-1The Story of a Teenaged Ninja Mother

Note: Part One and Part Two of the following two (this one and the next one) chapters are the same basic story told in two different perspectives. I apologize if one or both might be a little short.

Chapter Two: Breaking the News

Mishi was immediately rushed to the hospital. Since she was so popular, the entire class tagged along to see if she was going to be alright. Iruka-sensei had to beat most of us senseless to keep us from bombarding Mishi's room and clogging up the hallways. I was the only one who didn't get shoved, punched, and kicked back into the reception room. It was probably because I'm so unnoticeable.

I went back and forth between the reception area and the hallway near Mishi's room. As always, no one seemed to pay me any mind. When I was near the horde of students, my classmates of course, I heard them whispering amongst themselves. They wondered what was wrong with Mishi. As I recalled, I, along with other of our classmates, had heard her suggest that her nagging sickness might have been due to over exhaustion. She had also mentioned that she was experimenting with a few things and were trying something new, although that was on a different occasion, prior to her sudden sickness I believe. I had supposed that maybe her sudden collapsing might have been an inevitable result of overexerting herself trying to learn a new and difficult jutsu.

She didn't stay unconscious too long after arriving. As soon as she awoke, the doctors immediately began to ascertain the reason she so suddenly slipped into unconsciousness. They first talked to her and tried to figure out what she had been doing. I really couldn't hear anything they were saying, but I figured that was the first thing they did. After that, they started to run a few tests to pinpoint the source of the problem.

We were all worried and very scared. Mishi was a popular young girl, very smart, very mature. She had a well likeable personality, even if she occasionally appeared a little snooty. No of us understood what was going on. My classmates were half-panicked; a few of them had to be sedated because they got overworked up about it all. Iruka-sensei was really worried, I could tell. He didn't even bother trying to force us back to the Academy. Perhaps the only reason why he paid us any heed in the first place was because we were getting in his way of finding out what was wrong with on of his top students.

The hospital tried contacting Mishi's mom, but was unable to reach her. Even Iruka-sensei couldn't get a hold of her. It turned out that she had left the Leaf Village on a business trip. I don't remember what job her mother had, but I knew that Mishi didn't come from a ninja family. I think we might have picked on her about that when we first started attending the Ninja School.

I still remembered how I found out about Mishi's 'condition.' I had been loitoring in the halls near Mishi's room. I was nervous...pacing to and fro. Our instructor had been doing likewise. Of course, as always, it was like I wasn't even there. No one noticed my presence looming fretfully amongst the halls, like an apparition awaiting its victim.

I heard Iruka-sensei arguing with one of the nurses outside of Mishi's room. I think she might have just left there out of discussing Mishi's condition with her. He was trying to coax her into telling him what was ailing his student. I suppose that he felt responsible, or perhaps he felt helpless. He must have felt a little guilty, not having realized that there was something really wrong with one of his top students, the well loved Mishi.

The nurse, however, refused to tell him what was wrong. Her refusal only flustered Iruka-sensei. He certainly wasn't going to take it lying down. He was going to find out what happened with Mishi. Our instructor was truly a man who cared for his students. He was a determined teacher. He never backed down, and he had always been able to keep all of his students in check.

"I'm sorry, but this is a family matter, I'm simply not permitted to tell you," the nurse had appologetically informed.

"What? Don't give me that! What's wrong with her? Does she need a blood transfusion? Is it a bladder blockage? Irritable bowl syndrome? Does she need a kidney or a bone marrow transplant," our Iruka-sensei proded.

"No, it's nothing like that, but I'm really not privelaged to say," the nurse responded.

"Not privileged to say?! Wh...what is it? Is it...advanced cancer," Iruka-sensei fretted.

"Oh no, it's nothing that serious. There's no need to worry about that," the nurse confessed hoping that our instructor would not push the issue further after being assured that it was nothing fatal.

"Is it a small operable tumor in her brain that has a slight chance of causing her to have a mild speech impediment problem," Iruka-sensei continued to guess.

"No! That's not it at all," the nurse yelled out starting to get flustered.

"Then why won't you tell me? I'm her instructor, dammit! I'm responsible for her wellbeing! You say that it's nothing serious, but you also said that it's a family matter! What the hell could be wrong with her that's not life threatening yet you cannot discuss it with anyone outside her family, not even her damn instructor?! Just what in God's name is wrong with you?! For that matter, what in hell is wrong with you for not telling me, her instructor?!"

Iruka-sensei was really getting ticked off. He was fed up. His face was flushed with anger. He looked like his top was going to explode and furious, flaming jets of lava would come spewing out. I had never before seen him so upset. I was really frightened of him. After having seen him like that, I became a little afraid to come near him. I suppose it showed how deeply he cared for us, all of the students he had taught. It just so happened that while I was his student, nothing had happened to us before then to get him so worked up.

The nurse was irritated and upset. I don't think she was used to dealing with people like our instructor. She was at the end of her rope. She looked like she and him had a long drawn out battle, and that her strength and chakra had already long surpassed their limits and that she had nothing left to give. I kind of felt sorry for her, but if only she had told him about what was wrong with Mishi, maybe it wouldn't have gotten this far.

"It's something...life changing. It's a life altering condition. I'm only permitted to discuss this matter with the young girl's family. I'm really, really sorry, but I absolutely can't tell. Please, I'm begging you," the nurse meekly explained, her eyes red and on the verge of tears.

"But you just told me that it wasn't anything like an operable tumor that may or may not cause a slight speech impediment! So what the hell is it?! I'm her teacher! Why can't you tell me?! She's my responsibility! Her mother's out of town for the next couple of weeks and her father doesn't even live in this country anymore! Don't tell me you're going to keep her locked up in here until her mother returns? Or are you going to release her since it's nothing serious and not tell her family afterall? What kind of hospital is this?!"

"She's pregnant for crying out loud!"

Iruka-sensei was stunned. He was left speechless. Everything got very quiet all of a sudden. It was a very awkward and tense moment. At that time, I didn't really understand what the nurse meant. I was an only child, my mother having died a few days before I entered the Academy. No one had given me the talk about 'the birds and the bees.' In fact, sex education wasn't exactly on the course syllabus for becoming a ninja. Apparently we weren't old enough to handle sexual intercourse, STDs, unwanted pregnancies, but surviving in the wilderness and handling various weapons such as kunai and shuriken were alright.

'What is pregnant,' I had wondered at the time. Perhaps I might have understood what she had meant if she had phrased it differently. If she had said, 'She's going to be a mother,' or it might have been clearer were she to have explained, 'She's going to have a baby.' Perhaps if she had said it somewhere along those lines I might have understood what was wrong, although, all the same, I might not have believed her then.

After a long period of awkward and apprehensive silence, our instructor struggled to speak. He had been stunned, and was in a state of disbelief. The nurse looked away, she appeared to be desperately looking for a way to leave without drawing any further attention to herself. After all, in iritation she had blurted out confidential information concerning a minor.

"You've got to be kidding me? Mishi? Pregnant? There's no way! She's a great student! She's a bright young mind I haven't seen since I taught Sakura! Sure she's been paying too much attention to the opposite sex, but she's always kept up with her studies. There's no way she could be knocked up!"

The nurse turned to face Iruka-sensei once more. She had an almost evil grin on her face. It looked like she had gotten her second wind after that verbal battle with Iruka-sensei. She now appeared to have obtained ammunition to use against him.

"No matter what you belief, she is indeed pregnant. You claimed to be responsible for her, and you act like you know her so much, but yet were you even aware that she had been sexually active during the last six months?"

Iruka-sensei was hurt...and stunned. He had no idea that Mishi had been active sexually. As for myself, that was another term I wasn't familiar with. 'Sexually active? What does she mean by that? Mishi's always been a girl. Has she been turning into a guy lately? I didn't know that sort of thing could happen,' I had wondered. Little did I realize, little did my classmates realize, and perhaps everyone else, little could we have realized just how different things would be after that moment.