A/N: Yes, I am aware that Konan's eyes are amber in the anime. (Well, at least, I am NOW...) However, Konan's eyes were gray in the first colored manga picture of her and I had heard that they were green in the anime. Therefore, I decided that Kouji's eyes could change color between the two. After all, my eyes commonly change color from gray, green, and blue; why can't his? Forgive me if this bothers you.

Beautiful

Summary: "Am I beautiful?" "You are God. You are always beautiful." And what a beautiful lie it was.

Words: 1,058

Characters: FemNagato (Naomi), MaleKonan (Kouji), FemPein (Mayu), FemYahiko (Yoshiko)

Warnings: None

Pairings: One-sided(?) NagaKonan

Disclaimer/Claimer: While the original Naruto characters do not belong to me, these GenderBender creations are mine. Do not steal them... EVER.

The routine went as it always did.

"Am I beautiful?" Naomi would ask in one of her Mayu bodies.

"You are God," Kouji would answer. "You are always beautiful."

And then he would kiss her before they parted ways.

The routine had begun normally that day. Naomi had simply questioned, "Am I beautiful?"

Except that she wasn't in a Mayu body; she was in her own fragile one.

And they weren't about to part ways. It had grown dark, most of the Akatsuki had already retired to bed, and Kouji had just helped Naomi with her nightly bath. Controlling Mayu and maintaining the other bodies weakened her. Thus, Kouji often had to help her with simple tasks such as walking and eating. Normally, she could manage to at least cleanse herself after he helped her into the tub, but there had been a battle and even Mayu had had to enter the fray. The use of the body's power had weakened her further, and Kouji had also had to assist her to bed and help her dress fully.

It was then that Naomi asked, "Am I beautiful?"

Kouji regarded her silently, glancing over her features: the damp red hair, the sunken cheeks, the dark marks beneath her gaunt eyes, the ribs that jutted painfully from beneath her small breasts, the distinct collar bone, the too thin limbs and waist, the waxy skin stretched almost painfully over the skeleton beneath...

"...You are God. You are always beautiful."

". . ."

Naomi wearily shut her eyes. "God should be young and beautiful."

"By whose decree?" Kouji inquired, sitting on the bed by her stick-like legs. So brittle...

"It's what the people expect," she replied.

"Since when does God care what the people expect?" the blue-haired nin asked quietly.

Naomi remained mute for a moment. "...Perhaps longer than she or anyone else thought she did," the red-head finally murmured.

". . ." Kouji had nothing to say to that, and thus, he did not attempt to speak.

Silence consumed the room for a long minute or so.

"...You didn't kiss me."

The blue-haired man shifted his gaze back to the unnaturally thin woman, who seemed no more than skin and bones. She stared mutely at him.

"You always kiss me," she elaborated quietly.

Kouji stared back and Naomi drifted in her thoughts.

She knew she wasn't beautiful. How could she be when she looked as she did? It was easier when she was Mayu, for no matter which body she chose she appeared attractive to those around. She had fat where there should be fat, rounded curves instead of jutting bones and painful angles. In those bodies, she felt truly beautiful, and she supposed that made it easy for him to add a kiss after his words.

However, when she was like this...

"Kiss me," she said in a near-whisper.

Kouji didn't move. Naomi had actually simply said as such to see if he would, and she almost regretted it.

Yet, he leaned towards her, hands reaching up to cup her face. His eyes watched her solemnly as he tilted her chin and bent his head towards hers.

"Don't force yourself," the red-haired woman spoke, halting him, in a tone that almost seemed mournfully wistful. "I know you don't want to..."

The origami master continued in his silence, but his companion heard his question.

"...I'm not ordering you as God," she whispered. "I'm asking as Naomi..."

Kouji observed her and wondered if she might cry, but her eyes remained dry and he thought not.

Naomi herself wondered if Kouji would do it, and if he did, would it mean anything? Would he disobey and do it as an order from God, or through pity, obligation as a friend? She dared not hope it'd be anything more than that.

Yet then, Kouji kissed her, fingers lightly pressing into the gaunt hollows of her cheeks. Against her will, Naomi's ringed Rinnegan eyes fell shut and she wondered if she might cry, unknowingly echoing her partner's earlier thoughts. She'd often pondered if she even had any fluid left within her as she felt so drained, so much like a shell sucked dry, but the saliva in her throat and blood that had a habit of dripping from her mouth when she overexerted herself stated otherwise.

As did the sudden, unexpected wetness in her eyes.

Kouji pulled away and the heat slipped from the red head's visible eye.

The man brushed it away, and an odd sound escaped Naomi. Eyes, now shifted to a pale green, lifted to her odd, ringed ones and he watched. He did not smile – Naomi had not seen him do as such in years – but his eyes were soft, and her vision blurred once more.

Was she still the "sister," the friend? Had he meant anything behind it at all?

It was strange, having him calmly observe her, wipe the tears... How odd it was to have the angel comfort God.

Rain pounded outside the room, and Kouji thought it fitting that the sky would cry with its god, that the people would know God's sadness... and pain. The emotion made his eyes soften further and lighten from their pale green to a lighted silver.

Gently, he kissed her again, what he had never done to her Mayu bodies but perhaps once with the Yoshiko one, and through her gasps, Naomi spoke three words. Kouji quietly responded a moment later.

"...You are God. You are always beautiful."

And things remained the same.