hi there guys! A merry Christmas and happy New year to all of you! Sorry it took long for us to publish chapter 8. We were just so busy with school stuff and when the holidays arrived, we took the time to edit and edit! Anyways, I have added some definition of terms so that you won't get all confused what's going on. Hehehe… so, here goes chapter 8! Enjoy!

Terms:

D & C ( Dilatation and Curettage)- refers to the dilation (opening) of the cervix and surgical removal of the contents of the uterus. It is a therapeutic gynecological procedure as well as a rarely used method of first trimester abortion.[1][2] It is commonly referred to as a D&C.

D&C normally refers to a procedure involving a curette, also called sharp curettage.[1] However, some sources use the term D&C to refer more generally to any procedure that involves the processes of dilation and removal of uterine contents, which includes the more common suction curettage procedures of manual and electric vacuum aspiration.[3]

Haemophilia- is a group of hereditary genetic disorders that impair the body's ability to control blood clotting or coagulation, which is used to stop bleeding when a blood vessel is broken.

Lethargy- is a state of awareness. It can describe a range of afflictions, varying from a general state of lethargy to a specific work-induced burning sensation within one's muscles. It can be both physical and mental. Physical fatigue is the inability to continue functioning at the level of one's normal abilities.

Cyanosis is a blue coloration of the skin and mucous membranes due to the presence of 5g/dl deoxygenated hemoglobin in blood vessels near the skin surface.

Sepsis- is a serious medical condition that is characterized by a whole-body inflammatory state (called a systemic inflammatory response syndrome or SIRS) and the presence of a known or suspected infection. An incorrect layman's term for sepsis is blood poisoning, more aptly applied to Septicemia.

DAMN REGRETS

(Gaara's Stupid Mistake)

Chapter Eight

Approximately three years ago…

The fifteen-year-old kunoichi woke up early morning feeling more groggy as ever. It would seem that the flu wasn't going away anytime soon and it was hitting her harder than ever. Kyara Yukino slowly and achingly dragged herself out of the bed and proceeded to the bathroom. Passing by the small kitchen-slash-dining area, she caught the strong whiff of Resha-sensei's cooking. Her insides immediately squirmed unpleasantly and the next thing she knew, she was throwing up last night's supper.

Kyara twisted the faucet and watched basin drain its contents down. She assessed herself on the mirror before her. She looked sickly pale, her face sunken and her eyes were bagged. "I'm just so tired…" she told herself.

She found a glass, filled it with water and drank. No use dehydrating when she had training sessions with her sensei later that morning.

Just as she was about to leave the bathroom, she felt another wave of nausea and went back to the sink.

She was shaking all over after heaving the last contents of her stomach out. Her hands gripped the edge of the sink so tightly until her knuckles turned white.

"I can't afford to be sick. I still have to train…" she said, drinking two more full glasses of water.

With difficulty, she got on with every morning's routine of washing herself up and changing. Stepping out into the kitchen, she felt entirely drained already though she still kept an up-and-about façade. She hoped her sensei would not take notice.

Resha-sensei had prepared a simple noodle dish for that morning's breakfast. Kyara caught another whiff of the strong odor. She felt like vomiting again but had to hold it in. She never remembered noodles having this strong of a scent or perhaps her sensei had gone with too many onions on them.

"What's wrong, Kyara?"

Oh, no… her face must have given her away! She wasn't conscious that she was looking that disgusted over the noodle bowl.

Kyara hesitated to answer, "I, uh… I really don't feel like eating today."

"Why?" her sensei was surprised, "isn't this your favorite noodle dish?"

It wasn't anymore.

"Yes, sensei," Kyara answered tentatively, "but I'm not really hungry for it."

Resha-sensei actually took a deep breath and looked away, insulted. "If you don't like my cooking, just say so," she said, jaws tight.

"It's not like that, Resha-sensei!" the younger woman tried to reason out, "I'm just… I don't feel really good today and it's affecting my appetite."

So much for hiding she was sick from her teacher, but Kyara always knew that the truth would always be the best excuse for anything.

On the other hand, Resha's face calmed and she even tried to convince Kyara to eat even just a little bit.

"We will be training harder today," she said, "You may need your energy." Though if it was just to inform what she had been planning for today's exercises or if it was punishment for not eating her cooking, Kyara could not figure out.

Not wanting to get the full wrath of sensei's admonitions… which usually consists of ear-splitting loudness and bodily pain… Kyara nodded, "Hai", and began to eat.

She hadn't even finished her bowl before she pushed it away in favor of heading out to the training grounds early. Resha could only scowl at her as she left.

By the time she reached their designated training ground, Kyara was already feeling dizzy and exhausted. She opted to sit on the soft ground for a while as she waited for her sensei to arrive. It would seem that going out ahead of her teacher to take in much needed fresh air did not work.

She had been feeling sick for quite a while now, maybe a week or more. She was usually a sickly person. She was in top shape for young kunoichi, more so than her other age-mates—taijutsu was her forte after all. But why get sick now? Even with Sakura's recommended meds, it hadn't worked.

It was a simple cold flu! Easy enough to remedy the headaches, the joint aches, the usual fever, and sometime nausea with the vomiting… but then there was her breasts becoming sore and some abdominal cramping.

No, a simple flu doesn't take this long. It must be something else…

It could be…

"Nah… it can't be," she murmured to herself.

No sooner, Resha-sensei arrived looking very much in a sour mood. It must have been that morning's breakfast. Kyara realized her teacher was still upset about it and she pretty much did not care. She was sick and groggy and aching all over… who cares about noodles!

Who cares about anything right now!

All Kyara wanted to do right now was go back under the sheets of her comfortable bed and sleep it all away… but nooo, she still had to train.

Oh, look at the birds in their little prickly nest and that cat over there, lounging around under the sun. "Stupid cat…" she murmured again. Kyara was beginning to hate everything in sight…

Wait.

Stop, there… why was she so irritated all of a sudden?

She was thinking too much and had not realized her teacher had been calling her name.

"Yukino Kyara! Get your ass up here or you'll be up to some serious slapping!"

Kyara was up and in attention in front of her sensei the next second.

"Now, Kyara," her sensei began, "I want you to listen up. Concentrate on the instructions I'm about to give you, I don't want any more screw ups, got that?"

"Hai!"

"Now," Resha gripped her sword hilt, "we'll be testing your long-range combat skills. Kunai, shuriken, senbon… the works. I am aware that your bloodline limit has the ability to control movements using your mind, Kyara."

"Yes sensei… but…"

Resha's eyes snapped wide. "What do you mean 'but'?" she asked.

Kyara hesitated. She hadn't meant to tell her sensei but she hadn't thought it would be any concern.

"Lately… it's has been getting a bit out of hand," the younger woman answered softly, looking away.

"Explain." It was a curt yet very authoritative command from a very much irate Resha-sensei.

"It must be this sickness I acquired. I've been feeling under the weather for a while now and I think it's disrupted my concentration or something."

But Resha was not totally convinced.

"It's fine, really," Kyara tried to assure her, "just a little flu bug—"

"You idiot child! Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" the blue-haired cut her off. Resha was looking to murder her for some reason.

"S-sensei…" Kyara stammered, "I-I really didn't think I-it was that—"

"That's right, you didn't think…" Resha pressed her fingers to her temple, her other hand to her hip. She looked very worn-out by this sudden news of her student's condition. "You stupid, stupid girl…" she whispered almost more to herself.

"Sensei… I don't understand…"

"Kyara…" Resha's demeanor suddenly dropped. Her shoulders were slightly hunched, her eyes downcast as if she was in contemplation. "Do you still remember what I've told you about your clan? The Yukino Clan?"

Kyara's eyes grew wide and nodded silently.

Resha was torn inside now. For one reason was the Kyara's hesitant character—the girl can't even answer a straight 'yes' to her! And another reason for Resha's hesitation was Kyara's terrible past that the younger girl could not even remember.

The jounin sighed, crossing her arms on her ample chest. Kyara had ask about her parents once before. It was a question drawn out by a once little Kyara in her childhood days when the other kids were fetched and taken care of by biological parent whilst she had a grumpy old hag for a mentor. But Resha had not answered her directly, having never met any of the child's clansmen let alone her real parents.

Kyara was found roaming the streets of a small village on the outskirts of the Country of Fire. It was a younger Mutsunagi Resha, recently appointed jounin of the Village Hidden in Sand, who found her stealing food from a little bakery. Kyara's manner of stealing freshly baked bread was hardly the usual; the little snotty-nosed Kyara made the loaf of bread come to her instead! This was what caught Resha's attention and what made her decide to take the girl to become ninja.

Unfortunately, Kyara had to memory of her past since her life in the streets of that small town. The only memento on Kyara that gave any other indication of her identity was her little cape with the name 'Kyara Yukino' delicately embroidered on its hem. Resha brought her to Konohagakure, had her checked by its proficient medic nin but the results came out negative. The girl's neural bundles for memories, though still intact and regenerated, had been disrupted by an unknown jutsu. Nothing could have been done to her loss of memory.

It was also quite ironic now that Resha herself was hesitating to reveal the Yukino Clan's fate to Kyara. Like student, like sensei perhaps?

"I had done the research, Kyara," Resha said solemnly, "and I had been fortunate to have gathered even the least of information about the Yukino Clan of the Village Hidden in Snow."

The young Yukino listen to every word wholeheartedly.

"They had been a respected and revered clan of Yukigakure with Hisuke Yukino as the last head of clan…"

"my father…"

"yes, your father was the last head of the Yukino Clan," Resha answered. "There had been war in Yukigakure since before you were born. Some would have speculated it had been the war that took the entire clan out but according to my research… it was otherwise."

"what happened sensei?"

"would you shut up for a second and let me finish, child?!"

Kyara visibly flinched by her teacher's sudden outburst. "I'm sorry sensei…" she murmured.

"just stay quiet---where was I again? Oh, yes… as your clansmen had been revered for their abilities to manipulate objects movements, that same ability had at some point in the battle gotten out of control. The records had very little to no details of the events, as such does happen in wars, but they clearly showed that it had been the Yukino Clan's immense power that caused their entire demise… except for you. You've survive somehow though you lost your entire memories prior to the end of the war."

Kyara's shoulders were quivering, her eyes were spilling tears.

"now do you understand, Kyara? You're powers have grown tremendously over the years but I will not have you lose control over them…" I will not lose you, Resha meant to say.

"h-Hai, sensei… I'm sorry."

Both women were silent for a while. Kyara sniffing silently as her teacher began to brood.

"now, let's not waste any time goggling the past…" Resha suddenly said.

Kyara snapped into attention and positioned herself.

"Hai, sensei!"

In a gust of wind, more than several dozens of kunai, senbon, shuriken and such other throwing weapons appeared out of nowhere, scattered across the field surrounding them. Kyara waited for her teacher's instructions, though slightly confused.

"concentration is the key to this exercise," Resha said curtly.

"Hai!" Kyara nodded, though still unsure.

"this is a long-range combat practice. This vicinity is our battle ground. You can use whatever weapon there is present here or your own weapons." Resha gripped her own blades hilt. Kyara's hand lingered on her own katana as well.

"Hai, sensei… but a sword…"

"I know what you're thinking. A sword is meant for close-range… baka, be creative then. There are a hundred and one ways to make a sword sail across the sky!"

Kyara felt herself sweat-dropped at her teacher's words. Swords sailing across the sky? What did she mean by that?

"H-hai… sensei," the chunin said instead, "but how do I use them all at the same time?"

Resha's face suddenly darkened. "idiot girl," she growled, "I didn't say you'd do that. Be sensible!"

"of course, sensei!" Kyara flinched. Her teacher was getting snappier and snappier and more irritated. Still she didn't understand why.

But then Resha brought her hand to her chin and rested her weight on one foot, as if she suddenly had an idea and was contemplating on it. "but if you do achieve that… if you could utilize a dozen hundred weapons all at once… you are a Yukino ninja, aren't you?"

"what are you talking about…?"

"you'd know what to do," Resha answered curtly.

"huh? But wha—" Kyara hadn't finished her sentence when Resha disappeared right in front of her.

Kyara drew her sword the next second. Opening up all her senses to pinpoint her teacher's exact location. But Resha was not revered jounin back in Suna for just about anything. She was deadly and precise in her trade and if she chose to remain unseen, she'd be unseen.

"Shickers…" Kyara quietly cursed under her breathe.

She brought a one-handed tiger seal, activating her bloodline limit. If she cannot feel for her sensei's presence, she'd search her mind out instead.

Ah, ah, ah… not this time, Yukino. She heard her sensei speak in her own mind's ears before a sudden pain befell on her.

"Ahhh!" she yelped, cradling her head with one hand. What was that? Kyara shook her head to clear the distortion inside her mind.

"… new jutsu I recently created," she heard Resha say out loud this time, "pretty effective against you mind invasion, isn't it?"

"yeah… it rattled my head for a second…" Kyara emphasized with another shake of the head.

The technique wasn't as disconcerting to her own mind as it must have intended to be but Resha did not know that. Kyara would make her believe that the new jutsu would be a handicap. She was ninja after all; deception was in the job description.

A volley of kunai rained upon her. With reflexes honed magnificently for years of apprenticeship under Mutsunagi Resha, Kyara had done a simple substitution and escaped unscathed.

"you're too slow, Kyara…" she heard her whispered. Kyara didn't actually see her teacher but she felt the older woman presence behind her. She twisted around with sword slashing in a graceful arc above her head before coming down… to empty space. Resha had vanished again.

Kyara sensed the next attack coming from her left. Her sword finally met steal. Resha-sensei's face was sneering at her. "Too slow," she said quietly, "what's the matter Kyara? Still feeling a little sick? You're enemies won't give you any leeway just because you're a little under the weather."

Resha pushed of and disappeared again in a flicker of wind. "suck it up, Kyara!" her voice echoed from somewhere… or nowhere at all.

Three kunai went sailing, aiming for her legs. Kyara deftly blocked them with her katana. Five more appeared in her line of vision, aiming for her right side. She jumped out of danger but before she landed to hard ground, another volley of steal rained upon her.

She brought her fingers together to perform another substitution technique.

The fifteen-year-old chuunin next appeared behind a tree. She was breathing hard; harder than she ought to breathe. They've only been going at this for—what? Four minutes?

She was tiring too quickly, Kyara realized. Damn flu bug!

"what's the matter? Can't you do anything else aside from dodging my attacks, Kyara?" Resha was evidently taunting her. "you can't run away forever!"

The young Yukino remained hiding in her spot. She knew she had to act quickly. she needed a plan.

"what's the point of this exercise if you keep hiding?!" Resha said from somewhere; her voice carried by the wind.

Sensei can easily throw her voice at any point, Kyara thought. It's difficult to say where she is at. Her new jutsu is disarming as well against my bloodline limit and she can efficiently hide her chakra… what to do? What to do?

Kyara pushed off from the trees and began running around in random zigzag patterns. She flicked her right wrist, catching several stray senbon from the ground using her signature Yukino telekinesis.

She felt Resha's presence appear again, slightly behind her right. She flung those senbon needles with keen accuracy as several star shuriken came spinning after her. The needles blocked each metal star…

"where are you looking at?" the dark-haired jounin was suddenly upon her, face merely inches away from hers.

Kyara gave a small gasped of surprise before bring her sword up to attack.

Resha easily blocked. "you're not concentrating!" she cried, incensed.

Kyara gritted her teeth as the full blow of her teacher's counter attack racked her arms in tremors. She bent her knee to spread the pressure down her lower extremities. Mutsunagi Resha was particularly ruthless today.

The teacher and student broke apart from their lock. Kyara was evidently worn-out from the exercise; the older woman was even more livid by this.

Resha gathered a few nearby kunai and shuriken, using thin and almost invisible chakra strings, and threw a slow frontal attack. Kyara dodged and blocked a few. It was the simplest of attacks yet Resha noticed it was taking a toll on her young student.

"Kyara, what are you doing?! Think!!" she yelled.

"I am!" Kyara yelled back defiantly, mimicking her teacher's earlier attack. It was a careless throw of her arm with chakra strings attached to several weapon strewn around for their utilization. She wasn't even aiming at her opponent.

"are you going to run away again?" Resha deftly dodged every single kunai without so much as lifting her sword to defend.

And that was it! Kyara almost heard the proverbial snap within her. She had enough of Resha-sensei taunting her.

Using the same momentum she had gained from her earlier assault, Kyara twisted around and as graceful as a ballerina with the speed of a F1 drive, she flick a noted kunai to her teachers direction.

But Resha was faster, more adept. The dark-haired teacher caught the tagged kunai and returned the volley.

Kyara's eyes widened. It would only take split seconds before explosion. There was not time to…

There was a loud blast. Dust and debris everywhere.

Resha smirked. Kyara was in the midst and unscathed. Her left hand was open before her. She had used her technique to divert the explosion away from her, protecting herself from harm. However, this was her greatest mistake… she had left herself apparently open.

Resha rushed at her in full speed, sword drawn to strike. Kyara saw this all… but she couldn't move. There was a sharp pain throbbing down her lower abdomen.

It only began as a negligible ache. She didn't put anything mind to it and continued with the training. But now it was not to be gone unnoticed.

It was unbearable…

She drew her katana to block her teacher's strike. She felt the heavy impact. Tremors resounding down her entire body.

She saw her sensei's angry eyes. She knew the anger was because of her. She was performing as expected in today's exercise. She knew that she downright sucked today.

She rather felt before she saw her teacher draw back. But it wasn't far back, their swords where still locked. Then Resha's heavy fist made contacted with her right cheek.

She felt herself flew back, skidding across the ground before she felt the sharp pain on her cheek. It was going to bruise, she was sure of it.

"why would you close your eyes, Kyara?! Focus!" she heard her sensei yell for her. But her voice seemed so far away now. She hadn't even realized she closed her eyes.

Blood was rushing to her ears now. The pain on her lower abdomen was so much…

"Kyara…" she heard her sensei again.

"I'm f-fine…" she said the words before they even registered to her brain.

The young chuunin straightened, taking out another tagged kunai from her back pouch, readying herself to strike out. "Okay, I'll concentrate even more…" she said more to herself.

Kyara's new found resolve was enough for Resha. She disappeared in a flurry of dust and leaves before a volley of metal stars came raining down on the young chuunin.

Kyara threw her tagged kunai aimlessly… though for the untrained eyes, it would have been an aimless throw. In actuality, the spot of which the kunai landed and expectedly exploded had been the same spot Resha-sensei appeared before using substitution to disappear again.

That's it girl, she silently praised Kyara as she appeared with scratches and splinters down the right side of her body. The younger kunoichi was finally getting serious.

In a flicker of speed, Kyara appeared hovering above her, leg lashing out for the older woman's head. Resha flipped several times backwards to avoid.

Kyara lashed out again with her sword. And Resha parried.

And another stabbing back rankled through Kyara's body. For a brief moment she stopped and gasped.

Consciously, she saw her teacher's gleaming blade coming down in her. Kyara instinctively leapt away. But in the midst of her flight to safety, another blast of intense pain went through her.

Kyara half yelled, half gasp before she landed ungraceful to the hard ground.

"Kyara…!" she heard her teacher cry distantly. Next she saw her teacher appearing next to her and asking, "what's wrong, Kyara?"

"I-it's nothing… sensei," she lied, clutching her abdomen. The pain was excruciating.

She stood up unsteadily on her feet. She was panting, sweating and trembling all over.

"Kyara…" her teacher called to her again. She felt strong hands holding her arms.

She had fallen on her knees now, though she hadn't intended to. The pain was clouding everything in her head.

"Kyara… there's blood… you're bleeding!"

What?

Yes, there was blood sliding down her legs. Why was she bleeding?

She was slipping at the edge of unconsciousness. Blackness was so near.

"Kyara!" she was sure her sensei was screaming her name but it seemed so far far away now.

And it all went dark.

--

The first thing that she saw after the haziness before her eyes disappeared was the whiteness around her. It was all crispy white and bright and she knew then she was in the hospital.

The next thing she realized was the heavy weight that seemed to crush her body down and yet she could hardly feel anything.

It was so cold and numb... her head light and fuzzy…

"Kyara?" she heard a soft familiar voice call to her. She shifted about to look at her friend, Sakura. The young medic appeared in her line of vision, hovering over her with every bit of worry etched in her smooth face. "Kyara…" she said again, "how are you?"

Kyara shifted again in her bed, trying to stretch though the attempt was futile. She was so exhausted and her limbs so heavy. "I'm okay… I guess," she answered after a moment, her voice so hoarse and her throat so dry.

As if reading her mind, Sakura reached for a strawed cup of water from the bedside table and assisted her friend with drinking.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan," the brunette said after finishing the whole cup, "what happened?"

Sakura actually looked a little anxious and her eyes kept looking at anything but Kyara's as she busied herself with refilling the cup with water.

"I could barely feel any part of my body now," Kyara added lightly, jokingly, "Have you given me general anesthesia or something? Because I could probably drink a whole gallon of water by now." The patient laughed.

"… actually, we have," Sakura answered tentatively, handing Kyara the cup again.

Kyara's hazel eyes snapped wider, staring at her friend questioningly. "Why?" she asked before she knew it, her hand lingering on the cup but not drinking. "I think, I remember…"

Yes, she remembered. There was the pain, excruciating pain. And there was blood trailing down her inner thighs…

"I passed out from training…" Kyara said instead, lying almost for she couldn't accept she had simply gone down because of some injury of sorts. She couldn't accept that for a moment she had been weak and helpless again.

"You've just came out of an operation, Kyara-chan," Haruno Sakura told her.

"What?" Kyara made an attempt to sit up, heaving herself on her elbows, but Sakura's firm hands came gently on her shoulders and pushed her back down.

"Take it easy, Kya-chan," she said, cajoling, "take it easy now."

"What operation? Tell me, Sakura-chan?" Kyara asked again.

Sakura fell silent, her eyes downcast. She bit her lip and looked as if pained by something. "Well…" she began but was hesitant. She took a deep breath before shifting to face Kyara fully, locking her beryl green eyes to Kyara's confused ones.

"Kyara…" Sakura's voice had taken a mechanical tone into them. It was professional and impartial tone that she used so well with her other usual patients and now she was using it on one of her best friend. "You've just went through a D&C and I'm really sorry. We couldn't do anything about it."

Kyara only stared.

"What?" the brown-haired chuunin blinked. "Why would you…"

"The baby was a little over four weeks, closer to five. I'm really sorry Kyara-chan."

Eerily, everything seemed to stop. Kyara could practically hear a pin drop three doors from their room.

"What?" She asked again, almost stupidly for the third time in less than five minutes.

It was Sakura's turn to look confused, blinking. "You were pregnant, Kyara-chan… and you've just miscarried the baby."

"What baby?"

The rosette took a quick breath, realization dawning on her. "You didn't know." It was a statement.

"W-what are you talking about? I couldn't have been pregnant and miscarried. I-I was never pregnant to begin with!" Kyara knew her voice was taking a higher octave than usual and it was shaking.

By that moment, Sakura had quietly turned her back and walked away. She took the metal folder hanging by the end of the bed and went back to give it to her patient. It was Kyara's medical chart.

The brunette, already sitting up, took it and scanned the contents.

Her name, age and room number was boldly written on top of the chart.

Below was the date, Feb. 25, 2005, the time of her admission and chief complaints…The chief complaints, which got her heart beat on it's wildest pace. It contained all signs and symptoms of…miscarriage: nausea and vomiting, abdominal and back cramping as noted by watcher, came in due to hemophilia, lethargy noted at endorsement. But wait a minute! She didn't remember telling any of these things to Sakura. She was supposed to be unconscious...lethargic! Then, she remembered Resha-sensei's voice, calling out her name, and it all became clear that her pink-haired friend had probably interviewed her teacher, as for having her assessment.

Her hands were shaking as she turned to the next page of her chart, fearfully expecting what to see. It contained all the notes and remarks made while she was still unconscious. She realized that, as soon as she had passed out, she was immediately delivered to the emergency room to be given immediate care and medications. The chart said that she was cyanotic when she came in and was sweating profusely.

The next inscription however, tightened her chest even more that she thought it would burst out from its place. She was delivered inside the Delivery Room to have Dilatation and Curettage, a method made to extract all contents of the uterus to prevent the mother from having sepsis or poisoning of the blood.

As an understudy of Haruno Sakura, she understood all those procedures so well, that she shut her eyes at the thought of it. But then, it was already done and there is nothing that she can't do anything about it and just continued reading. When she was transferred at her room, she was so unconscious she did not feel anything, up to the tip of her hair. And just now, Sakura came in, just in time to see her awake but incoherent. And the next thing she knew was her rosette friend was telling her about what just happened to her which brought her to be hysterical until she read her chart.

It was all there. On the crisp white papers, bound together by a heavy clip… it was all there.

Kyara let the metal binder fall on her lap. She was suddenly quiet, stooped over and quivering. A far cry from the once energetic and lively young woman Sakura knew.

"I'm really sorry, Kyara…"

"Oh, I get it… is this some sort of joke?" the girl on the bed suddenly spoke, her voice deep and even, "if it is, it's not funny."

"I-it's not a joke, Kyara—"

"And you of all people, Sakura? Did Naruto put you up to this? Naruto, where are you?"

"Naruto isn't here, Kyara-chan," Sakura said more firmly, "and this is not a joke."

Kyara's eyes were large and fearful. Her hands were shaking as she held the metal binder still. "No…" she said quietly, her breathing already labored, "I-it can't be… it was just…"

"I'm sorry but you didn't know either. You thought it was just a flu bug… you didn't know." Sakura made a move to put her arms around her friend's trembling shoulders. "I'm really sorry, Kyara-chan…"

"Shut up!" Kyara had pushed her away none too gently with the binder. The metal contraption crashed loudly on the floor.

It was only a second later that she realized what she had done and said. Quickly she clamped her hands to her mouth, stifling the pained moan she released. Her eyes large and brimming with unshed tears

The rosette-haired medic took a step forward. "Kya—"

"I said SHUT UP!"

At that precise moment, the door noisily opened and Mutsunagi Resha stepped in. "Sakura-san," she said, causing a startled flinch from the Hokage's apprentice, "I should ask you to leave now."

The medic nin nodded, eyes already tearful. She silently and quickly picked up Kyara's medical profile from the floor and gave Kyara's leg a warm squeeze before leaving.

Resha walk slowly, almost soundlessly to the side of the bed. She did not say anything, she did not gesture any form of emotion. She just stood there. Kyara did not know what her teacher thought now. Of course she knew of what just happened to her student. Of course she would know Kyara got pregnant and miscarried the child. And she might have had a clue on to who the father was.

But why wouldn't she say anything? Why did Resha-sensei just stood there so motionlessly?

Kyara couldn't look up and see what expression her teacher held. Was it pity? Was it anger and disappointment?

Surprised, Kyara realized she value more of her teacher's reaction to this than grieve over her own loss.

Loss of her child.

It seemed so surreal… so unreal. Like a dream that could just fade away after getting up from one's bed and be forgotten.

She wished it was a dream… but it was real, the baby was real. Do they still have it bottled up somewhere? She suddenly had the desire to see it, to make sure it wasn't all just some joke someone concocted to make her life even more miserable.

I miscarried my baby, she mentally told herself, trying it out to jar herself awake. I lost my baby… I lost my baby…

But it still didn't feel so tangible. She felt so numb and so detached from herself. Like she was the spectator of the show, sitting away from her own body and watching it crumble in motionlessness and internal nothingness from back row seats.

So far far away… so empty now… how did it come to this?

It was a few moments before Resha spoke. Her young student had been silently trembling in silence in her bed, hardly breathing at all. A mere statue on the white sterile sheets.

"Kyara…" she said, soft and even, almost mechanical, "Kyara look at me."

The young woman on the bed did not move or give any indication that she even heard her sensei call her name.

There was a long pause, it seemed like eternity. Neither Resha-sensei moved but she was in despair as well.

"… Why didn't you tell me?" the older woman had spoken it so softly and so leveled that for a moment Kyara thought she hadn't spoken at all.

Again, Kyara did not dare look at her teacher's face. So afraid of what she would see in her teacher's face.

"I was asking you a question, Yukino… answer me," Resha's voice, though still soft and barely a whisper, turned cold and stern. An all too familiar tone for Kyara and yet so foreign. How many times had her sensei rebuked her with that tone—usually with an additional physical punishment that would leave her practically pleading for mercy?

"I…" Kyara began, voice hoarse. What would she say? What could she say now? "I didn't know…" she told her instead. It was truth but she herself did not believe it. She should have known all along. She had trained, at one point in time and under Haruno Sakura, the art of medical ninjutsu. She knew the symptoms of pregnancy and it had been happening to her body… she should have known better.

"You didn't know…" Resha repeated, voice shaky, "you simply didn't know… you stupid, stupid child… you are my responsibility, Kyara, but most importantly, you are like a daughter to me!" The younger woman didn't see but felt the jounin tugging her hair out it anguish. "… you made me so worried—I thought I killed… god, what were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry, sensei. I was careless… it was… it was just one time…" Kyara trembling was not ignorable anymore. The tears were flowing unbidden. "I-it was just one time… I-I didn't think it would come to this… it was just f-for one time and… he left me…"

Kyara was bent even more, face buried on her knees and howling at the sheets. "He left me! He left me because I was weak and pathetic and helpless!"

She felt two strong arms wrap around her, pulling her to a warm chest. And she cried. She cried and she cried. And though she did not see it, Mutsunagi Resha wept as well for the first time in a long long while.