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Akutagawa Ryuunosuke was walking through the halls of one of the Port Mafias' many bases when he heard it. A single scream. An uncomfortably familiar scream.
“Weretiger.” He whispered, before purposefully striding down the hall to where the scream had come from. When he opened the door he froze in shock. The weretiger was hanging from the ceiling, covered in so much blood, fresh and dried, that he couldn’t see the exact injuries. After a moment's pause, he processed the two other people in the room. Rashomon lept forwards, skewering the two people. He walked forwards, easily using his ability to break the cuffs off, catching the weretiger before they could hit the floor. Throwing the kid over his shoulder as gently as possible, he started his journey out of the building.
– - –
Ryuunosuke threw the weretiger in the backseat of the nondescript Port Mafia car. He then climbed into the driver's seat, starting the car.
“Hnnnng. What's going on?”
“I’m…” he sighed. “Rescuing you. You're my rival, my enemy to defeat. What was the date when you were kidnapped?” And then the weretiger said something that made his blood run cold. “Weretiger…” the body in the backseat tensed. “That was a month ago.” As he drove, his mind whirled. Why didn’t the morons at the agency rescue him?
– - –
“Come on, get up.” Atsushi blinked up at Akutagawa, before accepting the offered hand. They winced as they moved. “Why haven’t your injuries healed?” This they could answer.
“They were very proud of this. They had something that kept my ability from healing me. They coated everything they used on me with it.” Akutagawa hissed.
“It’s not something that works on everyone.” He started as he helped Atsushi out of the car. “They must have used your blood to make it. But that also means that they only have the solution as long as they have enough of your blood.” Atsushi looked around.
“This isn’t the agency.” They stated.
“No. This is where I live. I’m not giving you back to those morons who didn’t seem to be doing anything to save you from my perspective.” Atsushi looked at him, letting out a soft
“Oh.”
– - –
“Stay put. I need to go buy first aid supplies.” Atsushi laughed weakly.
“I can’t exactly go anywhere like this.”
– - –
*Three weeks later*
– - –
“Hey, we haven’t seen Atsushi for a while, have we?” Dazai asked, and it slowly dawned on the other members of the Armed Detective Agency that no, they hadn’t. They’d just assumed that they were on a trip of some kind.
“Now that you mention it, there are a lot of organizations out to get them.” Yosano said.
“Hey, Ranpo! Find them!” Dazai called over.
– - –
And that was how every member of the agency except the president found themselves in front of what Ranpo had deduced to be Akutagawas apartment. They pressed their ears to the door.
“Honestly, idiot, I’m glad you’ve graduated to band-aids. You used so many bandages you looked like Dazai but less wasteful.”
“Not exactly my fault, dummy.” And that was Atsushi!
“Oh shut up.” Dazai opened the door.
“Hello? Anybody home?” He called. The rest of the agency followed him in, gasping quietly at the sight in what was presumably the living room. Atsushi was sitting on the couch in their underwear while Akutagawa sat next to them with a large box of colorful band-aids. But that wasn’t the most surprising thing. The most surprising thing was the scars covering so much of Atsushi.
“What happened?” Kyoka asked quietly, fearing the answer. Akutagawa glared.
“He was tortured. For a whole month before I found him.” Dazai stepped forwards, only to stop as Akutagawa practically lept from where he was sitting to stand defensively in front of Atsushi. “Don’t come any closer.” Now this was a surprise to Dazai. Last he saw Akutagawa, the man was full of respect for him and would do nearly anything he asked.
“What, don’t you trust me?”
“They’ve been missing for a week short of two months from your agency of morons. And you only now decided to come looking. So no, I don’t trust any of you.”
“And why should we trust you? You’ve repeatedly tried to kill them!” Kunikida exclaimed before Kyoka spoke up.
“You said you rescued them?” There was a dark gleam in Akutagawa's eyes.
“Yes. And I hunted down and killed everyone who tortured him, so tough luck if you want revenge.”
“Why? You’ve been very insistent that you hate them.” Kyoka responded. Akutagawa sighed.
“At first it was just because I was mad that someone else hurt my rival. But, well, I guess they grew on me.” He said, blushing heavily. Kyoka nodded.
“I think we can go guys. Atsushi is clearly safe with him.” A hand tugged at Akutagawas wrist.
“You can sit down, Ryu. I don’t think they're going to physically hurt me.” The agency winced at the implication that they were going to hurt him some other way. He was instantly proven partly wrong when the moment Akutagawa sat down, Dazai darted forwards and slung Atsushi over his shoulder.
“Alright Atsushi, time to go.”
“Wait! No! I wanna stay with Ryu!” Atsushi yelled, frantically trying to escape Dazai's hold. “RYU!” He screamed, reaching out to their friend. Akutagawa reached back, desperately trying to reach him as Dazai smoothly dodged him. Kunikida knocked Akutagawa out, and with that, the agency left the apartment.
– - –
When Ryuunosuke woke up, he cried.
– - –
Once at the agency headquarters, Atsushi refused to do anything, and the other members of the agency pretended it was solely due to trauma, and not because they were violently ripped away from their friend.
– - –
Not too long after they were forcibly brought to the agency, something happened.
– - –
Atsushi had been walking past Kunikidas desk when they bumped into it. This almost knocked over Kunikidas mug, leading to Atsushi trying to catch it, but instead fumbling it, spilling tea all over the desk, and dropping the mug on the floor, leading to it shattering.
“That was my favorite mug!” Kunikida exclaimed. He looked at the trembling Atsushi. “And you ruined all my paperwork!”
“I-I-I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to, It was an accident! I swear!”
“You’re just mad we saved you.”
“Y-you took me from my friend!” Kunikida glared, before picking Atsushi up by the collar and throwing them into an office, locking the door. “No!” Atsushi tried the door just to be sure, and it was locked. Atsushi backed up, trembling. Before they could fully dissolve, however, they looked around the office, sighing in relief when they saw a phone. They dialed a number they’d memorized.
– - –
“Who is it.” Ryuunosuke asked, stopping when heard his friend's trembling voice.
“Help…”
“What happened?!” He asked, frantically, pulling his coat on and racing out the door.
“I-I accidentally bumped into Kunikida's desk and fumbled his mug and spilled tea all over his paperwork and dropped the mug and he said it's his favorite mug and I think he thinks I did it on purpose because he accused me of being made they ‘saved’ me and he locked me in an office!”
“Woah, take a deep breath. Or several. I’ll be there soon.”
– - –
The agency’s security was laughably lax. He supposed it was because the agency was so powerful, but it was still sad.
“What are you doing here?!” Kunikida shouted when he kicked the door open.
“I’m actually here because of what you did. I’m just here to rescue Atsushi, then I’ll be out of your hair.” He brushed past them, not waiting for an answer. “Atsushi?” He called, and was met with a quiet knocking on one of the doors. He easily broke it open. “Can I pick you up?” He asked gently.
“Yeah…” He scooped up his friend, broke open a window, and lept out, Rashomon catching them as he left the agency behind them.