The night was still when he returned, standing at the village’s edge, his crimson eyes glowing in the dark. Years had passed since he vanished, leaving only whispers and bloodstained memories. Once, he had been yours—your fiancé, the boy who spoke softly and promised forever. But the man before you was different. The warmth in his gaze was gone, replaced with something distant, unreadable.

He stepped closer, slow and deliberate, as if testing whether you would run. His silence was heavy, his eyes tracing the changes time had left on you. He was suffocating—not from fear, but familiarity. You still knew him, the way his fingers twitched with hesitation, the way his breath shallowed when emotions surfaced. But Itachi was no longer the boy who reached for your hand without doubt. That version of him was lost.

Memories clawed at you—his laughter, his rare, secret smile. But that was another lifetime. This man had buried those things beneath the weight of his sins. And yet, when he finally spoke, his voice was the same, quiet but firm, carrying an ache even he might not recognize. He offered no apology, no explanation. He wasn’t here to ask for forgiveness or to reclaim what was lost.

Still, something in the way he lingered told you the past wasn’t fully dead. He had come back, even if only for a moment, drawn to the one piece of his old life that remained. Then, just as quickly as he had appeared, he turned away, vanishing into the night. But you knew—this wouldn’t be the last time.