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

Midnight had passed when Naruto fell asleep, dried tear stains on his tanned cheeks. He was snuggled into the pillow, arms spread across the bed, fingers tightly holding onto Akashi’s clothes.

What was he even doing? Hurting himself even further like this…

He gently pried Naruto’s fingers from his clothes and moved to the side, feet slowly touching the wooden floorboards. He needed to go… He needed to leave… He stood up, the bed creaking as his weight lifted off.

“Akashi…”. A sleepy mumble escaped Naruto’s lips and the said boy turned around, faced with a still-sleeping Naruto. “Sorry…”. Another mumbled left him as his fingers tightened around the empty space besides him.

The redhead’s heart throbbed inside his chest at those words. He still insisted that he was sorry, eh? Even while asleep, he still spoke nonsense… Complete and utter nonsense… The air shifted and Akashi disappeared from his spot, leaving the boy alone.

And as baby-blue eyes opened and found nobody on the bed, they clenched back shut.

_

Akashi stepped onto the green grass under him. Ah… That place really brought him comfort when he needed it most. The giant oak tree stood tall before him, the cold rays of the moon piercing through the thick leaves. That place held so many memories…

The first kiss…

The love confession…

The promises…

Everything was there…

Even… He walked around the wide tree, fingers trailing along the rough bark, feeling every indent it had, until he stopped. There, on the back of the tree, were two initials…

US+UA

Akashi fondly caressed the letters. He remembered that day…

…

“Come on! Hurry up!” A grinning Shinya pulled at his hand, making him stumble forward.

“I am!” He hissed back, but Shinya just laughed in reply, not releasing the grip he had on his hand. The two of them ran through the streets of Konoha, before Akashi found himself at a familiar location. The giant oak tree stood in front of them. “Why are we here?” He asked, but Shinya flashed him a secretive smile in reply. “Shinya!” He whined, but the boy didn’t say anything else.

“Close your eyes”. The moss-eyed boy urged him, glancing at the tree. “Come on!” Akashi groaned, but did as he was asked.

“Listen, if you make me touch something disgusting or anything like that, I’ll seriously punch you in the face”. He threatened the other boy, but was just tugged forward, a snicker resounding in front of him.

“Yeah, yeah!” He was pulled a couple of more feet, before he was ultimately stopped. His hand was raised and fingers wrapped around his wrist. “Straighten your fingers”. The redhead tilted his head to the side at the weird request.

“Shinya, I swear…”. He shook his head and did as he was asked. His fingers straightened, and were met with the rough bark of the tree in front of him. His hand was lead to the side, where he noticed indents bigger than the other ones. “What…?” He wondered out loud, even more confused as to what was happening.

“Open your eyes”. Shinya whispered next to his ear. Violet eyes blinked open and widened when they were met with the sight in front of him. The initials US+UA were carved into the tree.

“This…”. He felt breathless all of a sudden. This was just like Shinya… He turned to the side and was faced with a bright grin, white teeth flashing at him. “You…”. He really didn’t know what to say to this…

“Yeah! I did it this morning! Do you like it?” Did he like it? Did he like it?!

“I love it”. Shinya’s smile faltered, his eyes widening for a brief moment. Akashi felt his chest constrict at the sight. It was because of those words… Those damned words… Damn it… He still couldn’t say those words back to him… The words that he had told him not even a week ago.

The words ‘I love you’… He didn’t have any courage to say them…

“And I love you”. There they were again, those words… What was he supposed to say as an answer? I love you, too? That seemed like the obvious choice, but he was afraid.

He was afraid of saying them out loud, that way, he won’t be able to take them back, that way, they will be the truth. If he never said them, he can pretend they don’t exist.

He was afraid of getting hurt… Of being left behind in such a vulnerable state… A state of total trust… He knew Shinya would never leave him, that he will always be by his side, but something still gnawed at the back of his mind… Some sort of dread kept creeping up…

His arms wound up around Shinya’s form, tightly gripping the back of his vest. The said boy tilted his head at the motion, but hugged back, burying his face into the redhead’s hair. “Is something the matter?” The question was mumbled into the side of his head. The grip he had on the other boy tightened and he shook his head, leaning into Shinya’s shoulder.

“No… Everything is perfect”. He sighed out the lie, but Shinya didn’t seem to notice it.

“That’s good…”. The boy said, brushing his lips over Akashi’s temple. “That’s good…”. He repeated, words sounding sombre and leaned back, glancing at the redhead. “Wanna go and eat something? I’m famished!” The grin was back on his face, but somehow… It seemed forced… Akashi didn’t like how it stretched across his features… So forced…

“Yeah, let’s go”. He stepped back, flashing a fake-smile of his own…

Something was wrong… Something was definitely wrong…

…

How didn’t he realise it then? How didn’t he realise that something was going to happen? Because it did… Only a few days later, did they get the forsaken mission…

A mission which separated them for all eternity…

_

Akashi returned back home and dropped onto the couch, closing his eyes as soon as his body hit the soft material. He was so tired… Exhausted… Shinya flashed through his mind once again and he was suddenly reminded of something… Of someone…

Chrono… He hadn’t spoken with the wolf since that day… The day on which he chose not to feel anything… He hurt the wolf, even though he had promised to never do that… He promised and yet, he did it… How was he supposed to make things better? He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling of his living room.

What does he do…? Summon him…?

He sat up at the thought… He had to summon the whole pack and make things right…

The floorboards creaked as his feet settled onto them and he stood up, going to the middle of the room. He raised his finger to his lips and bit into it. The palm of his hand slammed into the floor and smoke erupted from the spot in front of him. Once it cleared, there they were, the whole pack sat there, looking at him.

They stared at each other, nobody saying a word.

“Akashi”. A voice called out from the middle and the others moved out of the way to let the biggest and darkest of them walk out.

“Chrono”. The redhead lowered his head, staring at the floor under him.

“Look at me”. The wolf said, its claws clicking against the wooden boards. “Raise your head”. It added and Akashi did so only when paws entered his field of vision. Violet eyes met molten-gold ones.

“I-!” Akashi began, but stopped once the wolf shook its head.

“There’s no need for any of that, young one… It’s alright”. Chrono told him, knowing which words he was about to use. I’m sorry… The wolf knew what kind of impact those words had on the boy, so he decided to stop him before he started to regret them… “Everything is fine, Akashi…”. Chrono leaned forward, nosing against the boy’s knee, before leaning back. Akashi’s fingers twitched and the wolf noticed that.

It turned to the other wolves and gestured towards the boy. Immediate scratching alerted Akashi of the oncoming onslaughter of happy wolves. They collided into him, knocking him to the ground and started licking at his face. “Whoa! Whoa! Calm down, boys!” One of the wolves whined, glaring at Akashi with their rose-coloured eyes. “And girls, my bad, Layla”. He reached a hand forward and Layla nuzzled into it.

“It’s quite alright”. Her light tone rang out in the room, making a small, almost non-existent, smile grace Akashi’s features. He leaned against his couch and the wolves either sat on it, or sprawled across his lap and atop of each other. Akashi leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

_

Days passed and Naruto was nowhere in sight… Akashi couldn’t even sense him within the village. He had accidentally run into Sakura and she had told him that Naruto had left to train with the toads. Train with the toads? Like Jiraiya did, eh?

He stuffed his hands inside his pockets and walked through the streets of Konoha… What should he do in the meantime? His stomach growled and that was his answer… Raising his head, he was met with Ichiraku Ramen. What a coincidence… He thought as he entered the shop. The last time he was there, he didn’t even finish his meal…

As soon as he stepped foot inside, the kind-looking old man flashed a concerned look in his direction. “Akashi! I was so worried! You disappeared without a word and without finishing your food!” Akashi took a seat at a table and shook his head.

“Everything is alright”. The man released a sigh of relief, before a smile rose to his face.

“The usual?” He asked and Akashi nodded in reply.

“Yes, please”. The man disappeared behind the counter and not even five minutes passed when he appeared once again, but with a steaming bowl in his hands.

“Here you go… It’s on the house, this time”. He said as he saw Akashi reach for his wallet. The boy sent him a grateful look and dug right in. The hotness of the meal didn’t bother him, he was too hungry to care. Just as he was about to take a bite, the ground beneath his feet started shaking.

“Huh?” He exclaimed and dropped the chopsticks onto the table. His head whipped to the exit of the shop. He sensed unfamiliar chakra… and a lot of it. Unknown people were in the village! What the hell was going on?! He stood up and disappeared, leaving the untouched steaming bowl of ramen on the table.

As soon as he appeared inside his home, he grabbed his weapons pouch and activated the seals on his sword, making it appear in his hand. Even more explosions rang out from outside and his house shook in reply. “What the hell is going on?” He asked out loud as he looked out of the window. The village was smoking from various locations, thick, dark, smoke rising up into the sky.

He disappeared from the house.

_

He appeared in the Hokage Office just to see that Tsunade was nowhere to be seen. Clicking his tongue, Akashi closed his eyes and raised his hand in a hand-sign. He focused himself… Searching… Searching… Searching…

Bingo! There she wa-!

His eyes snapped wide and he took a step back in disbelief. This…? What…? How…?

A chakra signal flickered out of existence as the pain inside Akashi’s chest worsened. Kakashi…? Kakashi…?

Kakashi’s signal had fallen flat.

“What the hell…? What the hell is happening…?” Kakashi was dead… He grit his teeth and burst through the Hokage Office windows, the glass shattering around him, and jumped towards the top. There she was… Tsunade.

“What the hell is going on?! How the hell is Kakashi dead?!” He yelled at her, approaching her with his blade drawn. He glanced behind her and noticed that one of the giant pillars had been destroyed. Was she attacked? He looked back at her, and it was then, that he noticed the dried tear marks on her cheeks. She was crying?

“Pain had attacked the village… He’s here for the Nine-Tails”. His eyes widened at her words. Pain?! Pain was the one who killed Kakashi?! Tsunade noticed the expression on his face. “Akashi, I need you to stay out of this, if they catch y-!”

“Like hell am I going to back out! How can you ask that of me?!” Was she insane?! Asking him to leave?! This is absurd! “I’m not leaving, no matter what you say!” Without awaiting her answer, he disappeared from in front of her, leaving nothing behind.

_

How did this happen?! He thought as he looked at the destruction around himself. How did things come to be like this? He wondered as the screams rang out from all sides. All of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks, picking up vast amounts of chakra being used. He glanced around himself just in time to see multiple giant creatures appear out of thin air. One, which resembled a giant dog-like creature, snapped its head in his direction. Akashi gripped the blade in his hands and bent his knees.

The ground broke as the beast lunged at him, its giant jaws biting into the building under him. Akashi jumped away, throwing a kunai at the thing. The kunai embedded into its shoulder, but it didn’t seem to notice. What the hell? Did this thing feel no pain? Before his feet even touched stable ground, he disappeared and appeared next to the creature, grabbing the kunai and hanging off the side.

The creature seemed to notice the extra weight on its body, because it turned and slammed its side into the building, almost crushing Akashi while doing that. Gritting his teeth, the boy gripped his blade and stabbed it into the beast’s neck, making it let out a roar as it shook him off. He managed to flip in the air and shakily land on his knees. He needed something else… He rolled to the side as a giant paw came descending from above him.

Jumping away as another hit broke the ground under him, he released his chains. The whipped towards the beast and wrapped around its body, binding it in place. As it tried to take a step forward, Akashi tightened the chains and it toppled over, slamming head first into the ground. The drop made the earth rumble under the redhead’s feet. It started struggling and Akashi slowly walked up to it, stopping in front of its eyes. They were purple, with multiple rings surrounding the pupil… Was this the Rinnegan everyone talked about?

He tilted his head to the side. He had never seen beasts like this… Was this one only usable by a Rinnegan carrier? He raised his sword as violet eyes clashed with purple ones and stabbed it forward, impaling the beast through the eye, pushing inside to the hilt. It let out a howling roar, before disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving Akashi amid the wreckage it caused.

He flicked his hand and the blood on the blade splashed around the boy in a long arch across the ground.

_

His feet barely touched the rooftops as he ran across them, intent at getting to Sakura. He had sensed her signal and was now racing towards her. Where was Naruto?! He still couldn’t sense him! Was he still with the toads?! “Sakura!” He yelled out and she turned to look at him.

“Akashi! Where is Naruto?!” She questioned, desperation in her tone. He landed in front of her and shook his head in reply. Seems like she also didn’t know where he was… Damn it all! She bit her lip at his answer.

Then, as if all of this wasn’t enough, Akashi sensed another signal.

One bigger than anything he had ever sensed before. Big enough to make him freeze in his tracks. This… His chest constricted at the feeling… Dread filled him from the inside as shivers racked down his spine… This chakra… He slowly turned around and looked at the sky.

There he was… Akatsuki robes fluttering in the wind as he hovered over Konoha.

Arms spread wide as an enormous amount of chakra gathered around him.

Akashi could only watch as it was all released…

“Shinra Tensei!”

AN: This one was a bit shorter than the others, but that’s because tomorrow’s chapter will be packed!