"Mom!!! Dad!!!" Izumi's heartbreaking cry echoed from a room in the house.
Akira sighed as he looked at the cold corpses of his uncle and aunt, slaughtered by Itachi's sword.
He knelt beside Izumi and embraced her hunched and trembling body as she cried her eyes out beside them.
"Izumi..." Akira didn't know what to say. He just continued caressing her arm as he held her while she cried.
"What am I going to do now, Akira? I'm all alone," Izumi said with a voice full of sorrow, as if she had lost her soul. "Dad and Mom are dead. Everyone is dead..."
"No, Izumi. You still have me," Akira said as he embraced her and took her chin in his hands, making her look at him.
Izumi, her face streaked with tears, sobbed as she heard that.
"But you don't have me, Akira. You haven't taken me as your woman yet," Izumi cried, even more sadly after saying that.
"I did take you as my wife, Izumi, like Satsuki and Akane. When Uncle and Aunt told me they wanted you to be one of my wives, I told them I would take you as mine," Akira said seriously.
"I was just waiting for you to come to me. I knew you were friends with Itachi; I didn't want to make you miserable if you had other ideas with him. That's why I never said anything."
"Akira... Itachi was just a friend. I never intended anything more with him..." Izumi's tears spilled without stopping, both in sadness and happiness, as she heard that her beloved cousin wanted her as his wife too. "I... I've loved you all my life, Akira."
"Really?..." Akira whispered in relief. "Then, would you like to be my wife, as Uncle and Aunt wished?"
"As I wish? I want you to be my woman, Izumi."
"It's what I wish, Akira. I want you to be my husband." Izumi said with tears spilling like a river from her eyes. "I waited for a long time for these words, husband."
"Izumi..." Akira said as he took her lips in a soft yet fervent kiss.
That kiss was like both of them pouring their emotions and sentiments into it.
It started delicate and soft, as if sealing their promise, but it grew more passionate by the second.
Izumi's heart was racing with joy and happiness as Akira kissed her. She had been waiting for this moment all her life. Her cousin, who she loved deeply, finally took her as his wife. It was all she had ever wanted.
As the passionate kiss continued, Izumi could feel Akira's strong hands caressing her back, pulling her closer to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss even more.
Time seemed to stop as the two lovers got lost in each other's embrace. The sorrow and pain of losing their family momentarily faded away, replaced by a surge of love and desire.
As the kiss finally broke, Izumi looked up at Akira with shining eyes filled with love and affection. She knew that from this moment on, she would be his wife in every sense of the word.
"Husband," Izumi whispered, her voice filled with emotion. "I love you more than anything in this world. And I promise to be your devoted wife for the rest of our lives."
Akira smiled softly, cupping Izumi's face in his hands. "And I promise to love and cherish you, my wife. You will never be alone."
Then he looked at his Uncle and Aunt's body. "I would seal them first and we will bury them later."
"Thanks, husband," Izumi said softly as she embraced his arm between her breasts. Giving a long last look to her parents. 'Thank you Dad, Thank you Mom. Cousin Akira... My husband would take care of me in your place. Have a good rest, you worked hard for me.'
After a moment, hand in hand, the newly married couple walked out of the house, ready to face what would come next.
Izumi renewed her will to live, knowing that their love was strong. With her husband by her side, she could overcome anything, even if life became darker and more fucked up from this day forward. Having Akira with her would make it more bearable and colorful.
-----------------
Akira and Izumi stopped outside the clan head's house.
"What are we doing still here, husband?" Izumi asked, doubt creeping into her voice as she saw Akira's dark flames swallowing everything in sight. There were only a few places left untouched by the flames, the Patriarch's House being one of them, but soon that would change.
"Sasuke is in here. We will take him with us and leave this place," Akira said as he embraced Izumi's waist.
"Don't move from my side, Izumi. The one responsible for all this killing is inside the house too..." Akira said as he started walking with his cousin.
"What?!" Izumi cried out, surprise turning to hatred as she realized that the person who killed her parents was inside the house... 'It couldn't be him...right?'
Soon, both of them walked into the room Akira led her to, as he already knew everything that was happening in this house.
*Thud* *thud* *thud* Steps sounded as Akira and Izumi walked inside the room.
Fugaku's dead body was on the floor. Sasuke was also on the floor with his eyes closed, but his body was trembling from time to time. His face was streaked with tears that had yet to dry.
Izumi gasped at the sight in the room. She quickly moved to help her husband's cousin. "Sasuke!" she called out as she started checking on him, noting that he was still alive.
Meanwhile, Akira was looking at a corner in the room... At someone Izumi hadn't noticed since entering the room.
"Cousin... Itachi," Akira spewed these words with sadness and hatred.
'Itachi?' Izumi's head snapped around the room as she heard her husband's words. Then, she found a man leaning against a corner of the room in the dark.
Itachi stood up straight, leaving the wall and the shadows. The dim light from the candle was the only thing illuminating the room, so his face was obscured by the darkness.
He didn't look at Izumi but looked straight at his cousin, Akira.
In a split second, both of them activated their Mangekyo Sharingan.
Itachi launched a genjutsu against Akira, but he countered it with his eyes.
In the end, Akira quickly did a few hand signs and erected a dark flame barrier around Izumi, Sasuke, and himself. While Itachi used Tsukuyomi on him, pulling him into his world.
"You came, Akira," Itachi said slowly, his voice devoid of emotions.
"I had to, after all, I promised Aunt that I would look for Sasuke. I couldn't let her come. If she did, she would die at your hand. I promised Uncle that I would take care of her for life..." Akira calmly answered Itachi. He noted that he wasn't crucified on a wooden post. "What a way to welcome me, Itachi. But you know... Even with Tsukuyomi, you can't retain me here for long."
"Doesn't matter. I'm not looking to fight you, and you don't seem to intend to kill me either," Itachi said slowly. He didn't acknowledge what Akira said about him killing his own mother or that his father had given Mikoto to his care... He knew his cousin's nature... To give Mom to his care was the same as...
Akira sighed. "I hate you, cousin."
"I know. I can feel it from this far. Your hatred," Itachi said dryly.
"Then you should also feel my pity for you too..." Akira continued.
"..." Itachi remained silent.
"You are a stupid man," Akira said softly. "What's done cannot be undone, cousin. You will suffer for all your life for your actions today."
"Maybe today you don't feel the grave error of what you did. But when you realize it... That beast will devour you from the inside."
"There is no salvation or escape from that beast. Not even time will be able to pacify it."
"I... I pity you, Itachi. I told you before, that the path you walked was one of misery and that you weren't the one who needed to make the choice. You never were. It wasn't your right in the first place."
"Look at me. My father died and he left me the power to defend what I care and treasure. Tomorrow, Konoha will accept me and my people with open arms while they also give us their mourning for the people we lost."
"Can you say the same will happen to you, cousin? After all the innocent blood you spilled for... a few miserable people? Because Konoha never was the one to suffer."
Itachi opened his mouth, having many words to say to Akira, but after listening to him talk, he felt that they were in vain... He closed it and sighed.
"Take care of Sasuke, Satsuki and my mother, Akira," Itachi said sorrowfully, his voice pleading. "Goodbye, cousin. Until we meet again."
The genjutsu then broke apart.
Akira looked around, and the entire place was burning down. He noted that Itachi was no longer there, but he had left behind the corpse of Fugaku with his eyes intact.
Akira quickly sealed him and took Sasuke and Izumi, each one in one arm, and left the place and the Uchiha clan compound altogether as the flames consumed everything. All the place was burning.
Izumi had her eyes closed as she was in a genjutsu. Who knows what Itachi made her see?