Chapter Text
Mebuki picked up the plastic stick off of the bathroom counter, her husband Kizashi beside her, their eyes closed. With a sharp intake of breath, they opened their eyes to gaze at the results of the pregnancy test in Mebuki’s hand. One line. Negative.
Kizashi sighed, backing into the door behind him before sliding down it into a squat and rubbing his hands on his face. Mebuki eyes started to tear up as she clutched the test in her fist, banging it on the counter. “Damn!” she cried out, leaning down till her forehead touched the cold counter top.
This was the couple’s fourteenth attempt at having a child, the one thing they longed for more than anything.
Mebuki and Kizashi Haruno had been trying for a child for years, but they had never succeed. Every doctor they went to had told them that Mebuki had been infertile and couldn’t bear a child, but they kept trying, every herbal supplement, every drug, every treatment that some said might work. Mebuki had longed for a child, and she knew her husband did to, and it frustrated her to no end that she was infertile, that she couldn’t give her and her spouse the one thing that they long for.
After 3 years, Mebuki couldn’t take the rejection anymore, and talked to her husband about stopping, one more attempt, then no more herbs, no more drugs, and no more treatments. Maybe it was time they gave up, they could adopt a child, it wouldn’t be the same, sure, but she clearly couldn’t give them one. Kizashi was so understanding about it to, so welcoming to the idea, despite the fact that she knew it made him upset to hear that they were giving up, that she was giving up. Mebuki cried on her husband.
It wasn’t until four months after their last attempt that Mebuki noticed her period was late. She hadn’t really noticed at first, her job as a seamstress keep her a little too busy as of late, but then she started thinking about it. When was her next period supposed to start? She was low on tampons so she would have to go buy some more before then. But looking at her calendar, with puppy pictures on it, posted on the side of the fridge, she noticed that her period was over 2 weeks late. The thought of her being pregnant crossed her mind for less then a second, before she quickly dismissed the thought. She was infertile, that was that.
However as time went on, Mebuki’s period never came, and she started getting nauseous in the morning, and she decided– just to check, just to confirm– to take a pregnancy test.
Taking a pregnancy test wasn’t something new to Mebuki, but this time some how felt different, maybe because as she waited in anticipation on the bathroom floor, Kizashi wasn’t next to her, an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his warm side in confort. But the 15 minutes passed, and Mebuki stood up to look at the measly little stick that had delivered disappointing news so many times before. She couldn’t hold back her tears of joy. 2 lines lay upon the test: positive. The woman almost couldn’t believe it. After all these years of trying, after all these years of only 1 line on the test, she was finally pregnant.
A girl, the Doctor had told her. She had given birth to a little girl with toughs of hair, the same shade of pink as the petals that littered the ground outside the window of mebuki’s hospital room. She was much too week and might not survive, but she had given birth to a girl nonetheless, and she would be damned if she let anything happen to that girl, she was their merical child after all.
Unfortunately, Despite Mebuki’s vow, their child didn’t make it through the night.
A few years prior, and many miles away, loud screams echoed through a small bathroom painted in an faded chartreuse color. A pregnant woman sits in a tub of room temperature water and amniotic fluid. A midwife crouches next to the woman in the bathroom holding her hand, speaking words of encouragement, and coaching her through the breathing exercises. “Come on Tsuyu, just a little bit longer, keep it up. Remember your breathing, you got this. Do it with me: hee hee ho, hee hee ho.”
The woman followed along, doing her breathing, before tilting her head back, staring at the yellowing paint on the ceiling . She releases a strangled scream. “We’ve been here for six hours, but it’s felt like an eternity. How much longer is this going to go on.” the woman sobs. Her limbs squeak across the bathtub as she adjusts her position for the hundredth time that morning.
The midwife looks at her with pity in her eyes. “I know dear, It’ll be over soon, they’re almost out, another twenty minutes at most, and then it’ll all be over, and you’ll be a mother.”
The woman, Tsuyu, has had a rough time with this child all the way through. She was only 15 years old, 14 when she got pregnant. She had worked at the library, sense she was 10, well she started as a volunteer before she got the actual job, and the pay was decent.
Tsuyu and her parents are a part of the lower class. They live on a small island in the land of water, a little less then a days journey for Kirigakure. Her mother and father had immigrated to the land of water with their parents a little before the start of the second great shinobi war. They had come from Uzugakure and, not being shinobi, flead with the fear that the impending war would stifle their island. Their Uzumaki family name, and bright red hair, slightly unwelcome, but accepted all the same.
Tsuyu’s pay became crucial to their families survival with the crashing economy under the fourth Mizukage. Her father is a blacksmith, and her mother is a baker, and while high demand jobs, there weren’t too many people nearby to actually buy anything. However, when Tsuyu was 14, the library layed her off because they couldn’t afford to pay her anymore. She was devastated, and knew that she had to find new work quick if she wanted her family to stay afloat. She was desperate, and turned to the only thing she could think of while she found a new job: prostitution. She had been able to convince her parents that the library started a 24 hour schedule and moved her to the night shift. She knew they wouldn’t approve of what she was doing, but they didn’t need to know, they never went to the library anyway.
She had started herself on birth control that was handed out for free at the pharmacy, and spent her night on the street, lending her services to anyone how could pay. She did this for about two weeks before she got her new job on the other side of the island in an Inn as a cleaning lady. But it wasn’t until 3 weeks after she started her job at the Inn, that she confirmed she was pregnant.
Tsuyu wasn’t sure, who the father was, after all, there where quite a few men she was with in that two week deration of time, and she wasn’t expecting her birth control to fail like that, though she really should have.
She was able to keep it a secret from her parents for quite some time, she didn’t start showing for another three months, and even longer after that, due to her baggy clothing. She didn’t particularly want the child, but it was much to expensive to pay for an abortion, she simply couldn’t afford it. Although, at this point, Tsuyu had grown attached to her child, she isn’t sure that, even if she had enough money, even if she could go back to when she could get an abortion, that she would.
Despite Being able to keep it a secret from her parents for a while, a while isn’t forever. When Tsuyu’s parents found out that she was pregnant, they were furious with her. “How could you be so careless Tsu! We can hardly survive as is without a child to look after!” her father had screamed.
“You really should have waited until you married someone how could provide for a family before getting pregnant. Do you even know if he is willing to help raise the child with you?” her mother had asked in her gentaler manor, at which she had to admit that she didn’t even know who the father was.
The look of utter disappointment that graced her parent’s faces, will be ones she will never forget. They had told her that once she gives birth, she should put the child up for adoption, because they simply couldn’t care for anyone else, and she would never stand a chance at marring in the future if she had a child. Despite seeing the logic in the parents words, she didn’t want to abandoned the unborn child she had grown to love. Her parents felt it best that she leave, and not come back while she still thought that way.
Angry with her parents, Tsuyu packs up her belongings, and leaves. As Tsuyu wanders the streets, she finds herself at the library. With nowhere else to go, she figured she might as well go in to collect her thoughts and think of her next steps for her and her child.
She wanders to the back corner of the library, down a narrow hallway, where she knows nobody ever goes, and quietly sobs on the ground. She’s upset with her parents sure, but she does understand where they are coming from, afterall, they can’t afford to risk all of their lives for the sake of a bastard child with an unknown father, but she knows that they’ve also abandoned her in a time of need, their own child, and she vows to never do the same for hers, no matter how hard it gets, that is her will.
Apparently her sobs weren’t as quiet as she thought, because an older woman, clearly in her late 50’s early 60’s, came around the corner. Tsuyu had recognised the woman form her time working at the library. Her name was Otose. Otose used to live in Kirigakure with her husband, but he was a ninja who died during the Third shinobi war, and she moved out here to get away from the memories. However, Otose will make trips back to Kiri to visit her husband’s grave and their family about once a month.
“Are you alright Sweety?” She asked her, crouching down to her side.
Tsuyu considered lying and saying she was fine, but felt the need to get her troubles off her chest, to tell someone uninvolved, so she spilled. “I got pregnant, I don’t know who the father is, my parents kicked me out, and now I have no where to go, and I don’t know what I should do.” She cried to Otose.
“Oh Sweety, how old are you? Do you know when your due?” She asked with pity in her eyes. Despite what some people say, it felt good to be pitied, good to have someone acknowledge that she has it rough and that she didn’t deserve it. Her pity told Tsuyu that Otose sympathized with her situation, and that felt good.
“I’m 15, and I’m 5 ½ months pregnant.” She choked out.
“I’m so sorry. I-” Otose paused, looking away for a second as she shifted her weight and takes a deep breath. “I have an extra room at my house, if you want to stay with me.” She offered. Her kindness brought Tsuyu to tears, a new stream of water falling from the young girls eyes.
She looked up at the kind woman trough the water, seeing only blotches of color. “You would really do that for me?” She asked the woman, her stomach folding as she held in a loud sob.
“Of course sweety, I would be happy to. No one deserves to be left alone while going through such a hard time.” She told her with a soft smile, and kind eyes.
In that moment, in the dimly lit, narrow hallway, one side lined with books, the other with wood paneling, Otose looked like a saint.
Otose, wasn’t as much of a saint as Tsuyu had originally thought. She woman was certainly kind, she gave her a room, and money for clothes and food, but she was vulgar, she had the mouth of a sailor, and a bad smoking habit. Additionally, Otose wasn’t rich, she now had to support both herself, and Tsuyu. Because of this, she took every shift she could at the bank where she worked, and had Tsuyu stay home to do the cooking, cleaning, shopping, etcetera. This caused problems with Tsuyu’s job at the Inn, seeing as she wouldn’t be able to go to work for almost 6 months, However, she is a valuable worker, and so they come up with the compromise of her not actively working for them, and therefore not getting payed, but still being registered as employed by them. So after the 6 months, she can come back, and resume her normal shifts.
The work around the house was hard, it wasn’t bad in the beginning, almost enjoyable in fact. She would wake up, make breakfast and lunch for Otose before she went off to work, then did the dishes, laundry, sweeped the floor, dusted, and cleaned the bathroom, before making dinner, and cleaning the kitchen. As time went on, and it was the same thing over and over again, it was hard to find any joy in it. That coupled with her stomach getting ever bigger, and her mood swings, made life miserable. Though Tsuyu would often remind herself that it would never be as miserable as living on the streets.
There was a few times that she snapped at Otose too, complaining about the work, yelling at her, and crying that she was cruel. Otose would take none of her shit, and immediately put her back in her place. One time, their argument got so bad, Tsuyu wasn’t backing down, and Otose almost stabbed her in the neck with a fork. Thankfully it missed, but it scared Tsuyu so bad she peed herself, and the fork left a hole in the wall, both of which , she had to deal with. But it was better than the streets, and Tsuyu loved the elder woman, and knew that she cared. If not, they why would she keep her around?
The months went on and eventually Tsuyu reached the end of her pregnancy. Otose hired a midwife named Tae who looked to be in her late 20’s with warm hazelnut hair and chocolate brown eyes. They decided to do a water birth in the bathroom, so as to cause less of a mess around the house. Plus, the child was from the land of water, what more fitting way to bring her into the world.
The birth of Tsuyu’s child lasted 6 hours, 10 minutes, and 23 seconds exactly. She was born, at 11:35 am on friday March 28, 0054. She had pink hair and gills on her shoulders. Tsuyu knew exactly who her father was. He was hard to forget. The man was her age, but tall and handsome, and blue. He was a shinobi from Kirigakure who stopped there on the back from a mission, and he was the only person she had ever seen with gills, much less slept with. She tried to recall his name, but no matter how hard she rummaged around in her for it, she couldn’t remember. Maybe he didn’t tell her. It wasn’t out of the question, you don’t often tell the prostitute you picked up off the street your name.
Oh well, it didn’t matter much now, but it would have been good to know. Tsuyu looked down at the child in her arms. Speaking of names, she needed one for her daughter. Her daughter, that felt so surreal, after having spent 10 months with her in her womb, she was able to hold her give her a name, raise her. While she was pregnant, she had called them Kozakana, small fish, but she couldn’t very well name her that. Tsuyu stared at her daughter and her hair. She would name her Sakura. It was tacky, unoriginal, and obvious, but she liked it, and it fit. Otose totally gave her shit for the name, but Tsuyu could tell she liked it too.
After a month and a half with Sakura, it was time for Tsuyu to go back to work. Otose started taking less shifts at the bank, and the two of them started to split the house work between them. Tsuyu was permitted to take Sakura into work with her as long as it didn’t cause any problems. Life seemed happy for the group of three. Tsuyu’s coworkers loved Sakura, and would play with her on their breaks, there was a lot less stress in their home, and Sakura wasn’t a particularly fussy child. She slept through the night, she didn’t cry very often, only when she couldn’t relay her message in a different way, like babbling or grabbing onto her.
When Sakura was six months old, her teeth started coming in, they were sharp, like a sharks, like her father’s. She had to be careful with her teeth, there had been more than a few times that Sakura went to suck on her hand, and bit herself, or her tongue, drawing blood. As Sakura got older, it was easier to deal with her teeth, she was a fast learner and could figure out that, if sticking your hands in you mouth hurt, then she shouldn’t do it. Overall, Sakura was a sweet and easy child, who was adored by all, especially her mother.
When Sakura was a year old, and she and Tsuyu were at work, and a familiar man checked into the Inn. He was tall, and handsome, and had blue skin. Tsuyu checked the sign in sheet at the front desk, scanning through the names as Sakura ran to catch up to her.
Kisame Hoshigaki, a Jonin from Kiri and the head of the Hoshigaki clan. But of course she had to get knocked up by leader of the most prestigious clan in the land of water. Of course she now had to walk down to room 203 and tell him that she had his child when he doesn’t even know her name. But this would likely be her only time to tell him, and no matter who he was, he deserved to know he has a child. Tsuyu gathered up as much courage as she could muster, and stiffly made her way to his room.
Fortunately, when she got there, she did not have to stand anxiously outside his door and knock on it. Unfortunately, that was because he had yet to actually enter his room. As she walked up the stair with her daughter in her arms, she made eye contact with him, and froze, immediately wish she could go die in a hole.
“Cute kid.” He said to her, notioning to Sakura as he went to go put the key in to unlock the door.
“Thanks, she’s your’s” Dying in a hole was too good for her. Maybe spontaneous combustion or something of the like, anything to get her out of this situation, anything fast and painful, because she was so, so stupid.
“What?” he asked turning towards her confused.
“Um…. well, you kinda stoped here a little under two years ago and hired a prostitute, that was kinda me, and my birth control might have failed, and you got me pregnant.” She blurted out. And at that moment, Sakura found it best to smile at the man, showing off her sharp teeth, and wave.