Mebuki was sitting in one of the cold chairs in the waiting room. As she looked around the room and saw a pair of children, one with a headband of Konoha and the other was without it. The elder one with a headband had most likely just gotten out of the hospital and the younger one ran up to greet him. She smiled at the cute reunion and couldn't help but remember how she had first met Kizashi.
Mebuki was no older than ten when her parents sent her out of Konoha to visit some family. Her family members were merchants and lived all over the five nations.
However, since that was her first time outside of Konoha without her parents, they didn't want her to go alone. They hired a few ninjas to keep her safe, as something called "a C-ranked mission," or whatever that was.
All Mebuki knew was that she should wait by the gate for her four bodyguards to come. And that was exactly she did. She was anything, but happy about this. All she wanted was to stay home and bake and make new recipes, but noo, she had to go out and be social. She hated this.
When they showed up, however, Mebuki began to doubt whether or not they could even keep themselves safe, much less her.
There were three boys, only a couple of years older than herself, and an adult.
The first one was a blond, and he politely introduced himself, with a killer smile that would make any girl weak in the knees.
Too bad Mebuki preferred boys with a more manly face.
He was kind, but a bit quiet and took this "mission" very seriously once they were outside Konoha's walls.
The second boy was stiff and even more silent than the boy before him.
Mebuki may be a civilian, but even she recognized an Uchiha. He was not rude but kept mostly to himself during the journey.
When she got to the last child, Mebuki paused. The last one had pink hair.
Who the hell had pink hair and was a ninja? Much less a boy with pink hair, had he no pride? Nevertheless, Mebuki was not one to judge, but it was a new thing for her to see. Once she had gotten over that, she found him quite funny.
He talked a lot during the escort and constantly made bad jokes, ones that only he had laughed at. He was more carefree than the other two and went out of his way to have a conversation with her.
She liked that about the boy, even if his hair was pink.
The mission went just fine, and Mebuki never thought that she would never see any of them again. It had been almost odd for her to go back to her old life once more.
Weeks went by before she saw the pink-haired boy again… wasn't his name Kizashi? She hid behind the counter in the bakery, what was he doing here?!
"Mebuki-Chan I didn't expect to see you again so soon! I was looking for you, who knew that you would be in my favored bakery?" He said his excitement clear as day.
She had thought that ninjas and civilian didn't get alone. Ninjas were sinful creatures and civilian were the naïve innocent ones, that they were like night and day. They needed each other to keep the balance but were never out at the same time. She couldn't help but hope that they were like an eclipse, where the sun and moon crashed.
They talked for a bit, and he was just as kind, as before. Even with pink hair, Mebuki found him charming and funny, but thinking back on it, she only knew it to be a one-time thing.
Of course, he quickly proved her wrong and kept coming back. After each visit, she even began to look forward to meeting him again, so yes, before she knew what was happening, Mebuki was falling for that stupid, pink-haired ninja.
"Haruno-san."
That name was all it took to make her get back to reality once more.
She looked a bit around before her eyes finally landed on the medic ninja- or doctor, whatever they were called. She had gotten an appointment, not with her own civilian's doctor, but a ninja doctor that could use… was it chakra? She was pretty sure that was what they called it.
She followed the kind woman a hospital room. It looked just like her doctor's room, with a desk and some chairs on either side of the desk. For some reason, she had thought it would look more ninja-like.
The reason why she made this appointment was that the weirdest things had started happening recently. Things like her knife becoming ridiculous sharp, being able to walk on water or suddenly being able to lift heavy things she couldn't even dream of lifting before. She was sure this was NOT normal, and for Kami's sake! she had even begun to vomit in the mornings.
"So, Haruno-san, what can I help you with?" The doctor asked with a friendly smile. Mebuki hesitated, only hesitated for a bit before explaining the troubling turn of events and hoped that she wouldn't be wheeled into a mental hospital.
"Do you mind if I take a look at your stomach with my chakra?" She nodded her head, Mebuki wasn't sure what that meant, but the doctors were here to help so it didn't really matter.
Her touch felt weird, like a cool breath that swept across her waist. She would almost say that it felt like the taste of mint… Was this normal for ninjas? If so, then she could understand why they never went to the hospital willingly.
"Congratulations! You're pregnant." The doctor said, warmly, and it took a moment for Mebuki to really understand what she had said.
"…What?"
"You are almost three months in and will give birth to a spring child."
A spring child… The thought made her insides tingle, and she had rarely felt as happy as she was right now… It almost made her forget about the actual problem.
"So nothing is wrong?"
"The things that are happing to you right now, is because of your child… although, I must admit, that for you to be able to even walk on water and showing these signs so early on, that the child will have great chakra control like no other…"
"Cases like yours are very, very rare, Haruno-san."
Mebuki had a feeling that this child being so rare would make her a ninja in the future.
Her child would become whatever she wanted to, even if others disapproved of her talent going to waste if she didn't want to become a ninja.
"Thank you very much!" Mebuki said with a little bow before quickly walking out the room.
Once she was out of the hospital, she began to run towards the park where Kizashi and their friends would be waiting for her.
When she finally saw them, she yelled caused Kizashi to turn around with a happy smile on his face and wave eagerly. There was a stream running between them, and Mebuki took a risk by jumping onto the water, closing her eyes and hoping that it would still work.
It did.
She opened her eyes and saw her shocked husband, mouth hanging open quite a bit. She began to run once more, and her confidence grew with each step she took before she was up to their group of friends. He just opened and closed his mouth like a fish on land.
"That was amazing! How could you NOT have told ME that you were training with chakra?" Kushina playfully said while looking offended. Mebuki simply smiled at the older girl.
In their whole group of friends, Mebuki was the youngest, at the age of seventeen.
"I didn't!" She excitingly replied, feeling the need shift excitedly from one foot to the other while taking in their confused faces.
"Then how?"
"I'm pregnant! And it's going to be a spring child! I want to name it Sakura even if, we end up getting a son instead of a daughter!" she said, giving her husband no chance to interrupt.
"I'm going to be a dad!" He yelled out of joy, hugging her close while mumbling "A dad!" over and over again. Their friends were laughing and gave their congratulations and well wishes.
Mebuki, however, noticed that they all shared a worried look with each other. Just like the ninjas they were, she thought while rolling her eyes.
"...Is something wrong?" she asked, and once more, she watched them share that same look again.
Why did ninjas need to make everything so damn complicated? She scowled at them,
Really this was a time of joy, not a time to be sad.
"We are just worried about Orochimaru…"
At the mention of that scary snake, a shiver went down her back. She had heard the man took in children that were forgotten or lost for his twisted experiments.
Kami have mercy on the poor souls.
There were even rumors among the civilian population that he was looking for a child with great chakra control, and Mebuki suddenly dreaded the thought of what could happen to their little child.
"Maybe it's best to lay low for a while" Kizashi suggested after some time had passed.
"I doubt that that is possible with our powerful friends…" Mebuki gave a not-so-feminine snort.
For the first time in her life, having friends like Fugaku, the Uchiha Clan leader, and Minato, well-known "Yellow Flash" who was also next-in-line to become Hokage, as well as said-next-in-line's Kyūbi-container girlfriend, seemed more than what Mebuki could handle at the moment.
"Maybe we should leave the village for some time…" Kizashi said with a sour grimace on his face. It was clear to everyone could tell that he was in deep thoughts.
"We can say that we are going to visit some of my family that doesn't live in fire," Mebuki added.
This would give them a good excuse to leave behind any spies worked in the village for Orochimaru. Mebuki dreaded the mere thought of something like that, but she wasn't going to take any chances.
"That just might be the best thing for the both of you and your baby," Minato said quietly in the silence that followed. If Minato agreed then it was most likely a good idea.
They left that very night, saying the last goodbye to their friends and promised to return to Konoha someday. Even after they were out of sight, their friends stood behind for a bit longer with a gut-wrenching feeling that this was the last time they would ever see the Harunos again.