Akai let out a sigh, looking around as she walked through the streets of Kirigakure. She had her dark red cloak wrapped around her body, her dagger in her hand, hidden behind the fabric.
It wasn't long before people began to notice her existence, and the whispers started.
"Isn't that the Red Mist?!"
"When was the last time we saw him in public like this?! It has been years..."
"But Yagura is already in prison! What is he doing here?!"
"Please Kami-sama, don't let him harm us..."
"He-... He stopped..."
"What is he doing...?"
Akai stood in silence, her grip around her dagger tightened.
'They still fear you,' Akane commented, 'Is that a good or bad thing? I personally like it, but what about you?'
'We had became a legend, Akane. But sometimes I wish they thought of me as a human.'
'What are you going to do, then?'
Akai took a deep breath, as her expression turned blank. Her left hand was raised ever so slowly...
'Woah, woah, wait! Don't be rash, Akai! Are you-...'
And Akai pulled down the hood, revealing her blue hair, her pale skin, her left eye red while her right eye stayed grey.
'Damn, just damn, Akai. That was... I don't know how to call it.'
'They should realize that the one they always belittle is actually the one they also fear.'
Akane hummed in reply, while Akai looked around, meeting so many shocked gazes from the villagers.
"Isn't that Akai?"
"She's the Red Mist?!"
"That's the girl from the monster family, right?!"
The last statement had made her snap. Akai turned her dagger into her giant sword, as she teleported right in front of the man who said that.
With a glare, she pointed the tip of the blade at the man's neck, growling slightly, revealing her shark-like teeth.
"You may call me whatever you want, but don't you ever say anything bad about my family. I am the monster here, not them, and I don't mind proving it to you. Be careful of your words, peasant."
The man nodded frantically, and Akai huffed, as she turned around.
'Ah, now they completely hate you.'
'I don't need their acceptance,' Akai replied, lifting up her sword, leaning it on her shoulder, as she turned and walked away, back to the middle of the empty road, her free left hand in her pocket.
It has been a while, and the feeling, the short deja vu was somehow pleasant. How people watched her actions silently, in alert, following her every steps, each little twitches from her figure, ready to run away, afraid of the death she brought.
A smirk made its way onto her face. Years ago, the only ones who know the Red Mist's identity is the Mizukage and a few of her assassination team's members. Most of the other shinobis referred her as 'Captain', or simply just 'Red'.
'You're getting even cooler, you know?'
Akai shrugged slightly, swinging her sword in a carefree manner.
'Nothing special,' she said, 'I'm gonna show them who's back. Me, Akai Hozuki Hoshigaki. The Red Mist, a proud shinobi from Konoha. And now, they'll learn not to mess with me. That's all.'
'You rock, my friend,' Akane said, clapping and shaking her head slightly inside the mindscape.
'Not me. We, tashikani.'
| * | * | * | * | * |
Akito's frown only deepened as he walked through the village of the Mist, followed by his teammate Shin, along with Ibiki, Ketsueki, and Mairu. A peculiar group, they were, attracting attention from most of the villagers, but he honestly couldn't care less.
Akai disappeared. That's all he can think about.
"Where is she?! She couldn't have leave the village, right?" Shin decided to ask, after a long while of searching.
"We... haven't asked the Mizukage..."
"Yagura?" Ibiki asked with a grimace, "He hated her guts, and she hated his."
"Actually... we have a new Mizukage..." Mairu trailed off, "Mei Terumi. And I'm almost sure she has a clue on where Akai is."
"Will she tell us, though?"
Ketsueki nodded, "She was a good friend of yours, right, Mairu?"
"Yes she is! And here we are~" the woman announced, before she led her group inside the Mizukage building.
And she didn't even knock, instead she only slammed the door of the office open and walked in with pride.
"How dare you-... Oh, Mairu."
Mairu pouted at the response, but decided to start, "Before you ask, these people are from Konoha. Ibiki Morino, with his students Akito Naokaze and Shin Haruno."
The three gave the Mizukage a bow, which she returned with an approving nod. Her gaze went around the room, before it landed on the white-haired man behind Mairu.
"You look... Familiar. Have we ever met-..." she stopped once she realized who he is, "No way."
"Yes way," he grinned, "Ketsueki Hozuki, at your service, Ma'am."
"How many years has it been since you went MIA?"
"I forgot," Ketsueki mumbled with a small smile towards his old comrade, "But anyways. Do you know where my daughter is?"
"... Why am I not surprised...?' Mei muttered, before she went through her desk, and pulled out a small scroll.
"The Red Mist's currently at the underground prison. Give this the guards if they try to stop you."
Mairu took the scroll with a frown. "But what is Akai doing there?"
"That's a classified information, as requested from the shinobi herself. Now go, maybe you will be able to stop her somehow."
| * | * | * | * | * |
Akai stopped in front of a cell within the jail and she smiled, twirling her dagger around in her hand.
"Yagura?" Akai asked aloud, and the man glanced up from his cell and his eyes grew wide as he saw the cloak that covered her head.
"Akai?" He asked, turning his head as he looked at her. "You're supposed to be dead."
"After all these years, you thought I would die that easily?" Akai asked, twirling her dagger against the silver bars of the cell.
"You begin to believe the things you hear when you're locked up in a cell like I am, Little Red." He said, and Akai rolled her eyes slightly.
'You should just kill him now, Akai!' Akane said giggling, and Akai shook her head.
"Not yet, Akane. I will decide when the time is right." Akai said aloud, before looking at the guard to her right. "Open it."
"Ma'am, I don't think that's the bes-..."
"I said, open the gate." She replied, and the guard nodded before he opened the gate and let her in, before closing it behind her.
"I'll stay and make sure he doesn't do anything." The guard said.
"He's chained up. What could he do to me? Leave us." Akai said, and the guard shook his head.
"I'm already breaking the rules letting you in the ce-..." The guard started, but he stopped when Akai's eyes turned a bright red and she rushes towards the gates, slamming her hands against the bar.
"SHE SAID LEAVE US," Akane yelled, and the guard nodded quickly before he rushed away. The girls eyes turned back to a normal grey. Yagura's eyes were wide as he stared at the girl.
"What was that?" He asked quietly, and Akai smiled at him.
"That's Akane. The voice in my head, the part of me you used to kill people when I was desperate to survive. But now, she can speak her mind."
"H-How?" He asked, and Akai sat down in front of him, smiling.
"Experiments, someone else using me in the same way you did." She said, twirling her dagger. "And let me tell you, my dad isn't too happy about that."
"Your dad? He's dead like you're supposed to be, Little Red."
"Oh no, he's alive. He's been alive this whole time, trying to find his way back home. You declared him dead without a body because you didn't want to waste the time to look for him!"
"That's not true Akai. He was declared dead because we were told he was killed."
"BULLSH*T." Akai screamed. "You never looked for him or any trace of him! You left me and my cousins to starve and die, having to fight and kill to survive!"
"You were not my responsibility, Akai."
"No, I was just your weapon. You made me the monster I am."
"I had no part in who you are. You are the one who lead the assassination team."
"Because you made me! And now, I am going to show you the monster you made me become." Akai said as her eyes turned red and she lunged at Yagura with her dagger in hand.
However, Yagura managed to dodge it, his head only a few milimeters from where the dagger had lodged itself onto the wall behind him.
"How low are your morals, Akai? Trying to kill a handcuffed man in his prison cell?"
"This is nothing compared to what I've done under your orders," Akai pulled the dagger out, and let out a deep breath, "I've killed elderly people in their beds, babies in their siblings' arms, even the unborn in the mothers' wombs. Those lives worth much more than yours."
"I guess you really are a monster then. Just like your family."
"My family are no monster," she hissed, "They died with pride, defending what they believe in."
Yagura laughed, "How strange, Little Red. So many years you spent without them. They all left you. And you still love them?"
Akai leaned on the metal bars behind her, "And that resulted in me relying on you. Shouldn't you be the one to thank them?"
"So you're saying that the blame is actually on them."
"No," Akai threw her dagger up in the air, and caught it, "I used to hate them for that, but not anynore. And about you, Yagura?"
Yagura gave her a meaningful look.
"I hate you." How simple. "What you did was wrong. You made so many people suffer, you make me kill the innocents, and all of those come back to you."
"However," she added, "without you, Kirigakure's current shinohis wouldn't be this strong. It was all thanks to your way of ruling this country. Without your harsh training, I wouldn't be who I am today. I would have died from all those pain I went through to come back as Red Mist."
"So thank you, Yagura. I forgive you. You're the one who brought me here."
"... What are you going to do now? Your friends are coming, even I can feel it."
Akai took a step forward, preparing her dagger, "Sadly, I have to end you here. I wouldn't risk anyone ever going through what I have, which all started with you. This is for me, and for all the people that died because of you, be it shinobi or not."
Her left eye turned red, and she tightened her grip around her dagger, "Hiramekarei Kaihō."
The sound of footsteps could be heard coming closer, byt none of them paid any mind to it.
"You were my best soldier, Akai. It would be a shame if anyone were to kill you."
"I'll keep that in mind." She lifted her sword, and kept her stoic expression, "Your time is up, Yagura. Farewell."
"AKAI NO!!"
Akai swung the sword down, beheading the Fourth Mizukage.
| * | * | * | * | * |
"Akai, what the f*ck?! You killed him?!"
"Yes I did," the girl replied calmly, still holding her sword.
"Akai, look at me!!" Akito growled, grabbing her shoulders and forced her to turn around, but when she did, he could only gasp.
Red left eye, and grey right eye.
"Alright, who is this? Akai or Akane?" Shin asked in annoyance. Somehow he could handle the sight from before better than the rest, and he wasn't as much in shock as Ketsueki.
The girl blinked, and now her right eye also turned red, "Akane, at your service!"
"Explain this," Mairu growled, "A murder in the middle of the day?! Seriously?"
Akane shrugged, "It's called assassination," seeing her comrades' confused faces, she continued, "There's a few files that Yagura kept hidden and locked with jutsus, and as one of his most trusted shinobi, I know all of them. I told Mei, in exchange of her fulfilling one of my request."
"And this is your request?" Ibiki couldn't even think of any explanation behind her killing Yagura.
"Mei's already planning to execute Yagura anyways," Akane leaned on her sword, "And the almighty Red Mist kindly offered to do the job. Anything wrong with that?"
"You just-... That's just cruel! How can you simply cut someone's head off like that?! Even if you hate him, that doesn't make any sense! It's almost inhuman!"
"I've done worse." Akane let out a sigh, "You're making a fuss. It's not like anyone will miss him anyways-... OUCH!!!" Akane glared as she rubbed her temples, which had just been hit by Ketsueki's fist, "What the hell?! I'm just stating the truth!"
"At least respect the dead, even if they're your enemies! Especially if you're the one who kills them!"
Akane clicked her tongue, "First, you're not exactly father, I only listen to Akai." She covered her ears and huffed, "Akai, please, not now," she muttered, before she looked back at Ketsueki.
"It's not that I don't respect him, okay? Yagura is a great shinobi, I'll give him that, but I hate the way he did things. And what I said is not as rude as all those words he had ever said about your clan. That's why-..." she suddenly stopped, and blinked. Her eyes were now grey, and they all knew it was Akai.
"Sorry about Akane. I'll make sure to scold her," Akai said, giving her friends a nervous smile. They all gave her an annoyed look, but decided not to press any further.
"Can we just leave? This place's too cramped for my liking, tashikani."
| * | * | * | * | * |
In the end, they decided to go back to Konoha. Ketsueki wanted to be with the group, but Mairu managed to stop him, saying that she wouldn't trust the two of them travelling together.
"You still have paperworks to do, Hozuki! Mei needs to remove your MIA status, and you have to go through many procedures before you can regain your shinobi status! You can't go to other village just yet!"
And that resulted in Team 11's current situation.
Akai was walking through the thick forest, Shin and Akito behind her, and Ibiki watching them not far at the back. Shin and Akito were conversing about their own stuff, while Akai did the same with Akane.
'You have no manners, do you?'
'Akai, your Dad was getting annoying. Don't blame me.'
Akai sighed, 'That was no way to talk to him, Akane. Well, what's done is done. After all his tasks was finished, he'll be coming to Konoha, and you're going to apologize to him. Understood?'
'... Yes, Ma'am.'
'Good. Try to be more considerate, okay, Akane?'
'Yeah, yeah. No promises though. By the way, what do you think about a hunting session?'
'Like... right now?' Akai asked, 'Who, where and why?'
'There's a group of shinobis not far from here, from their chakra signatures I would say most of them were chūnin levels. Those rouges are heading towards Kirigakure, probably planning to attack the outskirts of the village.'
'You're getting better at this. It's good not to jump straight into fights like you usually did.'
'Thanks. So what are you going to do now?'
Akai huffed, 'Doing what you want.' She cracked her fingers, stopping in her tracks and turned around to face her teammates. "You guys wait here, okay? I need to do something. I'll call you when I'm done."
Akane giggled in her mind, while Akai kept her calm expression.
"Eh? What are-... Oi, Akai!!"
The girl had already leaped away. Akai kept on running, sharpening her senses as pulled out her dagged. Now, without Akane trying to distract her, she would be able to concentrate, and fight. Akane is a part of her, a part she had to control, and make use of.
Just like long ago. Leader of Kirigakure's Assassination Squad. Akai Hozuki Hoshigaki. The Red Mist.
With that thought in mind, Akai jumped down, landing in the middle of the clearing. She pulled down the hood of her red cloak, looking around to check for enemies before she unbuttoned her cloak, swiftly sealing the red fabric inside a small scroll, which she put inside her pocket. Akai then looked up, smirking slightly as she found out how she had been surrounded by her enemies.
She raised her dagger, the blade transforming into its true form, Hiramekarei.
"Let's get this over with, you pathetic excuse of shinobis. I'll cut you to pieces."
With that, she charged forward.
| * | * | * | * | * |
With Akane now as her ally, Akai found herself back inside the real her, the true Red Mist. Stronger, to put it simply. Enhanced senses, reflexes, speed, strength, everything.
The girl tilted her head to the side, avoiding a kunai, while she stabbed her large sword through the enemy in front of her. She grabbed the two hilts, pulling them away from each other, cutting the body into two. She spun around, one of the swords was swung onto another shinobi, landing a large gash which made him fall onto his knees. The other blade was raised to block a katana from above, before her body completely liquefied, and disappeared inside the red mist.
Akai mentally smirked. With the acidic mist surrounding them, none of her pursuer would dare to waste chakra on an offensive jutsu. They kept using it to heal themselves after the mist's damage, over and over, and that sight amuses her.
She re-appeared behind some of her attackers, raising her sword and quickly swung it, slashing it through their necks. She blocked another blade from behind her, jumping up and backflipped in the air, slamming her heels down onto the head of the previous shinobi, knocking him out instantly. She landed swiftly on the ground, stabbing her sword through the fallen shinobi before lifting it back up, twirling it as she looked around.
'One chakra signature left...' she noted, 'Ah, there.'
She narrowed her eyes, and with a flick of her wrist, the sword was thrown. It was stabbed into his stomach, and he started screaming. Akai clicked her tongue in annoyance, throwing the other pair of the sword, this time the blade lodged itself onto his head, killing him instantly.
Akai scoffed. "One blade and he already screamed like that. Sad how shinobi standards have degraded so quickly. At least Yagura did a good job keeping it up, long long ago," she muttered, as she approached the corpse. She pulled out her swords, putting them back into one, while her mist gradually faded away.
"A-Akai...?"
Another sigh escaped her lips. She stabbed her sword into the hard ground, before she turned and sat down, leaning on the blade. Ibiki, Shin, and Akito were standing near the edge of the clearing, eyes locked to the sight in front of them.
Understandable. Akai is from Kiri, a ruthless place with no mercy. Unlike Konoha. Like what she always said, their ways are different.
Akai smiled sarcastically, raising both her hands up. "Alright, you got me. Busted, caught in act. As you probably have pedicted, this is all my doings. Guilty as charged."
Akito was at loss of words. There, in the middle of the battlefield, while the ground was covered in red and dead bodies scattered around, some of them no longer in one piece, Akai sat calmly, leaning on her sword still drenched in blood.
Not a bit a hint of guilt.
She casually pulled out her father's tantō, then throwing it to the air, catching the hilt, and did it over and over, lost in her own thoughts.
"I told you before, didn't I, Akito? You can't love me. I'm dangerous. No one can love a monster." She stated, "What are you guys going to do now?"
"The Akai I know is not a-..."
"You're wrong, Shin." She softly said, "I have always been like this. Ask my cousin, ask everyone from Kiri. Mention the name Red Mist, and they would tell you the tale of a cold-blooded assassin, Yagura's right hand, the loyal swordsman who had killed thousands of lives under orders." She told them, "This is the real me. A merciless swordsman."
"I've seen things like this, but this is the first time I saw someone doing it alone."
Akito sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. He approached Akai, looking at her eyes. Grey, with a tiny of red in them. No sign of remorse, it looks as if she knows it's her fate, as a shinobi, as a swordsman, as a Hozuki and a Hoshigaki.
He suddenly stopped, and turned away, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly.
"F*ck, I can't hold it anymore." He muttered, before clearing his throat, and then, much to everyone's shock, yelled.
"YOU SEE THAT?! YOU SEE THAT, PETTY HUMANS?! THAT'S MY GIRL FOR YOU! SUCH BADASS, WITH AMAZING SWORD SKILL!!"
Akai's eyes widened, while Shin and Ibiki had their jaws fell agape.
"SHE'S INVINCIBLE, SO DON'T MESS WITH HER!! EVEN SHE STILL LOOKS HOT SOAKED IN THOSE BLOOD!!"
Akai was now frozen in place, a blush forming in her face.
"He finally lost it, didn't he?" Ibiki asked, turning to Shin. The Haruno sighed.
"Yeah, but it's your fault. Spending 2 years hanging out with an alcoholic weeping interrogator will never have a good effect on anyone's mentality."
"Well, why didn't you stop him?"
Shin turned his attention back at his blonde teammate, who continued to mutter about the same topic, threatening people to mess with Akai, while pulling out his kunais and began to throw it at random directions. Akai, moreover, started cackling, and then bursted out laughing.
"You're the sensei. Not me."
Ibiki let out a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Konoha's asylum is going to have 2 more patients, and it's all on me. Damnit."
"Loosen up, Morino! Teammates like them can be useful, too! They can get rid of awkward tensions!" Shin commented, as he continued snickering.
Ibiki scoffed. "I should have never agreed to be a sensei."
No one heard him, sadly, and the Morino only sat down, watching as his 3 students continued laughing like there's no tomorrow.
As Akai finally calmed down, she saw Akito walking towards her, his expression much more relaxed.
Akito stopped right in front of Akai, giving her a smile as he offered his right hand.
"You are Akai. Whatever you do, you are still Akai Hozuki. My teammate, my friend, the best swordsman in the world. And no matter what happened, I will always love you. That won't change, ever."
She grabbed his hand, and he pulled her up, back to her feet.
"That, is the sweetest thing I've ever heard. Thank you so much, Akito."
And for the first time after two years, he finally saw her grin.
| * | * | * | * | * |
Akito and Akai had walked side by side, the girl using her tantō to demonstrate her moves during her fight. Akito was laughing, giving comments here and there, which the girl responded without protests.
Shin and Ibiki, meanwhile, had kept their distance behind the swordsmen pair, watching as the two kept on rambling.
"I never thought that Akito, of all people, would scream like that. I can imagine Kakashi's blonde brat doing that, but Akito?"
Shin shrugged. "I guess it's understandable. Things happen. For two years I was the most sane among you all."
"Excuse me?"
"Akai had a psychotic b*tch living inside her. You were alcoholic. Akito were obsessed with blades. Admit it already."
Ibiki grunted. "Fine, I guess you have a point. But really, they even forget about us."
"Oh, Papa is jealous! His little girl found her own boy..." Shin cooed, a grin on his face.
"What the actual f*ck, Shin."
"I mean it, okay? You can't lie to me. I saw how worried you are about her. You look exactly like my dad over my sister. Among you all, I'm the one who understands these kinds of topics the most."
"...And now you're match-making?" Ibiki asked, trying to sound as calm as possible.
"So you do care about these stuff."
Ibiki glared at his student, who snickered at the reaction.
"I don't. I hate the fact that those two doesn't even wait for us. Who knows what that crazy pair might do once they got out of our sight."
"You admitted that they are a pair."
"Shin, I swear-..."
"Calm down." Shin stated, as he turned to look at Akito and Akai, "Look. He really cheered her up, didn't he?"
"... I guess you're right. At least Akai looks happy with Akito. But still, if they stay together, chaos will happen. With their insanity and their crazy swords skills, they will wreck havoc. One day, they will."
Shin snickered. "Agree on that. But I guess it's fine, Ibiki."
"We will be the one getting killed first."
"Yeah, and who cares?" Shin asked, as he stretched out his hands, positioning his fingers into a heart shape, trapping the two swordsmen inside it through his line of sight.
"Have you ever seen a more perfect couple? These two are soulmates."
| * | * | * | * | * |
4235 words. Are those enough for you to forgive us after 2 months (almost 3) without updates?
I feel guilty.
But really. I (MidRav) started highschool, my grades dropped and I was so lucky my mom didn't took my phone away so I can still write.
I'm not satisfied with the new cover (yet) but at least it's better than the old one.
The ship is real. Akaito is sailing.
Not gonna say anything else since it may annoy you but seriously? 600+ followers? Guys it means everything I LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Okay, see you on the next chapter!!