A/N: So, I know that some of the explanations suck; for starters, I am well aware that periods are not solely "a girl thing", but I find it reasonable to assume that Sakura wouldn't realize that (she's young and I don't think they're taught about different gender identities in ninja school).

Also, I'm not normally a huge fan of Sakura (her hitting Naruto never sat right with me), but I wanted to write a story like this and I figured what the heck, I can try to make her into something I can stand. Thus, she might seem ooc at some points (like changing her views too quickly).

Oh, and this is from Sakura's POV and totally a friendship fic (no pairings).

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Expect the Unexpected

Sakura had a problem. She was also on a mission with her team, so it limited her options as to whom to ask for help.

The most obvious choice would probably have been her team leader, but she didn't quite want to go to Kakashi-sensei about this. Both because he was a huge pervert, and because she wasn't really comfortable with him anyway. Her teacher was a mystery, and she didn't like his refusal to share anything personal with her and her teammates.

Sasuke-kun would usually have been her second choice, but she felt too embarrassed to go to him about something like this. Also, while she tried to deny it as hard as she could, she didn't think he would care enough to help her anyway.

Now, because they were on a mission on border patrol with no one else there for miles, that left just Naruto-baka. And while Sakura normally would have backpedalled at this point and decided that she could just handle it herself, she really was kind of desperate.

Which is how she found herself volunteering to go find firewood with the blond.

"Hey, hey, Sakura-chan, did you finally realize how awesome I am?" Naruto asked, bouncing with an endless amount of energy and smiling that goofy smile of his. Sakura just shook her head sharply and motioned for them to go on. They continued gathering firewood and walking further away from the campsite with Naruto chattering happily until Sakura judged them far away enough not to be overheard.

"Naruto. I… have a problem," she whispered after stopping the boy with a hand on his sleeve. He tilted his head and furrowed his brows, as if wondering why she had gone to him for help.

"What is it?" he finally asked, keeping his voice down as well.

"I… My period started," Sakura admitted with an embarrassed pink tint to her cheeks. Whatever she had expected, however, definitely wasn't Naruto frowning in confusion even more.

"What's that?"

… Oh god he really was an idiot! Apparently Naruto could read her expression well enough to figure out what she'd thought since he started to defend himself.

"Hey, it's not my fault no one explains these things to me!"

And surprisingly, Sakura was forced to agree. She wondered if anyone really explained anything about the female anatomy to the boys. Now though she was in a really awkward situation. Of course she could have just ignored Naruto's question and told him to forget about it all, but then her problem wouldn't be solved.

"It's, it's a girl thing. When girls reach a certain age, the body releases a mature egg each month, and prepares a uterine nest for its possible fertilization. If the egg is fertilized, it will remain within the protection of the womb, where it will be nurtured until birth. If it is not fertilized, it dies," Sakura started to explain but stopped when he saw Naruto's blank look. She sighed, and decided to simplify it – a lot, "It means that if we aren't pregnant, the uterus – you do know what that is, right?" she interrupted herself to ask, and Naruto nodded with a red face. She would have thought it hilarious if she wasn't sure she was blushing even harder than him. "So the uterus expels the unused egg each month – the egg can be fertilized with sperm which is where the male and the sex come in. But the monthly process is called the menstruation cycle, or period."

Naruto nodded along like he understood, but still looked kind of confused as to what the problem was. Sakura sighed before simplifying it even more.

"Naruto, I'm bleeding," she deadpanned.

"What?! Come on, we have to get you to Kakashi-sensei!" he yelled, starting to panic, and tried to drag the girl back towards their camp, but Sakura stopped him with a hit to the head.

"No! Just, no! It's completely normal, the egg is expelled with blood, so girls bleed each month for a few days!" she explained in a furious whisper. Naruto rubbed his head and blinked in realization.

"So… You bleed each month?" he confirmed.

"Yes. Well, no. I mean, from now I will. But, you see, this is my first period, and I didn't think it would start yet, so I don't have anything with me," Sakura muttered. She was sure that her face resembled that of a tomato already, but Naruto didn't seem to realize – or care.

"What 'anything'?" Naruto asked then. Sakura sighed and prepared to explain the use of sanitary equipment to the boy as well.

"I mean, anything to help with the periods. There are… pads and tampons that are used to deal with the bleeding, and medicine that helps with the pain," she said awkwardly. She didn't particularly feel like going into detail about how those pads or tampons were used, and thankfully Naruto didn't ask for any specifications.

"Wait, what pain?" he asked instead, making Sakura blink at him.

"Period cramps, back aches, tender muscles, and so on," she explained. Naruto looked at her incredulously and she frowned in confusion.

"So in addition to bleeding you're also in pain?" he questioned in mild horror. "And this happens every month? You can't stop it?"

"No. Well, pregnancy does stop periods but that's a whole other deal… And it doesn't hurt too much yet – I think it increases gradually, though," she said with a shrug.

"Okay, so what are you going to do?" Naruto inquired worriedly, and Sakura felt her hopes crash down. Apparently the blond didn't have any great ideas either – but then again, what was she expecting from the dead last.

"I, I have a bandage to… to hold the blood, but it's not going to last very long. Our mission lasts for three more days, and I don't want to be the reason we had to cut it short… So I was sort of hoping you could distract Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun while I ran back to Konoha to buy the necessary things," Sakura explained and shrugged embarrassedly. Naruto just tilted his head again and plopped down, apparently deep in thought. She sighed and wondered if he'd refuse, which didn't seem logical or likely, but could still happen.

"What if… What if I sent shadow clones to get them for you?" he finally asked while opening his eyes. Sakura blinked in shock both at the intense stare and the suggested idea, which actually seemed like it could work.

"Would they last that long?" Sakura hesitated, biting her lip.

"Of course they will! They're as awesome as I am!" Naruto exclaimed with a happy grin. Sakura felt like she should protect her eyes from the brightness of that expression.

"That could work then… Though you should probably henge them so no one will wonder what you're doing there when you're supposed to be on a mission," she decided with a sharp nod. Naruto jumped up and performed the necessary seals to create clones, and soon there were five Narutos standing in front of her. Four of them suddenly cried 'sexy no jutsu!' and transformed into women, who thankfully were still fully clothed.

"So what do you need them to get?" Naruto asked. Sakura gulped and motioned the clones to come forward before whispering the details of the products to them. He knew that they were still Narutos, but she felt more comfortable giving the details to the fake ones than the original Naruto – especially since they looked female. She also gave them some money to buy the necessary things.

With a cry of 'yes, ma'am!' the four clones rushed off to Konoha's direction, leaving Sakura standing in awkward silence with her blond teammate. Neither of them was quite sure how to proceed from there, and finally Sakura sighed when she realized that she kind of owed Naruto now.

"Thank you, Naruto," she said quietly. Based on the shocked look on Naruto's face, he wasn't expecting any thanks. Sakura felt a twinge of guilt when she remembered her awful behaviour towards him, even when he had done nothing to earn it. Well, expect constantly ask her to dates and insult Sasuke-kun, but looking at him now, Sakura couldn't help but think that maybe she had been a little too harsh on him.

After all, it wasn't entirely his fault that he lacked tact – there was no one to teach him any. Iruka-sensei had tried, sure, but he had to focus on the rest of the class as well and Sakura was pretty sure he hadn't at any point given Naruto a course on how to behave around different people.

"We should be getting back," Sakura commented when the silence had stretched on a bit, both of them deep in their thoughts. She decided to be a bit nicer to Naruto from there on, and at least try to get along with him – since even if she had no romantic interest in her blond teammate, he might make an okay friend.

"Sure," Naruto nodded brightly, but then stopped to think. "It'd be kinda suspicious if the female clones just came barging into our camp, wouldn't it? Maybe I should leave a couple of normal ones here to tell them to change back?"

Sakura blinked, feeling shocked that Naruto had that kind of forethought – but then again, he was the village's most successful prankster. She also knew that he didn't get caught on half the tricks he played, since otherwise he'd have been in detention more than in classes.

"Yeah, good idea," she said, realizing that she had been silent for too long and Naruto had started to look uncertain over his idea. Her words caused him to smile again, and then create a few clones who saluted the original Naruto and jumped off to the surrounding vegetation.

With a small smile of her own, Sakura started leading the way back towards the camp. About halfway through she noticed that Naruto had fallen unusually silent, and when she glanced at him, he was looking deep in thought.

There were usually two things that could result from such an expression; a brilliant idea that made everyone blink in shock over Naruto thinking of it, or an incredibly stupid question or statement that made everyone want to facepalm. With Naruto, you could never tell beforehand.

Sakura made an inquisitive sound and Naruto twitched, glancing at her in surprise. He had apparently forgotten that he had company, and while Sakura would normally have felt upset by this – because Naruto liked her and was supposed to focus on her – now she just felt inexplicably fond. At that thought she also realized that yes, she enjoyed the attention Naruto gave her all the time, and yes, she was being incredibly unfair by returning that attention with violence.

Now though, Naruto grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," and before Sakura could tell him not to apologize for whatever he was apologizing for, he continued, "I know that you're probably going to start carrying that equipment around from now on 'cause you said you didn't before because you didn't think it'd start yet but now that it did you'll know to be prepared," Sakura was having trouble breathing just watching him say all that in one breath, but he trudged on stubbornly, "but do you think it'd be okay or a good failsafe for me to start carrying that stuff around as well? I mean, in case you run out or forget – I'm not saying you'll forget 'cause you're clever – but really, just in case?"

Rambling, Sakura came to find, was one of the things Naruto used to hide his nervousness.

But it was a sound idea nonetheless, and though she'd have thought that a boy would feel embarrassed by even the idea and never agree to such a thing, she couldn't find it in herself to be surprised by Naruto's thoughtfulness.

After all, he had always put others before himself – be it his own comfort, life or happiness.

"You could," Sakura answered quietly, mindful of the fact that they were nearing the campsite, "It is possible that I'll forget one day, or that some other girl will, and it's a really good idea if you don't mind doing it."

Naruto beamed at her, the last of his nervousness bleeding out as he grinned and ruffled his own hair embarrassedly.

"I don't mind at all. I'll have my clones buy more when we get back," he said then, that crooked smile never dying even as his cheeks pinked. "Also, you said it kinda hurt already, so could you ask Kakashi-sensei for medicine? He probably carries stuff like that around, right? You could say I gave you a headache or something, and the normal pain killers should work for all pains, right?"

Sakura glanced at him, surprised at the suggestion, and nodded in agreement. The idea was clever, and she'd be glad to get some pain killers now rather than later.

"You're a good guy," Sakura commented quietly while bumping their shoulders together, taking care not to drop any of the wood they had managed to gather on their way.

And when Naruto laughed delightedly, blushing even more, Sakura figured that really, even if he liked her and she didn't like him back, they could make great friends one day.

It was worth a try, at least, for a guy who didn't run away at the mention of periods and brightened the night sky with his brilliant smile.

A/N: Please leave a review! (I'm curious about how I managed to write Sakura.)