Story 2: Sanitary Napkins
Crash! Pieces of glass shattered everywhere as a cupful of water that Mikoto had dropped fell to the floor.
"Hey Mom, what's going on?" a curious Sasuke asked, poking his head through the door.
"Sasuke, don't come in," his mother told him. "There's broken glass on the floor and I don't want your feet getting cut up because you're walking barefoot. Just get me a towel from the bathroom closet so I can clean this up."
"Okay!" Sasuke responded, already padding along to the bathroom, more than happy to help his mother out.
When he reached the bathroom adjacent to his parents' room, he opened the closet door and began looking among the bed sheets and small washcloths for a good-sized towel that his mother could use. Looking around, he came across something he had never noticed before. It was something wrapped up in plastic in the shape of a small square. Wondering what it was, he stared at it for a while.
"Little brother, what are you doing?" an irritated Itachi asked his sibling. He had been woken up the crash, and seeing that liquid had spilled everywhere on the kitchen floor, went to go and get a towel himself.
"Hey Big brother," Sasuke started, "what's this?" He held up the small, square-shaped object in question. Itachi stared at the object for a few seconds before rolling his eyes upward towards the ceiling. Dear God, why do you torment me so? Why do you always put me in these kinds of situations on the spot? How on earth was he supposed to explain to his five year-old brother that he was holding up their mother's feminine supplies?
"Well," Itachi started, trying to find the appropriate word to use, "they're called 'sanitary napkins'."
"Sanitary napkins?" a confused Sasuke repeated. "What are they used for?"
"Well, you see, Mother…" He trailed off.
"Mother what? Come on Big brother, tell me!" Itachi's younger brother persisted.
"Well, Mother uses them when…" He was grasping at straws, trying to find the correct way of wording what their mother used them for. "She uses them on special occasions," he finished lamely. Little did Itachi know this was the wrong thing to say…
A few weeks later, the Uchihas hosted a celebration for their eldest son's acceptance of becoming a chunnin. While Itachi was upstairs brooding over something and his parents were at the front door greeting their relatives as they arrived, Sasuke set up the table. Remembering what his brother had said about "special occasions", he went to the bathroom, and got out the square-shaped objects.
When Uchiha Fugaku sat down, he noticed something strange.
"Sasuke," he said, holding it up by a corner, "may I ask why Mikoto's feminine supplies are at the dinner table?" Itachi raised an eyebrow from the other end of the table. Why in the world would his brother go and set the table up with sanitary napkins?
"Feminine supplies?" Sasuke asked incredulously. "I thought they were called 'sanitary napkins'."
"Yes, they're called that too," his father replied, "but what are they doing here?" Snickers from the other Uchiha members could be heard from around the table.
"Well," Sasuke began, "Big brother said they're used for 'special occasions'." Itachi slapped a hand to his forehead. He should have known better than to have said that when he was explaining what pads were for. He should have known that his little brother would distort his meaning in some way.
Shisui, who was next to his best friend, tried stifling down his laughter. This was pure gold!
"Little brother, when I said they were to be used on 'special occasions'," Itachi ground out, "I didn't mean this kind of special occasion."
"Then what kind of special occasion is it used for?"
"I am not going to answer that, no matter how much you pester me to. Besides, it's not something one would discuss at the dinner table."
"Aw, come on Big brother! Tell me!"
"No! I will not tell you as I have no experience in that subject!" Shisui burst out in loud laughter.
"Damn right you have no experience in that subject!" he taunted.
"Shut up Shisui," Itachi snapped under his breath.
"But it's true!" he said back innocently.
"I said shut up."
"But…"
"Shisui," Itachi warned him, "don't make me hit you…"