Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

                             It was a cool, breezy in the city of Yokohama. Cars raced down the roads and restaurants and bars lit up the sky. The streets were bustling with people despite the late hour. Some people were heading home while others were going out to restaurants for dinner, walking to parties with friends or simply just going to a bar to drink by themselves. Among the party-goers and the few drunks fumbling around, was a young boy. 

                             The boy wore a white long sleeve blouse with frills on the wrists, a dark blue corset with violet and deep blue lace patterns, dark blue booty shorts, violet thigh high socks with a black cat pattern, black garters and black knee high combat boots. Any other places where skin would have shown while in the outfit, was covered by bandages, the only exception being his face. The skin on his face was very pale and even by just a glance, you could tell he was extremely thin. He had long, choppy, light grey hair that reached his mid thigh and his bangs were shoulder length, cut unevenly with the right fringe being longer than the left one. In his arms he carried a small, pastel coloured backpack made of cotton material. He held it tightly to his chest as if he was afraid to lose whatever was inside. 

                               The boy slowly weaved his way through the crowds, keeping his head down low, looking as if he was trying to curl in on himself. As the boy continued walking to his intended destination, the crowds thinned out, dwindling until there were no more people walking around him and the bright lights of the city grew further away. Soon, after walking for about fifteen minutes, the boy reached an extremely rundown part of the city. Eyes bore down on him curiously from the shadows. He continued on silently, as if not noticing the trouble beginning to stir around him. 

                              The boy suddenly made a left, turning into a dark alleyway. Halfway down the alleyway was a large metal door that looked old and rusty, connecting to one of the buildings. He knocked on the door five times twice, with a three second interval in between. The door opened soon after, an fat, grumpy looking man appearing as it opened. He looked to be in about his mid-thirties, was fat, average in height and wore a white vest and blue shorts. He had lightly tanned skin, brown hair that looked greasy and unkept and a thin beard and mustache made out of the short layers of stubble growing on his face.

                             "What is it?!?!" the man yelled as he answered the door. However, when he laid his eyes on the small boy, his scowl turned into a devious grin. 

                              "Well if it isn't the little shrimp. I coulda sworn you weren't comin with how long you took to get here! What's that all about? Makin us men wait! We'll just have to make our playtime together all the more lengthy and fun won't we? Come on inside you brat!" the man exclaimed enthusiastically to the boy. 

                             The boy followed him inside. Inside the building was dull. The lights were dim, the walls were dirty and brownish in colour and there were tables upon tables of middle aged men, a few younger or older folks among them. The room was rectangular shaped with a bar on the far left side of the room with circular bar stools in front of it. Square shaped tables littered the rest of the room randomly and there was a large flat screen TV on the right wall, angled in a way that you'd be able to see it from anywhere in the room. Nothing seemed too out of place. The only thing that stood out in the room though, was the large circular table in the middle of the room. It was unoccupied despite the rest of the tables being full.

                                As they walked the man greeted the other in the bar, telling them of the boy's arrival. The men's bland expressions gradually turned into creepy grins as they stared at the boy intensely, eyeing his entire body. They soon reached the centre of the room, where the man suddenly grabbed the boy by the waist and placed him onto the circular table. The boy swung his legs, that didn't floor the floor, almost happily as he hummed a softly under his breath. Suddenly, the lights in the bar turned off and a spotlight was shone on the small boy.

                              "Well men! As I had stated earlier, our meal has arrived!" a male voice stated enthusiastically, the grin on every single one of the disgusting men's faces growing wider.

                              "We didn't even have to kidnap this one! He offered to join us willingly, the poor, naive thing! What was the agreement again? Please do remind me boy," The voice revealing itself to be the man who had brought him inside earlier, asked in a childlike voice.

                              "You promised that if I came with you, you'd be my best friend! I recently lost my only best friend so I was walking around hoping to find a new one. Oni-san said it was really important to have lots of best friends so when you promised me you could give me lots of new best friends I was really happy!" the boy explained. His voice was soft, yet slightly gravely as if he hadn't used it in a long time. Laughter erupted through the room of men, the boy looking on in confusion.

                                 "What a joke!" One said.

                                 "How stupid is this kid!" Another stated.

                                 "His innocence is astounding! How can anyone be this cute!" An older man at the back yelled.

                                "He won't be so pure after we destroy him. He'll be feeling so good he won't have a chance to be coherent," The first man in the vest and shorts shouted over him, the rest of the bar cheering afterwards. 

                               "Destroy me?" A voice suddenly said. The voice wasn't one that had been heard during all the shouting. It was cold and sounded like a mix between a high pitched female voice and a low pitched male voice. A large and extremely thick bloodlust suddenly filled the entire room. 

                               "You're going to destroy me?" the voice said again. The men turned to the direction of the voice, which turned out to be the little boy they had placed on the circular table in the centre of the room. 

                               "I think you are highly mistaken of the intent of the deal you have made with me. You aren't going to have fun, I am. Of course, you'll also have fun... if you can handle it that is. As we are now officially best friends, we have to do the first activity best friends do! See who has the highest pain tolerance!!!!" the boy explained. 

                              Despite the coldness of the boy's voice, it sounded giddy and full of a sick kind of joy. The mix between a female and male pitch made it sound all the more horrifying. A large smile was then painted on the boy's face, as he finally moved his gaze off the ground, uncurling his body from it's previous nervous state ,now shining with bloodlust and glee, revealing segmented heterochromia eyes, the left one shining a hot pink and bright green and the right one glowing a dark blue and deep crimson red. Both of his pupils shone with a very dangerous looking violet.

                                "Let's begin shall we?" The screams of the men echoed throughout the night sky, meeting the ears of the shadows, that twisted in joy as their master rewarded them with the exquisite meal that was human flesh, blood and tears.

&&&

                            It was a calm Wednesday morning when the Armed Detective Agency had recently received an urgent assignment directly from the chief of the Yokohama Police Force. Due to a sudden increase in small crimes, they were unable to handle the large case that had found it's way to them so they sent it to the agency to cover for them. Currently on the scene, was Kunikida, Dazai, Yosano and Ranpo. And what a gruesome sight they had arrived to see. 

                         The smell from the outside was bad enough but once they entered, the scene before them was worse than they had expected. The room was covered head to toe in blood. Despite it being three days since the murder had happened, the blood had not dried completely due to the sheer amount of it. Blood dripped from the ceiling and wall and bodies upon bodies of men lay around all having at least one part of their bodies decapacitated. Heads, intestines, guts and even brains lay around the piles of bodies and decapacitated limbs. Th smell was so much worse.

                           They all had to excuse themselves for a few minutes to take in what they had seen. Kunikida threw up somewhere to the side, Yosano steeled herself before going over to Kunikida and Dazai and Ranpo looked on with cold, calculating eyes. A storm was brewing, and for the first time, they had no idea what to expect. 

Chapter Text

It was around one o'clock in the morning when the young boy left the building. Despite leaving a gory mess behind, he himself was spotless, not a speck of blood or grime on him. As he walked, the full moon shone done on him and the shadows twisted in glee, gladly following in their master's footsteps and seeming happy enough to crawl and whine pathetically at his heels. He had filled their bellies up with the most glorious food after all. He passed building after building, quietly observing and memorizing every little detail of the world around him. He couldn't help but think back onto his first day in the outside world.

He had been walking on the strange ground made of some hard, grainy material, tapping it lightly with his shoe to see how much force it would take to break it, when another person had walked up to him. He had been thrilled because they were the first person to talk to them outside of his onii-san and his best friend. The person was an adult male and offered to be his friend so he had willingly agreed. Imagine his surprise when the man brought him inside a building filled with more people! He couldn't help but feel a bit of excitement at the amount of friends he'd be getting. Yet unfortunately, it turned out that they were not friend material. They weren't even enemy material! They were trash. Even less then trash! Fodder had more importance than them!

He didn't understand. Wasn't the outside world supposed to be amazing and filled with beauty and friendship. He thought all people in the world were like onii-san! Smart and handsome. He had thought that human beings with the capability to be fodder or trash were rare and that smart and handsome people were of abundance. Yet everywhere he went, all he saw was trash, trash and more trash. He couldn't help but feel disappointed. What a disappointment. At least he got to enjoy the friendship making process! And his shadows had full bellies now too so they were very much content, purring happily at his feet. At least there was more than enough food for them to feed on.

Speaking of which, the boy's own stomach grumbled. He didn't know what to eat though. In his entire life he'd only been fed some kind of grey mush, if he was given anything to eat at all, so when he looked at the places where kanji spelled out 'food store', he didn't recognize anything and didn't know what anything was, even if he could tell it was edible by it's scent. Did any of these places give out mush? He also observed that people seemed to trade small, shiny, circular shaped pieces of metal with markings engraved on them and flat rectangular shaped pieces of paper with prints on them, for the things they took of the shelves. 'Fascinating,' he couldn't help but think. He didn't have any of those metal or paper things though. Could he just grab whatever he wanted even if he didn't have those things? He finally decided to enter an empty store that only had one person in it, who seemed to be asleep at the front counter where he had seen people trade items.

The boy walked through the aisles, finally finding a kind of flavoured mush. It looked somewhat similar to what he usually ate but smelled much better and was much more colourful. The kanji on the small container spelled 'Baby food'. He wasn't sure what a baby was or if this food was meant for a 'baby' only, but it smelled edible so he snatched a backpack from a different aisle and dumped practically the entire shelf into it. Some of the containers were different colours and had the words 'orange', 'strawberry' or 'mango' on them. He didn't know what those were but they all smelt really nice, even though they all smelt different so he dumped them in anyway.

He walked to the back of the store and found cuboid shaped boxes made of metal, with glass windows on the front that were really cold. He grabbed a bunch of cylindrical shaped containers that read 'bottled water' and dumped them into the backpack as well. Water was a necessity for survival after all. He then closed the bag and walked out of the store. The boy wandered through the streets once more. He opened one of the food containers with 'mango' on it and used three fingers to scoop it up and put it into his mouth. His tongue jumped at the new, sweet flavour that it was being given for the first time. It tasted so good!!! This was literally the best food he had ever eaten!!! It was then he decided that this 'baby food' was his new favourite meal. He repeated the process with the other differently coloured cans. He couldn't believe they all maintained a fresh sweet flavour despite all of them tasting so different. Incredible!

"Where will I rest tonight?" the boy suddenly began to ponder, looking up at the dark but cloudy sky as he walked through a less populated area of the city, which mostly contained small houses, apartment buildings and shops.

He decided to randomly pick a house and enter it. He chose a relatively large single story house and knocked on the door. An old man opened the door. The boy could only find the word 'soft' to describe the man. His physical features were soft yet stern, his aura was smooth as silk and there was a small smile on his face. After seeing him at the door, the man quickly ushered him inside, asking him why a boy his age was out this late and warning him that it was dangerous. As if any of the useless slime running around outside could actually do something to him.

He declined food when offered as he already had his own food stored up, as he didn't trust anything the man could possibly give him, despite his soft looking appearance. The man then lead him through the corridors to a bathroom. He gave the boy instructions on how to use the shower and change the temperature of the water after he had asked the man how to work the contraption he called a 'shower', (he'd only ever been doused in freezing water and scrubbed with hairbrushes covered in soap on the floor in the middle of an empty roombefore so he had no idea what a 'shower' was, and was very intrigued as to how it worked) before leaving a container of bandages, clean fresh clothes and a towel on the counter next to the sink and exiting the bathroom. After thoroughly inspecting the clothes brought by the old man, he peeled off his own clothes and grimy bandages before stepping into the shower. The water felt ice cold against his skin as the droplets fell onto his skin, making small pitter patters echo through his ears.

After scrubbing himself clean the way the man showed him, he dried his skin with the towel and changed into the new clothes, which consisted of an oversized long sleeved shirt that hung over one shoulder and a pair of short shorts. He was then lead to a mostly empty bedroom, where the old man pulled out a futon for him to lay on. Before leaving him to his own devices, they sat and talked for a bit.

"Alright young one, now that you're clean, how about I introduce myself. My name is Hamada Akihiro, though my grandkids call me 'Jiji' or Aki-san. I am 51 years old," Hamada introduced himself, "I apologise for the clothes by the way. The only ones I have that will fit you are my granddaughter's clothes."

"I'm Atsushi! My age is-..." Atsushi's face scrunched softly, as if he was trying to recall something.

"Aha-! My age is 14!" he finally replied after a few seconds, his left fist hitting the palm of his right hand as his face relaxed into a large grin.

"And no problem! These are really comfy to wear."

"Do you know where your parents are son? I'm sure they must be worried sick about you," Hamada asked, voice laced with concern.

Atsushi however, tilted his head in confusion.

"What are parents?"

Hamada stared at him in shock, horror and disbelief painted all over his face. He schooled his expression a bit, and coughed for good measure, before rewording his sentence.

"Do you know where the person who takes care of you is? Don't you live with anyone who would be worried about you?"

Atsushi replied with an 'ooohhh' as he realized the meaning of the question.

"Don't be scared Aki-san! I live with my onii-san! He doesn't know where I am though so don't tell him! I'm only going out for a while before going back!" he reassured the older with a large grin on his face.

The other's frown only deepened.

"Why would you be going out? It's dangerous for kids like you in these parts you know."

"Why? Well why not? I only wanted to see what the outside is like! And it's really different than what they say it's like in books."

Hamada's stare sharpened.

"What do you mean you wanted to see what the outside is like?" he questioned.

Atsushi giggled in response.

"You ask really silly questions Aki-san! I've never been outside before so of course I'd want to see what it's like for myself! And let me tell you I never thought it was true that the ground could be made of that strange rock until I saw it for myself! What was it called again..? Ah-! It's called concrete right?" The younger's eyes shone with unrestrained glee as he said that sentence and never lost it's brightness as he continued to talk about all the new things he'd seen.

Hamada, however, felt his brain stop at the words 'I've never been outside before'. This child sitting in front of him had never been outside before? He began tuning out the child's words in order to observe him. It was then that he was able to notice it. He wanted to hit himself for not noticing it before. How could he have missed it? The boy smiled and laughed happily, his aura seeming cheerful and soft, which was something you'd expect from a small child who knew nothing of the world, not a boy in his teens who was supposed to be hormonal and angsty. He also seemed much too carefree of the dangers of walking around at night; It wasn't that he was brash and thought he would be able to face any danger, as most teenagers tended to think and act like, but he acted as if nothing outside had the ability to be a danger him.

The boy's appearance was also very strange. The clothes he wore were something you'd expect to see on a sixteen year old girl. And why does he wear bandages? His lack of basic knowledge was also worrying. Like, who doesn't know what a shower is or how it works? By appearance alone, you could assume the boy was a spoiled child from a rich family who had somehow gotten lost. That would explain the shower bit, but his demeanor was much too quiet and polite for that, so he immediately threw out the spoiled thought. The younger's question 'what are parents', however, threw him completely off course. That threw out the rich thought and immediately planted lots more unanswered questions.

The boy then told him that he lived with his brother and that he'd never been outside before. Hamada's automatic thought was that the boy was abused or imprisoned and had escaped. It closed the lose ends on his original set of questions but left the new ones unanswered. When he had had finally decided to properly observe the boy, he discovered something he wished he'd seen from the start. When the older looked into Atsushi's eyes, beneath the happiness that he had discovered to be painted on, was a deep madness, a spiralling insanity that he had never seen before.

He'd seen many people go mad before, he was a police chief after all. There was no shortage of criminals who's ended up going mad for various reasons. He'd also seen children with dead eyes, children with eyes full of rage, children with lonely eyes and children with eyes of despair, masked in a shallow madness as to net let other's see their true selves after being hurt so much. The eyes were the windows to one's soul. He believed that saying whole-heartedly and up to this day, had seen truth after truth and had been able to help person after person, by seeing who they truly were through those colourful windows.

However, he had never in his life, seen something like this. Calling it madness suddenly seemed much too shallow to describe what he was seeing in the eyes before him. That coil of pure insanity circled around him like a snake, crushing the air from his lungs and swallowing him whole as it pulled him deeper and deeper into its clutches. This... this kind of insanity was something he had only ever dreamed of in the darkest depths of his mind and the shadowy-est part of his nightmares. He'd thought something like this was only achievable by the most evil monsters that roared in the pits of hell, not a human being and certainly not a child now starting his teens. At that moment, any other emotions he felt were immediately overpowered by a sudden rush of fear that coursed through his body. Never in his life had he ever felt a fear like this.

The two quickly finished they're conversation before separating to go into their own rooms to sleep for the night. Hamada however, could not sleep. He waited, opening the door of his guest bedroom quietly as a mouse to ensure Atsushi was asleep, before silently hurrying to his living room to retrieve his phone. He had to notify his lieutenants of the child as soon as possible, for it went without saying, this child is extremely dangerous. He was not one to be driven by emotions and was seldom frantic and overwhelmed as he was now, but he was currently running on an autopilot, run by an overbearing fear. As he finished typing the number and was about to press the call button, a cold chill ran up his spine and a voice echoed through his ears.

"What are you doing Aki-san?"

It rang in his ears and echoed throughout his mind. His heart stopped and he froze completely, daring not to move a muscle lest the monster behind him decides to threaten his family.

"Don't worry Atsushi-kun. I'm only making a phone call," he replied stoically, as he tried to keep as calm as possible.

The voice giggled, sounding female yet male at the same time. Nothing like the giggle he had heard earlier when they talked.

"Is that so?" it asked in return, sounding almost gleeful.

The voice sounded much closer now. Hamada looked down to see the boy in front of him. He shrieked in terror, jumping back. A cold smile was plastered on the boy's face and his eyes were shadowed by his bangs.

"Are you scared Aki-san?" he asked.

The older man froze, his fear increasing tenfold. If it were possible, you would probably be able to see the waves of fear that were coming off of him. At his increase in fear, Atsushi's smile increased in size as well.

"Are you scared Aki-san?" he asked again, his smile so wide you could call it a closed-mouthed grin.

The room's temperature seemed to drop with the coldness of Atsushi's voice.

"I so do love it when fear rolls off of people because of me. You saw it didn't you? The reflection of my soul. You think I wouldn't notice you staring and losing yourself in the depths of my eyes?" he called out to the man in front of him.

"It takes a special kind of person to notice those that, so I'm making it official to you."

Atsushi then pointed directly at the other's face and declared, "Hamada Akihiro! I officially proclaim you 'Important'!"

At that exact moment, Hamada's head twisted to the right, making a complete 360 degree turn, breaking his neck and killing him. The man didn't even get to utter a word before his eyes closed and his body dropped to the ground with a loud 'thud!'.

At the sound of a body hitting the floor, Atsushi's wide smile turned into a pleasure filled grin, glowing white teeth showing, no longer bothering to hide the two large fangs that had grown in response to his thirst for blood.

Atsushi walked over to the now dead man and dropped to the floor himself before biting and sinking his sharp teeth into the man's neck, right where his blood flowed closest to his skin. He drank and drank, his cheeks flushing a bright red the more he drank, until Hamada had no more blood left to share. His tiger sized stomach was now full. He was finally satisfied. Satiated until his hunger for blood would arise again. Something was still missing.

He got up and wobbled to the kitchen, swaying left and right as if drunk, and grabbing a knife before sitting back down next to the bloodless corpse. He cut open Hamada's chest before reaching inside and pulling out his heart. Atsushi held the heart in his hands observing it carefully. A large door then appeared to his right. He stood up and opened the door, walking inside and placing the heart in an empty jar, along with the last dreggs of blood it contained. He then placed the jar on a shelf next to row upon row of jars filled with hearts and other organs. He looked upon his collection, finally feeling complete with the new addition to his on going collection of valuable 'trinkets'.

He walked out of the room and closed the door, before the door disappeared as silently and mysteriously as it had appeared.

He then took a small box out of the outer pocket of the shorts he had worn when he first entered the house, opened it to take out a large needle and bendy wire (A wire that is very strong but is as flexible as regular thread) and stitched the cuts he'd made on Hamada's body back together. Once finished, he sat back on his heels and admired his work. And what a beautiful sight it was. The man looked truly peaceful.

Atsushi put his original clothes and the small box into the backpack filled with food and water, grabbed his other pastel backpack and held it close to his chest as he had originally done, before putting on his boots and walking out the front door. The lifeless body, blood stained and newly cracked cell phone knife remained on the floor of the living room.

He once again wandered through the streets aimlessly, pondering on his new experience. At least some things the books he read had been true! He would truly never be bored outside. So much had happened and the sun wasn't even up yet! The time before he left the house had read '3:10am'. He really had so many things happen in the time span of approximately two hours! Who would have thought!

Atsushi had buried himself so deep into his thoughts that he did not realize that he had walked right into the path of an incoming vehicle. A loud screech echoed through the silent streets before a bright light stuttered to a stop a mere inch from his person. He wasn't able to fully process the situation before a loud voice knocked him fully out of his thoughts.

"Hey! Are you okay? Why were you walking in the middle of the damn street!? Do you want to get knocked over?! Hey kid are you listening to me?!?!"

Standing in front of him, and only a few inches taller than him with a deep scowl mixed in worry plastered on his face, was a man with crystal blue eyes and red-orange hair, with a hat placed delicately on top of his head.

This pic was basically my entire inspiration for this story. I do not own this picture.

Chapter Text

Atsushi stared at the orange haired man with a blank but curious expression. He was quite beautiful, if Atsushi had to say so himself. The man had a sharp jawline with a small nose, soft, pink lips and lapis coloured eyes. His curly orange hair framed his face gently, giving him a slightly softer look. Plus, the fancy suit he was wearing gave his overall appearance a very stylish look.  A grin grew onto Atsushi's face and he licked his lips hungrily. 

'This one will be a great addition to my collection,' he thought to himself. His shadows rumbled softly in his ear in response. 

"Hey kid! Are you listening to me?!" the man continued to yell. 

Atsushi smiled brightly up at the shouting man.

"I'm sorry mister! I wasn't paying attention and didn't see you coming because of how dark it was," he replied.

"Well make sure to be more careful! What's a kid like you doing out here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be at home with your parents right now? Don't tell me you're a runaway??" he exclaimed, his tone of voice shifting from anger to annoyance. 

"A runaway?" Atsushi asked confusedly, his smile dropping into a frown and his eyes furrowing slightly. 

"I didn't run away from anyone, you hear me mister! I'm just exploring outside before going back to my big brother! I'm perfectly fine by myself!" he yelled at the pretty man, puffing his cheeks in an annoyed pout with his hands on his hips.

The orange haired man scowled and rolled his eyes. 

"Sorry to break it to you kid, but this city is much more dangerous than you think. Especially at night. This is no time for a little kid like you to be wandering around," he explained, his expression and voice now very serious. 

Atsushi pouted even more.

"But I can't go back to my big brother so soon!" Atsushi whined, puffing out his cheeks even more as crocodile tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. 

The pretty man put a hand on his forehead and began rubbing his temples, before letting out a sigh.

"Here what kid. How about you come home with me tonight? And tomorrow I'll take you out on a trip all over Yokohama. How about that? Then afterwards you can go back to your big brother. Is that fine to you?" he enquired.

Atsushi's expression immediately brightened, his tears evaporating like dew on a hot summer morning.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Let's do that!" he exclaimed happily. 

Atsushi couldn't believe that this pretty man would offer to take him on a tour of the city! In his excitement, he latched himself onto the man's arm, hugging it tightly. As he held into the man's arm, Atsushi felt a violent hum beneath his fingers. A powerful hum. A hum so powerful that it actually took him by surprise. Atsushi's smile twitched minutely before widening. This man was different. Very different. 

"Thank you!" he cried out enthusiastically, not letting any of his emotions show.

The man sighed before gently patting his hair.

"No problem kid," he responded gruffly.

The man then handed Atsushi his extra biking helmet, showing him how to put it on before getting onto his motorcycle and helping Atsushi sit behind him. 

"By the way, what's your name mister?" Atsushi asked curiously.

"Chuuya. Nakahara Chuuya. Buy you can just call me Chuuya-san. What's your name kid?" the man asked.

"My name is Nakajima Atsushi. It's nice to meet you Chuuya-san!" Atsushi responded.

Chuuya hummed in response and spoke out a quick, "Hold on tight kid" before zooming off, down the empty streets of the city.  

***

It wasn't long before the two of them arrived at a fancy all black building. Atsushi stared at the building in awe. It was so tall it seemed as if it could touch the clouds. 

"You live here Chuuya-san? You must be like, a very high ranking prince to be able to live somewhere like this," Atsushi asked the other, as Chuuya typed a passcode into a touch screen tablet on the wall of the building, which opened the entrance to a large underground garage. 

Chuuya scoffed at the question.

"A prince? What are we in, some kind of fairy tale? I'm nowhere close to being a prince kid," Chuuya responded as he parked his motorcycle and helped Atsushi off of it, unbuckling both of their helmets and handing Atsushi his bag, "I'm a mafia executive for fuck's sake."

"A mafia executive?" Atsushi questioned curiously.

"Yup. I'm a head executive for the Port Mafia," Chuuya hummed. 

The two walked towards an ornate but old school metal elevator that looked slightly out of place in the dull parking garage. Chuuya pressed a button on the wall and the elevator opened, allowing Chuuya and Atsushi to step onto it. The doors closed immediately behind them. There were two buttons on the inside of the elevator. Chuuya pressed the one on the left. The elevator let out a soft 'ping!' before it began to move upwards.

"What is the Port Mafia? It sounds really cool!" Atsushi inquired, hopping excitedly. Chuuya looked at the young boy as if he had gone mad. 

 "The Port Mafia is the most powerful crime syndicate in all of Yokohama," Chuuya explained, as the elevator came to a stop, allowing the man and young boy to exit the elevator into a modern yet simplistically designed lobby. "They control this city's underground and have an influence that's equivalent to that of Yokohama's government." 

Chuuya expected Atsushi to look startled at the news, if not downright terrified, but when he looked down at the boy next to him, only fascination and awe could be found on his face. Suspicion crept into Chuuya's brain at Atsushi's out of place reactions to everything that had occurred so far. 

"Really Chuuya-san?!?!? You must be really powerful then!!! Like really, really powerful!!!" Atsushi exclaimed while clapping his hands in excitement.

"You know it kid," Chuuya replied. 

The two walked towards the front desk situated in the centre of the lobby. It was made of black and white marble in the shape of a semi-circle and took up majority of the space at the front of the lobby. There was a stainless steel door on each side of the desk, that were likely elevators. A single woman stood behind the front desk, organising paperwork. She looked to be middle aged and wore a simple black suit with brown glasses perched atop the bridge of her nose. She had mid length wavy brown hair tied into a tight high ponytail and she had deep bags under her green eyes. She looked up at Chuuya and Atsushi as soon as she noticed them walking towards her. She acknowledged Chuuya with a nod as they stopped in front of her but narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she laid them on Atsushi. 

"You can write down the usual for me Mabel-san. Just note to the side that I have company with me for tonight and tomorrow," Chuuya spoke to her before strutting away from the front desk towards the elevator on the left, Atsushi silently following after him like a chick trailing after its mother. Chuuya pushed on the up button, which was placed in the middle of a small square tile on the wall, and the elevator doors immediately opened. He walked inside, ensuring that Atsushi had fully entered the elevator behind him, before pressing the button for the second highest floor. 

No conversation was made as rose and then came to a stop on the selected floor. It was only when they entered Chuuya's large penthouse that the silence was finally broken by Atsushi's astonished 'oohs' and 'aahs' at the sight of the glittering diamond-studded chandeliers hanging from the roof of the wide entrance hallway. The two left their shoes at the front door before continuing down the hallway. Chuuya led Atsushi to the living room where the younger threw himself onto the couch, giggling at how he bounced on the squishy cushions. Atsushi continued to bounce non-stop, giggling at how fun it was, as Chuuya took off his coat and tie and hung them on the back of the leather armchair that sat diagonal to the couch. 

"You seem to be enjoying my couch a bit too much, you know that kid?" Chuuya asked, amused as he stared at the giggling little boy, "What you've never seen one before?"

"Nope!" Atsushi exclaimed happily, a toothless smile plastered over his face, "I've never seen a chair this comfortable before!"

Chuuya's lips twitched into a smile as he huffed, "Then I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

He the stalked off to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea.

"Hey kid! Its four in the morning. You want anything to eat?"

"No thank you Chuuya-san. But can I have some water?" 

"Sure," Chuuya responded before filling a glass with some water and handing it to Atsushi.

Atsushi drank his water in silence as Chuuya walked back to the kitchen to finish making his tea. Once the other was no longer in his line of sight, Atsushi began to properly observe the living room. His shadows danced beneath his skin restlessly, as if they were about to burst out of his body. A small grin crept onto Atsushi's face at the feeling. 

"Karasu," he called out, "Go scout for anything interesting." 

One shadow emerged from his body and hovered in front of him. It appeared as a black stuffed crow, except it had sharp jagged teeth, and was covered in rough white stitches and blood stains. Its beak opened in a predatory grin, showing off all of its sharp white teeth, before it dispersed into the air. Atsushi then leaned back into the couch and finished the rest of his water.

The pretty man had been very nice to him, and he seemed to be a very important person on top of that, so Atsushi wasn't sure if he should add him to his collection just yet. Although if he did, Atsushi was sure that Chuuya-san would become one of his favourites. Despite how much he would have loved to see that thought come true though, Atsushi doubted that anything of the sort would ever come to fruition. 

There was an air about Chuuya-san that screamed danger and destruction. Atsushi licked his lips with a smirk at the thought of discovering why that was so. A few seconds later, his crow shaped shadow emerged from a wall and absorbed itself back into his shadow. Atsushi's pupils glowed white and his iris shook slightly before returning to normal. He grinned at the information he had received.

"Thank you Karasu."

A moment later, Chuuya emerged from from the kitchen, a cup of tea held in his right hand. 

"So kid, what's up with all the bandages? Your wrapped up like someone's broken leg. And how old are you? You're unhealthily skinny," Chuuya began to converse with Atsushi as he sat on the couch.

"Well I'm 14 Chuuya-san, and I wear bandages cause my big brother says I have to," Atsushi responded. 

Chuuya hummed, not questioning what Atsushi told him. "You have an ability?"

"Hmmmmm," Atsushi hummed, "It's a secret!"

Chuuya huffed in amusement. "What's wrong kid? You scared?"

"Why would I be scared Chuuya-san?!" Atsushi whined with a pout, "I'll show you my full ability if only you show me your full ability."

"My ability is much too dangerous at full power to show you all willy nilly kid," Chuuya sighed.

"That's alright Chuuya-san. Just look into my eyes and I'll be able to see everything," Atsushi explained, before standing from his perch on the leather armchair to sit down next to Chuuya on the couch. Chuuya stared at him in confusion, before sighing aggressively and resigning himself to follow Atsushi's instructions. 

Just as Chuuya began to stare into Atsushi's eyes, the younger's irises turned from their original mix of purple and gold, to a deep crimson red, and his pupils changed from black to a striking dark blue. And just like that the world around them faded to black. Chuuya could feel Arahabaki squirming beneath his skin, as if trying to break free, and as if he was being strung along by an invisible puppeteer, Chuuya let it escape. 

From his body emerged a giant shapeless being. It emanated rage and Chuuya could practically taste the bloodlust dripping from it. Despite that, however, Chuuya could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. As he stared into Atsushi's eyes, he could not help but feel as if he was prey staring at a very dangerous predator. 

Just then, Atsushi's smile grew into a wide grin, and Chuuya stared in shock as a shapeless being emerged from him as well. Chuuya immediately noticed, however, that there was a stark difference between Arahabaki, and this being. Arahabaki craved violence and destruction, it was a God of destruction after all. This being on the other hand, while still releasing blood lust, did not reek of overpowering rage and the need to destroy. Instead, it radiated a mind shattering malice and despair that Chuuya had never felt before. If Chuuya could taste Arahabaki's aura, then he was drowning in the aura of this being, and the longer he stared at it, the more feelings of hopelessness, anguish and emptiness overwhelmed him. 

Arahabaki was a prideful being, but even they stepped back at the sight of whatever it was that had emerged from Atsushi's soul. If Chuuya were to rank them both on the hierarchy of angels, the other being would be of the highest order. And as he stared into Atsushi's blood red eyes, a nauseating feeling of fear and pressure overwhelmed his mind and he could feel himself begin to panic. Chuuya loved the thrill of fighting strong opponents, but never had he had such a strong urge to run away from one. That being was no ordinary opponent, and every instinct in his body screamed at him to get away. Doing just that, Chuuya ripped his gaze away from Atsushi's eyes, stumbling backwards, only to fall flat on his ass. Then, all of a sudden, the pressure disappeared. Chuuya's mind cleared of the fear it had been over-ridden with and he could finally inhale and exhale properly. 

With a shuddering breath, Chuuya opened his eyes to find that he was no longer on the couch. He was still in the living room of his penthouse, but now he was on the ground next to the coffee table. Atsushi stood above him with an innocent smile on his face, and as Chuuya returned his gaze, there was only one question in his mind.

"Who the hell is this kid?"

Chapter Text

Chuuya quickly collected himself, hurriedly rising off the floor and dusting off his clothes before clearing his throat and addressing the child in front of him. 

"I hope you were satisfied with what you saw Atsushi-kun. Though considering the monster hiding within your own mind, I doubt the presence of mine was anything too shocking to you." 

Atsushi giggled. "Don't sell yourself short Chuuya-san. Your ability is one of the strongest abilities I've ever seen before! Though I doubt we could even call your 'monster' an ability."

Chuuya just huffed at the younger's words and turned around, walking away from him and down the hallway. Atsushi watched after the older with a smile on his face, finally deciding that he wouldn't add the older to his constantly growing collection. Chuuya was much too special to be wasted in such a way. His raw power was most likely much, much stronger than his big brother's own ability, though he wasn't sure which of the two could be more deadly when used to its fullest potential. He'd just have to wait and see! Although he doubted his big brother would be interested in meeting Chuuya-san. He was probably busy scheming up his next big plan. The young boy giggled happily at the thought. 

He took Chuuya's jacket off of the back of the couch, covering his small body with it, before curling up under it on the couch and drifting off into a light sleep. 

***

Later that morning, Atsushi awoke to an unfamiliar yet delicious smell wafting through the penthouse. He slowly sat up on the couch, Chuuya's jacket sliding down his body to rest gently on his lap. He rubbed his eyes gingerly, trying to  massage the sleep out of them, while yawning and stretching as if he was a cat on a park bench on a sunny spring morning. The blouse he was wearing slipped off his shoulder as he stood up and walked into the kitchen to find the source of the smell.

Atsushi rubbed his eyes gently as he entered the kitchen, walking in on Chuuya making some kind of food in a big pot on the stove, before laying them on the food that was already done and waiting under transparent food covers on the island in the middle of the kitchen. 

"Morning you sleepy brat," Chuuya spoke, without turning away from the stove to face the younger boy.

Atsushi hummed in response, before sitting on one of the island stools.

"We have pancakes, pan fried sausages, scrambled eggs, rice, cubed tofu, sliced seaweed and I'm now finishing up the miso soup. Just take as much as you want, I made plenty," Chuuya rattled off to Atsushi as he stirred the miso soup a few more times before turning off the stove.

Atsushi was only vaguely sure what each food Chuuya had just listed to him was, since he had never eaten any of them before, but he piled a bit of everything onto one of the empty white, porcelain plates on the island, alongside a full, small bowl of miso soup. He sat on one of the island stools and began to dig into his meal.

Atsushi's moan at the overwhelming flavour of the food after the first bite startled Chuuya out of his thoughts. When Chuuya turned around to look at the boy, his cheeks were bright red and a wide relaxed smile was spread on his face.

"Mmmmmm!!!!!! This tastes so good!!!!!" Atsushi exclaimed happily. He began shoveling the food into his mouth, not letting any go to waste. 

Chuuya's shocked expression turned into a small smile as he chuckled, silently observing the younger boy.

"I'm glad you like it you brat."

Chuuya then began to plate his own portion of food, and sat down to eat it once he finished making himself a steaming cup of coffee, as well as pouring himself a glass of red wine. 

***

Once they had finished eating, Atsushi helped put away the remaining food, while Chuuya put the dirty plates and dishes into the dishwasher. It took about five minutes for everything to be packed away, and the island to be wiped down with a clean cloth, but soon they were done and ready to get going with their plans for the day.  

"Let me get some clothes for you Atsushi-kun. Then we can leave and head to my workplace," Chuuya told the younger, who nodded in response. 

Chuuya led Atsushi to his bedroom, entering the room before heading to the other side of it and digging through his cupboard and chest of drawers. As Chuuya dug around, Atsushi took some time to look around the room. 

The bedroom was quite large. The floors and walls were made of dark marble tiles, the former being mostly black with streaks of white and the latter being a deep burgundy colour with swirls of brown blended and mixed in. There was a canopy bed, with wine red sheets and blankets and its headboard pressed against the wall, in the centre of the left side of the room. On the right side of the bed, numerous cupboards and two chests of drawers lay against the wall. On the left side of the bed sat two tall bookshelves. An oval shaped vanity mirror, almost the size of the width of the bed, sat on the wall in front of the bed, underneath which sat a dressing table made of polished oak wood. On both sides of the mirror sat four stacked rows of floating bookshelves.

It was a beautiful room and Atsushi couldn't help but ogle at it in awe. He had never seen a room so intricately designed, using such a red centric colour palette that didn't somehow involve blood. As Atsushi continued to gaze around in wonder, Chuuya finally pulled out an outfit for the younger to wear.

"Here you go kid," he spoke to Atsushi, handing him a pile of clothes. The younger looked at the clothes silently before moving to put them on. Firstly, was a white blouse with the sleeves folded to just above the elbows, secondly was a pair of black knee length shorts with an overly long belt, and lastly some knee high white socks with some black boots that reached halfway up his calf. The final part of the outfit were some black suspenders, which Chuuya had to help him attach to his clothes as Atsushi had no idea what they were or how to wear them. 

The older lightly dusted off Atsushi's shoulders and neatened his collar before leading him out of the room. Chuuya picked up his cross bag full of paperwork and his other essentials items like his keys, wallet and phone before heading to the elevator, Atsushi trailing behind him. They passed through the lobby again before walking into the parking garage and hopping onto Chuuya's motorcycle.

"So where are we headed next Chuuya-san?" Atsushi inquired as they drove of into the streets of Yokohama. 

Without turning around, the redhead responded, "Before I take you on a tour of Yokohama, I'm gonna bring you to work with me. I have a few things to discuss with him, including you."

Atsushi giggled at the older man's statement.

"So I get to meet your boss? The head of the mafia? That's so cool Chuuya-san!" Atsushi exclaimed.

"I'm sure he's just as excited to meet you Atsushi-kun," Chuuya replied, although his face held a grimace more than a smile.

After about 15 minutes of driving through some traffic, the two soon arrived at a the centre of Yokohama, which housed the main compound of the Port Mafia, five gigantic charcoal black buildings, taller than even the building where Chuuya lived. To Atsushi, the five buildings reminded him of the villain's castle towers from the books he'd read, ominous and meant to strike fear onto the hearts of those who saw them. An intricate piece of art only a select few would ever be able truly understand the meaning of. A monument of the devil.

His eyes sparkled as they drove closer towards the Port Mafia headquarters. A new journey was about to begin.

***

A man sat at a highly expensive desk made of polished pine wood, inside of an overly sizeable and lavishly exquisite office. He wore a sharp suit, consisting of a white button-up, a black pinstriped suit jacket, black shoes, and black trousers. On top of the white shirt, he wore a purple and white striped tie. Over this ensemble, he donned a black trench coat and long, almost knee-length maroon scarf, left to hang untied over his shoulders. To close off the outfit, pearly white gloves adorned his hands, and a sleek yet expensive silver analog watch lay comfortably on his right wrist. 

The man was filling out some paperwork when suddenly a loud knock echoed throughout his office. Without looking up, the man called for the person who knocked on his door to enter. He heard two pairs of feet shuffle into his office, one a bit louder than the other, and smiled. Once the door to his office was closed, he spoke again.

"Good morning Chuuya-kun," Mori stated, finally looking up from his work. 

"Good morning boss," Chuuya replied, voice firm as he stood with his hands behind his back. Atsushi stood slightly behind him on his left side, eyeing around the office in awe. Mori smiled at this. 

"And good morning to our newest addition," he remarked, causing Atsushi to look at him. 

"Ohayo!" Atsushi casually exclaimed, waving at the man in greeting. 

"Did you get the email I sent you this morning, boss?", Chuuya enquired of the older man.

"I did receive it Chuuya-kun. And what an intriguing bit of information it held. I'm assuming this young man behind you is the one you spoke of?" Mori replied. 

"Yes boss." Chuuya then nudged Atsushi in front of him and gestured for him to introduce himself.

"Hello! I'm Nakajima Atsushi, and I'm fourteen! It's nice to meet you Mister Boss," Atsushi introduced himself. 

"It's lovely to meet you Atsushi-kun. You can call me Mori-san. I am the leader of the Port Mafia," Mori responded.

"Now I've heard some lovely things about you from Chuuya-kun, but I'd like to learn more about you myself. Why don't we have some tea together to chat, while your Chuuya-san goes to make an itinerary for your tour of Yokohama? How does that sound?" Mori asked, with a strange glow in his eyes. 

Atsushi hummed in thought.

"I'll even show you a present I bought for your arrival today," Mori included after silence from the young boy.

The mention of a present immediately made Atsushi perk up. His eyes sparkled and a giant smile grew across his face.

"Really?!?!?", Atsushi exclaimed, to which Mori nodded his head in agreement.

"Then my answer is yes!" Atsushi relied brightly, jumping up and down in excitement.

"You can go ahead Chuuya-kun. We'll be sure to have a lovely conversation by the time you get back," Mori says to Chuuya before looking back to Atsushi and beckoning him to come and sit in a chair across from his own. 

Chuuya nodded his head in agreement and made his way to exit the room. He hoped he'd made the right choice by telling his boss about Atsushi. The last thing he saw as he closed the office door was Mori reaching his hand out towards Atsushi's face.

Good luck Atsushi-kun.