Summary: Dazai and Chuuya mentoring Akutagawa and Atsushi over the years. Oneshot.
Act 1
Age 17
The ball hit the floor, again.
"That's a disappointment," Dazai said dryly, a simple statement of fact. He clicked his tongue. "Try again."
Akutagawa complied. Rashomoun pushed him upwards, like a strange version of walking on stilts or perhaps a human possessing tentacles.
Dazai threw the ball up.
Rashomoun rushed towards the ball from several yards away. The ball hit the floor again. Akutagawa had failed to get there-he wasn't even closer.
Dazai lazily picked up the ball. He sighed, thumbing off a piece of dirt on the ball. He aimed a casual, disparaging look at his apprentice. "Look at you, what do you call a dog who can't even fetch on his master's orders?"
Akutagawa stood rigidly, not responding. He had learned it was best not to.
"Useless, that's what," Dazai answered idly. "Not talking again?" He questioned. His cheerful tone hid the sharpness under the question.
Akutagawa coughed into his hand. "My apologies, Dazai-san. I thought you meant it as a rhetorical question."
Dazai hummed for a few seconds, staring at Akutagawa with a piercing gaze. "Again," he ordered and immediately threw the ball into the air.
XXX
Age 19
Chuuya glanced at his phone. "F*ck, it's already eight? You want to grab something to eat Akutagawa-kun?" He rolled his shoulder-training with Akutagawa was a nice warm-up for him and always fun. Well, it was fun now that Akutagawa had learned some respect and wasn't going to bite his head off.
Akutagawa blinked. "What?"
"Do you want to get something to eat with me?" Chuuya repeated. He looked at his apprentice and tapped out a reply to something on his phone, multitasking.
"Ahhh… sure."
XXX
Age 22
Atsushi had gone down to the cafe to get some food… and some quiet. Things had been rather slow at the office. All of them had gone stir crazy. He had just gotten his cup of coffee when someone slung an arm around him.
"Atsushi-kun," Dazai said enthusiastically. He grinned at his apprentice.
"Yes Dazai-san?" Atsushi warily asked. He had learned to be on guard when his mentor had that look in his eyes.
"We have a new mission!" Dazai relayed. "It's all about-"
"Dazai! Stop fooling around," Kunikida barked at his partner. "We'll tell you about it on the way, Atsushi."
XXX
Age 23
There was yet another city-wide crisis because of an enemy ability user. This time, copies of local ability users were wreaking havoc across the city. Fortunately, they didn't have the memories of their real life counterparts.
Akutagawa clicked his tongue. Rashomoun was poised at his side, ready to attack. "How can I know if you're the real one? What's the name of the first Port Mafia member that tried to kill you?"
"Umm… you, uhh, tried to kill me when we first met? But, well, uhh, your assistant tried first, Ha...Hici...Higa?" Atsushi guessed, trying to put together his blurry recollection of the event that that happened a few months ago.
The black tendrils of Akutagawa's coat split into six different parts and lunged for Atsushi. "Wrong."
"It's me I promise!" Atsushi yelled in protest. He darted to the side, towards a wall and a stack of abandoned crates.
Akutagawa was not buying it. Rashomoun slammed into the wall as Atsushi dodged to the side.
Atsushi leapt up the crates, heading towards Akutagawa. He landed on the ground, skidding slightly. He held up his fists, ready to bat aside one of Rashomoun's free tendrils with a clawed hand.
Atsushi's limbs grew heavy-it was not the regular sort of exhaustion from exercising. He felt as if he was underwater, at the bottom of the ocean, all of the water on top weighing him down, restricting his movement. He swallowed hard-he couldn't protect himself like this. He couldn't move fast enough to dodge Akutagawa-he was trapped like a fish in a barrel.
A red hue had coated the air between the two. A man stood there, shaking his head. "Calm down," Chuuya ordered. He released his hold on the two young men, keeping an eye on their reactions.
Akutagawa stopped attacking immediately. Rashomoun retracted from Atsushi, poised to respond to anything. "Chuuya-san." Akutagawa straightened his back, turning from a battle stance to a more formal one. He coughed into his hand.
Atsushi returned to his normal weight. He had to attack before he was held down by that ability again. Panicking, he swung at the unknown man.
Chuuya easily caught the punch, not even using his ability to do it. After a stern look, he let Atsushi's fist go.
Atsushi growled. He was about to try his luck again, even while knowing it was a bad idea to fight an unknown Port Mafia member fast and powerful enough to easily stop one of his punches. There was a tap of dress shoes from behind as someone quickly moved towards him. Atsushi was shoved off balance, pushed backwards, and found himself looking at a familiar back-broad shoulders covered by a tan trench coat.
Chuuya and Dazai glared at each other. "My day just keeps getting better and better," they sarcastically said in unison. They immediately groaned, disgusted at their synchronization.
"How can we know you're real?" Chuuya asked.
"And how do we know you're real?" Dazai replied with a shrug.
The four looked at each other, considering looks on all of their faces.
Only one thing came to the minds of the two older men. Chuuya and Dazai had spent eight years pretending it didn't exist. It was a secret that they planned to keep to their graves. With almost comical grimaces, they held out their right hands. They clasped their hands together and proceeded to fly through an handshake at high speed. It was so fast and overly complicated that Akutagawa only caught half of the motions his seniors did.
Dazai and Chuuya finished with a tap of knuckles and a shoulder check. They both took a step back, wanting to get more room between them. "We never mention this," they agreed in unison.
"What was that?" Atsushi asked, confused.
"If you mention this to anyone, you're dead," Chuuya threatened his juniors.
Akutagawa nodded. "Understood."
Atsushi was not confident in being able to keep secrets. He stammered out a reply that reflected this uncertainty.
"Hah?" Chuuya responded, stepping closer. He had a dangerous look in his eyes.
"Dazai-san, you won't let him kill me, right?" Atsushi pleaded as he shrunk back further, hiding behind Dazai.
"Well, we also know it's the real them now." Dazai shrugged and turned to see his newest apprentice. "If you tell anyone, Atsushi-kun, about what you just saw," his cheerful tone dropped down to being icy cold, "I'll just increase your paperwork so that you wish you were dead."
Atsushi inwardly wailed. 'Is it really that important that no one knows about them having a secret handshake?'
Act 2
Age 24
Akutagawa and Atsushi saw their mutual mentor strolling towards them.
"Dazai-san, why are you here?" Atsushi asked. This was an unofficial mission, taken by Akutagawa and Atsushi to stop what was going on. They had run into each other and decided to go with their usual 'allies until our mutual enemies are dead' plan.
Dazai smiled. "Hey. I heard about what was going on." He put a hand on both Atsushi's and Akutagawa's heads, ruffling his juniors' hair slightly.
Akutagawa shifted awkwardly. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Do you have any suggestions?"
"Yes, I do," Dazai chirped. He moved behind Atsushi, his hand moving to his apprentice's arm. He let go of Akutagawa's head. He pulled a gun out of his coat pocket and twisted Atsushi's arm behind his back. He pointed the gun at Akutagawa's head. He had nullified their abilities by touching them before, so there was nothing they could do. "Sorry for the pain, Atsushi-kun, but it's the only way to keep you from running off."
Whoever is in charge of the problem person needs to step in, that's the general rule. There's different ways its expressed. Such as 'seniors take care of their juniors'. Or to be more specific for this case, 'when a student was doing something stupid, it was the mentor's job to stop them'.
Atsushi let out a whimper. The grip around his wrist was strong, feeling more like a cold manacle than a hand.
Akutagawa was tense as a string, pulled taut, ready to snap. He was waiting for his ability to return-Dazai's ability left a nullification aftereffect, but it would wear off eventually.
Dazai sighed. "Why isn't he here?" He lazily squinted at the bright sky, searching for a figure. Dazai's phone vibrated in his pocket. His gaze flicked downwards.
Rashomoun cut through the gun, dispelling as it reached Dazai's hand.
Atsushi dropped forward. He used his free hand as a stand, trying to sweep or hook the back of Dazai's legs.
Dazai let go of Atsushi's arm. He fell backwards, using his hands to spring back and avoid Atsushi. He slouched his back, relaxing his stance. He pulled out his phone and held it to his ear, his eyes glued to his apprentices. "Hello? This is Dazai. Huh? Aww… no. Why would I ever? Yeah." He chuckled. "I guess I'm waiting on you for once. See you, Chibi." He hung up.
"Dazai-san, what's going on?" Atsushi asked, confused. He had transformed his arms into that of the tiger's, and the sleeves of his shirt had torn apart to make room for the change.
Dazai's smile was cold. He looked at them with half-lidded eyes. "Well, Atsushi-kun, Akutagawa-kun, I can't let you get into that tower."
Akutagawa scowled. "Why? Why aren't we allowed to?"
Dazai sighed. "You're not going to like this either way," he waved a nonchalant hand, "So let's just get this over with." He sprinted at Atsushi, the real threat for him. Akutagawa was useless as a support and long range fighter against Dazai, since Rashomoun couldn't do anything against No Longer Human.
Atsushi backed up frantically. He didn't want to fight, not if he was against Dazai. "Dazai-san, please, just explain, why are you doing this?"
Akutagawa lunged for Dazai. He had no such problems as fighting with his old mentor. Dazai had made him stronger and taken Akutagawa and Gin off the streets, but Dazai had also made his life hell for a long while.
Dazai avoided Akutagawa's fist, bending under it. He jabbed two fingers at his old student's solar plexus and pushed Akutagawa away with his shoulder.
Akutagawa stumbled back, clutching at his chest. He was bitting down his lip to keep from protesting the pain. He glared at Dazai.
Dazai smirked slightly as he heard something, or someone, land on the concrete nearby. It wasn't exactly a light or soft sound, but nor was it heavy and clanky. It was more like a thwack, a pencil hit against the edge of a wooden table. "There you are! Did you get lost or was air traffic in Yokohama just slow?"
"Shut up. I was out of the city before," Chuuya growled.
Dazai put the safety of his gun back on. He yawned, ignoring his partner's reply.
A red hue bled into the air. It coated Akutagawa and Atsushi. The weight forced them to their hands and knees. Akutagawa snarled.
Chuuya's focus turned to his juniors. "You two are so naive, you think killing or imprisoning someone solves all the problems in the world," he scolded, his voice full of annoyance.
Dazai smiled and waved nonchalantly. "They're young, don't be so harsh, Chibi." He propped an elbow on his partner's shoulder.
Akutagawa had looked down when Chuuya had started talking. He clicked his tongue at Dazai's comment, a scowl on his face.
Atsushi just frowned. If he was able to, he would be doing one of his distracting habits-they made him feel better.
Dazai's phone buzzed. He took it out, still leaning on his irritated partner's shoulder. "Plan B. We're going in to negotiate," he announced.
"And let me guess, we're going to have to fight our way to the boss to do that?" Chuuya drawled. The red hue in the air dissipated as For the Tainted Sorrow was no longer in use.
"Yup."
"We're coming with you, right?" Atsushi asked, timidly. He was acting more like a mouse than a tiger.
"We are," Akutagawa stated, standing up. His grey eyes were slabs of flint.
Chuuya crossed his arms. "Just don't get in the way and get yourselves killed, alright?"
Akutagawa huffed, slightly offended that Chuuya would even say that. But he reasoned that it was more about the weretiger than him.
"I'll try not to?" Atsushi tentatively replied.
"Great! Now we can all die together," Dazai chirped.
Chuuya slapped the back of Dazai's head, shooting his partner a look. "We're not dying."
Dazai whined slightly, removing his elbow. His face brightened up. "There's always the chance I could meet my fate!" He said, dramatically, a smile on his face.
"Yeah, maybe you, but not the rest of us." Chuuya rolled his eyes. He put a hand on his hip. "Alright, let's get going, we have another catastrophe to prevent and I have something to get to after this."
A/N
Smashed together two ideas I've wanted for a while, Soukoku having a secret handshake and Soukoku vs Shin Soukoku.
If you got that reference near the end, hello fellow fan.
-Silver