Deidara
"That is the sum total of everything we saw up there," Kakuzu finished. "It was hardly worth the trip."
"Not true!" Deidara slapped his ponytail from side to side in an effort to shake off what little droplets remained. "Some of it sounds really important, yeah."
Konan sat silently on the back stoop, staring out into the rain. She gave no indication of agreeing with either of them. Deidara wondered what toll this was taking on her. All her friends are dead, she's got her own problems to sort out, we have no idea what's happening, and on top of that she has to train all of us, too?! No way, hm. It's about time we pulled our own weight, yeah.
"I mean," Deidara continued. "It's kind of interesting how we saw some beds, but no knicknacks or a fridge or anything like that. It reminded me of camping, or the sort of stuff you might bring for a visit, yeah. Like us, but less dedicated."
"And?" Kakuzu pushed. "What's the point in finding traces of people who don't care about ninja things? Even if they did learn jutsu well enough to make those holes in that tree, the odds they'll be friendly and helpful are minimal."
Deidara shook his head. "You seriously going to ignore people just because they're as skeptical as you and Kisame were? That's hypocritical, hm! If they're at least trying, we should help, yeah. At least get to know them. They could probably use some reassurance."
"This is my idea of being reassuring. Do you honestly think a bunch of self-taught amateurs would appreciate being told everything we've been told?" Kakuzu asked. "If they still have a chance to stay out of this crap, let them."
"Out of the demons and werewolves and vampires and who knows what else, you mean?" Deidara snorted. "There's no way to stay out of that. The demons are already in town, yeah."
"Pretty minor demon," Kakuzu shot back.
"There are vampires," Konan whispered. She did not interrupt her vigil to say this.
Kakuzu raised his eyebrows, but thought better of asking her to elaborate. "If that's the case, you might have a point," he conceded to Deidara.
"...Yeah." Deidara struggled to do anything besides ask her to elaborate. "And, I mean, we don't have to tell them everything, yeah. It wouldn't help if they're too scared to explore their powers more. We could just tell them we're a little more experienced, and share what we know about chakra and what it can be used for and absolutely nothing else, yeah."
Kakuzu nodded. "Show them your bird and keep them away from the spiders, and they might buy it."
Deidara looked offended. "What, do you think I'd just surprise someone with giant spiders? I'm not some kind of sadist!"
Konan let their bickering fade into the background, which was worryingly easy to do. She shouldn't have been having so much trouble paying attention to them in the first place. She blamed it on the rain. The sound of heavy rain flooding down onto the world felt like a giant blanket. The realization of how much she'd missed this constant sound caused some pain, but not enough to outweigh its comforting effects. Thanks to the weight of the clouds, she felt safe and cozy. The only thing keeping her awake was being outside, where it was colder than she would've liked.
In her mind, she lazily turned over some practical considerations. The back stoop that they sat on was rather unsanitary. She mulled over several possible ways to clean it. Then there was her cloak. She had not forgotten the dilemma trying to clean it had raised. How could she wash her cloak after sitting here, without sacrificing respectability? She should get a replacement. Thank goodness there was time…
The sensation of falling alerted her to the news that her eyes had drifted closed at some point. Konan struggled valiantly, and was rewarded with the ability to sit up, and then to stand. She hurried to an actual bed as fast as her seemingly sedated limbs would allow.
Deidara and Kakuzu glanced at each other. Kakuzu shrugged. "Good thing we've gotten to the part where we don't need her anymore."
"Hey!" Deidara objected to that phrasing. "She's still valuable and everything, yeah. We're just informed and strong enough to take some of the burden off her shoulders, yeah."
"That's what I said." Kakuzu also wondered how much time, effort and/or money it would take to clean the surface they were currently sitting on.
Deidara checked his phone for the second time in five minutes. "Dammit! Kisame's still not answering my question, hm. He'd better have found something really interesting over there, yeah."
Kakuzu stretched. "I don't know why you're waiting. It's dark enough that I would expect him to stay wherever he is for the night." He followed Konan inside, wondering if Hidan was back yet.
Deidara sighed in impatient frustration. Kakuzu was probably right. Huh… If I want to help her out, take some of the responsibility off her… A metaphorical lightbulb lit up above Deidara's head. I should get a training partner! Well, if I'm going to get one of those, I need to figure out what I'm good at, bad at, who can help…
Deidara stayed on the back stoop. He crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and settled in to do a lot of thinking.
Kisame
I should thank Sakumo. It was kind of him to offer, and I do like being here. I probably will end up taking him up on that offer, so there's no point in pretending I won't.
Kisame took a deep breath in front of the mirror, and let it out slowly. Locking himself in the bathroom for however long it had been had done wonders. Granted, it had also fed Samehada's cuddly tendencies, so the shark was currently refusing to let go of him for any length of time, but Kisame figured that was okay. If Samehada was still clingy in the morning he'd have to deal with it. But for now, Kisame was actually grateful to the shark on his back. The familiar weight was reassuring.
"And how are you feeling?" he asked. Samehada made a low rumbling sound and shifted back and forth on Kisame's back as if settling into a bed. Kisame had no idea how to interpret that. "Well, ready or not, we'd better go. I should probably apologize to Sakumo."
Kisame found Sakumo, Mitsuki, a couple of other half tigers, and one half snake cleaning up. "Ah, there you are!" Sakumo stopped what he was doing and came over to talk with Kisame. "How are things?"
Kisame looked over his shoulder at his shark. "Same's being all cuddly, and I'm glad for it. Reassuring, and all that. Anyway, I wanted to say I'm on board with what you said earlier. I like spending time with you guys, and I have a lot more questions about those desert lizards. Besides, someone has to help Ruta put together a database, and Konan can't be asked to do all of it."
"Speaking of which…" Sakumo gestured for Kisame to follow him to a corner, away from the others. "How is she?" he asked in a quiet whisper. "She acted...pretty strangely when I met her. I don't know anything about her at all, really, but I'm concerned anyway."
"Would've been nice to be warned," Kisame muttered. "Yeah, she's not doing too well. Mitsuki said Hidan's been here?"
Sakumo nodded. "He left before anyone else returned, but Mitsuki told us about him. He sounds like a pleasant and kind man."
"As far as she's concerned, he's a lifesaver," Kisame explained. "Her issues are not helpful in dealing with other people. A few days ago, a bunch of us were thinking of leaving and never coming near here again after she stole Sasori's laptop. But that was before she helped us fight off a demon, and Hidan's doing everything he can to help, so that's been averted...for now. Actually, some people seem to be more determined to stick around for her, somehow. I'm worried that groupthink's setting in."
Sakumo opened his mouth to object, then thought better of it. "I wouldn't use that word, but I am wired differently. I think that's a good thing, that he's helping her and she's starting to get people who are loyal to her," he said while smiling. "Friends are some of the most crucial things one can have. I'm very optimistic about her odds, now that she has some."
"Eh." I don't really know what I think about the value of friendship anymore… "It's not as simple as that," Kisame muttered. "I would prefer it to be - it would save my heart some work, for one. But no, things have to be complicated."
Sakumo debated with himself quietly. Eventually, he said, "I won't tell you you're wrong. I don't know anything about your situation, after all. But, I am curious: Why do you say that things have to be complicated?"
Kisame growled. "Our originals. Maybe it would be different if she hadn't known them, but the reality is that she did know them, and part of Hidan's attempts to help her out is getting her to talk about them so she can move on. Nobody likes what they've heard. And, speaking strictly for myself here, my original would be getting in my way even if I didn't know anything about ninjas at all." He folded his arms across his chest, looking distinctly unhappy and more than a little irritated.
Sakumo looked worried. "How so? Maybe we can help."
Should I? Kisame reflected on what he knew, and realized that Sakumo and his group likely could help. "Yeah, you might be able to. Alright. According to her, my original lived in the seedy underbelly of ninja society, over in the 'Betrayal' district. Plenty of experience with backstabbing. I would normally be the first guy to call her out for lying...but I can't."
Kisame glanced over his shoulder at Samehada, who was listening intently to the story. "I didn't notice it until I broke Same out of the aquarium. The whole time, I was sure someone would come along and something horrible would happen. I was on high alert all the way out to the car, and for the entire ride back. Nothing actually happened, except for meeting a coworker of mine who, just as I'd been told she would, didn't care about Same at all. I had no reason to think she would care, but everything seemed far too easy. Every instinct I had was screaming at me that I had to go unnoticed, avoid other people, because if I didn't I would be attacked in some way, and it was a bad sign that I hadn't been already."
Kisame petted Samehada on the nose, which was very comforting. "That's actually the reason why I started to buy her story of us being clones of ninjas from another world. It was the only thing that explained why I had those instincts when, for as long as I can remember, I've never gone through anything that would lead me to be that paranoid. I don't like to think that any version of me could have been a backstabbing bastard, but it's the only rational explanation."
Kisame comforted himself with that quote famously attributed to Sherlock Holmes while Sakumo took a moment to digest this. Samehada licked the side of his face in an attempt to be comforting. So that was why he'd been acting strangely and being mean to the nice Janitor Lady! Samehada could understand this. The idea of learning bad things from the Originals did not make his head hurt at all. He wondered why Human Cousin hadn't talked about it before.
Sakumo clapped his hands. "Well, if there's one thing people like us know, it's how to make instincts useful. I'm sure we can retrain or learn to work around that, with enough time."
"I already have one suggestion," Kisame told him. "That's not the only time I've gotten jumpy for no reason. A while ago, when I was coming back the first time after making all of you rush for painkillers, it happened when I sensed someone waiting for me. It was just Ruta, not wanting to disturb me or Same. My suggestion is that you really should. It was his lurking in the shadows that caught my attention."
Sakumo nodded. "Most of us are already aware that it's a good idea not to surprise most kinds of wild animals, for exactly that reason. I'll tell everyone the same applies to you and Same, without stating why of course."
"Much appreciated." Kisame nodded at Sakumo. It's kind of nice to talk to someone who understands what I'm talking about as 'no big deal.' It's hard to feel strange or different here.
Samehada wriggled happily and crawled forward to lick Sakumo's face. Wolf Person was very nice! Samehada wanted to be friends with him very much.
Sakumo rubbed the small part of his cheek that Samehada had reached, which was already turning red from the shark's rough tongue. "Aw, he seems to like me."
Kisame agreed. "Knowing him, he'll want to play with you next. Speaking of which, now that I've found my way over here, do you want to know where we are?"
"Of course!" Sakumo's eyes were bright. "Did you imagine I would just wait for Hidan or Konan to drop by again? Of course not; I would like to visit them, and anyone else."
Kisame found his enthusiasm dangerous. "Be careful! Like I said, she's not doing too well. Fortunately, she's more tired than angry, but you should still be careful not to get too energetic. Try to come by in the morning, if you want to visit soon. And I would recommend visiting soon; she's still intimidating, even now. It could get worse when she recovers."
Sakumo nodded. "Thank you."
"That said, do you have a pen?" Sakumo led him past the others into the main room, where he located a writing utensil and a scrap of paper. Kisame wrote down the address of the hotel, and handed the scrap back.
Sakumo studied the writing carefully, looking confused. "I don't recognize it." Kisame provided directions for how to reach it from town.
Samehada went "Huh?" again as he noticed Sakumo's eyes start to go wide. The wolf ninja paled as soon as Kisame finished speaking. "Wait, you're -" he sputtered. "You're staying there?"
Kisame was instantly alert. He could not have ignored the concerned faces watching them from the doorway if he had tried. "Yes. Is there something wrong?"
Sakumo wrestled himself partially under control. "Well… Nothing exact. It's just that, whenever I go out with the wolves, they avoid that general area like the plague. Whenever I ask why, all they can tell me is that it's a bad place. Not scary; I'm quite sure their body language says bad. They'll happily go further west than that, but they always take a northward detour, no matter what."
"That makes sense." Kisame relaxed somewhat. "We have a demon living down the street from us. The entire place where he lives is visibly unnatural - the plants grow strangely, the road's crumbled, and it's haunted. I'm not surprised no animal wants to go near that."
Sakumo swallowed and stayed pale. Kisame hastened to add, "But he's a relatively friendly one. He does like to mess with people, so watch out for him playing tricks if you ever see him, but Hidan says he doesn't like to seriously hurt or kill anyone. He's a demonic little kid, so he just wants to look at interesting things and have fun. He seems to believe that local ninjas are the most interesting things around, so we're safe."
"Oh." Sakumo regained some color. "That's good to know." His eyes flicked sideways to his concerned clanmates. "In fact, it's something we should have asked you about before. Are there other things besides us in this world, and are any of them dangerous?"
Kisame chuckled. "There's a lot of other things around here. I could be here all day." He sobered as he considered the second half of Sakumo's question. "That said, at least one thing is definitely dangerous, and there are many more things that are too freaky or bizarre for anyone to know what they are, let alone describe them."
Sakumo nodded decisively. "Well, it won't do to be surprised."
I really hope he doesn't have to deal with half the list. It would be a shame if he did. Kisame found that he was beginning to be very concerned about Sakumo's group. Even if he'd only just met them, they were the most unique people he'd ever just met in his entire life. "I really hope you aren't. But you're right, so, let's see…" Definitely dangerous things: the demons in town. Ambiguously dangerous things: the lake, the demon kid, that freaky symbol in the basement, let's just add Hidan's entire god to the list while we're at it, and that's all I can remember. Harmless-looking things: that other kid, whatever Dei and Kakuzu spotted, and that's also all I can think of.
"Okay." Kisame began to list things off. "Near our place, there's the demon kid and a symbol Konan put in the basement. She says it's the symbol of the god Original Hidan worshipped, and that he's on our side, or whatever the godly equivalent is. He's tied to Hidan, so you people should be safe, but if you feel something creepy in the air that makes you feel paranoid when you visit, that's why. It's just a symbol, so making you feel scared is all it can do.
"Between us and town are the suburbs. There's nothing there, as far as anyone knows. In town, there are other demons. These ones are a different kind than the demon kid; they're less powerful, but much more threatening. We've spent the past week fighting off a succubus that was angry at us. She was angry at us because of theological disturbance caused by Hidan, so you're probably safe. But you still shouldn't go alone - she tried to steal Sasori's soul and got vicious with Yahiko, and who knows if there are more dangerous kinds of demons in town as well. On the plus side, there's another mysterious kid in town, and he looks like a toddler and likes to hide, so you don't need to worry about him."
The hotel, the suburbs, in town… "Then there's the forest. There's a lake near our base. It might be possessed - it looked entirely normal before, but when I got there earlier, it looked like it'd been very active until recently, in ways that lakes shouldn't be. I'll update you as we find out what the hell is going on out there. Dei and Kakuzu took a look from the sky, and saw another conveniently abandoned building where people might be staying. We don't know of anything else in these woods, but come on. All the evidence we have so far indicates that we might be living in a multi-universe everything-and-the-kitchen-sink fantasy story written by a complete hack, so keep your eyes peeled."
Sakumo nodded. "I'll ask the wolves to keep their noses open, as well. So, then, what about the abandoned houses?"
Kisame thought about the abandoned houses. After a second or two, he wished he hadn't. Oh, CRAP.
"I need to make a phone call thanks bye," he muttered as he walked quickly past Sakumo, down the hallway. Crap Crapity crap. How did we forget about that?! He cursed his phone for not turning on instantaneously, and for loading his messages at slower than light speed. He saw that he had several notifications from Deidara, probably about whatever the blonde and Kakuzu had found. Kisame didn't care, as long as Deidara was still available.
The phone picked up after one and a half rings. "Dei, it's Kisame," he snapped before the blond could get a word in. "I'll read your messages later. There's much more important shit to talk about." Samehada whined and pressed closer to Kisame, frightened by the tone in his voice. Kisame reminded himself to calm down and try to sound gentler.
"What is it, yeah?" Deidara sounded very worried as well. Kisame sighed.
"Do you remember what Hidan said a week ago, at that first meeting where Konan told us about Sakumo?"
He swore he could hear Deidara thinking on the other end. "Kind of…? I remember they started talking about weird things, and the wolf guy was one of those weird things…" Kisame also swore he could hear the lightbulb go off. "Oh, crap! How did I forget that?"
"Must've slipped our minds while we were fighting a bloodthirsty demon," Kisame muttered.
"Wait, wait, hold on, hm," Deidara continued. "Does that have to do with the vampires?"
"What?!"
Sakumo caught up to Kisame, carefully edging around the doorway. He ventured to ask, "Is everything alright?" Samehada whimpered and shook his head while trying to look smaller. Sakumo did not take this as a good sign.
Kisame, for once, did not notice. "Vampires? You think those creepy people-things he mentioned are vampires?" Kisame facepalmed. "Never mind, it makes perfect sense. But how do you know -"
"Konan said it," Deidara interrupted. "Just now, yeah. She said there are vampires. She didn't say where, or anything else, just that there are some, yeah."
"How the hell does she know there are vampires, and more importantly, when?" Swear to god, if she's been hiding things from us, I will be very angry about it, no matter how much sense it may make! Kisame knew very well that they'd been a little busy for the past few days, and such news would not have been well received, but he was much too emotional to accept logic at this moment.
"I don't know, hm!" Deidara sounded disturbed as well. "I'll go ask, yeah." Before Kisame could say anything more, he heard the *bleep* of Deidara disconnecting. He growled and turned around to see Sakumo even paler than before. The wolf ninja was almost as white as his hair.
This sight failed to have any impact on Kisame. That was the first warning sign. "Yes, we somehow managed to forget about strange people-shaped things living in or below the abandoned houses for a whole week," Kisame deadpanned. "That just goes to show you how fucked-up everything's been for the past week."
"Fucked up?" Mitsuki was the next to poke his head around the door frame. "What is?"
"In the past week, we've encountered a possessed lake, one ambiguously creepy demon, another definitely life-threatening demon, an ambiguously friendly but very creepy god, we don't know what's going on with Hidan or Konan, and who knows what else is in these woods," Kisame rattled off. "In all of that, we forgot about some weird nocturnal people who lurk in the abandoned houses west of town. It just really sets everything else in perspective."
Samehada warbled. When it was listed all together like that, he could easily see just how many cool things the Red Cloud humans had found. Some, like the vampires and the demons like that lady were bad, and Samehada growled at those. He would fight anything that tried to hurt his humans. But, as for the rest, they sounded really interesting, and Samehada had to wonder what would be next. Elves? Dragons?! He began to wag his tail and pant. Fire dragons would also be bad, but water dragons would be so much fun to play with! Samehada made cheerful yipping noises at the thought of splashing around in the lake with a water dragon. If the lake was possessed, it might even join in, and then there would be even more to play with!
Kisame grinned at Samehada's joy. "Sounds like someone's an optimist."
His phone rang. He picked up immediately and, for the benefit of the audience, put it on speakerphone. "Hey, Dei. You're on speaker."
"So are you, hm." Deidara cleared his throat. "Hidan's excited to hear about vampires, for some reason. Nagato says he thought of them before, but kept quiet because he didn't want to scare anyone, yeah. It's probably the same for her."
'Let's hope they're not angry at us for fighting in their territory," Kisame thought aloud. "What about the lake?"
There was the sound of muffled conversation. Kisame checked to see how Sakumo and Mitsuki were taking this. Sakumo was taking deep breaths that seemed to be only partially effective, as well as shaking his head back and forth like it was wet. Mitsuki looked thoughtful, and glanced between Kisame and Samehada and the phone.
After a few seconds of muffled conversation, they heard Deidara yelp, "What?! S-seriously?" More muffled conversation followed, in less calm tones of voice.
Deidara came back on. "That was Hidan, apparently. He uses bodies of water to unload all the negative feelings he piles up over time, yeah. He was in the lake all morning and early afternoon."
Kisame's ability to be surprised just...failed. He wondered if it would ever return. "Oh, well, at least we know he's friendly. That's fine."
Dead silence followed this. "Um...are you all right?" Deidara asked cautiously.
"Dangerously so," Kisame replied.
"..."
"Anyway, I had to ask because the wolf guy's interested in knowing what he needs to keep an eye out for. I've told him about the demon kid, the other demons, Jashin, and that place you looked at."
"Hey!" Hidan sounded righteously indignant.
There was a pause as the phone was handed over. "What about the other kid? The sad one?"
"I mentioned him too," Kisame answered. "I just forgot now."
Hidan snorted. "He's the sort of kid that's already got too much experience being forgotten. He deserves better!"
Deidara took his phone back. "Anything else, yeah?"
"I was just about to ask you," was Kisame's answer.
"Say hi to the wolves for me!" Yahiko. Of course.
"I can't think of anything else," Nagato concluded. "But we'll probably find something tomorrow."
"Yeah, probably." Kisame shook his head and wondered how concerned he should be at his easygoing tone. "Thanks, everyone. I'll be back tomorrow; the rain sounds heavy."
"Take care, yeah." *bleep*
Sakumo had recovered some color by this point. "Well, we don't go near the abandoned houses, especially not at night," he rationalized. "I'll just warn the wolves. These vampires can't be that active."
Kisame rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Hidan said they smelled like nothing except occasionally blood, so tell them to use their eyes, not noses. *sigh* A drink or five would be good right about now."
"I was just thinking the same thing," Mitsuki agreed.
"It's bizarre," Kisame continued. "I'm finding it impossible to be surprised right now. I don't know if I'll recover, or if this is permanent. It feels like my skepticism just gave up."
Mitsuki tugged on his sleeve and began leading them back towards the kitchen. "Good giving up or bad? Ruta might be interested…"
"Not now," Kisame groaned. "Not now."
Samehada growled to chase the bad feelings away and licked Kisame's cheek. If Human Cousin was learning to think like Curious Tiger Person, that was a good thing because it would not hurt to think in the future. He nuzzled Kisame's hair to make his message extra clear. This day had adventures, cousins, fun, and maybe water dragons! As far as Samehada was concerned, it was the best day ever.
In the forest
The rain was noisy. It made the air cold. But that was alright, because the dark person made a shelter. No rain fell under the shelter. The shelter made the tall tree a good place.
The air was still cold. Too cold. Warm stones would be better. There weren't any birds at the tall tree. They were all warm in nests. There was nothing crunchy or good tasting. The dark person had said to wait. So even though the wind was cold, waiting happened. Even though there were no birds, there was waiting. The dark person had been gone a long time.
A bird came. It was all bizarre colors, and streaky. It would not taste good. It was a dark bird. Dark birds were not real birds, and did not taste good. The bird hopped back and forth. It looked like it would be tasty. But it would only be tasty if it was not a dark bird. The bird stopped the game and came under the shelter. It felt the cold air. It made the shelter warm. Warm shelter was much better for waiting than cold shelter. It was a good bird. It had a soft head.
More dark birds came back. This was very, very good. It meant the dark person was back. They filled the sky and covered the forest, just like the real birds. They flew into the shelter and got smaller and smaller until there were no birds and there was only the dark person. The dark person was good. He made warmth. He laughed. He didn't have anything he was supposed to be, so he chose to be kind. That was a good choice.
The dark person laughed. "That was awesome!" he said. "Hey, you like the Sunshiny guy, right? Well, the lady got him and the other guy together, and taught him this thing that he could use to turn into a girl, and he was so embarrassed, but then he got back home and actually used it, and it was awesome! He loved it! He looks so pretty in that form! I don't get why he's so embarrassed, I really don't. And while he was doing that…"
The dark person had so much energy when he was happy. He could fly everywhere and do everything. Even though he was dark, he was bright too. He was all different. The dark person was good.
The dark person was talking about the shark person. "It would've been awesome if you could've seen them! They were lining up for headache pills, just like this." He made a row of birds. "Why do they get headaches when they hear about cool things? They're so weird!"
Weird? The dark person knew everything. How could something be weird? The people must be very interesting. Maybe they knew things. Like how not to be lost. The kind person was not lost. If he was not tired now, kind people could be together. Together means not lost.
The dark person was still talking. "And that's not even getting started on the ideas they were having!" He was so happy. He could go to the moon. It was always a good thing when the dark person was happy.
The shelter turned quiet. The dark person spit out a fire, which made light. His hair looked soft. It was soft! It was soft like the others that left their scraps of fur so they wouldn't get lost. The dark person giggled. He liked his hair being petted. The fire was warm. His head was warm. Everything was good.
"Promise?" the dark person asked. "I know his idea with healing bushes is super awesome and you might have been designed for it, but I like sitting in trees like this. Promise you'll always be here for me?" The dark person was sad. His eyes were big. He looked small like all the others except the big person. No. Don't be lonely. Lonely was bad. The dark person was silly. He was good and kind because he wanted to be. He could never be left alone. Did he know?
The dark person smiled. "Aw! You're nice." Not knowing? He couldn't be left alone because of himself, not because of anyone else. Why did the dark person not know things? He was supposed to be knowing things. It was like the birds that were supposed to fly. Scared. Why did he not know?
Also in the forest
A demon and a snake sat together in a tall tree that overlooked the entire forest, and which hosted large quantities of birds during the day. The snake curled into a little ball, squeezing his stuffed toy snake tighter. His eyes watered. He looked greatly upset.
The demon stopped what he was doing and examined this. Why was the little snake upset? He'd brought back news of interesting things; there was nothing bad to report. This was annoying. The demon boy got rather grumpy. He tried holding back his powers so some people could be interesting, and this was what he got? Might as well not have bothered.
"Hey," he demanded. The snake looked up, just a little. The demon boy banished guilty feelings far away. "I won't read your mind. That's the deal I made, with you and that other guy. No mind reading. So why are you sad?"
The snake boy sniffled, and raised a hand to his head. He shook his head from side to side. What? He wants me to read his mind? "No. I said no," the demon repeated. He crossed his arms and turned his head away. "Too much mind reading makes things less interesting. You're special, so you get treated specially. And that is that." He was fairly sure that was how interestingness worked. Pretty sure. Anyway, who cared? That was his decision, so nobody could question it.
The demon reached out with his darkness to snatch a bird's nest from a nearby tree. The frightened and panicking contents of that nest did wonders to cheer up the snake boy, or at least shut him up. "Cool!" the demon continued. "So you can hang out with this guy and teach him the mysteries of plants and everything. It'll be super fun! It's too bad he already knows about the wood spirits, though. It would've been cool if he'd angered one and it made a tree fall on him or something."
The snake boy looked up. The demon relented. "Okay, so not make a tree fall on him, but something interesting. He'd look cool with a scar!"
The little snake continued to look. The demon relented further. "No, I will not leave him a book on wood spirits. No way. He can not have a scar if he wants, but he's finding them by himself. It's more fun that way!"
The snake boy returned to petting his toy snake softly. The demon sniffed. "Want to go bowling with zombies? I made a bunch of pin shaped ones."
The snake boy was silent. The demon groused. "Well I need something to do! I can't see half of that other guy, and I want to! I'm going crazy here! We need to go bowling. If you don't want to go bowling, I'll just take the other guy bowling instead."
The little snake was still silent. He showed no reaction to the demon's threat at all. The demon boy settled down and mumbled resentfully, "Fine. I'll take him bowling, and I won't have any fun, because this is stupid." Secretly, the stupidity of friendship was the reason why he'd taken it up. There was just nothing to do otherwise. Why do not-boring things have to be hard? They weren't, really, but still. Was it natural for a demon to keep ghosts? He didn't know. He knew nothing about any other demon.
"Hey, do demons keep ghosts?" he asked. Maybe the snake would know. It was a little hard to tell what he did and didn't know without using mind-reading powers. If the little snake didn't know, maybe the other guy did.
The snake boy put down his toy snake and crawled into the demon's lap, surprising him. When was the last time he'd been surprised? The demon boy did not remember, and he usually remembered everything he learned. He wrapped his arms around the little snake and stroked the toddler's long black hair. It does feel kind of nice to pet something like this. Hey, why am I crying? The demon boy fell into an activity that he indulged in more and more, as other sources of interesting things ran dry. This activity was the contemplation of himself. It didn't make any sense how he could surprise himself, but he did. He had been surprised, for instance, to learn that assuming human shape was the start of an automatic process. Once he did so, he maintained the facade without any conscious effort, including such things as crying and blushing. It was almost like the experience of having a real body.
The snake boy hugged him back. The demon curled up and closed his eyes, focusing only on this: a person who wanted to be with him without any use of powers, who was kind of similar. "Thank you." It was nice to be hugged. The demon boy wondered if that was just part of taking the form of a child. There was still so much he didn't know about himself. He was beginning to think that he was somehow playing hide and seek with himself, using his own soul as the target. The other guy did something similar, didn't he? I'll ask him. After I invite him zombie bowling, of course, because zombies are the best bowling pins. You just roll a ball of ribs at them and BAM! Legs and everything just go flying! The demon boy giggled. Zombie bowling was awesome when he could find someone to play with.
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