Twisted trust
Series: Bungou Stray Dogs
Pairing: Kagome x Dazai
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or series.
There was nothing in this world a person could not get used to. Kagome had heard those words before, but quite honestly, this was getting beyond ridiculous. What kind of person got used to finding her partner in the middle of the most outrageous half-hearted attempts to commit suicide?
And yet, here she was, running down a canal to try and see if she could find Dazai, after the man just up and jumped off the bridge.
With this height, the fall wasn't enough to actually kill him, especially not with the water providing some cushioning, but if the suicide maniac managed to get himself badly hurt, she'd find a way to make him wish he actually succeeded. That all of their valuables and an extra set of clothes for them both were resting safely inside her bag didn't matter. The mere fact that she had to deal with potential onlookers and poor good-natured civilians who tried to help him out was beyond annoying. What little patience she had left wasn't supposed to be used to deal with these kinds of messes. Especially when said messes were liable to get them in trouble with their work. They'd left their apartment at a good time, but not enough for them to have to go to a hospital since Dazai's ability meant there would be no other choice.
With a huff, the young woman glared at the far away figure that kept growing smaller despite her best attempts to race toward him. If he were to end up in the middle of the ocean, perhaps he'd stop his stupid habit?
Rolling her eyes, the former priestess let her ability flare to life.
Grey took over the world, time stopping in its tracks as she used the reason she'd end up forever chained to the man who ended up becoming her lover. Using this side of It Is All Relative always put her somewhat on edge, knowing the power to alter reality itself rested within her hands felt like one last sardonic joke the Shikon jewel left her with. Not that she'd ever used two-thirds of that version of her ability. Theoretically, pushing time forwards and backwards were both very real possibilities for her, and yet it was the one thing she'd completely refused to explore, even when her loving uncle insisted and subtly threatened with isolation if she didn't do as he asked. But playing with time like that felt like a taboo she couldn't bring herself to break even through the cold fog that numbed her life after she woke up on the night of her fifteenth birthday for the second time around.
Stopping time, however, was still within her limits, and it was way easier than trying to catch her lover with the more precise version of It Is All Relative.
Ignoring the over-the-top yells from her partner, the girl looked for a way to avoid getting soaked by his enthusiasm. At least, the man was thoughtful enough to wait until they were walking through a river bank with more than enough materials on hand for her to use. Grabbing a rope that had been resting on an abandoned campsite, Kagome stepped on the gray, frozen water.
"Maa, Kagome, you're as reliable as always." A fake grin adorned his lips. "But maybe there would be a less painful way to stop me from drowning, you know."
Everything stopped when It Is All Relative was activated, meaning in many ways, things that shouldn't be firm suddenly became as solid as a rock. As the one with the ability, her body was able to adapt to the sudden changes without a problem, but Dazai's immunity didn't mean he could withstand the way the flow of time changed around him. So when the water stopped in its tracks, it had to have felt the same as hitting a brick wall. As it was, all the man could do was flail around since his clothing worked as a barrier stopping him from touching the frozen water and re-starting its time. The aftermath shouldn't be anything more than a handful of bruises.
"Here, just hang on tight." Not trusting the man not to grab her hand and sink her with him, she threw the rope in his direction.
"So mean~"
Rolling her eyes, the young woman walked back down. For the last two years, the man had kept up the cheerful charade, it wasn't like she could blame him for it when she too wore a mask. A mask that resembled who she'd been before her life went up in the smokes of her family shrine. Still, the sight took her by surprise from time to time.
Partly because the two of them were close in age, and partly becase the young mafioso's was the only person capable of keeping control on her thanks to No Longer Human, Dazai had been assigned as a teacher, partner, guard, and jail or all at once. Things had been odd at first. Kagome hated the Mafia since she hated anything her so-called uncle had a hand in, but there was no other place she could go. Her ability made her a useful weapon to use, and the government wouldn't hesitate to use her if they thought it was needed. Hell, they'd tried to blame her for killing her own family. So she stayed while hating everything around her and herself as well because she knew the version of her her family loved wouldn't act the way she did. And Dazai had been intrigued. Not because of her relationship with his boss, but because he could feel the empty void that was left within her once she was pushed into a different version of her world.
She was a contradiction, he'd told her once.
More than that, according to him, she had something he desired, and since there was no way for him to take it for himself, he decided to just claim her instead.
It wasn't love. Kagome had felt love before and she could tell with full certainty this just wasn't it. But it was just as real, and maybe even more intense than what she'd felt before. Because just as the former priestess held something he desired, the former mafioso had something she desired and could never acquire either. It was obsessive and possessive, and aggression laced a lot of their intimacy that probably started way earlier than it should. But it was as close as either of them could get to take what the other had and unhealthy as this was, the former priestess no longer cared about it. Especially when their relationship was closely tied to the private deal that would assure her that he'd deliver her the people who were behind the attack of the Higurashi family. Yes, Mori had promised to look into it, it was his sister who was killed, but the twisted doctor was far more interested in keeping her close at hand and well controlled, giving her her desired revenge would mean there was a chance Kagome would take her chances and decide to abandon the safety of Yokohama.
Quid pro quo became the basis of their relationship, and she let him take over a lot of the things the girl had lost interest in. Dazai was a mess when it came to taking care of himself, but he'd apparently found it fun to care for her as one would for a pet. All of her wardrobe was chosen by him, he often chose what she should eat and in general made a lot of decisions for her, taking away the burden of having to act like she cared about meaningless things.
In exchange, Kagome's power became his to use and she promised to remain at his side, and she'd be there whenever he desired for her presence. In a way, that also meant she'd became something of a babysitter, constantly trailing after him whenever his boredom would get him to try some of his most insane suicide attempts. Truthfully, those did manage to get her genuinely irritated and it was far more than she used to feel when they were still obeying her uncle's orders.
Not that it made the fact that she was having to get her lover out of a river back for the fifth time in less than a month any easier to swallow.
The ease with which she pulled him out was nothing but another sign of how used she was to these sorts of things. At least, his insistence that his suicide had to be perfect meant he mostly kept his half-assed attempts to isolated spaces where she'd be the most likely person to come across him first. Not that others didn't accidentally get involved from time to time. At least those instances were not that common.
"If you hurry up and change we should still get to work in time," she said, handing over the extra set of clothing she kept wrapped in plastic.
"Always so prepared, Kagome." The man whistled but made no move to take the offered package.
"Please, just hurry."
Bypassing her stretched hand, Dazai stepped into her personal space, eyes sharp and a smile that was more in line with who she knew he was in place. His mask momentarily forgotten.
"Don't worry, I know." Long, slender fingers traced her cheeks. A mockery of gentleness. "After all, you'd be quite troubled if I were to die without you."
Her breath hitched as his hand traveled down, bare fingers wrapped around her neck, locking her ability. A caress and a promise, all twisted into one. Flirting with death was exactly what she was doing, and yet, she couldn't help the heat that surged within her at the reminder of their unspoken oath. Because so far, he was the only person who could kill her.
Those who loved her would be horrified, but this rush was one of the only things that made her feel real realizing what had happened and the situation this version of herself was trapped in, numbness had taken over her life, swallowing her feelings and emotions in a blanket of nothing but a dull desire for vengeance. Quite honestly, a big part of her would've loved to take her partner's hand and jump into the emptiness of the abyss, but her friends had made her promise that no matter what, she'd keep on living. Oh the whole thing was done in a vague enough manner to make it look like they weren't planning on sacrificing themselves for her sake, but hindsight was 20-20.
Her naively spoken oath became her reason for living even when all of her despaired at the world she had to live in, especially when after opening her eyes and dragging herself off the well, all she had to see was her family's shrine being consumed by unnatural fire. She would continue living no matter what she had to do, so she took that vague rage and forced it into a goal, disregarding the amount of blood that stained her hands and lives she stole as she kept going. Even as she was aware that vengeance was a worthless goal to pursue. Once it was gone Kagome would be empty again, but then again, all her promise implied was that she wouldn't be the one to take her own life, if there was someone else around who managed to take it from her, then she wouldn't be breaking her oath as long as she fought for her life.
The former priestess couldn't help but wonder if maybe they would regret forcing that promise out of her if they could see what she had become.
Clinging to memories of things that would never come back or being consumed by vengeance was useless. In the end, she supposed it didn't matter. There was still something she needed to do, and until their promise wasn't fulfilled Dazai wouldn't attempt anything that may actually succeed in taking his life. He was right, Kagome would be troubled if he were to just die when that would inconvenience and derail her plans. Until such a time came, he'd make sure to remain in the land of the living and keep her chained to himself in the same way he'd done while they still were part of the Port Mafia. That fact was set in stone, to the point that her uncle agreed with it as well, after all, if that weren't so, he would've sent everyone after them to get her back when they left.
The man couldn't care less about the blood connection between them, of that the former priestess was sure. But there was no way he'd ever let the chance to try to manipulate her even if it was only from afar. He never thought Kagome would actually leave with Dazai. He planned to keep her close, probably give her a place as an executive since her achievements more than warranted it. In his own twisted way, that her uncle didn't raise a hand against them, meaning that he trusted the man who betrayed him to keep her alive and breathing.
For now, at the very least.
"Hmm, you seem to be getting distracted."
His grip tightened around her neck, air finding it more difficult to flow through. His free hand moved to raise the hem of her dress as he pressed himself against her, claiming her attention. Arousal flared to life. It would be so easy to remain pliant, let him pull her strings and break her.
He'd put fix her back up…probably.
"We don't have enough time." She was panting, her breathing getting ragged.
"Just let go, Kagome."
His fingers played with the waistline of her undershorts. She was getting wet. As in, her dress was getting soaked from his drenched clothes and there was not enough time for him to have his way.
"…stop it."
"Lying to yourself is not good." His grip tightened once more, leaving her gasping for air and it would be so easy to let him do as he wished.
A familiar knife was in her hand with just a flick of her wrist, and the blade shone against the light for a second before it was lodged against the man's jugular.
"I said we don't have time," she hissed with what little breath he allowed her.
With a strong push, she shoved him away from her.
A silly grin found its way back to his lips as his hands rose in a mockery of surrender. His mask was back in place. Innocence was painted on his face and she'd have to be an idiot to believe that were it not for the crimson trail falling from the left side of his neck, the man would've probably succeeded in getting her to agree. If the former Port Mafia executive was innocent, then she was a saint.
"Hurry it up," Kagome managed to say, doing her best to get her breathing under control. "I do not want Kunikida-san to give us another two-hour lecture about the importance of punctuality and public indecency."
The last time she let him do what he wanted, they ended up not only running late but since the suicide maniac chose the alley near the Agency was a good place for him to fuck her, they were seen by their strict coworker. What followed was a long tirade that actually managed to make her feel genuinely uncomfortable. And the last thing she wanted was to have a repeat of it because her stupid lover was too stubborn to accept a no for an answer.
That Kunikida-san really didn't like Dazai wouldn't help their situation. Sure, it wasn't as bad as the hatred their previous partner held towards the idiot, but his lectures were in a way far worse than the accidental attacks Chuuya used to let go in Dazai's general direction. Still, the blond man seemed to respect her well enough to feel genuinely disappointed at her choice of a partner, and worst of all, for going along with her lover's more insane ideas. Most of the time, all those speeches managed to accomplish was make her feel guilty for not feeling guilty at all. And even that wasn't the sort of shame that wouldn't let her sleep.
"Should I be getting jealous?" Shameless, Dazai didn't even bother to try and turn around before beginning to tear his dampened clothes.
"Because you keep your hands to yourself?" she scoffed.
"Glass houses, darling." Cutting words were sent without him batting an eye. "besides, I'm pretty sure I still have the scars to prove how much enjoyment you can get out of it."
Rolling her eyes, the young woman turned with a huff.
He wasn't wrong.
The man had no qualms about using anyway to get his hands on the information they needed, and more than once he'd jump to seduce whoever held what they wanted. The results were something she couldn't argue with, and Dazai wasn't the sort of person who gave physical acts any real significance. The suicidal man couldn't care less about the sort of girls who swooned because of his words. But physical loyalty wasn't something she could boast about either. During her time as a Port Mafia's precious assassin, she'd used her body as another weapon. Even after she entered into a relationship with him. That particular practice had ended relatively recently, but it was mostly because there was no need for her to kill anyone now that she was a member of the Detective Agency. Truthfully, she probably wouldn't complain too much about having to do the same again if it got her closer to her goals.
Which didn't do a thing to quench both of their possessive tendencies, and the result was always violent from both ends. If she were a betting woman, Kagome would bet all her money that the man at times openly flirted with other women to get her to fire up.
"We're supposed to get a new assignment today, and I'm not changing clothes because you couldn't wait until work hours are over."
"Fine, fine" Dazai laughed. "Let's go on then, I have a feeling that we're in for quite an interesting one this time. Word is there's a tiger roaming around Yokohama, could you believe that?"