Nagato
"Yikes!" Nagato shivered as they passed the cross hallway on the way to their rooms. "I got a little used to that symbol before, but after being out for half a day it's hitting me again."
"Me too," Yahiko sympathized. "Although, I think it feels differently for me than it does for you. You mentioned that it made you really jumpy and on edge, right? I don't get that. I just feel prickly all over like I'm somewhere uncomfortable, but it doesn't feel threatening or anything."
Nagato took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm his racing heart. It didn't work. "Well, it is the symbol of a religion. Presumably, the followers of that god feel good around their symbol, or they wouldn't use it. I'm guessing that how we feel is dependent on our relationship to him. You just have a better relationship than I do, apparently."
"Probably." Yahiko was already fiddling with the zipper of his cloak as they reached their rooms. "So, um, I think I'll, uh, need more...practice with those techniques. I mean, you have more chakra and lived longer and all, so… See you later!" Despite his face being mostly turned away, Nagato was able to see his cheeks briefly turn even redder before Yahiko opened his door, entered, and closed it again in record speed.
Nagato already had his suspicions from the way Konan had been teaching them before. This behavior only solidified them. She must know something about what's bothering Yahiko, just like she knew about what was bothering me. She never pulled him aside, but he's still acting differently, so I was right - she must have been communicating something to him during that training session. But what? Nagato shook his head as he entered his room. It's none of my business.
He stopped and listened once inside his room, convinced that he had heard a little click while he was closing the door. Did Yahiko lock his room? Nagato shook his head again. None of my business.
He pushed hangers aside to create a nice, open space for the cloak in the middle of what was going to be the shirt section of his closet. Once hung, he stood back to appreciate it some more. Whoever designed these things had really good fashion sense, in addition to making them ridiculously comfortable. Somebody needs to send that person a gift basket, wherever they are. He regretted that he couldn't do that himself. Stepping back from the closet, Nagato shivered again. He winced in extreme discomfort as he remembered the exact feeling of a metal rod exiting his flesh. Ooooooookay, never mind. He took the cloak back down and put it on. It could be used as a shirt, a very fashionable coat, and now as armor. Nagato did not know of a more versatile uniform.
His hyperalert ears picked up a strange sound as he put it on, making him race to put it on faster. Nagato then left his room to search of the source of the sound. It doesn't sound like it's coming from any direction in particular. Not ahead, or behind, or from any of the hallways… Below? He swallowed, took some more deep breaths, looked all around for no obvious reason, then put his ear to the floor. Indeed, some muffled vibration was coming through the floor. Its pitch rose briefly, then fell so that he could no longer hear it. Nagato felt his thick sleeves as he rose from the floor and headed for the basement door to investigate. I've seen the symbol before. It's not dangerous. I'll be fine. But what the hell is making sound down there?!
He stopped again after some distance, and listened for the sound. Just like he'd suspected, it had disappeared. Is that good? Bad? Depends what was making it…
His knees were beginning to tremble, and Nagato worried about his busy heart. His body was getting too hyped up for its own good. Stop panicking! I can turn into a rhino if I want to, so why do I sound like a baby? He took another deep breath. Okay, yelling at myself probably won't help. It's just how it is. I am getting very scared from hearing things I don't know the source of, and that is okay. Panic acknowledged, and confirmed reasonable. But I have the power to deal with it. Panic confirmed unnecessary. Are we good now?
His body calmed just a little. It was willing to cooperate - for now.
A second later, Nagato heard footsteps, and his heart shot up into his throat. But, true to their agreement, it did not interfere with the ability of his mind to think. He looked and saw Itachi, carrying a large guitar case on his back.
"Itachi!" He waved. "Hey. How have you been handling things?"
Itachi paused to take a deep breath. "I will need some time to recover before I can answer that."
"You too, huh?" Nagato pointed to his own face, which felt like it was flushed. Itachi looked a little pale, instead.
Itachi nodded. "I thought of testing the acoustic qualities of the basement, as well as myself. It echoes strangely - not surprising, for a room with a metal floor. As for myself, I was unable to think of a happy or pleasant tune to play. I kept playing active, high pitched, and discordant pieces, no matter what I initially set out to play. I've never experienced anything like it before. That symbol is very powerful."
"Oh, so it was you!" Nagato sighed in relief. "I heard something through the floor, but only barely, and only because freaking out like this put my senses on high alert. It was very muffled. I never would've been able to tell it was music."
"That's convenient." Itachi looked back. "A room that dissuades people from entering it, and also muffles noise. If I cultivate a tolerance for it, it would make the perfect private room for anything I wanted."
Nagato chuckled. "For maybe five minutes before everyone else has the same idea. I was already thinking of cultivating a tolerance for it, just for my own sanity. Once you resolve to do that, it only makes sense to think of what you just suggested." His voice was weak, wavery, and fast. He swallowed again. "Might as well start now. I'm going to sit for half an hour, get acclimated again, and try to go downstairs and open the door. It feels just like being really, really sick, to have my heart beating like this and everything." He noticed that his hands were also shaking.
Itachi saw too. "You didn't look this bad yesterday."
"That's because a metal rod hadn't slid out of my arm yesterday!" Nagato gestured to the arm where it had happened. "Like you said, the way I think is also different. I keep remembering other scary things, especially scary things that happened because of the symbol, which this did. Reinforcement." And I'm getting less coherent too. Lovely.
He changed his mind. "You know what, I've changed my mind. I need to get this over with." Before he could convince himself otherwise, Nagato turned and strode at high speed towards the basement door. It does feel like being sick, and I don't want to be sick, so get this feeling out of me already!
Itachi followed out of concern. "I'll provide backup," he reassured.
Best...person...ever. Nagato reached for Itachi's hand and squeezed it for dear life. "Thank you."
Itachi nodded. For more than one reason, he suspected the symbol was best confronted when one was not alone.
Nagato drove the thoughts from his mind, swung his arm madly, and managed to work up enough momentum to grab the door handle and twist before he could pull back. When he did jerk his hand back, it opened the door. The sight of the symbol washed over him, and Nagato recalled his more basic fears of monsters and leviathans. It's a triangle inside a circle, not an eldritch abomination. Both of his palms became so uncomfortable he had to squeeze his hands into fists again. Okay, maybe it can be both. So what? I can climb Cthulhu and ride him like a pet dragon. Of course I can. The mental image was funny. Nagato laughed as he forced his way inside.
Itachi closed the door behind them, but not all the way. "Well?" He was very unenthused to be back here so shortly after escaping, but he wasn't about to leave anyone alone in this room.
Nagato took a shaky breath and checked himself. "No mysterious wounds. No feelings of sickness, other than those caused by stress. I would say I'm extremely anxious, but not afraid, because I'm not reacting to any specific possibility. I'm not hearing 'Run!' or anything like that. I'm alright."
Itachi nodded. He'd read about the value of clarifying one's feelings in helping to manage them. "That is -"
"Okay, never mind." Nagato squeezed his hands together, palm to palm. "I actually am afraid of a specific possibility." He turned to Itachi and held his palms up. "All the symbol could make me feel before was a vague sense of foreboding, like I expected a monster to appear at any moment. Now that I know what's causing that, the sense of foreboding isn't effective anymore - but this is. I'm going to have to get over it so the symbol can't amplify it anymore."
Itachi looked at Nagato's perfectly normal arms. "Metal rods from your arm would certainly be horrifying." Depending on how they emerged, the term Body Horror would be accurate to use. Actually, it would probably be accurate regardless of how they emerged.
Nagato nodded. "But nothing actually happened. I was fine. Okay." He held his left arm straight at his side. "I remember how to do it. I just…"
He cringed, doubling over so far he nearly fell to the floor. "Ah!" OH GOD WHY isn't this as painful as I expected? Had the sharp pain he remembered really been so mild, like the brief stinging of a needle? He sat on the floor and held up his hand, looking at it. What was really going on here? His stomach did some threatening maneuvers as he saw that the rod did not fully come out of his flesh, and he was unable to stop his eyes from tracing the line of blood where it joined his hand. The skin of his palm looked perfectly undisturbed, as if it had split of its own accord to make way. The end of the rod - Eek! - was sharpened to a point.
All of this, he forced into the glaring light of reason, to be measured and dealt with accordingly. He classified the sharpened point as I can make my own spears. His undisturbed skin was classified as See? Perfectly natural. It doesn't hurt me at all. I should see if the opening still exists after I get it out of my hand. The rod itself - Well, at this point it's still a part of my body. Just another part. He described to himself its exact color and shade, what kind of metal it was probably composed of, where that metal might have come from, and even raised his other hand to touch the rod. He mustered the courage to push it from side to side, finding that the rod did not emerge from his bones and touching it in any way did not shatter his entire forearm. Speaking of which, it appeared to be only as long as his forearm, at most. Can I make it longer or shorter? He remembered that the rod he'd reflexively made to act as a knife had been short enough for Konan to put in her weapons pouch. I can.
Nagato took several deep breaths, which actually worked this time. I really do have this. He smiled briefly, before taking the rod in his right hand and pulling gently. This also didn't hurt nearly as much as he was expecting. It emerged easily and cleanly, with barely any traces of blood on it. The rod was smooth and felt warm. Just as he remembered, his palm closed and appeared to heal instantly. Nagato probed his palm with one finger. There was no sign of the opening whatsoever. All he saw was one of those lines fortune tellers trace, which he'd always had. Woah.
Itachi quietly sat down across from him, putting great effort into pulling himself together, preventing his attention from straying to the thing behind him. "May I see?" he asked Nagato. The redhead looked up at the rod he still held. He nodded, and handed it to Itachi.
Itachi saw that it was smooth, dark, unreflective, resembled no sort of metal he'd ever seen, and the thin streaks of blood on it were already drying. "It doesn't look as fearsome as I thought," he murmured. "How did it feel?"
"Not as bad as I remembered," Nagato confirmed. "I was quite frightened at the time. Konan appeared in front of me out of nowhere, and she had blood all over her, and I was already jumpy. Creating that was part of my battle reflexes. If it hadn't hurt just a little bit, like a dentist's needle, I would have attacked her." He shivered. "Thinking about it now, that's actually the scariest part. Do ninjas really train for it to become reflex to kill people?"
Itachi's voice was low. "If her world is as she has implied, the most likely reason for being surprised is that someone is trying to kill you. It can make sense." He lowered his hands and sat staring into his lap. "Not that it should," he whispered.
Nagato looked at him more closely. "Itachi...how are you handling things?"
The musician closed his eyes and exhaled meditatively. "I am as curious as the next person. I wish to know what I am, and what I can do. I wish to understand what my place and situation in the world is. I want to seek answers.
"However…" He opened his eyes and looked down at the pointed rod in his hands. "I fear I'm at the limit of what I can safely learn without compromising myself. We've learned what we can from talking; now we must take action. I fear it may not be possible for that action to be peaceful. Fighting the demon and fighting with each other are the methods I see us using to develop.
"I don't wish to use those methods. I've used the Sharingan to study people's expressions and observe their movements, and to talk with them. I don't want to cause pain to people." He handed the rod back to Nagato as if it was too hot to hold. "I don't want to know any more of what it means to be a ninja, if this is what it means."
Nagato smiled. "Itachi, those are only the methods she told us about. Yahiko's in the same boat, but he's resolved to stay, and so have I. He's found his own method. He's going to learn more about those pain-relieving powers he demonstrated at the party, and try to develop them into medical jutsu, which is an established form of power in her world. She just hasn't mentioned it as much as she's mentioned fighting and sparring. She's only telling us what she knows, and she's not as much of a pacifist as we are."
Itachi nodded. He looked up at Nagato. "I recognize that. However, it is much easier for Yahiko to find an alternative style. His abilities are more generalized. My own abilities include the Sharingan, illusions, and I believe she mentioned fire. The first two may be useful for negotiations, for all of the reasons previously described, but we don't have much need for negotiation. Fire is rather destructive, and it would be difficult to find a non-harmful use for it. Especially as we are right next to a forest, we have almost no need for fire, either. What kind of ninja can I be, when all of the possible alternative uses of my abilities are not useful?"
"There's a chance they could be," Nagato argued. "Remember, even the demon ultimately had to be defeated through talking with her, not force."
Itachi was unconvinced. "I recognize that, but I'm talking about a general lifestyle. That was a specific occasion. To be a ninja appears to be an ongoing project, always developing yourself. In what way am I supposed to develop? How can I find a method to develop that will not cost me my dearest values?"
Nagato could see why Itachi was so hopeless about finding a good option in that mess. "Well…" He flipped the rod end over end in his hands. Being near the symbol was still making it difficult to think. "Yahiko. Let's use him as an example. He's peaceful too, so maybe you could find something out." Nagato struggled to remember what exactly Yahiko intended to be doing. "He has water techniques. In order to use them in better ways, he's thinking of using them in unusual places, and combining other things with them, like how he used water to spread his chakra to help with healing. You could think of putting your fire or illusions inside something else, or putting something else inside them. They could be more useful in combination than separate."
Itachi was also having difficulty thinking, but he was quite sure that wasn't the main reason why he couldn't think of any ways to apply Nagato's advice. "Fire is still destructive, no matter what form it takes or where it is. And illusions aren't material; they have no substance in them to combine."
"Yeah, but…" Nagato tried to clear his mind, but couldn't. "I'm still pretty anxious from being here. We'd better go if I want to have ideas anytime soon."
"Agreed." They left the basement, and breathed a sigh of relief together as soon as the door was closed behind them. They climbed the stairs in silence. Itachi decided to take a break from such weighty topics to help them both get back to normal. "So, how is Yahiko doing?"
"Better, I think." Nagato described the kind of banter they'd had this morning with Konan. "He's very hopeful about his relationship with her, and his future in general. We didn't get to visit the library today, but maybe tomorrow. Hey, that's an idea - Yahiko wanted to visit the library to read more about nature spirits. If we can have demons, why not other mythical creatures of folklore? Negotiation skills might be really useful."
"I hadn't thought of that," Itachi realized. "And there I was the morning we prepared to go after her, talking with Yahiko about folklore. Thank you."
"Of course." Nagato opened his mouth to steer the conversation back to their earlier track, when he heard a door opening and footsteps.
They both turned to see Hidan step out of his room, shirtless and with his ever-present scythe on his back. His fingers combed through his hair like they were looking for something while he looked at them. "Hey, guys. Did I miss anything?"
"When did you get back?" Nagato asked. "And did it work?"
"Did what work?" Itachi asked.
Hidan groaned as his fingers found something he'd hoped not to find. "Earlier, I said I'd be gone because I needed to destress, get rid of all these unpleasant feelings and shit that I've been getting for the past couple days. Fuck yeah, it worked. I got back not long ago, and I've been in my room ever since. My hair's still fucking wet at the roots!"
"Wet? You mean you were caught in the rain?" Nagato hoped Hidan wasn't going to get a cold or anything like that. He was needed, especially now, when everyone was adjusting.
"No, I got back just before that started," Hidan waved his words off. "It's from the lake. Y'see, water's like a universal solvent. Everything dissolves in it. So when I need to get rid of everything I've gotten piled up with, I use water for it. Everything means everything." He looked sheepish. "Though, I have to be careful not to use the same water too often. The concentration of bad shit I have to get rid of is like poison, apparently. Everything's dead by the time I wake up all refreshed and shit."
"Wait," Nagato ordered. "You mean… did you just say you use water to absorb nonmaterial things?"
"...Yeah." Hidan looked between the two of them. "You guys do know it's used for all kinds of ritual purification and washing away evil and shit, right? That's a standard use for it."
"That's brilliant." Itachi wondered why he hadn't thought of that, either. Hidan was right, after all. "Yahiko seems to be doing well enough on his own, but Kisame… Yes, that would be very useful. And Konan did say I excelled at teamwork during our evaluation. Of course!"
"See, that's something I don't think she's even thought of," Nagato realized. "Our thinking is a whole world away from hers. We could invent things nobody's ever even imagined in her world."
Hidan looked between the two of them some more. "Does this have to do with you two being all scared and shit earlier?"
Nagato considered his answer. "Well, not exactly. We did start talking about this because of our efforts to get rid of the fear, though."
"How'd that go?" Hidan asked cheerfully. "Sounds awesome!"
Itachi asked, "What did you feel on your end?"
"I didn't." Hidan looked annoyed. "You guys were all anxious and shit, and then it all disappeared, like you went into a blind spot where I couldn't get a signal. Then I felt stuff again, but that was just now after you'd come out of it. That's why I need to ask how it went."
Nagato and Itachi were silent. Both of them knew Hidan had discomfort and memory problems with certain topics, but neither had connected this with the symbol in the basement. "You can't see into the basement?" Nagato asked.
"What about the rest of this building?" Itachi continued. "Has the air or any other part of the environment felt different since yesterday?"
Hidan scratched his head. "No, and no. People feel different, but I have no clue what you're talking about with the air and shit. And I'm glad I don't get signals from down there. Something happened yesterday morning that felt like being fucking electrocuted, so I had to leave and hang out with that tiger guy for hours until it was happening less, but I'm still not fucking going down there. Electricity bad."
"Really?" Nagato flipped the rod end over end in his hand as he thought. The morning… If there was a whole ritual involved, that would be the beginning of it, which would make the end of the ritual the 'hours later' when it settled down and he could come back. "It sounds like occult rituals don't go well with you. Sorry." Nagato was relieved to find out that he wasn't the one with the greatest intolerance to the symbol after all.
"No, probably the specific content of that ritual," Itachi whispered. He hadn't missed the part of their discussion at the party where Hidan had gotten really uncomfortable, which had also been the part where everyone had started speculating about the nature of divinity. Add to that this version of Hidan not being religious, as far as Itachi could tell, and he was beginning to work out some answers about Hidan. It was clear that Hidan's memory problems, as well as general discomfort, were related at least partly to religious issues. Most likely, these issues would be centered around his original's religion. Itachi was not surprised, now that he thought about it, that Hidan would be especially repelled by Jashin sama's symbol. Even failing to perceive it made sense as an extension of his memory problems. "It makes perfect sense that you are not comfortable with the basement, and I'm surprised I didn't expect you to be. That's all right."
Nagato turned his head in Itachi's direction, probably giving him a look beneath his red hair. Itachi nodded to say he would explain later. "So, in order to resolve our discomfort, we…"
Hidan was nodding along in complete agreement as Itachi finished. "Confidence through knowing shit is the best confidence," he confirmed. "Y'ever heard astronauts saying they don't go up into space hoping they'll come down again, they go up having studied the fuck out of all the reasons they'll be coming down again? Like that! It's always good to have some backing for feelings, I've found. You two are fucking geniuses."
Nagato flushed. "It was the only thing to do, really," he muttered. "You might not feel it, but trust me: everyone else can feel that thing we have in the basement. For me, it makes me jumpy and anxious, which coincidentally amplifies any fear I experience. I have to deal with my fears just to preserve my sanity around it."
"Which is a form of genius," Hidan explained. "How many people know that? Smokin' hot and smart as shit; no wonder Original You was in charge of everything."
Nagato's face turned bright red. Hidan has to know, right? I've felt things around him before. Why does he say such suggestive things? He really hoped Hidan would stop, especially if there was someone else around to see Nagato's reaction. Please don't let Itachi say anything.
Itachi already knew everything he needed to know from observations of Nagato's behavior in the past. He shrugged and said, "At any rate, this idea we've come up with merits further planning. I'll go to my room to think about it." He left Nagato and Hidan to flirt as much as they wanted.
Nagato felt some heat leave his cheeks, and sighed. Oh thank god he's not going to ask. The redhead turned his attention to Hidan, in the form of a glare. "Could you not? Especially when someone's around."
"Huh, I thought you'd like it," Hidan said. "You seem pretty open about shit."
"I thought I was," Nagato lamented. "But I'm not. I can't even think the exact words to myself, much less consider telling anyone. I can't even say it to you or Konan. It's like I only half-acknowledge reality. I'm not comfortable." He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "So, give me some time to think things through. I have more developing to do before I'm ready." Still can't say it. Damn, how long is it going to take to coax myself out of my shell?
"Oh, shit." Hidan rubbed his chin. "You could hang around whenever you want, you know. If you want to talk about related things, or if you just want to hear me talk. Learn by example or something."
Nagato blinked. "That's actually a really good idea." He'd never thought of getting to know someone else who was more open than he was before.
"...So, you wanna? I have several opinions on Sunshine's hair you might agree with," Hidan offered. "And you have to tell me about that thing you're holding."
How does he know I have opinions about Yahiko's hair? Nagato realized he didn't even know whether those kinds of opinions were typical of people in relationships in general. How could he expect himself to just suddenly be an expert, when he was starting from square one? I could stand to receive a little more compassion from myself. "Me too. Sure. Oh, this? It...came from my arm."
"See, that's exactly the sort of thing I love to hear more about." Hidan turned to go back in his room. "Oh, and love the outfit! You know how I feel about it in general, so I gotta say, it's fucking amazing to see it around more. Can't wait to see it everywhere!" Nagato blushed, and laughed. He hoped he would see it around more, as well. He followed Hidan inside to the room with the soft carpet.
Yahiko
Yahiko did not have perfect memory of his dreams, and he'd never considered the question in detail in his waking life, so it was some time before he achieved the form he'd dreamed of two nights prior. By the time he did, Nagato had long since finished presenting his views on Yahiko's hairstyle, and Hidan was halfway through his. Yahiko's hands were well acquainted with the required hand signs for Transformation Jutsu, which felt oddly familiar, and his chakra felt well acquainted with this pattern as well. He was glad he didn't have a fearful reaction to the symbol in the basement, or else the amount of combined fear would have reduced him to huddling under the blankets weeping before he even started.
Yahiko reached back and casually flicked a strand of his hair out to the side. It billowed gracefully before falling gently against his shoulders, which were slimmer than usual. He took his hairbrush, which he had placed on the bathroom sink counter before starting, and brushed at the hair that hung down to frame the sides of his face. He smiled as he did so. The face was a real achievement, and he was proud of it. It looked gentle and feminine and… Like I'm not just some perv doing this for kicks, I guess.
To further that impression, he'd given his transformation a very sensible blouse that buttoned up to just below the collarbone and covered the entirety of his belly; nothing special or attention-getting at all. It was just like an ordinary T-shirt, with buttons. Breast size was as large as he could feel comfortable with, which was still very moderate. Yahiko flushed as the only description he could think of, not knowing anything about cup sizes, was "hand-sized." Of course, that was with a female hand, which he had immediately washed just in case the demon boy had sent a ghost to spy on him. Presumably a male hand would be larger, and would find his transformation's features to be relatively small. Yahiko was glad for that. The last thing he would ever want would be to attract attention in this form.
The purpose of brushing his already-perfect hair was to get a feel for it, see how it behaved. Yahiko sighed in pleasure at the feeling of running a brush through long hair. A memory floated to the top of his mind - a little plastic comb, the cheap kind that comes with the doll's accessories, carefully working out any traces of knots from the doll's long black hair. Yahiko ended the memory there, returning his attention to his current time and place, because he knew that if he let the memory keep playing, in a couple seconds his father would walk in and say something about the doll, and Yahiko, despite not being able to remember what his exact words were, would remember perfectly the feeling of being a silly and strange little boy.
It's all right now, though. It's my hair, so it's fine. It was not weird at all to brush your own hair, or pick out your own outfit. Of course, that reasoning was dependent on nobody walking in and asking why he was transformed in the first place, so Yahiko had locked both the main and bathroom doors before starting.
After that, it was time for posing, and after that, it was finally time for the good part. Yahiko double checked the lock on the bathroom door before starting that. He'd managed to reconcile himself with the possibility of ghosts, so once he verified that the only spies would have to be ghosts, he took the chest out from its place between the toilet and the sink and placed it on top of the toilet lid. He opened it, and took a few deep breaths to calm the nervous butterflies that arose in his stomach.
Taking deep breaths feels weird. The added weight and different shape of his chest was very noticeable. Yahiko wasn't sure if it felt good-weird or bad-weird, or if he was even supposed to notice at all. What did noticing mean? Well, this is the first time, so it means nothing because anyone would. But if I spend some more time in this form and get used to it, then what would it mean if I still noticed? He had no idea whether or not he would, no preconceptions about what to expect. I guess I'll look it up when I get there.
At any rate, he giggled quietly as he finally reached into the chest, selected some contents, and took a closer look at them. It's really weird - why would the demon kid give this stuff to a guy? But, maybe he knew I would be in this form at some point in the future, so he meant for me to use it now as a girl. Yahiko gasped as he saw that the chest contained the exact kind of mascara he had secretly decided on years before as part of a "thought experiment." Maybe my whole life has been preparation for having this form. He eagerly called to mind the Youtube videos he'd watched on makeup application and got to work.
His jaw dropped as he stared into the mirror. I had no idea it made such a difference! He'd never seen the effects of makeup on his own face. While examining his transformation's face from different angles, a stray thought wormed its way into Yahiko's mind: I wonder how this would look on my real face?
His heart beat faster, and Yahiko flushed. That would be...weird. I've wondered before, but to actually wear it? That would be… Well, it'd be horribly embarrassing, and strange of me, and nobody would ever look at me the same way ever again. But...maybe if nobody sees…
He removed all of the makeup except that around his eyes before undoing the Transformation Jutsu. Like Hidan, he had the same eyes as he always did, but he'd adjusted the shape and proportions of the rest of his face very slightly. His heart beat stronger as he looked shyly up into the mirror now. Oh, it looks good! He glanced around and carefully reached for the other supplies he'd selected and applied. Very slowly, and with more checking of his surroundings, he began to reapply them.
Whoa, I look good! Of course Yahiko had no attraction to men, but he wasn't attracted to his own female form either, so he felt he was perfectly qualified to say such a thing. He looked drop dead pretty with a few subtle touches. Wow! I could… No, I couldn't. At least not around anyone who knew how I looked normally. It's subtle enough, I could get away with it around strangers. I would be really beautiful then! He sighed as the idea of being admired by strangers failed to have any appeal whatsoever. Well, I like to look good, but I like to be respected more, so that's never going to happen. For no discernible reason, tears came to his eyes. He hurried to remove everything before his work could be ruined.
After that was done, the chest was put back, and everything else was replaced so there was no sign of any of his activities, Yahiko sat on his bed facing the wall and buried his head in his knees. The tears slowly began to trickle out of his eyes. Why? It feels good to finally be able to do these things without being strange or silly. And yet, his eyes continued to drip. He sniffled into the darkness of his knees. I can finally be me, and have it be okay. What's wrong? Somehow this thought only made him sob harder.
After half an hour, he was able to stop. His eyes were still puffy though, and he wanted to apologize to Nagato for locking the door on him, so Yahiko shivered in indecisive fear for five minutes before giving in and using some more contents of his chest to make his eyes look normal. He looked closely for five more minutes to make sure nobody else would reasonably be able to see it. It looked nearly invisible at first glance, but he kept finding patches where it clashed against his normal skin, and What if it looks too perfect? and What if by the time I see him, my eyes aren't puffy, so it looks different instead of normal? Yahiko eventually groaned, looked away for fifteen seconds, then gave himself a quick glance. He saw nothing. Stop it! I'm just freaking myself out. It's fine.
He then went to find Nagato. After much searching, he heard voices coming from Hidan's room. There was the sound of laughter. Yahiko opened the door, and saw Nagato and Hidan sitting on Hidan's barely-used bed. The scythe lay next to them, curling around behind Nagato like a giant cat. A black metal thingy was next to it, for some reason. Hidan was showing Nagato something on his phone, which was making Nagato blush underneath his broad smile. Nagato jerked backwards as he realized Yahiko was there, but Hidan simply turned his phone off and put it in his lap as he waved. "Heya, Sunshine!" Hidan was in female form.
"Hey." Once more, Yahiko was reminded that other people had better things to do than look at him as closely as he looked at himself. It's really good to have reminders of that. Hidan's awesome! He grinned at them both, laughing as the joy from his adventures with Transformation Jutsu returned. "Is this the best rainy day ever, or what?"
"It is!" Nagato nodded.
"Fuck yeah!" Hidan agreed. "Hey, as long as we've got this little interruption, where'd Konan go?"
"It was only raining lightly when we got back, so she went up to that spot she likes in the roof," Nagato explained. "I hope she's not still there. It sounds heavier now."
Yahiko fiddled with his hair. "I was, uh, busy, so I might not've noticed if she came back."
Hidan clapped his hands together in front of his face and concentrated. "Shhhh." After two minutes of silence, he opened his eyes and released his hands. "I picked up her tiredness, and I did not pick up coldness or that feeling like you're sick along with it, so she's good."
"Wait. You can broaden your sensory range by concentrating?" Nagato realized this was very useful information.
"Yeah, I can. It doesn't really take that much concentration to pick up the presence of a person; I just took that long because I had to tell what condition she was in, which is harder," Hidan explained.
"How far is your basic range when you're not concentrating?" Yahiko sat down on the bed with them.
"I've had my sleep messed with by you two, but not Konan, and she's almost definitely had dreams and shit that would've messed with my sleep. You two are right on the other side of the hallway, so, it's about the length of the hallway," Hidan calculated.
"Nice!" Yahiko looked around. "So if we put one person in each room with a distinct sensation and we have you at the end, in the lobby or something, and we measure the distance…"
"I'll volunteer to put my hand in ice water for that," Nagato enthused.
From Hidan's perspective, it was like floating. That was just what he felt like as the room filled with happiness, chatter, and the joy of planning.
------------
Support me on Patreon.com and leave a comment on this chapter if you like it or not. It will be more motivation for me.
And let me know if there are errors or mistakes.
You can read the advance chapters here : patreon.com/Vigilante04