Life is Hard When you're Half Plant: Chapter One

It was raining again.

Masami Takaki ran through the streets of Konoha at full speed. The girl was rushing home so she could help her mom with dinner. She dashed past restaurants and an occasional shinobi who she'd wave to. Masami was set on reaching home at six o'clock because that was the time that her mom would normally start cooking.

The girl looked down at her watch. "I'm late," she muttered with a scowl.

Masami was seven years old. Being the smartest and prettiest, she was the "favorite child". She had two older siblings, Aki and Gina, who were currently on missions. She had light blonde hair which was pulled up in three pigtails, big blue eyes, and a small collection of baby fat, which gave her soft features.

Her parents, Chou and Hana, were fairly young and a somewhat popular in their part of the village.

She had on a simple blue smock and white sash tied around her waist. On her feet she had simple sandals. Her family was popular, but they weren't rich.

In her right hand she clutched a package of rice and in her left she held a hunk of fish which had been wrapped in newspaper. Another reason for her to get home fast: Dinner couldn't be made without the rice and fish, but that wasn't all.

Her mother needed protean to keep her healthy. It wasn't that she was fragile; in fact, her mom could whoop any man's butt if they got too close. The reason was she was having a baby.

Her mom had learned about her pregnancy six months ago, which had flown by as the family prepared for the next edition. Masami had tried to convince them to name him reed, but the name chosen was Zetsu. She had no clue what Zetsu meant, but she thought it was a nice name.

It took a lot of running, but she had arrived home at the desired time.

Inside, she found her mom setting out cooking supplies and her dad giving the details of his next mission.

"Hey daddy!" she squeaked and jumped into his lap.

Chou returned her gesture with a hug. "Did you have a good day?"

Masami nodded. "Yes! Granny Chika showed me a Jutsu that lets me put my chakra into plants and bring them back to life!" She pulled a flower out of the folds of her sash and held it up, "See? This flower is over a year old, but it looks freshly bloomed!"

"Don't you think that you're a little young to be learning jutsu's?" Hana asked with a little worry in her voice.

"Nonsense!" laughed Chou, "Aki leaned to summon mice when he was six and Gina could walk on water when she was Masami's age."

Hana thought hard, "That is true."

Masami jumped into the conversion, "Don't worry! I won't train too hard! I don't even need that much battle training because I'm going to open a flower shop!"

Hana gave a soft smile. "Very well. All I can say is work on your chakra control and don't skip lessons."

Masami saluted her. "Okey dokey!"

"Good. Now give me the fish and rice."

"Okay, let's cook!"

Halfway into cooking dinner, Hana noticed Masami staring at her. She looked at her daughter, "Is something wrong?"

Masami shook her head.

"Then what is it?"

Masami tapped her chin, "Well, you look…" she looked up at Hana with a smile."You look really pregnant!"

This caused Hana to burst out laughing.

Masami tilted her head, "Why are you laughing? Is it something I said?"

Chou walked through the door whistling; the ninja had just gotten back from his mission and was eager to see his family. The mission had been exciting, but relaxing at home beat slitting gut with kunai any day.

He was more than surprised when he walked into his normally happy home and found his wife crying on the couch. He dropped his knapsack by the door and ran over to her.

"Whats wrong?" he asked with concern written all over his face.

Hana looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Th-there's a terrible o-omen ab-about Zetsu."

Chou pulled her into a hug and began to rock back-and-forth. "Now," He cooed. "What about this omen made you so upset and who gave it?"

Hana wiped hey eyes and tried to speak clearly, "The omen was giving by my mother, Chika, it was about Zetsu being a…" her voice trailed off.

Chou gave her a shake. "What? About Zetsu being a what?"

Hana went to finish her sentence. "…a monster."

Chou gasped, and then got angry. "So you're just going to let her decide what our son's going to be? Maybe he'll be born disfigured or have an appendage of some sort, but that won't change who he is. Look at how excited Masami is! You'd ruin it by worrying about something your mom said?"

Hana was speechless.

Chou gave a nod. "Exactly. You can just tell your mother to stay out of our business and to think before she makes omens like that." With those words he walked away, leaving Hana alone.

She sighed and looked out the window. In a month, they'd find out what their baby was.

Masami skipped over to her mom. "Mommy," She sang. "This is for you!" she pressed a flower into Hana's hands.

The woman smiled and stuck the flower in her hair. "It's kind of you to bring me these, but you should save some for Zetsu."

Masami smiled, "Speaking of Zetsu…when's he coming out?"

Hana rubbed her large belly. "Any day now. Soon you'll have a nice little baby bro-OH GOD!" She grabbed her stomach and looked at Masami with big eyes. "Go get your father! Its time!"

Masami ran off. "I gotta get daddy," She muttered under her breath. She ran into Granny Chika. "Granny, have you seen my daddy Chou?"

The older woman frowned, "Why do you need him?"

"The baby is about to come out!" Masami exclaimed.

Chika hurried her along. "Then we can't keep your mother waiting. Come on, I remember the about to give birth feeling and it hurts like heck."

Masami nodded with a slightly disgusted look on her face.

Chika pointed to a figure in the distance. "There he is!"

She and Masami headed towards him at full speed.

Chou looked up just in time to see Masami and Chika grab the sleeves of his shirt and begin dragging him. "Hey!" he choked, "Cut that out!"

Chika gave him a thump on the head, "Cut that out, you baka! Your wives about to give birth!"

Chou got a really happy look on his face. "Really?" he dropped what he had been working on and ran home with Chika and Masami trailing behind him.

By the time they had arrived at the hospital, Hana was close to tears, she felt her child kicking hard inside of her belly.

Chou noticed her wince. "He really wants out, doesn't he?"

Hana nodded.

Chou gave her a quick kiss on her cheek, "Hang in there."

Hana gave a weak smiled in return. "I will."

"Come on! Let me watch!" wailed Masami.

Chika pulled her over and whispered something in her ear.

Masami covered her eyes. "Please take me home."

Chou laughed, "Don't leave yet, you want to see your brother, don't you?"

Masami nodded.

"Than wait outside." The blonde ran out the door and yelled, "Say hi to Zetsu for me!"

"You'll see him soon." Chou said with a smile.

Chika made a tut tut kind of noise, "You seem very happy."

The man looked surprised, "Why would I not be? My wife is about to bring someone new into the world."

Chika sighed, "You haven't forgotten, have you?"

Chou's smile flipped. "No." he said coldly, "I haven't."

The old woman nodded. "Good… I don't want my son-in-law to feel any disappointment."

Chou ignored her and locked eyes on his wife.

Don't let her scare you Hana, He thought. Our son is going to turn out just fine.

At that time, Hana was…giving birth.

She bit her lip to fight off any pain and kept moving to her goal. That goal was to bring Zetsu into the world and after pushing and screaming, it was over.

Hana, with her eyes closed, listened to the doctors.

"What is it?" one asked in a horrified tone of voice.

"I don't know, but it's kind of disgusting." Squealed the nurse.

"Well, whatever it is, it's still a baby," The lead doctor said, closing the discussion. "Ma'am," He said. "Open your eyes."

Hana opened her eyes and looked down at the bundle in her lap.

"I think it's a boy," Stated the doctor.

Hana spotted something sticking out of the blanket, reaching over, she tugged on the corner.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

The child defiantly had one-of-a-kind looks. Half of him was black and the other side was white, his eyes were a piercing yellow and spiky green hair covered his head, but was the strangest of all was the strange plant-like appendage stuck to his waist, which reminded Hana of a Venus flytrap.

The baby yawned, displaying rows of sharp teeth, than began to gnaw the blankets tip.

Hana stared at the baby.

Millions of questions filled her mind. Is this possible? What is he? Is he really mine? Sadly, only one question had an answer. He was hers.

She considered screaming, but she had lost her voice at the sight of him.

"Hana!"

She looked over her shoulder and saw Chou.

The man was excited, "How is he? Does he have my looks?"

Hana handed him the blanket. He frowned and gave Hana the 'are-you-kidding-me' Look.

Hana shook her head sadly, and then turned away.

Chou blinked in surprise, but made an effort to connect by ruffling Zetsu's hair. The strange child hardly paid attention; he was too busy looking at the light that hung from the ceiling.

Chika led Masami in.

"I'm a big sister!" Masami declared proudly, "Let's see him!"

Chika's gaze burned right through Chou and focused on the baby. "Yeah," She said mockingly. "Let's see him."

Chou knelt by Masami and held the bundle at her level.

The girl stared at her brother for a moment, then slowly reached over and touched his cheek. She smiled, "He sure is funny looking. He looks like a clown!" she gave an innocent look to Chou, "Can I hold him?"

Chou hesitated, but handed Zetsu to his daughter.

She cradled him in her arms and looked down at him with compassion in her eyes. "Let's keep him."

Hana looked at Zetsu; the baby was fast asleep in his crib.

"Mommy."

Hana turned around, "Masami! What are you doing out of bed!"

Masami walked over to the crib and slumped up against the wall next to it. "I couldn't sleep; I wanna sleep with you and Zetsu."

Hana's eyes softened. She left the room and came back with a blanket. She sat down, and cleaned up against the wall by Masami. "Fine, but when you fall asleep, I'm putting you in your bed."

Masami yawned, "Agreed."

Hana looked down at Masami; the child had been tugging on her sleeve.

"Mommy?"

"Yes Masami?"

The girl crawled into her lap and snuggled under the blanket, "I like being the big sister."

Hana smiled, "That's nice."

The night pressed on with mother and child curled up together.

The next few years were hard, with Chou being killed in the Kyuubi attack, Masami maturing, and Aki and Gin drifting away, but they made it through. The family thinned out to Hana, Masami and Zetsu, but their bond was just as strong. Zetsu had thought that he had seen the worst, he was about to discover that the life he had been living would only get harder.

The ninja academy is a rough place, especially for "freaks".

If you read the story, please leave a review. Flames are welcome, just not too mean.

~Love, TeenageNeko