, determined not to give in to his habit of chronic tardiness – at least not until Sakiko was ready for school.

            “Good morning, Ka-otousan!” Sakiko said happily, sitting down to devour her meal.

            “Kiko-chan,” the silver-haired man replied with a smile, “Ready for your final?”

            His daughter nodded enthusiastically with a mouthful of food.

            “I’ve been going over every jutsu!” she said once she had swallowed, “Everything we’ve ever learned.”

            Kakashi looked impressed.

            “You’re sure to do well then.”

            Sakiko beamed at him and went back to eating, determined to finish her meal quickly. Kakashi watched her amused, remembering how excited and nervous he had been before his own graduation exam. Of course, he had been much younger than his daughter, but the memory was still distinct. Once Sakiko had finished, she was immediately on her feet.

            “Thanks for breakfast, Ka-otousan! I gotta go!”

            “Don’t forget this,” Kakashi said, handing her the lunch he had packed neatly in a small bento box.

            “Thank you,” his daughter said, giving him a quick kiss goodbye, “See you when I’m a gennin!”

            “Whoa, hold on there, Miss Gennin,” another voice said, “Aren’t you going to say goodbye to me too?”

            Iruka entered the kitchen, dressed and just about ready for a day of teaching at the academy. Sakiko smiled at him sheepishly.

            “Bye, I-otousan!” she said, giving him a kiss as well.

            “We’ll come meet you after school,” Kakashi told her, and she nodded with a smile.

            Once the twelve-year-old was out the door, she bolted to the rooftops and began leaping her way to the academy. Determination filled her as she saw the large building come into view. I’ll ace this test! Nothing can stop me…Soon I’ll be another step ahead to becoming a full-fledged ninja.

            Not long after, she was sitting in a classroom full of students, awaiting her turn to take the exam.

            “Do you think it’s going to be hard?” one of her classmates asked another excitedly.

            “It shouldn’t be,” a girl answered, “I mean, it’s just everything we went over yesterday, right?”

            “Yesterday?” another asked, “I heard it was on everything we’ve learned the whole year!”

            “Well, I heard it was on everything we’ve learned since we started studying in the academy!” a boy insisted.

            Sakiko squirmed nervously in her seat. Of course, she had been keeping up with her lessons and mastered every jutsu she had studied so far. Her fathers were good tutors whenever she had trouble, and she couldn’t remember a time when she had failed so badly at a jutsu that she had given up completely. She understood chakra control and all the other little techniques she had been taught along the way. Sakiko was just afraid she was going to suddenly draw a blank on something, some little detail, right when she needed it the most. She began practicing hand seals beneath her desk.

            “Hatake Sakiko!”

            Her name had finally been called. The dark-haired girl rose nervously from her seat and followed her sensei into another room, where another chunnin instructor waited for them. He looked very familiar…

            “I-otousan?” Sakiko burst out, surprised.

            Iruka smiled at his daughter and looked down at his clipboard.

            “Welcome, Sakiko-chan,” he greeted, “Tanaka-sensei and I are going to be judging you for your final exam.”

            “Don’t worry,” Tanaka-sensei said with a sly grin, “I won’t let him pass you just because you’re his daughter.”

            Sakiko smiled weakly at her sensei’s joke and took her position in front of the desk. Her senseis started off by asking her to do a few simple jutsus, which she pulled off easily. Finally, it was time for the final test.

            “Alright, for the last part of your exam, create three shadow clones,” Iruka instructed.

            Sakiko nodded and centered her chakra. She held her hands before her correctly, but something felt off. The academy student closed her eyes, trying to concentrate harder. She gasped as she felt a sharp pang in her abdomen, but kept channeling her chakra. Her senseis watched worriedly, concerned that she was taking a bit longer than necessary, but suddenly, she released a burst of chakra and no less than ten shadow clones appeared around her. Sakiko blinked blankly at the extra clones she had accidentally created and turned very red, daring a glance at her shocked senseis.

            “Sakiko,” Tanaka-sensei gasped, “That was great! But you really did only need to create three.”

            “I was just…doing my best!” Sakiko replied nervously.

            Iruka gave her a suspicious look, but then smiled.

            “Well, you’ve outdone yourself, Sakiko-chan,” he told her, “I’m sure Tanaka-sensei agrees that you should be allowed to graduate from the academy.”

            Tanaka-sensei nodded his head approvingly.

            “Though next time make sure you have full control over your chakra at the beginning,” her father added a little more quietly.

            His comment wasn’t enough to kill her enthusiasm, however.

            “I passed!” Sakiko burst out, “I’m a gennin!”

            “Congratulations,” Tanaka-sensei said, handing her a brand new headband from the table.

            Sakiko took it gratefully and immediately wrapped it around her forehead. Iruka beamed proudly at his daughter and said goodbye to her as she left the testing room in a hurry, eager to go meet Kakashi outside and tell him the good news.

            As she continued down the hall, however, she began to notice that she felt kind of strange. She felt sore somehow, as if the jutsu had put some kind of strain on her body, particularly the…lower regions. Sakiko shifted her legs uncomfortably as a cramp below her stomach made her wince. Something felt a bit painful. Not only that, but she felt kind of – wet. Had she really been that nervous? Without another thought, she rushed off to the bathroom.

            Once secluded in a stall, Sakiko pulled down her pants and let out a yelp of horror. Her underwear was covered in blood! This was much worse than she thought. Much, much worse. She was dying! Sakiko tried to get a hold of herself, but she didn’t know what to do. She was bleeding from the inside! How could this have happened? Suddenly, she gasped in realization. During the final exam – she must have done something terribly wrong! She hadn’t been able to control her chakra and had messed up the jutsu…It must have had a side effect on her body. I’ll never make another shadow clone again!, she thought mournfully.

            Slowly, she calmed herself, knowing Ka-otousan would never panic in such a situation. She had to find her father right away and get help. She stuffed some toilet paper on the bloody spot hastily and pulled up her pants, rushing out of the bathroom. Once she had reached the outside of the academy, she weaved through the group of other excited new gennin to find the silver-haired man waiting patiently by the tree with a swing.

            Kakashi beamed upon seeing his daughter with her new headband, but his look of pride quickly turned to worry when he saw the distressed look on her face.

            “What’s wrong, Kiko-chan?”

            Her dark blue eyes looked up at him pitifully.

            “Ka-otousan, I’m bleeding!” she told him.

            Usually, the jounin was very calm and focused during serious situations, but when it came to his daughter, his over-protectiveness usually got the better of him.

            “What?” Kakashi yelped, unable to hide his concern, “Where?”

            Sakiko turned very red and took a quick glance around to make sure none of her classmates were within hearing range.

            “Down there,” she whispered, making the least obvious gesture that she could.

            Kakashi’s eyes widened, and he felt himself lose even more control, as panic attempted to overtake him.

            “H-how did this happen?”

            “I don’t know,” his daughter answered shakily, “I think it was one of the jutsus I used during the exam.”

            “We have to get you to the hospital right away,” Kakashi said decidedly and was just about to rush off with her until he heard a voice call to him.

            “Kakashi! Sakiko!”

            Iruka was coming towards them.

            “So you’ve heard the good news?” the chuunin asked with a smile, looking fondly at his daughter.

            “Yes,” Kakashi said, “but there’s no time to talk about it right now! Sakiko’s hurt.”

            “What?” Iruka asked, looking shocked, “You were just fine a moment ago. What happened?”

            “I think it was that last jutsu,” Sakiko told him, “I’m bleeding. It’s coming from the inside.”

            Iruka looked a mixture of panicked and puzzled.

            “But you did that jutsu just fine! Made more clones than you should have and struggled slightly in the process, but I didn’t see anything wrong at the end.”

            “Something went wrong with my chakra,” Sakiko said, “I think I hurt something on the inside…”

            Iruka raised an eyebrow and gave Kakashi a confused stare. The jounin returned his stare with a worried look and glanced back down at his daughter.

            “Maybe Tsunade-sama should take a look at you, Kiko-chan. She can tell us whether or not it’s serious, and if it is, she can cure you.”

            Sakiko nodded reluctantly, a little embarrassed to be taken to the Hokage, but she knew her fathers were on close terms with her and it would be easier than rushing her to the hospital for something like this.

            The trio reached the Hokage’s tower swiftly. Within moments, they were at her office door. Shizune greeted them with a surprised look on her face and showed them in.

            “Tsunade-sama, visitors to see you,” the dark-haired kunoichi announced.

            The blonde hokage looked up from the piles of papers on her desk.

            “Iruka-san, Kakashi-san, Sakiko-chan, welcome.”

            The three bowed respectfully.

            “Tsunade-sama, I’m afraid we need your help,” Kakashi said, “Sakiko is bleeding for some reason. She thinks it might have been the jutsu she tried during her final exam.”

            Tsunade stared at him, blinking confusedly.

            “Jutsu? What kind of jutsu?”

            “The shadow clone jutsu,” Sakiko told her, clutching her abdomen, “I couldn’t get control over my chakra for a moment and felt it hurt down here…Then there was blood.”

            She was blushing with embarrassment. Tsunade looked even more flustered.

            “I’ve never heard of the shadow clone jutsu having that kind of effect on the user, even if the jutsu was done wrong,” she murmured.

            Suddenly, her look turned cautious.

“You’re saying blood is coming out – between your legs?”

            Sakiko nodded miserably. Tsunade gave her a long look, glanced up at her baffled fathers, and back towards her one more time. Then, she burst out laughing.

            Both men and the girl stared at her, baffled. Iruka rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed knowing that the Hokage’s laughter meant that they were probably just being foolish, but at the same time, he was relieved that it also meant nothing serious was wrong. Sakiko’s embarrassment eventually turned to frustration once the Hokage was no longer able to keep a straight face. Shizune was snickering behind her, trying to hide the occasional snort and failing miserably.

            “Why are you laughing?” Sakiko demanded, looking hurt.

            Tsunade cleared her throat and finally composed herself.

            “I’m sorry, Sakiko-chan,” she apologized, “but you have nothing to worry about. This is all very normal.”

            “It is?” the new gennin asked in surprise, eyes wide, “You mean…people are supposed to bleed for no reason?”

            “It definitely has a reason,” the Hokage replied, “This is all part of your menstruation cycle. You’re a woman now, Sakiko!”

            “WHAT?”

            The question was echoed by one of Sakiko’s startled fathers. Tsunade raised an eyebrow at Kakashi, who looked hopelessly puzzled and was wondering how bleeding could turn his little girl into a woman so quickly.

            “Kakashi-san…I can’t help but be shocked at your lack of basic understanding of the female body.”

            “I’m supposed to understand this?”

            “Haven’t you ever heard of a woman having her period? Time of the month? PMS?”

            Kakashi stared at her like she had grown a second head. Slowly, he thought back to his first encounter with such a thing long ago, when he was just twelve years old himself.

            “Hurry up, Obito. You’re lagging behind!” a female voice called to the tired gennin trudging at the rear of the group.

            “You would be too if you were actually carrying anything,” Obito grumbled back to her, wiping sweat from his brow.

            His teammate, Rin, suddenly turned towards him, a fierce look on her face.

            “And just who carries the supplies half the time we go on missions? You’d think that on just one of the few times you had to carry more than a couple of pounds you could do it without whining!”

            She huffed forward, leaving the rest of her teammates and sensei looking baffled. Rin was usually so sweet and even-tempered. Even though Obito would get on her nerves occasionally, she would never blow up at him or even raise her voice much. The black-haired boy looked crushed. He slunk next to Kakashi and carried his burden without further complaint.

            “It’s unusual for Rin to act that way,” the silver-haired boy commented, half to himself.

            “Maybe there’s something wrong with her,” Obito said worriedly, “Like someone put on jutsu on her or something.”

            Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

            “Unlikely. No jutsu would alter Rin’s temperament like that.”

            Obito frowned at him.

            “You think you know everything. I think I know what’s really wrong with her. P-M-S.”

            Kakashi just blinked at him.

            “What? Don’t you even know what that means? Maybe you’re not as smart as you think you are,” the other boy taunted, happy to have something over his teammate for once.

            “It can’t be anything worth learning about,” he replied, annoyed.

            Still, natural curiosity pulled at him, and Obito had no trouble sensing it. He smiled smugly.

            “If there’s one thing you really don’t understand, Kakashi,” he told his teammate gleefully, “it’s women.”

            Kakashi’s cheeks turned pink beneath his mask, and he was glad Obito couldn’t see it or he would be gloating even more.

            “I doubt you have any knowledge in that area,” he retorted.

            “More than you!”

            Kakashi ignored him.

            “I bet you’ve never even heard of PMS before. Every woman goes through it. It’s a temporary condition they get once a month.”

            “You’re lying.”

            “Am not!” Obito yelled so loud the Yellow Flash turned his head for a moment to give them an odd look before rushing forward to catch up with Rin, “Ask anyone!”

            “Then what does it stand for?”

            “Err, well…It stands for…Pre-Monthly Shock.”

            Kakashi looked at him skeptically.

            “‘Pre-Monthly Shock’?”

            “Yeah,” Obito insisted, “Before the start of every month, they go into shock and start acting differently.”

            “But it’s the middle of the month.”

            “Well…sometimes they run on different schedules!”

            “Right…”

            “It’s true! The only way to pull them out of shock and return them to normal is to give them something they like. Then they can’t be mad at you anymore, and they calm down. Dad usually brings Mom chocolate…Do you think Rin likes chocolate?”

            Kakashi shook his head in disbelief.

            “You really don’t know anything about this – do you?”

            It all seemed like so long ago; Kakashi had almost forgotten about it. He had never even bothered to find out what PMS really stood for. He had just assumed Obito had made the whole thing up.

            “Pre-Monthly Shock?”

            Tsunade stared at him.

            “…Post Menstrual Syndrome,” she said as carefully as she could.

            Iruka was trying to suppress his own snickering at this point. The chuunin should have known. All academy teachers were trained to deal with students undergoing the first stages of puberty, but he had never come across a situation like this. That and the fact that Sakiko had really made it sound like there was something else wrong with her.

            “A disease?” Kakashi choked, eyes wide.

            Tsunade, losing patience, picked up a random scroll from her desk and threw it at the jounin’s head. It bounced off the cushion of his hair and plopped down onto the office floor. Kakashi stared at it.

            “Don’t even worry about that right now,” the Godaime said, composing herself, “Just focus on the basics.”

            She rummaged through some books in an old bookcase sitting in the corner of the office.

            “Here,” she said, handing one to Kakashi, “This book will teach you more about women than a thousand Icha Icha books ever would.”

            Kakashi stared at the pink border around the cover and the smiling kunoichi in the middle. The title read “Girl Stuff: You and Your Changing Body.” He immediately handed it to Sakiko.

            “I want you to read it too,” Tsunade told him, “Obviously your knowledge in this area is lacking. It’ll be good for you. As for you, Sakiko, they sell what you’ll need to, erm, keep dry, in the village. Make sure your fathers get you whatever looks best to you. Iruka should be able to help.”

            The chuunin turned a bit red and nodded embarrassedly. It was so awkward for him, but he knew he’d have to deal with it sooner or later, unlike Kakashi who seemed to think his daughter would stay a little girl forever.

            “Also, Sakiko, you should think about getting a training bra. Unless your fathers have thought of that already?”

            Kakashi twitched slightly. Iruka added it to his mental shopping list. Their daughter looked mortified at the idea of going shopping for such things, especially with her fathers. What if someone she knew saw them? She’d never live it down. If only she could reverse this process, wake up again and still be the same as she was yesterday…

            “We’ll take care of it, Tsunade-sama,” Iruka said, trying to sound more confident and comfortable to make up for his partner.

            “Very good,” she said, “You could always come back to me or Shizune if you need help.”

            “Thank you so much,” Iruka said with a bow, and together, the still slightly befuddled family left through the large doors.

            The early evening found them rummaging through training bras in a village store. They had already taken care of Sakiko’s “leakage” problem, by the means of which Kakashi called an “underwear band-aid,” and Sakiko sulked over, complaining that it looked and felt like a diaper.

            “How about this one?” Kakashi asked, holding up a little white one with lace on the edges and a single tiny pink flower in the middle crevice where the two halves met.  

            Sakiko made a face.

            “Aren’t there any normal bras here?” she sighed, “I just wanted a simple one.”

            The storeowner was watching them from behind the counter on the other side of the store. Somehow she couldn’t take her eyes off the jounin who kept inspecting training bras.

            “What do you think, Iruka?” Kakashi asked, putting a small lavender bra with pink straps up in front of his chest.

            The chuunin gave him a look of disbelief and gawked at the undergarment, unable to shake the image of the small bra on his lover’s bare chest. He thought Kakashi was trying to joke, but the jounin actually looked quite serious.

            “Ka-otousan!” 

            Sakiko snatched the bra away, utterly embarrassed.

            “What?” Kakashi asked, clueless, “You don’t like it?”

            “Not on you!” his daughter told him, aghast, “Just leave them alone! You’re embarrassing me!”

‘

            Kakashi muttered an apology and slunk off, dejected. Iruka put a hand on his shoulder consolingly, and led his lover away to the men’s section to give their daughter some privacy while she shuffled through the rest of the bra selection. Sakiko kept her head down, careful not to meet the eyes of any of the other customers or the lady behind the counter.

            She finally chose a few training bras and wandered off to find her fathers. Once the purchases were made, the trio headed back home.

            “You certainly are growing up fast, Sakiko-chan,” Iruka told her as they made their way down the main village road.

            “I wouldn’t mind if it slowed down a little,” she murmured sulkingly.

            Neither would I, Kakashi thought to himself, but he kept his mouth shut. No matter how much he disliked it, he couldn’t stop his daughter from growing up. Even for the Copy-nin, it was impossible.

            “It won’t be so bad from here on,” the chuunin promised, “Everyone is growing, all the time. It’s just during the years that you’re going through that the most changes happen at once.”

            Sakiko frowned at him, not too comforted.

            “But you’re a gennin now,” Kakashi put in, hoping to lift her spirits, “You’re well on your way to becoming a skilled ninja.”

            She smirked at that. Kakashi smiled fondly at her and went on.

            “Soon you’ll be even better than I-otousan and me. The new generation always surpasses the old – and you have the best parts of both your fathers.”

            Iruka nodded approvingly. Sakiko beamed at them both, resentment dissipating. She knew that growing up would be hard, but the challenge was what made it interesting. It’s nothing I can’t handle. After all, everyone has to put up with it, right? Tomorrow she would wake up as she always did, ready to take on whatever challenges there were to face, and she would be all the stronger. Her new headband was proof of how far she had come and that she was prepared for what lay ahead. Like any other human, change was a ninja’s way of life.