Something was wrong. Jun woke with a gasp of pain as a stabbing pain shot across her stomach, deep inside of her. Panicking, she ran her hands along her stomach but felt nothing but smooth skin. A metallic smell filled her nose, and she felt like she could taste blood in the back of her throat.
Her pile of furs had a growing patch of wetness, the sticky fur clinging to her thighs. She felt like she was dying. She let out a moan of pain as another stab of pain shot through her intestines, tears leaking from her eyes.
A soft furry head rubbed up against her cheek, comforting her as Shiori's voice whispered soothingly in her ears. "It's okay kitten. You're okay."
Jun felt herself get pushed up slightly, the stabbing pain in her abdomen growing worse with the change in position. A wooden bowl pressed to her lips, the steam and light floral scent hinting at the contents being tea. "Drink the tea kitten, it will help with the pain." Jun took a sip, the hot liquid tracing a path of warming comfort down her throat. She took another sip, then another, the warmth of the tea slowly spreading out to provide a comforting balm against the pain.
It wasn't long before the bowl was empty. Jun was gently laid back down and she instantly curled into a ball. Her insides still throbbed with pain, but it was dulled now.
Everything felt dull.
Something hot pressed against her stomach and she hugged the furry thing close, the comforting warmth and light vibrations soothing the rapidly dulling pain.
Slowly, Jun drifted off to sleep, clutching a purring Shiori to her stomach.
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Jun groaned and shivered as the soft warm thing disappeared. She was freezing cold.
The metallic smell was still there, but less intense. Her intestines felt like they were having a knife fight with butter knives.
Her back ached as something propped her up and a wooden bowl pressed against her lips. The warm steam felt pleasant, the floral scent chasing away the metallic smell as she sipped. The liquid was warm and sweet, spreading a familiar warmth and comfort throughout her body as it worked its way down.
The pain dulled again and she drifted off, barely noticing the weight of a cat laying down on her stomach and curling up to sleep.
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Her eyelids felt like they were glued shut. Her stomach ached dully and her back protested as she slowly pushed herself upright. Her head felt fuzzy, like she was halfway through a hangover. Carefully, Jun rubbed the gunk from her eyes and blinked as the cave around her came into focus.
A fur was draped over her naked body as she realized for the first time that her clothes were missing. Jun's muscles protested as she pushed herself to stand, as if she hadn't moved for several days. The cave smelled musty, dirty, and metallic, making her feel sick to her stomach. Holding back the rising bile in her throat, Jun rushed out of the cave, her only thoughts focused on escaping the disgusting smell.
Alas, it followed her. Rushing to a nearby tree in the clearing outside, Jun could no longer hold it in and vomited, the contractions of abdomen sharpening the pain she felt in her guts. It was then that her bladder reminded her of its existence and she quickly relieved herself, suddenly feeling much clearer headed. Jun began to clean herself with one of the safe leaves, when she froze, noticing for the first time something encrusted on her thighs and sensitive parts. Mixed horror and realization rose alongside the bile in her throat as she looked down and confirmed both her fears and her stupidity.
How could she forget about periods?!
Jun stared at her thighs and the flakes of black blood clinging to her pale skin as memories of her life on Earth came to mind. Lessons in her community college human anatomy course that she'd barely paid attention to and only half remembered. Ash's complaints about her periods when they had dated, and the few times she'd had to make runs to the big box store in the middle of the night for her. She'd been embarrassed and in over her head every time, still wrestling with her confusion about her gender and the irrational fear of being a man buying tampons. How that fear and her learned disgust of periods had led her to avoid any conversation about the topic when she'd still believed herself a man. How she wished she'd paid attention sooner, had retained some of the knowledge that she was sure her class had covered, sure the women in his past life had known.
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But instead like what she believed all men would do at the time, she'd avoided learning anything at all about women's health, and that lack of knowledge was hitting her now as she squatted naked by a tree, stuck in the middle of a forest, in a completely different world! Her body was finally one she felt comfortable and happy in, and here she was with no idea what she was supposed to do!
"Good, you're up and about." Her Master's words snapped her out of her rapidly spiraling thoughts as she directed all of her focus at Shiori, the cat calmly staring at her. Hope blossomed in her chest. Surely her Master could help her with this? Vague memories of her Master's voice soothing her as she woke up in pain, feeding her a tea that seemed to dull the pain and let her sleep through the worst of it floated through her head. Her Master had cared for her when she was sick and injured, and always seemed to know what to do. Maybe she would know what to do here?
"Master, I—" Jun began, before Shiori cut her off.
"You need a bath. You're still covered in blood and smell funny. We'll talk after." Without waiting for a response, her Master walked to the other side of the clearing, pointedly floating Jun's bathing supplies over to her.
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Jun's cold baths had never been pleasant, but they were usually refreshing. This time however, she could only feel a bit of disgust as she rinsed off the last of the soap and bits of dried blood that had stubbornly clung to places her conservative upbringing screamed shouldn't be on display for the whole world to see, even if the only person around wasn't even human, but a cat.
Walking around to try and warm up, Jun found her remaining clothes hanging on the line. Shiori must have washed them somehow, because they seemed much cleaner than before, except for the long strip of cloth that served as her underwear at least. The cloth was stained the rusty brown of dried blood, the sight of it sending a shiver of dread down Jun's spine. The one bit of knowledge she knew was that this would happen again in a month, and she wasn't ready for that.
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Shiori lay in the plush grass watching a dragonfly buzz across the pond as Jun sat next to her fully dressed in her worn clothes, her arms wrapped around her legs as she rested her head against her knees. Jun heard a sizzle followed by a plop as her Master scoffed at the pond, her voice whispering in her ears. "Stupid things aren't even close to dragons. A little bit of fire and they just die."
Jun sat in silence for a while, quietly listening to the occasional sizzle and insults her Master muttered towards the poor dragonflies as she built up the courage to ask the questions she wanted to but felt too embarrassed to put into words. Jun's voice was muffled and quiet as she finally built up the nerve to say something. "Thank you for taking care of me Master..."
Shiori's ears flicked at her apprentice's quiet words. The urge to mess with the little kitten was strong, but she thought better of it for once. There'd be plenty of time for that later! "It was no trouble my apprentice."
Jun nodded into her knees, her ears warm with embarrassment. She sat there and listened to the wind blowing through the trees around the clearing as her aching guts slowly calmed. It was peaceful, even punctuated by her Master's casual violence towards the bugs that swarmed the pond undeterred. As her embarrassment finally faded she looked up to watch the show as Shiori casually manifested small balls of flame right in front of the darting bugs for them to fly into. "M-Master... can you teach me about... being a woman?" Her voice cracked as she spoke the words that admitted her embarrassing lack of knowledge. She braced for the cat to scold her for not taking enough care for cleanliness.
The cat's response was a surprise. "I know very little about being a human woman, kitten. I am a cat." It was succinct, to the point, and admitted a surprising gap in knowledge. "I know and can teach you many things, but that is not one of them. I know about how you human women have your monthly bleeds, and I know that it is unpleasant. It is why despite knowing ways of magic to change my shape and form, I have never felt the need to use them."
Jun gasped as she felt her Master's claws lightly digging into her clothes as the cat climbed up to sit on her shoulder. "Besides," she said, voice filled with pride, "why would I want to be different? I'm already perfect."
With that declaration, Shiori laid down on her apprentice's shoulders and closed her eyes to doze off. Jun turned her head and watched the sleeping black cat for a while, enjoying the heat of her body gently soaking into her shoulders. As Jun began to nod off herself, Shiori cracked one of her gold-green eyes open and made eye contact. "Anyways, we could simply go to the human town outside the forest so you can learn from other humans. It might be good to round out your education, kitten."
Shiori's statement hit Jun like a lightning bolt. Town?! Other humans?!