Darkness
"Hello? Papa? Are you here?" A small voice echoed in the complete darkness, followed by small, scared footsteps
"Looking for this?"
The red haired child quickly whipped his head in the direction of the voice. His heart stopped at the horrifying sight before him.
Blood
Blood of a certain brunette, trapped in montrous, black, arms; lower half of his body missing, painting the floor beneath him red.
"Look what you have done, Nakahara Chuuya"
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"Hey Chuuya, are you okay?" The brunette looked worriedly at the little ginger, who sat on the table with a frown on his face. The boy had not touched his food at all, even though Dazai had prepared his favourite food. "Is something wrong? Is the food bad? Does your tummy hurt?" Dazai asked, taking a seat beside Chuuya, stroking his hair gently. The ginger shook his head. This worried Dazai.
Last night, Chuuya had woken up terrified because of some nightmare that he refused to speak about. He kept mumbling 'You're okay. Thank god', clinging to Dazai.
"Chibi, if you don't feel well, I can drop you off to Ane san's place. You don't have to go to school if you don't want to"
The boy shook his head, "I want to go to school"
"Okay, but eat something" The older man sighed and picked up Chuuya's chopsticks, holding the food in betwen them, close to Chuuya's mouth "I'll feed you, okay? Eat"
Chuuya nodded and finished his food, with a little persuation from Dazai.
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Chuuya waved goodbye to Dazai and ran to his class, hoping that he would not have to deal with those annoying kids again. He didn't have the energy or the mood for it.
Unfortuntely for him, gods had a different plan.
"Here comes the annoying brat. I hate this little monster more than Nakahara. Kill him"
'No. shut up...Wait- who're you?.......Hello?????'
"Oh look it's mister high and mightie"
Chuuya rolled his eyes at the comment and sarcastically mumbled 'big words, oh how cool'. Well, the kid heard him.
"You think you're better than evelyone, huh? Well in case you don't know, the world doesn't levolve around you"
"Yours doesn't but mine does. So shut up"
The teacher who had heard the commotion came to check what was going on. Hearing Chuuya's comeback, she bit her inner cheek to prevent herself from laughing. She scolded both the boys lightly and told them to get along with each other, earning an annoyed 'hmph' from them.
The rest of the day went okay for Chuuya, with Arahabaki not bothering him surprisingly.
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Chuuya stared at Dazai's bandages curiously, while they walked back home.
"Hey, why do you always wear so many bandages? Are you hurt?"
Dazai looked at Chuuya, confused at the sudden question. The kid just stared at him, worried.
At first Dazai thought to ask Chuuya about why he was asking about the bandages but knowing that Chuuya was a smart kid and would probably shower him with questions, he just decided to lie
"Uhh.... It's– well... to look...cool"
"I want to look cool too!"
"No"
"Whyyy?"
"Chibi is cool as he is. He doesn't need bandages"
"But—"
"No buts. We're home. Now go play or do something. I'm going to change and then I'll get you something to eat"
Dazai left Chuuya in the living room with some drawing materials and toys. He quickly locked the door and went in his room to patch up the wound on his leg and change his clothes. Entering the room, he sighed in relief that he was able to hide that he was injured from Chuuya. The boy would have freaked out.
He took off his pants and unwrapped his bandages that were stuck together because of the clotted blood. He quickly washed the wounded area with warm water and grabbed his first aid kit. Then he made his way to the futon. Sitting on it, he disinfected the wound and applied some ointment on it
The door slid open slightly and Chuuya poked his head in, looking obviously disturbed from something
"Papa, can I stay in the room with you? It's—"
"Gah- Chuuya! At least knock before you enter"
Chuuya's eyes widened in horror when his eyes fell on Dazai's wound. Slamming the door open, he ran upto Dazai, visibly concerned "You're hurt! How did this happen?"
"It's because of you"
"Because of me?"
"Wha—?" Dazai stared at Chuuya in surprise. He hadn't even said anything, why did Chuuya ask if it was because of him "No! I fell down idiot"
The little child glared at him, not believing his words at all
"You're lying. It's because of me right?!"
"No! And get out of the room! I need to bandage my leg!"
Chuuya latched himself to Dazai's leg as the older man reached to grab him to get him out of the room. He didn't want Chuuya to see the wounds on him, but the little ginger refused to let go of him.
"OUCH— Chuuya-let-me-go! It-hurts!"
"No! I will not go out! You're hurt!"
"You latching on like that isn't really helping!"
"But you're hurt! I will help you! I'm not going!"
"What a pathetic way to make yourself feel better"
"I'm not making excuses! Shut up!"
"What are you talking about?!"
"I'm not making excuses! I'LL HELP YOU!!"
In the end, Chuuya won. Now he sat on the futon with a bandage roll in his small hands, gently wrapping it around Dazai's leg. When he was done, Dazai patted his head lightly and went in the bathroom to change his clothes.
"Chuuya, want to eat something?"
"Okay"
"Alright, I need you to wait in the living room this time, got it?"
"Yes"
The brunette went in the kitchen and Chuuya sat on the couch, doodling on a random piece of paper, when he felt a sharp pain in his head. He toppled to the floor, tightly grasping his head to soothe the pain
"Kill him"
"Huh? Who're you?"
"Arahabaki. I'm a god. You're simply my vessel, Nakahara Chuuya. I govern your mind"
"Awawaki san, what do you mean?"
"That you will kill him"
"I won't"
"You will"
"I won't"
"Oye Chuuya! Who're you talking to?"
"Awawaki!"
"Who's that?" Dazai asked from the kitchen, wondering if Chuuya made up some kind of imaginary friend
"Awawaki!"
"What the hell?" Dazai muttered under his breath. He quickly plated the apples and oranges and went outto the living room to give them to Chuuya "Chibi! Here you go! Apples!" He looked at Chuuya and felt his heart stop
Chuuya was crouched on the floor, holding his head tightly, his eyes wide in pain while he muttered something, the air around him glowing red
"...grantors of dark disgrace....."
'Oh no'
"You need not..."
The plate crashed on the floor, scattering bits of glass everywhere as Dazai quickly ran towards Chuuya before he could complete the chant. He quickly grabbed Chuuya's arm and pulled him in a tight embrace, rbbing circles on his back. Chuuya held onto him, trying to calm himself.
"Shhh.... Calm down, I'm here. Everything's fine"
He pulled Chuuya away from him and placed Chuuya's hand on his chest, telling him to match his breathing to his. After a few minutes, he managed to calm him down.
"Chuuya, I need you to listen to me. You are not to say those words, ever again, until and unless I tell you. Promise me"
Chuuya nodded his head in a yes. Dazai patted his head reassuringly and said, pointing at the glass shards everywhere on the floor "I'll clean up and get you something to eat"
The little child tugged onto his shirt, looking at the floor and slowly shook his head
"I don't want to eat anything. I want to sleep"
"O-oh. Can you wait until I clean up. Then I'll tuck you in"
Chuuya shook his head again. Dazai sighed and picked Chuuya in his arms, not wanting him to accidentally step on any of the shards and hopped his way to the bedroom. Tucking the boy, he waited until Chuuya fell asleep, holding his hand tightly, before he wiggled it out of the sleeping boy's grasp and went to clean up the broken glass off the floor.
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Dazai shifted in his sleep and felt the spot next to him empty. He slowly opened his eyes
"Chuuya?" He called out, slowly getting up and searching around for the little ginger, wondering if he was in the bathroom or if he was hungry, considering he hadn't eaten anything after what had happened.
He looked around in the house for a while, not finding him anywhere.
"Chuuya!" He called out again, a little more tenseness in his voice. His eyes fell on the main door. It was slightly open.
He sprinted towards the door and noticed that Chuuya's shoes were not at the entrance. That could only mean one thing
'He ran away'
He quickly slipped into his slippers, not caring if they were a pair or not and ran out of the house
'Where could he have gone? Did he have another Arahabaki episode? Did the older Chuuya also have them?'
He pulled out his phone and called Ranpo, not for a moment stopping his search. The man did not pick up. Dazai clicked his tongue in annoyance and dialed again, with the same response. After a few tries, the detective finally picked up.
"Mnm...'ello? Dazai... it's 3 in the morning.......what do you want?"
"Ranpo kun, it's Chuuya. He ran away. I need your help"
He heard a shuffling noise on Ranpo's end, indicating the detective was fully awake.
"Okay first, calm down. He has not been kidnapped. Now, tell me about the route you usually picked to drop him to his playschool"
The brunette told him about it and Ranpo listened carefully before speaking again
"Alright, the park. Check the area around the park. He's a kid, even if he ran away, he'd try to go somewhere he'll feel safe. I'll call Atsushi and the others to go search at some other locations he can be, just in case"
"Thank you Ranpo kun. I'll get you lot's of snacks later"
He raced towards the park, calling out for Chuuya, praying that the little boy was fine.
"CHUUYA!! CHUUYA?! WHERE ARE YOU??"
He heard something move under the slides, a small bonk and an 'Oww!' following the previous sound.
Dazai slowly walked towards the slide, careful not to scare the person under it. He peeked under it, a small, comforting smile on his face.
"Chuuya, there you are. Let's go home" he said, holding Chuuya's arm gently, who quickly snatched it away, tears falling down his eyes like waterfall
"No! Go away! I don't want to hurt you"
"You've ne–"
"You got hurt because of me! Go away"
Dazai took a deep breath and spread his arms in a welcoming manner, smiling softly
"Chuuya, come here"
"No"
"Trust me. Come here. I'll prove it to you, you've never ever hurt me. Come"
Slowly emerging from his hiding spot, the ginger made his way to the Brunette. Dazai extended his hand towards Chuuya, signalling him to put his hand on top. As the ginger did so, Dazai told him
"Tell the god inside of you to now try and take control of you"
The little boy nodded and closed his eyes
'Awawaki, I challenge you to take control of my mind now'
No response.
Chuuya's eyes shot open and he looked at Dazai in disbelief, while the older man continued to smile
"Well?"Dazai asked
"I don't hear him!"
"I told you. That monster is scared of me. He can't hurt me. Don't worry, okay?"
"Hmm!" Chuuya nodded
"Let's go home. No one will be able to hurt you when I'm here" Daazai said, picking Chuuya up in his arms and embracing him, his warmth reassuring the little ginger that everything was fine.
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Bonus??? ',:\
"DAZAI, I'M SERIOUSLY SO DONE WITH YOU!!"
"But- Kunikida kun—"
The blond ponytailed man cut the brunette, mid sentence and, pushing up his glasses, continued to yell at him, while the other members of the Agency glared at Dazai, each of them looking clearly underslept
"No buts. Seriously, no calls!? Do you know how worried we were?? You could have at least called one of us but NO! You just went home without a care"
"Kunikida kun~ I'm sorry"
"Sorry??? That's all you have to say?? Well SORRY but I don't accept your apology" He looked over to Chuuya and said "Little Nakahara, please don't become like this idiot when you grow up"
"Whoa.. how mean Kunikida kun~"
"Mean, my foot. I will not forgive you until and unless you clean the whole office spotless"
"Hein?"
The other members chirped in with their demands
"Clean the president's room too"
"Buy cookies for us all"
"Become my patient"
"Buy me all flavours of crepe"
"Don't forget my snacks"
"Do your own work from now on"
"HEIN??!"
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A/N: Hahaha to those who thought it was Fyodor, lol it's not him............ yet. Also Kudos to dazai_soukoku_ for being the only person guessing the right answer.
Anyway ,this was probably the most anxious I've been writing a chapter. The past 2 weeks have been just me at a constant little war with my mind and it made me kind of not want to do anything. Also, the fact that I don't know much of what I need to warn readers about made me kind of nervous writing this chapter like 'What if there is some triggering stuff in the chapter?' or 'Maybe this will make people uncomfortable reading?'. I'm kind of new to publishing my works on the internet so I don't have much idea about it.
*ahem* I'm gonna rant a bit, feel free to skip this and search for new good fics to read. Bye :)
So recently, my school counsellor gave our whole grade a counselling on the importance of knowing what we want to do in future which kind of ended up demotivating me, instead of motivating. Cuz honestly, I can't think of anything at all. I don't understand what's going on in classes and because of some teachers ignoring me in the past (if not ignoring, then using that annoyed tone to talk, that makes you realize they don't want you there, asking questions), I kind of ended up shutting myself off and not asking my doubts anymore which ended up in me not understanding the topics that followed. I almost cried during the session, it was really hard for me to maintain a poker face, because I knew that if I'll cry, it will just turn into a session of 'you don't try enough' which would leave me feeling even worse.
Speaking of teachers ignoring me, after almost 2 and a half years of shutting myself off, I decided to try to at least show my work to the teacher when they told us to thinking maybe that will help me get a little more open to askig my questions but guess what.. Yes, she ignored me. And only me. Not the ones who went to her before me, not those who went after me, just me. Even when I asked her to look at my work, she just ignored me. Welp, guess I'm going back to the confused me.
And why do adults think that all we kids have to worry about are our studies. Like if you're worrying about something else then something's wrong with you child. Like wtf???
If you read till here, thank you so much. I hope you have a wonderful day/night
Bye :)
Love you all sooo much❣️❣️