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Kouyou found herself storming down the hallway, muttering curses as she marched—stomped—towards Chuuya’s office.
He had skipped the meeting; did that mean he knew about what Dazai had done? How was he handling it? Why hadn’t he said anything? He was one of the most loyal members of the mafia Kouyou knew.
She all but slammed the door open, barging into the room. She honestly half expected Dazai to be in there fighting with Chuuya, as was usually the scene playing out whenever she visited Chuuya’s office.
But no, Chuuya was alone, and the room was uncharacteristically silent.
“Chuuya-kun!” She cried, noting how his expression didn’t change at all at her presence. Normally, he would always react to her presence; he loved when she visited, and he hated when she was mad at him.
But he didn’t so much as glance up at her, staring at the report on his desk like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
She slammed her hands down on either side of the sheet, finally causing Chuuya to look up at her.
“Did you know?”
The rage in her voice was audible; the feeling was near-indescribable, as she was unused to feeling so angry. She was always so calm and collected, in control of her emotions.
But she was still human. And right now Chuuya looked as though he might not be, with his gaunt face and rigid body. And, oh god, the near dead look in his eyes.
Slowly, Chuuya nodded.
Kouyou sucked in a breath, praying to every god she knew that Chuuya hadn’t been in on the conspiracy. That would brew distrust amongst the executives, whether or not they cared that Dazai had taken over as boss.
“How long?”
Chuuya sighed, pushing his chair away from his desk and standing up to properly meet Kouyou’s eyes.
“Since last night.”
Kouyou blinked. “Did you…?”
Chuuya shook his head at her unspoken question.
“I didn’t help Dazai.”
Kouyou let out a sigh of relief, before frowning at Chuuya. “But, you knew that Dazai was going to do it.”
“Well,” Chuuya bit his lip. “Not… exactly.”
Kouyou scowled at him. She was getting sick of not getting a damn proper answer.
“Chuuya-kun,” she huffed, pulling herself away from the desk to stand up straight. “Tell me about last night, then.”
Chuuya froze—actually froze— in a way Kouyou had never seen before.
“...Chuuya-kun?”
He shook his head, teeth gnawing into his bottom lip like it was his lifeline.
“I-” His voice broke. What had happened to her Chuuya?
“Dazai said he would deal with the problem…” Chuuya shrugged, avoiding Kouyou’s eyes. The action was so unlike Chuuya, she had half a mind to ask if this was the work of someone’s ability. “He didn’t explicitly say that he was going to kill Mori, but it was… heavily implied.”
“What problem, Chuuya-kun?” Kouyou frowned, stepping around the desk to approach Chuuya. She didn’t miss the way he flinched when she placed her hand on his shoulder. “What was Dazai solving for you? I’ve never known you to rely on Dazai to fix your problems, ever.”
Chuuya frowning, biting into his lip once again. Kouyou really wanted to tell him to break that habit; he was going to ruin his lips if he kept that up.
“Mori, he-” His voice broke again, and Chuuya lowered his head to the floor, doing anything and everything to keep Kouyou from seeing his face. “I- I can’t-”
Kouyou sighed; it was clear that something was bothering him, something that needed to be addressed. But he had never looked so fragile before…
Kouyou reached for him, putting a gentle hand beneath his chin and bringing him back up to face her.
“You don’t need to worry, lad.” She brought a gentle hand to press between his shoulder blades, right in the pressure point that should serve to calm him down a little.
“There’s something wrong, I can tell.” She huffed, pulling him closer until his face was pressed into her chest, and he was clutching at her robes while he was most definitely trying to keep from choking out some sort of cry.
“If it’s too hard, we can revisit this conversation later…?”
He shook his head against her chest, grip tightening in the fabric of her kimono.
His voice, pressed into her chest, was barely a whisper.
“I don’t want to keep it inside, Ane-san.” His voice cracked, the poor thing. “Please, don’t make me keep it down.”
She wrapped both of her arms around him, encasing him in her large sleeves as she held him close for him to cry into her chest.
What was wrong? He had never cried like this. She’d only ever seen tears of frustration or loss, but never seemingly crying for himself.
What had done this? What had broken him and turned him into this? Whatever was at fault, it was something he didn’t deserve.
All she needed was to know what had caused this, and she could finish it off quickly herself.
But for now, Chuuya needed her. That much was evident.
“Now, Chuuya-kun, there’s no reason to worry.” She said softly, hand coming up to stroke his hair gently. “I just didn’t think you would want to talk about whatever was bothering you right now. But if you’re ready…”
Chuuya nodded against her chest, and she felt her heart break a little. Why was her little boy so silent all of a sudden? Where was his usual fire? Where was the passion and determination?
He didn’t try to pull away from her arms as he chose to respond.
“Mori, he- he touched me.”
She felt herself freeze. Touch? As in…
No, it couldn’t be. Mori wouldn’t do that. Not to Chuuya. Not…
He wouldn’t, right?
“H-he wouldn’t stop, but I- I begged him to stop.” His voice broke, and he nuzzled his face further into Kouyou’s chest. She could only react by holding him more firmly as he pressed on.
“He told me- told me it was my place to stay and- and let him.” Chuuya hiccuped on a sob. “So I did… I- I let him. It’s my fault, Ane-san-”
“Chuuya-kun.” Kouyou wasn’t exactly sure how she had managed to find her voice, but at the sound of her baby blaming himself, she knew she had to say something. “What- how was he touching you?”
Chuuya hiccuped, drawing in several shaky breaths before he could answer again.
“He- down there.” He scuffed his shoe on the carpet uncomfortably, and Kouyou felt her heart sink in her chest all the way down to her stomach.
No… it couldn’t be…
“And then… he was inside-”
Chuuya cut off again, sobs seemingly choking him as they burbled out tenfold. Kouyou just about felt her heart crack right then and there.
“I- I couldn’t- couldn’t stop it, Ane-san!” His cries came out sharper, seemingly cutting into Kouyou’s skin, the shards stabbing more holes and cracks into her heart. “I- I p-promise, I tri- tried!”
“Shh,” she rubbed at his back softly, simultaneously running her fingers through his ruffled hair; it looked like he’d had a rough night of sleep, if he’d gotten any with all the tossing and turning which must have been going on.
“Don’t worry, Chuuya-kun. I understand.” She mumbled softly, wishing Dazai had spared a little of Mori for her to skewer. Her grip on the trembling boy tightened. “It wasn’t your fault. You did everything you could to stop it.”
She took a deep breath in, exhaling heavily.
“Knowing Mori, I should have seen something like this coming.” She gently pulled at his bangs, carding her fingers through them almost absentmindedly, like she was acting out her apology rather than just simply speaking it.
“I’m so sorry, Chuuya-kun.”
He shook his head adamantly, looking up at her with wide, watery eyes. Damn it, she would protect this boy with everything she had, even if it killed her. This was her little boy, shaking and sobbing in her arms.
Never again. I won’t let this happen ever again, baby.
“Don’t be sorry, Ane-san.” He muttered, voice coming out strained and weak. “It’s not your fault either.”
“I’m sorry that it happened to you anyway,” Kouyou muttered, releasing her grip slightly so that he could stop straining his neck to look at her. “This kind of thing should never happen to people, least of all with someone you should be able to trust.”
Her fist clenched into the back of Chuuya’s shirt, and she had to be mindful to not also clench her other fist into Chuuya’s hair.
“If Mori wasn’t already dead,” she found the words biting, frigid. “I’d find a way to deal with him myself.”
She finds that she can’t even blame Dazai for what he did, because now she understood; if Dazai hadn’t killed Mori, Kouyou might’ve.
No. She would’ve. She was certain of that.
She continued to hold Chuuya until he managed to calm down, apologizing profusely for leaving a mess of Kouyou’s kimono. Though, she had assured him that it was no big deal, instead insisting that she was more worried about him than something as simple as her clothing.
“I’m fine, Ane-san.” Chuuya said with a slight smile. His voice sounded better now that she’d gotten him a glass of water. “Dazai has been taking good care of me.”
Kouyou blinked. Dazai, taking care of someone? She knew that the two were close, but she hadn’t thought that it extended very far beyond typical partners. If the two of them were even in the same room, it would’ve been a miracle to find them not fighting and yelling for once.
She found the notion of Dazai being caring… a little amusing.
“Has he now?”
The smirk was evident enough in her voice to cause Chuuya to look up at her, his face going a little red when he met her eyes.
“I stayed the night in his room last night.” He mumbled, looking back down into his water glass. “Felt safer there. Didn’t get a lot of sleep though.”
“Understandable,” Kouyou nodded, taking in his messy hair, still not completely combed from her fingers earlier. “I can tell, too. I hope you get some better sleep tonight, if possible.”
Chuuya nodded in turn, taking another sip from his water.
“I- thank you. For listening.” He glanced back up at her, face flushing a little more. “And, for not… judging me.”
Kouyou felt her heart ache at that.
“Chuuya-kun, I would never judge you. Not for something like this.” She felt red-hot anger building up in her chest, making her blood boil as she thought back to Mori. “I would only judge the person who did this to you.”
Chuuya scanned her face, seemingly looking for something. He seemed to know what she was thinking, judging by the small hum he made.
“I see.” He scrunched his shoulders. “Thank you anyway, though.”
She placed her hand on his shoulder, rubbing her thumb across it a few times to soothe the building tension there.
“Of course, my boy.”
She offered him a smile as he looked up to meet her eyes.
“Anything for you.”
-
Dazai frowned as Chuuya refused to come back to his bedroom.
“I need to get used to sleeping by myself again, mackerel!”
He was pouting, voice huffy and face slightly red from the constant bickering since Dazai had been pestering him, following him all the way up to Chuuya’s room.
To be completely honest, the sight made Dazai’s heart swell with pride. Only he was able to bring out the full extent of Chuuya; his livelihood was slowly coming back after the incident.
“But what if Chuuya can’t sleep?” Dazai whined, well aware of how childish he sounded right now; it was kind of the point, to instigate Chuuya even more. “What kind of master would I be if I let my dog get a shitty night’s sleep?”
Chuuya made to kick Dazai’s shin, and—though he saw it coming from a mile away—the fact that the chibi was acting more and more like his usual self as time went on urged him to allow the kick to land. It wasn’t too hard of a kick, but it would probably still leave a light bruise.
“If I need you again,” Chuuya huffed, causing Dazai to look back up from cradling his shin. “I’ll come find you.”
Dazai offered him a smile. “Promise?”
Chuuya flicked him in the nose, causing Dazai to reel back dramatically and clap his hand over the injury, letting out an indignant noise of surprise.
“Chuuya!”
The chibi ignored his whining, giving him the playful smile he had missed oh so very much.
“As long as you let me in,” Chuuya chuckled just slightly. “I’ll always come looking for you.”
Dazai felt his chest expand at the thought, a warm feeling flickering to life within his chest; seemingly right beneath his lungs, causing them to inflate like paper lanterns.
“My door is open.” Dazai muttered; a promise.
Chuuya raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Always,” Dazai insisted, flicking at Chuuya’s forehead lightly in return. The latter merely huffed, rolling his eyes in a playful manner.
Dazai felt his heart swell, though he chastised it and forced it to shrink back to where it wasn’t trying to pound out of his chest.
“Always, for you.”