Sweating and breathing heavily from all his recent exertion, Raijin looked down and noticed a longish, black hair stuck to his chest. Then he found another on his arm... and on his leg. Several more hairs had settled on his feet and on the floor around them. Had they fallen out when he was practicing his karate moves?
"What the hell?!" he moaned. "What else is this shit going to do to me?!"
He really began to freak out when he saw several strands of hair float down in front of his eyes as he stood in disbelief. He hurried to the bathroom so he could see what was happening to him, and he left behind a trail of hair as he went. He knelt forward a bit to get a better look. It was definitely thinner all over, and more was falling out as he watched. Nervously, he ran his hand through part of it. Nearly every hair he touched came out in his hand leaving a large area that was almost completely hairless.
"Oh my God! What the fuck?!" Raijin shouted. "I don't want to be bald! What will Lily think?! This can't be..."
He stopped short when he felt something in his mouth. Confused, he spit it out into the sink. It was a tooth. When he realized what it was, an icy wave washed over him sending him into a full-blown panic. His stomach tied itself into a quivering knot as he spit out a second tooth. Minute after agonizing minute passed as he continued to lose his hair and teeth. Tears briefly welled up in his eyes. He was too shocked to respond any other way in between periodically spitting out teeth.
When it was finally over, Raijin stared nervously at the heap of hair and teeth in the sink. He sheepishly looked up into the mirror again afraid of what he would see. His head was completely bald and smooth. Reluctantly, he opened his mouth. The sight of his empty gums made him sick to his stomach.
"I'm a freak," he lamented, and he held his head in his hands.
After a moment, he suddenly realized he was feeling something soft against his fingertips. He checked his reflection again. He could see the beginnings of hair growing on his head. Raijin felt a small glimmer of hope. It was still so short that it was hard for him to tell, but something seemed unusual about the color. He also noted his hairline was coming in with a subtle widow's peak. His attention was drawn from his hair by a tingling in his gums and a mild ache in his jaw. He opened his mouth and saw that his gums looked somewhat swollen. With a quick flash of pain, a brand new incisor began pushing its way through. It was soon followed by more. He couldn't believe his teeth were growing back in! Meanwhile his new hair had grown out to maybe a half-inch. The front looked like his usual black, but a different color seemed to be mixed in somehow. He tilted his head forward and saw areas of rusty orange.
"Woah... Stripes?"
Raijin turned his head to the side. Starting from the black hair in front, his new hair alternated between narrow black chevron stripes and broader bands of orange. It resembled a tiger's pelt. He was amazed as he watched it grow.
He thought to check on his tooth situation and opened his mouth wide. It looked like nearly all his teeth had come in at this point. They were all perfectly straight and white, but his eyes lingered a moment on something that seemed slightly off until it dawned on him. He had... fangs! In place of the usual four human canines, a set of gently curved, pointed fangs had grown in. They weren't much larger than the teeth they replaced, but as he opened and closed his jaw, he noticed the upper pair clearly pointed a bit lower than before. He ran his tongue along their points. They were very sharp. He wondered if all his new teeth were sharper as the last of his molars grew in.
It seemed like his hair had also finished growing now. It stood about 2 inches long at its longest along the top of his head, and it was a bit shorter along the sides and down the nape of his neck. He ran a hand through it. It was incredibly soft and thick yet it stood out stiffly like the bristles of a brush. He tried to run a comb through it, but it was too dense. He tried one of Lily's brushes next. He was able to pull it through, but the hair stood firm and didn't really look any different no matter how he brushed it. At least he wouldn't have to worry about styling it. He liked how it looked anyway.
As he put the brush away and closed the cabinet, he noticed one more difference that he had previously overlooked. His eyes had changed from dark brown to a yellow-gold color. He guessed that the "Powdered Tiger Muscle" he had ingested was responsible for his new look.
"Damn! I look... so cool! This is freaking awesome!" he said as he took in the entirety of his face. He resisted the urge to make an obvious "Eye of the Tiger" joke.
He stood back and checked out as much of himself as he could in the small bathroom mirror. He struck some playful poses flexing his huge body and admiring his striking face. He decided he had to get a better look in the full-sized mirror. When he got back into the kitchen, he saw the mess on the mirror and the remains of his torn clothes strewn on the floor. He stood thinking for a minute and then...