It took a while, but eventually when it still hadn't come out, and Juugo felt more settled than he did any other time except after,, the panic started to ease. He was still incredibly uncomfortable. The touching only reminded him of Orochimaru and the experiments and fights and--

But it was so quiet, and that made Juugo feel safe. Safer, at least. And the birds had long given up on dissuading Nagato from doing what he was doing, and they could sense that Juugo was calmer, and that made them relax too, a little bit.

What was happening, though? Juugo didn't understand. Usually when he got especially afraid, it came out. But not this time. There was something. He could feel something different, but Juugo wasn't sure exactly what it was. Just... different. The opposite of usual, somehow.

So he finally lifted his head. "What are you?"