Chapter Ten: Life Like a Woman

Wind rushed past Akatsuki as he lurched forward a familiar sent tickling his nostrils. It was a smell he hadn't had the pleasure of tasting since awaking in this world, one he knew all too well from a past bathed in it. His body had moved before his eyes had even opened and the kitchen knife was already poised and ready to strike as eyes pealed open.

His head was a swivel scanning what was now a familiar room. It was empty. He kept eye contact with the door as he slowly leaned forward ready to pounce across the room in a moment. Instead of his hand landing on soft fluffy blankets, it sat in a sticky substance. He braced himself with mental fortitude in hopes it would counteract the wave of emotion he was sure to experience when looking down at a live wound, especially one that could produce this much blood with no pain. He looked down deciding to bite the bullet only to find nothing, not even a scratch on his body. Only woundless blood.

He lifted his hand in confusion. "Not a fun experience I'd assume?" A now familiar voice made Akatsuki jump. It was the voice of Katarina, and as Akatsuki's head jumped up to meet Kat's the knife came up posed and ready. Katarina lifted her hands a smirk playing across her face. "You are quite fond of that butter knife aren't you." She paused before slowly walking forwards. Akatsuki was ready. He could fight injured he had done so many times before, but right about that moment all the pieces of the puzzle clicked and he suddenly knew exactly what was going on.

Akatsuki looked down at his lower half his face going white, not from pain, but from the realization of what was happening. It was that time of month so to speak. He was having his first period. Emotions like a whirlwind played across his face. First came grief, then disgust, next came anger, and finally came acceptance laced with sadness. He cried. It surprised him at first. The tear that rolled down his face. It had come unannounced and unexpected, but it was like a crack in a dam and before he knew it he was balling and sobbing as emotions ran through his body unable to be controlled. At some point Katarina had held him and let him cry into her chest.

After some time and many tears, Akatsuki once again gained control over himself. He analyzed his situation as he controlled his breathing. A sentence played at the back of his head tickling his conscious mind. Before long he spoke the words bothering him out loud.

"Id assume?" He asked the air more so then Katarina herself. Her back straightened on the edge of the bed, but she didn't turn around. It was a strange statement for a girl to make, but could be explained away easily enough as a slip of the tongue. That is if Akatsuki hadn't noticed the other discrepancies. Often when he saw Katarina out of the corner of his eye she looked different, not so far away from her normal appearance, just different. Quite often he'd find her way of speech off as if she was talking about someone else in her place. There where a few other points of interest as well and Akatsuki decided to broach the subject.

"Its strange that you'd have to assume... I'd imagine it's something you've experienced a few time already?" He started out somewhat innocently. "After all you are older then I am."

Katarina didn't return fire for a good few moments. "I just mean so soon after waking up." Katarina played it off nonchalantly as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Akatsuki decided not to push the subject as he looked to the side analyzing her face in his peripheral vision.

"Oh that makes sense, it was quite the scary event I suppose, I've calmed down now though." He spoke quietly more focused on her face in his side view. It would shift and fade as if something was surrounding it. Sometimes it would be the beautiful features of a girl that he had met in the moonlit garden that night, but other times it was a more angular, slightly boyish version.

"Of course it was a scary event for me the first time, but it's just something we have to deal with now." Katrina continued talking but Akatsuki's mind was on something else. It was as if he was looking at a brother, no more of a...

"Twin!" He spoke the word aloud, a side-effect of his emotions he had become quite tiresome of. It seemed that it was just as hard to control his outburst as well. What happened next played out in slow motion. Surprise crossed over Katarina's face, then came a hardness to her gaze Akatsuki hadn't seen before. Half a second later Akatsuki was laying back against the bed his own knife pressed against his throat. He did what he always did in this sort of situation.

"So, I'm guessing study is canceled for today?"