Hello! So, this is probably one of the fastest updates I have ever done. (Aside from that one time with the Star Wars Rebels fanfiction. So, umm... I was originally planning to write a bunch of other chapters for other fanfics and stuff, but as usual, I was busy...
Thank you so much for all of the reviews! Normally it takes around a week or two to get that many, but... I think all you guys broke a record for me... *Happy tears* Thank you!
Also, a side note, I know I am a monster. It's how writers are. =P
Enjoy!
He cried at first, sobbing loudly, feeling like the walls of the box were closing in around him. Atsushi's arms hurt and the bumping of the car didn't help any, one arm had blood running down his shoulder in an awful, sticky stream. The other felt out of place and he could do nothing to ease the pain but cradle it.
"Pipe down!" Akutagawa's voice demanded as the box rattled violently. Atsushi shied away from his voice, pressing himself against the back wall, biting his lip to silence himself. "Make noise again and I will take off your leg," he threatened in the same demanding tone. Atsushi curled up a little tighter, focusing on not making a sound.
"Do you want me to pull over and move him to the trunk?" A woman's voice asked.
Akutagawa coughed. "No, Higuchi," he replied calmly. "I don't want any delays. If all goes according to schedule, the tiger should be loaded on the boat before Dusk. It would be best if we left him at the docs and let the lower ranking members take care of him from then on."
"Sounds good."
They drove for a couple minutes in silence, and Atsushi remained silent in the back seat. Dazai used to tell him to try to call for help if he was ever kidnapped or in trouble, but that piece of advice did no good for him here. Akutagawa would dismember him if he made a sound. He couldn't run, he couldn't even stand. He folded in his legs and rested his head on his knees.
"That was easier than expected," Higuchi said, probably just trying to make conversation.
"I didn't expect much to begin with," Akutagawa's voice replied emotionlessly. Atsushi listened, hoping to catch what was going on. "We were warned about a tiger, and all that was there was a child. I'm disappointed to say the least." A hand banged against the side of Atsushi's little box prison and the child inside flinched, but remained silent.
That's when he became aware of the warm gushing liquid from his shoulder. Atsushi managed to reach a hand around to feel his shoulder. A giant gash was still there, bleeding without end. It had healed up a little, but he still felt the warm drizzle down his back and the dizziness that accompanied blood loss. He should have felt panicked about it, but he couldn't, he was too exhausted to feel anything other than the sheer inability to keep his eyes open. His head ached and his head lolled back against the wall. Little by little, he drifted off.
Akutagawa cursed as he jabbed a button on his phone. Higuchi glanced over at him, probably deciding whether or not to speak. "Drive us back to headquarters," he ordered in a low voice. "Our client canceled at the last minute. They want their tiger around noon tomorrow." Higuchi gave an annoyed sigh to indicate that she was just as enraged at their client's behavior as her senpai was.
It didn't take them long to return to headquarters, the traffic was light and the drive was quick. "A-Akutagawa Senpai," she began. "What about-"
"We'll take him in, keep him in the lower levels. It doesn't matter. He can live without food for a night."
Atsushi woke up slowly, his head was groggy, and he couldn't say for sure thanks to the darkness, but it was possible that his vision was blurry as well. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, still keeping quiet because he remembered all of what happened. Akutagawa… The Agency… The threats…
The ground didn't bounce under him, so it was fair to guess that he wasn't in a car anymore. His bleeding shoulder had healed, leaving a raw and sore feeling where the wound had been.
Where am I now? Atsushi pondered before thinking of a more important question. Where is Dazai?
He didn't move. The child sat still and stayed silent like a statue. For all he knew, Akutagawa was sitting right outside of his box prison, waiting for him to make a sound so he could punish him in the way he'd described earlier.
"There's no need to check on him." Atsushi flinched when he heard his kidnapper's voice. "We got him today, and he was in average condition."
"With how you carry out your jobs, I wouldn't be surprised if he was already dead," a feminine voice that Atsushi didn't recognize responded. Akutagawa growled. Suddenly, Atsushi's prison moved, rolling over violently. He couldn't suppress a cry of pain or fear when the sudden movement made him fall on his injured arm.
"See?" Akutagawa's voice hovered above him as he tried to readjust his arm to a bearable position. It hurt so badly that he wailed at the top of his lungs, hardly caring that Akutagawa would remove his limbs. Nothing at that moment was more important than the pain he felt in his shoulder. "He's still alive," he said over the sound of Atsushi's screams. A loud bang came from the side of the box. "Now, quiet down!"
It took great effort to silence himself, but eventually, the screaming faded to whimpers.
"Great," the woman's voice remarked sarcastically. "Now for all we know, he has a concussion that'll kill him in a matter of hours." She groaned. "The boss would back me up on this. He wants that seven billion and if the kid dies before we turn him over, we'll get nothing."
A slight sound of defeat, followed by, "I will kill you one day."
Something clicked outside of the box and light flooded into Atsushi's prison cell. He covered his eyes with his uninjured arm, squinting, adjusting to the light. He curled into a tighter ball when he could see two pairs of legs outside of his box. It was weird, after wanting to escape the box so badly, he wanted to stay inside. It felt safer than anything outside.
"Hi there," a woman with long blond hair. She gestured for Atsushi to come out, but he stayed where he was, glaring at her with distrust. "You want to come out of there?" She asked gently. Her kind facade was almost enough to fool Atsushi. Almost. He could see the scary glint behind the friendly light in her eyes. He heard the razor edge under her smooth words.
"I got it." A black strip of cloth reached in, wrapping around Atsushi's ankle. He screamed and fought as it dragged him out. Then he was on the cold, tiled floor, tightly curled up and crying. "So uncooperative," Akutagawa muttered with irritation as the woman pulled Atsushi out of the fetal position.
"He bled way too much," she said, pressing her wrist against Atsushi's forehead. She turned to Akutagawa. "What did you do?"
The man shrugged. "Not like it killed him."
"If he was normal, he'd have died of blood loss by now." She forced one of Atsushi's eyes open with her fingers. He pulled back and fought her hands. "Stay still," she muttered, grabbing his chin as if it would help get her orders through his head. He didn't "stay still," instead, he bit her. Just as he had done when Akutagawa grabbed his shirt, he clamped his teeth down on flesh, tasting blood. The woman swore, and yanked her hand from Atsushi's jaws. Blood dripped from her fingers.
She slapped the child across the face, a streak of her blood painted a line on Atsushi's cheek. "Stop squirming," she growled. The slap left a red mark on his cheek and a stinging that he knew wouldn't subside for awhile. Still terrified and dazed from the blow to his face, Atsushi complied, hoping that the poking and prodding would be over sooner if he didn't fight so much. He didn't want to look at her or Akutagawa, so he stared at his feet.
A sudden, sharp pain tore through his arm and he shied back. The woman let him, not yelling or grabbing him this time. "Dislocated shoulder," she said, looking to Akutagawa. Then she smirked. "Remember when Dazai was around, you used to show up with one of these every few days? It's a wonder you don't have permanent damage."
Dazai? Atsushi looked up suddenly, his eyes asking questions. Akutagawa glanced down at Atsushi's questioning gaze, and for a little more than a second, the child made eye contact with him, seeing the cold depths. "That's right," he began, as if just remembering who had been raising Atsushi for so long. "Dazai's been acting as your guardian."
The child didn't nod or shake his head to give an answer, he simply stared back with wide, curious eyes. How did this man know Dazai? Why did they speak of him with such familiarity in their voices? "He was my teacher. He brought me into the Port Mafia."
"And beat you half to death on a near daily basis," the woman added casually, smirking.
"Shut up, Akina," Akutagawa snapped. "I'll kill you where you stand!"
Akina shrugged. "The higher ups wouldn't be happy with you." The air filled with a murderous rage from Akutagawa. "Forget it," she said, veering away from the topic. She clapped Atsushi on his afflicted shoulder. He released a short scream, fell to his knees and grasped his hurting arm. It ached so badly that he felt like he was going to get sick right there. "He's fine. Dislocated shoulder, but that won't kill him. I'm not in the mood to pop it back into place, the important thing is that the tiger'll survive the trip."
Why do they keep calling me that? Atsushi thought, although his question was blurred and confused by the pain.
A long strip of Akutagawa's ability rolled across the floor as if to herd Atsushi back into the box. A few minutes ago, he would have begged to go back in to escape the two Port Mafia members before him, but not now.
What did they mean when they said that Dazai had beaten Akutagawa to half to death all the time? What would happen should he go back into the box? Where were they shipping him off to? The questions swirled around in his head, making him feel dizzy and sick to his stomach.
Akutagawa seemed to be in no mood explain anything to Atsushi or take more than thirty seconds getting him into the box. His ability swirled around Atsushi, pushing him closer and closer to the tiny prison. Atsushi writhed, despite the crippling pain in his arm. He clawed at the cloth tendrils around him, but that had no effect. Eventually, he was crammed in the box again, gripping his injured arm, screaming with rage as Akutagawa slammed the entrance shut and set the latch in place.
"Quit screaming." He kicked the side of the box, which at this point didn't frighten Atsushi as it had before. Atsushi only stopped fighting when he had to take a moment to draw a breath. "It's not as though this would have turned out any differently for you." Atsushi glared at the darkness before him and rammed his foot into the wall of his box prison as hard as he could. "Dazai was likely going to sell you to the client as well," Akutagawa continued boredly.
That statement made Atsushi stop. He didn't believe Akutagawa, of course, he was more angry that he would suggest that. "No!" Atsushi yelled, kicking the wall angrily again. "Stop talking!"
He could hear Akutagawa scoff on the outside of the box. "He pushes you aside, leaves you behind."
...Atsushi couldn't completely deny that…
"That man is as ruthless as they come. He keeps countless secrets and does everything for his own person gain."
Atsushi kicked the box again in response, hoping it would silence Akutagawa, but no such luck. "He abandoned me, what makes you think he wouldn't do the same to you?"
Atsushi wished that he could say he was lying, but there was a pull in Akutagawa's voice that made his words too real. Plus, Dazai had taught him how to hear lies in a voice, and he heard nothing in Akutagawa's. Since he didn't have anything else to say, he just kept fighting against the box walls. Akutagawa hit the top of the box one more time. "Learn to accept your fate, Weretiger. Dazai was planning to do the same thing with you."
Atsushi stopped thrashing for a moment, feeling the weight of the words on him. Dazai, where are you? Dazai, where are you? Why aren't you here?!
"Kyouka, guard him," the Port Mafia member said, his words were further off, followed by footfalls.
Atsushi felt himself snap. He had no clue what was happening after that. He was just aware that he felt a burning pain in the pit of his stomach and the cage around him broke, sending pieces in all direction. He growled, feeling the unignorable urge to tear something apart.
His last memory was Akutagawa standing next to a girl in traditional Japanese clothes. "Looks like we're not getting him back into the box," Akutagawa said with a smirk.
Yes, I know, I know... I'm a terrible person. Maybe this is why my darling fish, Atsushi Zane Kaneki Decim has been staying on the side of the tank that's farthest from me... He knows that I'm hurting the precious cinnamon roll that I named him after...
I'm planning that the next chapter will go back to Dazai and after all that happens, we should be back to the fluffy chapters we all love.
By the way, does anyone recognize Akina? (She won't appear much. When I make OCs it's normally just to move the story along.) So, this is probably the only time she shows up here.
I hope everyone liked this chapter! I wanted some things to play out differently, and I tried... (Just so you know, I'm kinda sick as I write this...)
I'm personally excited for the next few to come!
See ya!
(P.S. I didn't know this completely until after I posted a few chapters back, but betta fish need water heaters... I got Atsushi one a while ago... That was it)
