Chiaki sighed at the sight of blood the greeted her when she woke up. It had been nearly the two weeks she had told Ji Mo that she would be staying with the Winged Lion Clan before leaving to travel to the City of Beasts. Now her period had started. It was both a blessing and a curse. She hated bleeding, but she had at least dodged Qianhuangs mating advances on the right days. She pulled out the hide calendar and as gross as it was, placed a bloody finger print on the day that it was.
"You're bleeding!" Qianhuang was startled at the sight of the blood. Then he smiled. "That means you will go into heat and your breeding season will start once it is done! We can try for a litter of cubs!"
Chiaki winced at his excitement. "Ah, this is what the breeding cycle of females in this world is like too?"
"Yes, once a year a female becomes fertile. I did not expect yours to be so soon!"
'Only once a year? I'm going to have to explain some more stuff.' Chiaki thought. "Lucky them, I bleed like this every month. Let me tell you about the reproduction cycle of the women from my world."
Chiaki explained about how she would bleed about seven days out of every month, then had to put is as she would bleed three different times each season so Qianhuang could understand. She got up out of their shared bed, removing the tanned hide she's gotten blood on in her sleep.
"That's twelve breeding seasons a year." He said.
"Yup." Chiaki said. "Do we have any rabbit pelts? They should make decent make-shift pads for me to bleed into."
"No, but I can trade for a couple in the village. I've heard some females use cotton flowers."
"Actually, I think I can use that too. So yes, please get some cotton also."
"Now about twelve breeding seasons a year."
Chiaki could feel his presence right behind her. "Y-yes?"
"You and Ji Mo have been here several weeks by your worlds counting."
"Key, we have been together lots staring the very first night I was here, but yes I was fertile for a few days already. Now it will be many days until I am again."
"The days you didn't want to mate?"
"Maybe, but I can't be sure. I might have just not gotten pregnant even if we had had sex while I was fertile."
"Females almost always get pregnant during their breeding season."
"Females who only have one period a year. My body isn't the same as theirs. Besides, it evens out in the long run, babies take nine to ten months to be born."
"Winged Lion Cubs only take about four months to be born."
Chiaki put her face in her hands. "Okay I give up! We have two very different breeding cycles! I still didn't want to get pregnant with a guy I hardly knew." Qianhuang looked hurt. "Key... Key, look at me." She said, lifting his face back up to she could look him in the eyes. "Remember what I said about the people in my world not normally having several mates?"
"Yes." He replied softly.
"This is another thing like that. People in my world normally know each other for more than a few weeks before they think about having babies together. It has nothing to do with how much I like you, and everything to do with the way I was raised to think about relationships."
"I'm a good mate right? You still want me?"
"I'll always want you as my mate, Key, I love you."
Qianhuang scooped her up in his arms. "I love you!" He said joyfully and kissed her. "Can we try for cubs when your next breeding season comes?"
"I wont refuse mating during the time." She said slowly. "But I'm not sure if actively trying to get pregnant while we are traveling would be a good idea."
It looked like Qianhuang was thinking about her words seriously. After a while he smiled. "You did not say no, so I will be happy with that."
Chiaki chuckled. "Oh, you! Silly male!" She reached up and started to scratch behind his round white ears.
Lions didn't purr but Qianhuang could mimic the sound in short bursts in his human form, Chiaki had shown him she could make the sound too. He used it now, showing his happiness without resorting to his normal instinct of offering to mate, Chiaki's people had a much bigger range of interaction and Qianhuang was enjoying it. He also was happy that Chiaki spent time with the Matriarch learning how females interacted with males in this world. Chiaki called it 'cultural exchange'.
He was a little sad for his mate though. Her only friends in the clan were the female Ji Mo, who she liked to compete with... and the female cub Xiao Yu. The rest of the females treated both the new females as outsiders and females simply did not interact very much with each other. They were all more interested in adding mates and cubs to their families. Ji Mo and Chiaki were also a lot more active than the rest of the clan females. It made them stick out more.
A couple of rabbit pelts had been easy to trade for and when Qianhuang asked about cotton flowers there had been a sudden serge in males paying attention to the Lord Saint. He was uncomfortable with this attention and he bristled at the other males, sending them scattering.
