Through Your Eyes ~Karma Akabane X Reader~

Chapter 1: Reader

I let out a sigh of relief as I looked up to find the Kunugigaoka Junior High's main campus building standing tall in front of me; my school was a thirty minute walk from here and I was on cleanup duty that day so I had to practically sprint all the way here to make it on time to meet my boyfriend who went to this school. Well, to be more precise, he was the top student as well as the school's chairman's only son.

Taking a few steps forward towards the school gates, my face instantly lit up when my eyes spotted a head of strawberry blond hair a few feet away, surrounded by a small group of male and female students; I wasn't really surprised by the fact that my beloved boyfriend was just as popular in school as he was intelligent, unlike me, who would always shy away from groups because of my lack of social skills.

I hadn't realized that I had been staring at him until he had coincidentally turned to my direction and met my gaze. He smiled and held up a hand to wave at me which I reflexively returned within a heartbeat, matching his smile with a wide, ridiculous one of my own. He signaled with his hands to give him some time and I responded with a nod of acknowledgment.

I walked towards a nearby cherry blossom tree and waited there since staring at him in my current spot outside the gates like a puppy waiting for its owner would seem kind of weird... and not to mention degrading.

My eyes followed the gentle movements of a few cherry blossom petals as they fell from the tree branches as a result of an abrupt blow of breeze; the sight was so pretty that it had captivated me within less than a second upon landing eyes on it. But my attention on the falling pink petals were torn away when my ears pricked up upon hearing a familiar voice from behind.

That voice; the one that sounded like it belonged to a young male and which had a mischievous undertone; I hadn't heard that voice in years. Without thinking, I spun around to find two teenagers sporting Kunugigaoka Junior High uniforms talking as they were probably making their way home after a day of school. One of them was rather short, with cerulean blue hair and big eyes to match and, embarrassingly enough, I couldn't really identify their gender; at first glance, they would seem like a girl with their slightly long hair tied up in short pigtails, but when I noticed that they were wearing pants... my thoughts just started getting messy.

But the one that stole my attention wasn't them, it was the one walking beside them; the tall male with vibrant red hair and mercury eyes that churned up countless of memories from my childhood that made it difficult front for me to tear my gaze away from him.

"Karma-kun..." the name of my childhood friend whom I hadn't seen for years left my lips in an almost whisper. My eyes widened as I realized that that redheaded male was my childhood friend. Unthinkingly, I left my position under the cherry blossom tree and hurried towards them, stepping in front and thus, blocking their path.

"Karma-kun," I spoke aloud, my eyes never leaving him not even once. "Is that you?"

The two students had halted their conversation and were both staring at me with confused eyes. As I took in their perplexed expressions, I felt my heart sink as the doubt that it wasn't my childhood friend crept into the back of my mind; I hadn't seen him for about eight years, his appearance could've changed and I wouldn't had known. Blood immediately rushed into my cheeks as embarrassment began to overcome me at my hasty actions. I parted my lips, ready to mutter out an apology when I noticed the redhead's baffled frown quirked up into a familiar mischievous smirk and I immediately felt a wave of relief wash over my being.

"(Y/ N)-chan?" he smirked and I couldn't help myself but beam at hearing him say my name. "Is that really you? Boy, you've sure changed over the years."

"You remember me...?" I trailed off, feeling contentment at this.

"Of course I do," he said and his smirk grew. "You were the only one naïve enough to fall for my pranks over and over again, it's like you're unable to learn from your mistakes."

My eyebrows furrowed and I pouted at him. "Glad to see that you're still as evil as ever, you spawn of the devil!"

Rather than feeling offended by my insult, it actually amused him as he let out a light chuckle. "I haven't heard anyone call me that for a while now."

I couldn't help the wide grin threatening to ruin my attempt at an annoyed pout spread across my face as I replied, "Well, that's because I am the only one who ever called you that."

"Indeed you are." He smirked at my statement and stuck a hand into his pocket while the other was holding onto the bag that was slung over his shoulder. "It's been a long time, (F/ N)-san. Eight years, is it?"

I tilted my head slightly to think. "More or less."

His smirk softened into a smile that I had only even been able to witness a few rare times when we were little; most of the smiles he showed were always the cause of mischievous intentions and thus, resulting into ones that resemble the devil's. "I've missed having you around."

"Me too." I smiled and only then did I realize that Karma's blue-haired companion was switching glances between the two of us and awkwardly playing with his fingers; I had done the same thing more times than I could count to know that it was a sign that he had absolutely no idea what he should do and felt completely out of place.

Deciding to spare him from anymore discomfort, I looked up at Karma and asked, "And is this a friend of yours, Karma-kun?"

Upon hearing my question, Karma glanced over at his companion, his mouth shaped in a small 'O' as though he had completely forgotten that they were even there for a moment. "Yea, this is Nagisa-kun, we're in the same class." He introduced which caused Nagisa to quickly focus his gaze solely on me.

"Oh, y-yes, h-hello! I'm Shiota Nagisa!" he immediately gave a deep bow that almost made him topple over but luckily didn't. "I-It's nice to meet y-you!" he stammered and I couldn't help but see a little bit of myself in him.

"Hello, Shiota-kun, I'm (L/ N) (F/ N) and it's nice to meet you too." I gave him a warm smile, hoping that it would calm his nerves a bit.

He lifted his head up, his big cerulean eyes blinking at me. A smile then formed on his lips and he stood back up. "You can just call me Nagisa really, I don't mind. I'd prefer it if you'd call me that actually." He said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

Nagisa let out a high-pitched shriek when Karma abruptly wrapped an arm around him and pointed at his friend with his earlier mischievous smirk plastered across his face. "Don't let his girly features fool you though! Under these clothes there's actually a mini elephant!"

"K-Karma-kun!" Nagisa's fair face had gone a hundred shades of red and I believed that my own was a bit blushed as well from how Karma had worded the blue-haired male's gender. But Karma only laughed and ruffled his shorter friend's hair.

Despite my slight blush, I smiled; I think that was the first time that I had seen Karma looked so... happy. When he smiled and laughed, it was all genuine which didn't happen often when he was younger. But the real indication were his eyes, those unique mercury orbs which used to be clouded by dullness were glowing bright and that just made them so much more entrancing than they already were; I didn't like to admit it, but Karma was never an ugly-looking person, in fact, he was entirely the opposite; he was unfortunately one of the most attractive people that I had ever met, and even when he was a kid, he was absolutely adorable. Although I couldn't say the same about his personality; like I had mentioned before, he was the devil's spawn and he had only grown up to become the devil's heir.

"So what are you doing here, (F/ N)-san? Didn't you and your family move to Osaka years ago?" Karma inquired, his mercury eyes falling on me.

"Oh, yea, we did." I said. "But my dad got a job back here in Tokyo so we ended up moving back here two months ago, but our old house was already sold as you know, so we're now living in a different district."

"Oh, it's good to have you back then." He smirked and I had no idea why but I felt myself blush.

"A-and as for why I'm here outside Kunugigaoka Junior High, it's because... well..." I started hesitantly, the red shade that colored my cheeks only growing. "I'm actually dating someone who goes here..."

Karma's eyebrows rose up at my words, stunned. "Really?" he asked and I nodded meekly. The surprise in his face was then replaced with mischief as he flashed me a sardonic smirk and teased, "Well, I feel bad for the poor guy who has to deal with you. Feel free to give him my sympathies."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. "Yep, you definitely haven't changed one bit."

He simply just chuckled at my unamused expression.

My eye twitched in chagrin and I was about to speak again when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. "(L/ N)-san, what are you doing?" This abrupt action was followed by my boyfriend's voice and I turned around to find Asano staring at me with a harsh countenance; his eyebrows were knitted and his lips were set in a thin line. It took me a few seconds to realize that he was actually staring so disapprovingly not at me, but at Karma and Nagisa behind me.

"Asano-kun," I began but he cut me off before I could finish.

"What are you doing talking to them, (L/ N)-san?" he asked, his tone cold and businesslike which took me by surprise; he had never spoken to me like that before so... what ticked him off?

"Well, one of them is an old friend of mine and-"

"Eh? Which one?" Asano asked, his cold tone had turned sardonic and I reflexively scrunched my nose vaguely in disgust; it was incredibly rude, even worse than the teasing tone that Karma used.

"Um, well, let me introduce you to Karma-kun..." I turned around, about to gesture to the redheaded male but my words trailed off when I caught the look of absolute distaste written across his face. "Karma-kun... what's wrong-"

"There's no need for the generous introduction, (L/ N)-san," Asano interrupted which made me snap my head in his direction. "Unfortunately, Akabane-kun and I have already met."

"Wait," I started, glancing between the two of them. "You two know each other?"

"Yes, we have a rather long history together, don't we, Akabane-kun?" Asano cocked his head to one side in a mocked innocent manner. "In fact, one could go as far as to call us enemies."

"Enemies...?" I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"(L/ N)-san," Karma barked and my attention instantly snapped back onto him. "How are you even associated with the chairman's rotten little kid? Please don't tell me that he's the boyfriend..." his voice had gone deadly low and I shrunk back.

The only reply that I was capable of giving then was a weak nod. Karma's mercury eyes widened slightly from what I supposed was shock but he recovered quickly and the ends of his lips quirked up into a twisted grin. His eyes landed back on Asano and he hissed, "You have got to be kidding me."

"Is that jealousy that I sense, Akabane-kun?" Asano smirked and crossed his arms. "Mad that your beloved friend chose me instead of you?"

My eyes grew when I noticed that Karma had his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides. "Not at all, in fact, I was just telling (F/ N)-san what a poor guy her boyfriend would be for having to deal with her, but I never would've imagined that it'd be you, if I'd known, she'd be the one I would be sympathizing since she has you and your whiny little ass to deal with."

My eyes flickered onto Nagisa; he seemed to share the same concern look as mine but there was another emotion in his expression, one that resembled Karma's irritation and anger. My gaze focused back onto Karma and Asano who both looked as though they were about to pounce and strangle each other to death. Despite my fear of involving myself in a fight of any sort, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

"Karma-kun, that was kind of rude, I think it's best that you apologize-"

"What? You're siding with him?" the redhead snapped at me. "I thought that you were better than that, (F/ N)-san!"

"N-no, no, no!" I tried to protest. "That's not what I'm saying, let me finish! What Asano-kun said wasn't nice either and he should apologize too-"

"There's no way in hell that I'm apologizing to that psychopath!" Asano hissed.

"Asano-kun, that's-" I attempted to speak but only ended up being interrupted by Karma.

"That's it!" Karma yelled and before I knew it, he charged forward towards the strawberry-blonde and struck a harsh punch in his jaw.

I gasped, my eyes wide in horror at the scene happening before me. Karma threw another punch, this time in Asano's nose and Asano returned a punch of his own across the redhead's right cheek. I knew that I should had stopped them, called help, moved, just did something! But... I couldn't; my feet had turned as heavy as lead and my whole body had gone as cold as a corpse.

Just as Karma was about to strike another punch, a pair of hands grabbed a hold of his arms, restraining him. My gaze darted up from Karma and Asano who were on the ground to Nagisa who was holding the redhead back.

"Stop it, Karma-kun!" he cried and tried to get the redhead off of Asano but Karma was evidently much stronger than he was. "Stop! If you don't, you'll get suspended again or worse, expelled! Is that what Koro-sensei would want?"

Upon hearing Nagisa's words, Karma ceased his fighting as though they were a trigger and maybe they were. Nagisa then helped Karma get back up onto his feet and before I knew it, my legs had drove me forward towards Asano who was still lying on the ground with blood dripping from his nose.

"Asano-kun, are you alright? Can you hear me? See me?" I asked him in panic as I endeavored to help him stand up.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you." He murmured weakly.

I was about to bring him to the school infirmary when I spotted Karma and Nagisa leaving. "Hey! You guys!" I called out, making them both turn around. "You have to stay and report to a teacher or something! You can't just... leave like that!"

They took a moment to consider my words before Karma walked back towards us while Nagisa stood still in his place. When he had reached us, I breathed out a sigh of relief. "Karma-kun, we have to-"

"No, there's no 'we', (F/ N)-san," he said, his voice devoid of the playful, teasing tone from earlier.

"What...?"

"You may not know this, (F/ N)-san, but he has caused not just me but my whole class a lot of serious trouble countless of times before, if given that knowledge to you, and you still ended up choosing his side, then I don't have anything else to say to you." He stared me down, his gaze intense and harsh.

I furrowed my eyebrows, feeling a slight sense of rage beginning to boil within me. "What? Karma-kun, you're overreacting, I'm sure what he's done wasn't that bad. You guys just need to talk it out and-"

"No, (F/ N)-san, I'm done with him!"

I stared at him in the eye; his mercury orbs were burning with fury and I know that he wouldn't give in no matter what I say. "So this is how our meeting after eight years is going to be like," I sighed, irritated. "If that's how you're going to act then I'd prefer it if we don't meet again."

There was a slight change in his expression after the words had left my lips; his mercury orbs widened and his face faltered, but only slightly, barely visible that it could had all just been my imagination. "If that's how you feel," he finally spoke after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. "Then we won't."

And with that, he turned on his heels and headed back with Nagisa by his side. Once they had gone so far that they had become not more than dark silhouettes in the distance, I let out a loud sigh; I felt as though I would had collapsed from exhaustion right then and there if it weren't for Asano who had spoken beside me.

"You did the right thing." Asano said weakly beside me.

I shut my eyes and another sigh escaped from me.

Had I though?



♂ ♀



"Are you really sure that you're alright, Asano-kun? You shouldn't have to force yourself to come here if your injuries still hurt." I told my strawberry-blond boyfriend as the two of us stood at the entrance of the comet festival; there was apparently a rare comet passing through the earth that night and the whole town had decided to hold a festival for the citizens who were coming out to watch it.

"And allow you to come here on your own? Not a chance, (L/ N)-san," Asano smirked vaguely. "I'm perfectly fine, and we made a promise to come here a week ago, didn't we? It would be bad for my reputation if I didn't keep that promise."

I couldn't help but crack a smile at his words. "Your reputation, huh? Honestly, Asano-kun, sometimes you try too hard to be perfect and to impress people."

"Well, I usually don't have much difficulty impressing others," his violet gaze shifted onto me once again and I felt myself flush. "But you on the other hand, are quite hard to impress."

I bit down on my bottom lip. "Is that so?"

He gave a light nod, his smirk never faltering even once. "Yes, so that is why I'm going to give it my all to attempt to impress you."

"Good luck then." I beamed, unable to suppress the ridiculous grin that was threatening to break out any longer.

Asano smiled in return and took my hand in his, causing my face to turn florid. "Alright, I think we should start the night by checking out some stalls, what do you say?"

I gave a light nod because I was certain that I would had ended up becoming a stuttering mess if I had spoken. We then went and checked out several stalls; most of them being food stalls of course but we also played some games since Asano insisted that he should win a prize for me. He ended up winning all three games and I ended up bringing home three large stuffed animals; the first one was a blushing panda, the second, a brown bear with a green polka-dot necktie, and the third, a yellow octopus which turned out to be the most peculiar one out of all three.

Before I knew it, most of the night had gone by and we had already made an entire circle around the festival and had seen almost all of the stalls with the exception of the last few which we were nearing. Just as we were approaching the last stall at the end of the path, the displayed items in the stall just beside it caught my attention; it was stall selling traditional Japanese lucky charms. I had always thought that they were cute because of their small size and their large varieties of colors and designs, and so I definitely couldn't pass up the opportunity to get one.

I gave a tug on Asano's hand which grabbed his attention. He turned around to look at me with a cocked eyebrow. "You go ahead first, I want to check out something from here." I told him and he nodded in acknowledgement. I removed my hand from his and rushed over to the lucky charms stall like a gleeful little kid.

My eyes grew as wide as saucers as I took in the many designs of the lucky charms put on display; each one had different words written on it which were meant for different purposes; some were for success while others were for guidance and such.

"What kind of charm would you like, young lady?" I looked up to see an elderly woman, who I surmised was the stall owner, smiling at me.

"Oh, hello, I'm looking for..." I trailed off as I decided on what kind of charm that I should get; at first, I thought about asking for the famous success charm, but the fight with Karma from earlier suddenly came creeping back into my mind and within a heartbeat, I knew which charm I should choose. "I would like a friendship charm, please."

"A friendship charm?" the woman raised her eyebrows. "Not trying to pry but, are you having trouble with a friend of yours?"

Whoa, that was on point, was she a mind-reader or something?

"Yes, actually," I admitted rather bitterly. "Just today, I got into a fight with a childhood friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in eight years, so... I guess you could say it was a rather bittersweet encounter."

"I see." The woman rubbed her chin in thought. "You seem to care quite a lot for this friend of yours then."

"Well, isn't it normal to care for them? I mean they are your friends after all, but... yes, I do care for him," I bit down on my bottom lip and nodded my head. "A lot, I care for him a lot. We've grown up together so it would only be natural."

The stall owner hummed in understanding. "I think I have just the right charm for you!" she said and bent down to pull out a navy box from the bottom of the display table. She opened it and inside were two lucky charms; one was red while the other was blue but both had the same colorful floral design and the word 'love' written on it in kanji. She took out the blue one and handed it to me. "Here you go."

I raised an eyebrow at the baby blue lucky charm in my palm. "Thank you but um, I'm looking for a friendship charm-"

"Well, it can still be considered as one. What many youngsters these days often forget is that dating and marriage aren't the only relationships that are built from love, friendships are one as well." The elderly woman winked and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Alright then, how much for this charm?" I asked with a smile.

"Keep it," she insisted. "It's free of charge, I don't need any payment."

"But-"

"Just consider it as a gift from someone who hopes that your wish would come true and that your friendship would be mended." She smiled.

I blinked at her, vaguely stunned by her generosity towards a stranger like me. "Thank you..."

"You're welcome, now tell me, does that friend of yours happen to be here tonight?" she inquired.

It'd be a lie if I said that I didn't find her question abrupt but I wasn't up for more inquiries that night so I chose to just answer her. "I'm not really sure, but I don't think so..." my words trailed off when I was glancing to my right and coincidentally caught sight of a recognizable redhead standing a few stalls away. "Karma-kun..." I mutter aloud without thought.

"Hmm?" the woman looked at me in bafflement but I was too focused on Karma's sudden appearance to notice her. My instinct told me to look away and I had planned to do so, but before I could, Karma glanced up in my direction and our eyes instantly found each other's. His lips fell vaguely open and it moved slightly as though he was muttering my name just as I had with his.

Several moments had passed until both of us realized that we had been shamefully caught staring at each other and, furrowing our brows in eerie unison as we both had planned it, we whipped our heads away, desperately averting eye contact from each other. Despite how angry I still was at him, I couldn't help but feel guilty because beneath that burning rage, I still cared about him and I wished desperately that things would just go back to how it used to be when we were younger.

I was torn away from my thoughts of guilt when the elderly stall owner let out an 'ah' as though she had just came to a revelation. My eyebrows rose up at her and she gave me another friendly smile before pointing a finger towards the direction of where Karma stood with Nagisa whom I had just noticed was with him. "Is that handsome young man with the red hair the friend that you were talking about?"

A light blush spread across my cheeks at being found out and I shifted my gaze onto the charm in my palms. "Yea..." I mumbled, embarrassed.

Before the elderly woman could utter a reply, Asano came back and took my hand in his. "Are you done, (F/ N)-chan? It's getting late," he said, his tone gentle. "If you still want to visit the last stall then we should get going."

"Oh, right..." I murmured and looked up into his soft violet eyes. "Um, honestly, I don't feel like going anymore, do you think we could just head home?"

Asano blinked at me a few times as though he was trying to interpret my request and the reason for it before he finally replied, "Sure."

"Thanks," I told him and glanced at the stall owner once more with a grateful smile. "Thank you again."

She gave a nod in acknowledgement and I let Asano guide me to the exit of the festival. But just before we made it fully through the exit, I couldn't help myself and spared a quick glance behind me; my eyes darting around the stalls in search of that familiar head of vibrant red hair until they finally found him standing at the exact lucky charms stall that I had just been barely five minutes ago.

"(L/ N)-san?" I was forced back into reality when Asano called me.

"Y-yes, Asano-kun?"

"Are you alright?" he inquired, his eyebrows knitted vaguely in concern.

I reluctantly nodded. "Yes."

He knew that I was lying; he knew that something was wrong, but thankfully, he didn't pry any further. In fact, I knew it; as much as I tended to deny my emotions, I knew it completely that I was anything but fine. But like Asano, I didn't feel like dealing with it. For the rest of the walk towards my home, it was absolute silent; no words spoken, no questions asked, no problems to deal it; I would just keep repeating that to myself, I would just keep denying my emotions, because as they said, ignorance is bliss.

By the time I had gotten back home, showered and changed into my night clothes, it was just a quarter to midnight. I breathed a sigh and plumped down onto the white, fuzzy chair by my bedroom window. My hand dug into my bag and pulled out the lucky charm from the elderly woman. As I stared down at it, it made me wonder if Karma and I would gradually be able to see each other eye to eye.

At that moment, I heard faint cheering coming from outside and my attention was immediately drawn towards the window to find that the comet that was said to pass through that night was travelling through the onyx sky, outshining the tiny glittering stars that adorned the otherwise dark canvas of the night.

Without thinking twice, I clenched the charm in my hand and closed my eyes. "I wish that Karma-kun would be able to see through my eyes and understand me."

When I opened them, the comet was no longer in sight and the dark sky looked as it did every other night. Letting out a yawn, I decided that it was time to get into bed. And so, I carefully placed the charm on my bedside table and switched off the lamp, allowing the room to be shrouded in darkness and myself to fall into a deep sleep.



♂ ♀



My eyes slowly fluttered open to find that my room was vaguely lit up by the gentle rays of the early morning sun. Sluggishly, I sat up on my bed and rubbed my eyes before running my hands through my messy bedhead. My hands stopped mid-motion when I felt a difference in the unexpected tidiness of my hair but my eyes grew wide in panic when I realized that they had become much, much shorter.

Immediately, I touched my face; my nose, my jaw... everything felt different! My wandering hands then slid down my neck- which felt thicker than usual and there was an unusual bob in my throat- before finally falling down onto my chest... which was completely and utterly flat... and bare!

"My boobs!" I shrieked and my eyes snapped down onto my body and I had indeed become flat-chested and somehow semi-nude; the only clothing that I wore was a pair of red boxer shorts. I instantly jumped out of bed and searched for the nearest mirror; while doing so, I found that I was no longer in my bedroom. But it did look familiar and it took me a second until I was finally able to put my tongue on it; I had been to and seen this room countless of times before when I was a kid... this...

"No... it can't be..." I mumbled in disbelief and spotted a white door near a corner which I assumed was a connecting bathroom. Wasting no time, I dashed into the bathroom and looked into the mirror that was placed above the sink.

My mouth fell agape; I was staring into the mirror and yet... Karma was staring back at me in it. I blinked my eyes and so did he. "This..." I trailed off, wide-eyed. "This has to be a dream... This is a dream!" I watched in horror as Karma's lips mouthed the exact same words that left my lips in the mirror.

Just then, I felt something in my lower body. Feeling a sense of dread claw at me, I hesitantly shifted my gaze downward towards the boxers. Unwillingly, I reached a trembling hand down and gently poked the growing tent between my legs.

It twitched.

And I screamed.