Chapter Text
It had been four years. Four years since Ryuunosuke's and Atsushi's father Dazai Osamu had just suddenly disappeared. They all thought that he was long gone. That he had finally been able to fulfil his long lost wish of committing suicide. Their mother Nakahara Chuuya hadn't been able to smile the same way she used to. Her happiness had disappeared together with the man she had loved and fought wars beside. Yes, Dazai and Chuuya was battle veterans that had given up their sword and spear once they had decided to get married. Their reason to get married was because the redhead had gotten pregnant with their first child Ryuunosuke. Once they had retired from battle the female had started making beautiful kimonos and the brunet had become a writer. But when the couples fourth child was just two years old, Dazai left them. They thought that they would never see him again and had accepted it. Yet here they were four years later on the way home from a nearby village after selling some kimonos. Ryuunosuke and Atsushi stood a step behind their mother and just like her they could only stare at the scen in front of them. Their father stood a few meters away happily chatting with some random women. The smile he had on his lips, the light that made his hazel brown eyes that much brighter... he had never showed his family those kinds of things. They couldn't really call him a loving father, but he hadn't been completely heartless. So seeing him stand there living a happy life away from his family was heartbreaking and infuriating. The rage rose within Ryuunosuke and he stepped forward to call on the man he had once called father. But Chuuya was faster and was soon dragging her two sons with her away from there. Atsushi had tears in his eyes and was so close with crying.
“Mother! Why won't you let me talk to him?!” Ryuunosuke exclaimed once they where far away and on the path back home.
Their mother stopped and lets her sons go. Then they just stood there in silence.
“M-Mother?...” Atsushi hiccupped while trying to wipe away his tears.
Chuuya took out the silver hairpin from her hair and let it fall out from her bun. It was a beautiful metal hairpin with a silver pendant hanging in one end, the pendant had red stones on one side and black stone on the other. The redhead had been given the hairpin from Dazai after their first battle together. When they still had been quite young.
“Your father is dead... that man wasn't you father... just a random stranger that looks like him...” Chuuya suddenly said.
Using her ability she threw the hairpin to the side and it flew away like a arrow. The hairpin hit a rock and dugg deep into it, leaving only the hanging pendant visible. Ryuunosuke and Atsushi stood there starring, not able to exactly comprehend what their mother just had said. Chuuya soon took a deep breath and turned towards her two sons and placed one hand on each cheek. A soft smile danced on her soft lips. But in her children's eyes it looked fake and oh so broken.
“Lets return home to Gin and Kyouka. We shouldn't let them wait for to long.” Chuuya said softly.
The women then turned and started to walk away from there. Her long amburn hair danced in the wind together with the autumn leaves. Grey and yellow eyes glances towards each other before they followed their mother home. The brothers told their sisters what had happened and the four of them decided that they shouldn't say anything about this. They shouldn't even mention their father if they could help it. Because after that day... Chuuya could no longer even fake a smile. Whenever she smiled she looked like a wreck and oh so broken it was too painful to watch. She had soon completely stopped smiling, noticing how painful it was for her children to see the fake smile. The redhead acted like she had long gotten over the fact that her beloved lived a much happier life without her. But there where nights when one of the children would wake up and hear their mother cry in the dark of night. The child that had woken up woke the other three up and they would quietly sit and listen on their mother's sobs. Trying their best not to cry themselves. Because that would only worry their mother. In those mornings Chuuya would be red around her eyes and traces of dried tears covering her cheeks. Those was the morning she still tried to smile. Like she tried to tell her children that everything was to be alright. Two years past and things only got worse. Kyouka, the youngest, fell ill. It wasn't a illness that couldn't be treated. It was just that they didn't have the money to buy the right medicin. No matter how much they tried. The kimonos they made didn't sell for as much as before. Making Chuuya think up other things that would help get them the money they needed. One evening when they sat and ate dinner. The redhead wasn't able to get herself to eat. Kyouka was the only one not present, as she was to weak to sit up for to long, yet alone eating normally. The three siblings looked at each other before they looked towards their mother with a worried expression.
“Am I... am I a good mother?...” Chuuya suddenly murmured with her gaze locked towards the fire they sat around.
“O-Of course you are! We couldn't ask for someone better!” Atsushi tried with a bright smile.
“Then why... then why can't I get anyone to stay...”
Chuuya's voice had been nothing but a whisper and she tried her very best not to start crying right there in front of her children.
“Mother...” Ryuunosuke murmured.
Gin placed her bowl down on the table tray she was using as a table, before he went over to their mother. Placing her arms around the older.
“Don't cry mother... we won't go anywhere...” Gin whispered.
Chuuya placed her hands over her face and soon the other two joined in the hug. Trying their best to shield their petite mother from a world that only was out to hurt her.
Their aunt Kouyou tried her best to support the family with her teahouse. Letting her younger sister work their for some extra money, while the sons did their best in the fields. Gin would stay at home and weave, so that Chuuya could sew new kimonos. Then a few months later during the end of winter, when nature was starting to awaken to the welcomed warmth after a harsh winter... they received a letter. The family sat around the fire while Chuuya read the letter. The three children looked at the oldest with seriousness written all over their faces. Kyouka had survived the winter, but they was running out of time and they still didn't have the money they needed. Surprise was soon written all over the redhead's face and the three children felt hope. Because it had been more than two years since their mother made such a alive looking expression. The familiar empty ocean blue eyes looked up towards the children.
“It's from the daimyo's son. It's a marriage proposal...” Chuuya said while looking up.
The three children shone up and looked among themselves, before they turned towards their mother.
“That's amazing news!” Atsushi exclaimed happily.
“He do know that you already have children, right?” Akutagawa asked.
Chuuya looked down on the letter in her hands again and nodded.
“He said that his father will accept you as his grandchildren if I accept...” Chuuya murmured, a bit baffled over the kindness of the one ruling the land they lived on.
“Then that's even better! You should accept!” Atsushi said, still with a bright smile.
“I should? Are you sure?” Chuuya asked carefully while turning her attention towards her children again and the three nodded.
“Lord Tachihara is a good person. And if he's willing to marry someone who already have children it's another reason to accept his offer.” Akutagawa said calmly.
“He'll accept us, right?” Gin asked quietly and Chuuya nodded.
“And we're willing to accept him as our father!” Atsushi chirped happily.
“And if you marry him we won't need to worry about money and buy the medicin Kyouka needs.” Akutagawa added and Chuuya turned her eyes towards the letter again.
“You won't have to worry about our future anymore mother!” Atsushi said with a warm smile.
“No one of us will leave you...” Gin murmured softly.
Chuuya made a low sigh before she turned her attention towards her children and smiled. The smile where soft and it looked like a heavy load had been taken of her shoulders. The smile wasn't genuin, but it was close enough and far away from that broken smile their mother usually tried.
A answer was given to the daimyo's son and the wedding happened just a month later. The children knew that Tachihara wasn't going to be able to give their mother the happiness she once had. But they knew that he was going to be able to help Chuuya forget the pain of being left behind by the one man she had trusted with everything. They was finally able to buy the medicin that saved Kyouka and the children happily called the red brownhaired for their father. Long lost any attachment to their real father. The whole village had lost attachment to Dazai. It was no longer a place that the brunet could return to and expect a warm welcome. He had long been forgotten as the man that had no attachment to life. Even the wind had stopped whispering about the war strategy prodigy.