There are many theories regarding when the world will end.
In Stella's time, it had been 2012.
But as it turns out, the world ended on a Tuesday.
You would think that Akari's world grows cold and monotone when Sasuke's heart stops, when she is left alone in the world. But somehow, impossibly, it doesn't.
Instead, it becomes red.
A beautiful, vicious red like the blood that trickles from Sasuke's mouth, like the red that drips on Akari's cheeks. It is red and sharper and darker, like cruelty painted the world anew, and everywhere, everything bleeds.
Akari had always liked the color red.
It was rage and love held in one shade.
Now, she doesn't like it so much.
After all, there is too much red on Sasuke.
Too much too much too much red on him.
Sasuke remains limp in her arms.
Beautiful like a painting, beautiful even in death.
Rigor Mortis still hasn't set in, Akari distantly notes, just like how one would only notice he is dead as his head rolls down on the floor.
It's odd.
Sasuke's dead.
Akari would like to think she is too. That without her brother, she would crumble to the ground like a puppet without strings, a girl without a heart. Yet she still lives. Her heart traitorously continues beating, alone in its duo and left unanswered. It echoes loudly in her ears, and Akari has half a mind to rip it out of her chest to make it stop.
BADUM, BADUM
Shut up shut up shut up-
Akari closes her eyes but it does nothing. It is like time itself has halted and the image of her brother pale as death and unresponsive carves itself in her mind with an iron hot dagger.
Sasuke limp in her arms. Sasuke screaming, hurting without her by his side. Sasuke silent.
Sasukegone.
Akari can still hear it.
Sasuke's last breath.
A choked, pained gasp that slipped through slightly parted lips that are unable to breathe anymore.
(the air is drier.
The animals in the forest suddenly silent.)
You know they say that fire is fragile. Fickle at best. It can go from a blaze to cinders at the whim of the wind.
But just as it is easily extinguished, it can roar back to life fiercely without any warning.
From ashes to wildfire within seconds.
Fire licks at her fists, though Akari cannot feel its heat. The flames grow hotter, brighter as the sight of her brother, silent and unresponsive, won't leave her even as she closes her eyes. It just won't go away, and it hurts, it hurts so badly she could die.
Hot, bloodcurdling agony burns her from within.
The only reminder that she lives. Foolishly, underserving.
Someone screams. Wordless, simply a cry of pure agony, a cry against the world that takes and takes. The scream is guttural, echoing with desperation and grief, like a soul losing its home, knowing it will never know its warmth again.
Like it has lost everything.
It is Akari who screams it, the sound raw and agonized as it tears itself out of her throat. Her eyes burn, they scorch her from within and she is tempted to claw them off.
It's like they are melting inside yet for all that pain, nothing matches the agony she feels as her heart breaks.
Blood drips from her cheeks.
She's crying blood.
And the sight of Sasuke doesn't leave her.
Even if she closes her eyes.
Even if she dies.
"Glorious."
The whisper reaches her muddled ears and suddenly, everything becomes sharper.
Clearer.
The monster that took away her brother stands there, mesmerized as he stares at Akari. His eyes never leave her face.
Akari feels as if her head was split in half but nothing can make her forget how it is the monster's fault that Akari failed. It is he that took away her world.
As if answering her anger, as if responding to her agony, blue -electric and hotter than normal - flames appear, circling the Uchiha twins and the monster, blaring into life like a raging, righteous inferno that came straight out of hell.
"You." Akari snarls. It is loathing, pure and dark, that coats her tongue as she spits at him but he smiles.
Smiles.
Flames burst from her feet as she lunches herself at the man who made Sasuke suffer.
Kill him. Make him burn. Kill him, slaughter him. Make his skin melt.
The monster is cackling madly, even as he jumps away from her first assault, the branch he was previously standing on turned into black ashes almost instantly. The powder seemingly disappear, never to be seen again.
He can run.
But it will not help him.
Akari already has experience with monsters. She has known them her entire life.
None yet have escaped her.
He sends a flurry of kunai at her and Akari swipes her hand to the side, a wall of fire stopping the weapons.
The kunais are of great quality, steel stronger than the usual shinobi apparel, yet they melt in her fire, pooling at her feet in a pond of silver and iron.
The monster doesn't look half as gleeful as he did before.
Fire bursts from her open palms, jets of electric blue eagerly eating away at everything that the monster sends back.
He is agile, skilled, there is no denying it.
But he doesn't manage to escape the flame that arches towards his side.
He hisses, a serpent-like hiss that makes Akari smile. Some of his skin is charred, injured beyond repair and the smell of burnt flesh drifts in the air.
Akari's eyes burn, though.
They burn and she feels drained, as if her every move costs her a thousand more of energy than usual. Her steps falter, though it looks like the monster has not noticed it. He is too busy inspecting his burns and Akari lifts her hand towards him.
Anger answers her call.
Grief lessens her hurts.
Numbness makes her forget of her rapidly diminishing chakra.
"He will thank me for this gift," the monster says through gritted teeth. "I will make him great."
"And I will make you pay."
Fire erupts from her hand, a torrent of flames rushing toward the monster and Akari knows no more.
…
Akari comes back to her senses at dusk.
There's copper on her tongue, and she blinks languidly.
She did not expect to wake up once more.
One would think that her body would know not to survive when her brother, her better half, is dead, in a place she cannot yet reach.
Well, technically.
Sasuke is alive.
She did not lose her world.
The mere thought gives her back the breath she had no longer deserved, a small balm to a broken and shattered heart. It gives her permission to breathe.
He is alive.
Her brother is alive.
Now, she only has to wait for him to wake before she can throw herself in his arms.
"And not fail."
And not fail.
…
Love of mine,
Someday you will die.
But I'll be close behind,
I'll follow you in the dark.
So, I ask of you
To wait for me at its gate, and in the meantime,
Come back to me,
as a dream.
…
Kin Tsugi knows that today is the day she proves herself to her Kage, Orochimaru, as worthy.
It is a simple task that her lord gives her: to kill Uchiha Sasuke with her team.
Quite frankly, Kin thinks it to be a slight overkill to send their entire team to kill a single genin, Uchiha as he might be. After all, they were chosen among the Sound's genins to represent the village, shining stars among the rest of the decrepit orphans and pathetic shinobis. But, it is her lord's orders, and as such, she will do her utmost to follow them through.
"They can't have hidden too far," Dosu says as winds whip at them while jumping to another tree branch.
Zaku huffs. "It's not like anyone can hide from us"
Kin nods. "There," she points. "It looks like someone made a camp."
There is a small smoke trail, a splatter of blood not so hidden on the ground. The young shinobi cannot help but sneer at the pathetic skills that the Konoha genins have not to be able even to hide their own trails properly. Oh, well, it'll only be easier for her and her team. Not that they will struggle anyhow, but it is nice to know it will be a breeze.
At Dosu's nod, the three splits to surround the small camp, the little camp of rocks that keeps a wall to Konoha's back. Smart with other people, but with the Sound team, it only signs their death warrant.
Though, Kin can give it to the little genins, they are hidden well within their camp, even if its location leaves much to desire.
At the corner of her eyes, Kin notices how Zaku and Dosu squabble to be the ones to speak and 'lead'. She rolls her eyes, flicking her well-cared for and beautiful hair behind her shoulder before grabbing a couple of senbons.
Ah, turns out it is Zaku who wins the fight because he steps forward, as cocky as he has been since Kin met him. His chin is tilted high, and his voice is carefully devoid of its usual cracks, which Kin likes to make fun of sometimes. Look at him, trying to be so serious. It might intimate the boy they were sent to kill, but Kin remembers him as the little orphan who stuffed himself of food till he puked at training. Still, A+ for the effort.
"Uchiha Sasuke," Zaku drawls arrogantly. "Come out to die."
Silence answers him.
"Unless you're a coward?"
A chuckle answers his words. Only, the laugh is too soft, too high-pitched to be Uchiha Sasuke that laughs it.
"Your master did tell me he will send a gift. I assume you guys are the gift he was speaking of?"
The girl that asks them the question is shorter, slender, though the team cannot really see her face that remains hidden in the shadows. She looks almost frail with her dainty little body that would be more at home in one of Sound's brothels. Her hair is black and mostly left unattached.
Disgusting.
Another kunoichi who only thinks of appearance. Kin hates those, and she will take great pleasure in killing that one. She's too pretty to be left alive.
Dosu laughs darkly. "No, our master's gift to you is death. Now, wake Uchiha Sasuke up, and we might spare you if killing him isn't too easy."
"Why?" dear Kami, even her voice is annoying. High and sweet. Ark. "You mean I'm not good enough for you?" She gives one or two small sniffles before abruptly stopping. "You're hurting my feelings."
Ha.
As if the team actually cares for them.
Who even is that?
Another little girl playing at dress up?
See, that's why people can't take kunoichi seriously these days! Well, Kin supposes she will have to kill every one of those pests who give kunoichis a bad name. It won't be a terrible loss.
"Yeah, yeah," Kin says, taking a step forward. "Now, cut your bullshit and-"
The words die in her throat.
There had been a dark blur, and now, her cheek stings. She touches her face gently, fingers brushing at what should be perfect, flawless skin.
Her fingers come back red.
It's as if her cheek has always just realized it had been cut, and Kin feels a small, warm trail of blood trailing down to her chin.
w-what?
The action was abrupt, a warning not to step closer than they have. They understand it. Yet, it galls the Sound kunoichi.
She hadn't seen it, hadn't seen the girl move.
"It's rude to swear in front of a lady." The girl's words are chiding, yet Kin straightens at them, tense and fight instincts alert.
"Well, why won't ya wake Sasuke, and we'll be perfectly polite, ya?" Zaku says, though not so quite arrogantly as before. His back looks bloodied, Kin notices with some horror. Her stepping forward allows the sunlight to shine on the wires that are woven around them. They look sharp, and they seem like it as shown through Zaku's clothing. A spider web, that's what they entered.
"What for?"
Dosu growls at her impertinence, kunais flashing in his hands. "To fight."
And the girl laughs.
It isn't a pretty one, not so sweet anymore. It is raw, unhinged, more of a cackle than a proper laugh. That girl isn't right in the head. No one right in the head would be laughing such a delirious sound.
"You? Fight Sasuke?" she says as her laughter dies in her throat in another high cackle. Her hand creeps up her still-hidden face as if brushing away something. "With your weak asses? Don't make me laugh."
Kin bristles at that. She suddenly throws senbons at the girl, but she evades them with ease though Kin has thrown them quite quickly, too quick for a normal genin to notice.
"Bitch," scowls Zaku as he lifts up his sleeves slightly, cracking his fingers.
Usually, Kin would let him go at their enemy with abandon and an exasperated sigh. But something keeps her from doing that. Maybe it is the laugh. Maybe it is the wires.
Maybe it is the feeling of being prey.
"Zaku!" the kunoichi hisses through gritted teeth, tugging him so that he doesn't just jump on the girl when they don't know what other little tricks she has. She tries not to notice how her hand is further stained red from his wounds made by the wire. Those must be crazy sharp and good-quality wires. Kin will steal them once they kill the girl.
Zaku ignores her hissed warning, stepping one or two steps forward, killing intent oozing from him like a promise.
It should have made the girl cower.
Yet it doesn't, as she coos at him with a sickly-sweet voice, "Awww, you little baby."
Zaku's killing intent disappears, crushed into obviation by the girl's as if it was mere child's play. As if it is nothing, and tasting hers makes Kin thinks it is.
Zaku's killing intent was like a knife put under one's throat.
Hers?
It is like walking into a massacre and looking down to see your guts sliced opened.
It is thick and biting, like a promise of death that claws at their heart with iron hot claws, eager to claim it.
"Go on," the girl says. She steps closer, out in the light, and Kin cannot help but stare at her aristocratic, delicate face. There are dried streaks of crimson on her cheeks as if she cried blood, and a mean smile plays at her lips. "Bare your teeth at me." She opens her arms in an inviting gesture as her eyes turn scarlet, and three tomoes spin lazily in a crimson sea, glinting. Fuck, an Uchiha with an active sharingan. "I'll pull them out. One by one."
The gleeful promise the Sound team can hear in her voice makes them falter, their bodies instinctively trying to get away from this predator, this monster who seems quite content with the thought of tearing their bodies apart.
Even Zaku, as arrogant and big-headed as he is, falters in his movement. It is instinctual to try to avoid a predator's notice.
She tilts her head, silky hair falling like a fountain to her side. Kin still wants to chop it off, though.
"No?" she asks, clicking her tongue. The Uchiha plays with a kunai, one so similar to the one that is still embedded in a tree behind Kin, and she wants to slap that little bitch.
"You." The bitch points at Zaku who gulps, his entire frame trembling as the sharingan focus on him. Not that Kin can quite blame him, they've all heard the horror stories those wretched eyes stared in. "Didn't you say you were going to kill me? I'm still waiting."
Fuck.
If one thing manages to always get to Zaku till he forgets he has a brain, it is taunting. Kin tries to hold him back but to no avail.
"D-don't mock me!" Zaku yells, though his voice, now high and low toned, cracks as he is still recovering from the girl's killing intent. He extends his arms forward, Kin prepares herself to sit back and enjoy the show.
The powerful wave of wind and sound rushes towards the Uchiha, a clear arc of a devastatingly powerful attack. The girl doesn't do anything to avoid it, she only smiles, and it is her mistake because that is one of Lord Orochimaru's gifts and –
Fire appears suddenly. It is blue – Kin has never seen something like that – and it forms a tall wall of flames, almost like a shield, though that would be impossible. Yet it acts like it, and the powerful attack just completely shatters once it hits.
Fuck.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck
Kin doesn't have to blink before the Uchiha points her fingers at Zaku. Little concentrated blue flames, almost like wire or a whip, cut his two still-extended arms cleanly. Another pierces his chest. It is clear that the pain, the realization of being 'stabbed' takes a while for Zaku to register. Kin has the time to scream, and Dosu takes a step back, eyes wider than she's ever seen them.
And then -
And then, Zaku screams.
It is pure, raw pain in his shriek, waving the stumps that were his pride and joy, nothing more than mangled, bloodied flesh up and down. Rivers of blood gush out in a disgusting show of macabre.
The Sound shinobi turns to them as if begging for help, assistance, to make this all go away, and though Kin is fond of her teammate, she isn't suicidal, and she does not budge.
"Guys-" he chokes out desperately, voice raw and tears freely falling down his face.
Funny enough, it is his last word.
Kin has always thought that Zaku's last word would be fierce, vulgar like he is. Instead, it is soft, like a child wondering what just happened.
Because that is the fate of Abumi Zaku.
At the end of the day, he is not even an adult before he dies.
He dies a simple death, bleeding out.
Kin takes a step back and bites at her lips as the wires, by mere grazing, cuts her. Because the sting is nothing compared to the horror that courses through her, and she looks up, trembling.
For the rest of her short life, Kin Tsugi will always remember the Uchiha's smile as her teammate dies in front of her eyes like a slaughtered pig.
Even the Uchiha hasn't been spared from the blood splatter, but she looks uncaring as she wiggles her fingers at them tauntingly. Her eyes, red and black, are like stars, a weird shape to them that Kin knows to be unnatural.
But that seems to be the running theme with that psycho.
Nothing is natural in her.
"Well?" she asks. Her voice is light, as if she has not just cut off two arms with fire. As if she has not just killed cruelly. Isn't Konoha supposed to be filled with tree huggers? Pathetic, soft shinobi? "Who's next?"
Kin trembles well despite her as she pleads. "We'll give you the scroll. We will leave… just… please spare us." She knows that Dosu agrees with her plea. Kin wants to live for Kami's sake!
The Uchiha answering smile is good-natured, sweet. "If you beg on your knees, I'll consider it."
The two Sound shinobi throw themselves on the ground, bowing with their forehead pressed onto the dirty ground. Gone is their pride, but Kin can only swallow it back painfully. She tries not to flinch as she is met face-to-face with Zaku's torn-apart, armless, bloodied corpse.
"Mmm, let me think about it." She pauses. "No."
"You said we could go if we beg!" Dosu is hysteric in his protests as Kin nods fervently at his words.
She looks up. The Uchiha doesn't look sweet, she looks like a monster. And by her smile, crooked with badly bitten lips till they are a mess, she knows it too. But there is something almost unstable as she stands, a shift of weight, something lurking in her eyes as they flicker around things.
"Did I?" her voice is light. Her eyes, glazed. "Oh, that's right, I did say something like that." She clicks her fingers, nodding at something that neither Dosu nor Kin said. That's it, she's completely psycho. "Well, I can't do that. What will Sasuke think of me?"
The name of the boy she was so sure to kill makes Kin wish she never accepted the mission.
"He's just sleeping, see?" the Uchiha, probably his sister because only the Main line survived the famed Uchiha massacre, continues. Her killing Intent is strong, oppressive enough that neither of the Sound shinobi can move and try to attack her as she monologues. Shit. "I mean, I thought he was dead!" Her voice grows hysterical. "But nah, Orochimaru said he was alive. And he is, so I mean, that's great, that means the world gets to live another day." Fire bursts at her explanation, small embers and sparks that eat everything it touches before fading into nothing.
Kin gives a small tilt of the chin that was supposed to be a nod. "That's great." She agrees. Maybe, if she keeps the monster leashed by talking, she might get away. "Really great."
The Uchiha nods fervently. "Right?! But what am I supposed to do now? I wasn't there when he needed me. I didn't hold my promise, and he'll hate me and-"
"He won't hate you, he's your brother." Look at her, playing therapist. "But maybe a gift –"
Dosu hits her. She shoots him an annoyed look. Can't he see she's trying to save them from a crazy murdering bitch?
"Gift-" the monster's voice trails off. Suddenly, she's calm, happy. "That's a great idea. I'll tell him, look, my love! I didn't kill the guy who almost killed you and almost was killed, but I killed your wannabe assassins! See! I'm still an Uchiha!"
Nonononononononono
The monster claps. "Great idea."
"You- wouldn't be better if you only gave him two corpses? If you kill everyone, you'll look like you think he's incompetent."
She stops clapping, considering. "Interesting." She then sighs, as if granting them a grand favor that she could do without. "Fine, I'll let one of you guys go."
The fight to the death is implicit.
The Killing Intent subsides as fire wraps around the Uchiha, blocking any possibility of attacks. She looks creepier in it, with blue shadows dancing on her face and making her every angle sharper.
Dosu glares at the Konoha shinobi. "How do we know you will keep your words?"
The girl places a hand to her left chest. "I swear it on my Clan's name."
Which, for the Uchiha, is like everything.
Alright.
"No hard feelings?" she asks her teammate, senbons in hands.
Dosu scoffs. "Please, it's not like I'll lose sleep over your death."
Well, fuck you too, asshole.
She rushes, hands flickering in rapid hand signs as she activates her jutsu.
Dosu clicks his tongue. "See, that's why I am the leader."
Kin only has the time to remember his specialty and her own, thinking fuck, before everything goes dark.
….
Dosu looks coldly at his teammate's corpse. Though he feels sorrow for her death, her being under his wing, and a loyal shinobi to Orochimaru and their village, in the end, his life trumps out. He turns to the Uchiha, his target's sister, with a calmness he barely musters.
But one must stay unflinching before a monster.
"It is done," he says. "Now, let me go."
The Uchiha's fire parts slightly, not leaving enough space for Dosu to attack her.
Pity.
His revenge for his slaughtered team will need to wait for Lord Orochimaru's invasion.
She smiles.
Dosu straightens, ready to unleash his sound waves on her. But surely, as a Konoha shinobi, she will –
"No."
A circle of blue fire circles around him. He knows it isn't normal fire by its sheer heat alone and how already it burns to ashes everything it touches. He throws a shuriken into it. It melts into a puddle of melted iron as soon as it touches it. The circle starts to tighten.
"You promised," he bites out. "You swore on your Clan's name."
Which, according to his history lessons, are everything to the Uchiha.
She shrugs. "They are all dead, I am sure they have no objection to that little white lie of mine."
Dosu glares. "I hope you die a painful death, you and your wretched brother."
Her answering smile is too sharp, too bloodthirsty, but Dosu is beyond the point of caring. Is this how his grandfather felt as he volunteered to go to Lord Orochimaru's labs in exchange for Dosu's education and enrollment among the most talented? As he stares straight into Death's eyes?
She's crying blood.
But the Sound shinobi knows those tears aren't for him. The fire grows bigger, hotter.
"See?" she says. "You shouldn't have said that. I would have given you an easy death. You seem smart. You should have known not to let my precious brother's name off your mouth. Sasuke is mine."
He pities Uchiha Sasuke for having such a monster to call kin.
Ah, it seems that Dosu will find his grandfather a bit earlier than planned.
A shame-
…..
"Kakashi-sensei-"Akari cries out as she sees her teacher appear in all of his silver-haired glory. She rushes towards him, throwing herself in his arms as he stumbles back. Yet, he accepts her in his personal space and that alone makes Akari's heart lighten slightly.
"There, there," he pats her head as if not quite knowing what to do. It is almost endearing when it doesn't hurt. "What happened?"
"A weird snake lady attacked me and Sasuke!" Naruto exclaims though with less energy as usual, battered from their stay in the Forest. "I totally got her for a sec, though, Kaka-sensei, you should have seen Teme's face!"
"He got her for a second and then got thrown across 200 meters," Sasuke answers back, hissing as he clutches his neck. "Tell him that was stupid."
"Maaa," Kakashi-sensei drawls, an arm still around her and the other ruffling the hair of the two boys. There's a softness to him that seems almost familial, the way that Akari guesses families usually are, not that she would know it. "Sounds to me like you guys had quite a rough time."
"No," the boys protest.
"Yes," Akari responds. They throw a disgruntled glance at her, and Akari purses her lips. "You guys were too busy being unconscious."
Maybe it is because of the dried blood that strikes her cheeks crimson that makes her tongue sharper even at her brother. Maybe it is because Sasuke doesn't remember dying, and Akari cannot dare and mention it lest the guilt and self-hatred for a weakness he could not control will swallow him whole.
It is a secret that Akari will take to her grave: to the rest of the world, Uchiha Sasuke never died at fourteen because of his sister's stupidity.
Sasuke wilts at her words.
Look at what you are doing.
Akari immediately wants to swallow back her words, copper on her tongue. "It was hard without our team." She hadn't known what to do with herself as she carried both of them to safety. Sure, she wasn't quite in her right mind for most of the time, but she should have been better.
She grabs her brother's hand and doesn't let go. He softens at her touch, tilting his head to the side so that Kakashi-sensei inspects the weird wound closer. Their teacher tenses, his arm drawing tightly around Akari before relaxing.
"We'll need to check this over, Sasuke." He says the same way that dpctprs would want to try to do further tests before announcing a piece of bad news. Akari's brows furrow, eyes narrowing though her teacher cannot see it. "Naruto, Aka-chan, go prepare for the elimination round while I deal with this."
"Sure! Make sure Sasuke's ready for me to kick his ass during the tournament!" Naruto is quick to agree and quicker to grasp at her, but Akari tears her hand away, desperately clutching on the other half of her soul.
She-
She does not want to leave him.
"Can-Can I come?" she asks, a tremble to her voice that betrays the vulnerability that grips her heart. The Uchiha heiress almost flinches at her own hesitance.
Kakashi-sensei looks sorry, regretful as he shakes his head. "Aka-chan, I'd be best if we are alone, and I'm sure-"
Akari shakes her head. It is the first time she dares to outright her teacher lest he realizes her mask and abandons them like all the adults before had gone away, statues of sand that crumbled at the first wave. But, not hearing Sasuke's heart did something to her. She's more tired, drained of everything and there is lingering thought of her fire that turned blue that stays on her tongue, a desperate brag she swallows back because she is a medic before she is a fighter in team seven.
"No- please Kashi-sensei, don't make me leave him yet –" there's a sob carefully hidden in her words as she clutches her brother till her knuckles grow white, a death like grip that doesn't even loosen as Sasuke tucks her closer to his side, pressing a tender kiss to her temple.
"Akari-chan," Iruka tries to interrupt with a grimace, hands extending towards them, and she has to stop herself from trying to burn them off like she did but a few hours ago. It is obvious that her old teacher did not expect her to talk back to Kakashi-sensei, to plead when she has always known her place in the world.
However, Akari is tired, drained, and tense. Unwilling to play another part.
Her eyes flash red, and Iruka gasps. "Oh," he breathes, a wordless gasp that is both awe and fear because the Sharingan has always been feared.
Sasuke's grip on her grows tighter, more possessive.
He had been proud to see her eyes activate though he bitterly remarked on his absence on such a momentous occasion.
Akari would have thought her teacher would be proud of her new ability now that she has shed light on it. It has always been a topic of gossip, of small derision by everyone alike for the Uchiha princess not to have her prized blood limit. Now, their wagging tongues and cutting observations will stop, and doubts on Kakashi-sensei's teaching abilities will stop as well.
Yet, though there is pride lingering in his sole eye, it is mostly grief that gazes right back at her.
As if he knows something more, and it breaks his heart.
Yes, Hatake Kakashi is guilty, though Akari knows not why he would be.
He does not wear that grief well, her teacher who already has a foot in the grave.
It is a deep and sorrowful grief. The kind of grief that parents would wear for their children, Akari cannot help but think with the kind of wistfulness that only Stella would hold.
"Please," the dark-haired girl repeats, a broken whispered plea to the only adult that seems enough to protect her brother.
Kakashi-sensei visibly melts, a soft "sure" escaping him.
Akari's answering smile is bright like the sun.
…
It is an odd paradox to thirst after someone's defeat and another's humiliation when they are both fighting each other, yet here Akari is.
Well, perhaps it isn't too weird.
After all, the Uchiha heiress has never quite forgotten slights. She is like that sometimes, sharp in her wariness and spiteful in the way she holds grudges like it is the last thing that keeps her above the ocean.
Rock Lee drops his training tools, and from its sheer weight alone, clouds of dusk rise as they hit the ground.
The boy was wearing them as he fought Sasuke, another fact to be concealed.
The Uchiha twins had done the same though not to Rock Lee's extreme, to wear weights while training is a classic.
Yet the difference in speed, as the bowl-cut shinobi rushes toward Gaara, is jarring, like a slap to the cheek as someone grips her head and forces her not to avert her eyes.
Akari knows her place in the world. She knows Gaara's too.
To see him actually get hit steals a choked chuckle from her, a giggle that does not comprehend what her eyes are seeing because there is a world order and there is no place in the shinobi world for Rock Lee.
Naruto cheers by her side, having already long forgotten the humiliation Rock Lee dealt Sasuke. But not Akari, no, she remembers much, maybe too much in the way she picks at her memories as one picks at its scabs till the wound reopens. And bleeding she is.
The crowd gasps.
Akari, she had not realized she had moved so forward, is almost half bent towards the arena, eyes locked on the fight.
They are at a critical stage: both shinobi on the floor, one blinking up at the ceiling as the other tries desperately to drag himself away, his body having finally crumbled down from the strain put onto it.
Akari can sympathize to it, to break yourself in hopes for better results yet there's a small satisfaction that burns in her throat as sands viciously move towards the fallen Konoha shinobi.
The entire arena is heavy with bloodlust, a monster awakened and whose fangs long to tear someone apart.
It creeps on Rock Lee, swallows his left leg in beige sand.
They make eye contact: two monsters, two kins to madness.
Gaara's eyes are frenzied, vicious in its lashing because it knows not how to react to the failure that just happened.
Akari's eyes are taunting.
As if responding to them, the sand swallows the rest of Rock Lee's lower body like a snake that swallows its prey whole.
Chatter erupts, commands to interrupt the match thrown around, yet Akari only sees and hears Gaara's ragged breath and Rock Lee, the boy who humiliated Sasuke – who mocked him for a family name that is drenched in blood and misery and thought himself so above – whimpers.
'Go on,' she mouths slowly to the boy who asked for her hatred. 'If you dare,' her eyes challenge, and Gaara does not look away from her as he tightens his fist, bones crushing at his simple flex of the fingers.
"That was horrible," Naruto says as Gai Maito rushes to his student, a mess of bloodied flesh and crushed bones, calling frantically for medics.
"Hm," Akari responds, finally averting her eyes from the turquoise that still hadn't left her. "Ah, yes. An utter tragedy."
And the monsters in her mind whisper their agreement.
Stab me with a knife, and I will gut you with my teeth.
…..
Uchiha Akari does not like Hyuuga Neiji.
If anyone were privy to her thoughts, they would brush it off good-naturedly, laughing at how the Hyuuga and Uchiha's famed dislike for one another has survived for yet another generation.
But no, Akari does not dislike him for whatever reason her kin had seen fit to take the other dojutsu clan in disdain, but rather for his words to her teammate following his fight against Hyuuga Hinata.
It was a fight between cousins.
Akari is all too familiar with those, to see her blood as something to be surpassed, trampled on lest the same happened to her. There is no kindness shared between the cousins since they turned ten, and it is the same here in Konoha.
Well, rather, Hinata, the sweet girl she is, suffers for her weakness as she is made an example for the entire village to see.
Akari almost winces as the older boy continues to cruelly attack his cousin and future lady though she suspects Hinata won't be a lady for long. That is the price to be born into something, to bear the weight of a legacy.
There is no room for failure.
There is no room for mistakes.
There is no room for being human.
Naruto, always the first to jump in the name of justice though no one would do the same for him, trembles in sheer frustration at her side. Usually, Akari would soothe him, ruffling his hair and giving him an outlet.
But she cannot.
Sasuke is not there, still with Kakashi-sensei, getting treated. Her teacher, as gentle as he could be, as if he was handling something so precious he did not want it to break, kicked her out so he could start the treatment, and Akari swallows back her bitterness like it is glass shards.
"How dare you do that to her?" Naruto asks Neiji, hands curled into fists as the Hyuuga Princess coughs small splatters of blood.
Akari does not understand his rage when it is the way of the world.
She had spared no tears when Coral would break down crying till she couldn't breathe.
But perhaps, that is the core of Uzumaki Naruto.
A hero to the bone.
The light to the Uchiha twins' darkness.
It would be a pretty tale to write of. A tragic one, yes, because there is no hero that could even accept the length Akari would go to without a second thought for her brother, but a pretty one too, nevertheless.
"She should have surrendered to her fate," Neiji is remorseless as he gazes scornfully at the fallen form of his cousin. "She has no right to be a shinobi and no right to call herself the future Head of the Hyuuga clan when she is weak."
"If Stella can't take it, she doesn't deserve to call herself a member of our Family."
"She can take it."
Grandmother raises a brow at her mother's words. "She will break before that."
"So, what she didn't win?" Naruto is unrelenting in his fury. "Who cares? She's trying so hard, and you're spitting on her efforts!"
"It doesn't matter how hard she works, it will only hurt her in the end. A failure will always be a failure."
Naruto takes a step forward, but Akari catches his orange jacket before he can throw himself foolishly at the older shinobi, better skilled in every way than her sunshine. She would have left it alone if the older boy did not continue.
"My cousin's fate is to be a failure, and it appears to me that you share the same one. No matter how much you rebel, you cannot escape it. That is what makes us different. I am an elite, and you, a clanless, dead-last poor excuse of a shinobi."
Because she is still holding Naruto by the scruff of his jacket, Akari feels his tremble, how Naruto's body flinched from the words, jerking the slightest bit away as if it would shield him from the disgust even he is not dense enough to ignore.
The Uchiha bites at her lips. The usual restraint, the fear of breaking away from her mask that leashes her words, is but a distant thought as her precious teammate endures Hyuuga Neiji's cruel words that are quite uncalled for. The jonin are too busy fretting over the Hyuua Princess and barely, if anyone, still pays attention to the winner and Team Seven.
"Coming from a hypocrite like you, it does not mean much, Neiji." Akari says, a gentle hand on Naruto's shoulder as if it could make the blonde tilt his chin higher in pride. There is scorn in her voice, and Hyuua Neji raises a brow at her as if asking why she would interfere when it did not concern her.
Yet, it does.
"A hypocrite?" he asks, disbelief thick in his question.
She smiles politely, throwing a quick glance at her nails. "For you, a branch member of the Hyuuga family, to win against the Head's heir is going against your fate, no?"
"That is why I won, she has no place-"
"You shouldn't have won."
The brown-haired boy bristles, his eyes flashing. "I won because I was worthy, and she lost because she was born pathetic."
"And yet, that same pathetic little girl will be the one you bow to. No matter how great you try and pretend to be, you will always be nothing next to her. Because you were born for a second place."
Neiji barely twitches at her insult. "The Hyuuga must remain strong, they will never accept my cousin as a leader. Today, I revealed what could no longer be denied. Failures will always be failures." He throws a derisive glance at Naruto, who growls softly under his breath. Just as Akari knows where to hit, her silver tongue vicious in its lashing, Neji easily noticed which of the two was the tender-hearted.
Small hint.
It isn't the dark-haired girl.
"You can try to dress it up as you like, princess," the princess sounds positively filthy on his tongue. "But you know it as well as I do that the weak cannot prevail over the gifted, and the world will continue to crush whoever thinks himself above than he is." His meaningful look at the blonde does not go unnoticed by the two of them. "Be careful that he does not drag you down with him. It is his faith to fail, and I hope you do not have to be the one dealing with the aftermath."
It would have been a sweet thought if it wasn't for the fact that Akari would never allow the world's particular cruelty toward the weak to stain Naruto's sunshine. She tilts her chin higher after she bows her head in acknowledgment.
"You and I agree on many points. The world needs not weakness, it will tear itself while trying to uproot it," she admits, tucking a stray of ebony behind her ear. "But regardless, Uzumaki Naruto is fated to be Hokage."
Neiji's aristocratic features twist in a mixture of scorn and furious disbelief, but Akari can only think of how Naruto straightens at her words, steel in his spine as his sapphire eyes glare to the other boy in silent challenge.
"So, know your place, Hyuuga Neji."
…..
"You didn't have to do this, Akari." Naruto is quieter as he tells her that as they walk towards the Uchiha compound, hands shoved into his pockets and not in her own per usual. There's a shadow in his eyes, a tightness to his spine that makes Akari blink slowly as she takes him in.
She thinks it is the first time that she sees Naruto, not this caricature of exuberance that seems too bright to be true. He plays the child well, even better than Stella, and sometimes, Akari forget they are fourteen. She forgets that her sunshine is more than just that.
"No one should be able to talk to you that way." It is a meager protection – weak –, but it is one that Akari can offer nevertheless. Something that people never once tried with her and Akari thinks a small part of Stella died when she had realized it. She does not want Naruto's to lose a part of himself to it.
"But they will till I become a hero," Naruto counters. "No matter what you do for me Aka-chan, it has to be me to change their mind."
"But is it so bad for me to protect you till you make them change their mind?" Akari's question is soft, and Naruto's eyes are softer.
"But then, their respect would be a lie."
A lie.
How ironic for Naruto to think so little of lies when his entire life had been shaped around it. That he was a normal orphan and not the Kyuubi jinchuriki, that he is anything but a weapon to his precious village that just so happens to breathe.
"And you think becoming a hero will make it all better?"
"It has to." There's conviction in his words, a blind faith in the good of something that Akari know does not exist.
"But what if it doesn't?"
Will he crumble then?
Hope breeds misery, after all. And what more bitter is to know that you dedicated your life to something that will never be given to you? Perhaps Akari would have objected more. If Sasuke hadn't died and shown that the world cares so little about her brother, she has to abandon it in return.
But pain teaches well. Sometimes, you have to lick at your wounds to learn the taste of blood. To love it.
"It will. Believe it. Because all it needs is one person who believes in me," sapphire meets black, something like tender adoration in them. "And you believed in me first."
It should make her glad to hear such sweet words.
Yet it doesn't.
No one had believed in Stella. Had it been so hard to?
What had been so wrong with her?
Why-
Why couldn't have someone looked at her and think, she, she deserves to be loved. To be believed in.
oh, silly child
who cannot remember the last time she didn't hurt,
there is no loving
someone
like you
"I just want you to be happy." Naruto deserves this much.
Naruto gives her a bright grin, wrapping her in his arms in a hug, a death trap that has warmth to it.
"You are a very kind, Aka-chan," he says, affection evident in his voice though he wretches a knife in her chest.
But kind people don't get loved.
Do you love me, Naruto?
I've had so many knives stuck
into me, when they hand me a
flower I can't quite make out
what it is.
It takes time.
Time that we do not have