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TAGS: Drama, PCOS, Blood, Menstruation, Murder, Humor, Moral Ambiguity, Yuuki's Knowledge of Another Life Slipping In Again.

~Since posting this story, I have officially been diagnosed with PCOS and my longest menstrual cycle was 9 weeks. My mother's longest was 4 months. The cysts are effin insane and hurt so damn much.

~I am also still homeless and our van bit the dust so we're double fucked.

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei. My name is Yuuki and I am apprenticed to Kato Shizune at the hospital. I am also a girl, in case that isn't obvious enough."

Team Seven's sensei wasn't exactly on her shit list yet, but she didn't exactly have a high opinion of him presently. Yuuki didn't much like how he handled his team and felt that there was a lot to be desired in his approach to instruction. All this time past graduation and did he actually teach them anythign yet? Not really. Throwing scrolls of Jutsu at them didn't count as teaching if they have to learn it by themselves.

Still, this was her required mission with their team so that she could participate in the upcoming Chunin Exams, so this would have to do. Yuuki was capable of doing her job and not letting personal feelings or opinions get in the way. There was time for that later when off the clock after all. Yuuki also wouldn't risk her career over something as simple as a grudge.

Sasuke gave a small wave in greeting. Naruto was bouncing in place like he couldn't contain himself, which was probably true considering his personality. Sakura refused to make eye contact at all.

As for the scarecrow… he looked kind of bored. He was also reading porn in broad daylight.

"It's good to meet you," the man murmured though it sounded like a total lie. His lone eye remained trained on his book. "Anything about yourself I need to be aware of before we depart?"

He was the only one to ask that. Fascinating. It truly showed a difference between him and the others, and explained why his Bingo Book classification was so much higher. Sarutobi Asuma's was only high because of who his father was, and the fact that he was a member of a glorified boy group. He didn't have any great feats attributed to his name or his profile, so until she saw something interesting, he didn't count.

"Actually, yeah. May I assume you know how the process of pregnancy occurs?" It would be really embarrassing for a grown as man not to know.

And that's when he finally met her gaze, probably sensing how important this was. "Yes."

"Okay. So the basics of it is I have a health condition called Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. In which case, my ovaries are filled with cysts and my body produces an extra amount of testosterone and other things which severely impact my menstrual cycle. Presently, I have a cyst the length of my middle finger, in my right ovary, and I have a collection of smaller cysts in my left ovary. The ovaries are not meant to stretch so much and are presently over-stretched which is causing me great amounts of pain all the time and no basic pain medication touches it."

Both Naruto and Sasuke looked horrified by my description, and Sakura looked a bit ill.

Thankfully, Hatake Kakashi seemed to take this information in stride.

"My PCOS, influencing my menstrual cycle, has caused my period to be longer than what is considered standard. I have been bleeding for five weeks. Specifically, thirty-eight days so far and it is expected to continue. There is no cure for this, and I am on medication to try and regulate its severity, but it doesn't help all that much. There are also injections kunoichi can get to halt their menstrual cycles for a specific period of time, but as PCOS throws my entire being out of whack, the injection does not work as intended on people like me and will typically make the bleeding even worse, so that isn't an option if I don't want to become anemic."

Kakashi nodded, his stare becoming calculating in a sense as he compiled all this new information.

"So just know that I'm bleeding a lot, I am cramping severely, the cysts are causing me a different kind of pain entirely, I have also gained a lot of weight this past month, and to top it all off I am severely bloated. I'm doing my best to pretend I'm unbothered and okay but with all of this and my testosterone being off the charts especially, I'm in a horrible mood and will refrain from speaking if it isn't required of me so I don't say something I won't regret at the moment."

Once she was finally done explaining, and therefore able to breathe normally again, Yuuki took in the reactions of her fellow temporary teammates.

Sakura was obviously horrified as a fellow woman who probably also experienced menstruation herself. The idea of bleeding for so long and being in pain the entire time was horrible. And this was a reality that Yuuki had to deal with all the time.

And she didn't get special treatment for it either. Everyone had a job to do and since she was still capable of being up and working, the most she was allowed was a certain type of pain meds - because hospital procedure limited medications for the sake of staff clarity of mind - and her allotted break times and then lunch. Unfortunately, while she could probably afford to miss a few workdays, the idea of doing so made her want to die inside.

A smaller paycheck from missing work sounded like pure ass.

Shikamaru's words from a while ago came back as fresh as they were the night she'd heard them. 'Will there ever be enough money for your guilt and worry to not get in the way?'

Yuuki had no clue, but it wouldn't be any time soon, that was for certain. Not in her situation and not in her present mental state.

For Naruto and Sasuke, the two looked to be the most confused about Yuuki's explanation. Though since they'd sat through her many school presentations before, she didn't get what there was to be confused about. She'd explained PCOS before, she recalled. Even gave a detailed description of cysts and what they were made of.

"Realistically, how many times will you need to handle your bleeding in a single day?" Kakashi asked, seemingly unfazed by this personal information being shared.

"For this cycle, every two hours with how I usually do it, but as it's a mission, I'm doubling up in two different ways and can probably make it four hours before the discomfort really begins to hit."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "As in…"

With the index finger and thumb of her left hand, Yuuki made a circle, and then inserted the wiggling index and middle fingers of her right hand into it, mimicking what she had to deal with so often. She then mimed opening up and placing two pads on her underwear. "I double up on missions, just to be sure."

Kakashi nodded. "And how do you dispose of your additional materials?"

Yuuki held up her Period Scroll, even though that wasn't the actual name of it, nor the original purpose of it. Every shinobi was given one because blood was important and if at all possible, it was better to place bloodied clothing or bandages, or even menstrual products, in the designated scroll so potential enemies could not get a hold of your DNA. This used to be a clan-only tradition until Tsunade raised a fuss during the Third Shinobi World War and made it a requirement.

Science and medicine had improved in great strides in such little time, and people everywhere were trying to replicate Kekkei Genkai from the barest of details. The Byakugan was one such target and while having the eyes would be the greatest chance, even a small blood sample from a Hyuga wouldn't be turned away.

So in Konoha, every shinobi was given a scroll specifically meant for sealing their blood-covered items in. At home they could safely dispose of said items through standard measures including burning them with elemental chakra so there would be no ashes left behind.

It was a whole process and took a lot of work. Thankfully, Yuuki was Katon aligned.

Kakashi nodded. "Do you know how to place a scent-blocking seal on yourself?"

"No." She'd heard of such things but wasn't exactly in the age-range where people would think to teach her. Perhaps another thing the Academy should start teaching students early on?

Kakashi materialized a piece of sticky chakra paper, and a pen, out of thin air. He made four dramatic loops on the paper and then made a come-hither gesture. "Where do you want it? I can teach you how to make it before we camp out tonight."

Cool.

Yuuki shrugged off her coat so he could see her back. "Wherever is open is good."

She got it directly on the center of her back and could feel the cool of the chakra inside of it. There was a slight moment of discomfort from something touching her body without her being able to see it, but she was able to force herself to ignore it after a few seconds. "Did you use chakra paper so you won't have to use your own chakra?" she asked, interested in the choice he'd made on the fly.

"Yes. For simple things like that, it doesn't hurt to conserve chakra. It'll last for maybe twenty hours. I'll replace it tomorrow morning and we'll make sure you know how to do it yourself before we return."

"Thanks, sensei."

Okay, so maybe he'd managed to gain a few good points in her book after all. Actually teaching her something before she returns to her shishou's side would be pretty awesome. Not to be mean, but none of the other Jonin had thought to do that.

Okay, so everything went to shit, but Yuuki could proudly say that none of it was her fault.

She'd also heard the whispers passing around that apparently it was a tradition for every Team Seven mission to go topsy-turvy in some way. No matter what they did or how well things were expected to go, it would all end up terribly. Case in point, the many fuck-ups that Naruto had time to complain about whenever he returned to the apartment complex.

So basically, it was a C-Rank for them to meet up with a minor official of Hi no Kunii's Daimyo's court, and escort him to Konoha because he had business. This guy wasn't particularly special. He wasn't a scribe, so he didn't have access to important information. He wasn't a high-ranking noble of anything in particular. As a result, the mission was at most, considered C-Rank. And since he commissioned it himself, he did not consider himself important enough to pay for a higher-ranking mission.

It should have been simple. Meet him in Tsushima, a small port town in the far east, and escort him to Konoha in a long and winding road meant to confuse potential pursuers.

And then they found him, and he was running for his life because he pissed off some local crime syndicate and needed to be rescued. Then he revealed that he 'accidentally' bumped into the crime lord who also happened to be the new husband(through arranged marriage) of his ex-girlfriend, and managed to make him spill his tea on himself. And then he confessed to having four teams of Iwa nuke-nin on his tail because said crime lord had them on his payroll. And then-

It just kept going. If it could go wrong, then it did, suffice it to say.

And not one bit of this drama had anything to do with Yuuki or her menstrual issues.

Though it was certainly a concern to have that many people from Iwagakure living in Hi no Kuni and allowed to just run around unchecked. Literally because Konoha and Iwa were enemies in the last war and Iwa had been quite vocal about their hatred for the Yondaime and any who followed and supported his beliefs.

She had no faith that even former Iwa ninja, wouldn't have a grudge against Konoha shinobi.

And look who was right!

The leader of the combined squads of shinobi took one look at Naruto and proclaimed him to be, "Yondaime scum!" and then tried to slit his throat. It was Naruto's extensive skill with Kage Bunshin and then Kawarimi that saved his ass in that moment. He displayed Mastery Level Jutsu Application by making a clone and switching himself out with it, without using hand seals.

And the idiot's shock at seeing the blond boy he'd just attempted to behead, puffing into a log that then turned into the bunshin it was swapped with, so add on Henge in there, was perfect. And Yuuki had the perfect opportunity to land what had to be the grand slam of all punches.

One that made even her wrist throb from the impact.

A solid punch to someone's jaw, in the right place, could knock them out. Something she was very familiar with due to past experiences. The force she'd built up in those few seconds, and the amount of chakra she'd put into that hit, broke his neck on impact. She could feel it the moment her punch landed. Yet… a broken neck doesn't always mean death, and somehow, he survived not only that, but also the journey that it took him through four trees and even a distant boulder.

Years ago, Yuuki didn't have the skill to know what punching a person could do to them.

Now though, it was kinda off putting, she had to admit.

The resulting fight ended up with Sasuke beheading a guy and electrocuting another guy, Naruto creating a dozen Kage Bunshin to dog pile four of the enemies over and over to wear them down, Sakura creating a spur of the moment chem bomb out of random shit she kept in her pack and throwing it in a dude's face which had disastrous consequences for him, and Kakashi taking on three Jonin-level enemies by himself.

"What do you keep in your bag that lets you just make a chem bomb out of nowhere?" Yuuki had to stop and ask, because that was the weirdest thing to happen on any of the C-Ranks she'd gone on. "Like, you just have vials of random chemicals and stuff on hand?"

The pink-haired girl shrugged. "My dad's really into the sciences." Which would explain why she was so good at non-shinobi related coursework in the Academy. "He said I should be prepared and that 'anything is a weapon to the open minded'. And then he gave me a belt full of marked vials and while it's too tacky to wear, I can access it pretty easily most of the time."

And she just knew which vials to dump into a tube and then throw in an Iwa nuke-nin's face and watch explode.

…Badass.

The 'tree hugger' insult foreign nations use for Konoha would be absolutely destroyed if Sakura became known for doing shit like that on the fly.

"Focus!" Sasuke yelled from where he was fighting another shinobi.

Right. Danger. Talk later about potential deadly ninja stuff.

But there would definitely be a talk happening.

And of course, to top off the bullshit, there was a lightning storm. No rain of any sort but overcast skies and an assload of random lightning strikes to make the mission that more difficult.

"So what do you think about using your future in Iryo-Ninjutsu to acquaint yourself with chemical warfare and poisons?"

Haruno Sakura blinked in shock as Yuuki came to sit beside her, initiating a conversation of all things. There was no battle and no typical reason for them to interact at the moment, so she hadn't expected for them to talk again for the rest of the mission. But no, Yuuki was now sitting across from her, maybe a few inches away, and looking very interested in Sakura's answer.

"Um… I hadn't thought anything of it to be honest. Like… I'm only just getting into looking at my future options. I didn't even think about something like that technically being an offshoot of the medical side of Jutsu."

Yuuki shrugged. "A common thing. Most people don't realize that to be a poison expert, you need in-depth knowledge of poison and the human body, which requires medical training. Konoha has only one poison expert and that is Tsunade-sama. Anyone else cannot be termed a Master of poisons, and therefore is not considered an expert by Konoha's own strict standards.

"However, this could be a useful avenue for you. We all know your grades in school were of the highest, especially in things like maths and science. If you've grown up with a parent who loves science and therefore encouraged you to love it as well, they you're already further ahead than most when it comes to things like this. Chemicals are dangerous and relatively unknown. Shinobi tend to get so stuck in tradition that they refuse to change with the times, and you can use that to your advantage."

"Wha- How?"

Sakura wasn't exactly a threat to anyone. She was a Genin with no physical fighting skills yet and she'd only just started truly taking training seriously. It would be a long time before she could keep up with Sasuke and Naruto.

Around them, their teammates and their charge, were milling about and tending to their own business, yet she was aware of how much the boys were especially paying attention.

"People have been soaking their weapons in poison for centuries. Many shinobi want to avoid getting cut by kunai because there is a chance it's poisoned and they might die before they're even aware their life is in danger. But people who think outside the box can wield poisons in much more unique ways," Yuuki explained.

"We all know about diversions and things like smoke bombs, but an uncommon approach would be to lace the smoke with a noxious gas to fuck with your enemies. If you wear a mask like your sensei does, then it can protect you from breathing in harmful substances that otherwise would endanger you. Such fabric is high-grade and incredibly expensive, but it can serve as a gas mask, so you don't have to be super obvious about your intentions on the battlefield."

Sakura had never considered that before. In fact, she hadn't known that there could be a practical approach to why Kakashi-sensei bothered to cover his face all the time. The fact that Yuuki knew about it was curious though. How many avenues did she research before reaching her field of choice in the shinobi world?

"So if I was to throw down a smoke pellet like those you can buy in any shinobi shop, people would tend to assume I'm using it to try and escape or hide. Shinobi get used to traditional thinking… so they don't expect there to be a nefarious edge to it because poisons aren't easy to Master. And they especially won't expect such skill and knowledge from a puny Genin like me." It made all the sense in the world once it was broken down.

Yuuki nodded. "Yeah. I'm surprised that gassing people isn't considered a more common form of getting rid of higher numbers of enemies. Just get them into a room and let it loose…" Yuuki frowned then, eyes becoming distant and hands moving to clutch at her stomach. "On second thought, describing that just caused my stomach to roll so terribly I think I might be sick... I know I didn't come up with that idea on my own, but I can't remember where I got it from… but I don't think where I got it from is a good example to emulate. Not if it's making me feel this bad," she murmured, trailing off ominously.

Well… they were discussing poisoning, and potentially murdering people with gaseous substances. Even if they weren't innocents. Despite their job basically expecting them to have to kill now and then, Sakura would hope that there would never be a day where she was so callous as to not care about human life and the loss of it.

But this was how to protect their country and their people. Until there came a day where shinobi were no longer necessary to protect their way of life, then death would always be involved.

"I'll give your advice some serious thought," Sakura chose to say.

She did in fact, have much to consider about her future and where she wanted to go.

And it was nice… being able to talk to Yuuki and not worry about there being bad blood between them.

Naruto was right about her after all.

"Thank the Sage!" Yuuki said as they could see their preferred Konoha gate int he distance. "I have to shower so badly and for so many reasons."

"Is it 'cause you sat on that guy's face to distract him, and he said you smelled?" Naruto asked just ever so bluntly, getting a horrified screech from Sakura and a bright red blush from Sasuke who really didn't want to get more details about Yuuki's bodily functions, thank you very much.

However, it seemed that the stars just weren't aligned in his favor today.

Yuuki shook her head at the blond. She then lowered her head a bit and said in a pitched down voice so their employer couldn't hear, "I wish it was that simple. As we all know of my current predicament and the efforts I have gone to just to keep it under control, you would no doubt be surprised to hear that despite my preparations and the fact that I've been upright for six hours and gravity should be doing its job, the blood pouring out of my body is going everywhere but where it should go. And I can feel, in great detail, how soaked I am both front and back."

It took a moment for his brain to catch up, but since he didn't have to experience menstruation, he thought he could be forgiven for that.

Basically, based on what she'd shared yesterday morning, she'd doubled up on both cotton padding and cotton 'blooms'. They didn't have a better name for them yet, but basically, when it became wet, the design of the cotton made it 'bloom' like a flower. And she was using two at once plus the padding just to stem the blood flow of her period.

So what she was dealing with, was somehow her body bleeding even more than what would be standard for a person in the middle of menses. And the blood had traveled along the fabric of her undergarments, no doubt soaking them all around entirely.

It sounded unpleasant. He was grateful that Kakashi-sensei had taught her about scent-blocking seals though because even if he'd never experienced it personally, he was aware that blood that was shed through menstruation smelled foul if left to sit for even a small amount of time.

Yuuki rubbed at her hips and lower back, groaning from the pressure. "We need better products to handle this because it is unsanitary and feels disgusting. Do I need to invent some kind of menstrual cup we can insert to catch this shit for us?"

Both she and Sakura's heads snapped toward each other at the same time the moment the last word left her lips.

"I'd buy it," Sakura told her, eyes wide and pleading.

"Right," Yuuki nodded. "So I'm inventing not only games and household cleaning aids for the disabled, but also better and more affordable and possibly more eco-friendly hygiene products. Eh, money is money."

Her mind was insane. No wonder Shikamaru liked her so much.

Any further discussion was halted as they signed in and had to report for a debriefing in the Hokage's office.

Once they finished their mission, turned over the bodies of the Iwa nuke-nin they'd handled, received payment for the mission becoming another A-Rank somehow, and then payment for each bounty they managed to fill by getting rid of said nuke-nin, they were finally released.

And Yuuki stopped right on the road outside the administration/academy building, looking left and then right back and forth.

"What's taking so long? Let's go home! -ttebayo!" Naruto yelled, deafening the section of the village they were standing in, no doubt.

"I was considering going to the hospital and talking to shishou about my worsening menstrual problems first. But I'd feel better if I was cleaner. But the hospital is one way and our apartment is the direct opposite so it would save time to walk there and then home, instead of home, then there, and then back home."

Ah, Yuuki's thing with doing less work and using less effort if it wasn't actually necessary. She was still on about that even though they'd graduated and been ninja for months by now.

"Do you have spare underwear?" Naruto asked bluntly, right out in the open.

Sasuke… really cared about him but sometimes he just said things that made Sasuke want to bash his own head into a street pole to alleviate some of the built-up stress it caused him.

"No, I used both pairs during the mission."

She bled that much. Sasuke was so glad he wasn't a biological girl. They already had to deal with so much shit but to add that on just made it all feel hopeless. And he wasn't even the one bleeding for thirty-nine days!

"Go home and shower," Sakura suggested. "Maybe have some hot tea, eat a real meal, and then go see your shishou when you feel better. The distance and traveling might suck, but you'll feel better in the end."

Yuuki hummed and shrugged. "I suppose. Alright, let's go, Naruto. See you guys later." She sent then a thumbs up and began heading in the direction of her and Naruto's apartment, not even waiting for the blond to catch up.

Naruto sent Sasuke a wink. "See you later, teme. Sakura-chan, make sure you eat breakfast tomorrow, okay?"

"I know, I know! I'm working on it."

After he and his best friend were gone, Sasuke and Sakura went their own separate ways, and Sasuke was struck by the fact that Sakura had once tried to bother him for a date during their entire mission nor now when they'd returned.

It seemed Naruto's blunt discussion with her back in Nami no Kuni had a positive effect after all.

He hoped it stayed that way.

Sasuke also hoped that his vegetable garden was still in good condition. He'd only been gone for a day but anything could happen. There was a stray cat getting into his tomatoes and while he loved cats, Sasuke didn't love sharing his tomatoes.

A/N: Another chapter is done!

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