leo, leonis (Akutagawa x Reader)

Chapter One

A/N YOU GUYS HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO FIND THIS FUCKING SCENE TO BE ABLE TO WRITE THIS GODDAMN CHAPTER. AHHHHHH. Also, they're super unspecific in the show about if he was there or if he came from something else or what so I'm just gonna make it up and if they give us more info later and I was way off, sorry. Also, no way is he clutching his cravat like that in the scene around the flashback. He's so dumb. I love him.

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Akutagawa stood in the forest clearing, his eyes wide and wild. Blood spattered his ragged clothes and he moved with a slight limp. There were no words for what he had experienced, what he had seen. There was only the ground before him.

He reached a trembling hand up to his cheek and found that it came away wet with blood. The bodies on the ground around him seemed to be creeping closer. Akutagawa felt like if he took a step closer to the boy on the other side of the clearing, they would grab him, pulling him down into the soft earth.

They boy was like no one Akutagawa had ever seen before. He was tall and though his face was youthful, there was a darkness in his eyes. He was dressed rather nicely for the setting, wearing dress pants, a neat white button down, a black tie, and a black trench coat. There were bandages over his right eye.

Akutagawa clutched at his chest, breathing heavily. The horror he had seen, that he had caused. The horror. The horror.

There had been no other choice, he knew that. The men, they'd been coming for him, coming to kill him. He hadn't meant to use his ability but, things never tended to happen when they were supposed to, did they.

His black beast had done what it did best: it had devoured. The corpses at his feet were all the evidence anyone needed but Akutagawa had seen it, and this boy had too. They had watched as the men were perforated by material made weapon. The blood had rained down, staining everything it touched with dark disgrace.

The boy raised a hand, beckoning him over. As if he was not in control of his limbs, as if he was drawn to this bo by some, inexplicable force: Akutagawa advanced, stoping a few feet away. He fixed his eyes on the boys shoes: dark brown, nearly black. Blood spattered. His arms hung loosely at his sides.

The boy just stood there, watching him. Waiting to see what Akutagawa would do next. He looked up.

"Can you give me a reason to live?" he found himself asking.

He wasn't entirely sure where the question had come from or why he had asked the boy. It felt as though it had been ripped from his throat. This man, this total stranger, had some hold over Akutagawa. There was a magnetic field around him and he was unable to resist.

As he looked up, examining the boys face, he noticed there was not just a bandage on his eye, but one on his left cheek too and others, peeking out around the collar of his pressed shirt. A wicked grin cut his face in to two.

"I can."

His voice was soft as silk, mingling with the cool night air like it was nothing more than the wind rustling the leaves. The closed the distance between them. He regarded Akutagawa for a moment before taking off his jacket. He felt the heaviness of the fabric on his shoulders before Akutagawa really registered what was happening.

With his jacket gone, Akutagawa could see the bandages covered far more of him than previously believed. They swarmed out of the sleeves of his shirt which had been rolled up to the boy's elbows, eclipsing his skin from sight all the way to his wrists.

The boy said nothing else to Akutagawa, simply turned and place a gentle arm across his shoulders. He placed his free hand in his pocket and began to lead him out of the clearing.

The first thing that had happened upon his arrival to the tall, black buildings was he'd been given a bath. A real bath too, with too many bubbles and nice, warm, fluffy towels. Akutagawa supposed he must have had a bath like this before but, couldn't place his finger on the memory. 

He scrubbed hard at his skin with the soap, ridding himself of grime and blood, staining the water a dingy pink. It was like some small part of him thought that to be externally clean meant a person was internally so. And so, he scrubbed, until his skin was raw, until he drew blood.

He'd been given a fresh set of clothes after. He figured they had belonged to the bandaged boy as they were much to big for him. Akutagawa rolled up the pants and the cuffs of the shirt before slipping his same, filthy shoes back onto his feet. He felt defiled by them, like they were a mark of how inescapable he was.

When he had exited the room, there had been a man in a suit standing by the door. The man ordered him to follow and so, Akutagawa followed, his sneakers padding softly on the luxury of the thick, maroon rug lining the floor.

The building was a maze. Akutagawa tried to keep track of every staircase, every turn they made but found himself lost in the map of his own creation. It wasn't just that the route was so convoluted, it was also the fact that the people rushing around them were like nothing he'd ever seen before.

Each was perfectly dressed, perfectly clean. Each wore a serious expression on their face, even those walking and talking in small groups. He couldn't help but think that all these people in their matching suits with their matching sunglasses looked a little bit like ants, wandering this way in that, carrying out important business.

They reached a door. It was tall and made of a heavy, dark wood that had been carefully engraved with winding vines and leaves. The man stopped walking and so, Akutagawa did too. The man knocked. The door opened. Akutagawa, at the man's request, entered.

The room was the very picture of luxury. Floor to ceiling windows made up the entirety of one wall while floor to ceiling bookshelves covered another. Centered near the back was an ornate desk, matching the door perfectly which shut behind him with a soft click.

The man seated behind the desk motioned for him to approach. Akutagawa did, stopping once he was side by side with the same strange boy who had brought him to this place. The man behind the desk was thin with chin length hair that looked a little greasy. He was dressed like a doctor and although Akutagawa knew that doctors could make lots of money in the practice of their craft, he doubted it was how the man ended up where he was.

The man smiled, something that should have been comforting. Instead, Akutagawa felt it was a snake who was watching him with its calculating eyes as the man placed his elbows on the table, folding his hands and resting his chin on them as he did so.

"Dazai here says you're interested in joining the Port Mafia's ranks." he conversationally began, "He says you'd be rather suited to them in fact."

Akutagawa looked up at the boy, Dazai he assumed, standing beside him. Dazai's eyes were fixed on the man behind the desk, his face betrayed nothing. Akutagawa turned back.

"Will it give me a reason?" he asked, his voice coming out cracked and hoarse.

The man's smile widened.

"Yes." he replied, "I believe it will."