A week had passed when Cassidy was informed that she would have weekends off, as well payment would happen at the end of the month. She and Nao decided they'd both take the same days off, that way Nao would get a break from having to help her, and Cassidy could just relax in her room until she felt more comfortable with Japanese and walking around the castle. It was a good trade. As the weekend quickly came, however, CAssidy found herself anxious. So she had spent the day getting new materials ready for English.
The paintset she had been gifted helped her to add a cool little flare to the new word sheets. She had been working so hard, that when she had looked up, realizing it was getting rather hard to see, she found it was night. Seeing her now cold dinner, made her face flush. It seemed she had been so focused, she had forgotten about food. Well.
At least she wasn't anxious anymore. She would still eat it, it would be rude, and hard to try and ask for it to be somehow reheated. She opened her door to look out into the garden while she ate.When she finished and put it all to the side to bring to the kitchens later, her eyes drifted out through the garden. It was quite large, and beautiful. She could easily see the small pond that she had saved Hiroshi from. She stood and walked over to it.
She knelt at the edge of the small pond that she had come out of only a short week ago now. She went to the garden to look at the pond where she had saved Hiroshi. The water seemed so serene, the moonlight reflecting gently off it, the little bugs skittering across the surface. ".... How did this happen..?" She asked no one in particular, her voice soft as she reached out to touch her reflection, making ripples in the water. "I just... Went over that bridge." She looked over her shoulder for a moment to look at the little bridge, "And jumped in... I just wanted to save him... But... How did this happen..? How did I just.. Go back in time...?"
She sighed, brushing a loose strand of hair back behind her ear, "Part of me is still hoping I'll wake up in a hospital in Japan, mom and dad just waiting cause they took the soonest plane when they heard I was in trouble.." She smiled a bit, knowing how her parents would be. If that had happened, her father would be going through so many tissues cause he'd be crying so hard.. Her mother would be pacing the floor, jumping every time a doctor would come in to check on her.
"...If only that had-"
"
"
The sudden intrusion of Takashi's voice breaks through her thoughts and loses her balance. With a loud splash she landed right into the small pond. She quickly resurfaced and scrambled back out. If she was sleepy before, she was wide awake now, that water was freezing!!! She sat up on her knees, coughing, pulling the wet hair from her face. She looked up to see Takashi frozen in place, as if he didn't know what to do. Even in the moonlight, Cassidy could also see he was blushing slightly, probably because he startled her so bad she fell into the pond.
"I... Uh." She wanted to say something, but couldn't. Her mind was literally just going blank on the minimal Japanese that she did know. So, She just gave a quick bow before scurrying back into her room and shutting the door so she could get into dry nightclothes. "Great job, Cassidy." She grumbled to herself, "You're such a queen at social graces.... Let's wait until he leaves then I'll run my tray to the kitchens.."
----
Takashi hadn't been able to sleep, so he had been going to find a nice place to sit and mediate in the gardens. It was always good at night, he didn't have to worry about trying to impress anyone, he didn't have to keep up an exhausting mask, he could just... Be. He let out the small breath as he stepped outside. "Ah...''He smiled, watching the little bugs of the night zoom or lazily coast around.
He started to walk to find a good place to sit and meditate, but then he heard a soft voice. He soon realized it was Cassidy. He found her kneeling at the pond that, according to his servants, was where she had saved his son. Just what was she doing..?? Was she truly a water spirit and now she was about to leave..??
"...." He couldn't stop himself, "What are you doing?"
He didn't expect to have scared her so badly that she fell into the water. He froze in a stance of almost trying to grab her before she fell. When she scrambled back out, he felt his face heat up a bit from the embarrassment of making this happen to a young woman. They both stared at each other for a few moments until Cassidy gave a quick bow and hurried back into her room, sliding the door shut behind her.
Takashi watched her door for a few moments before quickly turning to try and find another place in the garden to meditate. "Thank the gods father made the garden huge." he muttered, not really wanting to be near Cassidy's room right now because of what happened.
----
Very quickly, one month had passed since Cassidy had appeared in the castle garden, saving the young prince from drowning, and now it was almost like she had always been there. She was even getting better at speaking Japanese, granted she was still a little slow, but that's how it went learning a new language. So far, Nao had been the only one that Cassidy would really consider a 'friend'. Well, there was Hiroshi's guard, Tanjiro, but he was more of an acquaintance at any rate. She still felt so awkward around Takashi...
She counted herself lucky he didn't seem to like to attempt to talk to her that much...
However, one morning when Nao came to bring Cassidy breakfast, she found the woman sobbing.
"Cassidy!" She hurried to the other's side, "Are you alright? Is it memories, again?" She asked, knowing how much Cassidy missed her actual home and family. The only thing she could really do with that was just to be there for her.
It took a moment for Cassidy to be able to answer, "N-no. Well.. -sniff- Ki-kinda..?" She wiped her tears on the rag that Nao had offered her, giving the other a grateful smile, "I.. I-I think my hormones are just outta whack... Oh... Oh damn.." Cassidy knew what this was, and she was kicking herself mentally. She just remembered about her birth control. Something that she had not been able to take during the month that she had been here. Her hormones were going to be even worse! Not to mention....
"N-Nao... How do you deal with periods here??"
"I'm sorry..??"
"Um… My menstrual period? The time of the month??"
"Oh... Oh my."
-----
Soon, Cassidy and Nao were waiting in the doctor's area of the castle. Nao there, obviously to help translate. After a small check up, the doctor was going to make her some medicine to take when it finally happened. "It will be some powder. We can just mix it into your morning tea, then again at lunch, and so on. It should help with cramps and heavy bleeding. I'll get you some things to use." Nao explained. "He should have it ready by tonight, since you'll most likely start in the next few days anyway."
"Awesome! " She gave a small bow to the doctor who looked pleasantly surprised to hear Cassidy speaking more Japanese.
"Now we should probably hurry and get to the princes'... Lessons... Am I in trouble...?" Cassidy gave a nervous little laugh as she saw Takashi stride into the medical wing and when his hard eyes found her and Nao he easily got over to them with a few long steps.
"" He asked in rapid fire Japanese, seeming to forget Cassidy wasn't as fast as a natural born speaker yet.
Luckily, Nao was there to answer for her.
""Nao explained, hesitating a bit on explaining the full bit to the king. But he HAD a wife, and mother like every man, so he should at least know the general idea of what Nao meant by womanly things.""
Takashi flushed a bit, which if Cassidy still wasn't feeling off from her hormones going whack, she would have giggled at. But she knew if she did, she might've started crying for no reason and that wouldn't be fun for anyone.
"" And with that, he turned and left.
"Soooo... We're not in trouble right?" Cassidy asked as they watched him leave for just a moment before going to the English room themselves.
Nao laughed, "No. I think the Lord just got concerned when a servant told him that you went to the medical area, that you would possibly get his son sick. Luckily this isn't something his son can get, hmm?"
Cassidy laughed, "You're right about that.. Ah. I need to think about what I'll draw for Hiroshi at the end of today's lessons... Ohh I think I know, it'll be a little joke to something form my time, but still."
"Oh?? What is it?"Nao asked as they walked.
"Oh its just this.. Uh. Story about a fish trying to find his son. It's really cute too be honest. I'll tell you more about it when I'm drawing today's drawing!"
"Sounds wonderful~!"
----
"Sire, just so you are aware." The servant said as he took away the empty plates and bowls, "Bishop went to the doctor just before breakfast. She looked as if she had been crying."
Takashi looked up. Cassidy was ill? Or at the very least, something was wrong if she had been crying. Was it just feelings from missing her actual family?? But if she was sick... She could get his son sick, and with how happy his son had been the past month thanks in part to those English lessons, he wanted to be extremely careful.
So, he needed to make sure she was ok. "Thank you for alerting me." and with that, he stood to make his way to the medical area. When he got there, he looked around for Cassidy and when his eyes found her and Nao he easily walked over with a couple of long strides. "Is everything alright? Are you ill? Do we need to cancel lessons?"
When Cassidy still looked a bit nervous, Nao answered for her. "She is fine, Sire. It's just.. Um. Womanly things. She needed help for dealing with them in this time period." Nao said with a slight smile, still looking so pleasant. " She will be able to teach today, we were actually just about to go and get ready for them. May we be excused to go do so?"
"I. Uh. yes, please go." Takashi nodded, turning to leave, his face still a bit flushed. He can't believe he forgot about that. Granted, after his wife passed, he really didn't have to deal with anyone close to him having that, sure there were the concubines, but ah. If he had to admit it, he really didn't care for them. Ultimately a lot of them were here just for a better life and who was he to stop that? He only had to try with them every now and then anyway. He shook his head. "Well. At least it's nothing Hiroshi can catch, I suppose..."
