ii.
Chapter Fifteen: Conversations with a Beast
"Even from the beginning that was the problem. People liked pretty things. People liked pretty things that wanted to kill and eat them." -Holly Black
"But perhaps the monsters needed to look out for each other every now and then." -Sarah Maas
Nanami crept forward with hushed chakra and silent feet. She did this because it was how she always moved about, regardless of Raven Eyes who was watching her with a guarded expression.
Oceans was in the kitchen, and she was… well, she was curious.
And they had left the door open.
Samehada leaned against the side of his bed, across from Itachi who sat on his own. He held a book in his lap, fingers gently turning pages in the quiet.
"Nanami." He warned softly. She nodded without looking at him, eyes glued to this new beast before her. It's chakra rose into the air, curling like steam and falling again like heavy water vapor- and it spoke to her.
It whispered of a never ending gnawing hunger, a pain deep within it's sentience that could never be fulfilled, and a sadness, a loneliness that reached out to touch the beings around it begging to be fed, to feel sated.
It was a cry no one could hear but her.
She stopped an arm's length away, and she listened.
It was like a song almost. Like a soft huum made with lips closed by a woman who could not speak and bore the burn scars to prove it. A deep sadness, eyes that didn't exist that looked at her in utter devastation- reaching out to convey things it knew no one could hear.
She heard it's ache, and from where she sat she reached out with a gentle tendril of chakra, and with a soft stroke like a mother's hand on her child's head she told Samehada of love, of fulfillment and purpose.
The sword shivered.
It shredded through the bandages that encased it and it's own chakra spiked, a high pitched whine with no real sound.
"Nanami." Raven Eyes said again, sharper this time- louder.
Samehada's chakra grasped at hers, pulling it in. Consuming what she offered to fill its baser drive; an all consuming need to be full, to feel… complete.
She could empathize with such a feeling. She knew hunger as well. She knew what it felt like to have your own body eat away at itself until there was no hunger any longer, only pain. Only the deep bone tired feel, the weakness that cradled you as you lay on the edge of death.
Nanami knew it would never attain the sensation it desired, so she tried to show it through her chakra. She thought of heavy meals with loved ones, that different kind of tired when one had eaten too much and eyelids drooped in satisfaction and contentment.
She was dimly aware through her conversation with the sentient sword that Itachi had risen from his bed and left the room with quick strides of long legs.
He returned with Oceans, and the two paused in the doorway.
His sword lay across her lap, and she made long strokes across its body, flowing with the sharp scales. Petting it like it was a good dog.
The things mouth was open, a droopy pleased sort of expression with a lolled tongue.
It was practically purring.
"Nanami, what are you doing?" Kisame asked her haltingly, and she looked up because it was Oceans and this was his sword and she felt (only a little bit) badly that she had approached his sword without permission.
"Nanami is talking to Samehada." She said quietly, with a soft indulgent sort of smile at the sword that was more than twice her size and attempting to wiggle fully into her lap.
"He said he was in need." She continued, offering the simple explanation.
Kisame's lips parted to show sharp teeth. "Of course she can," He breathed disbelievingly. "Of course she can talk to the fucking sword. Why the fuck not." He went on, silver eyes glued to said weapon.
"Can you get it off her." Raven Eyes asked his partner as he slid into the room giving a wide berth to Nanami and her cuddle buddy.
"He's a he, not an it." Nanami corrected Raven Eyes sagely. Raven Eyes didn't have anything to say to that.
Kisame approached with careful steps, and crouched down at her side. Samehada responded to his ambient chakra with a pleased sort of eagerness that told her he knew he would be fed as long as Oceans was around to wield him.
She smiled up at Oceans, "He will go with you if you ask." and silver eyes met hers with a furrowed brow.
He reached out and grasped the wagging, curling hilt and gently lifted it from her, careful of its scales that moved in and out like it was breathing.
It went with minimal complaint. Nanami lifted her hands away accommodatingly.
"He's a needy beast." She told Oceans. The shark man looked down at the sword in his hand and then over at the little doe eyed child.
"Yea, he kinda is, isn't he." he replied with quirked lips.
Raven Eyes let out a huff that wasn't quite a laugh but close enough.
Nanami shivered at the next tug of threads through her back. She picked at the tattered remains of her too small kimono mournfully. It was trash now, the thing was in scraps.
"Hold still." Beating Hearts quipped at her. She made a small noise in the back of her throat, because her back had three lovely new slanted gashes from shoulder blade to hip, and it hurt.
Loud blood sure was pissy today.
She shivered again which resulted in a particularly rough pinch of threads. She hissed between clenched teeth.
"I did warn you." Her Red Cloud said from behind her. She said nothing to that- because he had. Still, she tried very hard to do as he asked but she was practically naked now and her back was on fire, she was covered in blood and she felt disgusting and tired.
"Here Nanami-chan" She looked up from her position of laying on her belly across the couch with her head pillowed on her arm over the armrest. (She tried not to think about how she was bleeding all over the cushions, no one else cared so why should she? Even though it was kind of gross.)
Burning Earth stood there in his fishnet, his akatsuki cloak probably on the floor of his room, holding out a dark blue bed sheet to her.
He shrugged at her questioning look. "It's better than nothing, un. We don't have anything that will fit you." and with that he dropped it over her head and wandered off.
Nanami went to reach to pull it off but thought better of it, if she moved her arms Beating Hearts would probably lose his patience with her.
He'd told her to be still three times now. So she lay there instead, distracting herself by running her tongue over the peaks of her lower teeth.
"Fucking cunt." Hidan made himself known, pouting on the floor while waiting his turn.
"A good shinobi knows better than to drop his weapon." Kakuzu deadpanned while lifting her hip to reach the part of one of the gashes that curled around her side. She hissed again at the pulling sensation.
"I didn't think little bitch was going to fucking pick it up! It's like- twice her size, seriously!" Nanami giggled at the complaint.
Really, she only grabbed the thing because she'd been rolling over the top of the handle at the time and well- it was there, and his arm was reaching out to pull her hair again and she hated it when he did it.
She hadn't been planning on chopping his arm off, honest. (She didn't regret it though. The look on his face had been hilarious.)
"Perhaps we should provide her a more size appropriate weapon for removing your limbs then." Raven Eyes said wholly unconcerned from the table. His statement was punctuated by Oceans roaring laughter.
"Itachi- did you just make a joke?" He managed through chortles. Nanami wished she could look over at him and see his expression, but the flat of Kakuzu's hand between her shoulder blades holding her in place told her he was over her fidgeting.
"Shut the fuck up." Loud Blood grumbled.
"I would suggest clothing first." False Pieces added his two cents. A very valuable two cents in her opinion. The silky black threads paused in their work for a moment before they continued with an agreeable grunt from Kakuzu.
She was crawling into her cabinet to sleep a day later when she found them, neatly folded next to her blanket. She blinked at the black and red cloth, unsure for a moment.
These weren't here before…
Nanami plucked at the knot that held the dark blue cloth tied firmly around her. Maybe someone wanted their bedsheets back.
The next morning Oceans showed her how to cinch the fabric of her first ever pair of pants just below her knees and wrap them with bandages to keep the excess of cloth from getting in the way of her movements, he even showed her how to wrap the arches of her feet since she adamantly refused shoes. (They got in the way of her animal stance, and she needed the freedom of movement to keep up with Loud Blood. Plus, it was easier to feel the chakra in the ground without them.)
Hidan took one look at her dark red shirt that was the color of thick blood and made an approving noise low in his throat.
"Learn to dodge better bitch, that color makes you look less like shit." He complimented. She grinned at him, pleased.
AN: I know this chapter is short, so i'll be posting two today. I hope you enjoyed this tidbit- it's more like an interlude than a real chapter though. Please Read and Review :)