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It's a cold, dark, and stormy night. Back alleys seem dead, aside from the rats and cats that scurry around. Puddles on the ground splashing around with every step. There's no one else around but them. The runner and the chaser. Both out of breath. One is running for his life, the other chasing for that life.
“AGH!!” he screams in pain as his leg twists. Still, he continues on. Afraid, cold, and wet.
“Where are you going, damn tiger!” The chaser screams, sounding more like a sentence than a question. “No one will miss you anyways!”
That sentence rang through the boy's head. ‘No one will miss you,’ he already knows that. He has no friends or family. He was barely wearing anything but rags. His clothes ripped all over, his white hair that hasn't been washed in weeks, getting cleaned by the rain, sweat dripping from his forehead and mixing with the droplets of rain. He had no family, being an orphan as long as he could remember. No one at the orphanage liked him. They all feared him, and he never knew why. He was given the nickname tiger, though he never figured out the reason. Maybe because of his hair.
He ran into a crack between two buildings. It was dark enough, and he hoped the man didn't see where he went. He followed the alley all the way to the back. The man chasing him kept going down the street. He took a sigh of relief, and continued on. Unfortunately for the boy, as soon as he reached the clearing, his body couldn't handle the starvation any longer. His vision started going blurry, he sat against the building next to a dumpster. Too weak to move any further, he passed out.
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“Is he waking up anytime soon?” a male's voice asked with concern.
“Probably, but he's going to need food. Someone go get some from the cafe asap,” a gentle feminine voice replied. The shuffling of feet is all that could be heard for the next few seconds.
The boy in the hospital bed could hear the shuffling. He tried to open his eyes but immediately closed them due to the bright lights above his head. He groaned, in both pain and annoyance. Hearing the groan, the other in the room all turned to look at him. Curious as to who he is and where he came from.
His eyes are now opening more as they get used to the lights. His eyes are rare, having segmental heterochromia. They're a light purple on the top half and a soft yellow on the bottom. His hair is white with a single black streak, and his bangs are cut at a weird angle. Shorter on his left side and longer on the right. He was wearing torn up grey clothes. Holes everywhere like he was being cut up, but no scars on his body.
A man with dark brown hair approaches the boy, “heeello there,” he speaks, stretching out the ‘e’ in the first word. “What's your name? I'm Dazai, Osamu Dazai.”
“I'm A-atsushi Nak-Nakajima sir,” the boy stuttered, afraid of what may happen. Due to lack of food and water his voice was raspy and dry.
The lady in the room handed him a glass of water, “before you ask, I'm Yosano, a doctor here. Now, drink this. You're in pretty rough shape. Though you don't even have a scratch on you. Mind telling us where you're from? And why you were by the trash outside?”
Atsushi took a sip of the water, hoping to take the time to come up with an excuse, too afraid to say the truth. “Uhm I-I’m not sure how I got here. I was running and I guess I wore myself out. I sat down needing a break but it looks like I fell asleep,” he chuckled nervously. He hoped the lie worked.
“What were you running from?” the man named Dazai asked.
Atsushi gulped, not knowing how to answer. In his panicked state he blurted out, “a tiger.”
“A tiger?” a different guy asked. He had brown hair and wore a deerstalker hat. “I heard there was one in the next town over, didn't think it'd already be here in Yokohama.”
Atsushi sighed in relief. ‘I can't believe it actually wor- wait. There's an actual tiger around!?’ The white hair boy was now internally panicking.
“I'm back with snacks,” an angelic voice spoke. Atsushi looked at the small boy. He couldn't have been older than 15. He had blond hair and dressed like a farmer. With a big smile on his face, he cheerfully spoke, “Oh you're awake! My name is Kenji. It's nice to meet you." He looked at the male that is now being checked out by the doctor.
“Hello,” Atsushi replied shyly as he grabbed a few snacks from the bag Kenji brought up. "These all look delicious! I haven't tried any, what's your favorites?" Kenji opened a bag gesturing for him to try one, the boy grabbed one and as soon as he took a bite, his face lit up. He's never tasted something so delicious in his life.
Dazai smiled at the frail looking boy before leaving without saying anything. Kenji mentioned having to get back to work and followed Dazai. Ranpo already left with some of the snacks Kenji brought. Now it's just Yosano and Atsushi in the room as she examines him.
“You must be a fast runner, seeing as the tiger didn't get you. Not even a scratch.” Nervously laughing, Atsushi didn't know how to reply to her statement.
The doctor then grabbed a syringe asking Atsushi if she could check his blood. The male immediately flinched back seeing the syringe. His body shook slightly at first, then more rapid as his breathing became irregular. Eyes widening in fear as he pulled his knees close to his chest curling himself into a ball. He buried his face into his knees as tears ran down his face. Yosano immediately knew what was going on and placed the needle down, then began slowly moving closer to him.
At that moment Dazai walked back into the room holding clothes. Just as Akiko did, he immediately caught on that something wasn't right. The brunette placed the clothes down on a chair. With concern shown on his face he hurriedly -but cautiously- went towards the other two, as he sat beside the bed looking at Atsushi.
He spoke in a low voice near the boy's ear, “you're safe. We won't harm you,” along with other comforting words he could think of. It seemed to work a little on the panicking male but it wasn't nearly as helpful as he thought it'd be.
Yosano then pulled him into a hug. “Listen to my heartbeat,” she said, “nothing else, just my heartbeat.” The two stayed like that for a few minutes. Atsushi couldn't focus for about a minute but then as he started listening in closer to Akiko’s heartbeat, he began calming slightly. His breathing slowed along with his own heartbeat. It wasn't too much longer until he fell asleep.
The two people awake in the room gracefully placed him down on the bed. The purple haired lady decided she would get his blood now so he didn't have to see the syringe.
“Do you know what caused that?” Dazai questioned the doctor.
“I'm positive it's trauma related to a syringe,” she answered, focused on inserting the needle correctly. “I asked him if I could get a blood sample for tests, and as soon as he saw the needle, he panicked.”
“I see,” is all Dazai could mutter.