Side Stories - Akiyama

From One Lost Soul To Another; Stop

Drabble: In which, Akiyama Rieka has found her peace. But, on her journey to the next plain, she spots a young girl who has yet to find hers, and Rieka has some advice.

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"You're a fool, you know that?"

How she got here was not important. What mattered was that she was here, standing before her, green eyes darker than usual, face weary with signs of premature ageing. She found herself grasping at the hem of her Akatsuki cloak, tightening the fabric around her as if it would protect her. The cold air blew in through her hair, tickling the exposed skin of her neck, tousling thin strands of dark hair from its band.

Before she stood a little girl, no older than six. Her cheeks still plumped with baby fat, her eyes sharper than the woman before her, but it was brighter. She still held the dark tinge of raw anger, revenge coiling at her throat the way she coiled her hands into fists. But, her eyes were lighter. Not plagued by the same exhaustion that ravaged the woman because she was, so tired. And no amount of snarls or curses could hide how alive the girl was, not when the woman looked too far gone.

She was short and thin, but she looked healthy. A slight glow to her akin to a reasonable weight. Her hair was shinier, her lips fuller even with how thin they'd always been. And when she did smile, it didn't hurt her cheeks, and even the most distant of people could see it reach the girl's eyes.

In comparison, the gaunt, sickly woman before her looked dead. Both literally and otherwise, like the slightest wind would blow her over.

"I... who are you!?" The girl snapped back, but they both knew she was afraid. Her youthful face did wonder's in keeping a calm facade, but the woman watched the girl's eyes flash with concern, teeth grit just that little bit tighter.

She knew who she was. The chakra was the same; it screamed at her you know who this is. But the girl bucked her heels and refused to give in; to accept it.

There was no way this broken woman before the girl was her. Because it couldn't be like that. This couldn't be her future, after seeking revenge, she is reduced to an empty shell?

'No, I won't allow it! I won't accept it!'

"Answer me, I won't ask again!" At barely seven-years-old, Akiyama Rieka was full of life and even more anger. She would not back down. "Who are you to call me a fool!"

"I am you." At thirty-one-years-old, Akiyama Rieka had never been more tired. When she closed her eyes, she could still hear the screams, most belonging to people she had never met before yet she would never forget.

One scream she knew, one scream she knew she would always remember first.

"Wha... what?" The disbelief was clear in her voice, but she could smell the fear radiating off Akiyama Rieka. She believed her, because in some crazy, bizarre way of life; she had been expecting this.

Someone to come strike her down where she stood because even to her, her thoughts were damning. But, years went by and no one would ever stand up to her, no one that she could listen to. So, logically, there was only one person who could.

Herself.

"I don't know how long I have here," Akiyama Rieka began, not even bothering to mask her hesitance. At seven-years-old, Akiyama Rieka would witness just who she would become, and that meant at thirty-one-years-old, Akiyama Rieka could not mask a single reaction. "Before they notice I've gone."

She had whispered to Kakashi about how scared she was, but he told her that she would never fear anything again, not with him there. But Kakashi was gone and Rieka didn't know what she felt. Yet, she wasn't afraid, not here and not now. She couldn't be afraid.