#Sakura only has a part time cause she's going to med school

[enslavedfleshcloud]

Modern Naruto Au with team 7 as Gen Z using the slang is actually all that's in my brain

Sasuke storming into team 7's apartment: I hate humanity.

Naruto: Woah bros mad

Sasuke: Some shitty customer ordered a long ass order with seventeen thousand things, and then got mad at me when I got it right?

Sakura: Nah for real? ?

Naruto: Well what did you do?

Sasuke:

Sasuke: I didn't punch her.

Sakura trying to be comforting: Girlboss for self control??

Sasuke: No Sakura.

Sasuke: Opposite of girlboss

Sasuke: Boy minimum wage.

Naruto: *chokes*

[kuriquinn]

Can you write about team 7 going through puberty 😆

The Springtime of Our Lives

Disclaimer & Other Warnings

Author’s Note: I completely forgot I had started this one. Maybe because it’s not finished? (Another story that started out short and then became a three-parter, haha!) Anyhow, here’s the beginning of this prompt, the next two will be forthcoming…hopefully within the week? We’ll see how I’m feeling :P

Part I: Flowering Time

The latestmission is a complete snafu.

Team 7 is sentout to help watch a shepherd’s flock after he and his entire family come downwith a debilitating flu. It’s lambing season, when thieves and predators stalkthe herd, and so the Hokage saw fit to send a genin squad to keep an eye out.

It should havebeen a simple mission, something which Naruto complained loudly about the wholeway there. It turns out, though, that watching sheep is more difficult thanexpected, and not for the difficulties common sense might suggest. In fact,sheep have an innate genius for self-inflicted harm. The beasts are too stunnedto file through an open gate, but apparently have an inventive talent forgetting themselves killed.

Sakura and therest of her team spend three days following the woolly demons to keep them fromwandering off high bluffs, choking themselves on low-hanging branches or treeroots, and poisoning themselves on toxic plants. They almost lost one todrowning, and at some point, Naruto came up with the bright idea to scare theminto running into their pen, instead starting a stampede.

And then therewas the wolf.

Everything just wentbad after that, Sakura thinks with a wince.

Everythinghurts, from her eyelids to her breasts.

Not thatthey’re really breasts. She canbarely see them when she examines herself in the mirror at night, wishingjealously for the same chest growth-spurt that Ino has already experienced. Still,they ache enough to make their existence known. Almost as much as the stabbingpains in her abdomen.

I swear, if I caughtsome bacteria or bug while tramping through the mud and sheep crap, I am goingto kill Kakashi.

All Sakurawants to do right now is curl up in her bed and sleep.

Somehow,everything is rubbing her the wrong way right now. Her hands sting hotly,sweat-covered and yet chapped, and there’s a blister blooming beneath the ball ofher left foot. Every crevice of her feels too hot and damp and chafing. It’s as if she’s far too bigfor herself, and she is far more conscious of the smell of her body than shewould like.

I need a shower like right now, she decides vehemently, and wonderingin silent horror if her teammates can smell her.

Almost themoment this fear rises up, Naruto calls her name suddenly.

“Oi! Sakura, you’rebleeding. Why didn’t you say you were hurt?”

Their littletravelling quartet come to a stop. Everyone is looking at her in curiousconcern, while Sakura blinks at the sudden attention. Her other two teammatesfollow the line of Naruto’s gaze, and Sakura can do nothing but follow theircue, glancing down to see what everyone is staring at.

A red-brownstain spreads across her tunic several inches beneath her navel.  

She isconfused, because she hasn’t noticed any wound to cause the blood. Going overtheir adventures that morning, she doesn’t recall any instance that could haveinjured her in such a way. She glances over at Kakashi, whose sharp eyesexamine her with experienced gravity, and then peeks at Sasuke, who seems asconfused as she is. His eyes flit over her with a curtness that doesn’t quitehide concern, and then they widen with something close to realisation.

A beat later,his cheeks go red; she can’t understand his look before it snaps away.

“Ah,” Kakashisays quietly, like this is something he was expecting.  

Later, Sakurawill be embarrassed at the several moments it takes for the small, blossomingstain of red-brown to make sense, and the additional time it takes for thesignificance of its location to set in. When it does, she experiences a jolt toher heart and the tingling sensation of her cheeks losing blood. Consciousnessof her body’s various sensations all rush back to her then, the cramping painthroughout her pelvic area, the damp sensation between her legs and up acrossher tailbone, the vague nausea—

She’s nevergone through it before, but she knows without doubt what it is.

It’s herperiod.

Sakura isfinally menstruating after waiting on it for ages, and she didn’t notice because the aches and pains of theirmission masked it. She experiences a bizarre compulsion to laugh at that—

Hah! And Ino doesn’teven have hers yet! She’s gonna be so jealous that I’m awoman first, Shannaro!

—beforeanother realisation crashes into her.

She’s gottenher monthly bleeding in front of her three teammates.

Her three male teammates.

Two of whomare the absolute last people she would want to know about this, because one isthe boy she’s utterly in love with and the other one is Naruto.

Sakura yelpsand vaults into the tree-lined path, away from them and ignoring the shouts forher to return.

She doesn’tstop until she finds a shaded bush off in the distance, where she candiscreetly try to deal with the problem. A swath of bandages in her med kitserve as a makeshift pad within her underwear to stop some of the flow, but herclothing remains saturated. There’s no scrubbing the blood from the front orback of her tunic.

Why? Why? WHY?!

She knocks herhead against a nearby tree, as if that will keep the hot blush from her cheeks.Tears gather in her eyes, as much out of mortification as her growing awarenessof just how much her abdomen hurts.

Several yardsaway and out of view, she hears a familiar cough and cringes.

“Will you bealright, Sakura?” Kakashi asks, calm as usual. He’s very good at keeping anyinflexion out of his words, but she saw his eyes before she fled. He is notcomfortable with this.

“I…I’ll befine. I’ll be right back,” she sniffs, hoping she can keep from crying; that’sall she needs right now is to have puffy eyes on top of this! What would Sasukesay?!

“Sakura, youhave nothing to be ashamed of,” Kakashi goes on, and she winces, expecting himto transition into an awkward talk about the ‘mysteries of her body’ the wayher mother did. “Have you gone through this before?”

“…No,” shewhispers.

“Do you needme to explain…?”

“No!” sheyells that before she can stop herself, and then in a quieter voice she adds,“I know what to do. My…my mother told me. And we…we had a class.”

“Alright.” Hesounds relieved. “Then you also know that you have to report to the hospitalwhen we get back to the village? All shinobi must be on some form of birthcontrol for field missions once they…once the time is right.”

“I know that,”she retorts, tone short as she hugs her elbows to herself in embarrassment. She just wants to be done with this!

“This is notsomething to be ashamed of, Sakura,” Kakashi tells her gently, and she realisesshe spoke out loud.

She clenchesher eyes shut, humiliated.

“I know, Iknow! the miracle of life and now I’m a woman and all that! I already know allthat, Kakashi-sensei, so please—”

“It’s not justthat,” he interrupts. “Think of it as your body’s way of conditioning you.”

Sakura pausesat this, having never had it put that way to her before.

The woman whotaught her and the other girls about the menstrual cycle explained it in softterms such as ‘moon time’ or visits from ‘Little Miss Strawberry’, a time ofher body weeping because it had no child. That it was a sign of a woman’sweakness that needed to be overcome by ignoring both the pain and crudeness ofit.

Her ears perkup. “Conditioning? Like training?”

“Exactly,”Kakashi says.

Sakura pauses,and then cautiously comes out from behind her hiding space to consider herinstructor. He is lingering against a tree, casual and unimposing, and keepinga respectful distance.

“What do youmean?” Sakura asks, taking a tentative step forward, though the bushes stillobscure her lower body.

“You arecapable of handling greater discomfort than either Sasuke or even Naruto willever be able to do,” Kakashi tells her. “Considering the pain both of them havehad in their lives already, that’s rather substantial.”

Wait, what?

“As kunoichi,you’re expected to meet all the same standards as male shinobi—and that’s whileenduring a regular pain that men never can,” he continues. “That makes youstronger in many ways.  And that’s noteven referring to those women who choose to become mothers. They’re in acategory of their own. That magnitude of strength was never meant to be asource of shame; if it was, it would not have been a function necessary tohuman survival.” He cocks his head, meeting her gaze. “Don’t you think?”

“I-I…”

Sakura’sthoughts stagger together at that, because it makes the kind of obvious sensethat she feels silly for not considering earlier. If she hadn’t had peopletelling her from childhood that this was the sort of thing she had to hide orbe worried about others knowing, she might have reacted to its occurrence withmere curiosity. Or shrugged at it as a quirk of the female human body.

Even hermother, in her sympathetic way, told Sakura that it was a woman’s task toensure no man knew if she was undergoing her ‘flowering time’.

“Men areuncomfortable about this sort of thing,” Mama informed her when Sakura was theage to start asking questions. “So, it’s better to only talk about thesematters with other women around.”

Girls atschool always talked about accidentally bleeding through their clothes with thesame severity of losing control of their bladder in public.

One of those things Ican control; the other, I can’t.

The notion isone she suddenly understands that not many people—even other women—are able tomake.

“Well?”

Kakashi isstill watching her face, the gleam in his eye suggesting he’s watching her cometo her important conclusion and glad that she has.

“Yes,” Sakuraagrees, and it feels almost like something invisible or intangible has settledirreversibly into place. “That makes sense.”

“I thought so,too,” he agrees. “I’ll tell my girlfriend that she’s incredibly smart.”

Sakura snortsat this. “Right. As if I’d believe youhave a girlfriend.”

“I do.”

“No offense,Kakashi-sensei, but no one who reads as much porn out in the open could get agirlfriend,” Sakura tells him. “Women have standards.”

Kakashi’s wideeyes suggest he is gaping at her, and then he sighs loudly.

“No respect…,”he sighs in a long-suffering voice, and glances up at the sky to judge thetime. “Anyhow, it’s getting late. We can either sit here in this bush forever,or we can get up and go home. I’m open to both, but personally I’d suggest thelatter, because at some point we’re all going to get hungry. And between youand me, I don’t trust Naruto not to try to kill and cannibalise Sasuke.”

“As if Sasukewould let him,” Sakura sniffs, automatically coming to the defense of theUchiha boy. Kakashi’s eyes crinkle a bit at that, and Sakura can’t help her owntiny smile. Then she exhales and steels herself: if she can handle walking backinto Konoha with blood seeping through her clothes, she can do anything.

This is not something to be embarrassed about.

Besides, maybeeveryone will just think I was wounded on the mission, she adds insomething too false for hope. It’s very obvious where her bleeding is comingfrom, so she’s not especially confident about that possibility. Come on! Just suck it up and go!

Of course, asusual, it’s easier to brave in her head than it is outside.

Kakashiperhaps notices her hesitation, because he suddenly shrugs out of his flakjacket; a red spiral tattoo stands out starkly against the pale skin of hisbicep. Before she can comprehend his puzzling action, he pulls it inside-out bythe sleeves until only the dark-blue interior shows and holds it out to her.

“Your choice,if you want,” he tells her, and Sakura gratefully accepts.

I’ll be brave aboutbleeding through my clothes some other day, she decides as she wraps the jacket around herwaist; the sleeves hang across her front in a way to obscure the stain there. Just…not today…

She feelsthat, considering the misadventures with the sheep, she is totally justified innot feeling very confident right now.

“Let’s go,”she says at last, fighting against the nervous tremble in her voice as shestands up.

She tries notto feel so very conscious of the feeling of her thighs rubbing and the waddedpad of linen between her legs.

Sakura tiptoesout from behind the bush and heads back to the road where Sasuke and Naruto arewaiting. They’re loitering noticeably, and when she gets within three feet ofthem, the three preteens look at each other and then quickly look away.

Kakashireturns and says, “Let’s get going, kids,” and heads onward. In uncomfortablesilence, his students follow him.

While theycontinue their walk, Naruto sneaks glances at her, oddly tense. Sakura suspectsKakashi explained to him what was going on before he came looking for her. Theblond boy looks unsure if he’s grossed out or intimidated or in awe of her, andso has settled for rude staring.

As if he has any business staring at me?!

Sakura isabout to reach over and punch him for it, when he swivels suddenly and demandsof Kakashi, “Hey, Kakashi-sensei, did that tattoo hurt? I wanted to get one forbecoming a genin, but the stupid old man doing the tattoos said it hurt toomuch for kids. I told him I could take it, but he didn’t believe me. Maybe ifyou put in a good word for me…?”

The babble islouder and more noticeable than usual, the way forced conversation tends to be,but it’s a step back to normal. Sakura relaxes a bit, glad that Naruto isn’tgoing to be his usual tone-deaf self and start asking a bunch of embarrassingquestions.

It’s hard tobe completely at ease, though, especially as Sasuke doesn’t even look at her.That makes her already shaky confidence waver. What if this embarrasses him somuch he can never look at her again without remembering her bleeding throughher clothing?

But then whileNaruto starts to describe the tattoo he wants (a robot fighting a giantlizard), Sasuke suddenly speaks: “Ginger.”

“Huh?” Sakurasays for wont of anything intelligent to say.

“Ginger tea,”he clarifies, not looking at her but, is she imagining it, or is the back ofhis neck red. “My father always made my mother ginger tea when she was… Iteases the pain.”

“I…yeah, mymother says that, too,” Sakura replies shyly, cheeks warming once more. It’s sorare that he talks about his family, that she almost forgets what he’s makingreference to.

“It’s alsoeasier to find than something like dark chocolate if we get assigned a longmission away,” he continues. “We should all stock up.”

He quickenshis pace then, putting distance between them and an effective end to any furtherpossible conversation.

But the restof Sakura warms at that. Though she knows he is simply taking this all in hisusual logical stride—a member of his team experiencing monthly bouts of paincould affect their mission—it’s still a show of Sasuke’s concern.

It almostmakes up for him having witnessed the most embarrassing moment in her entire life.

Almost.

つづく

Hopefully you enjoyed it!

I wasoriginally going to have this be a short one-shot with each of our team members goingthrough a different, humorous challenge. But while I was writing Sakura’s bit,I started to move away from the humour theme and started to tap into an annoyanceI’ve always had about how people talk about girls going through puberty. Womenare shamed about their periods from long before they even have them,conditioned to hide them and feel guilty when they accidentally bleed throughtheir clothes or are too pained by cramps to go outside. And heavens forbid theyeven mention it within the hearing of a man, for goddess sake, hissensibilities! *gasp*

So, this fic sort ofevolved into a three-parter dealing with the not-so-fun bits of puberty in amore informative, open-manner. If you want to see me write the funny side ofpuberty, check out Walk a Mile. I’llbe dealing with it there. For this 3-parter, though I’ll examine the emotional andphysical toll it can take on kids going through these changes, especially in amixed-group setting. That’s not to say there won’t be any humour, but that’s not going to be the focus. I hope that’sokay, since the prompt didn’t specifically require humour…

Anyhow, that’s my long-ass postscript. Until next time!

(Next Chapter)