My Brightest Flame (Rengoku X Reader)

Chapter 15 - Bad Day

A/N: Trigger warning for periods, it's a thing not often mentioned in fics that happens commonly for women. Symptoms are different for everyone, and sometimes people are very sensitive to it. It won't be too gory I promise! This is also a shorter chapter with not much plotwise, so feel free to skip it! The next chapter won't be long.

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Sniffling woke y/n up, her nose stuffed as she woke up red faced. Her muscles felt entirely weak as she was attacked by sunlight, her body screaming at her to stay resting as she yawned. A cold, amazing. That was a great start to the day. As much as she wished to rest, she couldn't allow herself to miss a day of training, not if she wanted to get anywhere. Plus, she also had plans with multiple people today, she couldn't afford to sleep all day, although it definitely felt like she could.

Continuing her morning, she walked through the halls with the target of making herself a nice hot tea. It would help her throat, even a little bit.

"Oof!" She spoke as she bumped into someone, backing up to see who was in her way. Shinjuro glared down at her as if she had just said the most disrespectful thing possible. Usually it would cause her to be afraid, but as she felt ready to sneeze herself into exhaustion, she couldn't care less about the angry male in front of her.

"Hey what the- you look like crap..." If she cared to search for it, she would have heard the tiniest hint of care.

"And you don't look any better..." She frowned as she made a pathetic attempt at eye contact. "Both of you..." A cold containing double vision, what else?

"Just...stay away and take some medicine...jeez." The man hissed, stumbling past with his bottle of sake back into his own room. A part of her felt jealous as she watched him go, if only she could have spent ages in a room with no one but her own self. She could sleep and recover and not have to stress, but no, there were people who needed her. She had to force her way through the pain as her head pounded.

Bubbles made a fun popping noise as she watched the water reach its boiling point, swaying slightly as her vision faded in and out. She needed this tea, and she needed a morning of relaxing before she got to her tasks. Hopefully this hot drink would do the trick and treat her sore throat.

Pouring the liquid into the mug, she felt her nose clogging as she stared at the ceramic with exhaustion. When the liquid reached the top of the small mug she put the pot back with more force that she had expected, causing her to hiss in pain as the heated water splashed back onto her hand. The harsh sting faded and returned, but it was such a small drop of water it wasn't worth treating.

Shivering, y/n sat outside with tea in her hand, hugging herself in an attempt to warm up. It wasn't even a cold day. Considering the drink cooled enough she lifted it to sip it, flinching as her lips stung from her drinking too early. But the pain didn't end there as the glass shattered at the handle on it's own. It felt like it happened so fast and in slow motion at the same time, as she yelped out when the heated liquid scorched her legs and two cuts from the shattered ceramic went into her hand and cheek. A string of curses followed as she sprinted back inside on a mission for a first aid kit. It was a home of a family line of hashiras, so she knew there had to be at least one fully stocked box.

It didn't take much searching to find one as she quickly got to work in the bathroom, taking her bottoms off to fully take care of the boiling burns. That was when she noticed the unusual red of her underwear.

"Of course today. Why not today?" Y/N muttered curses to herself as she felt like her body was performing its own method of torture. She definitely wasn't lucky today as she felt her vision almost completely fading. She felt her shivers return as she prioritised the bleeding lower down, a quick fix but still the most annoying thing to happen, especially on a morning that had already been so tragic.

Next up was the cuts as she located disinfectant and rubbing alcohol, which she used on every injury. The pain was searing as the bacteria died off, causing her to hiss, breath heavily, writhe and swear as she kept going until the pain stopped. After that, all she needed was some bandages and something cold enough to help the burns overheating the skin on her legs.

She didn't know how long it took her to leave that room, but when she walked back out to where the kitchen was she paused as she noticed Senjuro, giving her a supportive smile.

"I saw the broken mug outside, I cleaned it up don't worry, focus on feeling okay." He smiled, as if he could tell by looking at her how horrible her morning had been. She huffed with sleepiness as she felt cold sweats start to form, she was nowhere near well enough to speak as her throat began hurting so bad it itched. "I made you another tea, the cup won't break this time, I swear."

"How do you know?" Her voice was rougher than she meant it to be, making it sound more harsh than she wanted it to. Luckily Senjuro understood, smiling softly as he sipped on his own morning beverage. E/C eyes narrowed as she glared at the fresh mug of herbal tea, unsure on if she could ever trust a cup to hold a hot drink again. But, she would feel bad if Senjuro went through all that effort just for herself to waste it. And so she swallowed her fear and lifted the mug, grateful when it didn't shatter in her hands and create more injuries.

Silence fell as she sat next to the young Rengoku, sipping her tea as her body tried to fight everything at once. The events had overwhelmed her to the point that even her cup felt heavy, as she felt aching through her muscles. But the bad luck of the day had only just begun, as the side effects of her time of the month hadn't even started yet. She winced a little as she felt the pain of cramps make their way through her lower body, her stomach joining in on the fun by making her feel horrendously sick within seconds. That was the last straw as she felt like she once again needed to rest...perhaps one day off wouldn't be so bad. As if agreeing, her illnesses grew in intensity all at once. Suddenly the mix of mint and other medicinal herbs that were in the tea smelled disgusting. She forced herself to drink it a little bit quicker, without seeming in a rush.

"Thank you." She nodded to Senjuro as she got up, empty mug providing her with warm. Her hands tightly clenched it as if it was the only heat source available. "I think I'm going to be sleeping most of the day." She admitted shamefully, feeling as though she wasn't working hard enough.

"That's okay, it's good to get some rest every now and again." He spoke with so much understanding, it was hard to believe he was just barely a teenager. She gave him a soft smile as her ears became sensitive, his words causing them to pound although she did her best to hide it. "Rest well, y/n. I'll let you know if my brother returns." He smiled. With that, she headed back to her resting place. Unwilling and unaware, that was where she spent the majority of the day, sleeping as if her life depended on it.

When she finally woke up in the middle of the night, she was grateful to feel the tiniest bit better...