Н‘¾Ð‘¯Ð‘¬Ð‘Μ Ð‘»Ð‘¯Ð‘¬ Н‘¾Ð‘°Ð‘Μ𝑫 Н‘©Ð‘³Ð‘¶Ð‘¾Ð‘º €¢Ð’Ƒ𝒙Н’Ƒ• Reunited

He didn’t know what to do once he sensed it.

Once he sensed him.

He knew he needed to speak with him.

But he couldn’t face him. Not after what he had done. Not after what he had said.

…

Not after what he had become.

…

But… things never go the way he wanted them to.

Fate had a funny way of coming around.

_

He came back from a mission in Suna, prepared to give the good and bad news to the Hokage. Good news; the mission was a success. Bad news; one of his squad members had fallen in battle. It was supposed to be a simple mission, follow the target to Suna and assassinate them, but, of course, things are never that simple. The target knew they were coming for him and hired trained ninja.

Still, that hadn’t stopped them. The target was dead within seconds of spotting him and the one who did the deed was the ANBU who had lost their life later on.

So, when he was a few miles away from Konoha, he sensed it.

The chakra he hadn’t sensed for so long.

He knew what he needed to do, so he decided to leave his remaining squad members behind. They could only watch as he disappeared in a flash of red.

_

When he finally saw him, his breath almost got knocked out of him.

He had grown up. He was taller now, finally catching up. His face had lost some of its baby fat, but it retained the youthful look it had before. The grin was still ever-present on his face, baby blue eyes closing as he threw his head back and laughed. That boisterous laugh of his brought back so many memories. The outfit he wore had also changed. No longer was it all orange, he had put some black colors here and there.

So, when his blue eyes looked over Sakura’s shoulder and saw him, Akashi stood still. It was as if he was pinned in place by the look they had directed at him. The grin slipped from his face and Sakura seemed to notice, since she turned around. Green eyes, the shade was very wrong, wrong, wrong, widened at the sight of him. He held his mask in his hand, which hung limply at his side.

Naruto stepped closer, gently moving Sakura out of the way. Before his lips could even open so he could speak, Akashi was in front of him. The two of them were staring at one another. Identical faces facing each other. Then, something simultaneously clicked inside their minds, something which brought them both unexpected pain.

They weren’t as identical as when they were younger.

Naruto raised a hand towards him, and Akashi watched as it neared his face. One, rough finger touched his brow, right where the scar began, and Akashi felt his resolve crumble a little. He stopped the shiver which wanted to rake through his body. He saw Naruto shake his head.

He held no expression on his face and his eyes trailed over Akashi’s features.

“We look different from one another…”, he let his finger slip over Akashi’s eyelid and down his cheekbone, right where the scar ended, before his hand dropped. “and we’re supposed to be twins”. He said, looking at his older brother.

Akashi bit back a humorless laugh. “Twins… right…”.

Sakura was standing near enough to hear their exchanged words. She wondered why the air was so tense around them. Did they have a fight before Naruto left the village? She knew Akashi had joined the ANBU, but she rarely saw him. He was almost always in his ANBU gear, jumping across rooftops or relaying the news of a mission to the Hokage.

She glanced at the blond twin. She had never seen such an expression on his face. Such a melancholic look in his eyes. Peering at the other one, she felt little to no surprise at his expression. He was expressionless.

It was then that the squad members Akashi had left behind, caught up to him.

“Wolf, we still need to make a mission report to the Hokage”. He raised the mask and settled it over his face.

“I know”. Without another word, the air in front of Naruto shifted and Akashi was no more. The squad members followed after, leaving him and Sakura in the empty street.

_

Akashi appeared in front of Tsunade’s desk, making her almost flinch away.

“Damn it! I thought we talked about this!” Her fingers tapped the table, clearly showing just how annoyed she was by all of this.

“My apologies…”. He grabbed the mask covering his face and took it off. Tsunade immediately noticed something was wrong with him.

“Did something happen?” She asked, not really expecting him to answer her, but she gave it a shot. Seeing his lower lip tremble made her think she hit the jackpot.

He went silent for a moment, chest expanding and retracting with each deep breath he took. He was trying to calm himself down, she noted.

“Naruto has come back”. Well… that was something she didn’t expect him to say. So, Naruto was back? Is that what’s bugging him? He knew this day would come, did he plan to forever run away from it? He had to face it. Naruto was his brother and he had to face him.

“So… did you speak with him?” She asked.

He shifted on his feet and she noticed his fingers were tightly gripping the mask they held. “I did…”, he trailed off, voice almost turning into a whisper at the end, “… he said we were supposed to be twins, but we’re so different from one another now”. She heard him say.

That was unexpected of Naruto. She thought he would have been overjoyed at the sight of his older brother. Casting a suspicious look at Akashi, she wondered. Did something happen before Naruto left the village?

Before their conversation could continue, the rest of Akashi’s squad members arrived. “The mission was successful, but we had casualties”. She looked at the masked ninja.

“How many?” She asked.

“One. A member of our squad had fallen in battle after completing the mission”. The masked ninja answered.

Tsunade rested her forehead on her intertwined fingers and closed her eyes. Casualties were bound to happen in the ninja world. They were inevitable.

“Great work, you’re dismissed…”. She didn’t raised her head to look at them as they left.

She looked in front of herself just in time to see Akashi disappear.

She was worried about him.

A lot.

Soon after that, a knock came from the door.

_

When he opened his eyes, he was in his house. He walked over to the nearest light-switch and turned it on. The bright light immediately assaulted his senses. Blinking his eyes to get used to the light, he reached for the blade on his back. He pulled it out of its sheath and extended it in front of himself. Turning it to the side, he watched as the light reflected off its smooth surface.

Gritting his teeth, his grip on it tightened. The veins on his hands bulged from the force he used and his skin turned a pale white.

A smiling face flashed in his mind and the feelings inside him grew.

He remembered how he used to love that smile. Those bright eyes of his. He remembered the unfunny jokes he made, trying and failing to make Akashi laugh. He remembered the sulky face he made afterwards, which resulted in Akashi laughing.

The night walks they took, the stories they shared, the opinions that matched, their similar outlooks on life and the world around them.

He remembered how free he felt when he was with him. How happy he was. The burden he carried became lighter in his presence.

He remembered how he helped him when he couldn’t handle things anymore. How he helped him calm down and breathe again.

The air around him felt lighter and Akashi felt like he could really live and not just survive with him by his side.

He remembered-

A knock on his door snapped him out of it. He was too caught up in his thoughts to notice the oncoming chakra signal, but now that he was back to his senses, he could sense who it was.

He placed the blade on its designated place atop the fireplace and walked over to the door. He unlocked it and opened it, revealing the man behind it.

“Yo”. The man raised his hand in a greeting.

“Kakashi”. Akashi said, stepping back to let the man in. Kakashi waved him off.

“I’m here for a different matter”. He said and Akashi already knew something was up. “Meet me at the Third Training Grounds later”. Before Akashi could answer, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Third Training Grounds? Akashi shook his head at that. That was the place Team 7 first fought Kakashi when they got on his team. He’s going to make them fight him again.

He closed the door and after he heard the click, he locked it. He never even uses it.

Team 7… A sudden throb went through his body. He raised his hand and gripped the area above his heart. That brought back memories. Both good and bad. A chuckle left his lips and he shook his head. Team 7, back together, but still missing someone.

Still missing him.

He leaned on the nearest wall.

Still missing him.

Looking up at the ceiling, he wondered.

Will Team 7 ever be complete again?

_

A little while passed before he stood up. He slipped the gloves off his hands and threw them atop the living room couch, before heading towards his bedroom. Once he stepped inside, he changed out of his ANBU gear into a more casual outfit. He pulled the collar higher up to cover the scar on his neck and looked into the mirror.

This was who he had grown up to be. This person in the mirror was him. He tends to forget it sometimes, the fact that he used to be a naive little boy. He only remembers it as a distant memory, one discarded so long ago.

Now, he has no other choice, but to move forward.

The past is something he needs to walk away form.

_

It didn’t take long for him to reach the place where he was supposed to meet up with Kakashi. The other two members of Team 7 were there. To his surprise, Kakashi was already there with them.

“Will the sky rain fire, now that you arrived on time?” He approached them and from the side of his eye, he saw Naruto looking at him.

“I see your tongue is as sharp as ever”. The man replied, stepping closer to Akashi. “Now that all of you arrived, let’s go”. He turned around and started walking away. The three of them following after him.

They reached the exact spot where they fought with Kakashi three years ago.

“This place… kind of takes me back”. Naruto spoke up while looking around, his gaze stopped at one of the wooden pillars. Memories of when he was tied to it flashed through his mind.

“Oh, come to thing of it, this was your first Training Ground, wasn’t it?” Kakashi asked and Akashi turned his way.

“Team 7… with all of its members…”. The redhead spoke up, making everyone else look at the ground with a sorrowful expression on their face.

“We had Sasuke with us… back then, didn’t we?” Akashi looked at Kakashi once he asked the question. He really had to mention that name out loud, hadn’t he? He stuffed his hands inside his pockets and kept his face expressionless, no matter how hard it was to keep it that way.

Kakashi grimaced at Naruto and Sakura, once he saw their expressions. The name was off limits for them, he noted. He glanced at the third member and noticed that he looked mostly unbothered by what he said. The only thing that gave notice to his feelings was the fact that his fists were clenched inside his pockets.

He reached inside his own pocket and brought out three bells. The other three looked at him when they heard them give off a light jingle. “Well… Let’s see how much you’ve grown”. He said. “You haven’t given up on Sasuke, have you?” Naruto straightened up at his question.

“Absolutely not! That’s why I continued my training”. Akashi glanced at his brother. He was still dead-set on bringing Sasuke back, wasn’t he? Why was he even surprised, that was to be expected from him. He shook his head and looked back at Kakashi.

“The rules are the same as when we first met”. He said. “I don’t care how you do it. Just take a bell away from me”. He continued, tying the bells to his waist. “If you don’t-“. He was interrupted by Sakura and Naruto. Akashi kept quiet.

“Come at me with the intent to kill,”, Naruto said, “we won’t be able to get the bells”. She said, before adding. “Right?” She finished.

“Exactly”. He said. “If you don’t come at me with the intent to kill, you won’t be able to get the bells. You have until sunrise tomorrow”. He finished.

Akashi cracked his neck as he looked at Kakashi. With the intent to kill, eh? His lips curled up into a small, unnoticed by Naruto and Sakura, smile as the thought went through his mind. Sensing his barely restrained intent, Kakashi glanced at him, internally alarmed.

Naruto was tightening his forehead protector and Sakura was putting on her gloves, but Akashi… Kakashi saw the boy’s small smile and grew worried. He was a part of ANBU for two and a half years, that was a big part in Akashi’s 16-year-old life. He had heard about the boy’s accomplishments from the Hokage. She told him he had never failed a mission in those two and a half years.

No matter the consequences.

An unexpected memory flashed in his mind.

Akashi had shown up, covered in blood with tears streaming down his face, at his doorstep late at night. There was a thunderstorm outside at that time, so Kakashi did the only thing he could. He let him in. The boy passed out as soon as he entered the apartment and when morning came, he was already gone.

When he had asked him what happened the day after, he didn’t answer.

He was brought back to the present when he noticed Akashi shift. He reached a hand behind himself and pulled the blade from its sheath. Kakashi closed the book he was holding.

“Now then, shall we begin?” He asked.

“You’re not going to do it while reading the book this time around, Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto asked him.

“Or have you already finished reading?” Sakura added after him.

Akashi stabbed the blade into the ground in front of himself. “Oho?” He exclaimed when he saw Kakashi pocket the book. “Are you getting serious?” He asked, an excited grin overtaking his features.

“I thought I’d save the fun for later… besides…”, he raised his hand towards his forehead protector, “I kind of get the feeling I may have to…”, he pulled it up, revealing the Sharingan eye he had in his possession, “get a bit serious this time around”. He said.

A moment later, Naruto spoke up. “Let’s go!” He jumped up and threw shuriken at Kakashi. The man slipped under them and threw shuriken of his own. Naruto did his Shadow Clone technique and used the clone to pull himself out of the way.

Akashi raised his brows. Interesting idea.

As Naruto dropped to the ground, Kakashi dashed at him. The clone turned into a huge shuriken and Naruto was prepared to throw it, but Kakashi grabbed him by the wrist which held the shuriken and by the back of his head. Then, another clone appeared behind Kakashi and pointed a kunai at him.

“I haven’t said start yet”. With that, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke and Akashi grabbed his blade in alarm. The sun had began to set.

He glanced at the forest around them. Tsunade, Jiraiya and Shizune were there, he had sensed them a while ago. Then… he glanced in front of himself. Kakashi was underground. Akashi wondered why he would do something like that, since he knew about Akashi’s sensory skills. Was he sensing him? An idea popped into his mind.

He twirled the blade in his hand and started walking towards the spot Kakashi was at. He was certain Kakashi could feel his footsteps, so as soon as he got close to the spot, he reverse-gripped the blade and stabbed it into the ground. “Akashi? What are you doing?” He heard Sakura ask.

He twisted the blade and pulled it out. Of course, no blood was on the blade, since he had stabbed it next to Kakashi. Just a warning to him. He turned around and glanced at Sakura and Naruto. Raising his hand, he pointed to the ground. It clicked inside Sakura’s mind and she pulled her hand back. Akashi sensed the chakra which was gathered in her fist and decided to move out of the way.

She slammed her fist into the ground and it cracked all the way towards where Akashi was standing. He jumped out of the way and looked at the surprised Kakashi. “Found you…”. Akashi spun the blade in his hand, grinning at Kakashi.

“That was a close one, Akashi”. He raised his hand and pointed at his ripped sleeve.

Shrugging his shoulders, Akashi raised his brows. “You know… If I wanted to stab you, I would”. He said and Kakashi knew he was telling the truth. Jumping out of the crater, Kakashi watched as the three of them disappeared inside the forest.

He followed after them and the sun was almost nonexistent inside the thick trees.

He had found where Sakura and Naruto were, but he had no idea where Akashi was. He expected no less from an ANBU member.

A couple of kunai were thrown at him and he jumped out of the way. Naruto jumped after him and their kunai collided in the air. Kakashi threw kunai after him, but he dodged and they impaled the branch of a tree. Naruto dropped down and Sakura stepped up next to him.

“Seems like one of you is missing”. Kakashi said, but just as the words left his lips, he noticed the glint of steel from the corner of his eye. He ducked under as the blade slashed towards his head. It stabbed into the tree next to him, cutting through to the middle. He rolled to the side when he heard wood scraping.

Akashi had pulled the blade from the tree.

“I’m right here, sensei”. He rested the blade on his shoulder. Kakashi wondered how much force he used to stab into that tree. If that had hit him…

He was sure he would have been beheaded.

Kakashi straightened up. “Guess I should teach something to the three of you”. He said. “Ninja Tactic #1: Physical Combat”. He dashed forward at Naruto and engaged in combat with him. Naruto jumped on a tree and Sakura took his place. Kakashi managed to evade each hit she threw. She landed a hit on the tree which Akashi almost cut through and broke it, making it fall to the ground.

Akashi appeared out of the shadows and threw a kunai in Kakashi’s direction. Kakashi didn’t bother dodging, since it completely missed him. But, as it whipped past his head, he saw the so familiar seal on its handle. Before he could move away, Akashi was in front of him. “Surprise!” He exclaimed as the hilt of his sword neared Kakashi.

He had no time to move away. The crimson hilt had slammed into his back, making him stumble forward. By that time, Akashi had spun around and crouched down. He lunged forward and extended his hand towards the bells on Kakashi’s hip. He wrapped his fist around one of them and disappeared along with it.

Akashi had returned to the thick bushes and observed what was happening after that.

Kakashi took care of Naruto’s clones with Lee’s spinning technique. Akashi glanced at a branch up on a tree and saw Jiraiya sitting there. Running out of his hiding spot, he grabbed the kunai he threw at the tree next to Kakashi and threw it at the branch Jiraiya was on. A moment later, he appeared under the branch and grabbed it with his hands.

Pulling himself up, he grabbed the kunai and pocketed it. Jiraiya’s eyes widened at his appearance. “You…”. He started, but had no other words to finish his sentence. Akashi sat down and let his legs hang off the branch.

“Nice to see you, too”. He sent him a sarcastic smile and turned to look down. The three of them were going at it.

“That technique you just used, was that…?” Akashi glanced back at him and sent him a small nod. “How did you find it?” Jiraiya found himself asking the boy. He thought the technique was lost. He thought Minato never had any scroll explaining how to use it.

“Kakashi told me the truth about everything, and don’t give me that look, I won’t be telling Naruto anything”. He explained, seeing the look on the older man’s face. “About the technique… I bought the house Minato and Kushina lived in”. Jiraiya was even more confused.

“You bought… a house?” Where did he even get the money for that? He was a Genin!

Akashi sighed and took off his outer layer, leaving him in a black, long-sleeved shirt which was tucked inside his pants. Jiraiya’s eyes widened when the boy lowered the shirt over his shoulder, showing his ANBU tattoo. Closing his eyes, he looked into the night sky. Damn it, Minato!

“Why did you do it?” Akashi glanced at him and shrugged.

“As you can see, the pay is very good”. Jiraiya wore no expression on his face.

“I’m asking for the truth”. As soon as he asked the question, he saw the boy’s face harden. There was no humor on his face anymore, just pure nothingness.

“The truth? Are you sure about that?” Jiraiya was a little taken aback at the question that left the boy’s mouth. Was he sure about wanting to know the truth? Seeing the look in his eyes… He wasn’t so sure anymore. “Changed your mind so early? I was about to lay out my feelings to you… How rude”. That was even more surprising.

This was nothing like the little redhead boy he last saw two and a half years ago.

His humor and his jokes seemed forced. His whole behavior seemed forced.

Just what had happened in those two and a half years?

_

The sky had turned into a navy blue by the time Akashi decided to help the other two members of his team. They were currently on the open field, near the water. Kakashi had momentarily stopped whatever he was doing and turned to Sakura and Naruto, he hadn’t noticed Akashi’s arrival yet.

He did lightning fast hand-signs, before a giant ball of fire left his lips. Naruto and Sakura jumped out of the way, but when they looked at where Kakashi stood, he was no longer there.

Akashi watched as Kakashi pulled one of Naruto’s clones into the ground. The real Naruto and Sakura dashed at him, but Kakashi jumped away and onto the water. More hand-signs later, the water behind him rose and connected into something akin to a water dragon.

The two of them managed to get away from Kakashi, leaving him alone in the opening. That was a great opportunity for Akashi.

So, he did what he thought was best. He walked out of his hiding spot.

Kakashi immediately threw a kunai at him, but Akashi swiftly deflected it with his blade. “That won’t work on me”. He said, making Kakashi straighten up.

“I know… So, did you come out here to fight me alone?” Akashi stopped and rested the blade on his shoulder.

“Yeah, isn’t the perfect time for you to judge my skills?” He asked and Kakashi could agree to his reasoning.

Without another word, Kakashi did hand-signs for the Great Fireball Technique. A moment later, he spewed the giant ball of flames at the redhead. Kakashi watched as the ball neared him, but before it could hit him, he disappeared. It was at that moment, that he heard a kunai swish past his ear. He raised his arms in defense just in time to block an oncoming punch.

He was pushed back by the strength of the hit and Akashi dropped to the ground. He swung his leg under Kakashi, but the man jumped over it. Using the momentum, Akashi swirled around with the blade and slashed at him. The man deflected each hit with his kunai, making sparks fly around them.

Kakashi jumped back to create some distance between them. “Aren’t you too confident in your abilities?” He asked and watched as Akashi pushed a single strand of hair back. It was futile, since it fell in front of his eyes again.

“Probably am”. Was what he got as an answer. “With good reason, though”. Kakashi barely had time to move as he felt the earth rumble beneath his feet. Chains burst out of the ground as soon as he jumped away from the spot. They whip around, before receding back down.

He heard Akashi click his tongue at that. “Close…”. That was indeed close. Too close. Kakashi watched as the chains went back into Akashi’s calves.

“I see you’ve gotten better at using them”. He complimented the boy.

Akashi huffed. “Better? I suck, I could barely direct them in the right way and they use up a lot of my chakra… no matter how good my control of chakra is, they still just drain it straight from me”. Kakashi could notice. All of that teleporting around with the Flying Thunder God Technique required a fair amount of chakra, but if he was telling the truth about the chains, then it didn’t matter if he was an Uzumaki and a Jinchuriki, his chakra is horribly depleted already.

“If I don’t get better at using them, they are of no use to me”. Akashi admitted. The man could notice the light trembles the boy’s legs gave out. His face was slightly flushed and his breathing was labored. Then, as Kakashi took another kunai from his pouch, Akashi disappeared before he could throw it. He didn’t reappear anywhere near him.

_

Akashi ended up somewhere in some bush. He didn’t even remember dropping a kunai there, but as he looked at the ground, there it was. He sighed and sat down, leaning his back against a nearby tree. Damn those chains. They do more harm than good to him. Just using them for a minute drains a third of his chakra, and that’s a lot. He swung his head back and it slammed into the tree.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

The leaves around him started falling down. They swirled around him, before being swept away by the wind and towards the night sky above him.

The night sky. He grit his teeth, memories knocking into one another, trying to resurface.

He wouldn’t let them.

He didn’t want to remember that night.

That horrible night.

…

A mission. An ambush. A traitor. A friend. Blood. Chains. Blood. Screams. Blood.

Loneliness…

Blood.