Chapter Text
Two steps landed on the porch of a flowery, large home, probably bigger than it should have been given it only housed a single old woman. The owner of the steps shifted his posture, staring up at the door, and wondered when the last time he had been here was. Maybe 12 years ago? No, he had to have been younger than ten. He sighed, forgetting his mental debate, and knocked on the door, standing back and waiting for an answer while fingering the suitcase beside him idly. It came in a wobbly yell that seemed to echo through multiple rooms, screaming,
“Just come in, it's unlocked! The fucking doctor said I can’t get up for another two days because of this damned heart, so I’m in the living room!”
Taken aback for a moment, the man eventually sighed and opened the door, entering the spacious house and rolling his suitcase into a corner. He then navigated his way into the living room and spotted the old woman, walking up and giving her a small hug.
“Glad to see you’re still alive, Grandma.”
“Come on, Chuuya. You know me better than that. They’ll never take me out that easily.”
Chuuya furrowed his eyebrows at her. “They?”
“The fucking doctors! They think if I keep myself from excitement and sit around all day, my life will be preserved. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? I should be exercising my heart, not keeping it cautious and on watch. Stupid professionals..” she ended, mumbling and crossing her legs sassily. Chuuya smiled, already being well accustomed to his grandma’s constant complaints, and he sat down in a chair next to her. He couldn’t remember if she’d ever said a single wise word in her life, she’d just yap about her interests or her complaints, and be loud about everything. Some people said it ran in the family, but Chuuya wasn’t about to prove that to them in front of her. After a minute of small talk, she eyed him and decided to speak.
“So, how long are you staying? A week or two? It better not be any longer.”
“As if,” he scoffed at her. “I’ll be staying all summer until you get better, so you won’t be out of my sight at all.”
“But your job?” She questioned, ignoring the fact she was now under surveillance. “You just graduated, right?”
“I can make art wherever I go. Kouyou supports me anyway, so I’ll be fine for a while.” He waved his hand casually and also crossed his legs.
“You’re getting spoiled, that’s what I think,” she humphed, not looking at him. “Your sister’s stupidly rich, but that doesn’t mean you deserve half of it either. She should keep her fortune to herself.”
“It’s only because she’s dating the most famous surgeon in Japan,” he commented. “The money I’m getting isn’t even a dent to what she makes. It’s scary.”
“Stupid rich people,” his grandma scoffed, holding her nose up. A second later she remembered something and her head came back down to look at Chuuya. “But aren’t you gonna sign into your rented home or something? Don’t just sit here being idle, be grateful of your ability to move and settle in already! I won’t take you hanging around any longer. And if you need help, I’ll just be here, like I can do anything else.” The end turned into an angry complaint, but Chuuya ignored it and eventually got up to grab his stuff, saying he’d see her later, and went off to find his temporary abode, not having anything else to do anyway.
This was day one of a whole summer spent in his grandma’s little town, nudged in between two mountain ranges and almost impossible to get to without a bumpy, slow ride up a narrow, five mile road that seemed to never end. But it was worth it, and she didn’t have anyone else to look after her anyways. Her heart condition really concerned him sometimes, but she was too proud to let anyone into her house to help her, so he was forced to rent out a small home nearby, planning to practically live in her’s all day anyway. There was nothing she was going to be able to do about it; a victory for him. It did get frustrating to have such a stubborn grandma sometimes.
Well. Time to find the landowner and notify him of his arrival.
——————————
The forest was a nice place to be. Of course, the townsfolk would often call it haunted and full of spirits and apparitions, but once you got to know it it was surprisingly pretty empty. Aside from the occasional stray yokai that never stayed long, Dazai was mostly in there alone, surviving by himself off of berries and rodents.
He was a hengeyokai, a type of apparition that could shapeshift between an animal and a human, and Dazai’s form was a fox with dark, lifeless eyes. To him, it wasn’t just a little thing he could transform into, it was a part of his self, of his being. Besides, he couldn’t be considered human because of it.
He had started off as a stray being, wandering around through different places and towns, before he was taken in by a clan and began to serve it. No, he wasn’t taken in. To his memory, he was rather kidnapped. It wasn’t his decision to become one of its many servants, he kind of just accepted it because he didn’t know what else to do with his existence. It was a bore. At least with the clan, things would happen.
Dazai was used for many things, including spying, thieving, and occasionally murder. The boss liked his eyes; they told him that he could use him for whatever he pleased and it wouldn’t affect him in the least. And for a long time it didn’t. He carried out his missions like a lifeless soul, ignoring the consequences and just seeking a way to feel alive. That was until he found a friend, just a normal human who had made the wrong decisions and gotten involved in the clan, and was woken up from his trance.
It was because of the boss that he died.
Dazai decided to never forgive him.
He decided to leave. Leaving a clan of that size and strictness was not an easy task, and yet Dazai with his clever fox brain managed to pull it off, slipping out when no one expected it. However his absence was noticed, and he spent two rough years slipping through their fingers and hiding in irregular spots, spending weeks with no food or shelter. Whatever the pain was, it didn’t matter as long as he was away from the prison that murdered his only friend.
And then one day he met a lonely spirit who informed him of a small town, nudged between two ranges and protected by a god of hospitality, where he could stay unfound. It was the god’s gift to the apparitions of that area, that whoever found themselves under the area of that forest could stay protected for as long as they needed, as long as not a single human who lived in the town encountered their true self.
And so Dazai, only four months ago, took to living in the woods, spending most of his time in his fox form.
It was a life of boredom and loneliness, but it was safe, and it was better than where he was before.
——————————
“Chuuya, get over here will you?”
Chuuya, a victim to extreme heat and work, slumped over into his grandma’s bedroom and stared at her with drooping eyes.
“I thought you hated the fact that I had come to help you, what happened?”
“It’s more convenient than I had expected,” she shrugged, propped up on a heavenly amount of pillows. “Why would I throw away a perfect chance for someone to do all my work for me? I mean I’d love to do it, but I’m kind of handicapped and this is getting fun.”
“You a sadist or something?” He panted, still leaning in the doorway.
“Only the spirit of my dead husband could tell you that,” she answered proudly. Chuuya stared at her horrified. “Anyways, the thing I’m saddest about right now is the fact that I can’t get the rosemary out in the forest, and it only tastes good around now. Like great timing, fucking doctors. They think they know everything.”
Chuuya sighed. “Your point is?”
“Oh yeah, go out and get some for me. I won’t miss out on spicing up my meals because I can’t leave the house and get it fresh myself.”
“Yeah, like I even know where it is!” He fought back. “Isn’t that place supposed to be packed with spirits too? Do you want me to interview your husband or something and find out what you were into?”
“Packed with spirits my ass!” His grandma laughed back at him. “That’s the purest forest you’ll ever find. It’s surprising too, given the shrine of this village is of a god of hospitality. I guess not many apparitions need it. Oh shut up-“ her hand went over and crashed into the mobile heart monitor she had by her bed, which had started beeping due to the rise in her heart rate. “Anyway, it’s not that hard to find. Just go straight in behind the house and you’ll find it in less than a mile. Don’t act like it’s the end of the world, you came here to help me right?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled, turning around and disappearing into the hallway. Caring for his ill grandma was one thing, but doing every task that arose for her? Now that was a bit much. Nonetheless, he found a basket, rolled open the door to the back, and stepped out of the house to run the tenth errand of the day. It was only 12 too. Freaking forced labor.
The forest was more peaceful than he had anticipated, so soon he found himself looking around at the soft scenery, treading along in the bright grass. The only sounds around were the surrounding bird calls and occasionally the rustle of a rabbit crossing his path; it was a nice area and he regretted judging it so harshly earlier. He still had no idea how he was going to find that rosemary though.
As expected, after only five minutes he ended up getting lost, wishing he had brought a map with him, then realizing maps of this distant forest probably didn’t exist. Sighing in frustration, he gripped the basket tighter and went stomping off in a random direction, hoping his instincts would direct him in the right way, even if they in fact did not. He ended up even more lost than he had begun with, and soon tumbled across a random lake with no stream leading coming out of it to direct his path. “It’s not that hard to find” was bullshit. Here he was wondering if he’d ever see his grandma again, let alone bring her back the rosemary.
He was in the middle of squatting by the lake and wondering what he should do when suddenly a loud rustle sounded behind him, larger than a rabbit, and he whipped his head around. He immediately sprang up. That was undoubtedly a human. And where there was a human, there was help. He wasn’t sure what someone was doing this far out into the forest, but it didn’t matter as long as he could get directions back home, and hopefully complete his errand on the way.
“Wait up, get back here!” He shouted, dashing off into the brush to pursue his potential hope. However the moment he looked around, there was no one in sight. Not a single figure, not a single animal, nothing. “Where’d you- oh-“ The moment he began to speak, a small, bright red fox darted out of the bushes below him and made straight headway into another patch of covering. Chuuya paused for a moment, taken by surprise, but then his eyes narrowed, slowly approaching where the fox had disappeared. That wasn’t… was it? He wasn’t one to specifically believe in spirits, but given there were rumors about the place, and also that he was sure he had just seen a human, his suspicions were rising.
“Come out,” he demanded, scanning around the brush. “You’re a fucking yokai, right? I know you are. One that shape-shifts? There’s no other possible explanation.” There was a slight rustle but then the forest went silent again. Chuuya’s brows furrowed and he kicked into the bushes. The fox immediately sprang out and zipped across the clearing. “Shit- why so fast!?” He went off in fast pursuit, darting around trees and trying not to lose the red flash. There was no way he was ever going to be able to catch up. “Stop running, you… little shit!” He called between strained breaths. “At least… give me some directions… here, I’m not trying to kill you!” His pace slowed to a light jog, which soon died to a walk, and he leaned against a tree. The fox had completely disappeared at this point, and he gripped his forehead, panting, and sunk to the ground. What a fucking shitty day. First he got used as a servant all morning, then he got lost in this maze of a forest, and now his only help had evaporated. He was about to lose his mind.
“Lost? This close to town?”
Chuuya’s eyes shot open wide and he turned his head to identify the voice. He stumbled up, noticing a shadow behind the tree he had been leaning on, and peered behind it to behold a tall, slightly scraggly man, staring at him with the darkest, lifeless eyes he had ever seen. The skin under his clothes were wrapped in bandages, although they didn’t appear to be for an injury, and his skin was pale despite being outside. He stared back at him for a few moments, not able to move, before the man tilted his head and blinked.
“Alive in there?”
Chuuya shook himself back to reality. “That’s my question,” he mumbled under his breath, then said louder, “You’re a yokai, right?”
The man nodded with his dark eyes. “Hengeyokai.”
“With a fox form?” He responded. “That's pretty convenient to have when you’re trying to run from a man in need.”
He ignored his insult and asked, “From the town or something?”
“I don’t know why you need to know that information, but yeah. I need to get back.”
“How did someone who lives in that village get lost in its own woods?” He asked without moving. “That bad at directions or something?”
“For your information, I’m only visiting,” Chuuya growled, sounding and looking like a small dog. “I’ve only been here for a few days, so how was I supposed to find my way around?” He swore he saw the man’s dead eyes widen in an expression for a split second, but it was gone before he could confirm it and his face was back to monotone.
“Hm,” he hummed, and turned around. “Follow me and I could get you back.”
Chuuya narrowed his eyes at him. “Could? Are there terms or something?”
“Let’s see… as long as you bring me some sort of human food, I’ll take you back. Skip out on the deal, and I’ll snap your neck.”
Chuuya scoffed at him and slipped his hands into his pockets. “Easy enough. Sure, it’s a deal.” The man didn’t react at all to his words, but simply started walking, leaving Chuuya to catch up behind him. Bring him a meal? Did he not have any kind of decent food out here in the forest? Part of him expected there to be a whole community of apparitions out in the woods with a thriving community, but now that he thought about it, it did sound a bit silly. He eyed the back of the man’s dark-haired head and turned it over in his mind.
“There others out here?” He asked. The man hummed for a few seconds before replying quietly with,
“Not frequently. I’m usually just alone.”
“That’s pathetic of you,” he spat back.
“Are you usually this feral to people you just met?”
“Only people who run away from someone in need,” he countered savagely.
“I was protecting myself,” he defended.
“From what? Did you think I was gonna hunt you or something?”
He didn’t answer but continued to walk on in silence. Chuuya internally sighed and sped a few steps up to keep up with his long strides.
“Short,” the yokai suddenly commented.
“Bastard, that’s not the issue here! You’re speed walking or something!” He tightened his fists and reached out to punch him, but he somehow dodged it as if he had eyes in the back of his head and only sped up, forcing Chuuya to almost run. Suddenly the yokai stopped in his path and turned around a moment later, staring at him expectantly. Chuuya, still pissed off, glared at him and also stopped.
“What?”
“The village.”
“We’re here?” He peered past him and managed to catch a glimpse of a sign of some sort.
“Just walk straight and you’ll reach it in a few minutes. Find me here tomorrow with the meal, or you know what else.”
“I got it, I got it,” he sighed, rolling his eyes, and he began heading in the correct direction. Then he stopped and half turned back. “Thanks, I guess.”
The lifeless man didn’t answer but turned around and disappeared into the forest, only a glimpse of red being seen after that. Chuuya frowned at it and rotated to finally head back.
As Dazai sprinted back to his hole, the air came out of his nose in relief. His life had been saved by mere chance. By the time the boy had called after him, assuming he was a yokai, he had accepted his fate and given up. Who knew he’d end up only being a visitor, and not a member of the town which would have ruined the protection he was under. So hey, maybe his life wasn’t fully coded with bad luck after all. He leaped into the clearing of the lake and slowed his pace, planning to spend the afternoon enjoying the peace and dreaming of a life away from hiding.
Chuuya’s grandma sat in the living room with Chuuya beside her, mumbling angrily about how easy it was to find the rosemary, and what a disappointment he was to have gotten lost in a simple forest like that. Chuuya on the other hand was also getting pissed off, given he had only been in the area for four days, and wasn’t born with a natural perfect sense of direction. So basically the entire room was filled with mumbling and a dark cloud of annoyingness.
“Ok look, the doctors said I could move around again tomorrow, so here’s a deal,” his grandma proposed after calming down a bit. “If you can find the rosemary before then, I’ll let you off on all the house chores for a week, and only do the stuff outside that I’m prohibited from. Sounds fair?”
Chuuya lifted his face from his hand and looked at her. “Given I don’t get lost in that abyss of a forest again, sure.”
She looked at him proudly and nodded. “Great then. Well, just get going already. It’s still the cool of the morning, so get out before it gets too hot, would you?”
Chuuya sighed and stood slowly, thinking about something, but didn’t walk off. That yokai he had met yesterday… he had to bring food to him didn’t he? In addition to the threat he had received if he didn’t, if he got on his good side then maybe he could get some help finding that rosemary and not getting lost. He turned the thought over in his head for a few moments, then turned to the old lady.
“I’ll make a meal before I leave so I can eat lunch out there,” he lied. “Help me find all the ingredients.”
The grandma sighed, putting her legs beneath her to stand up. “Well, I guess that’s a good plan. And yeah, getting up a day early won’t kill me at all, so I’ll come with and help. Get ready for the best meal of your life, child!” Chuuya rolled his eyes and helped her up, heading to the kitchen to prepare for their transformation into pro chefs. This old lady could be fun at times after all.
An hour later Chuuya stepped out into the backyard, receiving a good luck call from his grandma, and headed out into the forest, holding his basket like a little red riding hood. Today was slightly more cloudy than last, but the area still lit up with the occasional beam of sunlight causing Chuuya to sigh, hoping he could get used to this peaceful atmosphere. So that yokai lived out here alone? He kind of envied him, but at the same time pitied him for being in solitude the entire time. He wondered how long he had been here.
Eventually he reached the place where he had last parted with the man, and took a seat by a tree to steal some food from the basket and wait. It was completely quiet. Not even the birds inhabited this part of the forest, and it creeped him out. Maybe it was haunted like the townsfolk had said (they knew better than a visitor anyway), or maybe animals just stayed away when humans were around, which made sense given they were mostly undisturbed out here. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter, and he leaned back, wondering when his escort would ever show up.
He learned later that yokai could always sense when humans were nearby, but nonetheless it took the man a full fifteen minutes to show his face and come prancing up in fox form. The moment he came into sight, however, Chuuya shot him a glare and stood up, staring down at the approaching creature. He soon morphed into his human form and stopped a few feet in front of him, not paying any attention to the basket he was holding, and simply blinked at Chuuya’s cold face.
“Took you long enough,” Chuuya complained, backing up in an attempt to not feel so small. What was he, 6’2”?
“Mm. I have my own preoccupations out here.” He in fact did not, but wanted to see how long the ginger would wait for him before giving up and ending the deal. He was surprised by the patience he actually had. “What’d you bring me?”
Chuuya stubbornly held out the basket and spoke, not making eye contact. “Just some curry with random greens on the side. I didn’t make most of it.”
The yokai took the basket from him and peered in, then nodded to Chuuya and turned to leave. Already? Not even a thank you, he was just going to leave?
“Hold on, where are you going?”
He paused and glanced back at him. “To eat it.”
Chuuya opened his mouth to speak, but shut it for a moment and crossed his eyebrows. “I- I need more help from you. Just spare a few minutes and I’ll be out of your forest again to never be back.” The man blinked at him. “…Please?”
He heard a small sigh before being answered with, “What is it?” A small hint of relief rushed through his body and he relaxed his posture.
“Great, I need some rosemary. Where is it?”
“Rosemary?”
“That’s what I said,” he affirmed. The yokai continued to blink at him. “What’s your problem? Does it not exist or something?”
“No, it’s just practically everywhere and I’m not sure how someone like you could miss it, but sure I’ll lead you to it. Come on.” And with that he headed off into the woods, Chuuya following annoyed after him. Everywhere? That sounded offensive.
“Oi, what’s your name anyway?” He asked, practically storming behind and crushing precious flowers as he went.
“Why do you need to know?” He asked numbly, not turning around. Chuuya’s nerves snapped, but he managed to maintain himself and reply normally.
“Because I want a name to go with the random hengeyokai I found in the woods. Is that not a good enough reason?”
There was a moment of silence.
“Dazai.”
Chuuya blinked at the back of his head, not expecting him to actually tell him, but collected himself and replied. “Oh. I’m Chuuya.”
“Cool.”
More silence.
“Why don’t you go into town and get food yourself? What do you even eat out here?” He asked randomly, trying to get some of his burning questions out of the way.
“Yokai don’t mingle with humans, that’s all. I eat berries, rodents, and rabbits. Nothing much.”
Chuuya tried not to gape at him. “You eat rabbits? How do you do that with a pure mind? That’s cruel!”
“They taste good when I’m a fox.”
“Don’t!”
“Fine.”
The two went on in silence for a while until Dazai finally stopped in front of a bush and gestured to it, looking at Chuuya expectantly with his dead eyes. He shivered again, but turned his attention to the bush and stared at it blankly, not understanding.
“Is this…”
“The rosemary,” Dazai replied, not moving.
“Oh. Fuck, I thought it was something else.”
“That explains a lot, then.”
“It does.” Chuuya sighed and hesitantly began picking off a few branches and shoving them in his pockets, mentally abusing himself for not knowing what rosemary looked like. And in front of the forest expert too. Embarrassing.
“Is that all or do you need directions back?” Dazai asked him, awakening him from his pity party. Chuuya glanced around quickly, debating it, then decided he could probably manage on his own this time, so he responded accordingly. The yokai nodded at him and then turned to leave for a second time, when suddenly Chuuya stopped him again.
“Wait up,” he called, taking a step towards him as he paused again and looked back at him tiredly. He hesitated for a moment, then gathered himself and spoke. “Let’s meet again tomorrow at the same time. I wanna know more about you.”
Dazai stared at him, not sure how to respond. His eyes were definitely still dark, but Chuuya could tell they weren’t as dead as before, and it made him feel weird. He shook his head, telling himself he was making things up, and waited for his reply.
“Do what you want,” he finally said. “I’ll be by the lake, find me there.” And with that he coldly walked away and disappeared into the brush, this time not a glint of anything being left behind. Chuuya turned around and faced the bush again, staring at it with an empty head. Well. There it was. He had just obtained a meeting with a yokai for the second time. Never in his life had he expected this to happen during a simple little visit to his sassy grandma. Life sure was unpredictable.
——————————
Dazai walked up to the edge of the lake the next day and stared across it, waiting for a form to show up like he said he would. It was weird to him that he was waiting for a human’s company to arrive; the last time he had done that was before his friend died, and it was nostalgic. It put him off in multiple ways as well.
He ended up waiting where he was for half an hour, eventually turning into a fox and curling up in a ball on a stump, so when Chuuya did arrive he woke up to find him squatting next to him, and springing up once realizing he was awake. Dazai slowly came to, transforming back into a human, and sat for a few moments, blinking on the stump.
“You’re here,” he commented, looking up at him.
“Yeah, nice observation,” he mumbled, crossing his arms and looking past him into the forest. “You were asleep. Do foxes sleep as much as cats do or something?”
Dazai shrugged. “Who knows. I’m never in fox form long enough to figure out how much they sleep.”
“You should know more about your own kind.”
“Did you come here just to insult me, or are you curious? Pick one, please.”
Chuuya sighed, closing his eyes, and held out his hand towards Dazai in an attempt to get him up. “Come on. You’re gonna help me find more herbs for my grandma.”
Chuuya had begun to notice that Dazai tended to stare blankly at things a lot, and he seemed to be doing the same thing to his hand, wondering if he should take it or not. Getting frustrated, Chuuya was about to drop it and walk away, but before he could, Dazai’s cold fingers had touched his and he grabbed onto him, pulling on him to stand up. Chuuya stumbled back a bit, but then regained himself and shoved his hands in his pockets, turning around to head into the woods.
“What kind of herbs?” Dazai asked as they began walking, discreetly matching his stride.
“I dunno, you’re the expert. What would an ancient, old woman want?”
“Bold of you to assume I’ve ever been around old women enough to know their preferences,” he scoffed, glancing around the familiar area. “So is that who you're visiting? Your grandma?”
“Mm,” he mumbled half-heartedly. “The doctors said she can’t go out because of her heart, so I wanted to get her some stuff.”
“Heart huh…” Dazai mumbled back, thinking. After a second he seemed to have made up his mind, and suddenly took a sharp right turn. “Let’s get hawthorns, then.”
“Huh? Wait up-“ Chuuya sped up to keep pace with the speedy Dazai, but soon managed and joined his side again. “What are those for?”
“Hearts,” he responded coldly, looking ahead of him with his dark eyes. Chuuya eyed him strangely, but accepted it in silence and continued to walk on.
“You must be a pro out here,” he scoffed, starting to lose his breath. “Lived here your whole life or around there?”
“Four months,” Dazai responded straightforwardly. “I wandered a lot before then though.”
“Huh,” Chuuya pondered, watching the ground. “You know it wouldn’t hurt to interact with the town at times, I don’t understand why-“
“Nope, I’m staying out,” he interrupted with a swing in his voice. “Yokai’s amongst humans only lead to bad things, especially if I’m found out to be one. I’m very certain some wise old man will take one look at my eyes and figure it out. Why are you bugging me about it, anyway?”
“Cause I’m wondering why you’d isolate yourself like this.” He fought back. “It’s an understandable question to have, okay?”
“Sure,” he hummed, not dropping his fast pace and weaving through tightly packed trees. Chuuya was beginning to drop behind, wondering why this fox’s legs were so freaking long, this part of the forest not being as pleasant as he had expected.
“Why would you hang out with me, then?” He asked after a while, managing to catch up.
“You don’t count,” was his answer. “You’re a single human who doesn’t come from the town, and I trust you not to expose me. If you did, however, that would be very unfortunate. There’s nothing I can do to prevent it.”
“Yeah, don’t count on me betraying your little hideout,” he snickered. “I have nothing to gain from it.”
“Great then.” Well. That obstacle was out of the way. If he just as much mentioned his existence, that would be enough to ruin the protection offered by the god, and he’d have to go back on the run. It was good to know he’d probably be safe. After a few minutes, Chuuya asked another question.
“Do you know other hengeyokai like you?”
“You’re pretty curious.”
“And?” He growled. “I thought I had to pick between being curious and insulting you, would you like me to do the other?”
Dazai sighed and shook his head, skipping over a log. “To your question, no, I haven’t known another since I was young. We don’t tend to stick together anyway, though.”
“Where’d you live before?”
“I told you, I wandered.”
“You wandered for what, twenty-two years?” Chuuya questioned, suspicious. “You had to have had a home sometime in there.”
“And what makes you think I’d tell you that?” He asked in return.
“I dunno, maybe by the fact I brought you food and am now making you less lonely?”
“First, you brought me food in return for me helping you out, and second I never asked for you to remove my solitude. How do you know I don’t prefer being alone?”
Chuuya hesitated, then said. “Because your eyes lit up when I asked to know more about you. I could tell you weren’t used to having people around you.”
That shut Dazai up. Never once in his life had he been beaten in the game of deciphering each other's feelings, and this surprised him. Who was this Chuuya, exactly?
They arrived at the hawthorn without another word, and Dazai stood back to watch while Chuuya gathered a handful of it and shoved it into his pockets, making sure they stayed unharmed and clean. He eyed Dazai behind him, who had been staring the entirety of his gathering spree, and shot him a glare.
“What?”
“We’ve talked a lot about me today, but what about you? Where are you from?”
Chuuya didn’t answer for a moment, grabbing the last of the berries he thought fit, then turned around and sighed, his pockets bulging comedically. “Yokohama. I just graduated with an art degree and came straight here before I could even get a job.”
“Sold any art yet?” He asked, his arms hidden in the folds of his kimono.
“I sold one when I was younger,” he recalled, “but I haven’t had any time to make anything worth selling recently, so nope.”
“How are you paying bills?” He deadpanned, confused.
“My sister.” He frowned in his direction. “She funds my entire life. But I envy you for not having to pay for anything. It must be nice to have an idle life of a yokai.”
“Idle, sure,” he retorted, but didn’t continue and turned around. “Are you going back now? If so, I’ll find myself some lunch and take a nap.”
“You better not be killing those rabbits still,” Chuuya warned, coming up behind him.
“Nope. Just the rats.”
Chuuya crossed his arms, satisfied. “Good. In that case I’ll head back to deliver these, so enjoy your bloody lunch. See ya.”
And with that, they parted into their separate ways.
——————————
Dusk fell over the town, and while everyone else finished up dinner and prepared for bed, Chuuya sat staring at an empty canvas, only lit up by the dying light of the sun. What Dazai had asked earlier had made him get on top of himself, but he still had no idea what to make. So there he was, sitting in silence on a stool in a spare room of his rented house, racking the creativity out of his brain and trying to splatter it onto the canvas. He sighed. Artist block was the worst, huh?
Just then the ringing of the phone went off in the other room, and Chuuya was forced to get up and answer it, surprisingly hearing the high pitched sound of his grandma’s voice on the other side.
“Grandma? What is it?”
“Come over and help me put out this fire, would you? Ahh, you were right. I shouldn’t have made you leave and try to make dinner on my own.”
“Fire!?” He panicked, pulling the cord as far as it could go to slip on his shoes.
“Yeah, it ain’t that bad though. Don’t stress yourself getting over here, just-“ she wasn’t able to finish before the phone had slammed back against the wall and Chuuya had sprinted out of the house, heading straight for the abode he had just left not an hour ago. How on earth did she survive out here on her own?
The fire was indeed “not bad”, but had still managed to scorch a good portion of the nearby wall, so now she was stressing herself with wondering where she could buy good quality paint in a town of this size.
“Sometimes I wish I had picked a bigger city to live in, not this feeble old relic of a town that barely has anything of quality. Yeah, but after your parents died I couldn’t bear to leave this house, so I ended up staying, costing me the price of convenience. They really shouldn’t have gone off and died, you know, like fuck the-“
“Grandma,” Chuuya interrupted, taking glances between her and the scorched wall. “Your house almost got burnt to a crisp, and that’s what you're yapping about?”
“Yeah?” She questioned stupidly. “Is it wrong?”
Chuuya sighed and turned to grab a rag to clean up the buckets of water that had been pourn on the floor, sincerely wondering where her head was most of the time.
“Please tell me your heart is at least fine,” he said a few seconds later, still mopping the mess up while she watched him with her hands on her hips.
“My heart?” She repeated. “Don’t be dramatic, I only got hospitalized because of it once, and that was when I tried to help the neighbors move their cabinets. You already know I’m not going down that easily.”
Chuuya shivered, imagining the panic her neighbors must have felt watching her fall to the ground in a near heart attack after helping them with their manual labor. He chose not to think of the guilt they obtained after that.
“Anyway, did I interrupt you at all?” She asked, pointing to a spot he missed with her toe. “I know you’ve had barely any time to yourself, so I kinda felt bad to call you.”
“There was a fire, it’s fine,” he assured, aggressively attacking the spot she had noticed. “I was just trying to come up with ideas for a new painting, that’s all.”
That piqued her interest. “A new painting? Finally trying to make some money for yourself?”
He sat up and wrung the towel out the window. “Not particularly, but I had nothing better to do anyways. I doubt you have any ideas, but suggestions?”
The old lady tapped her foot against the floor and pondered for a moment, then raised her finger like she had an idea. “A house. On fire.”
“Don’t just name things that just happened!” He rebuked, tossing the rag into the wet corner.
“Well I don’t know,” she shrugged, watching him stand up. “We both know I have not an inch of creativity in this old brain of mine, so it beats me why you asked in the first place.” She tapped her skull, shaking her head, and followed him out of the room. Chuuya began to flip through the phone book, looking for someone who might have paint for sale, but then paused to speak.
“By the way, what do you plan to make with that hawthorn I brought in? A magic potion to fix your problem?”
She chuckled for a second, slinging herself into her chair, and shook her head. “I’m not sure yet, but I’m surprised you found some in the first place. Given you didn’t even know what rosemary looked like, I’m impressed you knew hawthorn was good for the heart. Nice going.”
“It was by chance,” Chuuya mumbled, getting back to racking the book. There was no way he was going to tell her a bitchy little yokai had helped him out; no, as far as she knew, he’d done all the work himself. But then again, it probably wouldn’t hurt to let her know about him. It would just be a mention anyway, and he wouldn’t be mingling with humans like he had been so against doing previously. And if she ever asked to meet him, he’d simply say he preferred to stay hidden and that was that.
“Grandma, do you believe in-“
“Awe shit!” She suddenly exclaimed, interrupting him in the middle of his sentence. “I forgot to put out food for Miki! Darn, she must be starved by now.”
Chuuya blinked at her attempt to get up, confused. “Miki..?”
“Yeah, the stray cat that wanders around frequently. I named her Miki.”
“You named her after yourself?” He deadpanned.
“Yeah, got a problem with it?” She questioned, hobbling off into the other room to fish out cat food from the cabinet. He sighed for the fiftieth time that day, wondering seriously what was her problem, but got up anyway to help her and ended up forgetting about his painting all together until way later that night.
——————————
“I need help again,” Chuuya growled into the quiet woods, knowing Dazai was there but hiding.
“You sure need help a lot,” a voice said, although he wasn’t sure from where.
“And you sure like being annoying a lot,” he returned, kicking around in the brush to see if an unfortunate fox lay hidden under it.
“Idiot. I can’t speak in fox form.”
Fumes started to appear out of Chuuya’s red hair, but he turned around anyway and checked behind every nearby tree until he finally bumped into the annoying Dazai, looking down at him with an amused expression.
“You’re infuriating, you know that?”
“That’s great. Now what did you need help with?”
“I need to seduce someone.”
Dazai's eyes widened in surprise, but he didn’t move and continued to look at him blankly, trying to process his request. Seduce someone? Did this man have someone he was going after?
“Don’t you think our relationship is a bit too new to be asking about things like that? What came up?”
“Oi, it’s none of your business. I just have no one else to ask, and my grandma is only going to give me the wildest advice, so you’re all I have. So? Can you help me or not?”
Dazai wasn’t sure if he wanted to help him or not. He narrowed his eyes at him and slipped his hands behind his back. Trying to seduce someone, huh? He was forced to do that a couple of times under his old boss, but only so he could get his way with victims. What was this for anyway?
Seeing that Dazai’s face wasn’t changing, Chuuya sighed and leaned his back against the tree. “There’s this girl.”
“This girl,” Dazai repeated, his eyes getting darker for some reason.
“Yes, this girl,” he snapped back at him, shoving his hands into his pockets. “She’s the daughter of a main gardener in town, and apparently she’s extremely liable to being seduced. Anyway, the thing is that my grandma really wants some new seeds for her garden, but isn’t about to spend, or make me spend, the crazy amount that company charges, so I’ve come up with a plan. I’m going to seduce that girl in order to get the seeds.”
Dazai burst out laughing for the first time in months, and couldn’t stop until Chuuya physically punched him in the stomach, causing him to restart and contain himself, his eyes now way brighter than before. Apparently he thought this entire thing was a joke, and Chuuya wasn’t tolerating it. He took a step back and held up his chin towards him.
“Fine! If you're not willing to help, I’ll go try it on my own. Go kiss a rock or whatever, you’re useless.”
“Wait,” Dazai got out, finally straightening up and regaining eye contact. “I’ll help, but I just thought it was funny that that was the conclusion you came to. To seduce the owners daughter to get fucking seeds.”
“What else am I supposed to do?” He questioned angrily. “Steal?”
“That’s more logical than the plan you came up with,” he admitted, a small smile on his face. Chuuya didn’t think that man was capable of laughing until now, and it pissed him off that he had to find out he could in this situation. Making fun of his master plan? It made sense to him to get his way by making the girl fall head over heels for him. He heard that was the best way you could get people to do things for you. No, he didn’t want to seduce a girl, but he was going to do what he had to do to make his grandma happy. This was the way he had decided to do it.
“Well? Are you gonna help out or not?”
Dazai sighed and leaned against the same tree. “I mean, we don’t know each other well so I won’t go extreme, but I guess I could teach you a few things.”
“Great. I have all day, so go ahead.”
He hummed to himself for a few moments, wondering where and when to begin, but then decided and turned back to him. “Start out with finding things they like, then bring up a conversation about it. Let’s see, you like painting so say I did this..” He moved closer to him, bent down slightly, then said in his ear, “You’re into painting, right? Wanna come over and paint with me sometime? I could-“ Before he even had a chance to finish, Chuuya’s face erupted into a hot mess and he kicked Dazai straight in the crotch.
“I asked you to teach me, not actively flirt with me! There’s a difference!” He shouted at him, showing him his back and trying to get his face to cool down. Dazai on the other hand had sunk to the ground, the dark aura returned to his eyes, and clutched his crotch in pain.
“Yeah… I’m realizing that now..” he groaned, trying not to fall over. Chuuya stole a glance back at him, feeling bad, but still didn’t turn around and sighed audibly.
“What else? And this time no using me as a demonstration.”
“Wait till I recover first,” he returned, grabbing the tree to help him get up. “What seeds does your grandma want anyway?”
Chuuya half faced him again and crossed his arms. “Lilies and azaleas. They really shouldn’t be that expensive, but I guess this is the future now.”
“Oh,” Dazai said.
“What?”
“I have those nearby.”
Chuuya deadpanned him, not sure how to react. “So you’re telling me you had them all along for free, and just flirted with me for no reason? What the fuck!?”
“You never told me,” he shrugged. “You were the one who asked for it.”
“I asked to be taught, not to be seduced,” he corrected, gritting his teeth. “And now I don’t need to anymore. Where are they?”
Dazai sighed and turned around, preparing to lead Chuuya to a plant for the third time, with no pay for it. He really should start demanding more human food in return.
“Do you have human thoughts while you’re in fox form?”
An hour had passed, and now Chuuya and Dazai were chilling by the lake, Chuuya not leaving him alone since he had nothing better to do at the moment, and he thought annoying Dazai out of his solitude would be worth his time. Currently he was asking random questions not only to satisfy his own curiosity, but also to try and see if Dazai was able to snap out of annoyance in front of him. So far it wasn’t working.
“You sure love to pry from people you just met.”
“We haven’t just met,” Chuuya hissed back at him, “and you’re interesting to be around. It’s not a normal experience that you get a chance to befriend a yokai.”
Dazai didn’t respond but leaned his head against the tree behind him and looked up at the cloudy sky. “My thoughts are as human as they are normally, yes, given I’m not even one.”
“Do you wish you were?” Chuuya asked like a five year old in his questioning phase.
“When things get inconvenient.”
“Like what.”
“Like when I can’t go into town and eat human food because I’d be out of place. Satisfied?”
“You really miss normal food, huh?” Chuuya sucked air through his teeth like he was pitying him.
“You wouldn’t?”
Chuuya thought for a moment, then said, “True.” He thought for a few more seconds, then spoke again. “What about the god of this place, have you ever met him? What is he, a god of hospitality?”
“Once.”
“What’s he like?”
“Fat, like most are.”
Chuuya wrinkled his nose, not wanting to think about a fat god guarding over the town. Just then a raindrop plopped onto his cheek and his gaze shifted to the sky. “Shit.”
“What, scared of a bit of rain?” Dazai teased. Chuuya shot him a glare but got up.
“I’ll leave now. But I’m curious, where do you live?”
“You’re always curious,” Dazai commented with dead eyes. They’d been a lot brighter recently for some reason.
“It’s either that or insulting you,” he responded. “Bitch.”
He sighed. “A hole.”
Chuuya blinked at him. “You live in a hole? A hole?”
“Where’d you think foxes sleep?”
“But wouldn’t it get flooded or something? How do you protect yourself from the rain?”
“A bush.”
He stared at him like he was crazy. Dazai only shrugged and got closer to the tree to avoid the rain that was beginning to pick up. Before he could think, Chuuya was speaking something he wasn’t sure he could say.
“Look, I’m renting out a house right now, come stay in it.”
Now it was Dazai’s turn to blink at him.
“Isn’t this skipping a few bases? We’ve only known each other for a few days.”
“That’s not what I meant, pervert!” He shouted at him, annoyed. “I was just trying to offer you shelter, but if you're ungrateful enough to deny then fine, get soaked.” He turned around to leave, but Dazai spoke again.
“As long as you’re not luring me in to plan to boil me alive for fox meat, then sure. I’ll take my risks with a stranger I barely know.”
Chuuya hunched, angry that he kept calling him a stranger. “You know what, just stay out here. I’d be happy to see you sick and dying.” However before he knew it, the sound of four small paws was padding beside him, and he glanced down to see the small, red fox join him on his way back. He sighed, ignoring him, and picked up his pace, hoping Dazai would be the one struggling to keep up this time. It wasn’t that easy to lose a nimble fox however, so ultimately it turned into a race, Chuuya skidding into town soaked by the end of it, and catching quite a few turned heads, wondering why this stranger was coming out of the woods in the middle of a shower. Dazai kept to the side, avoiding attention, and soon they arrived at the rented house, Chuuya unlocking and letting the animal in.
“If you even think about transforming back, I’ll kick you into the streets and let everyone know you’re here, got it?” The fox only blinked at him with his dead eyes and sat on the floor, creating a puddle underneath. Chuuya grimaced at the sight but turned around, locating a random towel he didn’t know he had, and threw it at him. With that he disappeared into the painting room.
Dazai was left alone in the middle of the dim entry way, looking around at the small house and wondering what it was like to live here. He grabbed the towel by his mouth, dragging it along with him, and wandered through a few rooms before hopping into a window seat and laying the towel flat, settling down on top of it and gazing out at the slow rain. It was nice that he had shelter from the weather for once. Every other time he either ended up sleeping soggy in his hole, or shivering outside in the cold and wishing the forest had a single cave in it, but this was nice. He especially felt comforted by the fact that there was another person with him who would protect him if a townsperson came in. His eyes fluttered closed, lured by the relaxing rain, and he began to drift into a pleasant sleep for the first time in ages.
“Don’t doze off just yet, you worthless animal.”
Dazai woke up around half an hour later to the sound of Chuuya’s voice above him, sounding close and warm, and he opened his eyes to see the rain had mostly stopped. After a few moments he slowly got up and stretched, then turned around and faced Chuuya, who had stood back and was judging him from afar.
“Foxes do sleep all day after all,” he insulted with an annoyed look on his face. Fox Dazai sighed, reverting back into his human form, and sat on the window like he had been doing before, then spoke tiredly.
“What do you want?”
“I made dinner,” he informed, eyeing him up and down and wondering how his human version was completely dry.
“Aren’t you supposed to be helping your grandma with that? She might have a heart attack since you’re not around,” Dazai responded coldly. Chuuya hunched his shoulders and rolled his eyes.
“I went over there a few minutes ago to bring her some, not like you’d know since you’ve been sleeping this entire time. Now just come eat, I’m helping you out here not because I have to, so be grateful, stupid animal.” The end turned into a mumble, and he left the room impudently, not giving him a second glance and returning to the kitchen. Dazai didn’t react, but only got up and followed him out, smelling the tempting smell of crab and beginning to melt into the air. It had been way too long since he’d had something as good as this.
Chuuya slung into his chair at the table, ignoring his presence, and immediately began to dig in, eating like the meal was the most satisfying thing he had had all day. After all his lunch had been forest berries, and he had skipped breakfast, so no one could blame him. Dazai also sat down, eying him, and blinked at his plate, trying to remember everything necessary for table etiquette. This was how you held chopsticks, right? And you sliced through the crab with a knife like this, right?
“You look like a two year old,” Chuuya suddenly commented, noticing his struggles. “Do you seriously not know how to eat at a table?”
“The place I was at before was wild, you can’t blame me,” he defended himself, taking a bite out of the piece he had managed to cut off. His eyes immediately sparkled and Chuuya swore he saw hearts appear around his head.
“Huh,” he said, taking another mouthful while watching him, interested. He ate like a child tasting ice cream for the first time, and it was cute. He definitely wasn’t like this in the forest.
“Do you think you’ll stay near this town for a while?” He asked after a while, more questions popping into his head. “Or do you have a plan to jet out at some point.”
Dazai paused for a moment, finishing his large mouthful, then spoke. “I’ll stay as long as I’m able to. I like it here better anyway.”
“Then what after that?” He asked in return. “Say you’re forced to leave, where will you go?”
“Back to my wanderings,” was the short reply, immediately getting back into the meal after it. Chuuya was the type of person to pry about random things, but Dazai wasn’t too interested in sharing his unpleasant backstory with someone for no reason, so he was going to continue to be as general as possible. He didn’t want Chuuya to know dark things about him anyway, since he was already concerned about his depressing eyes, so pretending he was a yokai wanderer was the way he was going to achieve that. But damn this crab was good.
The remainder of the dinner continued in silence, the two being too preoccupied with eating to mention a word, but when it did finish, Chuuya casually threw the dishes into the sink to get to later and wandered off in the direction of the painting room to finish the worthless project he had begun last hour, hopefully to get more inspired after that. His brain had been way too fogged up recently, thinking about current events, and he needed some time to think about a new piece in silence, so that was his plan for the remainder of the short day. Hopefully Dazai didn’t get into too much trouble.
“Where are you going?” The voice behind him suddenly asked before he had a chance to enter the hallway. Chuuya stopped and looked behind him to find Dazai standing in the middle of the floor looking displaced.
“To paint. Need something?”
“Ah, did my comment give you motivation to work on something? Let me see, let me see.”
“No, you won’t be seeing anything, and it’s crappy anyway,” Chuuya stopped him as he began to approach the hall. “I’m still thinking of something good to make, and it hasn’t come to me yet so I was making something to pass the time. It’s nothing impressive.”
“But I’m your guest, shouldn’t you be entertaining me?” He commented, blinking at Chuuya and beginning to inch past him.
“No, stay in your own business!” He fought back. “Go sleep or something, I need some time to think.”
“Just paint me then, I’m quite a pretty fox you know,” he suddenly suggested, stopping his approach. Chuuya didn’t answer, proceeding his sudden request, then went into thought. That actually might not be a bad idea. A landscape with a creepy fox? That could get some money in. But Dazai… he looked at him, standing above him in the narrow hallway… he gave off the impression of a narcissistic bitch, so he wasn’t sure if that would be a good idea for lowering his pride. He sighed, and turned to the door of the room.
“Fine, I’ll try it, but only because I have no other ideas.” He paused, but then spoke again. “But the moment you start boasting about anything, I’m kicking you to the streets, got it?” Dazai smiled slightly and nodded.
“Great. I’m honored.”
So Chuuya opened the door to the spare room and let Dazai in, revealing a half finished painting of a tree, nothing special but still beautiful.
“It’s nice,” he complimented, walking in with his hands behind his back. “Simple, but nice.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Chuuya acknowledged, following him in and tossing his smock on. “I always draw trees when I’m bored, so it’s nothing new.” Dazai admired the piece in front of him, then turned back to Chuuya and watched as he prepared the setup for a new canvas, washing out the paint palettes and cleaning the brushes. He lifted up a blank canvas from the corner, replaced the tree with it, and set it in a corner to continue drying, planning to get back to it later. It was time to start his main piece now anyway. He dragged up a stool to place behind the stand, then sat on his own and selected his first color, a dark green, to begin the forest. “I have to finish the background first, so sit on the stool and behave, yeah? I wanna get this right so I can try and sell it, so stay out of the way for now.”
“Sure,” he agreed, and took his seat on the stool, swerving around to look out the window while he waited. It was getting mildly dark at this point, and he wondered how long Chuuya would last before needing to turn the electricity on. This was a nice atmosphere anyway, being inside from the rain in the dark, and waiting for his turn to be painted. It was something he never expected to happen to him in a million years, especially given he couldn’t interact with humans from the town. But Chuuya was different, and he liked that. He was kind of scared to get close to another human like this, but for some reason it felt okay. He was beginning to like Chuuya.
After another fifteen minutes, Chuuya finally finished most of the backdrop and flicked on the lights, telling Dazai to become his model. Relieved and stiff from staring out the window the entire time, he got up, stretched, and turned into the fox, hopping back up onto the stool and blinking at Chuuya. Chuuya squinted at him for a moment, noticing something, then suddenly picked him straight up, letting his hind legs dangle below him, and stared into his dark, beady eyes.
“They’re just as dark as your human ones,” he said quietly, not moving his gaze. Dazai stayed still for a second, but then came to and squirmed out of his grasp, springing onto the ground next to him and returning to the stool. Chuuya sat back again, feeling awkward with what he just did, but shook the feeling away and began selecting colors, pretending nothing had happened and he was just about to begin painting.
And that’s what he did for the next hour into the night: paint the golden fox onto the canvas and perfect it in every way possible. Eventually, as the time dragged on and his model wasn’t needed as much, Dazai ended up curling up on the cushion and falling asleep without a care in the world, leaving Chuuya to finish it up alone and admire the final product. He was proud of himself. He had made something impressive in such a short time, and it even perfectly resembled the emptiness in Dazai’s eyes. He glanced at the sleeping fox and sighed. It was sad to look at him. It made him wonder even more what had happened in the past to cause him such lifelessness, but he knew it was none of his business. Yokai’s were complicated, and it wasn’t his place to get involved. Instead, he simply picked him up, dropped him in a guest bed, and went off to sleep.