Something I made for my Naruto AU. In which Naruto and Sasuke are friends even before becoming teammates. This is taken before they actually became teammates, this is kind of like a graduation photo. Just two friends taking a photo of their accomplishment together, or something along that line.
“purpose of living? i don’t really have one. maybe i’m just existing because i can’t die,” itachi murmured to himself, a shadow of sorrow in his voice. he knew he couldn’t die, not until his brother had the strength to end his sins. the weight of his choices and the blood on his hands felt like chains that bound him to a fate he couldn’t escape.
he burrowed deeper into his akatsuki cloak, seeking comfort against the cold, while lying on the cave’s massive stone. the darkness around him was a mirror to his soul, filled with regrets and unfulfilled promises. from within the folds of his cloak, he retrieved a picture worn from years of reflection. as his eyes traced the familiar features of the face in the photograph, a longing pierced his heart.
“i hope you’re in good health, sasuke.”
sasuke, his brother, his only family, and the one destined to bring an end to all his misdeeds.
every day, the memory of his innocent eyes haunted him—of what he had sacrificed for a twisted vision of peace. to itachi, sasuke was his lone hope, the one who would eventually be able to rid him of his woes.
“forgive me, sasuke. i never wanted this for you. i never wanted to be your enemy.” tears welled up in his eyes, but he blinked them away, knowing he had to stay strong for a little longer. each breath he took was a struggle, a battle against despair. however, despite all of his suffering, he held out a faith that one day there would be true peace and his sacrifice would not have been in vain.
🍁Sneak Peak of Chapter 32 of Love me Mercilessly🍁
A lil bit from the next chapter--the rest will be up sometime next week!
Sasuke pressed his tummy against the bathroom sink to look in the mirror as he fiddled with his loose tooth, it was on the right precisely 3 teeth back from the front. He had lost a lot of them the year before and was pretty sure this was his last. He didn’t want a hole in his gums but he was tired of flicking it back and forth with his tongue. It was still stuck in there too good to wait around for it to fall out. This tooth was stubborn and needed to be pulled.
He had watched his father tie a string of floss to a door knob and loop a hoop around Itachi’s loose tooth, then he’d slam the sliding door shut and the tooth would come out in one go. Sasuke thought maybe he could do it himself but he didn’t want the nerves of his last baby tooth to sting with Itachi.
He tried to just tug on it with his thumb and forefinger, it only wiggled back and forth. So Sasuke gave up. He sighed all the way from the bathroom to the living room, dragging his feet and sagging his shoulders. When his sigh died out he took a deep breath and sighed again but louder this time, with more feeling. He threw himself on the couch.
“What is it brat?” Akami swiveled around in her chair to face him.
“Nothing” he sighed with a wistful longing. Everyday she grew more convinced he was a senior citizen stuck in a kid's body.
“Don’t seem like nothing”
Sasuke climbed to the arm of the couch and folded himself over it. He jutted out his bottom lip and opened his mouth. “My tofth ith lothe” he spoke from the back of his throat and pointed at the offending object stretching forward as far as he could so Akami could see. He didn’t need to point, the little sucker wiggled as he breathed and it was substantially smaller than the rest. “I’m sick of it” he huffed, his gums felt too gummy.
“That is quite the predicament.” Akami said, resting her chin on her hand. “Want me to rip it out?” She assumed that he had exhausted all other possibilities if he was bringing her his troubles. She smiled into her palm, it made her happy that he came to her with a problem so simple, one she could solve for him in a matter of seconds. She wanted his loose teeth to be the biggest struggle in his life. It made her feel glimmery that she had given him a place to worry about stupid little things.
“Well I don’t want you to rip it.”
Akami laughed, and she reached forward cupping her hand palm up to the ceiling. Sasuke got off the couch and walked over to her. He put his chin in her hand and opened wide to show her the damage.
Love me Mercilessly Kakashi x Akami
Chapter 22 Practice
word count: 5.6k
warnings: none
Previous chapters [x]
Akami sat with Sasuke at the chabudai as he started on his homework. He had to sit up on his knees to reach comfortably over the table, even his pencil seemed too big in his hand. Sometimes she forgot how small he still was. It reminded her of where she was at his age, living on the run with no place to call home.
She got the sudden overwhelming urge to wrap her arms around his little body and squeeze the life out of him. She wasn’t entirely sure why.
Maybe it was because she was staring at the discarded hospital scrubs crumpled on her bedroom floor. Maybe because she was worried about Kakashi laid up in a hospital bed and what that meant for Sasuke’s future as a ninja. Maybe it was seeing her name written as his emergency contact—Filling in the same address for both their medical forms. Reading his blood-type, vaccination records, his allergy to walnuts (she didn’t know about.) But Akami very suddenly realized that Sasuke was as ill prepared for this new life as she was.
Akami pulled out a blank page from his notebook and stole one of his pencils to draw a makeshift map of the Village. She perused the bookcase for the most updated bingo book she could find.
Akami covered his homework with her hand to get his attention.
“Sasuke listen to me. This is very important.”
He put down his pencil and furrowed his brows. She had been acting strange ever since she picked him up…actually ever since this morning. And the bathroom still reeked of bleach.
“If anything ever happens you tell me immediately, it doesn’t matter how small. If something doesn’t feel right you tell me. Always listen to your gut, even if it makes you feel stupid. Okay?”
Sasuke nodded.
“If somethings wrong and you can’t find me and you need help. You do not go to the Hokage. You do not tell your teachers.”
She spun the bingo book around–though she was sure Sasuke could have picked him out of a line up the way he glared at him at the festival or the scowl he made when she mentioned the late night hospital escort.
“You find Kakashi.” She pointed to his photograph anyway.
“Or you find Tenzo. No one else.” She slid the book towards him so he could get a better look.
“If I ever tell you to run, you listen to me. If they ever tell you to run you listen to them. You don’t argue, you don’t fight, you run.”
She pulled out her makeshift map and pointed. She’d be sure to make him walk the routes.
“If anything happens. You wait for one of us here. Do you understand?”
Sasuke nodded, a little confused at her tone and urgency.
She didn’t want to scare him but after what happened to his family, she didn’t trust him in the hands of anyone else.
Akami reached across the table and pulled him in for a suffocating hug.
“You know I love you right, you know I’d do anything for you?” She said to the top of his head.
“I know, I know” He tried to squirm out of her grasp but she wouldn’t let him escape. Eventually he relented and hugged her back just as tight.
“I love you too Kami-chan” he said, resting his head against her shoulder and giving her forearm a tiny squeeze.
She never used to worry. Fighting was simple. Life was hard.
**
Akami made sure to have whatever Sasuke wanted from his old home moved here; he didn’t take much. Just his clothes, his fathers swords, a small photo album and some of his mothers dishes. He wanted nothing to do with Itachi. He ripped him out of every photo.
The only evidence of Itachi that remained was the photograph Kakashi gifted Akami years ago. She kept it in her nightstand. She didn't look at the photo often but knowing it was there was enough. She couldn’t bring herself to part with it.
Akami finally had everything unpacked, as she and Sasuke got settled into their new home. There were still a lot of repairs to be made but it was nice to have all of her books and scrolls in one place, no longer collecting dust hidden away in storage. Reading was the only fond memory she had of her childhood, the thought suddenly came to her that it was Umiko who taught her how to read. She placed the last book on the shelf and thought of something else.
She kept her collection of knives and blades in a glass case above the bookshelf. Many of them relics claimed in battle, scavenged in pawn shops, traded in bars. Some were worth hundreds, some worth nothing at all. She loved each one just the same; carrying stories forged in steel like slices of time, living a life all their own. A life much like hers, paved in blood. Yet there was a delicateness to a sharp cut of steel, the craftsmanship and skill required to create something so intrinsically beautiful.
Akami hung Fugaku’s swords on the wall in the freshly painted dining room. His blades were far nicer than her own. The saya were beautifully ornate, the clan crest and police sigil intricately engraved in the sheaths. One of the swords' hilts was wrapped tightly in a red leather and the tsuba was carved to look like the three patterned tomoe of the sharingan. Akami thought it might be nice for Sasuke to have them out on display, she knew how much his clan meant to him.
For all his hatred of her, Fugaku never once forbade Sasuke from seeing her. And she couldn’t deny that the swords were beautiful.
Akami sighed, sheathed Fugaku’s sword and placed it amongst its brothers.
She’d be sure to show Sasuke how to wield a blade as well.
**
The Hospital would only discharge Kakashi into Akami's care—she was his fake wife after all. He was particularly irritated by the smug look on her face as she thanked the staff for taking such wonderful care of her miserable husband.
He still needed bed rest and wouldn’t be on active duty for at least a few more weeks. So Akami took him home and dumped him in his bed.
Kakashi never got the chance to turn in his mission report so he asked Akami to drop it off for him. She couldn’t resist and read through it; she already has a decent understanding of what happened anyway.
A copy of the initial intel was included with his report. It was vague and basically useless. It was no wonder he came back in pieces, they essentially went in blind. If it was anyone else leading the charge, they’d have come back in body scrolls…if at all.
Reading the little information present Akami expertly deduced that the Village Kakashi infiltrated was the Land of Keys.
There was no mention at all of Keys' repeated use of the Land of Woods Pranya Team.
They had an unofficial relationship. Keys excelled in espionage and Woods preferred its seclusion in the forest. They traded information for muscle.
Akami assumed intelligence had to know about their provisional alliance—she knew because of that nin from Woods she interrogated a few years ago. But if intelligence knew… why wasn't it in the report?
“You’re supposed to drop it off for me, not spell check it.” Kakashi said, holding his bandaged ribcage and limping past her into the living room.
“Shut up I’m thinking.” Akami said, leaning forward on the couch.
