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

He could hear them all calling out to him.

He really could.

But… Somehow… Their voices seemed far away.

Too far away.

It sounded like he was stuck somewhere, somewhere they couldn’t reach, but desperately tried to.

Somewhere-!

His insides burned… They burned in that all familiar way.

A way that left nothing but ash within him.

Ash left to be swept away by the wind.

Wind which presented itself as something good.

Good? Good? Good? Good? Good?

Why can’t he feel it now? The never-ending breeze? Where was it now? Did it abandon him?

Has he been abandoned?

Left alone? Left alone? Left alone? Left alone? Left alone?

“You are not alone”. The voice echoed within his mind and Akashi found himself back in the sewers. He dared not look ahead of himself… That voice sounded too familiar… Too…

He didn’t wish to realise it was not real… So he kept his gaze on the water beneath his feet.

This was too good to be true.

“Akashi”. He clenched his eyes shut and the burning within him worsened. He just wanted to get away from there. He didn’t want to be there. Being there was too painful. “Open your eyes”. He heard the water splash and he noticed the looming shadow above himself. “Look at me”. He didn’t want to.

“No… I refuse…”. He mumbled out, feeling his throat constrict as the words left his lips.

“You refuse me?” The question was unexpected, but Akashi chose to answer it nonetheless.

“I do”. A deep chuckle resounded through the sewers and Akashi found himself taking a step back. This wasn’t real… He needed to find a way out of there… He needed to go back out…

“You cannot refuse a part of yourself, little human”.

Little human? Little human? Little human? Little human? Little human?

It can’t be him. It can’t be him. It can’t be hi-!

“Open your eyes and see for yourself”.

So he did.

The sewers were dimly lit as always, but there was one thing which was different than before.

The giant crimson gates were no more and in their place stood he.

With his towering height and barred fangs…

Stood he…

It felt like it had been a hundred years since he had last seen him… Since he had last seen that dark orange fur of his… Those crimson eyes of his…

And for the first time upon catching sight of him…? Akashi felt inexplicable joy.

“Ku… ra… ma…?” His voice betrayed him, cracking the whole way through the name. “You… You… How?” His eyes stung and he blinked the tears away…

He wasn’t going to cry.

“How are you back…?” He questioned and took a step forward, reaching his pale hand towards him. Kurama closed his eyes and lowered his head, letting it touch the tips of Akashi’s fingers.

“I’ve never left”. Was the answer the redhead received. He never left…? He never left…? How…? What…? Various questions ran through Akashi’s mind, but he couldn’t settle on one.

“But I… I killed you…? Didn’t I…?” He moved his hand and settled his palm atop the fox’s fur, gently threaded his fingers through the thick orange coat. “I killed you and yet… you’re here”. Kurama exhaled and leaned back, making Akashi stumbled forward.

“You didn’t kill me… You sealed me”. Akashi’s brows furrow in confusion at the information.

“Sealed you? Aren’t you already seal-!” His eyes widened as the realisation flooded through him. Of course! He used the chains! The chains! They weren’t called the Adamantine Sealing Chains for nothing!

How was he so stupid?!

But… How did he end up unsealed?

“About that… Since you didn’t know the real and full purpose of the chains, you didn’t use them to their full capacity, which resulted in my sealing even deeper away into your mind… Into parts where nobody could ever reach”. And? That didn’t tell him much. As if his thoughts were heard, and they frankly were, Kurama continued. “You didn’t completely seal me away, which allowed me to send out little bursts of my own chakra to you… So I could weaken the incomplete seal…”. Now that he said it that way, it did make sense.

“So… The crimson chains? That was you?” Akashi tilted his head, staring up at Kurama.

“Indeed it was… I sent out chakra constantly, so I could somehow get you here and once I managed to take brief control of your body, I also managed to take control of your mind, since you had removed the seal on the cage not so long ago”. Oh… That made even more sense now that he explained it like that.

“I see… Did me sealing you away influence my near-death state?” Akashi asked, remembering how he felt when he woke up after his encounter with Madara… With Obito…

“Not at all, that was the effect of you using too much chakra to seal me away… You were never in any danger at all and you felt better after biting Karin, right? That was because your chakra got replenished… But, if you knew the real purpose of the chains, you could have sealed me even further and completely stopped my output of chakra, which would have resulted in your death and my temporary one”. Kurama explained.

“I didn’t know that…”. Akashi mumbled out, staring at the fox.

Not even a moment later, he clenched his teeth again.

He thought he killed him… He thought he killed him… He thought he killed him…

“Little human…”. Kurama said, reaching his arm towards Akashi. The said boy didn’t notice what was happening, until he felt dense fur brush his cheek. “Why are you crying?” The fox questioned and Akashi didn’t have an answer.

He didn’t even know he was crying.

“Kurama… I’m sorry”. What a hypocrite he was… Never accepting when those words were aimed at him, but now he was the one saying them.

He was really a hypocrite.

Without a second thought, he reached his arms and wrapped them around Kurama’s wrist. “I’m sorry…”. He leaned his face into the dense fur and let the tears flow.

Kurama stayed still.

“You did what you thought was best for the both of us… That was more than any Jinchuriki before you had ever done… You wished to sacrifice your life for my own”. Kurama reached his other arm and gently scooped up the much smaller boy. “What’s done is done… We’re in this together now, little one”. He brought both arms closer to himself and Akashi immediately clamped onto him, hiding his face in the thick fur.

“So… Are we a team now?” Akashi mumbled out, voice muffled by Kurama’s coat.

“Yes we are”. Who would have thought he would be so happy at the sound of that? At the sound of those words?

Akashi blinked as he was suddenly pulled away and settled back onto the water. “What’s wrong?” Something was definitely up.

“I’m not completely unsealed, you need to break the seal with the chains”. Break it? What if he messed up? What if he accidentally did something even worse than before? “Don’t worry about that… Just focus on that one thing and everything will turn out fine, all right?” Kurama said and Akashi couldn’t do anything, except trust his words.

“All right”. He took a few steps back and willed the chains to life. They burst out of his back, no longer the recent crimson colour, but back to their usual silver. He glanced at Kurama and took a deep breath.

It was now or never.

The chains went towards the fox and slowly wrapped around the dense fur. They tightened ever so slightly around Kurama. Akashi closed his eyes and in that moment, he felt it. Something was wrapped around Kurama, blocking his chakra, but not fully. That allowed Akashi to transfer more chakra to his chains and let it slither and mix in with Kurama’s. He waited and waited until the right moment.

Violet eyes snapped open as the chains whipped back with a force so great, the air around them distorted.

Akashi sensed something break and then, everything flowed into him.

Kurama’s emotions were released.

They flooded into Akashi and he stumbled back a few steps, overwhelmed by them.

The sadness Kurama felt before was no longer there… And the only thing Akashi could feel was complete and utter freedom.

It hit Akashi like a fresh breath of air. Kurama hid nothing from him.

He was the only one who chose not to hide anything from him.

“Are you sure about that?” Taken aback at the sudden question, Akashi glanced up at Kurama.

“What do you mean?” He was honestly confused as to what he meant.

“What about that boy? He never hid anything from you”. That boy? Who did he mean by ‘that boy’? Akashi furrowed his brows as the question was repeated over and over inside his mind.

Boy?

Dark eyes flashed through his mind and his own violet ones widened.

Sasuke…

Kurama was right… Sasuke never hid anything… He always told the truth… He never lied…

“Maybe… But, he an I aren’t compatible”. Akashi shook his head… They really weren’t compatible.

“Really? That didn’t stop you from your… activities”. There was amusement in the fox’s words and the redhead glared up at Kurama. Activities? Was he…?

“You pervert…”. Akashi will never forget the offended expression Kurama had when he accused him of that. Crimson eyes widened and his fangs peeked out of his parted mouth.

“That wasn’t my fault! I can hear all your thoughts and see whatever it is you’re seeing!” Damn… If Kurama was a human, he would most definitely be blushing right now.

“The almighty Nine-Tails, spluttering like a shy teenage girl”. Akashi huffed out a laugh. “Who would have thought…?” Kurama scoffed and glanced away from him. “But… Really… He and I aren’t compatible… He expects too much from me and I cannot give him what he wants”.

“What is it that he wants?” Akashi wondered why Kurama asked a question to which he already knew the answer to. “Because I want you to say it out loud”. He answered.

Lowering his head to look at the water beneath his feet, he was met with his own pale complexion. “He wishes for me to feel the same way he feels… He wishes that I care for him as he cares for me… He wishes that I love him as he loves me”. Dark violet eyes stared back at him. “You can see, right? How I’m feeling?” He raised his head and looked at Kurama.

“I can… But the question is… Can you?” That majorly confused the red-headed boy.

Why would Kurama ask something like that?

“Little human… I have visited the deepest parts of your being… Parts you, yourself, know nothing about…”. Akashi took a step back, eyes narrowing at the fox’s words. “I know what you really crave for”.

What he craved for? What he craved for? What he craved for? What he craved for? What he craved for?

“Then tell me! What is it that I crave for?!” He yelled out, annoyed with Kurama’s cryptic responses.

“That is for me to know and for you to find out…”. There he went again, answering, but not answering.

“I know how I’m feeling! I know what I’m feeling!” Akashi pointed at the fox, expression twisting into that of anger. “And I know what I crave for!” He growled out, gritting his teeth.

“Then say it! Say how you feel! Say what you feel! Tell me what you crave for! Tell yourself what you crave for!” Kurama growled out back at him, further raising Akashi’s temper.

He felt like he was going to burn up.

“I…!” He began, but somehow, the words wouldn’t come out. “I…!” He tried again, but his throat constricted before the rest could come out. “I…!” There was no use, the words were stuck in his throat and he couldn’t even say them out loud.

His mind was blank.

What words did he even want to say?

What was on his mind?

How did he feel?

What did he feel?

…

…

What did he crave for?

…

…

He breathed in a sharp breath as the questions ran through his mind.

He didn’t know. He didn’t know. He didn’t know. He didn’t know. He didn’t know.

“You don’t allow yourself to feel… You’ve hid that part in the deepest and darkest parts of yourself and do you know why?”

He didn’t know. He didn’t know. He didn’t know. He didn’t know. He didn’t know.

“Because you are afraid of getting hurt… You’re afraid of pain… You’ve endured so much of it that it left a permanent scar in your mind”.

That wasn’t true. That wasn’t true. That wasn’t true. That wasn’t true. That wasn’t true.

“You’re afraid… You’re terrified…”.

He wasn’t afraid! He wasn’t afraid! He wasn’t afraid! He wasn’t afraid! He wasn’t afraid!

“But you don’t have to be afraid any longer… You’re not alone…”.

He wasn’t? He wasn’t? He wasn’t? He wasn’t? He wasn’t?

“You’re not, because I am here with you and you’re here with me… Neither one of us is alone…”.

Akashi looked ahead of himself and was met with a sight he had never seen before.

Kurama was grinning. A full-blown smile with his fangs peeking out from the corners of his mouth.

Akashi watched as Kurama reached his hand forward and placed it in front of him.

“We are a team now, right? Partner?” His heart throbbed inside his chest and his throat closed up at Kurama’s words.

Slowly and gingerly, Akashi reached his hand forward and placed it onto Kurama’s, much bigger, palm.

“Right… Partner”.

They were partners.

His lips curled up into a small smile at the thought of that.