𝐑𝐄𝐗 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐎 | 𝐠𝐨𝐣𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐮

Chapter Twelve

Scene

When Akatsuki arrived at the shrine, his heart was rapidly beating against his chest. His hands were shaking and he could feel the warm water behind his eyes start to emerge. As he walked up to the dainty little house, his friend stumbled out and ran towards him. The warm palms of Shirozen calmed his erratic heart. The man gazed at him with worried eyes.

"Akatsuki, what is going on?" He asked as he could feel the ground shake from tremors.

"It's-" Akatsuki started but his breath got choked up from his panicked state. "The Serpent, Shirozen. It's-" He paused to give himself a moment.

"Koichi, he's-he is gone, Shirozen. I was too late-" A choked sob came out of him and cut him off. "I failed him."

"Koichi?" Shirozen mumbled quietly as he gazed at his broken friend. Akatsuki allowed himself to calm down.

"I told him to stay put and wait for my arrival, but-" He sighed and clenched his fist. "-he was being stubborn and went ahead to fight the Serpent by himself." He finished quietly.

A beat of silence ensued from this revelation. Shirozen's glass blue eyes began to water, which Akatsuki failed to see as his gaze was stubbornly pointed at his feet, momentarily closing it to drown out the pain.

"Then I shall fight with you, Akatsuki." Shirozen broke the silence, the other man snapped his head up and frowned at this.

"You should not, Shirozen. The Serpent is a dangerous beast, it might even par with the Sea Devil, you shall no-" He was cut off by the pale haired man.

"All the more reason that I shall help you, Akatsuki you need my help and-"

"You are not immortal anymore!" Akatsuki snapped, eyed watering and breath uneven. "If you die, Shirozen, this is the end of the line. What of your family? Your students? Do not do this."

Shirozen smiled at him warmly. "I will not die, Akatsuki. Do you know why? Because you'll be there with me, it will be fine."

He lifted an arm and held Akatsuki's shoulder. "We are the only two now. After this, perhaps you can settle too." He told the other man with a smile.

Akatsuki sighed and stared at his friend, remembering every little detail he could find on his face that he admired every time he saw it. Then he nodded in defeat.

"Great, now where is this Serpent?"

"It is in Lake Toya."

End, Scene

"So, the banquet is going to be held at Okutama, should be near." Gojo told him one day outside the Zen garden of the campus.

"Must we go?" Akatsuki asked exasperatedly. He was dreading the moment that the invitation reached their location.

"Hm, you should if you want to prove your existence to those old bastards. I definitely don't have to, though." Gojo replied with a hand in his pocket, the other scrolling through his rectangular device.

Akatsuki scoffed at this. "Prove my existence? One of those elders have already seen me, did he not? Ridiculous." Gojo snorted at this.