Chapter 8

Bleed for Five Days

For the first time in years, Gaara was blissfully unconscious. The only reason why pandemonium had not yet erupted was because when he did collapse into bed Temari and Kankuro had already retired for the night.

"How long do you think he'll sleep?"

-Given the fact he's never had a night's sleep in his life? I'd give him a few days,-

"So we're going to have to come up with something to explain his absence I suppose?" Kurama smiled down at the sleeping Kazekage. Thank you, Hiei, she whispered. The fire youkai grunted and wandered out of the room. Kurama joined him and they walked down the kitchen together in a comfortable silence. Hiei wanted ice cream, there was nothing that would stop him, and Kurama just did not feel like sleeping just yet.

"I wonder why it is," Kurama said sitting down at the table and watching Hiei sift through the freezer contents, "that you are so attracted to anything with a sugar content and ice cream in particular,"

Hiei shrugged, fishing out a container of the blessed dairy product and closing the freezer door.

"I should write a reply to Kagome's letter, shouldn't I?"

"Wait until morning," Hiei advised.

"Why?"

"You'll find out,"

Kurama was confused but Hiei ignored her questioning gaze. She watched as a bowl was filled with the 'sweet snow' and the container replaced were it came from. A smile tickled Kurama's lips as she watched the generally irritable, stoic and generally angsty hybrid melt at the first taste of his addiction.

"What kind is it?"

"No idea,"

Somehow, it did not surprise Kurama that Hiei did not care.

Suddenly her lower abdomen clenched painfully. She grimaced at the sudden ache. It slowly ebbed only to return in force and with reinforcements. Kurama groaned involuntarily.

"Something wrong, Fox?"

"I think I ate something bad. I've got cramps for some reason," she ground out. Hiei rolled his eyes.

"I don't think that it was anything you ate. Try thinking about what Kagome sent you,"

Kurama froze. No. It could not be that. She dashed out of the kitchen and upstairs to the bathroom.

Back in the kitchen, practically wrapped around his bowl of ice cream, Hiei snickered as he felt the shock and fear in Kurama's aura spike to new heights.

Yes, he had to admit that this transformation was complete in every way.

Kurama did not sleep at all that night. The shock of what had just happened to her refused to permit her mind any peace. Hiei had laughed at her predicament, completely without any sympathy for her plight. She tactfully ignored his amusement at her expense all night. It had been embarrassing, but she had forcibly acquainted herself with the feminine products that Kagome had had the foresight to send her.

She was still blushing.

"Good morning!" Kankuro greeted brightly, entering the kitchen. Kurama snarled viciously at him, stopping him short. The animalistic sound ripped violently through the peaceful morning air and all of Kankuro's self preservation instincts screamed at him to flee.

"Is something wrong?" he asked instead.

"If you value your life, human, you will leave immediately," said Hiei as Kurama continued to growl.

Kankuro fled.

"Don't let the hormones get to you, Fox,"

"You try going through this!" she snapped irritably.

"No thank you," he grinned to himself, "I'll let the excessive gender-bending to you and that brat,"

Kurama almost fell over. "Excessive…it is, isn't it?"

"When you find yourself entering the reproductive cycle of your assumed gender it has become excessive," Hiei reasoned. She nodded, wincing and clutching her gut tighter.

"It hurts," She moaned.

"Do you need more of those pills that Kagome sent?"

"Probably," Oh, she sounded so pathetic, even to her own ears. To think that something like abdominal cramps were keeping her down. She was almost glad that it was only Hiei present to witness this fall from grace. If it had been Yoko or Yuusuke, Kurama thought, she just might die from sheer embarrassment. But she knew that Hiei could keep it to himself.

"Do you need me to get them for you?" he asked. Kurama nodded pitifully.

She lowered herself into a chair and dropped her head onto her folded arms, draping her upper body over the tabletop. With a near silent whimper she closed her eyes, wishing vainly that she could close here ears as well as the sounds of morning echoed painfully in her skull.

Hiei returned with two pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other. He set them down at her elbow and rested a hand on her shoulder to let her know that he had returned. Lifting her head she smiled at her friend and gratefully downed the pills and water before dropping her head back down onto her arms.

"Good morning!" said Temari as she slipped into the kitchen. Hiei smirked, noticing the conspicuous lack of hostile growling from Kurama. Instead, the redhead muttered something incoherent underneath her breath. "Are you feeling okay, Kurama?"

Now Kurama growled, but without venom. This was more of a no-I'm-just-in-mass-amounts-of-crippling-pain growl rather than a stop-talking-to-me-before-I-rip-your-back-out-though-your-nose growl

"She'll be fine in a few minutes," Hiei assured gruffly.

"What's wrong?" Temari pressed. Hiei grinned and Kurama groaned.

"It's embarrassing," Kurama muttered.

"The Fox has just found out that she is fertile as a female as well," Hiei said, as blandly as he could with a straight face. Kurama punched him and Temari choked.

"Oh!" the shinobi gasped, blushing a little as the meaning struck her.

"Oh, indeed," Kurama groaned. Hiei smirked, ignoring the stinging pain in his side from where Kurama's blow had landed.

"Do you need anything?"

"No, no. Kagome had the foresight to send some supplies. Don't ask me how she knew this was going to happen," she glanced over at Hiei how stared back innocently.

­-I can't predict the future,- he said.

No, you can just tell Yoko how complete this transformation is and he'd tell Kagome something about how I wouldn't know how to take care of my female body and she'd take it into her head to help me out. Like she did. Not that I'm ungrateful.

"Have you eaten anything? I find it helps me when I eat," Temari said. Kurama shook her head. "Do you want me to fix you something?" she shrugged. Temari took that as a yes and began puttering around the kitchen.

Kurama almost gagged as the scent of whatever was being made for breakfast wafted across the room. Her stomach clenched painfully.

"Problems, Fox?"

She growled dangerously, flashing gold-flecked eyes at her friend. Hiei hitched up an eyebrow impassively.

"I'll take it that you are feeling as cheery as a ray of sunshine," he said it with such deadpan humor that Kurama could not help but roll her green eyes at him and flop her head back down. "That's my little ray of sunshine,"

"Shut up or die, Hiei," Kurama threatened. Hiei said nothing but she could feel his grin.

The kitchen was blessedly silent for a few minutes until Temari deemed it her duty to break the imposed stillness.

"Have either of you seen Gaara this morning?" she asked.

"He's asleep," Kurama mumbled. The kunoichi dropped whatever she was holding and both Hiei and Kurama could smell her terror.

"Asleep?" she squeaked, her voice cracking. The redhead looked up and stared at her host.

"Yes. Don't worry, Shukaku has been properly sealed this time and it's about time that poor boy gets a good night's rest. I'd say, and this is just a guess, that he'll be out for a full day or three,"

"Shukaku has been sealed? Impossible. How?" she was trembling so hard that it was painfully obvious even without their youkai-enhanced senses.

"Hiei's great at manipulating mental whatnot,"

Temari stared at Hiei, who was, in turn, staring out the window at the scanty lawn in front of the Kazekage's house. Kurama blinked half-lidded eyes at Temari then at Hiei.

"Woman," Hiei barked after a couple of tense minutes, "cease your incessant staring this instant," Temari's gaze snapped back to her cooking. Kurama smiled a little. She could practically see the thoughts screaming and running around a mile a minute inside her head. The visual was somewhat amusing in her currant state of mind.

"Temari? You in here?" Kankuro asked, timidly poking his head in the kitchen, shooting Hiei and Kurama wary glances.

"What is it?" she asked absently.

"Have you seen Gaara?" he asked. Temari hesitated.

"He's…he's asleep," she said. "Shukaku has been sealed and he's asleep,"

"A-asleep? You're joking, right?" the puppeteer paled, heightening the contrast between his skin and his face paint.

"Gaara is asleep and no, he's not going to have his mind overridden by Shukaku anytime soon, so calm down. The scent of fear is turning my stomach right now. Don't ask me why some youkai like battle at this time, the thought of the scent of even more blood is enough to make me nauseous," Kurama complained.

"This time? Blood?" Kankuro was confused. Hiei almost laughed at the human's naiveté, but thankfully he had more control than that. If he had started laughing he probably would have scared a couple years off of the poor boy's life.

Kurama, of course, had let go of almost all restraints on her temper, so she felt free to growl again at Kankuro. Again Kankuro was wise enough to flee.

Temari eventually did manage to get breakfast done. Kurama picked at the food before her reluctantly, eating only because the resident natural female insisted that food would help with the cramps. Strangely enough, even though the scent made her stomach churn the cramps did ease under the triple assault of muscle relaxants, painkillers and food.

After a few minutes of eating Kurama was feeling almost human…well, humanoid. There was no way she could still be fully human after inheriting Yoko's youki.

Naruto stumbled into the kitchen looking disgustingly healthy and free of pain. Kurama shot her a veiled glare that lasted for a grand total of three seconds. Naruto did not even notice. No one else did either, for that matter, which was probably a good thing.

"Good morning!" she chirped brightly.

"Good morning, Naruto," Temari smiled. Hiei grunted something and Kurama groaned and flopped back down onto the tabletop.

"Are you feeling alright, Kurama?"

"Gee, Naruto, no, I'm feeling just dandy. Thank you for asking," Kurama mumbled into the table.

:I smell passed blood:

'What?'

:I don't think either of you realized just how perfect this transformation was:

'Oi! What are you talking about?'

:Well, judging by what I'm smelling from Kurama, you should be finding out for yourself fairly quickly:

'And what's that supposed to mean?'

:You'll see:

'Stupid Fox,'

Naruto was still grumbling as she plopped down in a chair and stared at Kurama. Her teacher had her head down on her arms and looked, strangely enough since Naruto never thought Kurama even could radiate something like this, as if she was trying not to curl into a fetal position.

"You're not feeling good today, are you?" she asked. Kurama growled.

"No duh, Sherlock,"

"Sherlock?" Temari asked. Neither Hiei nor Kurama answered her.

"So that's a no?"

"We won't be sparring today," Kurama decided. Naruto looked alarmed.

"You really aren't feeling good,"

"Not today, Naruto. Today I'm going to lock myself in my room and write a letter to Kagome and Yoko. I would have done it last night but…something came up," she declared and hauled herself to her feet.

"And I promised to stay until this letter was written, so get on with it, Fox," Hiei directed, skulking off to who-knows-where.

Kurama spent most of the morning curled up on her futon, sleeping, despite her good intentions to write Kagome a reply. It was strange and nothing quite like it had ever happened to the former avatar. She had simply lain down in the morning and woke up in the afternoon, she could not even recall closing her eyes. Rubbing her bleary eyes she decided that she really should get a start on that letter. She rummaged through her things for a pen and some fresh paper. Rising triumphant in her search she sat cross-legged on the floor and began.

Dear Yoko and Kagome,

Thank you for your letter and the news about what is going on back home. I appreciate the efforts being taken to get me home. Things are progressing nicely here. Naruto is coming along wonderfully in the basics of youki manipulation and he…well, right now he's a she, says to say 'hi.' We are currently staying at the home of the leader of the Country of Wind, the Kazekage Gaara. He's really a nice boy. Hiei managed to seal away the youkai that was placed in his body so now he's sleeping for the first time in his life. I'm still trying to figure out how he managed to go more than twenty years without sleep. It's mind boggling really, but then again from what I've heard he used to be quite…certifiable in a homicidal way. Pleasant?

Kagome, I would like to express my gratitude for the items you sent me. I found out just last night that this female transformation is, well, quite thorough. My respect for female-kind grows every day as I experience this new facet of life. I know it's not very sporting of me but I truly hope that this contest comes to a swift end.

My regards to everyone. I hope that I will be able to return soon.

Sincerely,

Kurama

Kurama glanced over his writing, checking for errors. Finding none, she folded it and tucked it in a pocket. Checking her watch she decided it was time to wander downstairs and check on the goings on there.

No one was home. It was beautiful. She flopped herself down on a chesterfield and leafed through a book on different jutsu. It was interesting and Kurama committed every page to memory for future reference and possible experimentation. When she was bored with that book she picked up the next on the stack and memorized the jutsu explained in there. This was repeated for every training book she could find in the living room and soon Kurama was bored yet again.

Naruto came in a few hours later with Kankuro, who had been showing her around Sunagakure, and found her sensei fast asleep in the living room. Without even thinking twice she rapped her fist smartly against Kankuro's skull, knocking him out of whatever thoughts he might have been entertaining. As they tiptoed past her Kurama lifted her head and blinked at them. Naruto froze, thinking that they had woken her. But no, she just lay back down as if she had not at all been disturbed.

Naruto heaved an impressive sigh of relief.

"Naruto. If I'm feeling up to it, tomorrow you and I are going to be taking our sparring up a notch," Kurama mumbled into the cushions. Naruto slumped.

"No problem, Kurama," she said.

"Ouch, Naruto, is she always like this?" Kankuro asked once they were safely out of earshot.

"Well, Kurama's usually so calm and well, I wouldn't say a nice sensei but likeable. I don't know, maybe she's sick or something,"

:Or something:

'Unless you're going to tell me what's going on, shut up,'

:Brat:

'Pain,'

"She seemed to be in a really bad mood this morning," the puppeteer said thoughtfully, "in fact she snarled at me. Twice!"

"Kankuro," Naruto laughed, "Any sane woman would snarl at you if they saw you that early in the morning. It's only made even more likely with Kurama's youkai history,"

Kankuro shot the blonde jinchuuriki a wounded look but it was ignored in favor of some leftover onigiri she found in the refrigerator. Naruto skipped around the kitchen, munching happily on her prize. It was her turn to cook so she was pulling everything and anything out from its proper place as she set about concocting…something.

After a few minutes, maybe ten or fifteen, Kurama wandered sleepily in from the living room, led by her sensitive nose.

"I smell ramen," she said. Naruto beamed.

"Made from scratch, too! You should be proud," she placed some noodles in a pot of simmering vegetables and pocked them down with a pair of long cooking chopsticks.

"Don't tell me you're a ramen addict too," Kankuro groaned. Kurama shrugged fluidly, hovering over the stove.

"Call it a byproduct of the natural mixing of reiki with youki. There's something in ramen that we, for some inexplicable reason, crave," she said absently, "It's the same with natural-born hanyou as well as us who just had, or have, youkai inside our bodies,"

"Gaara doesn't eat ramen,"

"Are you sure?"

Kankuro thought about what he knew of his brother's eating habits and had to concede that he did not. Kurama didn't even acknowledge the fact she was right so uncharacteristically enraptured with the swiftly cooking ramen that she probably hadn't even noticed.

"There!" Naruto exclaimed, "It's done. Kurama, get some bowls. I'll dish us up some,"

In a blur of red hair and loose clothing Kurama fetched three large ramen bowls and had them lined up on the counter waiting to be filled with the precious cuisine of life. With practiced deftness, Naruto had all three filled and moved to the table to be devoured by the worshipers of its greatness. Kurama was surprised at how good Naruto's ramen tasted and told her so. Naruto shrugged and explained that after eating the instant stuff for years she had gotten a little tired of it. When she perfected the Sexy no jutsu and developed her 'Sachiko' persona and found that the people of the village did not treat the female form the same as the known male form she quickly decided that any shopping that had to be done would be done by the liked 'Sachiko' rather than the hated Naruto. And soon after that Naruto started experimenting with making ramen on his own, from scratch. It was a nice change and was probably what triggered his sudden growth spurt, taking him from barely five feet tall to almost six. Of course 'Sachiko' was shorter than Naruto in order to preserve the proper mass of his original form since suddenly there was curves and a bosom. But none of the villagers had figured that little fact of physics out, thankfully.

Once homage to the wonderful, splendid ramen had been paid Kurama dragged Naruto out of the house and back to the training grounds, suddenly feeling much better. It took Naruto a couple seconds to realize that she was being bodily dragged across the village. It took Kankuro even longer to realize that the two women had vanished from the house, leaving him with the dishes.

"Gee, thanks you guys," he muttered.

AN: Everything that Kurama went through in the chapter actually happens to me. Personal experiences, you know. Between me and my sisters (all seven of them) I had plenty of research material for menstrual symptoms. Also, everything that Kurama did and was told to do are things that I find help. Back rubs and hot baths also work to relieve the pain from the cramps. I'm sorry if this chapter made anyone uncomfortable but I felt the need to put my boy through this torture. But I did warn you near the beginning that there would be Ranma ½-like themes…I'm just going into more detail… !

And the ramen. I figure: why not? It's not like it's going to kill any of them. Kurama and Gaara just have more self-control than Inuyasha and Naruto. Lol!

Got another sidestory for you guys: The Savage Youkai: a documentary. Some little crackfic I wrote late at night/early in the morning. Proof that I shouldn't write while I'm tired.