Yu-gi-oh and all related characters are the property of Kazuki Takahashi.
If you're squeamish about periods, it's probably best that you don't read this;
however, if you're cool with women's periods, please review!
Bursting
Tea entered her apartment. She was numb, but panic and despair paced outside and clawed at the border of that numbness.
"Hey, sweetheart!"
The panic slammed against the border and the border shuddered. Tea jumped. Her father placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to scare you." He tilted his head to one side and eyed her, his smile shriveling into a little frown of concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just fine. Just a little tired."
"Aren't you home early from dance?"
"It was cancelled, but I did some studying at the library."
"That's my girl." He squeezed her shoulder. It was good enough for him.
"I think I'll do some homework in my room," Tea said. She didn't have any homework. She didn't want to go to her room. She wanted her father to wrap her arms around her, but that was impossible.
She went to the bathroom and closed the door. She didn't turn on the light. She turned on the shower and pulled down her shorts. She yanked out her tampon and felt for the toilet paper, holding the tampon with two fingers as far away from herself as possible. She wrapped it tightly, in rolls so thick that when she was done it fit comfortably in her fist. She stripped out of her clothes. She stepped behind the curtain and into the stream of water.
The water provided less comfort then it did before. She could no longer deny what had happened, what Kaiba had done to her, this afternoon or in the closet. It all seemed too big and too strange for her to understand.
Her face flushed in the hot gushing water. He had touched her breasts, however briefly. He had grabbed her butt. Her last hope, her secret weapon, had not worked. Kaiba had not been repulsed by her menses. Instead, he had been intrigued. She had made her talk about it. She had only succeeded in keeping his hands from her crotch.
Anger and humiliation laced her blood. The rage and shame- thickened blood was a poison inside her. All of the muscles in Tea's abdomen fisted and twisted and knotted.
She doubled over, a cry passing partway through her lips before she bit off the rest and hissed it out through her teeth. She stumbled out of the shower's arc, staring wildly through the darkness at her feet.
Something was wrong.
The shower roared behind her as Tea shakily stepped from the shower, her hand flailing for the light switch. Her insides were wringing themselves out, drop by painful drop. The muscles in her lower back and inner thighs were being yanked and pulled by the contractions of her uterus.
Water diluted blood dripped pink onto the floor. As she watched, an enormous droplet of maroon and scarlet blood landed on the tile between her feet.
Tea dropped to her hands and knees and opened the cabinet under the sink. She reinserted a tampon. Her hands wouldn't cooperate with the wrapper, or with the toilet paper she used to mop up the mess. She turned off the shower and lay on the rug, feeling pale and listless.
She stood up too fast and watched the stars that drizzled across her vision while she dried off. She put her t-shirt back on and hurried to her bedroom. She put on new panties. She fell onto her bed and curled up into a ball.
Her parents were just down the hall, but she felt farther away from them than she did when she was visiting New York for a dance competition. She knew that if she went to her mother and father they would know something was wrong. She looked into the light-bulb edged mirror over her desk. Shame smeared her face and streaked her cheeks. She wanted to go to her parents, to let them hold her, but she didn't want to hurt them, or make them angry when they figured out what was going on.
Yugi was within walking distance, and Tristan and Joey were just phone calls away. The Spirit was there, too. The Spirit would know. Tea wouldn't be surprised if he could read minds. If the Spirit found out, Yugi would find out, and she wouldn't be able to bear it.
Tea sobbed and shook.
"Tea? Tea!" Her mother opened Tea's door and ran to her daughter. She wrapped her arms around Tea and Tea flinched. She remained tense in her mother's arms, but her mother didn't let her go. Her sweet, loving mother embraced Tea's disgusting, untouchable flesh. Tea saw her father over her mother's shoulder, his face stricken.
Tea waved her hand over her body from her breasts to her thighs. "It hurts," she sobbed.
"Do we need to call the doctor?" Her father asked.
"Oh, no, we don't need to call a doctor," her mother replied. She turned her head to face her husband and mouthed something that looked like "woman's problems."
Normally Tea would have been mortified. Her father blushed.
"Well," he said, "I'll just, um, let you take care of it. Can I get you anything, beautiful? You want me to go get you some ginger ale? Or a Dairy Queen?"
Tea shook her head.
"Okay. Feel better, sweetie. I love you."
Tea lay against her mother's shoulder as her mom gently rubbed her back.
"Shhh, honey. It's alright. I'm going to go get you some tea and Tylenol, and a hot water bottle. You just get some rest."
Tea sobbed. Her parents' kindness was killing her.
Her mother left the room. Tea heard her speak to her father, and then heard them laugh softly. Where before Tea yearned for secrecy, now she was desperate to tell someone, anyone, about what she was feeling. She wanted Yugi.
She picked up her phone from her night -stand and stared at its numbers. She hesitated, tapped one number, tapped another, and then hung up. She dialed the whole number, and then hung up. She dialed the whole number, and hit SEND. The phone rang once.
It rang twice.
It rang three times.
Tea hung up.
She thought about calling Kaiba.
She was TEMPTED to call Kaiba.
She was revolted by the Kaiba who rubbed, pumped, grabbed and moaned. She was afraid of him. The Kaiba she wanted to call was the Kaiba who softly cradled her hand in both of his, who held her tightly to his chest and rubbed her back, and who smelled good. She wanted to talk to the Kaiba with pain in his eyes, who begged her to let him take her home.
She knew that if she somehow got a hold of Kaiba, she wouldn't be speaking to that gentle boy. She would be talking to a cold, cruel C.E.O. who would call her crazy and reduce her to nothing with just a few choice words. She didn't know which Kaiba was worse—the unfeeling concrete Kaiba, or the humid and frenzied animal.
Ivan padded into her room. He stopped by her bed and looked up with her with large black-liquorice eyes. She stared back at him. He didn't blink. His expression said, "well?"
Tea lifted him into her arms, and he settled his head onto her chest. She lay back with him, placing him next to her and wrapping her arms around him.
"Ivan," she whispered. Her voice was hoarse and hiccupping. "Today, in the girl's room, a boy at school…" She paused and took a breath. "Wait, a couple weeks ago…"