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She could faintly hear the birds singing outside, and something warm was tingling on her face as the darkness slowly faded into a warm red.
Kairi blinked.
The sun was peeking through the curtains of Sora’s and her shared bedroom. They had left the window open last night, and the light breeze was making the curtains flow a little bit. It seemed like a perfect morning.
Kairi yawned and sat up, rubbing her eyes a bit to make that morning blurriness in her sight go away. She felt a little sore in her lower area and legs. Maybe she had overdone it a bit last night… But it would surely get better over the course of the day, or she would just forget about it. They had so much planned, and she couldn’t wait to get started.
She glanced to her side. Of course, Sora was still sleeping.
He was rarely up before her, and when he was, there was a decent chance it was due to their Keyblade wielder duties. He didn’t want to wake her up by walking into their bedroom in the middle of the night whenever he returned from a mission late, so he usually just napped on the couch. Those were the days he would usually surprise her with breakfast in bed in the morning.
Not that she would ever complain about him being a late riser. Kairi loved watching him sleep – he always looked so peaceful and cute. Not that he couldn’t be when he was awake, but it was a different kind of cute.
Aside from that though, she admittedly enjoyed getting an extended look at his currently naked body. Who could fault her? She loved him, and now at twenty years old, he was more attractive than ever – or well, maybe she was just hornier than ever.
Whatever it was, she loved him.
Kairi leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on his forehead. Sora stirred a bit in response and murmured something she couldn’t understand.
“Keep sleeping, love ,” she whispered and carefully caressed his cheek. “You don’t have to get up yet.”
Today, she wanted to be the one who surprised him with breakfast in bed. After all, it was a very special day for the both of them, and it was about time she repaid the favor.
Sora sighed and relaxed again. Once Kairi was sure she hadn’t woken him up, she pulled her blanket off…
Only to notice a very prominent, dark red spot on the sheets.
Was she still sleeping? Kairi rubbed her eyes, and slightly pinched her own palm, but the dark spot remained where it was.
Well, that was unexpected. She shouldn’t be due for her period until at least two days from now! Sure, Kairi had noticed the common signs of her cycle ending soon over the past few days, but she wasn’t in puberty anymore. Her period cycle had settled into a nice 33-day-pattern, and it was only 31 days since her last one started.
Kairi could feel her womb cramping. Her muscles suddenly decided to act on their own, and she knew that she was leaking. She glanced down. Well, those bedsheets would certainly need to be changed…
“Fuck!”
She scrambled herself out of bed somehow and ran straight into the bathroom, probably losing a few more drops of blood on her way, which… Great. More to clean up later on.
Kairi slammed the bathroom door shut harder than she intended to in her hurry, and turned the lock. For now, she had to make sure she didn’t make even more of a mess. She opened the bathroom closet – damnit, where were her pads? Right, they had reorganized the closet two weeks ago… Why had they decided to do this again?
She sighed. It wasn’t like she could change it now. Where had they put her pads again? If her memory served her right, then they were… Yup, bingo!
She pulled one of the small, black cloths from the little box she kept them in when they weren’t in use, or in the washing machine. That should suffice for now. She could get her period panties later, for now she had to worry about the mess…
Damnit, where were her regular panties?
Kairi groaned – of course she had left those wherever they had been tossed in the bedroom last night. Great. That meant she had to go back to the bedroom and get some new ones, probably creating even more of a mess that she had to clean up…
A soft knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. “Kairi?”
Sora still sounded a little sleepy, yet worried. Great, now she had woken him up too… Why did this have to happen today, out of every possible day that it could have happened?
“Sorry for the mess,” she blurted out. Gosh, something this big hadn’t happened since she was a teenager. Sure, there had been some minor incidents, but never something this big of a mess. “I’ll clean it up in a minute!”
“Kairi, are you alright?”
Oh no… The puddle of blood she had left on the sheets was probably one of the first things he had seen today, and here she was talking about cleaning up while he still didn’t know what was going on. No wonder he was so worried.
“I’m okay,” she said. “Just got my period ahead of schedule, that’s all.”
She could hear a sigh of relief behind the door. “Can I get you anything?”
“I need some underwear to put my pads in.” Part of her didn’t want to ask him to do such a mundane thing for her, but she was relieved that he was offering it.
“I’ll get you some clothes then,” he announced. “Your period panties are in the same drawer as your others, right?”
“Yes. The ones in the pink box.” That way, she never had to search for long.
“Okay,” Sora said. “I’ll be right back.”
Kairi let herself drop on the toilet and sighed. Not only did her period catch her slightly off-guard, but on the worst day possible.
Today wasn’t just any day – today was their five-year-anniversary of first sharing a paopu fruit with each other, and their first anniversary of moving in together. That also meant they now shared their last name for a year now, since on Destiny Islands last names were tied to the place someone’s house was at . They’d have to wait another until they could get married , but Kairi didn’t mind. Sharing a house and with it a name already felt like such a huge step for their relationship that. She didn’t mind settling in a bit before taking the next, no matter how much she was looking forward to it.
It was a big deal to both of them, and therefore their friends had agreed to cover for them for one day.
Being a Keyblade Wielder meant having to be available all the time, even when the likes of Maleficent, Xehanort or the Master of Masters weren’t threatening their reality. Heartless and Nobodies existed regardless of big, universal threats after all.
There were days where nothing happened at all, and then there were days when everything seemed to happen at the same time, and someone else had to abandon whatever they were doing to move out. Usually, that was someone who had time, meaning they had no other responsibilities like raising the next generation of Keyblade Wielders, going to college or working at an ice cream shop – which was to say that usually, it currently meant either Sora, Riku, or her.
Recently, more Heartless and Nobodies than usual had shown up, and therefore Sora and her hadn’t gotten to do a lot of the things they enjoyed for quite some time. Naturally, there were a lot of things they had planned for their anniversary, all of which were now for nothing because knowing her body, she wouldn’t be able to stand anymore in a few hours due to the back pains.
Sora knocked at the bathroom door again.
“Come in,” Kairi murmured. She wasn’t afraid of him seeing her like this. After all, he had already seen all of her plenty of times.
Sora pressed down the doorknob, only to find that the door was still locked.
“Sorry!” Kairi sighed. Right, she had forgotten about that…
She pushed herself up, and unlocked the door again. When she opened it for him, she couldn’t help but think about how strange this looked to him, considering that she was all naked and had a menstrual pad in her hand .
“Here.” Sora handed her a bundle of clothes. “Take as much time as you need for yourself, okay? I’ll take care of the rest.”
Part of her wanted to argue, simply because she had made the mess in the first place so she should clean it up again, but she was relieved that he offered to do it for her. Any physically demanding activity was always such a pain while she was on her period, especially on the first day. So she nodded. “Thank you, Sora.”
“Of course,” he said, and leaned in slightly to kiss her forehead, before closing the door again, probably to give her some highly appreciated privacy.
She placed the bundle of clothes on the washing machine. Sora had not only gotten her menstrual panties for her, but some of her loungewear, including her favorite pair of socks to wear at home. Kairi noted that he had even put one of his own shirts into the mix – she loved borrowing his clothes, admittedly mostly without asking, especially when she didn’t feel particularly great. There was something comforting about it.
She knew he secretly loved seeing her wear his clothes, but him acknowledging that she liked to borrow them when she didn’t feel good was an entirely different level. It was such a small gesture, and yet it made her so happy. He made her so happy.
Gosh, she loved him.
Kairi set the clothes aside for now. She really wanted to take a bath, and afterwards she wanted to slip into those clothes, wrap herself in a blanket, ideally together with Sora, and make the best of the day like they always did. Maybe they could cook together later. They both loved doing that.
… Yeah, maybe all of this wasn’t too bad. At least if her womb and back wouldn’t be killing her in a few hours. But as long as she would get to spend time with him, she could live with that.
After adjusting the temperature of the water, she turned back to the little bathroom closet. If she was going to take a bath while being on her period, she was going to need her menstrual cup – why hadn’t she thought of that stupid thing earlier? Oh right, because she kinda hated that thing. However, bathing in her own blood wasn’t something she was keen on either. Maybe she should just have showered instead. But now the water was running already… Oh well, she was looking forward to that bath anyway.
Picking out a bathing salt brightened her mood again though. Kairi loved bathing salts for all of their different scents, and they were some frequent souvenirs she brought from other worlds. Today, she quickly settled on hibiscus and vanilla though, one of her all-time favorites.
She let herself sink into the tub and sighed. The warmth of the water helped her relax, just what she needed. Now she was even more grateful that Sora was cleaning up for her.
He was so sweet and respectful when it came to her period, and he always had been. Back when they were still seventeen and had just gotten together, she had had what was probably her scariest accident yet. Thinking about it, it hadn’t been too much unlike what had happened today. She closed her eyes as she let the memory play in front of her inner eye again.
“I gotta get up,” she says. “Can you make some space, please?” They have been sleeping in Sora’s old childhood bed together, so naturally space is a bit limited. It gave them an excuse to cuddle throughout the entire night though, something Kairi appreciates. She is still a bit shy when it comes to these things. It’s just so new, and she doesn’t want to overstep.
“But we don’t have to go anywhere today,” Sora protests. He is almost pouting, and it honestly looks pretty cute. Kairi almost feels a little bad for him. “Besides, it’s way too early to get up!”
Kairi automatically glances at the alarm clock on his nightstand. It reads 7:10 AM.
“You’re not wrong,” she admits. “It is early.” And not just for Sora.
However… “I need to use the bathroom though.”
“Oh.” Sora sighs. “Well, I guess we can keep snuggling once you come back?”
She giggles. “Of course we can.”
He gets out of bed, and the first thing Kairi sees is the prominent, dark red spot on the leg of the shorts he is wearing. It is a rather big one, and it scares her. “Sora, are you bleeding?”
He looks down. “What?” Then he sees it too, and pulls the leg up to check.
But there is no wound.
“Strange,” Sora muses, before his expression changes into a concerned one. “Wait, Kairi, are you…”
She looks down. Her entire pajama pants are stained with dark red. His sheets have dark red spots too. And she only starts noticing now, but her lower belly hurts. Suddenly, she knows what is going on. “I’m sorry…”
“You’re bleeding,” Sora says, and she can’t help but realize that he is pale. “It’s… A lot.”
She can’t hold back, she has to chuckle. It’s too embarrassing. “Sorry for ruining your sheets…” The chuckle turns into a nervous laughter. Why today? Why now? Why in front of him? Why can’t she help but laugh? He must hate her now.
“It’s okay,” Sora says. “Lemme just…”
He takes a breath. “Heal.”
That is when she realizes he has absolutely no idea what is going on.
“Sora, I’m not hurt…”
“You’re bleeding,” he points out.
“Yeah, but not because I’m hurt. It’s just shark week.” She can’t remember when the last one was. Maybe she has even skipped it. It wouldn’t surprise her, given the stress that was saving the universe.
Sora seems confused. “The sharks aren’t doing anything this week.”
He clearly doesn't get it. Maybe if she explains it in a different way… “It’s the crimson tide!”
“Well, last time I checked, the water was still blue…”
“I’m just getting Mother Nature’s gift, okay?”, she tries again. Seriously, why can’t he just get what she means, and then they can both move on with their lives? This is bad enough as it is.
“Hey, why didn’t I get one?”
She knows he isn’t doing this intentionally, but that just makes it worse. Damnit, Sora… “I’m on my period!”
“Oh,” he says. “Wait, your what?”
Had they not explained this to the boys in sex ed? “You know, this thing all females get once a month?”
“Oh,” Sora says. “Why didn’t you say that earlier?”
He’s saying it as if he’s talking about the most mundane thing in the world. Kairi wants to tell him it’s not that easy, but Sora keeps chattering before she can.
“But couldn’t you have waited with spilling all that blood until you used the bathroom?”
She wants to scream at him in this moment. How does he even get this idea? He must think all of this is disgusting – that she is disgusting – even though he isn’t showing it.
Instead, she just starts crying.
“Kairi?”
She sobs.
“Did I say something wrong?”
He doesn’t know, Kairi suddenly realizes. He clearly doesn’t know…
“Hey, whatever it is, I’m sorry…”
“I have no control whatsoever over this!”, she finally blurts out, louder and probably more hysterically than she means too. “It just happens, okay?!?”
She curls up on the bed. It’s bloody all over, but she doesn’t care. Her lower stomach area hurts so much…
“Kairi, I’m so sorry,” Sora says. “I had no idea…”
He sits down next to her on the bed again. To her surprise, he carefully puts a hand on her shoulder, as if he isn’t afraid to touch her at all. He is so warm… She doesn’t pull away. She doesn’t want to pull away. His touch is so soothing.
“Does it… Hurt?”, he shyly asks.
“Like hell,” Kairi mumbles. “You have no idea.”
Sora wraps his arms around her, and when she doesn’t pull away, he pulls her close, much to her surprise.
“You don’t have to do that if you think I’m disgusting right now.” Stuff like this is not supposed to happen after all, especially not in front of… Kairi usually never thinks of Sora as a man, but as the person she loves . Being confronted with the fact that they have been raised differently due to some biological differences almost makes her even more uncomfortable than she already is. And all of this is her fault…
“Kairi, the only disgusting thing about all of this is that they assured us in sex ed that not only can females completely control this, but it’s completely painless and if someone makes a fuzz about it, she wants attention.” He sounds mad, but she knows it isn’t directed at her. “I’m sorry, I should have known it was…”
“It’s okay,” Kairi interrupts him. “They aren’t wrong. I should have been better prepared.”
“It’s not okay,” Sora argues. “They’re telling you to be ashamed for something that’s just completely natural and that you have no control over, and they’re telling us to shame you for it, all because of some mundane differences in our bodies. It’s fucked up.”
He believes her, more than he believes his teachers at school. Something about that makes her so happy that she almost forgets about everything else. She has to sob again.
Sora squeezes her a little tighter. “What can I do to make this easier for you?”
Later that day, they had quite the extensive talk about how their bodies worked. In retrospect, that was probably when the initial awkwardness in their relationship had faded. Maybe being on her period wasn’t just terrible after all. It was still the worst time of the month though!
A soft knock interrupted her thoughts. “Can I get you anything?”, Sora asked through the door. He must be finished with cleaning up.
She suddenly felt the urge to have him close to her, but she also didn’t want to leave her bathtub. The warm water was too nice to pass up on. “Would you mind joining in?”
“You mean,” he opened the bathroom door just a little bit, and his head poked through, “joining you in the bathtub?”
She nodded.
“Sure, why not?”
He closed the bathroom door behind him before taking off his clothes, a sight Kairi enjoyed every time. She made some space for him so he could get into the bathtub behind her, careful to not slip by accident.
Sora sighed as he wrapped his arms around her and leaned back, something Kairi didn’t mind. She wanted to cuddle. It was always extra good when there were no distracting layers of clothing between them.
He gently pulled her closer, and Kairi carefully turned onto her side to rest her head on his chest, right on the scar above his heart. She enjoyed listening to his heartbeat, it was relaxing.
“You know,” Sora said as he gently caressed her back, “Maybe this isn’t too bad. We haven’t spent an entire day at home in a while.”
That was true. They never really got a break from being Keyblade Wielders after all. “It would be perfect if it was raining.”
Just as she said that, the first drops hit the window. Strange. Hadn’t the sun been shining earlier?
Sora chuckled. “Looks like you got your wish.”
“What can I say? I am a shooting star after all.” Or at least, she had arrived on this world in the form of one all those years ago. “So, is there anything you wish to do today?”
“Honestly, just spending the entire day with you is already enough for me,” Sora said. “Although… How about we watch a movie?”
They hadn’t done that in quite some time too. “Sounds good,” she said.
Sora planted a gentle kiss onto her head. “Happy anniversary, Kairi.”
“Happy anniversary, Sora.”