Work Text:
The day started weird. Dazai’s partner had woken up extremely grumpy, - he didn't even call him! That slug! - and as much as he liked to say that Chuuya was always grumpy, it was indeed worrying when he could also feel a bad day coming. It seems like today luck wasn't on his side.
As he made his way onto the agency the feeling of wrongness grew. If his ears were out, they would probably be twitching at the smallest winds right now. When he entered, Dazai pushed the doors all the way, creating a resounding sound. It was still early, so the only people at work were Kunikida (who always gets there two hours early) and Ranpo, so he could eat breakfast with the president who needs to come two hours early. Kunikida didn’t say anything, like normally, after all, even the man gets tired of fighting, and Dazai hadn’t done anything to show that today wouldn’t be productive, but as he looked into Ranpo’s eyes, he knew he had messed up. Ranpo had a face of understanding and shock, he knew something, and it needed to be big enough to be shocking. Dazai didn’t know what exactly the man had discovered about him, be it his marriage or his real self, but he knew it wasn’t something he should know.
Dazai made his way towards his table. Since Atsushi was a new recruit and had to take care of Kyouka, who was also studying, Dazai had around two hours to do his work until he could go back to making the byakko think he’s just lazy. By the time people started moving up the stairs, half an hour had passed, he could recognise the footsteps. They were Yosano’s and Tanizaki’s, they were talking about healing, or well, Yosano was offering Tanizaki for a “quick checkup”. In an hour more, Dazai had done 25% of the work he neglected the last few days and the agency was already full, only missing Atsushi, Kyouka, Naomi and Kenji (the last were going to school, and Atsushi came in later). All the clerks had already come, and work had already started.
Haruno opened the door, and with a handful of paper came to Kunikida, giving him the papers and explaining something. With his hearing Dazai would be able to know what was being said, but he could care less, paying more attention to the songs on his headphones. He honestly loved them, after all him and his mate had gotten old songs from their childhood and remade them. He always loved Chuuya’s voice, but to hear Chuuya’s voice singing a very important song to him that he thought he could never listen to again was even better. After the woman left, Kunikida finished what he was writing, getting up to gather everyone’s attention.
“So. We have a very important case coming to us, this one was given to us by the government of Japan.”
“Not so long ago, sightings of white foxes have been decreasing, and today officers found footage of someone carrying white foxes around. It has been brought to our attention that a group is most likely smuggling white foxes for their mythological presence. And we are entrusted to stop them.”
Dazai found himself growing more furious. “This again?” he thought “Were the last ones not enough of a warning?”. He felt his power start to crack around him, taking a deep breath, he gained back control. Now was not the time to be mad and lose control.
—狐
The case had been very easy. When he looked at the pictures he recognized the place immediately. Those people were probably descendants of the last few ones. Every few centuries a new wave of those ‘Kitsune hunters’ would go around smuggling foxes and claiming they had magical capabilities. And as much as Dazai didn’t want to get involved in the human world before, he always helped with these cases. But Dazai wasn’t the only one to recognize them. Because of the cyclical pattern of the Kitsune Hunters, Ranpo had known about them. Every now and then word would go around that they would come back. He didn’t think that he would be one of the people to see them in action.
As they entered the place, the smell of iron hit them head on. It wasn’t human blood, Dazai knew it, after all, it wasn’t close to being enticing. But Dazai already had an idea of whose blood it was. His theory was proven correct when they entered the underground room of the hideout. Cages upon cages of white foxes sat. Some had the animal inside, while others had only the corpses. Dazai even saw some foxes with different colors, multiple tails and glowing fur. They looked like a cheap imitation of what once was a divine beast. But it was very clear what happened here.
“Are those?..” A small voice asked. Ah yes, this sight was very bad for everyone, but for him and Atsushi specifically, it hit even harder, given their animalistic nature. “Yes. I’m afraid so.” the mechanical voice of Kunikida answered. “But.. They’re just foxes! Why would someone do something so bad to foxes?! Why should they do experiments on the poor animals!? They didn’t ask to be born this color, they aren’t magical kitsune, just normal foxes!!” he trashed around, running to the cages and releasing all the animals. The rest of the agency walked in, also doing the same.
On the door, Dazai stayed, looking ahead, way ahead, into a space far away from the present. It was a soft touch to his legs that got him back to reality. A big fox had headpatted him, probably recognising the smell of their ancestors. She yipped at him, asking him why he was here. Dazai lowered himself to the ground. patting the fox tenderly. He looked around the room, seeing the other foxes giving his coworkers a hard time freeing them. They were scared, he could feel it, and they thought his friends were going to hurt them. “We are here to help you, little ones.” He answered, voice full of love and adoration. He always loved new kits. “Dazai! You good for nothing! Help us here! We need you! These foxes are making everything harder than it needs to be!” he let out a soft laugh, making the young fox tilt its head sideways.
“Come on, little one, can you call your friends here?” The fox waggleded its tail, the fox barked twice, and in no time, the rest of the kits were around Dazai, who was giving them all attention, petting them and letting them lick him. “Well…” Kunikida drawled. “This was not what I meant, but I guess it works as well.” As Dazai petted the foxes, the ones who were modified started coming back to normal, probably because of an ability that changed the foxes’ appearance. One by one, the foxes returned to their normal form, until he reached the last one, they had a red marking on their forehead and purple eyes, with the point of the ears and tail a cool purple color, but when he touched it, not a single bit of blue light appeared, and the fox continued the same way. “Oh no.. they were able to make a real kitsune?”. By his clear shocked gasp, the humans all turned their heads to stare at him. Atsushi was the first one to speak. “Dazai-san? Why is that fox still different, you touched it, didn’t you?” He looked worried, the men who were part of the organization roped at his feet. “I did. Maybe they really did recreate a kitsune..” He said, looking around the place. All cages had been opened and everyone had been captured, ready for arrest.
“What should we do to a beauty like it?” Yosano whistled. In a fit of instincts, Dazai scooped up the little fox, who just chirped at him, there was no way he could leave a kit like this. All alone, probably being sent to a government facility. Ever since he and his mate re-encountered, after restarting a life cycle and going separate ways, he hates those places. Chuuya was taken there for fucks sake. “I want to stay with them.” he said, with a serious face.
The urgency in his tone and face made the rest of the people know that he was being truthful. Dazai would be with that fox no matter what. Kunikida still cast him a disbeliefing look, and Atsushi had his mouth open in awe. The small fox scooted closer, smelling and snuggling in his neck, the kit chirped lively. And as the police came in, Dazai had already made his full decision. He would take this kit home.
—狐
A week later, Dazai had been pacing in the agency room. Ango would come today telling him if he would be able to have the little fox with him or not. Chuuya was still on his mission. And as of right now, he had reached an area of no communication. Electronic devices could be dangerous for certain missions, and this was one of them, so Dazai wasn’t able to contact him about this, he could only hope that Chuuya would approve of his decision.
Atsushi stared at his mentor, as the days had passed, it was incredibly difficult to ignore the man’s craziness. The tiger inside him had been on the edge of his seat seeing his normally calm and collected mentor pace around in immense anxiety. He couldn’t contain himself anymore. “Dazai-san.. is everything okay?” The man turned to him, eyes wide in shock, “Oh. Atsushi-kun! What do you mean?”, “Well… You’re pacing around, I didn’t think this would be so important to.. you..”.
It wasn’t supposed to happen, but the nervousness of Chuuya not being home, together with the inability to talk to him, the anxiety regarding the kit and the very sudden question from the byakko made his control slip. For the first time since the start of humanity, Dazai's control slipped. From the top of his head, two pointy ears appeared and from his back came nine long and fluffy black tails. His power surged, magic scattering around in small electric shocks. “NOT IMPORTANT?!” He screamed, in a burst of anger. Tears started rolling down his face.
Dazai lowered to the ground, covering his face with his arms, his ears were flattened in his head, a low whining could be hard. It sounded like a small animal crying in the forest.
The agency was engulfed in silence, everyone stared at the scene, eyes wide. Even Ranpo was in a state of shock. The moment was broken five minutes later, when the president entered the room, worry plastered on his face. “What happened here?” He looked around, stopping when he saw the fox ears and tails protruding from his suicidal employee. Kunikida was the first to break from the room, he stood up and slowly walked towards the man.
“Dazai…. Can you hear me?” His answer came in a loud sniff and twitch of ears, at least he knew the other wasn’t asleep. “Is everything okay? Can you look at me for a moment? I won't ask the obvious right now, I just need to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself in that burst of energy.” Slowly, Dazai looked up, his eyes were red and puffy, the iris now had a darker color, with red enveloping it. His pupil had been reduced to slits, both from the canine form and the emotional outburst. He nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes, making the already wet bandages even more wet, since he didn’t stop crying. Kunikida sat down in front of him, extending both of his hands, a small smile forming on his face. “Here, hold my hands, rubbing your eyes will just irritate them.” Little by little, Dazai extended his hand, and when it got close enough, Kunikida held them, drawing circles on the back with his thumb.
“Now I’m going to ask the bad questions, is it okay, or do I need to wait a bit?” Dazai nodded again, showing that he needed some more time, and with a strength from god knows where, he pulled Kunikida, smashing his face into the other’s shoulder and hugging him close. Kunikida smiled, petting his hair.
In around ten minutes, Dazai had already calmed down, ears still flat on his head, but he had been using his tails to rub Kunikida’s arms. “I-I’m sorry… This was too sudden..” He said, voice cracking from the crying. Kunikida hugged him tighter, before moving away, taking a bottle of water for Dazai. “Here, drink this.” After the brunette finished half the bottle, he continued. “May I start asking the questions now?” Dazai nodded this time, a small smile forming on his face, as his gaze started to focus on a moment far away.
“What happened?”, the idealist asked, voice soft. “My.. my control slipped. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.. or scream…. But..” he whimpered, forming tears once again. Kunikida held his shoulders, looking him in the eyes. “But..?” “But everything has been so stressful this week, and the worst part is, it’s winter, like, it could be any season that those fuckers came back. But no! They decided to come in the middle of WINTER!” In the end of the phrase, Dazai had been heaving, Kunikida started massaging his shoulders, guiding him to a normal breathing pattern.
At this point, the rest of the agency had snapped out, and were currently sitting close to Dazai, but not too close as to not crowd him. Atsushi asked Ranpo “What does winter have to do with anything? And it's basically spring anyways.” The black haired man simply shrugged, he had a guess, but it wasn’t something he had a big confidence in answering, after all, it’s a type of information that never crossed his mind to investigate and understand. Luckily for them, Dazai’s fox ears caught the question, he turned to look at Atsushi, a small smile making its way onto his face. “Well, Atsushi- kun, that’s a great question. First, do you know what a mating season is?” At this question, both Atsushi and Ranpo had horrified faces on, Yosano had started laughing hard and Kunikida had turned as stiff as a slab of wood, hands slowly letting go of his shoulders. Tanizaki looked dead inside and Kenji looked like a light bulb, the president looked thoughtful, probably comparing similarities between foxes and cats. After looking around Dazai also started to laugh, catching his belly, it was Kenji who broke the moment. “Mating season, that's when the cows get together to prepare for having their babies, right?” he clapped his hands, a smile forming on his face. Dazai stopped laughing, small giggles still shaking his smile. “Indeed, Kenji, the only difference is that my mating season is the same as foxes, not cows.”
“But. Does that mean you are in the middle of your mating season?” Atsushi looked at Kenji, it was still so incredible how a kid so positive as Kenji could also talk about mature topics as if they were nothing. Just listening to the conversation had made his go beet red, and he wasn’t the one talking! “Indeed it is, but worry not, I won’t jump at anyone here, Kunikida-kun, I already have a mate, and even though he isn’t here, I will always be faithful to him!” Kunikida seemed to relax, until he processed the last part of the phrase. “HIM?! You are gay?!” At this point, Kunikida looked as red as Atsushi, it was up to interpretation if he was red with anger or embarrassment. “Kunikida-kun! I can’t believe you’re homophobic!~” Dazai let out a dramatic gasp.
At this point, the tension in the room had all but disappeared, Dazai’s ears now were turned sideways, representing his playfulness. Kunikida let out a long sigh, and spoke again “Now, what's with those ears.. and tails?” Dazai turned to him again, “Hm? Ohh..! Isn’t it obvious Kunikida-kun~? I’m a kitsune!” The room entered its second phase of dead silence, only Ranpo and Fukuzawa seemed unimpressed about the information, the president realized by the mating season and Ranpo when the kitsune revealed his features. “Ohhhhh! That 's so cool! So you’re like the fox from last week?! Can you turn into a fox? And other animals? Oh! Oh! That 's so cool!” Kenji clapped, his eyes sparkling with excitement. With that, the rest of the agency slowly untensed, Dazai smiled widely, his canines poking out of his lips. “Of course I can, Kenji, do you want to see?”
—狐
The next 3 hours passed smoothly, Dazai showed his shapeshifting skills, turning into a fox, a cat, and other animals recommended by his coworkers, he also showed his powers, such as the lightning that appeared when he transformed and his foxfire. Somewhere in the time, he had started to call Atsushi ‘byakko’ out loud. The agency had been very welcoming of him. But as he and Atsushi heard someone approaching from the entrance, Dazai turned back to his human form, leaving Fukuzawa sad (he was petting the fox ears).
Ango entered the house, a carrier in his right hand and paperwork on his left. He knocked on the door, saying that he couldn't open the door by himself. Atsushi went to open the door, and as Ango entered, Dazai was on his side. “Dazai. Before you can take the kitsune, you need to sign some papers. And no, Atsushi cannot be the one to sign them.” He said, giving the brunette the pile of papers. Dazai grumbled and whined, but he sat on his chair to finish everything. And not even five minutes later, he gave the paperwork to Ango, who raised an eyebrow at him, checking the papers.
By the time the man gave Dazai the carrier with the fox inside, the man was vibrating in place.
“Fukuzawa-dono, can I print a copy of this paperwork? It’s for the agency, after all.” Fukuzawa stopped sulking at the corner, schooling his expression and nodding, having the man with glasses follow him into his office.
Dazai opened the carrier, chirping quietly to get the attention of the fox kit inside. After a minute of calming, the small kitsune left the carrier, going to the older one. Dazai picked him up, smiling and humming. When Ango came out again, Dazai had the small fox on his lap, singing a soft lullaby. Ango let out a drawn out sigh, turning away and leaving the room, but as he left the cafe downstairs, he saw Chuuya Nakahara entering, a finger to his smirking lips as he winked. “The situations this man gets into…”.
—狐
Dazai had heard the movement, or, well, felt the presence is a better word, that man didn’t make a single noise. His tension was slowly draining away as Chuuya got closer, and when a knock echoed in the room, he was smiling widely.
Atsushi went to get the door, after all, it was weird that he didn’t hear anything, and as he opened it, the sight of a small red haired man in punk-ish clothes met his eyes. He recognised the young man immediately. He was Chuuya Nakahara, the gravity manipulator that sacrificed the clerks of the agency during the three ways war. He felt compelled to close the door on the man’s face, but decided against it, after all, the agency and the mafia were in a truce, and Chuuya wasn't even in work clothes.
Chuuya pushed him aside, entering the agency and beelining towards Dazai’s desk. The brunette turned around, a big smile on his face. His eyes shone so much, they were basically watering. Chuuya made a face because of that, disgust evident. It was a low yip that made his face change, becoming one of confusion. “Did you just fucking yip?”, he asked.
“Not me! Him.” Dazai said as he scooped up the fox cub, a big toothy smile. Chuuya looked at it, face full of terror. “I thought you said male kitsune can’t get pregnant! When did this happen!?” He screamed, pointing at the small fox, who started to lick his finger. At this, Chuuya crooned, opening his hand so the small one could snuggle in his palm. “He’s not mine, well, he is, but not in that way. Remember that Kitsune Hunter clan?” Chuuya hums, looking at his mate, “The Honamis?” Dazai nods, smiling.
“Well, this time they really were able to make artificial kitsune. This little one is who they made. I didn’t want him to be taken by scientists and researchers, so I decided to adopt him!”
“WHY ARE YOU TELLING ALL OF THIS TO A MAFIA EXECUTIVE?! ALSO, HOW DOES HE KNOW YOU’RE A KITSUNE?!!” Kunikida screamed from his seat, Chuuya looked around, shock evident, he had completely forgotten there were people around. “No, reverse that, how do you know he’s a kitsune? Dazai what the fuck happened?” The kitsune turned his head, red blossoming in his face out of embarrassment. His ears and tail sprouted from his back, flattening in his head as he told what had happened.
At the end, Chuuya was laughing his head off, hands on his belly and body curved. “Hahaha, pfff, I can’t believe it, Dazai, after all those centuries, a little bit of stress was what made your spell snap?!” Dazai pouted, crossing his arms.
“You still haven't explained why the Port Mafia’s gravity manipulator knows your real identity.” Kunikida said, voice serious and cold. “The clues are all on your face, glasses, so why don’t you use your ‘detective’ for good and shut up?” Chuuya grumbled, lifting his hand and showing the blond his middle finger.
“You little!-”. “Go on Kunikida! I believe in you!! Or.. well… I believe in the man who’s going to be the next president, so show me you can be him!” Ranpo interrupted, sucking his lollipop with disgusting wet noises. “Dazai is a kitsune, whose control over his form never slipped before, he was Chuuya’s partner in the mafia, Chuuya knows that he’s a kitsune.. Did you tell him that when you were partners?.. No.. I don't think so. It’s not something Dazai would do.. so that means that Chuuya saw Dazai’s form before, but it wouldn’t be an accident. Or maybe it was? Ugh, this is hard, I don’t have many clues…” Kunikida muttered under his breath, pacing around the room. It was Kenji who broke the man’s weird back and forth. “Is he the mate you mentioned before, Dazai? Ohhhh are you also a kitsune, Mr Fancy Hat?” Kenji said, eyes shining with awe and curiosity.
“Indeed Kenji, he is my mate! But no, he isn’t a kitsune. There’s no way someone with such a tacky taste could be one of us~.” Dazai sing-songed, his ears were turned backwards and tails were wagging. Chuuya sighed, his hands petting the human sized fox. “It is indeed true that I am mated to this fish.. And I am a yokai, just not a kitsune. Honestly, kinda funny to think that most of our lives we were on separate sides, right Samu?” the fox hummed, nodding his head to push his mate to pet him more. “What do you mean?” Atsushi asked, tilting his head like a cat. “Our species were known for being enemies, but this little fucker-” “Hey!” ”-decided to infiltrate us, and instead of stealing something else, he decided to steal my heart.” Chuuya said with a smile on his face, Yosano cooed and Atsushi and Kenji became even more curious. “Awwwwwn! Thank you chibi! Didn’t know you would be so kind!” Dazai said, as he dove in to hug his mate. “Who are you calling ‘Chibi’!?”
Dazai ignored him, turning to the rest of the people, tone playful, “Hey, did you know that his species are normally three meters tall? He's literally child sized for the Oni height!” His tail wagged, messing up papers and stationary in his table. “Oi! Who do you think you are, saying this shit left and right?!” Chuuya screamed, but still, he held Dazai tighter. “Your lovely mate?” Chuuya let out a long sigh, shaking his head, as long black horns popped out of it. “Oh! So you’re an Oni! That makes sense!” Asushi said, making the room fall into silence as he realized his mistake. “I’m not just an Oni, I was the Shuten-Dooji when Oni still roamed this land, but what do you mean by ‘That makes sense’?” He smiled wickedly as the people of the agency (minus Dazai) all froze in terror. After a few minutes, Chuuya broke out in a fit of laughter, “Don’t worry! I’m not gonna hurt you guys. I really don't care.” And as the two yokai mates laughed together, the rest of the agency slowly untensioned, joining them in laughing and asking a myriad of questions about yokai and the past.
—狐
The end! <3
Extra little stuff:
“Soooo… we have a kid now?” Chuuya said, staring at the small kitsune, who was trying to catch a beetle, but was failing miserably. “I guess we do.. Doesn’t he look just like me?” Dazai said, in his fox form. He leaped onto the air, and swiftly caught the small bug, giving it to his son, who watched him in awe. “The only thing in common between you is your species, that one isn’t even black, fucker” Dazai layed down, leaving space for his son to crawl into. “Meanie! Chuuya is a meanie!” “Don't start, Osamu. And, anyways, you have an idea for the little one’s name yet?” Dazai pondered, licking his kid's fur. “How about Yousuke?” Chuuya stared at him, baffled. “You mean, not with 羊右 (sheep, to assist) kanji, right?” “No, exactly with these kanji!” Dazai answered with a grin.