Inside Out ||Akaashi Keiji x Reader||

Prologue

(Don't worry, it's just third person for now, just giving ya'll some background)

Akaashi, when he was young, was a boy who always laughed, constantly playing with other random children he found. He was the most playful child in the neighborhood. He would ask questions, laugh, cry, smile, blush, frown, giggle, smirk, and lie. One day, he befriended a young girl, who was extremely reserved. She hid behind her mother's skirt, peeking out from her shield and looking at the young boy who asked to play. Reluctantly, her mother urged her to go. Every single day, for months, the shy girl would go in the yard and play with the boy from across the street.

Akaashi loved it, the normally shy girl would laugh and smile when she was in his presence. They would stir up trouble, switching the flowers out of their pots and putting them into different ones sitting on Ikina-sama's porch. They would race to the store, choosing out their favorite candy. With his encouragement, she would clamber onto Akaashi's back to pay for their purchase at the counter, selecting only the chocolate bars from the top shelf of the racks.

Only later did he find out why she was so introverted. For the first year she attended his school in elementary, he did not know she existed. She once was as bubbly as he was, her smile would light up the sky, and her laughter would ring out, calling the birds' attention. But, soon, the world was robbed of that light and pleasant sound. People were cruel, they bullied her, to the point where she hid her real self, not understanding why she wasn't good enough to be friends with the other girls in her class. So, she built up a fortress of iron, storing her emotions inside of her. Her parents did not understand, nor did she, how or why she discovered the world was so cruel at such a young age.

But, their happiness was short-lived, her aunt passed away from a tumor, forcing her mother and father and her to move to America to help with her brother's wife's death. Her mother had everything packed up, moving the furniture to her grandmother's, a small home that resided in Miyagi. On the day of the flight to her new life, she sat outside in the rain, which she came to fall in love with. She inhaled the smell, letting the thunder and lightning beat against the world around her. With her arms around her knees, which were pulled up to her chest, she silently cried.

Footsteps splashed in the water across the street, to which she picked her head up and looked at the boy approaching her. Akaashi had his hands shoved into his pockets, his hair disheveled and cheeks red from the cold. " Why are you in the rain?" He asked his playmate, sitting down beside her in the rain. "I love storms. I don't know how people can be afraid of them." He cocked his eyebrow, "but they can cause destruction." She looked into his eyes, which she had become oh-so fond of, " Storms are one of the only places where I can be me. The storm is my shelter." She said softly, before tilting her head up, letting the drops of rain fall down her face. '

"When are you coming back?" He asked, silently studying the features of her face, his heart dropping. " I don't know, maybe never." He deeply pondered her answer, before quietly asking, "How will I find you again?"She looked at him, a smile peeling across her face, " Find me in the storm." He giggled at her response, before cupping water from the small bird fountain, sending it splashing all over her. She smiled, rushing to get up and spray him with water.

Her flight left that night during the storm, which reported to have had crash-landed in a nearby bay off the coast of California. There was few to none survivors reported. Akaashi did not understand why his mother broke down in the kitchen that night, with the news of an airline crash displayed on the computer on the counter. Nor did he understand why turned to him and said, " The pilot ignored the storm warning, now they're gone." She held her son tightly to her chest, her sobs racking her body as she sank against the counter.