You left... - Akuatsu

Chapter 5 - Atsushi's past

"Hi Akutagawa! Long-time no see!" Atsushi waved, a smile on his face that didn't quite meet his eyes.

Akutagawa stared.

"W-what are you doing here? Where have you been? Why are you appearing now?"

Atsushi laughed, "Slow down! I will listen to all your questions and answer the ones I feel like answering. In return, you will answer mine."

Akutagawa took a deep breath, a million thoughts running through his mind.

"Ok, what happened for you to get that scar over your eye?"

Atsushi frowned, debating whether to answer that one or not.

"I got it the day after you left. The headmaster had decided that I had helped you and that I needed to be punished. So he found an old horse whip in the basement and decided that it would be suitable. The rest I'm sure you can figure out on your own."

Akutagawa winced, he knew that Atsushi would be punished, but he never thought it would be that bad. He decided to go on to the next question.

"What happened to make you so dark? You used to be so happy and optimistic."

"Life happened. I realised that life isn't all sunshine and daisies, that it was full of bad people and terror. And that to survive in this world you need to be tough, you can't just sit around and wait for your prince charming to save you, you have to save yourself."

Atsushi remembered the exact moment when he found that out.

It was the moment he knew that Akutagawa had left and was never coming back.

"I'll give you one last question and then it's my turn."

Akutagawa thought, he still had so many questions, so he decided on the one that had been burning through his mind for the past 2 weeks.

"Jinko..."

He received a glare for using the nickname but carried on.

"What happened exactly after I left?"