The next morning, Kurama was wondering if his breakfast had been expired or something, because this time he was the one whose stomach hurt. It was unusually chilly for a spring day, too, so he was annoyed that the school made them wear those short skirts with nothing but panties on underneath. It was actually a relief to put on his lab coat in third-period Biology. Aratani was already there by the time Kurama arrived, and as soon as he saw her, he knew immediately that she'd broken up with Kaito.

"H-Hi, Sakura," she said, her bottom lip trembling. As he warily approached her, Kurama could see tears in her big brown eyes.

"I think I can guess what this is all about," said Kurama, setting one hand on her shoulder. "You broke up with Yu Kaito, didn't you?"

"Yes," Aratani told him tearfully. "And he wasn't in homeroom today!"

Kurama raised his eyebrows in concern. If someone like Kaito couldn't come to school, you knew things were bad.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" he asked.

"Not now." Aratani bit her lip and shook her head. "Not when class is starting."

"I understand," said Kurama. Just then, the bell rang, so they had to stop talking anyway.

"Today, class, we'll be continuing 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."

"Don't tell me you're going to make me do all the dissecting," Kurama joked, trying to cheer Aratani up. To his relief, she let out a watery giggle.

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

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

"Oh, don't be gross, Sakura," Aratani told him, grinning. "Come on, at least when we're lab partners we get to be disgusted together."

This time it was Kurama's turn to laugh. In the Biology classroom, they had lab tables instead of desks. Each table had two sets of lab partners (four students to a table) and the one Kurama and Aratani sat at was at the back of the room. That wasn't so good, because it made it a little more difficult to see the teacher, but Kurama was usually able to handle it.

The teacher placed a picture of a frog on the easel, told his students to open their Biology textbooks, and started discussing the frog's anatomy, but Kurama wasn't really listening. All he could think about were the issues going on in his life and how weird it was now. Like Hiei said, each and every one of them had problems to deal with.

One thought led to another and soon Kurama was reliving yesterday's gym class, with Hiei and the teacher having a go at one another. When he remembered how the teacher asked 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?" the Biology teacher snapped.

"No, sir," said Kurama quickly. But apparently he'd laughed a little too hard, because quite frankly, it felt 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. What was this? It felt like…well, nothing was happening now. Nothing was wrong except a rather unseemly sticky feeling. So he decided to at least try to focus on the frogs.

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

That smell! Kurama put his hand over his mouth to muffle the gasp. Why was this happening at his school, of all places? And on the day he'd have to disrobe at the doctor, too!

Kurama tried to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down. It was going to be okay. There was no controlling when he got his period, but he could control how he handled it. At this point, the lunch hour wasn't too far off, and during that time he could slip away and call his mom to bring him some "equipment." He didn't know what real girls did when they got their period at school unexpectedly, but considering how much his mom helped Hiei, she was the first person he thought of.

But try as he might to pay attention to the teacher, Kurama couldn't help but worry. After this he had History class and then ESL, both classes that involved a lot of sitting. With a chill, he remembered the fate that had befallen the Kuwabaras' cream couch. He knew what could happen if he sat in one place for too long. And even now, he was still stuck in Biology, in a chair at his tab table. What if he got blood all over the seat? Worst yet, what if it got all over his white lab coat? Considering that all he was wearing underneath was a pair of panties and a short skirt…well, it stood to reason, didn't it?

Maybe I can just reach behind me and check, Kurama thought. Ugh. This felt a lot like wetting his pants, only about 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 was sitting on a rainy bench. Except Hiei had been wearing all black, and he had that scarf handy, too…

Perhaps if he asked to go to the bathroom, he could use some toilet paper to hold himself over until lunch, and he could wash the bloodstains out of his lab coat while he was in there, too. But then, there was no way he could go to the bathroom without everyone in class getting a real good look at him. He knew it was nothing to be ashamed of, but it just didn't seem like the kind of thing he wanted the whole school to be talking about for the next couple weeks, especially because this was the first time it had ever happened to him. But was there really anything else he could do?

Kurama was weighing his options when he heard something that snapped him out of his thoughts.

"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 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. Did the teacher really have to pick now to send him 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 that he would have to walk past each and every one of the students before he even got to the easel.

"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.

"What'd you do, poop your pants?!" one of the students yelled out, and a few others laughed.

"Quiet, Mr. Sato!" the teacher snapped. Meanwhile, Kurama was starting to feel a little panicked. Now he could feel it running unpleasantly down his inner thigh, heading directly for one of his knee-high black socks, and he crossed his legs tightly at the ankles in the hopes that nobody would see.

"Please, sir, I really need to go to the bathroom," Kurama said desperately. By now, everyone in class was watching the exchange intently. If they hadn't already figured out what was going on, they probably assumed something even worse. Especially after what that Sato boy had suggested.

"You can't afford to miss this information, Miss Minamino," the teacher was saying, although Kurama highly doubted that. "I'm sure you can wait until after class."

"Not unless you want that nice white lab coat stained forever!" Sato continued, waiting for Kurama to be embarrassed, but instead, Kurama decided that this would be as good a jumping-off point as any.

"Sato is right," said Kurama calmly, and stood up. "I would probably find it easier to concentrate in class if I wasn't menstruating at all, but we all do what we must."

It was worth it when Kurama saw how red Sato's face went. In fact, he would say the majority of the boys in the class were a lot more embarrassed than he ever could have been. Now he could see why Chizuko found it so amusing. Apparently, Aratani did, too.

"Why is everyone so embarrassed?" she put in, and even though Kurama couldn't see her, he could tell she was grinning. "This is Biology class, after all."

Kurama could feel the corners of his mouth twitching, but the teacher still looked uncomfortable.

"All right, Miss Minamino," he said, clearing his throat. "You can go. But try to be back within ten minutes. This information will be on the upcoming test."

Ten minutes? Kurama thought. Cringing internally, he couldn't help but feel a little disconcerted by the thirty pairs of eyes pointed in his direction as he left, especially because now that he was standing up and walking around, the uncontrolled flow felt like a waterfall. There was no time to call his mom and ask her to bring him something, and he didn't really want her causing a scene like she had when it happened to Hiei, anyway. He had already created enough of a scene himself. So he just decided to take care of it on his own until the lunch hour.

When he got to the bathroom, he managed to clean himself up pretty well, then used a huge wad of toilet paper for the best protection he could get under the circumstances. Then he spent another few minutes using cold water to wash the stains out of his lab coat (if anyone would know how to get blood out of clothing, it would be Kurama). Then he dried it under the hand dryer so it wouldn't look like he'd wet himself, then headed back to class. He tried to look as dignified as possible, and within a few minutes, it seemed like the rest of the class had moved past it, at least for now. They had their own lives and problems, after all. Logically, there was no reason for them to be focused on his.

As soon as class was over (they hadn't had time for the dissecting, thank goodness), everyone surged out of the Biology lab into the hallway. Kurama hung his clean white lab coat up and headed out himself, praying his "solution" would hold up until lunch, when he felt Aratani grab his arm.

"Sakura, hurry!" she hissed, yanking 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 finally handing him what he realized was a tampon. "Here, put this in before you go to your next class. It's much better than toilet paper."

"Thank you, Aratani," said Kurama, wondering if he should tell her that he didn't know how to use one, or just try to figure it out on his own.

"You do know how to use one, don't you?" she said.

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

"No, I hate pads," said Aratani. "Look, let's go into a stall, and I can help you put it in."

"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," Aratani warned. "I only have one, so if you don't do it right the first time, you're out of luck. The tampon machine is broken. Just go in the stall on your own, and I'll give you directions."

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

"First, relax," Aratani said from outside the stall. "It's your muscles that hold the tampon in, so it doesn't go in as easily if you're tense. Then stand with one foot on the toilet and the other on the floor. And when you're ready, just take off the paper and slide it in."

"Shouldn't I take it out of the plastic first?"

"You only take it out of the plastic after it's inside you," she said. "That's why it's called the applicator. Did you put it in yet?"

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

"That's how it's supposed to be. Just push the little part into the big part, and pull out the plastic. Then you're done."

So he did what she said. It was the weirdest feeling, but he was relieved at the same time. This wasn't nearly as difficult as he thought it would be.

"How do I know if it's in right?"

"If it feels like you're wearing nothing, that means you put it in perfectly."

"All right." That didn't seem possible, but once Kurama took the now-empty plastic part out and threw it in the trash, he found that she was right. He couldn't feel it inside him at all, and even better, he had finally stopped bleeding. It was like a miracle. "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—"

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

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

…

Yusuke skipped gym again, because he hadn't been feeling right since Monday. But he decided to try a little harder to attend his other classes. Even though his uniform skirt still rode up and his legs still 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. He had plenty of other things to think about.

For one, 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 if he should just pretend he had never given Kurama that list. Besides, he couldn't imagine why Kurama made the appointment, since there wasn't even anything 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 noticed it when Kurama was a man, but the fox-demon gave 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 knew (or wanted to know) 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 he didn't think he could ever talk to his mom about it the way Kuwabara talked to Shizuru. She loved him, he knew, but they weren't exactly close.

Or what if something was wrong with him? When he was in his old body, he had at least some idea of what was normal and what wasn't. But in the body of the opposite sex, he was completely lost. That was the most important question on the list he gave Kurama—if he was normal. And if not, what he had to do about it.

That was when 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," said Yusuke obnoxiously. "What do you want?"

"I asked you what the average 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 lips. "Did you not do your homework?"

The class laughed. Yusuke went above and beyond the teachers' expectations by just turning up. Did they really expect him to do his homework, too?

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

"60.2 inches, Teacher," said Keiko promptly.

Yusuke gave her a thumbs-up, and she shot him a strict look. Oh, well. Ever since he ran into her and Botan at the lingerie shop yesterday, he never knew what to say to her in the first place. If he did ever speak to her again, it would probably be something dumb like, How are you liking that new sexy black nightie?

Great. First it was the thought of Kurama disrobing at the doctor, and now it was the thought of Keiko wearing lingerie. Why was his mind torturing him with these thoughts? He hated his body's reaction to them, even more than he would have hated the embarrassment of a typical male reaction.

Just in case the teacher yelled at him again, Yusuke kept his eyes on the easel, where the teacher had a map of Japan and was talking about its weather. Why did they need to know this? Where would he go that he would be ashamed if he didn't know that 60.2 inches was the average rainfall of his country's capital city? The only thing he was learning in this class was how to survive boredom to the extreme.

…

Kurama didn't need to call his mother during the lunch hour, because he had something to hold him over until he got home. After that, he was definitely planning on buying some more of these. It felt like he didn't have his period at all. For the rest of the morning, he actually kind of enjoyed himself at school. Some people were talking about what happened in Biology class, but he couldn't care less about that.

His good mood dissipated, though, when he went out to the courtyard after lunch and saw Aratani sitting on the steps, looking miserable. Chizuko was there, too, with one arm around her friend.

"Hey there, Sakura," said Chizuko. "Did Aratani tell you she broke up with Kaito?"

"Yes, she did," Kurama replied, siting down on Aratani's other side. "I'm sorry, Aratani. I know this must be hard for you."

"But the worst part is that it's even harder for him," she said tremulously. "I can't stand it."

"You still haven't told me the details, though," Chizuko told her. "What happened? I mean, what did you say?"

"I-I just…I went to his house, and h-he looked so happy to see me…" It seemed that Aratani could barely get her words out. "I-I told him we needed to t-talk, and he just…"

"You don't have to tell us anything you don't want to," Kurama reassured her.

"Shut up, Sakura, I want to hear!" said Chizuko.

"It was awful!" Aratani cried, and she burst into tears. "I-I told h-h-him he was a n-nice person and I r-really liked him…but we should just b-be friends."

"Oh, no," Kurama muttered. "I can't imagine he took that well."

"I told him it might hurt him now, but in time, he'd realize it was for the best," Aratani choked. "But he got down on his knees and literally begged me not to leave him, and he said he loved me and that he would change whatever it was about him that I didn't like, if only I stayed."

"It's unbelievable how low boys will stoop to impress us girls," said Chizuko in disgust. "I mean, don't they have any dignity?"

"Yu Kaito didn't," Aratani said sadly. "I told him that he shouldn't have to change himself and that he should be dating someone who loves him for who he is, and since I'm not that person, it's a sign we shouldn't be a couple."

"It sounds like you gave him some very sage advice," Kurama told her. "Maybe he can use it in his next relationship."

"If he ever has one," Chizuko pointed out. "Let's face it. Yu Kaito is not exactly the cutest guy in our school."

"Boys should be more than cute," Aratani said firmly. "Kaito was really smart and nice, but I only liked him in a friendly way. I need something more. Something different. But I can't put my finger on it. I don't know who I want." Then she started to cry again. "I guess I'll just have to grow old with my fox."

"Y-Your what?" said Kurama, thrown.

"My fox," Aratani explained, her voice shaking. "You know, like a crazy cat lady, but with foxes. I told you, they're my favorite animal, and I think cuddling up with one before a fire would make me less lonely in my old age."

"You won't be lonely in your old age," said Chizuko. "You've got your girls! Sakura and I can live with you in the same house as awesome old ladies. You know, like in Golden Girls."

"True," said Aratani, wiping her eyes. "I'd still want a fox around, though."

"Why do you like foxes so much?" Kurama couldn't help asking.

"They're super smart, really nice, and totally adorable," she gushed. "I love their bushy tails and pointy ears, too! In fact, I'm feeling happier already just thinking about them."

"You know what we need to do, girlfriend?" said Chizuko, slapping Aratani's knee. "We need a girls' night out on the town. You can come too, if you want, Sakura."

"What did you have in mind, Chizuko?" Kurama asked. Knowing her, it could be anything.

"Well, my college-age neighbor across the street is taking the term off, and she's throwing a huge party," Chizuko said mischievously. "If we crash the party and pretend we're college students, too, we can make out with a bunch of hot college guys."

"But what if they figure out we're in high school?" Kurama asked.

"Oh, you could pass for a college-age girl, Sakura," said Chizuko matter-of-factly. "Most girls our age would kill for boobs like yours."

"Including me," said Aratani, which made things completely uncomfortable again. "I mean, I wouldn't literally kill anyone, but I would love to have big breasts."

"Just make sure you wax before the party, hon." Chizuko elbowed Aratani, who blushed red at her friend's words.

"Chizuko!" she shrieked. "I'm not going to be doing anything inappropriate!"

"Inappropriate?" Chizuko snorted. "Who are you, my grandmother?"

"Well, you're a virgin, too, aren't you?" said Aratani.

"I'll have you know I've reached third base," Chizuko bragged.

"To a guy, or he did it to you?"

"Both."

"I think I've got the gist of it, you two," Kurama cut in. "Maybe we should talk about something else."

"Yeah, like whether we'll be going to the party," said Chizuko, raising her perfectly-shaped eyebrows. "It's on Saturday night."

"Now that I'm not with Kaito anymore, I'm free on Saturday night," Aratani told her. "I don't usually do things like this, but I need a break. I'm in."

"Count me in, too, then." Kurama shrugged. "But do you think I could bring my three friends who don't go to this school? I'm sure they'd be angry if I went to a college party and didn't invite them."

"Ooh, can you bring that Hiei boy?" said Chizuko. "I met him yesterday after you did the Meiou Monster. I can tell he's totally into me."

"Yeah, I'll ask Hiei if he wants to come." Kurama sighed, praying that he wouldn't.