Vampire Valentines

Vampires weren't real.

This was something everyone heard, when they hit a certain age- sometimes whispered by school kids, sometimes dismissively stated by high school friends. Vampires weren't real. No one believed vampires were real.

So how had they ended up like this?

The man before them sucked forlornly on something that could have easily been mistaken for a strange Capri-sun, but Nagato knew better. He knew better, because he had just provided the blood that filled the bag. And by just, he meant within the past five minutes.

Vampires weren't real. Vampirism, a mental illness, was real. So, obviously, this was a case of that. (Never mind that Nagato wasn't a doctor of any type. Never mind that Nagato had never seen someone's color return to them upon drinking from a pouch that held blood. never mind any of that- because vampires weren't real.)

Konan, for her worth, had studied the man before them sucking from the bag, sighed, and then said "Okay."

"Okay."

Nagato was about three seconds from a meltdown, if she said anything that calmly about this situation again. Her gaze landed on him, and he widened his eyes, an obvious clue for her to be concerned, but she just shrugged, lipstick coated lips curling into a faint smile.

"What? He's cute, and he didn't bite you, so it's probably fine."

Nagato, in response, stared harder at her.

The man before them acted as if he couldn't hear them.

"Oh stop, Nagato. Look at him, he looks like a pathetic wet cat sucking from the baggie. Goodness."

The not-vampire in question gave him the worst possible puppy-eyes, full of apology, and Nagato cringed.

"I-I just don't think this is a great way to meet someone? Maybe? Like, we could have started with your name?"

Finally, their mouth disconnected from the baggie.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry. Obito'll have my head if he realizes I've been this rude to you guys! My name's Suko."

Suko, as it turns out, was a new initiate in a group that thought they were actually vampires.

That was fine. It was fine. Nagato figured they were just coping the best way they could, that was fine. (never mind the fact that when they met Obito for the first time, the man's skin obviously scarred in a way that would have killed a normal human, he had introduced himself by shaking nagato's hand with the arm covered in thick scarring and miss-match patches of discolored skin, and when he smiled, Nagato was fairly sure he saw sharp teeth flash. Never mind ANY of that. Vampires weren't real, and vampirism was real, but a whole group- nope. no. vampires weren't real. Obviously.)

Konan took it surprisingly well. Nagato had followed behind her as she introduced herself to person after person, Suko following behind the two of them, pouch of blood changed out for a glass of water, which he sucked through a straw.

He caught sight of a different, familiar blonde, when he turned his head, and when he looked back, it was gone, but it was enough for him to grab Konan's elbow.

"H-hold on," he started, gaze sweeping over the scattered heads. Some bent over a table, some leaning against walls, some in comfortable chairs- and there it was again, that familiar blonde, just out of the corner of his eye.

Konan watched him, her head tilted to the side as he let go of her arm and turned his head, following the blonde as it darted away from his sight again and disappeared around a corner.

"i-I think I saw someone I knew-" he starts, and when he turns to Konan, he can see that she understands.

Suko, curiously, tilts his head, but doesn't interrupt as Konan turns to where Nagato had just been looking.

"That way?"

Suko turned as well, and their face thinned slightly.

"Ah, we might need to get permission from Obito to go that way," he starts, and as if he heard him, Obito appeared next to him.

"What's up?"

Nagato was not going to acknowledge the implications of Obito hearing Suko say his name once. Suko, instead of looking surprised or even shocked, just motions to the hallway the blonde had disappeared down.

"Do you think they'll be okay to go see him?"

Obito scanned his gaze over the two of them, squinting, before nodding his head.

"Yeah, I don't see why not. Just make sure they don't overwhelm him, okay?"

Suko gives a mock salute, but his hand shakes a little as he turns to them.

"Come on! We'll have to be really careful, and quiet, but we can go that way, if you want to see if you can find what you saw?"

Nagato doesn't wait for more than that, surging ahead, his crutches clicking against the floor as he walks. Speed walked? He moved with purpose. Suko gave a strangled sound and hurried to catch up to him, leading ahead of Nagato.

"Quiet, remember. He's really... sensitive. He probably already knew you were here, honestly, but..."

Emotions tangled in Nagato's gut, while Konan, now walking beside him, looked confused, and interested. (Beneath it, shifting under the mask she had on, he could see her hope, from what she had read in his eyes.)

They were both hoping. Nagato almost hoped he was wrong, that it wasn't who he thought it was, just someone with hair the same color and length. Not that it was hard, he'd seen plenty of blondes out of the corner of his eye that made him think of- of him, only to turn and realize his mind was filling in the blanks, tricking him.

But if it was him... and he was here... it would explain a lot. (It would explain too much.)

Each turn they took down the halls muffled the sounds behind him, disorienting Nagato until he was truly lost, reliant on Suko to lead them the rest of the way to where they needed to go, and Konan, who had a simply unheard of sense of direction, who could lead them back, if Suko left them.

When Suko finally stopped, it was in front of a simple door, with reliefs carved into the dark wood, and he paused, resting a hand against the door and turning to them.

"I don't know what you guys are looking for, but you won't... hurt him, right?"

Nagato rears back at the question, and Konan puts a hand on his shoulder.

"No, Suko. We aren't here to hurt- anyone. And if he's the person Nagato thinks he is- we are planning on doing the opposite, actually."

Konan presses against his back, a support of its own, and he presses himself into her, breath shuddering in his lungs.

"We won;t hurt anyone, Suko. Promise. Now, please-?" Suko nods, pushing the door open. The room the door leads into is - familiar. Achingly so.

Hanging from the ceiling are origami cranes, displayed on thin wires, and Nagato can feel Konan's breath catch, with how close he is to her. Some of them are made of card-stock, clumsily folded in an attempt to match the pretty folds of the originals made of thin, delicate paper. Some of them are smudged; ink coating them. A few are charred, and those are closer to the ceiling, out of the way of any possibly accidental bumps to destroy their integrity any more. Along the walls- along the walls are dozens of pictures. Old pictures, pictures Nagato knows intimately. He had his own copies of them, hung up in his and Konan's room. Konan had put hers away to allow Nagato to hang his own up. A paper sun spins idly from a breeze neither of them feel, hung in the center of it all, and Konan makes a sound in her throat when she sees it.

Nagato feels the same way.

The floor is hardwood, and his crutches click loudly across it as he steps further into the room. It's like walking into a time capsule, from before the fire, from before- before all of it.

The bed pressed up against the far wall, the small stuffed animal that sits against the headboard. Singed, dark and dirty, almost entirely unremarkable, if Nagato didn't know it so well. Konan stutters behind him, but Nagato doesn't stop, surging forward towards the bed. It's... bigger, now. Sized to fit someone who grew out of a smaller child's bed, and Nagato wavers for a moment, unsure, steps paused by the foot of the bed as he stares at it.

But- no, that bear, there, on the edge of its seam, the purple dye that Konan had spilled on it when they were all eight, and there, on the pillow, and the blanket itself- both items, though not the exact same, were near enough replicas. No, Nagato knew this room. It was exactly like stepping into a time capsule.

Suko closed the door behind them as they all walked into the room, and Nagato heard a sound after that, so he turned- and there he was.

Standing behind the door, as if it would hide him.

Konan sees where his gaze freezes, and she turns as well, and the sound she makes is- something painful. Strangled. Her hand comes up to cover the lipstick on her mouth- her mouth in general, honestly, and Nagato feels like he should be doing the same.

His eyes are a different color now, purple compared to what they had been at the first night they met, and when Yahiko blinks, there is an odd sheen to them, as if he might try to cry.

Yahiko doesn't move forward to them. Konan closes the distance between them, and then hesitates, her hand in front of his face as she looks at him. She's asking the same question he's thinking with her eyes on his face, and Yahiko leans into the hand she offers, silently.

Konan gives another sound, and Nagato isn't fast enough to keep her from collapsing, but for once- for once, the first time in years, Yahiko is there. Yahiko catches her, and the two of them sink to the ground. He wasn't as close to Yahiko and Konan was- he wanted to be, they were all friends- but he wasn't nearly as close. Yahiko had been there- probably longer than Nagato had, for Konan. A few months was a long time to get painfully attached to someone, and Konan was like that with Nagato, but she had been worse with Yahiko.

And when the fire- when the fire took down the orphanage- well, Nagato hadn't been very good at keeping Konan together by himself, but he had had to assume, when rescue came and Yahiko didn't come out, that he would have to be the one doing it for the rest of their lives.

And yet here he was. Here he was, holding Konan as she sobbed and hiccuped, grip tight enough on his shirt that Nagato could see from here her knuckles were white. She was mumbling something to Yahiko, but Nagato didn't need to be close to know what it was. She was telling him not to leave her again. It was what she said every night in her sleep, when Nagato couldn't sleep himself and curled up around her. It was something he had said himself, a long time ago. Suko approached Nagato, leaving Konan to clutch at Yahiko like the lifeline he was, and instead focused his attention on Nagato.

"You two... know him?"

Nagato looked from him to Konan, to Yahiko, who wouldn't look at him.

"... Yeah. We met- when we were still children. Konan met him before I did, but-"

Nagato pauses, turning his attention to Suko.

"How long did you say you've been here?"

"Ah? Uh, a couple weeks?"

Nagato hums, his attention turning to Yahiko.

"and... him?"

"Oh, Pein's be-"

"Who?"

"Him? His name's Pein?"

Nagato paused for a long time.

He knew that name. He'd heard it whispered, before; when he and Konan were still in school, that no one was to mess with them or they would have to answer to Pein. But then that would mean-

"How long did you say?"

"Oh! Yeah, uhm, pretty much from the start? Him and Obito have been, uh,"

Suko hesitates, as if expecting Nagato to stop him again, but he just waits, quiet and expectant.

"Right, well he and Obito are pretty much the foundation for this."

the foundation. For a whole group of people that trusted each other. And Pein- Yahiko- had been there from the beginning.

"Oh, I see. Thank you."

"Yeah, uh- no... problem?"

Suko sounds unsure, and Nagato offers him a slight, warm smile. In response, Suko blushes, and starts stuttering. His own smile turns shy, and he turns his attention back to Konan and Yahiko, who's pulling them up to stand finally.

"I..."

and that's another shock. The last time they'd heard him, his voice had been crackly with puberty, but now it had set into itself, and he sounded- soft. Unsure.

That wasn't like Yahiko at all.

"There's a lot that I need to tell the two of you. But please- believe me when I say I wanted- every day-"

He can't seem to make the words come, and neither of them force them to come.

Instead, Yahiko pauses at the sight of Suko still in the room, and tilts his head to the door with a slight, apologetic smile.

Suko hurries out the door, pausing to hesitate for a moment before throwing Konan and Nagato a hesitant, friendly wave in goodbye, that they return before the door shuts, and leaves them in the presence of a ghost.

"Lets... let's start with the fire. Make yourselves comfortable, please! This... this may take a while."

A while is an understatement. Konan cries multiple times throughout Yhaiko's story, and each time she does they stop to cuddle around her, like when they were children. Nagato's crutches were abandoned at the foot of the bed, resting against the foot board as they sat with their knees touching, Konan alternating between leaning on his shoulder and leaning on Yahiko's shoulder.

He had been saved by a man named Madara, who had promised he would survive, but he would need to follow Madara's word if he wanted to. Madara was- well. Madara was certainly someone that neither of them wanted to meet. Obito had originally been brought up as Madara's protege, meant to take his place when the old man finally succumbed to the poison that Hunters had gotten into him- (And yes, Nagato was still trying to come to terms with the fact that Vampires existed, his best friend from childhood was one, and that vampire hunters existed as well. Apparently, there was a lot more to learn, too.)- but when the old man finally died, Obito showed no interest in creating a world where humans were livestock, living in a fantasy world brought on by hallucinogens.

Obito had lost more than enough due to Madara, it appeared, and had kept his hand close to his chest until the old man had finally kicked the bucket.

Nagato couldn't blame him. It sounded like Obito had been alive for a long time, his losses old wounds, compared to Yahiko, for Nagato and Konan. As for pein- it was an alias. Partly to protect them- honestly, how often did they hear the name Yahiko being thrown around- but also to protect himself. Everyone knew that his body had never been recovered from the fire. If it got out that his name was circulating, Yahiko didn't doubt that someone would try to hunt him down.

"So then..." Konan starts, and Nagato knows what she's about to ask before she does.

Why didn't he come back?

Yahiko looks pained, and he reaches over to her, gripping her hands in his.

"I wanted to. I did, I really-"

His head hangs, and he grips her hands tighter in his own, his breath shuddering. Now, apparently, it was Yahiko's turn to break down. (Nagato could admit it had been a long time coming.)

"I wanted to, but I didn't think you two would believe me. That you'd shrug me off for being a freak, for- for-"

"For pretending to be Yahiko, when you were Yahiko. But Yahiko- I- We would never do that to you-"

"We recognized you."

Yahiko silently nods, pressing Konan's hands to his chest as he hunches over her, and if his heart were still beating, she'd be able to feel it under her palm.

"I didn't think you would. I'm sorry."

Konan turns her hands slightly, and Yahiko makes a quiet, wounded sound, as if he's scared she's taking her hands away, but she just uses the different grip to pull him into a hug- this time with his face pressed into her chest. She doesn't hesitate a moment to tug Nagato into it too, and they surround each other in the familiarity of home.

Home, that had been missing for years already. That was still incomplete, but was far closer to complete than it had been in- in far too many years for Nagato to want to count.

Yahiko and Konan wore each other out with their tears. Nagato watched them sleep for a little while- though Yahiko seemed more like a corpse, and that was what finally drove him from the bed and out of the room, crutches firmly under his hands.

He wandered the hall for what felt like hours, drifting from room to room, finding locked doors or silent, unoccupied rooms. Finally, he found a couch he could sit on, and he took the reprieve gratefully, well and truly lost- due to his own lack of direction, no doubt, but still a frustrating situation nonetheless.

A sound had Nagato twitching, and his attention spun around the hall, gaze flicking from side to side before a form appeared, and Nagato went to stand- to threaten what was possibly a vampire- when the light fell on them, illuminating Suko.

"Oh," Nagato managed, slumping back into the couch he had claimed for the moment.

Suko offered a shy, nervous smile in response, closing the last few feet between them to lean on the wall next to the couch.

"What are you doing out here?" Suko asks, and Nagato, to cover his embarrassment, raises a brow at the other.

"I could ask you the same?"

Suko rubs the back of their neck, and gives a quiet laugh.

"I ah... well, I live here, and I was going to go get a snack."

Nagato feels a little faint when he remembers he had offered the vampire before him some of his blood. It was- it was fine. Nothing had happened so far, anyways.

"Ah, I see."

"And you?"

Nagato floundered, for a second, and Suko gave another quiet laugh- not mocking, just... soft.

"Lost?” Suko prompts, and Nagato slumps with a sigh.

"I- yeah... Turns out... I'm not very good with, ah, directions."

Suko nods, offering Nagato a hand.

"I could help you? To wherever you want to go. By that I mean lead you, of course, and-"

Suko stumbles over their words, and Yahiko grins slightly.

"Sure. I was going to get a glass of water, and then go back to the- to- to my friend's room."

Yahiko, pein? He wasn't sure what to call him around the other vampire, so he just didn't call him anything other than what he was, beneath the names he wore. His friend.

Suko nods, and Nagato stands, motioning for Suko to lead the way.

Suko does.

Time passes... strangely, in Yahiko's... 'base', for lack of better words. There are no windows, and Nagato wonders if the myth about vampires turning into dust in the sunlight is true- at least, until Yahiko takes them out one afternoon, his only protection was some sunscreen he slapped on, and the only result is a little bit of cherry-redness. Apparently. they didn't bust into a pile of dust- just burned. really, really easily. It didn't, in Nagato's opinion, explain why they didn't have any windows, but... Nagato wasn't the architect for the base. Just a guest.

Just a guest.

Yahiko and Konan had gone out for the day, and left Nagato to his own devices- mostly at his own request. He'd been using his crutches a lot the past few days, and hadn't think to bring his wheelchair with him- so he wanted a day of rest. Yahiko had offered to carry him, and Nagato knew he meant it, and likely could do it, but he was... tired, really. Not of spending time with Yahiko and Konan- they were his best friends, and- everything, to him- but physically. He found himself wandering the halls of Yahiko's base while Yahiko slept and Konan either slept curled around him or folding new origami cranes to replace the singed ones and the ones lost to the fire.

Each time he wandered off, he either came across Obito, or Suko.

Obito wouldn't offer much else than a nod in greeting, but Suko would often take time to sit with him- when he was sitting- or stand against the wall next to him, speaking about whatever inane thing came to mind to fill the silence. It wasn't awkward, it was nice. Really nice. Nagato enjoyed it a lot. It probably shouldn't have been much of a surprise, then, that when someone knocked on the door and opened it, it was Suko.

"Hey! I heard you had decided to stay behind today? And, well! I just wanted to make sure everything was okay."

Suko fidgets in the doorway, and almost looks like he expects Nagato to turn him away, but Nagato waves him in.

"Thanks, Suko. For worrying. But I'm alright! Mostly just... tired. Physically! My late night walks are kind of... messing me up, as it were. And my crutches are rubbing the underside of my arms raw."

Nagato offers a slight, humorless laugh, motioning to the items in question, resting against the side of the bed once more. Suko's gaze follows before it returns to Nagato, confusion etched between his brows.

"Why don't you just have Yahiko carry you? Or use a-"

"Wheelchair? I didn't bring mine. I wasn't... expecting to do so much walking, haha. I was actually trying to figure out a way to get back home to grab it."

Suko fidgets for a moment, before straightening their shoulders.

"I could... I could help? Get a wheelchair, I mean-"

"I- I appreciate it, Suko, but I would rather-"

"I mean- your wheelchair, of course, and it's yours so of course you're worried about it- I just thought, that,"

Nagato tilts his head, silently encouraging more from the vampire at the door (And finally, Nagato had had to come to terms with that little tidbit), and Suko fidgets again before he continues.

"I was just... offering, because it might be faster for me to go get it for you. I mean- not like I have superspeed and obviously you'd be able to get it yourself! No doubt! But there's... a lot of stairs between here and the top levels to the door, and you were just stating you were really tired, right? and the crutches were rubbing under your arms? I- ah, I'm sorry. I don't know where I'm going with this, haha. I uh, I'll just-"

Nagato waves his hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it. You're trying to help. And I... appreciate it. I think- yeah, I think it would be good if you went and got my wheelchair. Here, let me-" Suko shifts, pushing himself to the edge of the bed, grabbing his crutches and hooking them under his arms. Suko fidgets, but doesn't rush to help him, and Nagato appreciates it, as he turns to the bag laying against the wall.

It's Konan’s, decorated in little gaudy hanging bats and carefully preserved origami, and he jostles it open gently, digging through it for their apartment keys.

"We're on the South-side, in the Paper Hill apartments. Um- number 112,"

Suko pays rapt attention to everything he says, nodding along as he explains how to get to their apartment.

"And if you could- there's a lot here, but Konan has this- origami paper, that's her favorite. There's a stack of it by the couch in the living room. I understand if the chair is too much-"

"No! No, no problem at all! I'd be happy to grab them for her!" Suko smiles widely, taking the keys as Nagato passes them over, and Nagato smiles back, something small but warm.

For it, Suko flusters, stumbling over his words as he gives Nagato a brief goodbye and flees the room.

Nagato makes his way back to the bed, snagging the stuffed animal from the head rest to hold against his chest.

Yahiko's room in the base was an amalgamation of all of their rooms. Konan's hanging origami, Nagato's stuffed animals, Yahiko's bedspread. It was painfully familiar, in a way that many things- including he and Konan's own apartment- had not been, missing the touch of their sunshine boy.

Konan had commented on it, a little, when they had first moved in. What Yahiko would have brought to the space, How he would have helped it feel more like home. Nagato had agreed that he would have done exactly that, but there was nothing either of them thought could be done about it.

Turns out he had been living a few miles from their apartment this entire time. It was entirely too easy, after they got the help of the rest of- the vampires- to move their things into the unused rooms down Yahiko's hall, right next to him, the same way they always had been when they were children, and settle back into the feeling of home. More often than not, they found themselves in Yahiko's room. Even now, years after they had first lost him, he was the center of their trio.

Neither of them minded much.

Nagato got closer with Suko. It wasn't that hard, they were kind, and funny, and didn't treat him like glass, and Nagato thought that that was... really nice. Comforting, in a way a lot of others hadn't been. Obito was nice, too; he'd asked about Nagato's crutches, the stickers and designs stitched into his wheelchair, and Nagato had answered. It was nice not to be treated like a novelty, in his opinion, and they never treated him like one- aside from the humanity thing.

No one pushed for them to become vampires, either. That was a little strange, because all the- ahem, books- Nagato had read always stated that Vampires liked to keep their existence secret, and if they were found out they would make anyone who found out join their- group of vampires. (Nagato refused to call it a coven or a clan. It was too... well. He didn't like using the term. It was weird, in his opinion.)

But that didn't mean they didn't know how to react to him and Konan's humanity. Konan had made them breakfast, (after Yahiko admitted that he could still eat human food, it just didn't do anything for him nutrition-wise) and Obito had stared at them like they were weird, for making eggs, bacon, and pancakes, and stared at Yahiko like he was weird for eating it.

Yahiko, like the little troublemaker he had always been, kept direct eye contact with Obito as he chewed and swallowed a slice of his pancake. Obito, for his worth, just wrinkled his nose and left the room. (Suko had exposed him later for sneaking in when they had put the leftovers away to snag a few pieces of bacon- they'd watched him scarf them down, and then glare at the fridge like it was the source of his problems, before he had grabbed the blood pouch he had supposedly gone for and leaving.)

Things settled into a new normal. It wasn't the same- it was impossible for it to be the same; Yahiko was a vampire that they had thought dead for the past handful of years- but it was... nice. It was really nice. It felt like coming home after a long day, and Nagato bathed in the feeling. He didn't know if they'd be able to keep this, and he lived everyday like that.

It took a little time for their lease to default, but by that time Yahiko had managed to wipe their names from a lot of things. Turns out he was pretty handy after his supposed death, and had learned a lot of skills to keep himself- and the rest of the vampires under his care- protected from Hunters. Nagato was grateful. He didn't have to worry about any more debt, and neither did Konan- both of them had been wiped from the NDD, and that was a relief.

(Enough of a relief that Konan had kissed Yahiko on the cheek, and then both of them had gone cherry red. Nagato had laughed, good natured at them, and they had offered him a sheepish smile.)

He was happy that they were returning to what he had seen them as before Yahiko's death. He was happy, and he didn't feel left out- they never ignored him, or avoided him. They included him in their plans, and offered to bring him along when they went out together. It was nice. It was just like home, for Nagato.

Of course, he refused to take any more time that the two had together, so he often waved them off, and despite their gentle insistence that they wanted him there, he would affectionately dismiss it and encourage them to go. They would, eventually, every time, but they still asked, still tried to bring him, every time, too.

It just meant he got to spend time with Suko, however, while they were out. Suko had become a fast friend, and Nagato realized he was starting to feel the same way he did about Yahiko and Konan, with Suko. It didn't scare him, though. They'd always been nice, and Nagato knew not to push any lines.

And so it went, for a few months. Nagato and Suko would hang out while Konan and Yahiko went on a date after trying and failing to get Nagato to agree to come with them. Obito migrated between the two groups, integrating himself seamlessly into the strange dynamic they settled into, and things became peaceful, easy.

Until it wasn't. The first sign of trouble was Yahiko's computer making a sound, and Yahiko himself jerking up, head whipping towards it. Nagato was half-awake, blinking at the blonde as he scrambled out of bed, murmuring something under his breath as he clicked his computer on.

The second was Obito, nearly breaking the door down.

And then it went to chaos.

Hunters had found the base. Yahiko wasn't sure how- nor, for that matter, were any of them, but there were two, sneaking into the base as they spoke. A young man, and a young woman. Yahiko had them pulled up on the security feed, and when Obito saw them, he went rigid.

They looked to be the same age as himself and Konan- maybe a few years younger, or older, if the white hair of the young man was anything to go by. The young woman had interesting marks on her face, and Obito had shakily collapsed into a seat next to Yahiko, before grabbing the man by the shoulders.

"Don't- don't, don't hurt them. Don't- I-"

Nagato didn't know what was going on, and for a second it looked like Yahiko didn't either, before his gaze flicked between the screen again and Obito's anguished expression, and something clicked.

"They're-? Okay. Okay, okay. Okay. We can- yeah. I can fix this. I can- it's okay, Obito. Nagato, or- Konan, one of you, please- just-"

Nagato scrambled out of bed as fast as he could with Konan at his side, and they both crowded around Obito, who was still and silent, looking at the screen of the computer like it was physically harming him.

Things were touch and go for a while. Yahiko left, and Konan followed after him, panic in her voice- but Obito didn't move, watching as the two appeared on screen in front of the intruders. Konan's hair was soft lavender on the screen, and Yahiko's was, as always, a golden halo. They spoke- or it looked like they spoke- and then something flashed on the screen- and both of them heard Yahiko's scream as Konan crumpled.

Nagato doesn't remember much after that. He remembers flashes; the woman's face going pale as Konan bled, Suko's reddish blonde head dashing into the hallway. Obito gripped him tightly, finally pulled from his catatonic state just in time for Nagato to fall into his own. The stench of blood as Konan was carried into their room by Yahiko. Suko and Obito usher them all out until just Suko and Konan remained.

Hours. Hours of waiting. In the hallway with them, the man and the woman who had been on screen kept staring at Obito, but Obito didn't look at them. His attention was focused on Nagato, who was coming around to fade out over and over again- until the door opened.

Everyone's head flicked up, gaze sharp on the medic that came out, but he only called Yahiko in, face thin.

The door shut, and Obito tensed, squeezing Nagato to his side.

"She's still her. Whatever happens, she's still her."

Nagato, finally conscious, finally aware, understands the second meaning of the words he says.

even if she was still a vampire, she was still her. Still Konan.

Waking her up after, when the other two- Kakashi, and Rin, as Nagato had come to find- were still there, was... hard. They had jerked to their feet when she had come out, and Rin had gone to pull something out of her pocket, but Yahiko was in front of Konan faster than Nagato's eyes could track, and he was glaring at the woman, whose hand stuttered and then fell to her side. The white-haired man rested his hand on her shoulder, and they both sank to their seats again, leaving Nagato to stand and throw himself at Konan with a choked sob of relief.

"You're okay," he whispers into her shoulder, and she hugs him tight enough that stars burst across the backs of his eyelids.

"Suko and Yahiko- they're why. But I'm okay. I'm okay."

It was a little harder, from then on. Konan and Yahiko disappeared more often, though Kakashi and Rin stayed behind, which meant that Nagato tried not to leave the room lest he run into one of them by accident and try to kill them with his crutches for hurting his best friend slash crush. Accident or not, job or not. She had been harmed by their ignorance, and he refused to let that go.

So instead, he spent a lot of time in Yahiko's room with Suko. Obito was mostly with Rin and Kakashi, and Suko and Nagato pieced together that that was what he had lost- or, assumed he had lost. They had thought Madara- the vampire that had changed Obito- had killed him, and had dedicated the past decade to tracking him down and killing him to avenge Obito. Finding Obito alive- changed, a vampire, but still alive, was, for them, the same way it was for he and Konan- but he couldn't draw the parallels he may have if Rin hadn't hurt Konan.

Instead he put all his focus into hanging out with Suko, and Yahiko and Konan when they were done training Konan. Unsurprisingly, she had some skill with creating deadly weapons out of her origami paper, now that she was a vampire. Nagato joked offhand that his skill would be beating ableists up with his crutches, and Konan had laughed so hard she spewed water out of her nose.

Nagato felt... lonelier. He wasn't the only human in the base, but he refused to speak to Rin or Kakashi until he heard a sincere, heartfelt apology from one- or both- of them aimed at Konan, which meant most of his time was spent around his third best friend slash new crush, Suko.

It was nice, though. They'd already spent a lot of time together, but the months that had passed had brought them even closer, and it was easy for the two of them to banter.

"What do you think of amusement parks?"

Suko asks, out of the blue, and Nagato looks up from the book he was reading.

"Amusement parks?"

"Yeah! You know, rides, candy, pay to play games-"

To illustrate his point, Suko pantomimes throwing an item and cheering, picking the stuffed animal on the headboard up gently to hand to Nagato, who laughs.

"I... Don't know. I've never been to one."

"Seriously?!"

"Seriously. It's not exactly like Konan and I had all the free time in the world, you know, and..." he pauses, motioning to the crutches, and then the wheelchair.

"They're not always accessible."

"Bah! The one on the boardwalk is. They take really good care of their ramps, and there's plenty of seating space. Would you- I mean, that is- do you want-"

Whatever Suko was going to ask was interrupted- cruelly- by Yahiko and Konan's early return, prompting Suko into stumbling out a greeting and a goodbye in one breath before he practically disappeared from the room. Suko was always very shy, but now it seemed worse, after Konan and Yahiko's untimely interruption. He was skittish, and every time Nagato tried to bring up the question Suko had been trying to ask, Suko would wave it away with an awkward laugh, and change the subject quickly.

Yahiko and Konan, for their part in the situation, looked apologetic, and he had come across both of them apologizing and encouraging Suko to ask whatever it was he was going to ask, but Suko always saw him and got flustered before he could.

It was weird, to say the least. But things smoothed over- sort of. Yahiko and Konan spent more time out, but he knew for a fact this time it was for he and Suko's benefit, hanging out in the common room while he and Suko spent time in their bedroom. Almost a month after Yahiko and Konan first barged into the room, Suko finally worked up the courage to ask his question.

It was him asking Nagato out on a date to the Amusement part. Of course, Nagato said yes, and they went that Friday.