Rise From The Ashes (Kakuzu Story)

Chapter 22.

So much had happened between them lately, Kakuzu had barely been able to keep up. He wasn't used to feeling this, or dealing with his emotions in general, and it had caught him off guard. There had been a lot to take into account, and Kakuzu hadn't known what to do about it. He'd known he had a connection with Suzaku from the start, that much was easy, and had remained even after all the years that had gone by, but with how things developed, then what happened last night...Kakuzu hadn't been able to make any decisions. The idea of accepting these emotions, of truly letting Suzaku into his life...he couldn't be certain. Along with the fact that her being around the Akatsuki was only temporary while she helped out on the mission, knowing that at any moment she could be told to leave and that would be it, Kakuzu had been uncertain and not known where to turn. He couldn't deny he cared about Suzaku, even with his doubts about how things would go from here...but what would the consequences be?

But Kakuzu had never expected it would turn out like this.

Even if he was unsure about his feelings and what to do, he had never wanted to hurt Suzaku physically or emotionally. He hadn't been about to let her get hurt, either. Yet now he was staring down at her lifeless body knowing he had failed in both, and still not having a clue as to what to do. Kakuzu hated feeling this. Ever since leaving Takigakure his humanity had slowly slipped away from him, and he hadn't given a flying fuck. All that had happened in Takigakure had merely shown him that people weren't to be trusted, and he wouldn't be doing it again. That he didn't need anyone and never would. Kakuzu had lived this long, and everything that needed to be done he could do alone. Money was what he could rely on—that's it. Of course, that had been before Suzaku. She had altered his emotions from when he had just left Takigakure to decades after. He didn't want to feel so affected by other people, but he couldn't help it. Not when it came down to Suzaku.

Then there were these guys. All along the Akatsuki had been going after them, trying to take them down—and Suzaku had agreed to help them, even though she didn't have to. She could have stayed hidden, not gotten herself involved. She wouldn't have ended up like this. But they'd played her, drawing her into this, and in such a low-handed way. They didn't face her one-on-one, head on—they had to have the entire group attack her at once. Not only that, but they couldn't leave it at that. They knew Suzaku would be able to take them down, even with that advantage. They had to use a solar eclipse to increase that advantage, kicking her while she was down. Kakuzu had a lot of battle experience when it came down to it, but even he hadn't seen anyone do something like this. It left him frozen, staring at Suzaku's body with his thoughts circling rapidly around his head, his fists clenched and his muscles tensed.

He wasn't the only one who was frozen, however. It seemed that with that attack—with Suzaku collapsing—the entire battlefield had come to a halt. Everyone appeared shocked at what had occurred, even though that's what they had been aiming for to begin with, staring down at her body in the same way Kakuzu was. Pein himself didn't entirely know what to do, torn between having wanted to see Suzaku's abilities and wanting to complete the mission at the same time. They had been connected in a sense at the start as it was only with Suzaku's help the Akatsuki had been able to advance in their mission, but clearly it went a lot further than that, even if none of them had known it. The Akatsuki had had nothing to do with it from the beginning—it had all been about Suzaku. Pein didn't know how he should act from here, however, knowing how close Kakuzu was to Suzaku and not wanting to make things any worse—but Kakuzu had chosen for him.

All of the Akatsuki knew about Kakuzu's temper. Overall he wasn't that aggressive as a person if you talked to him in a normal conversation. Distant, yes, and on the defensive, always, but Kakuzu was generally calm. But everyone knew what happened when you started testing his patience. It didn't take long for Kakuzu to start threatening those who annoyed him, and after that, it didn't particularly take long for him to follow through with those threats. Then when he lost it...he lost it. Clearly that was exactly what had happened now. Pein had noted had quickly Kakuzu had stopped when Suzaku had gone down, and when his fists had clenched a moment later. The entire time Pein could see Kakuzu's muscles were tensed entirely, but he hadn't moved, still overtaken by shock at what had happened. It had come as a surprise to everyone, after all. Though Pein had gathered something had to give. Whether it was the group finally beginning to react to what they had done and continuing to attack the rest of them, or simply retreating to avoid fighting the Akatsuki, or Kakuzu reacting to what they had done, Pein hadn't known. Now, however, the answer was clear.

For a moment Kakuzu closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. A snarl appeared on his face, though it wasn't visible through his mask—but his chakra soon became visible, several ninjas beginning to back away from him, a shiver running up their spines as they got the feeling this wasn't going to end well. Though none of them got a chance to run away and escape—Kakuzu wasn't about to let them. Finally he opened his eyes, focusing his gaze first on the guy who had killed Suzaku in the first place—he was at the top of his list. He took a moment to growl viciously,

"You're going to wish you'd never been born," before he lunged forward towards him.

Seeing the look on Kakuzu's face and the power radiating off of him, none of the group moved to protect him, meaning Kakuzu charged straight through to reach him, tackling him and pinning him against the wall. Never allowing any room for him to struggle, Kakuzu allowed his threads to reach out and penetrate his chest, yanking out his heart in one fell swoop. Retracting the heart into his own body, as the rest of the group began to attack, Kakuzu turned around to use the body as a weapon, swinging it towards them and knocking them back. Knowing just what Kakuzu was prepared to do, Pein lurched forward and gathered Suzaku's body, lifting her and moving her out of the way, quickly retreating out of the building in order to avoid any overflow damage that would probably appear from Kakuzu's attacks. Kakuzu let him be, barely noticing him but acknowledging what he was doing; glad that he could properly concentrate on what was in front of him.

But Kakuzu wasn't about to show any mercy. If he had to kill every single one of the group right now, he'd do it. Every shred of self-control and rational thought disappeared from Kakuzu's mind as he continued on his rampage, not caring about anything but destroying everyone around him. After a few seconds of Kakuzu attacking them so furiously, the ninjas began to back up and try and get away, but it was way too late—Kakuzu wasn't about to let anyone get away. They were all going to pay for what they'd done. He'd never lost his temper over somebody else, but it felt stronger than any other outburst of anger he'd had before. Any sign of movement and he lashed out at it, bodies piling up around him the longer it went on.

Pein could only stand outside and wait as he heard the rumble he knew was coming, the entire building and area around it suddenly exploding, destroying everything in its wake for several metres in every direction. Making sure he was far enough away that he wouldn't be caught in the aftermath, Pein simply watched as the explosion faded away, leaving nothing but a crater behind. Waiting until silence fell over the area, Pein eventually picked out Kakuzu making his way towards him, and seeing the hesitant way he was walking and the thoughtful, Pein gently laid Suzaku down on the ground, unsure what to do or say next. Kakuzu didn't try to encourage any conversation, simply walking over and standing next to her body, staring down at her face and feeling completely at a loss. The anger that had erupted from him was utterly gone, and there didn't seem to be anything that was taking its place. What was the point in trying to talk now?

There was nothing left to say.