The Needle – Part 2
And here is the second part of Kiri's transformation, yay! Again, WARNING, rated M for blood. Should I maybe rate the whole story M? Hm… Nevermind, hope you like the outcome! REVIEW! :-D
He finally managed to make his way up to the beginning of her spine. "Monk Aang, are you coping?" They both gasped out in surprise as Siku's words pierced the tense silence that had filled the room. "I could use some air…" His voice sounded deeper than ever with a rough cling to it. Kiri smiled to herself down in the mattress, her cheeks burning a deep red. If only Siku knew how hot and weird it had been in here just moments ago. "Of course. Katara has started on dinner, maybe you could help her out?" As soon as Aang left the room, Kiri felt her muscles relaxing again. That had really been intense…
The spine was a nightmare. Every single prick of the needle felt like a knife cutting through her skin to leave it bleeding. Spirits, hear my words. Please help me go through this! she thought to herself as she finally let the tears stream down her face. Her mouth felt dry and tasted like a mixture of sand and perfume. If the test she'd gone through yesterday had been tough, it didn't measure with this. This was just unbearable. "Miss Kiri, when I reach your neck, we will have our break. You will then eat and shave your head and do whatever you need to do." Kiri wanted to sigh out in relief. She knew that they were over halfway through it and it wouldn't be long before Siku would reach her neck. A feeling of joy bubbled though her body along with the stabbing pain of the needle. Man, that wasn't something any child should be faced to do.
She and Aang had their dinner together in the room where she was being tattooed. She didn't want the others to ask her questions about the pain. She would have a breakdown if they did. When Kiri looked down her legs, she couldn't believe it was hers. The color of the arrows was a dark blue, almost purple that was dotted with her dried out blood. Not very appetizing. "Look at me" Aang said as they'd finished their meal together in silence. "I am so very proud of you Kiri, you can't believe what this means to me. And please don't think about what I said earlier about your hair… It will grow out." She smiled at him. The last thing was definitely something either Katara or Suki had told him to say. But she loved him for trying to sooth her. She wanted them to talk about the awkward situation they'd been going through before but she didn't know how to approach it. She wished she could just lay it out there, make it into something they could laugh about. But she didn't know how to. Aang got up and reached out a hand for her. "You ready to go bald?" She followed him without answering. Never…
She watched her own image with horror painted across her face. All of her hair was… Just gone? Just like that. It hadn't taken Aang long to get all of her beautiful blonde locks to be scattered over the floor behind her. Her face seemed so much bigger now; so round and… Manly. She felt manly. She saw Aang study her new look in the mirror. She immediately covered her face, saying: "Please don't look at me, I'm so ugly!" She felt the tears pricking at her eyes once more. Was this mood-changing whirlwind ever going to stop? She felt his arms surround her, his lips pushing at her… bald head. How can he kiss me? She really couldn't hold the tears back. He started humming a sweet melody that sent a mild bass through her tense body. "You may be regretting this decision right now, but trust me sweetie, when you're done, you'll feel so much better. Everything will make sense. And will you please stop saying that you're ugly? Nothing's ugly about you, you hear me?"
She felt like fainting. The pain in her forehead was worse than anything she'd ever felt. Even being burnt by evil firenation soldiers seemed to be like dancing on flowers and cake compared to this. The tears flowed down her cheeks and she couldn't get herself to look at the beautiful man right in front of her. Aang was the one who were to finish her tattoos. They'd been going all day and now, they'd passed midnight. Siku and the others had gone to bed. Kiri sat there with the towel wrapped around her body as her boyfriend pierced her thin skin on her forehead. "Please Kiri, sit still." Her body was almost uncontrollable. A mix of almost fainting from pain, exhaustion and wanting to run away, she found herself sobbing loudly. She knew this was hard on Aang but she couldn't control herself anymore. All day she'd been trying to show the others that she could handle this. But the truth was, had she been alone with the pain, she'd given up a long time ago. The needle just continued to stab her skin. Stab, stab, stab. She wanted to destroy it. A small drop of blood hit her lip. The smell of blood made it even more difficult for her to keep her internal fight. And then, the needle finally stopped.