[Deleted]

Was it easy? The process of administering toxins, yes. Watching him hurt, no. But he'd wanted this, and she'd agreed to oblige him. Training wasn't always pleasant. It was true, though, that she had added stress given who she was training. She'd have taken a sword through the chest before she let Akira do the same thing--if not because of what he was, then because of who he was to her.

His comment on combat efficiency got a snicker from her. "That's the idea." As much as she would've liked to sit back down, she remained standing by the table to have the best view of him and ensure he wasn't going to react in some uncontrollable manner.

The pain of the toxin would affect his breathing, in short time, but it wasn't enough to rid his brain of humor. Experiencing new things? She chuckled. "Morbid optimism. I like it." Yoko would observe him a while longer before going back into the walk-in closet at the rear of the room, retrieving a set of vials.

She would return with three of them and, when the effects had subsided, she held them up so that Akira could clearly see them. The first was red, the second was green, and the third was black.

"Take your pick," she said, and if he looked closely he'd note a hint of a smile on her lips. As much as she didn't enjoy seeing him suffer, she did enjoy getting to use some of her precious labors of love. Her toxins were such a highlight in her life and where she truly shined. She felt almost like she was a kid showing her artwork to a parent--so very proud of what she'd created.

---

@akira ❤ HEX: #d85266 ❤ no notes

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

In the coming minutes the pain ramped up to that he was simply quivering and grunting every once in a while: but nothing really audible. But, like all things it would come to an end and Akira would have a finer appreciation of the chemistry involved.

He still hated it all.

By the end of it he was red in the face: and that was a compliment to her for his skin was already like porcelain, pale and nearly white. But he exhaled, the pain tingling away in his body: the remnants of the pain still very much there. It wasn't as much as the pain caused by his skin being burnt off or being punctured in his muscles: but it was certainly up there.

In all honesty, he'd taken a beating: things broke before he did. But inside his body was a different battleground, somewhere where he'd neglected. But now? Now it was being trained as well. To cope with the pain, that was why he was here. 'But it'll take so much more than just one session.' there was always going to be more than one session. Would it help Yoko with her own problems? Probably not. Would it help further her own study? Now that, he thought, would probably help.

With his body now not tensing, some ten minutes after it'd first entered his system and his arms still above his head: the white of his shirt now more grey in a dampness from the symptoms he had been facing, bringing out a sweat in him. His head laid his head back in some relative comfort since coming there.

"The red." Akira nearly then went to the other two in an order, but he didn't know her exact itinerary and how it would play out. But he wasn't that insane. He looked at the woman, noting the turns of her lips. "You're fucking crazy." Akira mumbled, laying his head back down - letting her do as she desired, and that would likely be to stick him with the pointy end.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Genjutsu Subterfuge [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: n/a EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

Ooh, red. A nice choice. It wasn't the worst out of the batch, but that worked out. It meant she could still have a little more fun before things got too heavy. It was the only one out of the three that needed to be swallowed versus injected.

Of course, Akira couldn't actually grasp a cup to drink the dose. But she knew this. Setting aside the other two vials--to be used next--she thumbed open the lid on the red one and stepped closer to the table, hearing his declaration that she was fucking crazy.

"Am I?" she asked innocently, pretending to consider the idea before moving the vial closer to her own lips.

"You'll need to swallow this one." She tilted her head up and poured half the vial into her mouth. And then green eyes met blues, and her intent would be clear enough by the smirk that tugged at one side of her lips. She leaned down toward him and, if he wasn't so squeamish as to turn his head away, she would kiss him, gliding her tongue in after a moment to let the chilled red concoction flow into his mouth.

Its taste was sweet, and that had been deliberate. It was meant to be hidden in food or flavored drinks, and its consistency was thin to facilitate this. Yoko would pull away to await the effects setting in. In truth there was only one: a very hot burn that would light up his stomach as soon as it settled in. It would take roughly a minute or so before he felt anything, but when he did? It would be like wildfire in his gut, roaring to life and bringing an intense, full-body heat with it. Like eating extremely hot seeds from a pepper--except hundreds of times worse.

When Yoko had tried this mixture on herself, it'd been bad enough that she'd clawed hard at her own stomach trying to will the pain away. But it endured no matter which way she shifted or stood or how much pressure she applied. Just an eruption of searing hot from within.

SPOILER: Click to show

Generic Poison, A-Rank
Effects: Burning pain spreading from stomach area into rest of torso, whole-body hot flashes

---

@akira ❤ HEX: #d85266 ❤ Down the hatch

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

Akira would squint his eyes at the woman as she ingested it too. It couldn't be that bad, right? She lent over, presumably to give the other half to him. But no, as she did kiss him: she deposited the sample into his mouth. He nearly gagged - he hadn't been expecting it. She'd done that on purpose. For sure. She would get the remnants while he enjoyed the kiss, as horrible of a situation it was to enjoy it in.

He'd smack his lips together after swallowing. Akira welcomed the liquid - swishing down his throat and swallowing, after a single cough. It was sweet. Interestingly sweet; Akira knew this was something likely ingested in food or drink. An alcoholic one, something warm and fresh to eat: easy enough to do if you could get access to the kitchen. But while he waited for the affects to shine, he did have a question to mind.

"How'd you mask it with something sweet while still being poisonous?" Akira had a further question. Being able to keep the lethality whilst masking it with something else made for some top level science.

Then it came. However it is she'd managed it to begin to burn from his stomach, and not his throat first was beyond him. It started out simply and went up by rules of threes: a little pain, more pain: a huge amount of pain. And then it did that several times over, compounding over the coming minutes.

This was much closer to what he'd experienced, though not ready to be knocked out by being tough enough, he wasn't tough enough to stop sounds escaping through his body. Ripping at his binds, not because he was trying to get out but his body was just trying to alleviate his pain from the word menstrual cramp known to a man which meant his body moving in weird ways, but the bindings keeping him tied down were rendering him to a short few movements around as he gasped between air.

For the first time in their session he was now somewhat mute, not willing to speak as he tried to work through the pain. There were people who tried to talk through their pain, answer questions. Others focused on other things, about what their plans for the day would be: Akira had his anger to fuel him and keep him going. But when even the anger wasn't there, he was just living through the pain.

Not embracing it, but not able to stop focusing on it, and how it hurt. His body was scalding: sweat dripping from his shirt and onto the table, periodically scalding his body with a randomity to him that couldn't be predicted, wracking his body with discomfort on top of the pain burning through his system.

It would spread into the more extremities part of his torso, and the pain would increase yet again. A hack of coughs, as well as noises coming from Akira: lower growls and grunts while his body was returning the favour to him for having accepted a poison so willingly

He would've known if he was in a fight he'd be reduced to swipes, or using his Jinchuuriki cloak: but largely would be easy to battle and fight against. This was not good as a sign went. This was not good at all.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Genjutsu Subterfuge [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: n/a EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

Yoko would've preferred just climbing up onto the table. She would've preferred more kisses. To tear the bindings away. To do things other than torment him. But here they were...

Making the mixture sweet had been simple enough. "Just chemicals," she told him. It was nothing special. Of course, it was harder to make something undetectable than it was to just cover a taste up with something stronger.

Akira's reactions were getting worse in reaction to the rising pain. It was a strange mix of feelings in her. Conflict. Seeing him suffering hurt her, but it also held her in a mild fascination, curious to see how far he'd get before he couldn't take anymore. And if he hadn't so directly asked her to do this, she wouldn't have proposed it. Ever.

Yoko leaned against the table, bracing one hand against the metal, just watching. "You're doing well," she cooed. It might not comfort him. But she meant it. There were plenty of others who would've been screaming by now.

The poison would work its way though, eventually subsiding at a slow decline. Yoko used this time to prep the next two injectors for the green and black toxins. They worked well separate, but even better together.

She would wait until the former mix had finally dissolved from active effect, freeing him from pain, and ensuring he was set to go for the next batch. But it wouldn't be a single dose.

"Do you know what it feels like to be trapped in your head but still feel your body?" she asked. She held up the green injector. "Head." She would inject it into his left shoulder when he was ready, only to raise the black one next. "Body." And into the right shoulder that one would go.

What the green would do was cause paralysis. Simple paralysis that would start at the point of injection and sweep over the rest of his body until he couldn't so much as twitch. But the black? That would slowly stir an intense series of jolts throughout his body, like being zapped at high voltage without any let up. Constant jolts--overloads to his nervous system.

"Neurotoxins," she mused with a hum, setting down both injectors on a nearby table and taking to watching him again. The real agony with this combination wasn't the pain, but the fact he'd not be able to move while enduring it, forced to lay still, watching and feeling but not speaking or moving. He would register everything--sounds, sensations, even scents--but be effectively helpless. His lungs and heart and vitals would function as normal, but any voluntary signals for movement were deadened. It was a very specific set of chemicals she'd used for the green toxin, and it was also something she'd improved upon in her field kit since its creation.

SPOILER: Click to show

Generic Toxin, A-Rank (Green)
Effects: Whole body paralysis of voluntary movement. Vitals unaffected.

Generic Toxin, A-Rank (Black)
Effects: Over-stimulation to nervous system, electric jolts of pain.

---

@akira ❤ HEX: #d85266 ❤ double double

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

Well that was too easy of an answer. Not that she was wrong- but he would've appreciated a more in depth answer to help him focus on something. But even so, that would fall on deaf ears when it kicked in.

Her words of encouragement were only registered, but not responded to: barely even understood in her words as he was in his own mind fighting a beast that could not be seen - and to be sure, the poison itself would fade away and leaving the man churning inside, rhythmically moving his body to ease and stretch. "Oh..." he'd speak between bated breaths, staring up at the ceiling and now worse for wear. "fuck..." he whispered.

His mind was wearing away. Is this what it would be like if he were captured and tortured for information? How much worse was it going to get, Akira wondered. He looked at Yoko silently as she brought over the two of them. 'Oh fuck oh shit.' While he'd walked into her lab with more confidence, it was certainly waning knowing what one of them was able to do, let alone two at once. #

The man would realise quickly was was happening when his shoulder didn't want to respond. His mind was running wild: was he about to stop breathing? Was this paralysis going to be permanent? For all it was worth, he now knew there was no going back - he was fighting against his better sense to ask her to stop. Fighting against his lack of trust to trust her.

And it spread through his body, and he looked over at his other shoulder: but quickly back up to the ceiling. Any noise he would've made was being stifled already as he felt the creep of numbness cross against his throat.

Perhaps the woman was serious enough to give him a full idea of what was going on. Then - the pain was spreading as well. It was hard to describe when the man wasn't capable of moving: but it hurt a hell of a lot more than the last, and the last had him grunting and squealing being unable to keep the noise to himself.

It really bothered the man for his lack of ability to fight back. And that was it- his body was paralysed. If he wanted out of it, it was too late for that. He wanted to even be able to make his toes move: his fingers twitch. But nothing. His body was resigned to living in a hell of stillness. 'You should have more willpower than this!' Akira was berating himself: though he knew that this was how they worked - he should've had more power to stop it. Could he control his chakra? Yes.

But his body was not responding, nonetheless.

In truth Akira felt he these were easier: because his body wasn't involuntarily moving against himself, he wasn't adding strain to his body by his movements. But to say it didn't hurt was an utter fabrication. He was agonising over the different feelings in his body and being unable to say a thing about them other than breathe: likely the only indication of his pain would be his breathing. Yoko could probably guess how it was feeling for him if she'd tried it herself.

The black toxin was doing was lightning in his body, zapping at the furthest most corners of his fingertips down to a certain spot in his kidneys. It was affecting everything. There was some of it he didn't even know how to feel about though he knew clearly it hurt, because he'd never felt pain that specific in an area before - and this was happening all around his body.

His heart rate had increased dramatically despite his lack of movement, straining against his own body. Even with him coming here in the fitness of his life, he felt the energy sap from his body: the subtle temperature in the lab was still warm to him, beckoning his eyes to close (even though they would not) and his body melting into the slab of metal beneath him.

In time, as the silent lab and whatever Yoko wanted to contribute was added, Akira kept his eyes closed: and when it faded in time, his body was vibrating almost, shaking: which still faded as the poisons did. Even when he knew he could speak: Akira didn't. He kept his eyes closed, just thinking. Just trying to wane away his body- entertaining the thought how nice it would've been to sleep.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Genjutsu Subterfuge [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: n/a EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

Yoko might have said that this was harder on her than it was on him, but he probably wouldn't have believed her. She was watchful, not staring, but her gaze slowly roaming over him this time. Twice she would circle the table, looking more closely at him, noting his breathing, touching at his neck to take his pulse. Just minor checks that any medic would've done. Despite knowing what the toxins were doing, it was an odd thing to see him so still. It was odd every time, only because it was such a normal thing to see other people in motion. No words. No twitching. No fighting the restraints. Just silence and perfect calm.

Eventually he would come out of it, and Yoko knew about when this was based on the clock across the wall. Unlike her field kit, the toxins she kept at home were slower to act and usually slower to fade. The last step in all of her experimental rounds was cutting down the time windows. The ones she'd chosen for today weren't suited for speed but instead creativity and inclusion in further tests. With how many trial runs she held for each item she synthesized, she needed dozens of samples.

With the effects fading, Yoko honestly expected him to speak. But he said nothing. Had the pain riled him that badly? Standing at his right side, now, she placed a tender hand to his shoulder. "Are you all right?" she asked gently. It was a jarring experience, for sure. When she'd tested that combination on herself, it'd been unreal how loudly she'd screamed inside her own head and how strange it'd felt to hear no sound.

Yoko smiled sympathetically. "We can take a break if you'd like. My whole day is yours." It was probably the case that Akira had other plans yet today, and she hadn't intended to exhaust him completely to ruin him for those. She was open to moving at whatever pace he desired. This was only his first meeting down here, after all.

And then another thought occurred to her: That she'd have to make up for all of this. He'd asked for training, yes. But the pain... She would remedy things. Later.

---

@akira ❤ HEX: #d85266 ❤ no notes!

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

The only thing aside from the brief checks that Yoko was doing, there was little noise to be made: except for his breathing. She'd be able to tell about his heightened temperature with his body screaming against itself, the tenseness of a workout in his body.

She'd said something and he'd heard it but wasn't quite yet able to bring himself to speak. The touch of her skin against his shoulder was what he needed to open his eyes, and he went to sit up but stopped: he was still tied up. Restrained.

So there was the entire process of getting strung up again, and he didn't want to give himself the opportunity to call it off. No. He would not be that person. Akira shook his head.

"No." his voice wasn't as strong as when they'd first started. But he'd had every intention to carry it out until they were done. "No. No breaks. Carry on." Akira was still a very hard working shinobi: always training himself, always doing stuff with his team: always having clones to do things for him. "Please." For a man with huge excesses of chakra: it was no small feat to waste his energy daily to perform. It was how he'd done so well with his bijuu's control.

His body was still hot - he wanted to rest. Just like the night on the border of Kaze no Kuni: with her. Just to close his eyes and sleep. 'Shit. Wake the fuck up.' Akira blinked a few times, trying to stretch again from his position - it was difficult.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Genjutsu Subterfuge [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: n/a EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

He really didn't want to stop? Yoko gave him a long stare, eyes darting between his to ensure he was serious. But he was. "Fine." A part of her almost wanted him to, just so she wouldn't have to watch him suffer when she hit him with the final toxin. That was if he even made it to the end of today.

Yoko went to the closet at the back of the room again, and the sounds of metal and glass clinking around upon shelving would be heard. A cabinet door was opened and closed. She returned with a new injector filled with a deep blue liquid.

When she got to him, Akira would be able to see the way it seemed to change color slightly as the light from above passed through it--a shimmery green shade. "Not everything with poisons is strictly physical pain. Sometimes it's mental." She traced a line up his arm and then stuck him with the needle near his elbow again before setting the injector aside.

"No matter what you see, it's important to remind yourself that it won't actually hurt you. It won't. She won't. He won't. Whatever it is your brain feeds you." She touched briefly at his chest again, affectionately and with a small smile, and then took a few steps backward and took a seat in her chair beside the desk. Watching. Waiting.

The toxin was a potent hallucinogen. It would render nightmarish images, sounds, and sensations that all depended on whatever was already in Akira's psyche, twisting and morphing his thoughts, feelings, and fears into tangible beasts before his own eyes. Yoko kept her distance so that she wasn't directly contributing to the visual aspect. But the sad look in her eyes as the toxin took hold would have told anyone else that she'd have preferred not using that brand of hurt.

Poisons took all shapes and sizes, though. And showing Akira was better than just telling him. What Yoko herself had seen under the influence of this one had been enough to keep her out of the lab for the rest of that evening.

SPOILER: Click to show

Synthesized Hallucinogen, A-Rank
Gonna test those restraints

---

@akira ❤ HEX: #d85266 ❤ no notes!

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

"Here we go..." Akira would say. At least this wouldn't be pain as such: "you realise this is what I do too, right?" he'd say as the woman injected him with what he presumed would be a mind altering drug. There was a slightly sharper intake of breath with how closely she'd done it to his elbow: near the bone. Never did like them in that respect - but sometimes necessary.

For most people: their first tell would be their pupils widening. But Akira didn't have them the same the other people did: pure blue orbs that looked more like contacts than his actual eyes. For Akira, it would be the tenseness in his body rescinding as he settled into whatever it was - and his voice.

This was a toxin: very unlike his own brands of Genjutsu which were born into imagination and filled in by the person themselves. This was born out of his own psyche: well and truly. "The worst thing about Genjutsu, is that it can be horrifically effective against people like us." Akira was staring at Yoko as he spoke. "We deal with horrors and for the most part don't have a good way to deal with them, it's really about uh the way we ahsauidshchvvh...."

This wasn't like last time. It was like a nightmare evolved. The last time he'd had a Genjutsu used on him, he'd allowed it to happen. Everyone he'd ever been close - or cared for was against him, and they'd used their spiteful words to make his pain a reality.

Yoko's Perspective
For all that she would see: it was actually quite a nicer experience to have. His body would go limp, a stark contrast to the other toxins that she'd been using on him, and his body would sometimes twitch and move: acting out how his mind state was going. He would be looking a bit out of it to Yoko because of how he was looking around, confused: staring at her, then around the room - and then finally conked out effectively, staring at the ceiling as she watched.

For the most part, it was quite an innocent time for her. He would act just like anybody who was uncomfortable, shifting his body, tossing his head from left to right, some words every now and again, or moans. The hallucinogen would be taking work, in what she'd expect. But what she didn't know was for whatever it was, she had been priming one of his own issues: despite being such a masterful user in illusions, it required a certain level of derangement in himself to be so effective. This would continue for a time, but there was becoming a clear distinction in his levels of stress when he was moving more, mumbling. That rhythm began to speed up. Then stop. It would remain like that: hopefully the worst of it was done now and he would be coming around soon.

Hell would break loose: the man out of nowhere, with fury in his voice, howling to be let out, viciously trying to break free from his restraints. He wasn't here in this room: she would see that.

Just as he'd asked for, he was being held down effectively - but not for long. Akira was bending the metal restraints - in what had previously been a bad experience ramped itself up into exactly how she'd feared it would which was mayhem.

In the short time it had already passed since he started, his wrists and ankles bleeding from where he was so violently trying to fend for himself in his nightmare, his skin being ripped in the fight for his life. A chakra shroud quickly covering his form in the panic. She wouldn't have much time: and god hoped she had the sedatives close by.

Akira's Perspective

SPOILER: Click to show

From Akira's perspective, the first thing he'd seen would be Yoko's face becoming disproportionately big. Her forehead, specifically. Like he'd commented in it that one time: the the lights, oh so vivid. So beautiful:

And then it all began to change: horrible dreams. Akira felt himself held up by a stake. Not quite impressed. "This would make a good Genjutsu..." Akira would mumble to himself.

It did get worse exactly as he'd expected it to: and that was his family being killed in front of him. No idea how he'd ended up in the family living room, but seeing them get tortured. But not only that, him being powerless to help. The same happened for every one of those people: someone like him, so creative.

The scary part was that he'd not noticed for the entire time of him being the spectator that it was him doing it: he was the murderer. That was what ramped up the stress for him. Then repeating: and destroying. So much destruction, caused by him: listening to their begging, their pleas.

Finally.

He woke up, shaking in his restraints. Yoko let him out, and would pull Akira into an embrace, apologising for him. "I fucking hate," Akira would stand up, instantly moving to seat himself at his seat prior. "illusionary techniques, the idea they can do that in more ways than one." They'd be able to speak about it some, but Akira would have to return to doing more of the posions. She'd offer him the chance to avoid them. "Actually... yeah... maybe in a little while we can." Akira finally gave in. But internally, he knew - he'd failed. Akira couldn't hack it as well as he thought he could.

The rest of their afternoon would be great, he'd gotten some payback for her, done some other forms of training and then he'd spent the afternoon with her in her home: and were now covered in their bed - her fingers playing across his body. "You know, you never actually said what it was that happened?" Yoko piped up, languidly running her fingers across his chest. Akira was also laid in the bed - looking over at her red eyes.

Think back. His own voice said behind his back. But he would sit up: there was nothing but wall behind him. He'd look to his left: darkness. A void: he'd look to his right - a sudden strength in his panic. Also a void. Then he'd blink: and find himself set upon Yoko's table one more time - back to being restrained. "But this- that that that was real-" panic.

Yoko looked over at him. "Don't worry, it's wearing off now... you feelin' okay?" his eyes were wide, staring at her. Akira began to scream, making noises: not able to tell what was reality for how vivid it was. The pure skill of his own brain working against him, being able to know how the mind worked and yet it still being all the more effective on him was only helping to dismantle his own belief in his abilities.

No amount of pleading with himself was working. The Kai technique? Nothing.

Each reiteration was him waking up, doing something else. Repeating different thoughts. Wake up Kill Yoko Become the Tsuchikage lead the world into war Wake up Conquer Sunagakure as a lone man army celebrate success be killed by Arashi Wake up Kill his family Release the Bijuu Burn Iwagakure Wake up Break free Go rogue Live the rest of his days in solitude

The actions he took were no longer his own, now he was resigned to watching himself act out those individual components with enough vividly that his intelligent, Genjutsu capable brain was able to do. He was screaming at himself to wake up!

wake up!
wake up!
wake up!
wake up!
wake up!
wake up!
wake up!

Sometimes he'd even find himself not awaking in her lab, but in different areas. He'd fallen asleep on a training ground: waking up in his own bed. Reality wasn't valid anymore. "You're in a Genjutsu you were poisoned by Yoko, this is a dream remember you can't even remember when one memory stops and the next ends." He was desperately trying to wake himself up. But it wouldn't work: only one thing was going to end it. Clawing at his body.

It was when he'd claw for his own eyes that he finally woke up, screaming at the table.

But to him, this was just another dream.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Genjutsu Subterfuge [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: n/a EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

Akira would bring up that he dealt in hallucinations too, but Yoko would scoff at that. "Not like I do." And it was for the simple fact that her toxins made the mind work against itself. There was an unrivaled potency in toxins that genjutsu couldn't touch. An illusion relied on an outside force manipulating the senses to their whim. But a hallucinogen worked with the victim and against them, ripping out the worst parts of themselves, painting it the most grotesque color, and then shoving it back down their throats.

That in mind, Yoko was prepared to see Akira move about on the table. She was prepared to hear him moan or cry or scream at what he experienced there, strapped down against the steel beneath him. For a while, things were fine. Things went as expected.

But there would come a shift. His reactions were quickening to whatever it was he was seeing, the hallucinations getting more vivid or more frightening. And then all at once things went from zero to three hundred. He was screaming, trying to claw his way out, bending the leather and steel with a furious, almost psychotic energy.

Yoko reached into her desk and grabbed an injector filled with a moderate sedative. It wouldn't knock him out, but it'd rapidly calm his adrenaline reaction and leave him supremely calmed.

She approached him, trying first to reassure him. The toxin wouldn't last all that much longer, and given the time it was closer to simply dissipating in effect. "It's not real!" she told him, a hand on his chest. "Relax!"

But it wasn't helping.

She glanced at the restraints. They wouldn't hold him if he kept at it. And she wasn't going to let him rampage through her lab like a man possessed.

The injector would find his neck--a sharp bite of steel. She'd have preferred using a syringe but he was moving around too much for that. Yoko stepped back, her balled fist finding a place against her chest, and she realized now that her heart was racing.

It hurt to see him struggle this way. She couldn't imagine what he was seeing to make him react this way. As she waited for the sedative to take him and for the toxin to wear off, she bit her lip, just staring, watching his expression for when it would change and he'd realize where he was.

It escaped her notice in her own worry that she had tears in her eyes. All she could think about was how much her heart hurt as his animalistic screaming replayed in her head.

When he finally appeared to be calming down, Yoko stepped closer to the table. "You're safe," she soothed quietly, her voice tight as tears rolled down her cheeks. "You're back. This is real, I promise."

But would he believe her?

She reached beneath the table and pressed a button, releasing the restraints all at once, and they would loosen from his body enough for him to easily sit up and hop down off the table if he wanted. The sedative would keep him from flying off the handle at her--well, if his body received it fully and it wasn't fought by more adrenaline--and he could walk around freely. Yoko took a step back, watching him for adverse reactions to both the newest drug and his reintroduction to the lab. The real lab.

---

@akira ❤ HEX: #d85266 ❤ no notes!

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

Sedative or not the man's adrenaline was flowing at him harder than it had in a long time, and his mind currently fragile in a different way to her own. Yoko's words were not soothing, they were beyond being soothing. Every iteration had tried to calm him down. All of them eager to bring him to submission. Not today.

His eyes were feral in checking everything around him. Everything had a different vividness to it, a certain chronology to his thoughts and how his senses were perceiving everything around him. Yoko had been wise to take some steps back from him, away and out of his grasp. For the first twenty seconds into reality, he was still screaming, still calming down from Yoko's words: her sorrier words unlike the soothing voice she had always been using every time he woke up.

How could he tell what was reality or not? "Get meoutGETMEOUT!" other whimpers from his voice, face distraught and wracked with wrinkles from the raw emotion he was showing. He continued struggling against the restraints, but resigned himself to sobbing - realising he was in his Jinchuuriki shroud. The first thing that had been different.

It would be far too quiet for Yoko when Akira wordlessly withdrew the shroud, waiting for her to release the restraints. Her words would not work here. He needed to get out of it. And it would be so, because when she pressed the button to release him, the metal wires that were still holding him snapped within a moment and he was sprung up on the other side of the room and away from Yoko.

The room was different. Less warm: more clinical. Colors were less vivid: the red on the slab of metal held red - and the distance between him and the table was marked with red splatters of blood, some smears where he'd rolled off it so quickly. He could see the leaking of blood from his wrists, the way they trickled down the sides of his hands in a way that his dreams had not accomplished. He looked down at his arms, and to be frank he'd never been more appreciative to see blood.

Akira told himself that he'd be able to remember every moment hereon out until the end of time. The lack of memories terrified him: they'd been what angered him against Arashi, they'd be the same now - not having them brought his life to a standstill.

His breathing was extra laboured, shaking. Their scenery hadn't changed yet. This couldn't be the eighth reality now. He couldn't tell if it was the real one or not. Akira would crouch in the corner, gripping at his clothing, the blood smearing everywhere across his shirt while he shook.

With a poof of a blade appearing in his hand, he'd move to slice at his own throat.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Genjutsu Subterfuge [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: n/a EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

Yoko allowed him his space. Allowed him to retreat to the other side of the room and stay in his chosen corner. He was bloodied from his struggle against the steel bindings of the table, but that wasn't what concerned her. It was the look in his eyes. It wasn't him. It was paranoia and disbelief and a distinct lack of sanity. Not permanent, but an obvious after-effect of the toxin.

Had he really never been exposed to something that powerful? It was like she'd taken a spiked bat to a part of his brain. And now he was...like this. Her words hadn't helped. Her calm approach hadn't calmed him. Yoko made her way over, so so slowly, watching his hands and feet for sudden movements--or attacks.

But he didn't attack her. His fascination with his own blood was drawn away in favor of summoning a blade. And Yoko sprung on him right then like the namesake of her ANBU placement, a surge of lightning to her feet and a blast of heart-stopping panic in her chest.

Her left hand would grab the knife mid-tackle, tearing it from his grip and throwing it far behind her. "Stop this!" she pleaded, trying to grab both of his wrists in each hand to pin him. She'd wrestle him down to the floor and wait for reality to sink in if that's what it took. A part of her knew she had but a fraction of his raw physical strength, but he also wasn't in his right frame of mind, either. She had to try to restrain him or he'd surely attempt hurting himself again.

"Look at me!" she yelled, trying so hard to reach him. "It's me! This isn't in your head, do you hear me?!" But her heart was still pounding and a cold, panicked sweat was sweeping over her. She didn't know if she could actually keep him down. She didn't know if he'd attack her next. She didn't know if he'd let that cloak go and slip into some other mindset that was even more dangerous for them both.

She really didn't know.

---

@akira ❤ HEX: #d85266 ❤ no notes!

[Deleted]

Satori Akira

The weird thing about the psychosis is that it can make the most insane of ideas seem plausible and well thought out. For Akira, that's what he was doing. Check reality. It would either be fake and he'd wake up again, or it'd be real and he'd be saved by Yoko. However his mind thought to make that gap as to let himself bleed out, or be forever voiceless he wasn't sure.

She was quicker than him in the moment and he wouldn't have the opportunity to even touch the hairs on his jaw, though she would have to struggle some to relieve him of the weapon in his hand with how fiercely he held it in his grip. But not impossible.

She yet had no idea about what it was that had happened to him. She was merely reacting in the moment. Then her loud voice breaking through the piercing whine of his ears and he stared at her: wide eyed still, caught in the next stage of the fight/flight/freeze response. He'd tried fighting, he'd tried running, and now he was just frozen - mind whirring, trying to figure out what to do but that would only make him think harder and that would only aid his quiet demeanour.

Akira still wasn't ready to say anything: to make coherent thoughts, let alone words. Right now, there was little mind in the man - only the sedative allowing him the opportunity, the longer they waited in the silence, the more he would grow more tired. But no words would come from him. Only noises.

---

INFO SHEET

SPOILER: Click to show ABILITIES: Jinchūriki, Stalwart Hide, Bukijutsu Maverick, Hawkeyes, Seal Weaver, Speed of Fury [Always Active] Genjutsu Innovator [Inactive] Genjutsu Subterfuge [Inactive] Political Orator [Inactive] JUTSU: n/a EQUIPMENT: n/a

i hate that i love

?

[Deleted]

The blade was out of his reach. And his fight was weakening--surely not the level of resistance she'd expected. But the drug she'd hit him with was starting to work--maybe? Or he was just too stunned yet to properly respond to her.

She held him there, vise grips upon his wrists, staring down with wide, wary eyes. And Akira didn't say anything. Not a word. Just...frozen that way.

I broke him. I totally broke him.

More panic.

"Akira." She waited, but there was nothing. Were there remnants of the hallucinogenic toxin still mingling with this thoughts and vision? Was that it? Was he still seeing things as the drug trickled out of its activity window?

"Answer me. Please." Her voice was quiet, on the edge of being as shaky as she felt inside. She didn't want to resort to something drastic--like stabbing him or slapping him--afraid that the pain relay would send him right back into the nightmare zone in his head. But...she couldn't wait forever. She couldn't just let him stay in this stupor all afternoon.

How long would it take him to snap out of it and out of himself? He was in no real danger, now, but... She couldn't make sense of what was happening in his head when all she had to go off of were the incoherent noises of damage and hurt.

"You're safe, okay?" She repeated her words from earlier. He hadn't wanted to hear them then, but maybe as the drug took hold, he'd be more willing to listen.

Seconds ticked by in the relative quiet, save for the mumbles and noises. The sedative appeared to be taking hold more deeply, and she decided she trusted her medicine more than she would trust him, and released his wrists. Her left hand flattered against the floor next to his face, but her right went to his neck to take his pulse. It was slowing. But he wasn't talking. Her eyes were pleading with him to say something. Anything.

To just...come back already.

---

@akira ❤ HEX: #d85266 ❤ no notes!