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The days were getting colder and shorter, which suited Dazai just fine. Although he didn’t care much for the winter’s cold, it was common knowledge that his kind preferred the dark. Certainly, he was old and powerful enough to not sustain any damage by the sun’s rays anymore, but that didn’t mean that sunlight didn’t cause him a major headache, which he could very well live without (as he could any other pain).
Even now that the clouds were covering the sun, Dazai felt that natural draw to the shadows even if he could easily resist it. It was rather the cold which hastened his steps. He was just glad that (at least for a while) he was finished with his travels.
As of late there had been an increase of supernatural happenings in the area. As a vampire himself, Dazai could feel the influence of the upcoming blood moon all too well. It had caused a lot of small critters to act up, which in turn lead to a lot of humans asking for his help. With all the requests coming in, it had been weeks since he last set foot into the village he decided to reside in temporarily.
(Temporarily meaning he had been living here for nearly a century now. But could you fault an immortal being for losing track of time if the passage of time was a monotonous repetition of days on end?)
Each time he let the village and returned, he caught himself reminiscing about his life before. When he was still alright (but never quite content) with where he was. But it all ended when that one person he had felt most connected to was ripped from his life.
“If you could see me now would you be proud, Odasaku?” he thought to himself as he walked along the forest path to the village entrance. If had been decades since he left Yokohama and the Port Mafia behind. Decades since Oda Sakunosuke’s death. Multiple decades during which he tried to live on the brighter side, during which he did his best to uphold his dead friend’s ideals. Not killing humans or seeing them as livestock, protecting those weaker than him -
- trying to live in the light. Of course only metaphorically.
Sometimes he wondered if he was doing it right, if just trudging on without having a goal, without having ambitions was what Odasaku had in mind when he set Dazai on this path. Sure he could see the intention, but maybe Dazai was just fundamentally lacking something to also experience it. Still, as long as belonging to one side or the other didn’t make a difference to him, he would stay true to his promise.
As he moved along the village’s main street, Dazai was occasionally greeted by a villager out and about. Putting a fake smile on his face, he mostly reacted with short waves. Although he preferred to stay in his cottage at the edge of the village instead of interacting with the inhabitants too much, it had its perks that the village had accepted him in their midst. It made trading for the necessities easier and there was always someone ready to take care of his rabbits when he was out of town. He even had an agreement with the local butcher, receiving the blood of a fresh kill every now and then.
Dazai was quite abruptly torn from his thoughts by a gaggle of kids crossing his way. He recognized them as the children from Verlaine and Rimbaud’s orphanage as they would often play around in the village center during daytime, leaving laughter and sometimes chaos in their wake. Although he stopped quickly to not run into any of them, one little girl with pink hair still managed to stumble into him. While he had no trouble staying on his feet, the kid had less luck. The abrupt stop disoriented her, causing her to fall backwards. Although at least the girl didn’t hit her head, her palms where scraped from where she had used them to brace herself as she fell. When she started to sniffle, Dazai just sighed and crouched down to her height.
“Hey little one. That must have been a scare. You doing okay?” he asked with a calm voice. It wouldn’t do to cause a scene on the open street. All he wanted was to quickly reach his destination without many detours or trouble. He really wanted to just relax and be on his own for a while.
By now the girl’s companions had noticed her absence and stopped to see what was going on. Quite a few of the kids recognized him on sight, if the various voices calling out his name and the occasional shout of “It’s the vampire!” were to go by. A few had even turned around and were running to the girl’s side.
“Yuan! You okay?!” called one of the boys with gray hair. Dazai recognized him as the “leader” (as much as those kids could have one), who was always dragging the kids around on their pretend adventures. He stopped next to the girl, which thankfully had stopped her sniffling and nodded at her friend.
Dazai’s attention, however, was quickly caught by another kid. The boy had stopped in between them, as if he wanted to shield the other two kids from the vampire. Dazai hadn’t seen him before, because he was sure he would recognize him if he had: His bright red hair was wild and long strands were falling into his eyes, which burned a bright crystal blue. Currently, those eyes were boring into Dazai’s own.
“Stay back, monster!” he shouted, sticking out his chest as if to appear bigger. Which was quite difficult, seeing as he was a lot smaller than Dazai. Even crouching down, the brunet’s nose just reached the top of the boy’s head. When he didn’t react except for just staring and blinking, the little redhead stretched his arms to the side and took a step forward as if trying to push him back. Even if the kid tried to appear tough, Dazai could see his hands shaking just slightly.
“I won’t let you hurt them! If you want their blood, you’ll have to go through me, first!” he loudly declared, trying to appear confident and getting on the tips of his toes to better look into Dazai’s eyes. The brunet only huffed a breath.
“Nah… Not interested.” he simply said, getting up and patting imaginary dust from his trousers. That only seemed to infuriate the small one.
“What? Do you think I can’t take you! Come at me!” he screamed. His voice drew quite a bit of attention. From one of the village shops a man with long dark hair hurried over, putting a hand on the redhead’s shoulder and quickly drawing him back.
“Chuuya! What are you doing?!” he asked before turning to Dazai.
“I’m so sorry, Dazai. He’s just arrived a few days back, so he’s not quite settled in, yet.” the man explained.
Dazai just shrugged. “No problem, Rimbaud. Nothing I haven’t heard before.” be tried to placate the other. Rimbaud just sighed.
“That’s too generous of you, Dazai. And you, Chuuya, apologize!” he turned on the redhead, however, the boys just ripped his shoulder out of the man’s grip to stand just out of his reach. Those blue eyes focused again on Dazai, burning with anger and hatred.
“Never!” he cried, before running off and disappearing between two houses. The other kids were quick to follow, calling the boy’s name as they went after him. At his side, Rimbaud just sighed again, lifting a hand to rub his temples.
“Please don’t hold it against him. Chuuya’s circumstances are quite difficult. An acquaintance found him in a village down south. Said when he arrived, everything had been completely destroyed. No one is sure what happened. Chuuya was the only survivor, but the boy refuses to talk about it to anyone.” the dark-haired man revealed, wistfully looking where the boy had run off to.
Dazai just hummed. Unfortunately, it was not an uncommon story. Verlaine and Rimbaud had started their orphanage primarily to give kids like Chuuya, whose parent had been killed by the supernatural, a second chance. Although not all of them had come from such circumstances, those that did often were fearful of Dazai after they learned he was a vampire.
“It’s quite alright. I don’t expect that a kid that small can do me any harm.” Dazai replied, not really caring if one little boy held a grudge against him.
“Still we will have to talk to him when the kids return. However, I won’t keep you much longer. I’m sure you have other places to be.” With those words and a slight nod in his direction, Rimbaud bid his goodbye. Dazai watched the man leave, before continuing on his way. He still had a few stops before he could return to his cottage, where he could hopefully relax and enjoy a bit of solitude.
---
Night had fallen over the village quickly. In his cottage Dazai had settled down by the fire place with a book and a nice warm blanket. Although he had no complaints about winter’s darkness it didn’t mean that he was impervious to the bitter cold. Just a few hours earlier small white flakes had started to fall from the sky, quickly turning the surroundings white and quiet.
Quiet enough that it was easy to hear voices calling outside. Intrigued, Dazai stood and looked outside his window, seeing a few lights in the distance. It didn’t sound like anyone was calling his name or trying to come to his house specifically, but he decided it might still be a good idea to investigate what was going on outside. If only to see what the disturbance was about. Dressing in his warmest coat and donning his scarf and boots, Dazai left his house in search of the commotion.
He didn’t have to look for too long. A group of the villagers was striding along the forest’s edge, lighting their way with lanterns and calling out into the darkness. At the front was a frantic looking Rimbaud, held back from rushing into the thicket only by his partner’s firm grip. As he neared, Dazai finally understood that the villagers were calling a name. As he walked closer, it was Verlaine who noticed him first.
“Ah, Dazai. We’re sorry to disturb you this evening.” the blond greeted, still holding onto Rimbaud’s arm, who continued to call out for one of his charges. To call for Chuuya. The brunet was quick to wave the concern away, interested in other things.
“What happened? Why are you looking for one of your kids in the middle of the night?” he asked. Hearing the question Rimbaud turned away from the forest to grab Dazai’s sleeve. Verlaine steered them slightly to the side, letting the other villagers pass after exchanging a few words. Dazai couldn’t make out what the blond was saying over the hectic explanation Rimbaud was giving him.
“It’s Chuuya! He ran off! We were talking to him after dinner, trying to explain to him that you mean no harm. I mean you’ve been in the village for longer than we have. And you regularly help out with all sorts of trouble, so really we’re thankful to you for various things. But…” Rimbaud trailed off, releasing Dazai’s sleeve and rubbing his hands together. It was likely as much to keep them warm as it was also a nervous habit of his. When he seemed to lack the words to keep going, Verlaine continued.
“He didn’t believe us. Grew furious and thought we were trying to deceive him. He ran out before we could try to reason with him.”
“We tried to follow his footsteps, but with all that snow we lost his tracks. We were lucky that a few of our neighbors heard us calling out and offered to help.” Rimbaud added, grabbing his partner’s hand for comfort.
The weather certainly had taken a turn for the worse in the last hour, leaving a heavy white blanket on the ground. Although they were experiencing a windless night, the darkness and continued snowfall made tracking a small kid in the dark nearly impossible. If you were a human lacking night vision at least. Dazai would have quite an advantage if he were to help out in the search. If he was lucky and worked quick enough, he might still be able to track the redhead, even under these conditions.
As he was so often confronted with the choice between the “good and just” reaction and the option to just mind his own business, it was the thought of what dear Odasaku would have done in this situation which made his decision.
(And if he would ever be true to himself, Dazai would realize that while he was still considering what his old friend would do in certain situations, it took him less and less time to find the answer or decide on a path and follow through with it.)
“I will help you look for him. Can you show me where you lost him? I might still be able to see something you missed in the dark.” he offered. Although it was clear that the pair in front of him had been hoping for this offer to a certain extent, the relief upon hearing his words was immediate to see.
“Yes, yes of course! It was not too far from here!” Rimbaud exclaimed and tugged on Verlaine’s hand as he led their small group along the forest’s edge back in the direction of the orphanage. Dazai cast his focus on his surroundings, considering the tracks of the villagers that had passed by here in their search. They hadn’t gone too far, yet, when he stopped to take a closer look at a few low hanging branches and shrubs deeper in the forest.
“Did you lose him close by to here?” he called out to the pair.
“It was maybe a few more meters from here. Did you find something?” Verlaine asked.
“Someone passed by here, not too long ago. This bush here is nearly free of snow, but the branch above it is undisturbed. So someone small…” he mused, taking a few steps closer.
“Are you sure!? I can’t even see it without my lantern.” Rimbaud inquired with a hopeful tone. Dazai nodded.
“Quite sure. My vision is far better than yours. I should be able to follow the tracks quite easily.” he promised and turned to face the other two, contemplating. Before either of the two could offer their help, he spoke once more.
“I’m sure I can find him. However, it might be best if you wait at the orphanage for my return.”
“What!? No, Dazai, let me come with you!” the dark-haired man protested. Verlaine had to grip his shoulder tight before he stormed over to the vampire.
“I think he is right. We won’t be of much help in his search. And blindly going up and down the path didn’t do much either. We should be back and prepare everything for when Dazai brings Chuuya back.” the blond tried to appease his partner, always the more rational and analytical of the two.
“But…”
“We also need to tell the villagers that Dazai found something. We can still set up a patrol of the area, in case Chuuya turned back, but no one should be out too long in this cold.” Verlaine reasoned further.
“It’s also possible he already turned around and went back to your place. And what about the other kids? You shouldn’t leave them alone for too long.” Dazai insisted further. Slowly, Rimbaud crumbled under their combined arguments, his shoulders dropping in defeat. Cautiously, Verlaine put his arm around him to draw him closer and slowly steer him towards the other villagers. Just before Dazai could vanish between the trees to follow his trail, the dark-haired man called out to him.
“Dazai!”
Slowing to a stop, the brunet cast a last questioning glance over his shoulder.
“Please, bring him back to us.” Rimbaud implored.
With only a nod in return, Dazai disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
---
If there was one thing Dazai had to admit, then it was that the kid could cover quite a distance in a short amount of time. He had been following the small redhead for a while now, slowly walking deeper into the forest. Still, he felt only marginally closer to finding him. A few meters back he had found the first footprints in the snow, growing deeper as he continued on his path. Around him the snow kept falling as the vampire followed a winding path through the shrubbery, only the crunching beneath his feet and the swishing of branches brushing over his clothes heard around him.
The further he walked the more he wished to be back in his cottage, curled up with a good book. With the passing time the chill had slowly seeped through his coat and left his face tingling. If he wasn’t so sure that he was on the right track, he might have given up soon. However, as he was still reminiscing about the coziness of a warm fireplace and the suspension found in a good mystery, he heard something.
Intrigued he stopped, listening closely. Low sobbing sounded from a distance, not too much further ahead. With renewed purpose he strode towards the sound. It seemed the kid had heard his approach, as the sound grew muffled as if someone tried to quiet themselves behind the palm of a hand. He could hear shuffling, before the sobbing continued after a hitched breath.
Rounding another tree, Dazai finally caught a glimpse of the missing kid. He had huddled between the roots of a tree, shivering and curled into a small ball. As soon as Chuuya saw just who had come to his aid, his eyes grew big.
“No! N-no, no- stay back! D-don’t come closer!” he cried, trying to rush to his feet but stumbling backwards as one of his ankles gave way under his weight. Still he tried to scramble away and put as much distance between them as possible. Dazai however, wasn’t having it. With a few quick steps he drew closer to the kid and grabbed his arm to keep him from running away. Frantically, the kid tried to pull out of his grasp and when that didn’t work, to scratch at his hand and wrist.
“No! Le-let me go!” Chuuya screamed, pulling on the brunet’s grip with his whole body weight. Dazai, however, just waited until the kid had lost its energy, his struggles growing weaker until he turned loose-limbed but still shivering. When he was sure the redhead wouldn’t try to run anymore, he crouched down. The little one flinched as he came closer.
“I’m here to bring you back to the orphanage. Everything’s okay.” he said, but Chuuya just shook his head, tears gathering in his eyes.
“Pl-please… Don’t kill m-me…. please" he whispered, as the first tears run down his cheeks. Dazai sighed quietly, carefully wiping the tears away. The kid just continued to cry silently., not even protesting anymore in his stupor.
“Can you stand? We need to get back, you’ve been out in the cold for too long.” he muttered. Chuuya just shook his head, drawing his free arm close to his body.
“Hurts…”
“What hurts?”
“M-my leg…” the little one whimpered. Looking him over, Dazai could see that Chuuya had one of his legs stretched out instead of pulled in to his body. The same leg that had given away when he had tried to stand. Slowly, to avoid startling the other one, Dazai lifted the pant leg, sympathetically humming when he saw the slight swelling of his ankle.
“That must have hurt. Seems like you’ll get a piggy ride back, kid.” he declared. Sniffing the redhead looked up to him, still uncertain.
“Y-you… you won’t kill m-me?” he asked nervously,
“No I won’t. I won’t harm you.” Dazai confirmed. Seeing that the little one was still shivering and hardly dressed for the weather, he unwound the scarf around his neck to try and wrap the small redhead in some warmth. Then, still crouching he turned around to offer Chuuya his back. With a great amount of hesitation, a pair of small hands gripped his shoulders as the kid shuffled closer.
“Also you don’t have to worry. I only drink rabbit blood.” Nowadays. But he didn’t see the need to draw that distinction in front of a child that was still scared of him. Holding on to Chuuya’s thighs, Dazai stood up, carefully bouncing the boy on his back until he had him in a firm grip.
“But r-rabbits are small?” the redhead questioned with slight confusion, tightening his grip on the other’s shoulders as Dazai began his path back towards the village.
“I don’t need that much. A rabbit every now and then is more than enough for me.” he responded. Mostly, it was a matter of self-control. A lot of vampires, especially the newly turned ones, just loved to overindulge because consuming blood was similar to a drug to them. It took maybe a pint of blood every fortnight to keep one of his kind comfortably fed, however, most didn’t see a sense in restriction if they could just take without any consequence for themselves.
“But… do they t-taste different?” Chuuya asked, subconsciously leaning into Dazai’s warmth as he got distracted by their conversation.
“The taste is quite the same.” Dazai replied, as he ducked underneath a few branches in his way. Stopping for a moment, he looked out for the one of the markings he had carved into the trees on his way in to guide his way back to the village.
“Then… why?”
Dazai hummed enquiringly, finally spotting a scratch in the bark of an oak tree and proceeding in that direction.
“Why… why did the ot-other vampires kill my family.” was the distraught question, as the redhead buried his face in the back of Dazai’s neck as if to hide his renewed tears. The brunet let him have a moment before he pried into it further.
“Is that what happened to your village?”
His only response was a nod and a hitching breath. After a few moments, a quiet voice spoke into the silence of the forest.
“They br-broke down our door. Father tried t-to keep th-them out, but I saw one of them bite h-him. It bled a lot…”
There was a short pause as Chuuya had to swallow down a few sobs. Dazai kept quiet, just waiting for the kid to continue at his own pace.
“Mother brought me to the c-cellar and told me to hide… I-I came out when everyt-thing was quiet again… b-but…” the redhead pressed out, trying to curl into a small ball on Dazai’s back with every word spoken. The brunet shushed him softly, rucking the boy up on his back a bit more to break him out of his spiral.
“Shush, you don’t have to tell me, if it’s too hard.” he placated. For a bit they continued in silence, as the boy slowly got his composure back and relaxed again in Dazai’s grip. At some point, the brunet wondered if the kid had fallen silent for the rest of their trip, when his voice rose again.
“Why did th-they attack us? Why did they k-kill everyone?”
Chuuya sounded exhausted and strangely detached, as if he didn’t even notice the question slipping out. Dazai sighed, contemplating how to answer him.
“There are vampires out there that just do so because they can. Because it’s fun to them. They are stronger than any human and they like to prove it. A lot of supernaturals think that way.” the brunet explained.
“But w-what about you?” the little one asked curiously, seeming to return more to the present again as he engaged in their conversation. At his query, a short huff escaped Dazai.
“Well… Let’s just say a good friend showed me that just because you’re stronger it doesn’t mean you are worth more than another. He showed me that being stronger doesn’t mean it’s your right to decide over another’s life.”
The small redhead seemed to contemplate his answer, not quite sure yet what to make of it.
“It’s the same with humans, too. There are good and bad people, just as there are good and bad vampires. Or other supernatural creatures. Unfortunately, a lot of them let their strength over humans corrupt their judgement. Heck, if you ever meet a vampire other than me, you better keep far away, okay?” Dazai added to his explanation.
Chuuya’s reaction to that was a subdued “okay” before he fell silent once more. This time no further questions or thoughts were offered, so Dazai strode on, quickening his step to get them out of the thicket in quick strides.
It took not much longer and he could smell the smoke of burning fire wood and see the fumes from the village’s chimneys. As he stepped out of the cover of the trees he could see the lantern of a still patrolling villager. While walking over, he nudged Chuuya lightly with his shoulder.
“Not much longer until you’re home, kid. Hold on a bit longer.” he offered, to which the boy lifted his head from where it was resting on Dazai’s neck. Not soon after a man run over, having spotted the pair emerging in between the trees. In his hands he was carrying a blanket that was promptly thrown over the small child and tucked around his shoulders and over his head.
“Found him, did ya, Dazai? Let’s bring him in quickly. I’m sure they’re waiting eagerly.” the villager exclaimed, smiling toothily and patting Dazai on the shoulder. Letting the man trudge through the snow in front of him to light the way (not that he needed it), the vampire fell in step behind him.
As they got closer, small fingers buried themselves into the muscles of his shoulders, not enough to hurt but enough to be noticeable.
“Everything okay?” he asked, turning his head to the side. But the angle and the blanked thrown over the little one’s head prevented him from observing the kid’s expression properly. Haltingly, Chuuya answered.
“Won’t they… w-won’t they be angry with me? I ra-ran away…” he trailed off in a nervous tone. A small smile emerged on Dazai’s face. As far as he knew Verlaine and especially Rimbaud…
“They won’t be angry. Just relieved and happy to have you back. If I were you, I would rather worry if they will ever let you out of their sight again after all this blows over.” he joked, trying to lighten the kid’s mood. If the small huff he felt at the back of his neck was anything to go by, he had managed that goal.
Not long after, they arrived at the fence of the orphanage. Before they could even cross over the threshold, the front door flew open and a disheveled Rimbaud hurried over to them with Verlaine close on his heels. Dazai had seen the dark-haired man staring out the front window long before the light of their lantern had been noticed.
“Dazai! Is Chuuya with you?!” was the hurried call, hope and caution bleeding into his tone. Dazai could barely turn to the side to show his precious cargo, before the other man was upon them, crying the boy’s name once more as he took the redhead’s face between his hand. Stroking his thumbs over cold cheeks, his eyes roamed over the young boy’s face.
“God, Chuuya! We were so worried! Please, please don’t ever do this again! Are you okay? Oh, what are we still doing out here? Come, come inside! Sweetheart, you’re completely frozen!” Rimbaud fussed, tugging at Dazai’s arm to lead him to the orphanage. After biding a quick goodbye to their excort, Verlaine hurried ahead of them to reopen the door before ushering their little group inside.
“In here, come sit by the fire and warm up. I’ll bring you some tea, okay?” the dark-haired man announced, before quickly striding into the kitchen to put some water on the oven. As he stepped out, Dazai carefully crouched in front of the fire place to set Chuuya down into a pile of blankets prepared for him, before waving his hand to draw Verlaine’s attention.
“The kid sprained his ankle. It was quite swollen, so you should stabilize it overnight and call the doctor in the morning.” he remarked. The blond nodded gratefully.
“Thank you Dazai. I don’t know what we would have done without you, tonight. Won’t you stay for tea? I’m sure we have some blankets for you, if you’d like to stay instead of trekking back to your home tonight.”
“No, that’s quite alright. I’d prefer to sleep in my own bed.” he countered. The other just patted his shoulder once to show his appreciation, understanding that the vampire preferred to keep to his own and would surely like to avoid waking to a gaggle of kids running around in the morning.
As Dazai made to stand, a slight tug on his sleeve brought his gaze down to Chuuya. The boy was nervously chewing his lip, his eyes glistening in the flickering light of the fire.
“Mr. Dazai… thank you.” he whispered shyly, trying to smile at the adult through his exhaustion. Smiling back, he ruffled through red hair before standing.
“Just Dazai is fine. And no problem, squirt.” he said, earning a few grumbled protest from the kid. Before he left the room, he turned around once more.
“See you around… Chuuya.” he bid his goodbye.
“Good night, Dazai.” was heard as he left the little one behind, calling a short farewell to Rimbaud who was still preparing tea.
As he closed the door to the orphanage behind himself, he took a deep breath in the chilled outside air. Around him the snow continued to fall silently.
“Seems like my break will be cut short after all. There are some vampires I have to take care of soon. Right, Oda?” he thought to himself as he vanished in the shadows of the night.