At Nightfall, An Akaza x Reader

5. Eat the weak

You backed away from him slightly. "Demons eat humans?" You paled at the idea.

"Its how we get stronger. The more humans you eat, the stronger you become." He watched your every movement with excruciating detail.

If that was the case, then Akaza must have eaten hundreds of humans. "When you came to my village, did you plan on eating me?" You asked in a quiet tone, bumping into the foot of the bed.

"No." He walked towards you, "what is the problem? You act as though they should matter to you. The same humans who looked away from you, the ones who'd have you suffer in the red light district if it meant they'd avoid conflict. The ones who took your help and refused to give it back in return."  By the time he spoke his last word, he was on top of you , hands gripping the footboard on either side of your body as his gaze didn't break away from you. "You should crush them like they tried to crush you."

You faltered, there was something so inherently wrong with eating humans. It was immoral- yet his reasoning felt right. It stoked the anger you still harbored deep down. They let your father and brother die, they killed them.

Why should they live but not Hide and father?

He took one of your cut arms carefully, looking over your wounds before running his tongue up it and cleaning the blood off. His action caused your cheeks to go pink. He did the same to your other arm, surprisingly you stopped bleeding. He paused before moving away from you, gathering your things into the bag that the clothes he bought came in. Once he was sure everything was in it, he placed it next to you. "We're leaving."

You checked to make sure your hairpin and haori was in the bag, relieved to see that they were. You placed your journals and pen set inside as well, gathering the bag in your hand.

"Okay, where are we going now?" You asked, looking down at your feet. 

"We're going further east, I have a base where you will stay for me to train you." He lifted you up, unlike the other times, he treated you more carefully. He held you bridal style as he  walked out of the room, paying the innkeeper for the extra night you two had stayed before leaving.

You held your things close, a little embarrassed by how much you were carried around. Though, you never would be able to keep up with the male's pace, so there was no around it.

"Y/N."

You must have fallen asleep in his arms while he was travelling. You blinked your eyes open and looked up at Akaza before looking at your surroundings. It seemed to be an abandoned dojo, the courtyard was a decent sized  as well. He walked inside the building. Once he placed you down, he walked off. "Don't move," he ordered.

You obeyed, staying in that spot and looking at what you could without leaving it. The place was barren. Other than lights and training equipment,  there wasn't any there. Luckily,  there was a bed too, but you were certain it was never slept in.

Akaza returned with a roll of bandages, taking your arm and gently wrapping it up before moving onto the other. "Now, weakling, you should be fine to train."

"Thank you,"  you placed your bag down slowly.  You were glad to not have your cuts exposed anymore,  but you were unsure of what his training would be like.

He led you back out into the courtyard,  giving you a decent amount of space. "The first thing a weakling like you should learn is proper hand to hand. Come at me, Akatsuki Y/N. " He stretched his arms out, appearing completely vulnerable.

You nodded, you had learned self defense from Hide when he was alive, so you knew some hand to hand. You came at him, moving to hit his abdomen,  but he caught your fist and flipped you down. "Come on, Y/N! Give me everything!" He shouted.

You lifted yourself off the ground. He was going easy on you. You knew that very well. Even your fight with him at your village was much more impactful than what he just did. Had he been trying even a little bit, he'd be on you already and beating you down.

You steadied yourself on your feet, this time he came at you, his fist coming to the side of your head. You managed to move out of the way, but he kicked your abdomen and sent you on your back. "You need to focus on the whole body, Y/N. If you watch only my fist, you will miss my second attack."

A groan escaped you as you slowly sat up.  You thought about Hide again, and what he taught you.

"Ara ara, Y/N!  You'll never win by hitting blindly!" Hide teased you as he held up his makeshift practice dummy. "For someone who can catch something without looking, you sure don't know how to use that to your advantage."

You sat on the ground, rubbing your head where he hit you. "Nii-san, I can't do it..." you whimpered.

He shook his head, kneeling down to your height, "Oi oi, the Akatsuki family raised no quitters. Up,  on your feet," he smiled at you, pulling you up. "To really tap into that gift of yours , you have to train your eyes and breathing."

You swallowed your pain from the memory, rising to your feet. 'That's right... I hadn't been doing it properly before in the other times I fought demons,' you thought to yourself.  Your brother use to travel out of the village a lot, doing small jobs to collect money to help with the house. He said he met an old friend out there who showed him the breathing techniques he was learning while he studied the blade.

You grounded yourself,  looking up at Akaza before changing your breathing pattern. He came at you this time, as he raised his fists you ducked and moved right. He whipped around towards you, a smile creeping up on his face. "A wonderful surprise,  Y/N! You didn't tell me you knew breathing techniques!" He cracked the ground beneath him as he charged you. He's going to hit you in your chest, you noted,  putting your arms up to block.

It still sent you flying from the sheer force. You hit the ground, causing you to gasp. He was on you almost immediately,  so much for going easy.... you barely had time to react as his fists, your hands coming up and pushing him back as much as you could.

"Akatsuki, Akatsuki! You're fast to react," he praised you as he moved back, letting you get on your feet. "Lets see if you can react faster!"

-

You sat on the back porch of the dojo, your hands trembling as you held the cup of tea Akaza had given you. You didn't know you could feel so exhausted, he fought you until you couldn't lift yourself off the ground anymore. You slowly sipped yout drink, would everyday be like this? You stood up, your legs wobbled and threated to give out as you moved towards the inside of the building.

"Hey, what are you doing? You're going to fall at that rate," The demon huffed as he emerged from one of the other rooms, taking your arm gently to stabilize you.

"My journal... I wanted to get it," you murmured, sighing softly.

"Sit back down, I'll bring it," he moved you back to the porch, helping you down to sit. He then went inside and grabbed one of the journals and the fountain pen. "Here." He murmured,  placing it beside you.

"Thank you, Akaza sama," you smiled up at him which caused him to look away.

"Just ask me to help you, Y/N." He was shocked by the words that came out his own mouth. He stormed off after saying it, leaving you alone to write.