DISCLAIMER: The characters and... everything else are not my own. They are all copy-righted material of the folks who bring you Naruto: the animated series/manga. Please don't sue me!

(This fanfic takes place some time after the Sasuke Retrieval arc... in another dimension... a dimension that allows me to make as many canonical mistakes as I please! )

"You're kidding! You mean my daughter was unconscious when they brought her to the hospital? Oh,my word!"

The two grown women giggled with their hands over their mouths.

Her face swelled maroon with embarrassment as the pair giggled on light-heartedly. She couldn't believe they were laughing at her... they laughed right in front of her face, no less! She had never felt so defenseless in a long time. She gradually put her hands together and placed them between her legs. Her eyes searched diligently downward for some kind of escape, but the legs of the couch refused to supply it. Her chin pressed hard down against the base of her neck. Perhaps she felt that if her head hung low enough the waves of shame would wash clean over her, and not cause her to choke for air. It turns out it didn't work. She was choking for sure. TenTen hated them both so much right now...

The two elder women's laughter came to a deep sigh, and they looked towards the living joke of the night.

"Oh sweetie, please forgive us for laughing! Don't worry about your accident. The day will come when you will laugh at this moment too."

When Tenten heard those words leave her mother's lips, the choice words that danced in her mind were as dark and cold as the night outside the window. How could she EVER laugh at what happened to her? She wouldn't need to laugh, because all of Konoha would laugh for her if she kept silent. Thank heavens the accident didn't occur while she was in the Academy. Ino and the other girls would never let it go if they knew... gasp! Did they know? She lacked the strength in her heart to worry about that right now. Now, she would focus all her anger and shame on her mom's comment. Feeling the comment didn't even deserve a verbal response, Tenten lifted up her head and glared at her mother. "You gotta be kidding me, you idiot!" is what that glare said.

"Ms. Shizune. You agree with me right?" Her mom responded to the distressed stare, using the question as a chance to break away from it.

"Oh, most definitely." Shizune swept the left side of her hair to the back of her ear. The smile that was shot towards Tenten seemed to quiet the storm that was brewing on her face. "Tenten, there really isn't anything to be ashamed of. You had no way of knowing what was happening, and I blame that fact on the curriculum of Konoha's Academy."

The medic-shinobi closed her eyes and shook her head, as she began to voice the same rant that she had voiced to the board of education time and time again. In fact, she just got done sharing the rant with Tenten as she walked her home.

"That academy is so busy training the children how to kill, that it has forgotten to train them how to live. I understand that training them in the ways of the shinobi is essential for the villages and their own survival, but these children have been deprived of so much knowledge."

Shizune spoke emphatically, arising from her seat and leaving her cup of tea on the table.

"I mean, what do they expect to happen when a young lady doesn't understand her own body?"

"Uh oh. Please, Shizune-kun, don't say it out loud anymore!"

"Why if I were your age and if I grew up under this curriculum..."

"She's going to say it. I can't believe she's going to say it. I heard it a thousands times from her already, and she's still going to say it."

"... I would have fainted when I saw blood in my panties too!"

"…"

The second wave hit TenTen full force. And what's worse, her head wasn't even hung low this time.

The Spring Time of Youth... by Cyckness

"Is she gone?!?"

Tenten called out preemptively to her mother, as she heard the footsteps approaching the room to her door. The door creaked open.

"Yeah, Ms. Shizune is gone now..." She peaked her head in the door, an apologetic smirk painted across her face. "Still hate me?"

"...sigh...no."

Tenten sat up inside her green comforters and blankets, the sleeves of her silk pajamas exposed as she pulled her knees to her chest. Her deep-brown eyes seemed to stare downward and straight in front of her at the same time. Her mother made her way to the side of the bed, sat down, and rested her legs as though she was going to sleep there herself. She kept her eyes on her daughter, and Tenten naturally felt those eyes. She turned to look at her mom, stole one gaze, and turned her head again with speed that only a genin could possess.

"Ms. Shizune tells me that she explained the "changes" that your body was going through."

"MHmm... she told me more then once in detail" Tenten sighed.

"Damn. I wanted to be the one to give you the 'you're a woman now' speech!... You know, Ms. Shizune kept going on about how it was the Academy's fault that you didn't know about these sort of things, but I think all three of us know the truth." Despite the change in mood, Tenten's mother kept the same tone. "If only I wasn't working at the fish market so much, I would have noticed.."

"Mom, please don't blame yourself." Tenten spoke, her eyes maintaining their position away from her mom's face.

"I remember the day I taught you to fix your hair in buns." she ran her fingers over her daughter's hair, and rested her hands gently at the back of her neck. Tenten smiled warmly, though her knees concealed it.

"Mom..."

"I do!... But I can't remember how long you have been doing it for yourself. I taught myself to wear my hair in that style when I was around your age."

"Really?" Tenten turned toward her mother.

"Sure! You didn't think I had my hair like THIS all my life, did you?" She pointed to the large, single bun on the back of her head. "I met your late father with the double buns style. He was crazy about it!"

They both chuckled. Tenten placed her head comfortably in her mom's lap, preferring her mom's nostalgia over thoughts of how she'd face Konoha tomorrow morning. A devilish grin came to her mom's face, but the thought of her next question preceded that grin.

"Tenten?"

"Yes???"

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

She could almost feel her daughter blushing against her lap. Tenten lifted up her head with violence.

"MOM!!!" Tenten whined sharply.

"Well, do you?" He mom wasn't moved at all.

"No!" Tenten dressed her mouth with a devil's grin of her own. "But guys look at me a lot."

"Why do you think that's so?"

"I think my breasts are getting larger." The kunochi pulled back the comforters and slid her knees down so her mom can get a better view. "See? They may attract the boys, but they really get in the way of training."

The two laughed again. Silence had seized the household for a moment. But it was not an uncomfortable silence, but rather a warm, full silence. It would have been a hearty feast from a foreign land, if one was able to taste silence.

"...And are you interested in any of these boys?"

Tenten had never thought about it, honestly. Sure, she nested in the other girl's gossip circles from time-to-time, and even talked about who she considered hot, but that was all just small talk. She began to search through the faces, biceps, triceps, and shoulders of the guys she knew. Then, it came to her. The revelation came wrapped up in a hunky package, and presented itself right at the forefront of her mind. Another wave hit her. This time, though, the embarrassment came from her thoughts.

"Sweetie, are you okay?" Her mom questioned with an undertone of laughter.

Tenten didn't realize it, but her face had been overcome by a splash of maroon again. When she left one embarrassing situation, she stepped into another. The emotion had been pursuing her all day. She fought down her gripping shame with all her will power in order to answer the question.

"Well... there is this one guy..."