A/N: The song is Deafening Silence by Machine Head and the lyrics fit perfectly with this chapter. The singers voice is beautiful and enchanting and it stirs up so emotion. (when I say enchanting and beautiful..i mean it has talent but it's not soft for the entire thing.. just listen to it.. It physically hurts my heart listening.) hopefully this will shed a little (more like a lot) of light on Akio's personality and why he acts the way he does.


Note: The entire thing is in "english" a.k.a french, the conversion in the flashback and the thoughts. I just didn't want to switch it because I needed everyone to understand lol p.s Italics (like paragraphs of italics) are flashbacks. Because of the language switches. Japanese will be english in bold. English will be normal english. There's too much important stuff to have it not understood XD


Warning: There's a rather homophobic situation depicted below. I completely support homosexuality so I don't want anyone thinking I don't. But it is a tad violent and things like that DO happen. I believe it's still under the teen rating and that anyone 13 and up should be ok listening to it. If you are going to bash because of the gayness I don't want you here anyway because your ignorance DISGUSTS me. That is all :D enjoy.


Akio POV

"Stop complaining you little brat." She whispered harshly, hitting him upside the head before speeding up to hug his father around the waist. "I love you honey." She whispered in her ear, her voice filled with false intentions.

"Ok, Akio. This is only the first time that we're going to be here but because of business we'll probably be visiting often. Feel free to wander around and make friends. Maybe you can get a penpal or something. Just be home by eight alright?" His father grinned, he had just been appointed mayor and was looking over trading with a small village outside of Konoha. Little eight year old Akio wasn't so impressed though.

"Fine.. uh.. bye.." He muttered before darting away. That woman sickened him. He was eight yes.. but he knew a bad person when he saw one. All women were like that. Freaking pigs.

"Uh.. I saw you talking with the mayor dude.. do you know him? I haven't seen you around here before." A boy with gleaming onyx eyes and shaggy black hair grinned.

"Ya.. h-he's my father. My name's Akio.. what's your name?" Akio asked nervously.

"Alexander. You can call me Alex, or Zander.. or Alexander, whatever I don't really care. I'm surprised you speak english.. not many people do. Makes it hard to make friends sometimes. I still need to learn. I'm nine by the way." The boy smiled.

"Cool, I'm eight and I know what you mean.."

"Eight? Really? I thought you were nine or ten. You sure act older than an eight year old." Alexander laughed.

"R-really? I never noticed." Akio smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head to sooth the aching.

"You ok?" Alexander asked.

"Hmm? Oh ya.. just.. my head's a little sore." He muttered.

"That woman is your mother? She seems like a bitch!" He growled. Akio's eyes widened at the language. Sure he had heard her use words like that, sometimes even his father when he was mad.. but.. never someone his age.

"Haha, never heard a word like that? You'll get used to it. Makes my mother bloody mad though." He grinned.

"Ya.. she's my step-mother.. I won't call her anything like that though. She's foreign. Her name's Laura, which is what I call her. The only person who I call mom is my real mom.. but.. she's a .. bitch.. too." He explained, testing out the new word.

"There ya go, not that hard. Ouch.. seems like your track record with girls is awful. Oh well. Do you visit often.. or are you going to?" Alex asked.

"Ya. Apparently my dad and Laura are coming down at least once a month for meetings with your mayor and the trading companies." Akio smiled half-heartedly. Maybe visiting wouldn't be so bad if he had a friend here.

"Awesome! Then we can be friends." Alexander grinned. "C'mon. I want you to meet my sister!" He grabbed Akio's hand before running off through the city. When they finally stopped it was at a small worn down shack.

"Aaron! I have a friend! He speaks english!" Alexander yelled into the building. Inside there were two beds and a small table. There was also a big hole in the floor near the corner of the room which a young girl walked out of.

"Hey there. My name's Aaron, as he's told you. I'm his sister. I'm ten. Who are you?" She asked dusting off her overalls.

"My name's Akio.. is she really ok?" He asked looking towards Alex who nodded. "I'm eight by the way."

"Ok? Why wouldn't I be..?" She asked looking rather confused.

"All of the girls he knows are cruel." Alex stated.

"You know.. if you're only looking at one or two trees that are rotten.. and assume all the trees are rotten.. you're dumb. You need to take a step back and look at the whole forest. It's so beautiful it'll make you forget about those one or two rotten trees." She smiled.

"Are you sure you don't have that backwards? Because I stepped back and I see a hell of a lot of rotten trees and one or two good ones. It's making me think the whole forest is rotten." He grumbled.

"Sheesh.. you already have Alex's potty mouth. Oh well.. you can get to know me and see not all of us women are bad." She smiled.


Akio sighed, looking at the back of his friend's head. Even then Aaron had been sweet and kind to him despite his actions. She was always there for him, yet still.. she was simply a gorgeous sakura tree amongst a rotten forest.

The group had made on with there trip in silence ever since the big blow up yesterday. Shinobu woke him up but spoke little to him. He felt bad.. but he felt like he had to try to keep her.. he didn't want to see her cry again.. or freeze herself. He wanted to know what was wrong so he could fix it.. yes she was a girl.. but maybe she was another Sakura tree.. maybe he just needed to take the time to see that. If he was honest.. he wanted her to fill the gap..

"Aaachoo!" Shinobu sneezed. "'scuse me.. " She muttered. She had gotten an awful cold since the river incident, though she wouldn't accept the carriage when Akio offered.

"I have no clue how you can be cold in this weather." Kiba sighed, he had long since given up fanning himself in an attempt to cool down. Even though he was only in shorts he felt like he was on fire while Shinobu was bundled up in her sweater. Now that Akio thought about it she was the only one on her team to where anything slightly revealing. The rest of her team wore sweaters, hoods and glasses.

"Ya well.. that's what I get for being stupid." She muttered.

"You know.. if you want to feel real heat I'm sure the others wouldn't mind taking a break." Akio smirked half heartedly in an attempt to seem normal.

"Dude.. no.. just... no.." He shooked his head in response.. not even freaking out. Akio sighed. This.. sucked.

"You're thinking of him again aren't you.." Aaron asked through the wall of the carriage.

"N-no.. I..yes.." he sighed. There was really no point in lying to her.. she knew him too well.

"What about trying to find someone new.. there's plenty of fish in the sea." She said, though her voice held little hope.

"Ya.. I tried that.. he turned out to be a she who hates me.. turned out great didn't it?" He said with dripping sarcasm. Aaron just sighed knowing it was the end of the conversation. They continued to walk in silence and Akio's mind drifted yet again.


"Alex.. zander.. dude.. where are we going?" Akio asked, following his best friend with a confused frown on his face.

"Just somewhere cool.. I really think you're gonna like it." He grinned, dragging Akio behind him. Akio wanted to ask more but realized quickly it would do no good.

"There! We're here!" Alexander grinned up at the underside of the bridge. It was a small walking bridge over a river in a small village near Konoha. Akio visited all the time with his father due to work.

"A bridge.. I don't get it." Akio sighed.

"Of course you don't.. just follow me." Alexander grumbled before jumping onto a small platform supporting the bridge beams and climbing up them. They were made of stone but were at an angle so it wasn't all that hard to climb. Once he was at the firs break he turned around.

"You coming? Or are you too scared?" Alexander smirked, his onyx eyes gleaming in the sunlight.

"I am not!" Akio growled, climbing up to join him.

"S..so now what?" He asked, a little uncertain.

"We keep going, don't fall.. k?" He smiled before moving to the outside of the beam and stepping around the break, clinging to the edge of the bridge so he wouldn't fall. On the other side was another flat platform under the bridge, it was shaded and was large anough for four people to comfortably sit without fear of falling off, only two people if they were laying down.

"How did you get over there?" Akio asked, staring in horror at the break in front of him. It was only a couple of inches thick but a wall was a wall and there was nowhere to step around it.

"Just swing your feet around while holding the edge. It's not that hard." Alexander's voice spoke from the other side of the wall.

"F-fine.. but If I fall you're so dead!" Akio threatened half-heartedly as he grasped the edge of the bridge attempting to get footing on the other side. He thought he had it and let go of the bridge when he felt his foot slip, butterflies filled his stomache as his eyes widened in fear.

"Alex!" He screamed as he started to fall. But as quick as he slipped a hand gripped his wrist pulling him up onto the platform before he found himself in a tight hug, clinging to the t-shirt of his best friend.

"Sheesh.. you're such a baby sometimes.. if you're not careful you're going to get yourself killed." Alexander scolded half-heartedly

"I-I am not!" Akio stuttered, quickly backing away from his friend and leaning agains the break.

"Sure sure.. but it's pretty up here, eh?" Alex grinned looking out over the rippling waters. There were a couple of fallen flowers floating down the river.

"Ya.. it is.." Akio whispered, in awe now that he let the view sink in. They were a good two stories above the river and it was gorgeous. Akio closed his eyes, leaning against the small wall and enjoying the serenity of the area around him, it was really nice until he felt something warm brush his cheeks. His eyes snapped open to see Alexander less than an inch away.

"What?" Akio whispered. He was feeling slightly uneasy and confused as Alex didn't answer. He was about to say something when he felt his lips brush against something warm, it took him a minute to register but when it did his eyes widened. He was kissing his best friend.. he was kissing his best male friend.. oh shit.

"You look like you just saw a ghost." Alexander smirked when he broke away.

"Y-you kissed me?" he whispered in response, as if he didn't believe it.

"So I kissed you? I think your attractive. Therefore I kissed you. Am I not attractive to you?" Alexander smirked.

"Well.. uh...I..um.. you are, Zander.. but.. we're both guys.." Akio muttered awkwardly.

"So what? You just admitted you think I'm attractive, we're already best friends. So we're both guys, I'm not seeing a problem." He smirked, kissing him again.


Akio was shaken from his thoughts with the sound of a scream. Clashes of weapons echoed in his ears as his eyes widened. There was a group of probably genin ninja outside. Akio knew full well that people were trying to get his father out of office because of the murder of the last mayor.. but attacking him? Wasn't that going overboard.. It wasn't his father's fault anyway no matter where people laid the blame.

"Akio duck!" Shinobu yelled appearing with a flash infront of him to block a series of throwing knives.

"Where should I be right now?" He asked, trying to keep calm.

"Stay the fuck still so I can protect you. Think of it this way.." She paused to pick him up and flip out of the way of a fire jutsu. "If you move.. you'll probably die." She growled, charging forward to start fighting the attackers with taijutsu. They were obviously mid to long range fighters and were having serious issues blocking her attacks as she swiveled and flipped around them.

"And you call me the potty mouth?" Kiba laughed through gritted teeth as he blocked a kunai with his arm, not having enough time to block it properly.

"Are you ok?" Akio squeaked wide eyed. He thought they didn't like him.. but they were going through all this trouble to protect him.. probably only because his father paid them.. but still..

"Ya, I'm fine. Now stop thinking stupid thoughts, it shows on your face when you do." Kiba growled preparing fang over fang and drilling an enemy who was attempting to sneak up on Akio. Kurenai attacked their jonin leader. Apparently it was a genin team similar to their own, just, several more genin.

"Make a noise.. and I'll kill you." A voice growled from behind Akio, gripping both of his hands behind his back as something cool pressed against his neck. He nodded slightly to let the person know he understood without cutting himself.

"Good boy.. looks like my father was right about you. Useless shit." He laughed quietly, dragging him backwards.

"Oh no you don't." Shinobu growled, her fist grazing Akio's ear as she smashed the offender's face in. "Are you alright?" Was the last thing he heard before he was out cold.


"Why do you dress like a fag?" a boy smirked, staring Akio down who just looked on in slight confusion. He knew what the words meant... but he didn't know how to respond. He didn't know enough Japanese yet.

"What? Can't speak Japanese pretty boy? Why don't you go crying to mister big shot daddy. We all know he's a murderer!" Another boy laughed.

"No... NO!" Akio screamed.

"No what?" The boy smirked.

"No.." Akio growled. He knew he disagreed with them.. that what they were saying was wrong.. but since his only friend spoke english he never bothered learning Japanese. He didn't know how to form what he wanted to say. The boys just laughed.

"Leave him alone." A voice growled, a familiar voice. Alexander? Why was he sticking up for him.. was he that important? They barely saw each other but when they did Alexander looked so happy.. Akio didn't understand.

"Why should I? He your boyfriend or something?" The girl clinging onto one of the boys shoulders sneered.

"Why should it matter to you? Fucking homophobes. Just because you have no lives doesn't mean you should insult somebody else's!" Alex growled before he received a ringed punch to the face.

"Alex!" Akio screamed kneeling down to see if he was alright before he felt his hair yanking him backwards.

"What? Your little boyfriend got hurt?" The boys laughed, kicking Alex in the ribs. Akio closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to watch but immediately recieved a slap to the face.

"Watch it you fag." Akio could taste the salt of his tears against his lips as he watched Alex struggle to fight them. He couldn't let them do this.. he had to fight too. He quickly found a new determination and bit the boy holding him on the arm, forcing him to let go before darting forward to punch them and get them off Alex.

"Haha, the fag's fighting back!" One of the boys grinned, grabbing his wrist and pinning him to a fence. "What..? You guys try so hard to defend each other? You don't want him to get hurt? Does he even care about you? After all.. he's just standing there while you're stuck." The boy smirked and Akio's determination faltered. Why wasn't he fighting now? Did he do something wrong? Akio looked over the boy's shoulder to see Alex staring at him, his expression blank.

"Well isn't this boring.. hmm, wonder if we could make him mad. That would be fun.." Another boy grinned, pinning his other wrist to the fence and crushing his own lips against Akio's, bruising them in the process. Akio whimpered as he felt his teeth cut open his lip.

"GET THE FUCK OFF HIM!" Alexander shouted before punching one of the guys and aiming for the other's family jewels.

"Fucking scary.. fags are.. gotta watch it.. they'll start a cult and we'll all turn." A boy whimpered before they all ran for it.

"Why'd you do that?" Akio asked looking at him in confusion.

"Because... I love you.." Alexander smiled, drawing Akio into a hug. "I'll never let them hurt you again.."


"Akio.. wake up.." Shinobu said, trickling water from her water bottle onto his face. He groaned but it worked none the less.

"What?" He asked, sighing.

"We're here." Aaron smiled half heartedly, knowing he didn't particularily like it here. She didn't either, but she was here for him. Whenever he left, she'd follow. Guess it came with the whole unconditional love thing.

"AKIO! Sweety! I missed you so much!" A woman with shoulder length blond hair squealed before bringing him into a big, bone crushing hug with a huge smile on her face. Despite the size of her smile, it held no emotion other than hatred and disgust. Team eight just stood awkwardly behind them, wondering if they should say something, just leave or whether they owed a goodbye.

"Laura.. let go of me. You have nothing to prove here nor are we in public." Akio growled.

"Don't talk to me like that.." She growled under her breath. "And to you! The wonderful ninja who brought my darling boy home. We happily invite you to stay the night, recooperate and relax before you start your journey back." She smiled, gesturing to the large mansion behind her.

"As much as we would love to I think that's a little bit out of our mission guidelines. We'll manage until we reach Konoha." Shinobu smiled politely before Kiba could say something stupid. Akio looked flabbergasted.

"What? Why would you invite them to stay?" He shouted.

"It's common curtesy and your father wants to thank them!" She spat under her breath.

"I insist. I refuse to let you leave until you've stayed the night." She smiled, pushing them into the house and towards the living room, cutting off all of their protests.

"Are you sure this is alright?" Kurenai asked, it was routine to refuse gifts like this if possible but it didn't seem like this woman was giving them an option.

"I insist! It's perfectly fine, my name is Laura by the way. I hope Akio wasn't too much trouble."

"He wasn't, thank you for welcoming us into your home." Kurenai smiled.

"You don't have to sugar coat his awful behaviour. I love him but he's a brat." Laura snorted. Akio just kept his mouth shut.

"He wasn't a brat at all. He was polite, kind caring and a pleasure to escort.. m'am." Shinobu said with a twitching smile. Was it just him or did she say "m'am" with an underlying threat to it.

"Hmm.. interesting boy. Is he one of your type?" She asked Akio.

"If you are saying I'm homosexual, I like males. There is nothing wrong with that regardless of gender." Shinobu let her smile turn into an icy glare.

"My my.. such hostility. I was just asking. I understand. Welcome to our home. Can I get all of your names?" Laura asked with a smile.

"I'm Kurenai.. their sensei. This is Shinobu, Hinata, Kiba and Shino. Thank you for the stay." Kurenai introduced sheepishly.

"Wonderful! Akio can show you to your rooms afterwards but first. I have a gift for you Akio!" Laura smiled, that type of smile that makes your blood run cold. Akio looked up to see the door open. His eyes widened in shock and he opened his mouth but couldn't even begin to think of something to say.

"You.." he whispered.


"Answer the damn door already.." Akio muttered to himself as he knocked again, probably bruising his knuckles. Alexander had told him that he wanted to hang out today but he had been trying to get a hold of him for a good thirty minutes and no one was answering. He wasn't quite sure what to do.

"Oi.. what are you doing here?" A voice said from behind him, he whipped around just in time to feel his heart shatter in his chest. There was his best friend.. his first kiss and his rock, standing with a girl clinging to his arm, kissing him.

"You said you wanted to hang out today... what's she doing here?" He asked, narrowing his eyes into a hard glare when he recognized her. She was the girl from the group that beat Akio and himself up.

"She's my girlfriend, dude. I wanted you to meet her. After all you're my best bud. She was smart enough to believe me when I said we were both straight. She's awesome eh?" He grinned. Akio just stood there, awestruck as the girl smirked triumphantly.

"Some forest.." Akio muttered under his breath. "Really? Because you didn't seem so straight when you were kissing me." he growled with accusing eyes.

"Oh? I just wanted to try it. No big deal. I'm straight. Why.. are you still hung up over that?" He asked with what appeared to be an innocent worried look to anyone who didn't know him, but Akio saw the smirk in his eyes.

"So you got beat up over the fag for nothing then?" Akio stated, with an eery calmness to him.

"You're not a fag. I was just defending my friend dude. What's wrong with you?" Alexander asked.

"I thought you said he wasn't gay." The girl asked eyeing Akio up with cold judgemental eyes.

"I thought he wasn't babe. I know I'm not.. just never figured my best bud would be a fag." Alexander said, shaking his head.

"Didn't know? How the fuck didn't you know! We were kissing yesterday for god's sake!" He shouted, throwing caution and worry to the wind. He was pissed.

"Having gay fantasies are we? He's mine. So if you were smart you wouldn't do that anymore." The girl sneered, bringing Alexander into a lip lock.

"Are you kidding me.. we've been friends since I was fucking eight and you're spewing this shit now?" Akio cried, clenching his fists.

"Haha.. I can tell. You really did pick up the mouth. Bro, I was bi-curious. It didn't work out for me. Gays are just too... gay." He smirked. Akio couldn't even respond.. Alexander was his best friend.. but to him Akio was nothing more than an experiment.. maybe he knew somewhere deep down.. but atleast he was his experiment.. there was no one else..

Now he stood looking at the bitch who stole his dignity and the bastard who stole his heart and he couldn't even feel mad. He wasn't mad, angry or pissed off. There was too much pain to feel anything. The lump in his throat physically hurt his jaw as tears welled up in his eyes. His heart weighed down his entire body and his stomache felt like it had dropped to the floor, yet somehow it still had those little butterflies he got whenever he saw Zander. This couldn't be happening.. it shouldn't.. he wouldn't do that to him.. But he did.. the voice in his head knew.. but he wouldn't admit it.. he could never.. admit it..


"He was my best friend.. but I was nothing more than his experiment." Akio whispered to himself. Not knowing whether he should cry, scream, shout, hit something, smile, hug him, hide, run away. His mother really was a bitch.. she knew what happened.. yet..

"Hey bro.. been a while eh?" Alexander smirked.


A/N: CLIFFY XD Wow.. holy flashbacks! :D I hope this cleared a couple of things up a tad, more will be explained as time goes on. It's a long chapter and I hope you enjoyed reading. I also hope I didn't offend anyone.. though nothing in here is really offending.. the only slightly offending situation is part of the story and I have said quite clearly that I support homosexuality. Had I been there with the two of them I would have personally hit each and every butt munch there.


Alli ate Sora-Sorry Roxas: MWEHEHE XD I love the circus, they're awesome. Some people think contortionist are kinda gross but I think they're amazing. (no duh I wanna be one XD) oooh 83 was a face? *deletes song* yay :D lol. Gender revealed! and haha, yup, freezing water =P Thanks for the review, glad you liked it.


DutchyPuppy: Ya :/ I feel bad for him too, even more so after this chapter. Haha, yup :D You were XDDD Thanks for the review :D


Linda Ku: First off, thanks for the review :D Haha, I made a non-yaoi fan.. like a yaoi couple? I feel oddly accomplished XD Well.. kinda a yaoi couple.. lol XD Uh oh.. O.o if you felt sad last chapter I'm curious how you felt this one. lol. The fangirls... hmm... I can't imagine that one turning out good no matter how many ways she tells them xD I hope you're just against yaoi and not homosexuality :/ and I hope nothing in this chapter offended you O.o..


ThePhoenixOfTears: Yup :D an update. And yes, I'll definitely bring him back even if it takes a while. I won't neglect mirror. I'll end up updating it with in the next couple of days. "Lol, I was going to say, instead of great, but I have trouble spelling it" what word? lol. I'm confused beyond belief. Oh well XD google it for spelling? lol, curiousity is killing me. Well, no, she would have been six feet under if they accepted her after, like if she was outcast then accepted. Since she's Sasuke's twin i imagine her having a similar relation with Itachi so like Sasuke I believe she would be ... bathing.. definitely awkward. But after 5 years of doing it I assume she would get used to it. I think it would be weird at first.. but kinda cool later on. Especially since as time goes by her chakra gets more used to it it's almost second nature. Ya.. Akio seeing her bathe.. AWKWARD XD even if she's a guy. She didn't put on clothes because of how cold she was. She was painfully numb and Akio was keeping her warm. She was crying, and clinging to him. Damn nightmares lol. I imagine that being really cute XD I think Kiba just didn't trust Akio and was worried about Shinobu. Who has been his friend since they were 7-8. She definitely has guts, she needs them to survive all she's been through and still be able to smile. Haha, interupting is definitely Kiba like. Fugaku is a butt-head.. but we hear more about him later :P along with Itachi xD Haha, when i was trying to think of what kiba would do in that situation it was the first thing that came to mind. "Are you naturally flat chest or.. why don't you have boobs." lol. I reworded of course but that's it XD Aaah, no. As Kurenai says in the chapter where they get teams. "That's Shinobu right? Uchiha?" She knows that Shinobu is an Uchiha, but not that she's closely related to Sasuke or anything in detail as the Hokage left it up to Shinobu to tell. Uh oh O.o hi expectation involving fan girls. Hopefully I will not disappoint is mean :P but alas.. everyone has there good qualities and bad qualities. :P See *spoiler alert, but not really since it's above fail lol* He does think all women are horrible.. but he wants to try it with Shinobu not because it's Shinobu but because Shinobu looks like someone else he knew and acts like he used to. That's why he's so upset over her even though he's only known her for 2 days. But don't worry, this and his reason for hating women will be explained XD He's not actually gay gay.. he's bi.. he just leans to the gay side because of his hatred of women. I'm glad you liked it :D It's definitely emotional but the tear jerker is yet to come :P Hopefully you'll know when it's here. I'll do my best XD I'm still looking for funny songs AND songs in general. Thanks for the review! Fun fact; I always keep your reviews at the end because they're the longest and I don't want other people thinking they didn't get a response because it was hidden by your review XD lol!