As soon as his foot stepped onto the ground, Akashi found himself stumbling forward, painful throbs raking through his head. But, before he could collapse, a hand grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back.
He glanced up and found himself staring at dark, blank eyes. “You’ve wasted too much chakra”. Sasuke spoke up and Akashi pulled his hand back, focusing on keeping himself balanced. He was right, he did waste too much chakra…
“It was needed”. Was what he answered with.
Seeing a shift from besides Sasuke, Akashi glanced to the side and saw Madara. The man was suspicious… Here he was, Akashi, a Jinchuriki, right in front of him, and yet, he didn’t try to do anything… Was he planning something? He must be… There must be something he was hiding… Something big.
Very big…
“Madara… I want Itachi’s eyes”. Sasuke said and walked into the hideout, Akashi slowly following after him. Itachi’s eyes? What use did he have for them? The man went after them.
“So, you’ve finally decided”. Madara commented. “You’ve been overusing Susano’o… I know that you can barely see anything”. Sasuke’s hand whipped up and he clamped it over his right eye. So he was losing his sight? Was that what Itachi also went through? Is this the drawback of the Mangekyo Sharingan? “Nice timing”.
“Transplant them right away!” The Uchiha instructed, stalking forward. Transplant? Akashi peered at the boy besides him. Transplant the eyes? Itachi’s eyes? Was that how he was going to stop the imminent danger of going blind? By taking Itachi’s eyes?
“You’re in quite the hurry… Why is that?” Madara questioned, calmly walking behind them.
“I will crush Naruto with all my strength, and then, I will exterminate everything there is about him… That’s all!” The raven-haired boy explained, stalking forward.
Crush Naruto, eh? Akashi shook his head at the thought. No matter what they did to him, both he and Sasuke knew, he would come after them again… Again and again and again. He will not rest until they were back… He won’t leave any stone unturned just to find them…
That is the kind of boy he was…
The kind of boy he is…
The kind of boy he will always be…
And… the only way to stop him would most definitely be…
… To kill him…
_
Sasuke broke away from them after Madara told him to wait for him, while the said man led Akashi to the room where he would be staying. “Madara”. The redhead spoke up, coming to a stop before they even reached the room.
“What is it?” Madara also stopped, slightly turning around to face him.
“What is your end goal as Akatsuki?” Akashi stood still, observing the man’s behaviour. Madara remained silent for a few moments, just looking at Akashi with his one Sharingan eye…
One Sharingan eye… What happened to the other one?
Then, Madara shifted and fully turned to face the boy. How amusing it is… To see the child of those two people end up like this… End up with him, here. Who would have thought that the eldest son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato would turn against the village they fought so hard to protect… Gave their own lives for…
How absolutely…
… Magnificent!
“End goal?” He asked staring the redhead down. My, my… Those hardened violet eyes of his were so similar to hers… and yet, so different at the same time.
Crimson red hair covered his forehead… Covered the pale skin he inherited from her…
Polar opposites…
That was what they were.
“What are your plans after you collect all the Tailed Beasts?” Not even Sasuke had asked that question… And yet, here he was… This young boy who met him for the second time ever, today… He was asking the important questions…
“I will cast the Infinite Tsukiyomi on everyone who’s in this world”. Was the answer and Akashi was taken aback at it. Cast the Infinite Tsukiyomi? What the hell even was that? What would it do? And why the hell didn’t he try to extract the Nine-Tails from him?
“Why have you not tried to take the Nine-Tails from me?” Asking that question carried the risks of being attacked, but Akashi was ready to take those risks any day. Madara took a step towards him, but Akashi didn’t step away. This continued until the man was right in front of him, his taller form, seemingly, towered over him. “Why are you not trying anything?” Madara reached a hand forward, but before it could be placed on the young boy’s shoulder, it was grabbed and harshly twisted.
“Do not touch me and answer the question”. Ah… Funnily enough, the boy reminded him of the Uchiha in the other room… Their eyes shared the same look… One cold and harsh enough to pin anyone in their place…
One filled with an unbearable amount of sadness and anger…
Of pain and hate…
Of sorrow and rage…
“Answer me, Madara”. Something akin to a low growl resounded through the hallway and Madara found himself staring at crimson eyes, instead of those violet ones of his.
“You’re getting along quite well”. Teeth grit together at his comment and the boy didn’t do anything, except release his wrist and walk past him, not another word leaving his lips.
“To answer your question…”, the redhead stopped in his tracks, but didn’t turn around, “… I can’t extract the Nine-Tails before I do so with the Eight-Tails”. Satisfied with the answer, Akashi slipped inside the room at the end of the hallway and closed the door behind himself, leaving Madara close to the dimly lit walls.
“You’re safe, Akashi…”, he turned around and made his way to where Sasuke was waiting for him, “… For now…”.
_
Akashi closed the door and leaned his forehead onto the wooden surface. That meant that he was safe until the Eight-Tails was extracted… “It would seem so”. He opened his eyes at the sound of the fox.
“What the hell is the Infinite Tsukiyomi?” The question got asked out loud, since there was nobody there except him… and the fox. He pushed off the door and turned to face the room he was in. It was small, as to be expected, but it was enough.
“I don’t know”. Was the answer he got… Great…
“Damn it…”. Closing his eyes, he raised his hand in a hand-sign and let out his chakra.
_
The surroundings around him changed and he found himself back in the familiar sewers. The water rippled around him as he stepped closer and closer to the crimson cage.
The fox sat still behind the strong bars… Which was unusual, since whenever the boy came there, the fox would either taunt him, slam against the bars, or try and scare him away…
But now, as he looked at it, he could almost feel the loneliness radiating off its form.
“You seem to like it here…”. It commented, tilting its head to the side.
“You do not seem to share the same feelings”. Akashi answered, watching as its eyes narrowed. It stood up and the ground rumbled as it neared the crimson cage that held it captive. The redhead stepped closer, so close that he was at an arms length away from the bars.
“You wouldn’t either if you were stuck in here for as long as I was”. It raised its paw and extended a clawed finger through the gate. Akashi watched as it neared him, slowly observing the dense fur shift as the finger stretched. The sharp claw stopped inches away from the redhead’s stomach and the boy reached a hand to touch it.
As soon as his skin made contact, he whipped his arm back as an overwhelming sensation filled his body to the brim in an instant. “What the…?” He mumbled, taking a step back as his heart harshly throbbed inside his chest. Something wet slid down his cheek and he raised a hand to touch at it. His vision blurred as even more drops slid down his skin. His throat felt raw for some reason… He didn’t know why. “What did you do?” His tone remained blank as his whole body cried out.
The fox pulled its arm back and settled it back onto the water.
It was silent as it stared at him.
“What did you do?!” The boy demanded, tears slowly dripping from his eyes. A trembled raked through his body as his insides clenched… But nothing hurt… Nothing…
Nothing except his fucking chest!
“Answer me!” He growled out, fists clenching at his sides. This feeling… He felt it for only a miniscule second and it left such an impression on him… What the hell did the fox do?! What was this?! What was happening?! What was he going through?!
“I shared a fraction of my pain with you”. Akashi’s eyes blew wide at the fox’s answer. It shared its pain with him? How was that even possible? How was something like that even possible?
Pain?
Fraction?
If that small fraction was enough to turn him into an emotional mess…
… Then, what would the whole thing do to him?
“I…”. Akashi didn’t know what to say… He didn’t have anything he could say to it…
“I don’t need your pity, that’s the last thing I want from a human”. Its deep tone resounded through the sewers. “All I’ve ever strived for is…”. It trailed off and turned away from Akashi.
“What did you strive for?” The boy asked, moving closer. The fox made no move to look back at him. “Tell me! What did you strive for?!” He demanded, fingers wrapping around the thick bars. The fox didn’t even act like he was there anymore. “Answer me! What did you strive for?!” Akashi yelled at the fox.
“Acknowledgement… Peace… Understanding…”. Akashi’s heart throbbed inside his chest at those words. Who would have thought? The almighty and dangerous beast wanted something like that… “The things I got in return were just… Anger… Hate… Abhorrence…”. The fingers around the bars relaxed as they slipped down.
The fox is gigantic… A being of calamity… The bringer of death and destruction…
And in front of it was he… a young boy…
A boy who strived for peace… Peace which could only be achieved if something was destroyed in the process…
The world…
… A boy who wanted to be a destroyer of worlds…
“You should leave”. It suddenly spoke up, knocking Akashi back to reality.
“I do not want to”. He furrowed his brows as he stared at the being in front of him.
The fox let out a snarl, barred teeth dangerously flashing at the redhead. “Leave!” It growled out and neared the gate, trying to look as threatening as possible… It didn’t work against the boy on the other side of the cage.
“No!” He exclaimed, narrowing his eyes in its direction. There was no way he was leaving now! Not after what it said! He didn’t know why, but something urged him to stay there, to not leave it alone…
He saw it in the fox eyes… He saw the need for something…
Companionship?
It was something akin to that… But on a much deeper level… A level Akashi still couldn’t understand…
Seeing that there was no use in trying to scare the boy away, the fox turned around, prepared to go to the end of the cage… And then… It felt something grab at its fur…
It whipped back around and was met with the sight of the boy holding onto its fur. “I am not leaving! And neither are you!” He said and the fox almost laughed at that…
As if it could go anywhere…
Akashi tightly gripped the fur in his hands, not wanting to let go.
The fox was in so much pain… Unbearable pain… Akashi couldn’t stand it! He just couldn’t! He couldn’t leave it here now! Not after finding out how it felt after all this time of being a Tailed Beast! No!
It was in that moment, that he saw it turn around and thrust its arm out of the cage. He wasn’t fast enough to move away and he was wrapped up in its clawed fingers.
“So you won’t leave?” It asked, bringing the boy up to its eye-level. Akashi froze in its grasp as those crimson eyes blared straight at him. “Fine… Then I’ll make you leave”. With that, its other arm reached to him, one claw coming closer. Akashi’s eyes widened at the sight of it. No… No… No! He struggled to get away, but it was too late.
It touched his cheek and his heart clenched inside his chest at the feeling. This time, the claw wasn’t moved away, it remained there, touching his skin as the fox’s emotions poured into his body.
Pain… Grief… Anger… Hatred… Loneliness… Sorrow… Solitude… Disappointment… Rage… Agony… Want… Happiness… Forgiveness…
Everything was right there… He felt everything… His heart screamed out as the tears slipped down his cheeks. The dripped and dripped and dripped… And they wouldn’t stop dripping…
He clenched his eyes shut as unwanted sobs racked through his body… He spluttered and gasped for breath as his lungs constricted… “Stop!” He yelled. “Stop!” He repeated, but the fox made no move to do such a thing. “Stop!” He begged, feeling his heart thunder against his ribs.
Then, just as the emotions were about to completely overwhelm him, he was released.
The only thing he could do was stare into those crimson eyes as they grew further and further away. He couldn’t help but wonder…
Was that regret he saw inside them? Or was that just his imagination?
His body collided with the cold water below and he went underneath as the world around him got swallowed up by eternal darkness.
_
His backside harshly connected with the hard ground under his feet when he came back to reality.
All of the emotions disappeared…
And he was left with nothing but his own emptiness…
_
Sasuke’s eye transplantation didn’t last long and Akashi made his way to him as soon as Madara’s signal disappeared. He didn’t knock on the door as he stepped inside and closed it behind himself. The Uchiha was sitting on the bed in silence and his head was lowered as it faced the ground beneath his feet.
“Don’t you know how to knock?” He questioned and Akashi stepped closer, before he stopped in front of the boy. He had bandages around his eyes, probably so he could get used to the new eyes… The redhead reached a hand forward and a single finger brushed over the thin fabric of the bandage. A hand whipped up and wrapped around his wrist.
“I do not think knocks are needed between us”. Sasuke heard the boy answer, before his hand was twisted to the side and he was forced to let go of him. Another hand grabbed his own and he felt Akashi’s fingers slither between his own, intertwining them. “Do you?” The question was whispered right next to his ear and the raven-haired boy barely stopped a tremble from going through his body.
The fact that he couldn’t see, made everything else so much more clearer.
He felt the bed dip as a weight settled across his lap. He felt Akashi’s hot breath hit the side of his neck and this time, the tremble wasn’t stopped. He felt warm skin slither across his neck, before the other boy’s fingers went up to his cheekbones, staying there for a few moments. They skidded across his cheeks and across the lower parts of his bandage.
Teasing.
He felt his free hand twitch across the bed’s covers, but he didn’t know what to do with it… Everything was too much… It felt like every sensation was increased just because he couldn’t see… He heard the other boy’s soft breaths next to him… He heard his own heart thumping inside his chest… He hesitantly raised his hand and blindly felt for the boy’s waist.
It was then, that he felt the lower parts of the bandage being slipped up. He clenched his eyes shut as the dim light of the room felt too bright for his sensitive eyes. The fingers which were around his own, slid out and the bandage was raised over his head, catching onto his hair and making it fall atop his forehead.
He blinked his eyes open and the first thing he saw were those unusual violet eyes of his.
It felt like he was seeing them for the first time… Like he was seeing them in a new light… Fingers trail down his jaw, blunt nails going down his skin and he felt like the breath was knocked out of his body.
“What is with that look of yours?” Akashi tilted his head and tightened his legs around Sasuke’s hips, leaning forward. Sasuke couldn’t form words in that moment, everything that appeared in his mind just evaporated without a trace…
Everything except those eyes…
He felt like he could stare at them forever… and always…
His lips parted open as a breath escaped through them… Damn… He felt breathless… Just at the sight of him…
The sight before him left him breathless.
Dark crimson hair framed those sharp lines of his face… Those thin, equally as dark, lashed framed those sharp violet eyes of his…
Everything about the boy in front of him was sharp lines and edges…
And Sasuke wasn’t afraid to be cut.
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