Holy shit this is legit my longest fanfiction ever xD I never thought I would get this far! Thanks as always to katydid001 for giggling your way through this with me xD
Warning: this chapter contains graphic depictions of normal human bodily functions (periods).
Six months flew past like sand through an hourglass. The days slowly warmed as the seasons changed.
A groan came from the silver-haired teen curled up in her bed. She clutched at her middle as a white-hot pain stabbed her abdomen. The pain had been coming and going all night; but it wasn't until it was time for the girl to rise that she really started to moan.
"Come on, Katsumi. You are going to be late to training." Kakashi stomped into their room for the fifth time that morning. He noticed her moaning and immediately mistook her pain for attitude. This wore through the last of his thin patience. With firm hands, he gripped her comforter and ripped the blankets off her.
Katsumi squealed at her body's sudden exposure to the cool air, only to curl tighter into the fetal position. For some reason her legs felt especially cold, almost as if she had been sweating heavily in her sleep. When her smartass brother didn't come over to hassle her, she peeked out from under her arm. Kakashi stood petrified at the end of her bed, his eyes huge with horror.
Suddenly alarmed, the teenage girl jerked herself up into a sitting position. Her own face morphed into an expression of dread. Crimson stained her pyjama shorts and pooled on the bedding under her legs. The stain wasn't large, but the coppery smell had Katsumi's heart pounding in panic. A powerful cramp caused her to wrap her arms around her torso once more, as if trying to hold herself together. Her whole being flooded with a mixture of fear and embarrassment.
"Holy shit! What the fuck?!" Kakashi scrambled forward to check his twin's forehead for fever.
"It… hurts…so bad... am I dying, nii-san?" her pained whisper was barely audible, but Kakashi heard every word.
"Mah! Don't say that!" Kakashi gripped his sister's shoulders and looked deep into her panicked eyes. Suddenly, something Kushina had mentioned to him a few months back popped into the back of his mind. He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart before placing a quick kiss on her clammy forehead.
"I'm going to get Kushina-sensei, she'll know what to do."
Katsumi wanted to protest, but she trusted Kakashi infinitely. So she nodded with a shudder. Her eyes squeezed shut as another cramp socked her in the gut. When she opened her eyes again, he was gone.
The stickiness of her clothes made her shiver in disgust, especially the coagulation on the edges of her shorts that clung to the skin on her thighs. With a firm hand on the bedside table beside her, she wrenched herself to her feet. The young teen couldn't help but shake as she pulled the soiled sheets from her mattress, her mind spinning with the worst case scenarios. She stumbled her way to the bathroom and dropped her bedding to the floor. Not bothering to lock the door, she twisted the shower faucet and stripped of her clothes as the water warmed. The hot water served to soothe her muscles but not the ache in her belly. As she scrubbed at her body she started to feel slightly better, though the pain still remained prominent.
A knock sounded from the bathroom door.
"Hey, pup! It's just me, let me in will ya?" Kushina's familiar voice sounded from the otherside.
Katsumi abruptly shut off the water before she stepped out of the tub. "Door's open," she called out timidly as she wrapped herself tightly in a towel from the rack.
The red-haired kunoichi slipped inside the room and locked the door behind her. Her blue eyes paused on the pile of sheets on the floor before she caught sight of her student's trembling body. "Woah there, pup. It's alright," she crossed the room and dropped the pack she was holding on the basin beside them. "This is all totally natural."
Katsumi's confused expression suddenly turned to horror. Her silver brows furrowed at her sensei. 'Natural? My insides are falling out!'
Kushina snickered at her students' panicked eyes. "Ah, yeah. It definitely feels like it, huh?" She gave a longer suffering sigh before she opened the pack. "What is happening to you right now, happens to every teenage girl when she comes of age. Women bleed once a month. Trust me it sucks, but it is completely normal." In her hand she held a white box.
Katsumi cocked her head to the side as she watched her sensei gesture to the item in her grasp.
"When you feel the pain in your womb, you insert one of these. It will catch everything for you, so you only have to worry about the pain. You know… I think it's time we had the talk…" the red-haired kunoichi cringed at herself before she observed the reaction of the girl in front of her.
'The talk?' Katsumi narrowed her heterochromatic eyes at her sensei before she took the pack from her waiting fingers and popped it open to look inside.
Kushina laughed at her student as she helped her get dressed, making sure that Katsumi understood how to use the sanitary item.
"Yeah, it's time you know where babies come from." The fiery kunoichi held back her laughter as the teenage girl in front of her blushed from head to toe.
If Katsumi wasn't uncomfortable before, she was now dying of embarrassment. She let out a squeal and shook her head. 'I'm okay, Sensei, really.'
The long-haired women handed the now dressed teen a couple of painkillers. "Take those and don't complain. You have to learn someday and trust me when I say this isn't exactly great for me either."
The younger kunoichi snorted and scooped some water from the tap with her cupped hand, so she could swallow her pills. She dried her hands before turning back to face her amused sensei. 'Just get it over with.'
Kushina spent the next half-hour explaining the birds and the bees to her teenage ward; answering all the awkward questions under the sun.
"So to lower the chance of conception, the medical shinobi provide these tablets. If you were to ever decide to have sex, take one of these with water. Only once a day. And for the sake of my heart and your brother's, please don't use them anytime soon." The older kunoichi rattled a bottle of little pink pills, before she handed it over to her student.
'No way! That would be super weird! Besides Kakashi doesn't let anyone into our room.' Katsumi stared down at the tablets in her hand, as she chewed her lip in contemplation.
"Ah… About that… I think it's time for you to move into your spare room." Kushina zipped up her now empty pack and stood up from the edge of the bath where she had perched herself.
"MOVE ROOMS?!" The teen's wet hair flicked water everywhere as she violently shook her head. Her heterochromatic eyes widened in an irrational panic. "NEVER!"
Kushina gave a yelp as droplets of the cool water landed on her warm skin. "Calm down, pup, you knew it had to happen some time. You're a woman now."
"I am not! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" The young teen forced her way past her sensei and unlocked the door to wrench it open. Katsumi tore through the house and into the bedroom; she shut the door behind her with a loud slam.
Kakashi stood outside the bathroom door waiting patiently for the women to finally emerge. When all of a sudden his sister screamed. Her figure hurtled past him and into their bedroom as he watched on with a slack jaw.
Kushina appeared in the bathroom doorway, a frown on her expressive face.
"Well, that didn't go very well." She rubbed her tender temples in frustration.
"I hate the idea, just as much as she does." Kakashi folded his arms, doing his best to not act petulant.
"Yes, Kakashi-kun. But you also know it is for the best." The motherly kunoichi placed a comforting hand on his head. "You kids are growing up and you will need your own space." She shook her head in exasperation. "You are a good big brother, pup. She will listen to you."
The male twin's shoulders slumped forward in defeat. He knew what he had to do. Yet the thought of not having his sister right next to him when they were at their most vulnerable made him super uncomfortable. With a steady breath he straightened up, preparing himself for his sister's inevitable heartbreak.
"Thank you for your help, Sensei. I will deal with it." Kakashi nodded to the tall kunoichi and dragged his feet towards their bedroom.
Katsumi took two days of medical leave to deal with her sore abdomen and raging hormones. Early the next day, the twins pulled all of Katsumi's things out of their shared room and dragged them into the empty room beside it. Conversation usually came easy to the siblings but today was difficult, their job was clouded by the jarring move. It had taken all night for Kakashi to stop his sister's tears. Her mood swings were a whirlwind, but Kushina had warned him that this was a side effect of female puberty.
Together they made her bed and put everything in its new place. Katsumi stood in the middle of the sparse room, a sullen frown pulled at her unmasked lips as she placed her favourite combined team photo on her bedside table.
"I'm sorry, imouto. We'll get used to it… If you ever need me just bang on the wall and I'll be right there." Kakashi tapped on the wall her bed was pressed up against. The male twin had purposefully positioned their beds against the same wall, just in case her nightmares came back to haunt her; Or if anyone was to sneak into her bedroom at night, but he kept that bit to himself. He crossed the room to pause in front of the window on the far wall. There were multiple reasons Kakashi didn't want Katsumi left alone, this window was the biggest reason. The older twin huffed in exasperation before he locked it tightly. "The window stays locked, imouto. No exceptions."
Katsumi nodded before she folded her arms around herself and glanced over her shoulder at him. Her oceanic eyes welled with unshed tears as she nodded in solemn understanding. Kakashi crossed the room and wrapped her in a tight hug; he slowly rocked her from side to side.
"This doesn't change anything. You are still my imouto. A wall can't change that. Nothing can." The wolf shinobi cradled the back of his sister's head. He ran his fingers through her curls to soothe her.
She swayed gently in her sibling's embrace. Katsumi couldn't help but feel helpless. As her body changed it seemed to push her brother further away. The hormonal teen cursed at her body for its betrayal.
Why can't I just be like him? The question bounced around in the well of her aching chest. All she wanted was to be just like her brother. Her trembling hands fisted the back of Kakashi's shirt, holding on for dear life.
The soothing tune of the twins' childhood lullaby floated into her ears. Katsumi felt her body relax as the tears she had been holding back finally fell. Kakashi's smooth song filled her with comfort, even as she hiccuped a sob.
"I'm sorry I'm different, nii-san. I don't want to change," her tone dripped with agony as she finally admitted her troubles to her older brother.
Something about Katsumi's voice pulled on Kakashi's heartstrings. "Oh no, nee-chan, this doesn't make you different…" A sudden thought crossed his frazzled mind, "Mother would have had to go through this too, right? So this just means you take after her..."
Katsumi's sobs faltered as her face lit up in curiosity. The tortured look in her eyes slowly melted away, her mismatched orbs refilled with elation.
"I'm like, mother?" the smaller twin gasped at her brother.
"Absolutely! Just like mama." Kakashi nodded enthusiastically down at her as a genuine smile graced her pink lips. Relief flooded the short-haired boy, deep down he was heartbroken to think that his sister was afraid of growing up. He silently vowed to visit Rin to get some advice, she always had the answers when it came to girls.
Later that evening, Katsumi lay curled up in her bed, a hot water bottle clutched to her angry middle. Kakashi left for his shift ages ago, so now she was alone in her new room. Everything hurt. Usually pain was easy to ignore, as injuries were commonplace in the ninja world.
But this pain was a completely different ball game. There was no way to ease the ache unless she downed more pain killers. Unfortunately for the teen, she had already had her daily limit.
The curly-haired kunoichi placed her palm on the wall in front of her, her tired brain longing for her brother's hand instead. For a moment Katsumi was lost in her loneliness.
A gentle tap on glass caught her attention. She rolled over, her blankets tangled around her as she moved. Through the window she could see a familiar dark-haired Uchiha. Her whole being flooded with relief before she kicked the comforter off of her and ran over to unlock the window. She pulled the latch back defiantly and struggled the stiff window open half way.
"Hey babydoll, Rin-chan told me you weren't feeling too well. So I brought treats." Obito held up a backpack and handed it through the window. "I tried the lounge window first, but you didn't respond. Do you have a room to yourself now?" He raised a raven eyebrow and flashed a devilish grin.
Katsumi's smile dropped at the mention of her new sleeping arrangements. Her heterochromatic eyes gazed around the room before she gave a dull shrug.
"It looks nice, but I think you need some cute decorations to match your cute personality. We could go shopping now if you wanted," the Uchiha teen tried to distract the obviously upset kunoichi.
A giggle found its way out of her mouth, her lips twitched up into a crooked smile. 'Maybe another day, I'm too sore to do much at the moment,' She paused her signs as a blush crossed her uncovered cheeks. 'But you could always hang out with me… since it's my room now.'
The dark-haired boy slid his hands under the half-open window, his biceps flexed as he forced it all the way up. When it was fully open he slipped inside and immediately scooped Katsumi into his arms. Her blush deepened as she melted against him, his scent brought warmth to her aching body. Despite the comfort of her boyfriend's arms, a wave of sadness slapped her across the face.
"I feel so cut off…" Hot tears trailed down her cheeks as she buried her face into Obito's chest.
"Oh baby, hey, it's okay. Don't cry." Recent events had aged the sixteen year old beyond his years. His empathetic soul soaked up her pain as he cradled her close. He picked her up bridal style with ease before sitting on the edge of her bed and setting her across his lap.
Katsumi wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shirt. She should have felt embarrassed, but the way Obito held her so gently overwhelmed her with multiple emotions; none of them were embarrassment.
"I'm just being weak. I'm sorry, Obi…" she sniffled in between her quiet sobs.
"Hey, you're the strongest girl I know. But right now I think you need some sugar." Obito stuck his leg out and hooked his foot on the forgotten pack on the floor. He dragged it close enough to grab before he hoisted it onto the bed.
Katsumi peeked out from her comfortable hiding spot. She watched as Obito unzipped the bag and pulled out a bar of chocolate. Her whole being sung at the sight of the rare treasure, before she snatched the bar from his fingers and hugged it to her chest happily.
Obito silently thanked Rin for her brilliant advice. When he had turned up at the hospital to have his usual check-up, the brunette medic had told him to go visit Katsumi; but not without sweets and comfort food. Rin had warned him that Katsumi would most likely be very emotional and to brace for extreme moods. Obito wasn't stupid. He knew what a period was and how much pain they caused. Mostly because Rin told him all about it when she first had gotten hers two years ago.
"By the way you, Katsumi, are never alone." Obito tapped the Uchiha crest resting on her clavicle. They shared a deep meaningful glance before he continued, "I'm right here, I promise."
Katsumi nibbled on the chocolate bar with wide doe-like eyes. She swallowed her mouthful with a giggle before leaning up to kiss him on the nose. "Kakashi is gonna kill us for this."
"Oh yeah, but we are pretty good at running from Bakashi. Aren't we?" Obito wiggled his brows playfully, eliciting another giggle from the kunoichi in his lap.
"Mmhmm," Katsumi hummed happily as she rested her head against his shoulder, still munching on her treat.
Poor awkward teenagers