DISCLAIMER: This story is solely written for fanservicing. All known characters and plot lines belong to Masashi Kishimoto and the publishers of the Naruto series.

The Period Chronicles

Bloody Plans

Uzumaki Kushina and Uchiha Mikoto went to college together.

The two women majored in business and were roommates. They shared their sorrows and fears for the future, stayed up all night talking about boys, drank until oblivion when a date went wrong, binged on the best foods when their menstrual cycles were at the same time (and when they were not).

So it was obvious that they were meant to be each other's maid of honour. And that they would meet wonderful men who would also be best friend. Who would provide them happiness and a nice house with cute children running around.

However...

In Kushina's case, she found that man. That amazing guy who was studying international development at their college and he was so nice to her, such a gentleman. Minato was also really –really— good looking. She delighted when Naruto was born with his father's pretty blue eyes and messy blond hair. It reminded her of how amazing her husband was. She was happy to be able to have her own job as an editor and come home to a smiling Naruto. She was also glad that Minato had let her take in Karin, her second cousin, when the girl moved from her old town. Kushina sometimes needed to have another female mind in the house to, you know, tolerate Naruto's mischievous attitude.

Nonetheless, she wished her husband had the same job as before. They had been so young when they got married, goodness! Minato and Kushina lived together for their first married years, and celebrated every birthday and milestone like a normal family. Now he had a new job. He was away for six months, travelling from country to country doing diplomatic business. And she was left alone with two teenagers who constantly reminded her that she was getting old. Whoop-dee-doo.

Mikoto, on the other hand, had to marry before she could even finish her studies. She got married during her final year of college, and almost failed her final exams because of the pressure. Kushina was there at every step of the wedding, knowing that it wasn't what her best friend had wanted.

You see, Mikoto was betrothed to Uchiha Fugaku, a very –very— distant relative who was much older. She got married when she was barely twenty and he was already thirty one. Back then, it had been a huge age gap for her. It was all supposed to help the Uchiha clan keep the power of their company within the family. Nonetheless, Mikoto had grown to respect her new husband even though he was rather distant. She couldn't blame him, though, he probably had his whole life settled before their clan's elders decided to interrupt his harmony and tell him to tie the knot with a small brat. She felt that they could be friends, and after giving birth to Itachi she started to see the change in her husband.

But then, after Sasuke's birth, everything changed. She was twenty seven and he was thirty eight.

Fights happened in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Before and after they would drop off little Itachi to school while Sasuke stayed with his great aunt Uruchi and great uncle Teyaki. They fought over everything. Over what to do with their house, their car, and their insurance. Whether Mikoto should work or stay home and take care of the kids. Why Fugaku was fully ignoring his youngest son while he prioritized his oldest, and how this was affecting poor little Sasuke.

Several times, Kushina had driven to Mikoto's house while their husbands were at work and watched her cry over her problems. It was like going back to college and stressing over a final exam, but ten times more serious. Kushina always kept a bright smile in her face, hiding away her longing for a husband who was always present, while Mikoto would let out her tears and feel happy of having such a wonderful friend.

Naruto would always accompany his mother to wherever he was going, so he and Sasuke were pretty much meant to be best friends. They would share the same toys, play at the park together, play pranks on their mothers. Sasuke would sleep over at Naruto's house so often that he was like a second son to Kushina. Sometimes, while the mothers were too busy with their work, Itachi would watch over the two boys. Everything seemed perfect for the three children;.

But it was the moment that Mikoto urgently called Kushina, saying that Fugaku had decided to divorce her and take Itachi under his wing, that Naruto and Sasuke knew they were more than friends –they were like brothers.

"We're here!" a sing-song voice announced at the entrance of Sasuke's home.

A good looking red head woman stepped into the living room of his small apartment, holding several brown paper bags filled with groceries. Her large grin was accompanied by a pair of bright eyes, showing how her excitement. Her hair was so long that Sasuke wondered if she would ever trim the ends.

It was that time of the month again. More of a tradition, really. Every month, Kushina and Mikoto would get together and cook all of their favourite foods (which were quite a lot, Sasuke had grown to realize), and spend all evening eating dinner while catching up. Naruto and Sasuke used to eat just as much as their mothers did back when they were in their growing spurt stage. Even though they still ate a lot at seventeen, it wasn't comparable to the amount of food that those two, normal sized women could fit in their stomachs.

Sasuke always wondered how his mother could be so small, yet win a food competition against Naruto.

"Kushina, come to the kitchen! I need the ginger right now for this soup to taste blissfully!"

Also, he wondered how she would spend the rest of the month sticking to small irregular meals. It made no sense to him. Whenever he was hungry, he would eat like a normal human being –excluding Naruto, that idiot was always hungry and always willing to eat all the ramen in the world. His mother, on the other hand, had adapted her stomach to sense when her monthly tradition with Kushina would happen and it would stretch out and accept all the food they prepared.

Speaking of the devil, his best friend stepped into his house right after Kushina and had now settled in Sasuke's favourite chair like he always did. That asshole.

"You're lucky that Karin couldn't come today. She said she was planning something evil against someone, I guess she wants to terrify another one of your followers from lower grades."

"Get off," Sasuke commanded, ignoring his friend's words. It was the same quarrel every time Naruto came over to his house.

"Something about someone touching you –wait, why do I have to get off?" the blond boy tucked in his feet under his legs and crossed his arms, acting stubborn.

"Because that's my chair."

Sasuke stood behind his –his— chair and started tilting it back and forth until Naruto fell on the floor. The blond boy let out a cry of pain and protested, filling in every silence of the living room with his annoying loud voice. Neither Mikoto or Kushina bothered to check up on their boys, knowing that this was an almost every day thing for them.

"Damn, bastard! I think you just broke my tailbone!" Naruto yelled, rubbing his behind with an exaggerated expression on his face.

Although they went to the same school and hung out quite often, Naruto had his own group of friends at Konoha High. He spent a lot of time with Inuzuka Kiba, Rock Lee, Aburame Shino, that lot. Sasuke preferred to stay in the dark, away from making new friends and definitely away from the female student body that just wanted to touch him. Karin always found him when he was doing his homework alone in a hidden corner at school, but it would be obvious that she knew where he was because Naruto had told her so. Even though the blond idiot did not want his relative and Sasuke to get together, he always found it amusing how his best friend was so annoyed by her pestering. It was like his favourite past time. And Sasuke hated it.

Nonetheless, they were still best friends and loyal to one another. Despite all their contradictions, nothing could separate them. Sasuke knew that he didn't want to see those he loved leave him again. His dad and Itachi did that, and he would never –ever— respect them again. They were cowards; they were no longer his family for leaving his mother behind with nothing but his six year old self and barely any money.

Mikoto had to start all over, and her great aunt and uncle were kind enough to employ her in the administration of their bakery. If it wasn't because Fugaku had left his wife, Sasuke would have never known what being poor, living with a single mother, and earning for one's worth meant.

"Is there anything good today? We can always watch that old movie you have."

Sasuke took over his chair while Naruto went over to turn on the TV. After that, the blond boy grabbed a second chair and placed it beside Sasuke's. He began blabbering about his latest prank with his group of friends, and Sasuke decided to tune out. He always did that anyway. Naruto didn't mind, or at least he didn't seem to mind. Whatever.

"Sasuke, why are you always such a bastard with me?"

Because he never felt like being nice to him in public.

"Shut up, asshole."

Or rather, because Naruto was the brother Sasuke always wanted and never had, and they would never leave each other's side.

Sakura felt ten pounds lighter. Well, almost ten pounds lighter. The bloated belly was gone, the hideous acne break out was cleared, and her optimism was in check. She survived another torturous week of being on her period, and she was seeing bliss at the moment.

Oh, the joy of not having to worry about staining seats.

"Haruno-san, another lap for your youth!"

However, it meant that she could no longer excuse herself of Gai-sensei's vigorous gym classes. That man had the stamina of a thousand, no lie. Tenten had told her one time that she had seen Gai-sensei jogging laps around Konoha from 5 in the morning until 10, and then teach three gym classes in a row, without feeling fatigued.

What the fuck.

Sakura groaned once she was far away from her gym class teacher, and almost half way done with her last lap around the school's track. Konoha High was a nice, little building that had grown overtime as more students enrolled. It was the only secondary school in their town, so everyone knew everything about everyone. How troublesome, Shikamaru would say. Sakura still liked her secondary school; she'd spent the last three years in it, surrounded by her good friends and quirky teachers that definitely made great anecdotes for when she went off to college.

But it also meant that a person's business was everyone's. Ever since her little incident in the girl's washroom, her bumping into Uchiha Sasuke, and then finding Shizune-sensei binging on ice cream everyone had seemed to pay new attention to her. Before, Sakura was known as one of the smartest students in her year, someone who held a close group of friends but was still approachable by others. She never got caught cheating or smoking at the back of the building. She always smiled politely and even rejected Rock Lee's love proposals without putting a show.

She had been lucky of not letting her fiery side come out whenever she had her period. Inner Sakura liked to fool around with Outer Sakura during her time of the month, but Ino was skilled enough to fight off the little monster.

But that totally changed when –somehow— Karin found out about her little incident and it spread amongst students like fire. Sakura was now the 'embarrassing girl who was trying to get on with Uchiha Sasuke even though she was leaking blood like a waterfall.' Thanks, Karin. Really.

"And finish that lovely lap in the name of fertility!"

Even the teachers found out about it. Sakura was ready to punch Gai-sensei right in his balls, but realized that the man would never say that to humiliate her on purpose. He was just really into being young and fertile.

The rest of her class wasn't.

When Sakura had gotten to the finish line of the school's track, most of her gym classmates were laughing loudly at their teacher's proclamation. Karin's laugh was the loudest. Sakura thought of how she would look like if her glasses were shattered on the ground and her hair ripped out of her skull. Nonetheless, before Sakura could do anything, dear Ino and lovely Hinata stepped in and took her by the hands towards the girls' change room. Her friends knew her fiery reactions too well to have the Inner Sakura monster roam around freely.

"Ugh, she's just so—!"

"I know."

"—such a bitch, Ino! You can't just say 'you know.' She didn't humiliate you in front of everyone like she did to me! And how the hell did she find out about me bumping into Uchiha-san? It was just an accident. I don't even talk to him!"

"Um... Sakura... m-my hand is turning... purple."

"Yeah, mine too."

"Oh, sorry."

Sakura's back touched the ceramic walls of the change room and she dragged herself down, exhaling in frustration. She wasn't supposed to get made fun of; people were supposed to like her because she was smart and willing to help. How could her image get ruined so drastically at the turn of a week? All because she bumped into Uchiha Sasuke and left some of her make up on his shirt? Seriously?

"We need to do something about this."

Ino had settled down in front of the pink haired girl with her legs criss-crossed, looking determined. Hinata, being the gentle soul she was, nodded lightly, probably thinking about the consequences of Ino's words.

"I'm not the type of person who would reach Karin's low level. She's always tried to bother me, Ino. This will just go in oblivion next week." Sakura knew her words were more lie than truth. With the way Karin kept pestering her, it was only meant that the girl had something else under the sleeve. But she couldn't find a reason why Karin would try to ruin her so much. It was all just meaningless drama, the kind that only happened in secondary school.

"That's true, but we can probably ask someone like Kiba or Naruto to get her back on your behalf," Ino offered.

"N-Naruto-kun wouldn't do that, they're cousins," Hinata said, blushing furiously when she said the boy's name.

Ever since Sakura could remember, Hinata's insecure personality had always countered her chances of talking –or rather, being around—Uzumaki Naruto. Sakura was a good friend of the boy, even though he could be an asshole most of the time, and his cousin was one of her least favourite people. But she knew that Naruto's intentions only meant well. He was a huge prankster, but an even greater friend. If the talk around the school was right, Naruto was Sasuke's childhood best friend and nothing could separate them. Sakura still wondered how two completely different people could find something in common, but she had never ventured out to ask Naruto about his friendship with one of the most popular boys at Konoha High.

Sakura looked intently at her quiet friend, "If anything had to be done, it needs to be getting you to at least get to know Naruto before the school year ends, dear Hinata."

In fact, Sakura had never been interested in that kind of gossip; she was smart enough to focus on her studies while most girls found Uchiha Sasuke more interesting than a dog with two heads. But she was still aware that everyone at Konoha High knew about Hinata's infatuation with Uzumaki, except him. How ironic.

The alluded girl was about to faint as Ino proclaimed, "Oh, oh I have the perfect plan for that! Hinata, you will love it, and Sakura, you will take part in it too! I am such a genius."

"I doubt about that, pig" Sakura muttered under her breath. Ino could bring more chaos than peace with her plans.

"What did you say, forehead?"

And in fact, she did.

Let's see where this is going. I'm honestly following whatever my mind comes up with. This is more of a fun exercise, to see if I can write humor. Nothing serious :P

What did you guys think? It shows you and insight on Sasuke's story. I always thought it would be cool to have his parents divorced; it's very uncommon in fanfics. AND it brings more drama, weehee! Not that divorce is a good thing, I believe that those decisions belong to the people involved only. I'm not going for or against it.

Well, what do the girls have prepared? And how will Ino's plan affect Sakura in the future? Hmm Hmmm?

Take care :)

MSM