By the time Biology class rolled around, Kurama was wondering if he'd eaten something funny for breakfast that morning, because his stomach kind of hurt. And in this weather, it was seriously annoying that they had to wear these short skirts with nothing but panties on underneath. It was actually a relief to put on his lab coat when he walked into class.

"Today, class, we'll be starting our anatomy unit," the teacher declared. "Please keep your lab coats on, as we're going to get to the dissecting today if we have time."

Yuck! Aratani looked at Kurama and jokingly stuck her tongue out.

"Don't tell me you're going to make me do all the dissecting," Kurama teased.

"Someone has to," she said, giggling. "But you'd think the teacher would be angry if we stained our nice white lab coats."

"I think he should just let us wear our uniforms," said Kurama. "They're red, so any stains will blend in."

"Oh, don't be gross, Shuichi," Aratani told him, grinning. "Come on, at least when we're lab partners we get to sit next to each other."

That was true, and Kurama was glad for it. Each lab table had two groups (four students total), and Kurama's was at the back of the room. That wasn't so good, because it wasn't as easy to see the teacher, but he could deal with it.

Their teacher placed a picture of a frog on the easel, told his students to open their science books, and started discussing the frog's anatomy, but Kurama wasn't really listening. What he was thinking about was that party. In that teen romance he watched with Hiei last night on their sleepover, the main character went to a high school party, and it was really wild. Was that just movie star baloney, or was it really going to be like that? And it wasn't even a high school party. It was a college party, which could be a whole new level.

In addition to that, what was he going to do about Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei? Kurama may have looked like a college student, but Yusuke and Kuwabara looked their ages, and Hiei looked like he was in elementary school, especially now that his voice was higher-pitched. Kurama was pretty sure his "my parents are making me babysit" excuse wouldn't fly at a college party.

One thought led to another and soon Kurama was reliving yesterday's gym class, with Hiei and the coach having a go at each other. When he remembered the coach asking if Hiei needed to do a human sacrifice, he couldn't help but laugh to himself, since Hiei hadn't even realized at first that it was a joke.

"Something funny, Miss Minamino?" said the teacher.

"No, sir," said Kurama quickly. But apparently he'd laughed a little too hard, because it felt, to be frank and honest, like he'd wet himself a little. Weird, but at least nobody would notice.

"These are the toes, which as you can see are webbed," the teacher was saying. "And these are the ears. Did you know that you can tell the difference between a male frog and a female frog by its ears?"

Kurama hadn't known that, actually, but at the moment he didn't care, either, because he was too busy wondering what was happening to him personally. What was this? It felt like…well, nothing was happening now. Nothing was wrong except a rather unseemly sticky feeling. So he decided to just focus on the frogs.

"Here are all the fingers, also known as digits," the teacher droned on. And it wasn't until another sort of warm gush "down there" that it became apparent what was really going on.

Ack! Kurama put his hand over his mouth to muffle the gasp. Why was this happening at school, of all places?And on the day he'd have to disrobe at the doctor, too! Well, there was no controlling that, but he reminded himself that lunch was not too far off, and during the lunch hour he could go to the office and call his mom.

But then he realized that before lunchtime he had History class and then ESL, both classes that involved a lot of sitting. With a chill, he thought of what could happen if he sat in one place for too long. And even then, he was still stuck in Biology, in a chair. What if he got blood all over the seat? Worse yet, what if it got on his white lab coat? Considering that all he was wearing underneath it was a pair of panties and a short skirt…well, it stood to reason.

Maybe I can just reach behind me and check, Kurama thought. Ugh. This felt a lot like wetting his pants, only a thousand times worse. Plus, it was constantly happening, over and over again. Sure enough…his skirt had been riding up on the seat without him even noticing, which meant his lab coat had taken the full force of this sudden onslaught. It was soaked through. Hiei was right; it felt like he had been sitting on a rainy bench, except at least Hiei had been wearing all black, and he had that scarf handy. There was no way Kurama could ask to go to the bathroom without everyone getting a real good look at him. There was nothing else he could do. Unless…

SOS! Having girl problems, Kurama scribbled on a piece of paper, and let it land on Aratani's desk. When she got the note, he watched her read it, her brown eyes widening in surprise behind her square glasses. Then she wrote a note back.

Just ask to go to the bathroom.

This would sure be a good time to use telepathic communication, but of course Aratani couldn't do that.

I can't get up. Total mess, Kurama wrote.

Just do it, said the note he got back. I'll cause a diversion.

Kurama was considering it, feeling Aratani's gaze on him, when he heard something that snapped him out of his conversation.

"Miss Minamino?" came the teacher's voice.

"Yes, sir." It came out quickly, more like a statement than the usual inquisitive response. The hint of worry in his voice was a bit more conspicuous than he would have liked.

"Would you come up to the board and label the nictitating and tympanic membranes on this frog diagram, please?"

Kurama felt his face growing warm. This was the time the teacher had to call him up to the front of the room? Not only would he have to turn his back to his classmates when he labeled the diagram, but his lab table was at the back of the room, which meant he would have to walk past each and every one of the other students before he even got to the easel with the diagram.

"No, sir," said Kurama, as evenly as he could manage, and everyone stared at him in disbelief. But what else was he supposed to do, walk down the aisle dripping blood?

"That was not a request, Miss Minamino." The problem with the teachers in these advanced classes was that they tended to be strict. "That was an order."

"I can't," Kurama insisted.

"Why not?" the teacher demanded. "It can't be that you don't know the answer. You've never once gotten anything wrong."

"It's a matter of a personal nature," Kurama told him nervously.

"You're going to have to do better than that."

"Look, I really need to go to the bathroom," said Kurama desperately, since he was starting to feel a little panicked. Now he could feel it running unpleasantly down his inner thigh, heading directly towards one of his knee-high black socks, and he crossed his legs tightly at the ankles in the hopes that nobody would see. Everyone in class was watching him intently. If they hadn't figured out what he was talking about, they probably assumed something even worse.

"Oh, all right," the teacher grouched. "But you can't afford to miss this information. Ten minutes max, or you're going to have to stay after school."

Let's just hope Aratani comes through for me, Kurama thought. Cringing internally, he stood up, and it was like a waterfall. Before anyone got a good look at him, though, Aratani let out a loud shriek and fell off her stool. Kurama figured that was his cue, and when everyone else was fussing over Aratani's diversion, he bolted out of the room. When he got back, he would check to see if she was all right.

Ten minutes! There was no time to call his mom and wait for her to come bring him something, and he didn't really want her causing a scene like she had when it happened to Hiei, anyway. When he got to the bathroom, he cleaned himself up and used a huge wad of toilet paper for protection, then spent another few minutes using cold water to wash his lab coat (if anyone would know how to get blood out of clothing, it would be Kurama). Since he didn't have time for his lab coat to dry, it looked rather like he'd wet himself, but that was better than the alternative, he supposed.

As soon as class was over (they hadn't had time for the dissecting, thank goodness), everyone surged out of the science lab into the hallway. Kurama hung his clean-but-wet lab coat up and headed out himself, praying his "solution" would hold up until the lunch hour, but…

"Shuichi! Hurry!" Aratani grabbed his arm and hauled him into the nearest girls' bathroom, the same one he had been in about an hour before.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"This really isn't your week, is it?" she answered sympathetically, digging in her school bag and handing him what he realized was a tampon. "Here, put this in before you go on to your next class. It's better than toilet paper."

"Oh, um, thanks," said Kurama, wondering if he should tell her that he didn't know how to use one, or just try to figure it out.

"You do know how to use one, don't you?" Aratani asked.

Kurama shrugged awkwardly. "Do you have anything else?"

"No, only the tampon," Aratani replied. "Look, let's go into a stall, and I can help you."

"That won't be necessary," Kurama said quickly. "I'm sure I can figure it out."

"You'd do better to avoid trial-and-error this time," Aratani warned. "You'll be late to class, and I only have one of those. Just go in on your own, and I'll give you directions. Okay?"

This was still much too close for comfort, especially considering he was harboring more-than-friendly feelings for her, but what choice did he have? Once Kurama got inside one of the little cubicles, he called, "Okay. Now what?"

"First, relax," Aratani said from outside the stall. "You can't put in a tampon if your muscles are tense."

"I can't?"

"Not easily," she told him. "So just try to relax. Then take off the paper and just kind of…shove it up there, the big part first."

"But where do I stand?"

"One foot up on the toilet, the other on the floor," Aratani replied. "Then, like I said, just slide it in."

"Why is this thing made of plastic?" said Kurama. "That's neither comfortable nor absorbent."

"You don't keep the plastic part inside of you," said Aratani. "Just the cotton. Anyway, did you put it in yet?"

"It only goes in so far," he told her, concerned. "Then it just stops."

"That's what it's supposed to do," she said. "Just push that part inside the part that's in you."

So he did what she said, and it was the weirdest feeling.

"Can you feel it going in?" she asked.

"Yes, I can," he answered, but once he took the plastic part out, now empty, and threw it in the trash, he found that he couldn't feel it in there at all, and that he had finally stopped bleeding. So he called, "It worked!"

Aratani squealed. "Open the door!"

Kurama got dressed again and unlocked the door; Aratani gave him a tight hug.

"Congratulations, you've become a woman today!" she cried. "You're out of diapers! You got your training wheels off! You're eating solid food! You're—"

"I get the point, Aratani," said Kurama, but he couldn't help smiling at her excitement. "I'd rather just get to class and forget this ever happened."

"Whatever you want!" Aratani linked arms with Kurama, and they left the bathroom.

…

As the day went on, Yusuke skipped gym, because he hadn't been feeling right since Sunday. But he tried a little harder to attend his other classes. Even though his uniform skirt still rode up and his legs stuck uncomfortably to the metal chair of his desk, he came to class. However, while attendance was something he could do, concentrating (much less learning anything) was another.

For one thing, Kurama had called him that morning and said his doctor's appointment was for this evening, so he was debating over whether he dared ask his questions again, or just pretend he hadn't given Kurama that list. Besides, he couldn't imagine why Kurama made the appointment, because there was nothing wrong with him, and Yusuke was pretty sure you had to "disrobe" at those types of appointments. But then the thought of Kurama's female form undressing was in his mind, and it wouldn't leave. Yusuke had never really noticed it when Kurama was a man, but the fox-demon sure did give off a lot of sex appeal as a woman.

It was Kuwabara who was having an actual problem, even though none of the other three asked what exactly it was. Hiei, especially, seemed to be against discussing it. But Yusuke was extremely thankful that nothing like that was happening to him, because that was something he didn't think he could ever talk to his mom about. She loved him, he knew, but they weren't exactly close.

Or was something going on with him? The problem was, when he was in a new body all of a sudden, especially one of the opposite sex, he didn't know what was normal and what wasn't. That was the most important thing he had told Kurama to ask for him when he went to the doctor.

In the middle of his thoughts, however, the teacher's voice snapped across the room.

"Miss Urameshi!" she shouted. "I'm not going to ask you to pay attention again!"

That seems unlikely, Yusuke thought, but he didn't say it.

"What do you need?" he asked, yawning, because he was feeling bored and also kind of tired.

"I asked you what the average annual rainfall is in Tokyo, which you should be able to tell me if you did the reading homework for Geography." The teacher put her hands on her hips. "Did you not do your homework?"

The class laughed. Yusuke went above and beyond the teachers' expectations by just showing up; did they expect him to do the homework, too?

"Can anyone else answer?" the teacher asked impatiently. "Miss Yukimura?"

"60.2 inches, Teacher," said Keiko promptly.

Yusuke gave her a thumbs-up, and she gave him a strict look. Oh, well. Ever since he ran into her and Botan in the lingerie store the other day, he didn't really know what to say to her in the first place. Perhaps if he ever tried, it would be something awkward like, How are you liking your new sexy black nightie?

Just in case the teacher yelled at him again, he kept his eyes on the easel, where the teacher had a map of Japan and was talking about its weather. B-O-R-I-N-G.