By the end of the week they had a stable routine established. Breakfast together early before Linda left for work, then a PK Brick who was also a black belt came and would start off by teaching Kim and then moving on to sparring with Asuna. He would alternate between them until noon then eat lunch with them and give suggestions as to how to improve. After lunch he’d leave and they’d call over any of their friends who weren’t working that day to spend the afternoon by the pool or hunting for bargains in the mall until around four. Then the girls would head off to their own homes and Asuna would start dinner. Occasionally Linda would bring home pizza and the girls would stay to eat it with them and once Gwen slept over. Normality, such as it was, established itself.

The last week before Whateley started with Asuna waking up grumpy and out of sorts, “I hate these damn bras!” she said as she accidentally broke the straps on one. “It’s not like the damn bastards won’t see everything anyway.” They were heading for their last check up with the DPA researchers and Asuna thought it was reason enough to be grumpy.

Kim nodded, “True. So if you don’t want to wear one don’t.”

Asuna scowled, wanting to argue but seeing no good reason tore the bra to shreds then put on her softest shirt. Her breasts were extra tender today for some reason.

Kim looked at her oddly, “Are you feeling okay Sue?”

Asuna scowled harder for a bit then sighed, “No, I am all out of sorts. I’ve been getting angry for no reason.”

“Did you sleep okay?” Kim asked.

“No,” Asuna replied. “I was tossing and turning all night and it took forever to find a position comfortable enough to drop off in.”

Kim hugged her, “That’s probably why you’re irri -err feeling bad today.”

Asuna was about to snap that she wasn’t irritable then realized it was true so she just stomped on down the stairs to breakfast. She could tell that Kim was making signals to Linda as they both entered the kitchen but she missed them and suddenly found it hard to even care much.

“No food today,” she told Linda. “Just coffee please.”

Once there the researchers took a good look at her and were, strangely for them, respectful. They reported that Asuna’s “plumbing” was all hooked up and that she could expect her first period in a day or two.

Asuna punched the metal table, “Oh that’s just fucking great!” Then she looked at the dent in the table and scowled, “Make yourselves useful for once and tell me why I’m feeling like biting people’s heads off today?”

The researchers conferred and seemed to come to a consensus but none came forward to speak. Linda started snickering and Asuna looked at her, “Well, care to share the joke?”

“They are afraid to tell you this is probably PMS,’ Linda said still chuckling. “They, even they, seem to know that saying that to any woman in a bad mood is a generally a very bad idea and that you are not fond of them on a good day so they’ve all gone chicken.”

Asuna scowled harder, “You do know that ‘biting your head off’ is just an expression right?”

“Not necessarily when a mutant says it,” the lead researcher opined. He took a hesitant step forward, “Based on your hormone balance I’d say Linda was correct. You may not get dressed and you are not required to come back for further testing.” He stepped back, “We would like to test subject two now but we can see her some other time if that is more convenient.”

Asuna chuckled and heard it come out darker sounding than she had planned, “You mean that you’d rather do it sometime when I’m not here to stand guard over her. Well I’d say now was very convenient for me so let’s finish this farce so none of us have to come back here and visit you damn ghouls ever again.”

With Asuna scowling at them they occasionally fumbled a bit and she almost apologized but eventually settled for trying not to glare too hard. Eventually it was over and they offered to email all final results to Linda through secure servers and dismissed them all.

Back in the changing room Asuna did apologize, “I’m sorry guys. I’m trying not to let it get away from me but I’m not used to feeling like this for no good reason.”

“It hits some harder than others and this is your first time,” Linda said. “You haven’t hit anyone or broken anything so you’re doing pretty well.”

“I broke a bra this morning,” Sue replied.”I got frustrated and just tore it.”

Linda nodded, “Okay then, that explains why you aren’t wearing one. We can pick up some things for that on the way home. We would have to stop at a drugstore anyway.”

Asuna’s eyes widened then she started crying but trying to hide it as she got dressed.

Kim hugged her, “It’s okay. We’ll get you through it. The pills will help and we’ll show you how to use the um stuff.”

When they left Asuna had definitely shifted from angry to miserable and it got worse when she saw what they were buying. “I think this is all coming home to me now,” she said. Then scowled again, “I hate not knowing what is me what is the product of some stupid hormone!”

Linda sighed, “I hate to say it honey but try to contain yourself until we get home and you can take something. Even then it would be best if you learn to deal with this without needing anything too strong. I’ll explain why in the car. Why don’t you too go to the car now and I’ll go pay for everything?”

Asuna nodded, she knew that someone as strong as she was needed to stay in control, “Yes Linda. I’ll be good.”

On the drive home Linda explained that at higher exemplar levels drugs lost much of their effectiveness. This could be both good and bad since it meant that while painkillers and other helpful drugs had limited use it also meant that it was very hard for bad guys to knock an exemplar out with one or keep one out for long.

Once back home they gave Asuna a hot water bottle to hug and two pills to take and then she curled up in her bed while they explained about pads, tampons, other etcetera.

“You mean you just stick it in?” Asuna asked looking nauseated.

“Yes,” Kim replied.

“Then you just leave it there? Inside?” Asuna said as odd expressions flitted across her face then settled once again on nausea.

“Until you need to change it yeah,” Kim replied.

“And it just stays there inside of you soaking up blood and and tissue?”

“Well when you put it that way it sounds gross but yeah,” Kim nodded.

“It is gross,” Sue replied.

“Well then you can use the pads,” Kim replied.

Asuna looked ever more nauseous, “Then I’d have to see it when I changed them and worry about leaks and ugh!”

Kim hugged her, “Well yeah you’d have to worry about leaks more and it showing more but unless you close your eyes you’ll see stuff either way. Sorry.”

“Can’t I just let you do it?” Asuna asked.

“This time maybe but next time it happens we’ll be at school. You’ll want to be able to do it yourself by then,” Kim said. Then looking at Sue’s face she sighed, “Okay I’ll do it the first few times but no more complaining about me being a pervert okay? If I’m going to be doing this for you even once then it means we are past any modesty issues for all time. Agreed?”

Asuna sighed, “I might regret this but yes I agree. I’m completely in your hands for the next few days.”