Author's Note: At this time frame, Kakashi would be around 16 years old and in ANBU while Itachi would be 8 years old and mastering the Sharigan. Naruto and Sasuke would be around 3 years old. Oh and this is yaoi...hehehe~~~
YōkaiKou sat blissfully in the hospital bed with his gnarly hands intertwined within his partner's hands. His breath coming out shorter and shorter, he could feel life slipping out of his hands. The hourglass that long held much of the sand particles was now losing its way into the bottom. Kou knew it was only a matter of time before the shadows that stared at him from the corners of his vision laid their claim.
"Daichi," he murmured. At this, a head full of the purest color of white rose up and stare intently at Kou. "I want to thank you for everything. Thank you for your love and your kindness. I am sincerely sorry for the times I acted selfish and left you behind. I now understand that happiness doesn't come from pursuing our own interests but from others. Please don't be sad when the time comes, otherwise your grieving will haunt me."
"Kou," Daichi replied softly. "Shut up will ya? I am trying to savor the moments and you gotta ruin in with the sob speech. Oh and you don't need to worry about that time you left me. I am pretty sure that was made up with all the beatings I gave you."
The only response was a chuckle from Kou who would never in this world, get over Daichi's sharp tongue. That man threw sass at everyone's face, be it his lover or his friends.
"Oh, and by the way, I won't grieve for you. I know you're content with things already as it is so I have no regrets letting you go. Just make sure you don't fall or trip when you're on the stairs to heaven. Oh and don't forget to go towards the light." Even though Daichi said this, his voice was shaky indicating his worry.
Pushing his head forward until Daichi forehead was touching against Kou, they both stayed silent, absorbing the little time they had left with each other. The machine for the heart monitor displayed a thin, green line that kept decreasing in its heights until it laid flat. The last moments was a shared kiss and the tightening of each others grip but the last words was a glimpse of each others mind.
"I love you."
...
The shadows murmur were getting louder and louder until finally, a pale hand silenced it with a wave of its hand. It collected the light gray orb glowing softly, pulling the murmuring shadows closer to it. The orb showed a life of content: freed of desire and chains that held the host down. Such color was gained only through crossing the path of suffering and realizing the simplicity behind life. The current orb was a refreshing change of pace from the dark, tainted gray orbs and the shadows wanted it oh so badly, to be one with the soul of the orb. But they were the tainted ones so they couldn't come any closer to the orb or else they would fade away into nothing.
The pale hands examined the light gray orb and caressed it softly. Such color were hard to find these days, it was usually a medium-dark shades of gray. It would be such a waste to eat the orb, oh no there were better uses for that orb. Twisting the thin lips into a soft smile, it covered the orb with a sheer fabric of strings and placed the orb into another jar of maroon orbs and inside an already breaking orb. It collected the host of the broken orb and placed him into a different jar. Perhaps, this was a bad idea- switching the orbs' origins. That orb didn't belong with the maroon orbs but it knew that sometimes, it was better to jump straight away rather than test the waters slowly. The humans were a good remainder of that, after all whose fault was it for providing metals that they sharpen into scissors which let them to cut the strings of fate.
For now, it can only hope that the host of the gray orb would lighten up the crimson color of some of the maroon orbs. Hopefully, it will find more orbs like that color soon and then, it can eat it with relish. It knew not to overeat, for these type of orbs were ones that balance the dark nature of other orbs and it was what kept humanity going on. Like yin and yang, each balance each other out and tamed the shadows.
So before it left to collect other orbs, it gave a wry smile and turned the hourglass, starting another life.
...
A flicker of static electricity woke Kou up from his slumber, before him laid a flat screen covering every aspect of his vision. He had been wandering the darkness for quite a time, rethinking of his past life and felt no regrets. He had found his source of happiness, Daichi. For that, he was content with life and felt no other desire perk him and was woken up from his slumber. Another flicker appeared starting the life of a young boy with thick, brown hair. Like a cinema, it started from the the boy's perspective.
At the beginning, Kou saw a mother and a father coo at him. Lightly squeezing his cheeks, the mother held a smile of affection. Feeling rough hands caress his head, Kou looked up and notice the father who beamed at him when he realized the baby was looking at him. Gurgling, Kou saw his hands make a closing motion and he squirmed to show his happiness. Smiling softly, the screen buzzed away to darkness as the boy fell asleep and Kou wondered of the boy's parents name.
Time passed and Kou caught a ride with the young boy named Kenji who was the second son to a woman named Kimiko and a man named Shin. They were both civilians in Konoha and worked as merchants. Imagine Kou surprise as he realized this took place from the manga, Naruto it was called, he read with his partner. Kou had long forgotten his partner name but he couldn't forget the fondness of his heart and the familiar feeling of love. It was what made him realize that he once had a life instead of watching someone else life flash past.
Kou would always laugh when Kenji would throw vegetables down his pants in an attempt to finish his dinner. He would smile fondly when the mother kissed him when he left for the school. He would frown when the older and younger brother of Kenji received more attention than him. And he cried when both the parents died leaving him in the hands of the older brother. Whatever Kenji felt, Kou did too because he had become part of Kenji.
The death of his parents was the last straw for Kenji and after the funeral, Kenji shut himself down. He was hurting deep inside and pushed any comforts his brothers tried to give him. He made no attempts to talk with them so they decided to leave him alone in his own thoughts. Unsure, they hoped he would recover from his misery. All of them, including Kenji himself, knew Kenji had fallen into depression but none of them he had fallen in too deep. Wearing a constant blank face as his mask, he used isolation as a shield from the outside world. The sky had turn grey in his eyes, the flowers shed their petals in his footsteps, and the sun seemed to mock him with their constant brightness. All of his bottled up emotions wore him down constantly, tugging at his sanity each day. He needed distraction- fast.
At first, Kou had been happy when Kenji landed himself a job as a chef at a fancy restaurant. It meant a chance for Kenji to interact with others, open up, throw himself into the social life, get a girlfriend, and all that jazz.
NOT.
Apparently, Kenji used it as an excuse to fend off invitations from his brothers who wanted to see him and become even more isolated. Rather than throwing himself into being social, he threw himself into mastering every recipe in the menu, perfecting each cuisine on the table. Add a little seasoning here and there to spice up the soup, dry the vegetables a bit more for the crunch, fry the chicken less for that soft, tender bite, etc. You name it, he got it. The restaurant became even more popular and the business was booming thanks to Kenji (slow clapping from Kou). Respect was earned from the staff members and they couldn't deny his culinary skills. The members tried to get close with Kenji only to receive a blank stare from him. Talk about turning over a new leaf, Kou wanted to pull out all of his hair because Kenji's social life was worse than that Uchiha brat he read about on manga. Despite the knowledge Kou held about the Naruto world, some of it had faded away due to time but the basic information remains fresh on Kou's mind because it was like a reminder everyday when he saw the Hokage mountain through Kenji. However, that was not important right now. What was important right now was the fact that Kenji was too deep in his self-pity to notice the outside world. But Kou knew that he wasn't in any way, shape, or form to even help Kenji a bit. After all, Kou was just a guy who just watches Kenji's life.
So at age 18, Kenji was still single despite being a fine young man with long thick brown hair reaching his waist (Kou's hands were itching to braid that long hair, after all, being a hairdresser in his past life made it a requirement to stay groomed and neat). The days spent holed up left him pale and slender. And all of the burden Kenji carried left him emotionless and grumpy. Each time the scenes changed, it was the same boring routine. Eat, work, eat, sleep, repeat. Then finally, Kou saw a change.
At the night of celebration for the sealing of the fox demon(the fox was innocent, that Kou knew), Kenji passed by the dumpster when a flash of orange left him dazed. The runner and Kenji made eye contact for a millisecond before he was gone with the wind. Standing still, a mob passed by him shouting and cursing. Suddenly, Kou knew with a dreaded feeling who that person being chased was- Naruto. He wanted to do something, but Kenji remained impassive. Shouting, Kou tried to get words of desperation across but shouting at a flat screen didn't do anything. Finally, he saw Kenji expression change when he realized that the mob intentions were to hurt the young boy. Hearing cries of agony caused Kenji to run faster than he ever had in his whole life. Pushing through the crowd, he wrapped his arms around the bruised and bloodied Naruto, protecting him from the lash of the mob. The mob stilled for a moment before continuing to rain wooden sticks, metal, and broken shards of glass(?!) upon Kenji's back urging him to let the demon brat go. But Kenji held still and Kou watched in horror as the edges of the flat screen faded away quickly. The last vision was of masked men, Anbu thank god thought Kou, before the screen flickered shut. Only then did Kou realized someone sat beside him.
A child form of Kenji stared in awe at Kou. Quickly, Kou scrambled to his feet and felt his back hit the screen wall.
"Hey ojii-san!(Here, Kou's eyebrows started to twitch) What are you doing here?" exclaimed Kenji.
"Boy, I could say the same for you" replied Kou wryly. His eyes widen when he suddenly noticed that Kenji's legs were starting to fade. Kenji looked at where Kou was looking and frowned.
"I guess my time is limited," murmured Kenji switching into a serious tone. "Listen ojii-san!(another eyebrow twitch) I gotta go back to my parents before they start getting mad at me for being late. So I did my part and now it's your turn!" At a steady pace, his legs finished fading and it was now closing in on his torso.
"Wha-what? What do you mean? And wait- hold up! Why did you start protecting that boy- I mean Naruto! Yeah, why did you? I mean you never met him so..." rambled Kou as he watched in horror as the fading started to spread upwards.
Instead of answering him, Kenji gave him a cryptic smile and pointed at his own eyes. He then pushed Kenji forward, as the screen suddenly shifted into quicksand, pulling him deeper into god knows where.
"Please," said Kenji gently. "Take care of Naruto."
The last thing Kou saw was Kenji's sad smile as his face faded away.