Summary: I would prefer it if you didn't disrespect President Fukuzawa in front of me," Chuuya coldly responded. Her hand shifted from her knife to her hip. The disagreement, the clash, was familiar, it settled her nerves. ADA!Fem!Chuuya x PortMafia!Dazai.

D*mn. It's a dead end, Chuuya noted. She had thought this was the way to her apartment, she was wrong. In the silence of her frustration she could hear the quiet taps of shoes at the end of the alleyway. She knew that gait, each step a predicted beat, like a metronome playing in her heart, something that was queued only to him. She turned, hand straying to her knife, "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to deliver Boss's response to, as he said, 'Fukuzawa's invitation to a tea party.'" Dazai smiled, his tone slightly mocking at the end.

"I would prefer it if you didn't disrespect President Fukuzawa in front of me," Chuuya coldly responded. Her hand shifted from her knife to her hip. The disagreement, the clash, was familiar, it settled her nerves. "What's Mori-san's reply?"

Dazai chuckled. "He has agreed. We will be there." He drifted closer, each step slow and measured yet seemingly casually. He smiled, a smile that was a chilling fake. "You're brilliant. You stayed hidden from me for three years." His smile fell and the questions came out.

"Why did you run?"

"Why did you leave me?

He was right in front of her now, a dark specter dressed in black clothes and white bandages.

It was a whispered plea that slipped from her lips, full of things she couldn't say. Full of things she didn't want to admit. Full of things, that she did not know herself. "I'm sorry."

Dazai's voice was taut, passive aggressive. "For what?"

"I'm not sorry for leaving the Port Mafia." Chuuya staunchly said. She didn't regret her choice, but she did regret that she had hurt him. Her tone shifted from a rod of steel to thin glass, "I'm sorry for leaving you alone again."

He cupped her face gently. His calculating eyes bored through her, finding only sorrow and hope.

Trust was what had linked them, what had allowed them to be partners, what had allowed them to date a fellow mafia member. They could trust that the other would not betray them. But what was there now? 'Nothing,' Dazai thought as he turned away.

XXX

"Did you have fun seeing Chuuya?" Mori questioned in an amicable tone.

Dazai stayed silent, refusing to answer for several seconds. He clenched his hands together behind his back and instead posed a question of his own. "How can you trust someone?"

Mori leaned back into his chair. "Trust is a choice?"

"Yes."

"Sometimes it is misplaced and sometimes it is correctly given?" Mori continued.

"Yes."

Mori raised an eyebrow. "Then you must chose whether you will take the chance or not."

Dazai swallowed, perturbed. His voice was uneasy as he asked softly, "What about when someone has already broken your trust?"

"Second chances?" Mori sighed. "In some cases, you will be disappointed," he hummed, "In others you will pleasantly surprised." Mori smiled slightly as Dazai looked up for the first time since he came in. "For second chances, it is the same as trust-youmust chose whether you will give them that chance to prove themselves, or not," he advised.

XXX

The area around them had been decimated by Corruption.

"I trusted you," Chuuya choked out. She grabbed onto Dazai's blazer, the only thing keeping her from falling. Blood tears dripped from her eyes, trailing down her cheeks.

Dazai steadied her, an arm under her shoulder to keep her braced safely against him. "I know," he murmured.

"You stopped me." Her hands moved-they were deceivingly small things, lethal hands, that had held black holes that could decimate buildings and knives that had taken many lives. With her remaining strength before she became unconscious, she looped her arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe to press a kiss to his lips.

'Thank you.'

He stared at her-shocked for a rare moment, speechless. He instinctively tightened his grip around her before she fell to the ground. The action kicked Dazai's mind back into functioning.

He hummed, tugging her closer. Leave her here or take her to where the Armed Detective Agency was? Well, he could drop her off in their office? The Agency had cleared out of there because of the three way war, which meant there was no one there to confront Dazai.

'Choices. Choices. Choices.'

XXX

It was another regular day for the Agency. Atsushi was with Kunikida today. Chuuya and her partner Ranpo walked down the street after another successful job, having caught a pair of murderers. It involved some harsh comments from Ranpo and some elbowing from Chuuya, plus deduction and bullet stopping near the end.

"So, who's the guy?" Ranpo asked, eyes sharp. He had kept his glasses on, apparently for the purpose of interrogating her.

"What guy?" Chuuya responded.

Ranpo sighed. "You really want to do this?"

"Do what?" Chuuya responded, innocently, sticking to her position.

"I can smell his cologne on you, and crab," Ranpo pointed out, exasperated.

"I tried out a new perfume and I had seafood last night. So what?"

Ranpo frowned. "Fine." He threw his hands up. Getting answers out of Chuuya when she didn't want to was akin to pulling nails out of wood with your bare hands. It was painful and wasn't likely to work.

XXX

It was the same alleyway off of an alleyway. Chuuya had walked into this dead end, again. But this time, it was on purpose.

"Noticed me?" Dazai purred. He had his hands in his pockets.

"You don't exactly blend in with a crowd," Chuuya snarked, a smirk on her lips.

Dazai smirked back. "Says the woman dressed in bright red," he teased. His focus dropped to her hands, gloved again.

He tugged off her gloves. He rubbed his thumbs over her hands, the tough calluses and pale white knicks from knives. He laced one of their hands together, fingers interlocking, her hand dwarfed by his. His hands were smooth, his fingers long, and his nails trimmed with only a small rim of white.

She watched, confused. With the skin contact, his ability activated and hers left-making her slightly cold, making the heat from his hands more noticeable.

Dazai hugged her. He buried his face in her neck. And in those few moments, with her curly hair hair brushing against his cheek his nose against her neck, he sought a brief respite from the world. A few moments of calm...

She wrapped her arm around him, pressing herself against his chest. His large black trenchcoat enveloped her. He was warm.

"I'm going to be gone for a bit soon," he said. His breath tickled her ear.

"But you'll be back?" Chuuya asked, her hand cupping his cheek.

He nodded, "I'll be back," he whispered-his promise.

She kissed him-her promise.

XXX

Dazai brushed a hand over his mouth, wiping away the trail of blood. He smirked and loaded another magazine into his pistol.

He aimed another shot towards the horde approaching him.

Something hit the ground, sending a shock wave of through the earth, shaking people to their knees.

He watched the unstoppable force headed towards him with a smile.

Chuuya cut through the horde with her knife and fists, a path of nothing behind her.

They met, dancing around each other in a tight circle, muscle memory of all their past battles coming back. They created a ball of space in the midst of the horde, created by a knife blade and bullets, two pairs of feet and fists. The circle slowly expanded.

For on that battlefield, Death and Destruction trailed in the footsteps of two people, two lovers. One was pale, tall, and intimidating as Death himself, cloaked in black. His mind, brilliant and his heart blackened with rust. The other was small, deceptively petite. She was destruction incarnate, carrying wrath with her as powerful as her weapon. Her ability warped the rules of nature, breaking them for a time.

They survived with minor injuries.

No one else escaped alive.

XXX

The meetings between the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia were boring, in Dazai's opinion. The only people really doing anything were Fukuzawa and Mori. He was just happy he had been put next to Chuuya.

"Chibi," Dazai chirped. He tried to hug her, she held him off with a hand. "Chuuya! Stop ignoring me," Dazai whined. He slumped, throwing all of his weight on her.

Startled, she stopped holding him up.

His face fell on her collarbone. He hummed, sliding upwards to rest on her shoulder. He was content with this position, so he put his arm around her torso so he could stay. Of course, Chuuya could throw him off anytime she wanted, but she'd let him stay if he looked like he was sleeping. And he would have actually been sleeping, if he wasn't listening to the uproar his actions had caused.

"What?" Atsushi whispered, confused.

Chuuya huffed, crossing her arms.

Dazai whined slightly at the shift, moving along with it, trying to get comfortable again.

"Well, it looks like they're back together," Mori commented, with no surprise and a slight hint of amusement...and perhaps approval?

"Huh," Ranpo said, mind racing. He hadn't calculated for someone in the Port Mafia to be the guy, that was a severe oversight. Chuuya's old partner should have definitely been on the list of possibilities, and at the very top of the list.

Akutagawa quietly observed. He wasn't really surprised about their relationship, he'd known about them for years. Since he was Dazai's apprentice he'd seen them interact a lot, they'd never even really tried to hide it from him.

"Together?" Kunikida sputtered, incredulous. "They're dating? She's dating a mafia member? That waste of bandages?"

Dazai smiled.

Chuuya sighed. She could feel the shift-the slowly upwards moving movement of his lips.

A/N

I have had the urge to write a Pm Dazai x Fem Ada Chuuya for months. This is the result.

Ranpo showed up because I think if Chuuya went to the ADA, they'd be partnered together. In this verse, Ranpo straight up adopts fem Chuuya as a little sister. Also, Ranpo always notices that Dazai or Chuuya are dating, but never figures out who.

Mori showed up..because Dad!Mori FTW.

-Silver