Chuuya's Family
Summary: Far away, long ago, there was a forest forgotten by humanity full of Yokai, now guarded by two god-level beings. This is where Nakahara Chuuya, the latest shuten-douji, has made his family.
Once upon a time, humanity respected, feared and revered the supernatural. Gods, spirits, Yokai, demons - no matter what, humans had a healthy respect for the Other and stayed clear of them to the best of their ability or tried to please them, playing games they don't understand and often having a gruesome ending as a result.
Then humans learned magic, in its various forms and arts, and started actively playing games, as supposed equals. Some humans, indeed, grew very powerful and truly enlightened. The latter earned respect among the fae and spirits. The former, however, often challenged gods and Yokai for no good reason, at least not in the eyes of the Other.
Eventually, a war broke out that was truly horrendous. It was, may it be known, started by humans. It was bloody and left many casualties. It only ended when the gods stepped in after several events involving higher-level beings that could have disrupted reality itself had that nonsense continued.
One of those high level beings was Chuuya. He'd been an ordinary oni when the war had started but the then shuten-douji attacked and obliterated the territory he and his 'pack' inhabited more or less peacefully. Nakahara Chuuya got his revenge and instinct guided him into devouring the other demon's magic and soul, thus becoming the next shuten-douji, the strongest demon in every realm. It was a feat not easily achievable; shuten-doujis switched once every few thousand years. Even new gods came and went quicker than that. This feat earned him much respect, gratitude, admiration, hatred and fear. Eventually, he had to go into hiding as he got too many challengers for the title, or simply his life. It became boring real quick, even for a being who loved fighting.
Another of the great calamities caused by a higher level being was a conflict started by a dragon in an enchanted forest, collecting riches, magic and soul from its inhabitants, regardless of whether they were human or Yokai. The dragon, Shibusawa Tetsuhiko, was such a great threat that many have asked Chuuya to defeat him and end his reign of terror. The shuten-douji had agreed after he bore witness to how carelessly Shibusawa devoured everything, despite not needing to. He was simply enjoying himself. Not even that, actually; he was trying to entertain himself. So Chuuya decided to fight him, despite dragons being all but heavenly beings.
He was lucky, however. For this endeavor, a suicidal man, a priest, an onmyoji, no less, volunteered to assist Chuuya in slaying the dragon. He was not a brave or noble man; no, he wanted revenge.
"My best friend and his five children were killed by that beast. I want it's heart on a silver platter."
Chuuya had never met a more terrifying human.
Especially one who could match their trashtalk with their skill.
The war ended that night, when they combined their strength to defeat the dragon, Yokai and human together. The onmyoji even channeled the powers of the heavens, particularly the Moon's wisdom, though it was too much for his human vessel. And so Chuuya's only partner died in his arms after they were victorious.
Chuuya swore to never let anyone into his life ever again. It would be a long and lonely existence, but he'd prefer the pain of loneliness over the pain of loss. It was what he preferred.
Until, several hundred years later, he ran into a kitsune wearing the face of a man whose features he never quite forgot.
That man was waiting for him at the edge of a clearing in the middle of a long forgotten woods where humanity has not trekked in perhaps two thousand years, watching over an interesting congregation of people. Nine beautiful, snow white tails tantalizingly swayed behind the man, all but begging Chuuya's fingers to run through that fluffy fur. White ears peeking from equally fluffy brunet hair were not twitching, letting Chuuya know his partner was well aware of his approach, so the temptation was deliberate.
Chuuya still willingly fell into this tempest' trap, wrapping his arms around the lankier man and spooning his back despite the height difference in the brunet's favor. Those white tails immediately accommodated him, wrapping around him like a blanket as he buried his face in the other's neck, breathing him in after many days apart and leaving little kisses where it meets his shoulder. It elicited a downright purr from his partner.
"Welcome home, Chibi~"
This infuriating creature was once the most powerful, most knowledgeable, most skilled and most magically gifted onmyoji, Dazai Osamu, the very man who faced down a dragon and lived long enough to see the fruits of his labor before succumbing to the strain of channeling the power of the gods to help Chuuya defeat Shibusawa. For his contributions, even before Shibusawa, and for his utter understanding of magic in a way even most Yokai didn't possess since it's so instinctive, Dazai had been granted a second chance at life, as a kitsune. The new basically-immortal hadn't been pleased about it, having been suicidal since a very young age, but life sort of ... grew on him. Like a fungus. The most to contribute to this, however, were the stray, young Yokai in need of assistance. But before that, Dazai had roamed the world searching for a way to kill a kitsune, a piece of divinity immortal except if you take away its Hoshi no Tama, which is a painful way to go so Dazai discarded it right away since he hated pain and already had one painful death too many, thank you.
The only reason Chuuya ever even got a chance to reunite with his partner was because Dazai had met a kind - if horny and strange - couple that had nurtured him as his power grew exponentially, becoming one of the truly most powerful Yokai of all time. He was just on the whole other spectrum to Chuuya, since he was so closely tied in with the gods and heavens. But still, Chuuya owed Dazai's life to a naga and an okuri-inu. Mori-san and Fukuzawa-san may be unable to keep their hands off each other or stop adopting random spirits of children, but it was this tendency which had helped Dazai find some sort of peace long enough for Chuuya to meet him again.
It wasn't all rainbows and roses. In fact, it took them nearly half a century just to accept that there was more to them than just the insults, banter and teasing they indulged in. It was something that started off their 'relationship' back when Dazai was still human, but it turned sharp and bitter for about forty years before a near death experience had them finally acknowledging there was something more to it. It was an instant connection since the day they met, almost a soul bond; Chuuya would have stuck around Dazai until the other's death had he survived the clash with Shibusawa and lived out a full, human life, but this was better, for all the grief they both went through. Dazai, especially, as he'd always had some issues with his humanity, so to stop being human had been a bit too much for him for a while.
Fukuzawa-san, Mori-san and their abundance of adopted supernatural youngsters helped immensely to get him out of his funk and then later helped them both reconcile first a healthy partnership and then a romantic relationship when their feelings changed and developed.
"I'm home, Osamu," he replied, holding the kitsune tighter. Dazai leaned more heavily into his hold and placed one hand over Chuuya's hands on his stomach. The other reached up to gently caress one red horn, knowing Chuuya loved that. But for all that he was indulging in Chuuya's affections and attention, not once did he look away from the clearing in front of them. Chuuya snorted fondly. "How long have they been at it this time?"
"Three hours," the other replied in a hum. "Ryuunosuke-kun is finally tiring out and Atsushi-kun has been holding back the past ten minutes or so. Really, they're so childish~ Why can't they just accept that they have a huge crush on each other? It's been a century and it's not going away, so why deny it any longer, right?"
"As if you didn't deny your feelings for me until Elise and Kyuusaku enlisted Ranpo's and Gin's help to trap us in a barrier even you would need some time to get out of," Chuuya retorted with an affectionate huff, though he was being a hypocrite. Kouyou - whom he often called Ane-san, as the nogitsune was older than him; he also had an 'older sibling' in Verlaine and his partner, Rimbaud, but they lived far away and spent more time in the demon realm then the human world, for all that Rimbaud had once been a respected tengu until he fell for an oni - and Yosano also had to reassure him that the likeliness of Dazai rejecting him were so extremely low they were practically non-existent. Only with that reassurance had he dared express his feelings to the kitsune in the first place.
"I could've gotten out of that barrier in a minute, actually. I just thought it would be stupid to waste the opportunity~" Dazai replied smugly before deflecting the conversation back to their previous discussion. "At least we admitted to someone that such feelings existed, even if it's just ourselves. These two are still so deep in denial they might as well search for sunken ancient ships and boats and treasures in Egypt. Besides, we took less than a century to get all our shit together, remember?" Dazai reminded him as he rested his head against Chuuya's, lolling his on Chuuya's shoulder before whining about the shoulder guard digging into the back of his skull.
Chuuya huffed, shuffled about until he took it off and then resettled Dazai into their previous position. "Yeah, but we had a lot of help and previous history, however short it may have been. Besides, they're still young. They're what? Two hundred years old?"
"Atsushi-kun is still in his hundred and eighties, actually, but he'll turn hundred and ninety in a couple of years~ Still~" Pouted the kitsune. "Even Kenji-kun and Kyouka-chan have figured things out quicker and they're not even hundred and fifty! Why are my students so silly~!? And dumb!"
"At least they're not like Gin, Tachihara and Higuchi," Chuuya mumbled, shuddering at the memory of that love triangle. Poor Gin was even completely oblivious to her two suitors! And that's not even mentioning Higuchi's own internal little love triangle considering she probably still has a crush on Ryuunosuke. She clearly had a preference and it was Akutagawa.
Dazai grimaced at this. "Don't remind me. My sweet, innocent Gin's virtue is on the line~!" The Akutagawa siblings were the first children Dazai took in himself in an odd combination of Fukuzawa's and Mori's habit of adopting children and his dead friend's tendency to do the same with orphans.
The Akutagawas were a result of a weaker dragon taking the form of a man and leaving some random woman pregnant. He was around for Ryuunosuke's birth but left when the woman fell pregnant with a second child. The mother did not survive and Ryuunosuke and Gin lived a tough, orphan life until a plague wiped out their entire village. With no one else but decaying corpses for company, they hit the road in a search for a better life. However, their slightly draconic features caused them a lot of trouble, especially Ryuunosuke, since it was more evident for him while both of their control was shit as untrained kids. Dazai found them while a bunch of corrupt priests and sorcerers were trying to exorcise them or something and promptly killed all of them when he noticed the little orphans. He adopted them on the spot and trained them to use their magic. Ryuunosuke's was far more powerful so he was often put hunting with the older creatures for food or protection. Gin was in charge of protecting their innermost territory with several others, including an old priest that had taken a liking to Dazai and vice versa so he lived with them. Hirotsu Ryouru was even put in charge of the wannabe love triangle, as well as the kids. He was powerful, for an ordinary human with a normal amount of magic, and very respectful and respectable.
Higuchi, Tachihara, Kajii and Kunikda were taken in by the naga and okuri-inu at around the same time. The first three were lower ranking Yokai, young and not fully classified, while Kunikida was no less than a tengu. He'd even tried to attack both Dazai - practically a natural enemy - and Chuuya - even more of a natural enemy - at one point before he met Fukuzawa and somehow got adopted into the not so little makeshift, found family occupying the clearing in this forgotten magical forest. It had taken everyone some time to get used to the rigid, rule and ideal obsessed man but he had a kind heart and a short fuse, so any interactions with their resident trickster was sure to be hilarious and Dazai liked working with him almost as much as he did with Chuuya.
The ones Dazai got along best with, while not counting Chuuya, were Edogawa Ranpo and Yosano Akiko, who both introduced their mates to the rest. Chuuya had a bone or two hundred and six to pick with Edogawa, a genius to rival Dazai with neigh on omniscience as one of his powers, but he rather liked Akiko, a siren like those in classical Greek mythology. She was Kouyou's mate and liked wine so Chuuya got along with her like a house on fire. She and Ranpo were the first Mori and Fukuzawa picked up, respectively, though Akiko liked Fukuzawa more than Mori, who had been the one to find her.
Elise was picked up before Dazai and Yosano both, while Kyuusaku was picked up some time after Dazai and the kid got strangely attached to the kitsune, who was very awkward around them at first. Both kids were ghosts, though Kyuusaku had had the bad luck of being murdered as a 'bad omen' or a demon's child.
Kenji was found by Kunikida and the Tanizaki siblings, a pair of young kitsune not even a century old Junichiro and Naomi, more or less found their way to the clearing themselves.
Kouyou found a young ghost of a sacrificed girl named Izumi Kyouka and took her in, she and Akutagawa trying to help her to control the demon spirit that had attached itself to her during the sacrificial ritual. Dazai had offered his own help as a former onmyoji but Kyouka refused to let him banish the spirit. Apparently, to summon it, the price had been paid in her family's blood. Her mother was meant to be the recipient but she'd ordered 'Demon Snow' to kill everyone but Kyouka, only the girl had already been used as a sacrifice so the spirit could only cling to her soul and protect it from creatures that might try to eat it. The trauma of the event followed her into the afterlife and so she'd been rather withdrawn. In fact, the person she dared interact with the most was Verlaine when he and Rimbaud visited Chuuya. Demon Snow bowed to him more than it did Chuuya, which made sense. The shuten-doji, for all its demonic powers, bordered on godhood after the title is maintained through bloodshed and time for a while. In fact, Chuuya often heard prayers reach him regarding battles and wars but he was not obliged to answer them. He was not an actual god and warfare was a hobby, not his job. Verlaine, on the other side, was indeed the second strongest demon and he stayed in their realm, so he definitely gave the aura more than Chuuya did. It made sense Kyouka's demon spirit would fear and respect him more than Chuuya.
Kyouka remained rather closed off, until Dazai one day returned with a weretiger, of all things. Nakajima Atsushi was an orphan who'd been used for magical experimentation in an effort to make supernatural soldiers to fight the actual fae, Yokai and mythological creatures all around the world. He was one of the rare successes but he was unmanageable as the tiger within him was untamable to humans. Dazai had it coming to heel with one touch, his power as a kyuubi no kitsune and his experience as an educated onmyoji making it a piece of cake. Atsushi had been about eighteen when Dazai had found him and almost on sight, him and Ryuunosuke declared a rivalry based on their desire to be Dazai's favorite. Chuuya would feel insulted if the brats weren't so cute and if it wasn't damn obvious Dazai doted on Gin the most. But Atsushi gained control of his powers under Dazai's careful tutelage and then he befriended Kyouka.
Suddenly, not a single child was missing in the symphony of innocent, carefree laughter.
Chuuya had been there through most of it and had watched as Dazai's despair over immortality disappeared little by little as the days and weeks and months and years and centuries went by. Their lives were far from serene and forever peaceful, but the bouts of aggression that happened every now and then was worth it to see Ranpo making his wraith of a mate, Edgar Allan Poe, blush while his tanuki partner just ran around the clearing playing with the children, or to see Kouyou be infinitely soft and gentle with Akiko, or to see Fukuzawa and Mori look on like proud grandparents. It was worth it to decimate entire human or demon armies that tried to invade their territory if it meant they could spend afternoons listening to Higuchi and Gin sing or see Hirotsu teaching with Dazai's help. It was worth it to see Akutagawa and Atsushi have these silly competitions or have visits from Lucy and then have Akutagawa all jealous as the human girl blushed and ranted around an oblivious Atsushi. It was worth it to see Doppo drag in his recluse friend Katai or something to socialize and it was definitely worth it to see him fumble around Gin even more than her two usual suitors do.
It was worth it to have Dazai's once tanuki-friend visit and then him and Dazai awkwardly reminisce about the times while their mutual friend was still alive. Sakaguchi Ango had unwittingly drawn Shibusawa's attention to Oda Sakunosuke, a priest with an impressive prophetic gift whom Dazai had cherished above anything and anyone in his human life and Dazai never forgave Ango for Oda's death. Still, he allowed the other's presence. When asked why, once, he'd said: "It's not the secrecy that pissed me off or just how overall dangerous it was for a tanuki of his caliber and standing to pretend at humanity. No, what I will never forgive Ango is that he claimed to love Odasaku, yet he brushed off his death as 'one of many' that were happening back then. For him, Odasaku was 'just another human' but to Odasaku, Ango was everything. Ango didn't even properly mourn him."
Chuuya had once made the mistake to suggest it might be because he knew, as a tanuki, he could go up to heaven whenever to visit him. The kitsune had refused to even look at him for a week and Chuuya was reminded that Dazai, for a millennia, was forbidden from doing the same simply because he had yet to achieve celestial enlightenment as a kitsune. And even then, Dazai would have to stay up there if he went up, which he couldn't do now that he had a mate and so many people relying on him. That's when Chuuya understood Dazai was forced to choose and that, with a heavy heart, he'd made his choice. Chuuya had held him extra close in the days following Dazai permitting him close again.
He'd also made sure to threaten Ango with eternal suffering if he messed up with his Osamu again.
"I'm sure Gin can handle herself better around those two than those two can handle themselves around Gin," Chuuya reassured with a vicious smirk. After all, he didn't actually want their 'little girl' to 'grow up too fast'.
"You mean like you were around me?" Osamu teased, cuddling closer to him as he acted like a fuckin' tease.
"Uh, excuse you, like I am with you, you dumbass," he corrected shamelessly and enjoyed the blush he got in reply. Really, Dazai was so easy to mess around with sometimes. "But, really, let's just hope we don't get another love triangle or however-many-angle if Lucy gets more attached to Atsushi. That would be a fuckin' mess."
"LANGUAGE!" Yelled Kunikida into their faces as he approached, all huffy and his wings all puffed up in offence. "There are children present."
"Way to ruin the fucking mood, fucktard," the shuten-doji grumbled in displeasure, holding his kitsune mate even closer to himself while Dazai snickered at them. When Kunikida got all uptight and proper, Chuuya's oni side reared its ugly head just to mess with him some more, it was hilarious. Chuuya didn't think so and that's some of the rare things he and Doppo agreed on.
"What's up, Kunikida-kun?" The kitsune asked dutifully despite it being clear he wanted to do nothing else but cuddle with his mate.
"I've scouted the area and we seem to be having some unwanted guests from the southern side of the forest."
Both Chuuya's and Dazai's moods soured. "It's that anemic rat, isn't it?" The 'anemic rat' in question was actually a human priest out on his 'god-given mission' to eradicate all things supernatural except the 'good' winged supernatural beings that resembled humans the most. The so-called angels that fit a specific religion's ideology and even then they weren't 'Biblically accurate', was the term Dazai liked to use.
Fyodor Dostoevsky was a rather disturbed individual and they were all just unfortunate that he was a darkly-ambitious version of the Dazai of the past, with incredible wit and an unrivaled talent for magic among the humans of his generation. He also was obsessed with Dazai, as a human as close to divinity as a former mortal could ever reach. He was baffled by Dazai's refusal of it and hated him for not agreeing to Dostoevsky's view of the world. He also hated him for being mated to an oni, the shuten-doji no less. Chuuya just hated him for all the times he'd singed Dazai's beautiful fur or hair in his attempts to 'purge' him of Chuuya's 'bad influence'. Dazai had actually gotten really badly injured once and that left their family's clearing that they called home extremely vulnerable with the lack of Dazai's nigh impenetrable barrier to protect them. Chuuya would be the happiest if he could just annihilate the human but Dostoevsky was, unfortunately, very famous amongst his kind so his disappearance on one of his quests could lead to a whole new, larger-scale conflict between humanity and the Other. Chuuya would rather not have that happen, let alone be the cause of it.
"Unfortunately, yes. We'll need you to go deal with him, sooner rather than later," the blond replied and the mates sighed as they distangled themselves from each other. "Sorry for dropping this into your laps after you just got back, Nakahara, but we can't risk him actually entering the forest. He might harm the other creatures that live here and they've inhabited this forest and sworn loyalty to our family in exchange for protection. Thus, it's our duty-"
"Yeah, yeah, we got it, don't sweat it," Chuuya interrupted as he stretched, rolling his shoulders and cracking his knuckles. "The bastard stepped into our territory. We'll deal with him until he's begging us for death."
Dazai purred at that, plastering himself against Chuuya. "Just so."
Kunikida just rolled his eyes at them, long since having discarded the notion that he could stop them from killing when someone crosses a clearly set line. Setting foot into this forest with ill intentions was practically an invitation to Dazai's ire, seeing as he'd placed several barriers around the forest. The closer one got to their clearing, the more gruesome their death will be, if they even survived the kitsune's barriers and traps, that is. Rarely did Dazai have to dirty his claws in unworthy blood, especially since that was essentially Chuuya's job, but when it did happen, he was as good at it as a demon. It's what made Chuuya fall in love with him over and over again, that lovely contrast of red on white, though they both hated the clean-up process later. Dazai wouldn't even care, but Chuuya loved Dazai's fur soft, fluffy and snow white, so he put in the extra effort. It was worth it to later touch all that heavenly softness and he got extra cuddles.
Besides, good battles always got them both ... in the mood, so, really, it was best not to try and interfere.
"Should we expect you back for dinner?"
"What a stupid question, Kunikida-kun~" Dazai sing-songed as he started leading the way towards the southern ends of their forest, his forest, really. Chuuya dutifully followed, excited for a fight and everything that follows. "We'll be back for the afternoon snack~!"
Chuuya agreed with a feral grin over his shoulder at the tengu, who only huffed at them but nodded in acknowledgement.
With that, the mates started a race, eager to chase the anemic rat man away once again so they may continue on with their lives.
Centuries ago, if you'd told relatively young oni Chuuya that he'd find a family in a human onmyoji who'll first die in his arms and then return to him as one of the most frighteningly powerful kitsune the world has ever seen, he would have laughed you off and then probably also beat you up for suggesting something so absurd in the first place.
Now, Chuuya couldn't imagine a world without his family, starting with his Osamu, his partner, his mate at his side.
And for them, he'll wage a thousand wars and kill a million rogue dragons.
For now, he'll just deal with Dostoevsky and get some cuddles.
Everything else will come as it should.
That's just how life is.
OWARI