Another little Shikamaru tidbit, but this time from Kyoko's view.

I was thinking about how difficult it would be to grow up without a mother, especially when going through the more difficult and embarrassing parts of being a girl. I know a lot of single father's go through this and are probably just fine, but I can't say Shikamaru would have been.

So, here you go!

Growing up, Kyoko had always accepted that she wouldn't have a mother to do all of the cutesy mother-daughter things she saw everyone else doing, and it had never really bothered her. She had her father, and if that was all she had it was fine with her. She never looked around and wished for her mother, never saw the girls with their moms and felt even one smidgen of jealousy.

Or if she did, she made sure to never show it in front of her father.

But right now, as she stood in the bathroom staring down at her blood stained underwear, she really wanted anyone but her dad.

Taking a breath she remembered what Sakura had told her when she had sat her down for "A talk" at her last doctor visit, brushing past all of the medical mumbo-jumbo to the core of what that whole conversation had been about.

She quickly slipped out of the bathroom and grabbed a clean pair of underwear and the tiny box of tampons Sakura had given her. The instructions were simple, the process easy, though the after was a bit more difficult.

The math was basic and final: she had four more tampons that would last around six hours each, and up to twelve days of bleeding. She'd obviously have to get more and the best and most efficient way would be to go and ask her father to get her some.

But it was just so embarrassing.

But... maybe she could use some of her allowance and buy them -and some pain relievers- and give her some time to figure out how to tell her father.

And so she found herself staring at the feminine products in the pharmacy, hiding in the hood of her hoodie as she tried desperately to disappear from the face of the earth.

She swore that the lady in the next aisle was eying her over the boxes of vitamins and the man over next to the little figurines was obviously watching her with disgust in his eyes.

God, she wanted to die.

"Kyoko?" No. No no no no no. Someone she knew was not here.

"... Maria-san?" Kyoko turned slowly to face the tenant of the house that was the other half of the duplex her family lived in, Maria. Her light brown hair waved down to her shoulders, her pleasant and freckled face forming an expression of concern, her brown eyes focused on the girl.

"Kyoko, what's wrong? Where's your father?" And then her eyes flickered over to what Kyoko was standing in front of and filled with understanding. She went over to Kyoko's side, slipping her arm around her shoulders and leaning down a bit so she could murmur in her ear. "Haven't you got anyone to get these with you?"

She thought about her Aunt Ino and about how whenever she went shopping with her the woman's voice filled the entire store, her loud laugh bringing everyone's attention where it wasn't wanted, usually when they were buying underwear or things like that. Did she want her here, dealing with this?

She shook her head no.

Maria pursed her lips and looked down at the girl. She was ten, all awkward angles and bones, tall for her age and rail thin. Her black hair was pulled back in two low pig-tails, spiking much in the same way her father's did, her face owning some of the same angles as his though her wide black eyes softened them somewhat. Said eyes were lowered to the ground, ashamed and embarrassed, her bony shoulders hunched over inside of her hoodie.

She stepped forward and shifted her basket to her other hand, soft eyes remaining on the girl. "Which do you prefer?"

Kyoko blinked at her before blushing, nervously eying the offending boxes. "Ah... Most of the kunoichi use the tampons." Maria nodded.

"Makes sense, all the jumping around and everything. Alright then, you'll need some liners too. Your cramps are probably horrid since this is your first time, so we'll get you some medicine."

"Umm..."

"Do you have any friends that have gone through this?" Kyoko shook her head. "I'm... the first." Maria nodded again, feeling sympathy for the girl but not showing it.

"Right. And did anyone explain this to you?" Kyoko nodded, glad she at least had this one thing right. "Yeah. One of my dad's friends is a doctor, so she explained it to me." Maria shook her head as she tossed the items into her basket.

"Oh, Honey, no. That doctor probably covered the basic stuff but I bet you didn't ask any questions, did you?"

Kyoko didn't even have time to shake her head before Maria gently steered her over towards the pill bottles, already knowing the answer. "You see, you have questions -oh, I know you do- so you need to ask them. But it'll have to be when you're not faced with a bunch of medical gibberish."

Kyoko smiled and reached for her coin purse as they got to the checkout, though Maria waved her away. "Save your money for other things. Don't worry," She said, holding up her hand against the approaching protests, "I'll get it from your father. You do have to tell him eventually."

Kyoko stepped out of the pharmacy and waited for the woman to simply hand over her things, but instead Maria placed her hand on her back and steered her down the street and into a little ice cream shop.

Maria waited until Karin settled in with her raspberry cone before folding her hands on the table and leaning forward. "I know I'm probably overstepping a lot of boundaries, but with you only having your dad, that must be pretty uncomfortable... so we're going to have a little talk."

Kyoko blinked at her. "What?" Maria nodded and sipped her milkshake.

"A talk. The talk. And you, Missy, are going to ask questions. That way there won't be any surprises with you stuck somewhere where you can't talk about it with anyone." Kyoko blinked again and stared at the small stream of melting ice cream that was headed for her hand with an intensity born of desperation.

"Umm..."

"Do you wear a bra? I can't really tell with the layers you have on right now."

"No! I don't have anything to put in a bra." She said, crossing her thin arms over her flat chest defensively as her face flushed. She definitely wasn't use to talking like this with someone. Did people even really talk about stuff like this so openly? In an ice cream shop, no less.

Maria shook her head. "You might not have a chest now or in the near future, but you will in a year or so and that transition is a real pain to deal with so you should start wearing one regardless of what you have now just to get used to it."

Kyoko nodded, seeing that that made sense, hastily licking her dripping cone as she wondered what else no one had bothered to tell her.

And so the next hour and a half went, heading into any topic that might have been embarrassing, confusing, unknown or unfamiliar. Maria managed to plow right through any embarrassment Kyoko felt and explained everything in this... way. It wasn't like her father, who usually stuck to the straight facts or tried to brush some of it off as troublesome, and neither was it like her aunt Ino who liked to jump around from subject to subject and add irrelevant things in.

When Maria explained it in her straightforward and gentle way, she just got it.

And as they laughed and talked about silly and serious girl things, eating their ice cream together, Kyoko had to wonder if this was what a mom felt like.

And she finally got what all of the fuss was about.

Maria was originally meant just for this one story. JUST THIS STORY.

But now she is so much more than the woman who had "the talk" with Kyoko over ice cream, so you'll be seeing more of her later.