Oblivion • Akutagawa x Reader

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Akutagawa doesn't say anything.

Instead, he just backs away staring at you with confusion, grey eyes narrowing and scrutinizing you. You can tell his defence has risen, hands in his pockets though his shoulders have stiffened, and he was trying to decide if you were dangerous or a flat out lunatic.

Maybe both.

The way it was playing out made you wish you hadn't listened to Lucy's urge to find him without thinking it all through. It hurts the way he looks at you, no spark of recognition as he assesses your face. It was all empty, emptier than when you first met him. Usually you compared his eyes to the shining silver of mercury and the moon, but now...now they resembled the dull grey of cloud on a rainy day right before a storm.

"Who are you?"

Who am I? Good question...

Without you I don't know anymore.

But I can't tell you that right now can I?

I want you to remember...

But there's a catch in my ability to bring back your memories...other than I've never attempted such a stunt...the person has to want to. Memories remain blocked even if they are there if the mind prefers to keep it that way. I can open up the memory of course, but I can't control a mind...only distort it. It's much easier to take away form a reality than bring one back. Nothing is ever the same...

"I'm no one, my bad..." You murmur, stepping out of his way, your silhouette being engulfed by the night.

Akutagawa doesn't move either, and the both of you stand there staring; one with caution and curiosity, the other staring with longing and conflict. You obviously being the latter. As you stand there, you feel a tension between the both of you unbound by the common feelings of hostility, but instead a suspense of pure...oblivion.

He won't hesitate to hurt me if he thinks me dangerous for knowing who he is while he knows nothing...

I know he's confused. Something isn't piecing together in his mind...it's how my ability was designed. A part of him is lost wandering in a fogged up grove of lost memories and emotions.

"Are you sure I don't know you?" Akutagawa asks calmly, but you recognize his calm for a warning no one else would be able to read unless they knew what they were looking for. Beyond that, there's real doubt in his question, and you wonder if maybe he can't decide on the answer either.

"I'm sure, I-"

You are taken by complete surprise as Akutagawa pushes you around the corner, a wall and the dark moon hiding the both of you as his Rashomon ability activates in a frenzy, his eyes ablaze with an inexplicable hostility. Everything around you is frozen as you don't even dare to breath, Akutagawa's Rashomon in your face, ready to snap at any moment. Your head just barely misses the pavement wall behind you, just nearly achieving a serious concussion. You gasp, though somewhere inside you had been expecting an outcome like this. After years of knowing him, he was never beyond a violent approach as soon as he feels threatened or even merely uncomfortable. You wished you didn't have to expect such aggressiveness...but there was nothing you could do to ease his inner pain right now. You see it too well.

"I don't believe you." He growls without any other expressions to betray what exactly he was thinking. Usually you could read him better, but now, in flashes, it was like looking at a stranger.

He's not himself without me...

You don't reply, panic surging through you as you try to catch your breath.