It hit you like a punch to the gut the moment the truth settled in your mind.

You’d heard whispers before—stray comments from people who didn’t realize you were listening, shifts in expression when Kawaki’s name came up around Naruto.

But you brushed them off, trusting him more than anyone else. Kawaki, for all his rough edges and sharp words, was someone you thought you understood.

Until now.

The story unraveled slowly, bits and pieces falling into place until there was no denying it. What he’d done—what he’d really done—to Naruto was beyond anything you’d imagined.

You felt cold, your chest tight, but anger was there too, hot and sharp beneath your ribs.

When you found him, he was alone, leaning against the railing outside your shared training grounds.

The setting sun caught in his hair, but there was no warmth in the scene. His eyes flicked toward you, reading something in your face instantly.

“You know,” he said quietly. It wasn’t a question.

You didn’t answer, but the silence was heavy enough. His jaw clenched, the muscles in his neck tight, like he was preparing for a blow.

He didn’t flinch away when you stepped closer, but his gaze didn’t waver either—it was steady, stubborn, almost defiant.

“I did what I had to do,” he said after a moment, voice low but firm.

There was no apology in his tone, no attempt to twist it into something noble. Kawaki wasn’t someone who sugar-coated his actions. “If I had to do it again, I would.”

You could feel the weight in his words—unshakable conviction mixed with a flicker of something else. Regret? Guilt? Maybe both, but buried under layers of his fierce belief that his choice was the only one possible.

Your hands curled into fists at your sides.

The image of Naruto—the person who had given Kawaki more than anyone else—flashed in your mind, colliding with the version of Kawaki standing before you now.

He didn’t look like a villain. He looked like the same boy who’d sat beside you in silence on long nights, the same one who’d stand between you and any threat without hesitation. And yet…

The tension between you was a tangible thing, pressing in from all sides.

Kawaki didn’t reach for you, didn’t try to explain further. He just stood there, bracing himself, letting you decide what came next.

“I only care about what you think,” he said finally, breaking the silence, his voice quieter now, almost raw. “Even if you hate me for it.”

And for the first time, you realized the truth—that whatever Kawaki had done to Naruto, no matter how justified he thought it was, the thought of losing you was the only thing that truly unsettled him.