The End Of It All | Akutagawa Ryunosuke x Any! Reader

{Chapter 8}

Blinking awake, Y/N realised that they were not alone. They were in fact laying with their head on someone's lap. Mentally cringing, they turned to come face to face with the person who they may have slept with or just slept on, hoping it was the latter.

"Morning" The familiar voice was comforting as they realised that it was Akutagawa. However, there was still a fast pulse rushing through them.

"Did anything happen last night? Aaaagggghhh!" Sharp pain filled their head. Had they really been that bad last night?

"In answer to your question, you pulled me to the sofa and fell asleep on me." They were slightly relived that he had not taken advantage of their drunken state but they were still unsure of the reason why their heart was still beating so fast.

Pain continued to rush through them as they raised their head off their partner.

"Where are you going."

"To find paracetamol, my head is banging." They stumbled into the bathroom and grabbed onto the door frame to stabilise themself. Trying to remember where they kept the tablets they needed, their eyes darted around the room before finally landing on the drawer next to the sink. The second one down. That's where they were. Y/N rushed towards the drawer and pulled out the paracetamol blister pack and popped out two. Water, they needed water. To the kitchen! A glass from the cupboard and liquid from the tap. They swallowed the medicine down in one gulp and drank the rest of the glass after it. They placed down their glass on the kitchen top and stared at it as their brain rattled inside their skull, threatening to burst out of their ears at any given moment. 

"Y/N..." They didn't have to look, they knew that Akutagawa entered the kitchen and was now looking at them in their weak state yet again. 

"I went too far, I'm sorry." Hesitantly, they looked their partner in the eye. He looked back at them in an almost sympathetic way. They sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be able to voice what he was thinking out loud to them. But they knew and it was enough. 

The days bled into weeks and soon it was far into the depths of the January winter. Despite the cold weather which took over, the two partners had warmed up even more to each other. Maybe Mori's plan had some advantages to it after all. Work continued on as usual, targets, fights and abilities. There had been a few plots to kidnap Y/N to use their ability to their own gain; however, these had been quickly thwarted by the hellhounds themselves. 

Six men. They stood in front of the two mafiosos like they had a chance. Their desire? To take The End Of It All's user for their own gain. Y/N bent towards the ground, ready to use their ability.

"Don't, it won't be fun otherwise." He had that sadistic smile on his face again. The one which made it clear to Y/N that he was prepared to slaughter whoever dared step in his path. Why was Y/N finding it so... mesmerising? "Rashomon." Daggers of black and red fabric came billowing out of his coat and racing towards the first man, stringing him up by his left leg and putting him out of his misery with one stab to the head and another to the abdomen. 

Whilst Akutagawa was attending his weekly murder session, Y/N shot one man directly between the eyes. Blood pooled below his head from where he landed, a pool which Y/N was proud that they created. The sadism was present in both, it's just one expressed it more. Another shot meant another target shot down. Turning back they saw three corpses lay around their ominous looking partner. 

"I thought there was another?" He said. "There's only five dead."

"Then where's the-" Their sentence was cut short by a hand clasped over their mouth and a cold metal feeling against their temple. Their gun was flung on the ground metres away from them. Blades were emerging from the depths of Akutagawa's coat, ready to attack the man holding their partner hostage. 

"Don't, or I'll shoot them. I wonder how pretty mafia brains look on the pavement." His grip on Y/N tightened as the gun was pressed further into their temple. Tears started to build up behind their eyes. There was no escape, they'd be taken or killed, neither fate they wanted. 

"I'll kill you." Their partner said as they squirmed in protest. He couldn't get hurt. Not on their watch. Y/N's hand grasped at the man's arm, heart pounding, wishing they were able to do something. They had to, there was no other way. They had to stop being a useless burden. Their hearing was filled with the sounds of tinnitus, a deafening ringing which was causing their vision to blur. It had to stop if they could be of any help. 

Stop.

Stop.

STOP!

Stillness. The man was no longer fighting against their struggles. As their vision came back into focus, they locked eyes with Akutagawa who seemed to be staring at them in shock. He ran over, trying to prise them out of the man's grip. Once he did, he turned Y/N around to look at what they had done. The man was still as time moved on. A skill which they did not know they possessed. 

"You did this. You are more powerful than we thought." A smile formed on Y/N's lips. 

"We can learn how to control and use it." They said, looking hopefully at their partner. 

"We need to see how long the effects last in order to study it." 

So they waited, guns loaded for the inevitable reanimation, backs against the cold brick wall beside them. One hour. Movement. A gun shot. Dead. 

People within the Port Mafia were firing questions at Y/N. They had told Chuuya about their knew unknown part of their ability and, naturally, if you tell Chuuya a piece of information, it is around the whole establishment in a matter of thirty minutes. 

"Well, I don't know much about it but I'm going to try and learn to contr-woah!" A hand had grabbed Y/N's shirt collar and was now dragging them downstairs to the dungeons below. They knew it was Akutagawa despite only first seeing his face once they reached the bottom of the flight of stairs. 

"Right, training starts today." He announced after placing himself a matter of inches from Y/N. 

"Training?"

"We need to figure out how your new skill works and how to train you to use it." He explained before moving further into the room. Y/N released a breath which they did not realise they were holding and moved to where Akutagawa directed them to go. "Try to freeze me."

It is interesting how skills can form from skills. Something which you never knew you could do can creep upon you unexpectedly without you even trying. For better or for worse, you learn a new piece of information about yourself. One which may be useful to yourself or others.