The Tiger and The God

Chapter 6

Chuuya's POV

The ginger smiled at the waitress when she returned, ordering the roasted duck with olives and a bottle of red wine. Once the waitress left, Chuuya was left alone with the weretiger once more and the awkward silence between them. He took another sip of his water, glancing out the window. For all, he knew the mastermind could be nearby. Hell, they could even be sitting inside the bistro. His gaze drifted from the window and to the other diners. None of them particularly stood out and something told him that Grandma and Grandpa enjoying a pear tart with their toddler grandson weren't behind the organ harvesting.

Reaching into his coat pocket Chuuya pulled out his silver cigarette case and lighter. They had both been given to him years before by Ane-san. Noticing the squirming Weretiger Chuuya wondered if the kid was still expecting him to do something like one of the cliché mafiosos from an old black-and-white gangster film from the 40s. When the kid asked him about his hat, he couldn't help but chuckle. Of all the things he could have asked, it was about his hat. Well, it was a nice hat. Obviously, people with any good eye and accountability for taste in fashion would be curious. Though the weretiger didn't exactly seem like the type to be interested in such things.

Chuuya leaned forward, motioning for the weretiger to lean in more so he confided in him a deep, dark secret. When the kid leaned in, he spoke to him in a dead-serious tone of voice. "I passed this guy on the street one day. He bumped into me and didn't make any attempt to apologize to me so I dragged him into a dark alley and beat him until he did and I took his hat from him." When the weretiger got an outraged look on his face, the ginger continued, finding it amusing. "What's with that look, bakayaro? He didn't die from it."

The weretiger started spouting out some idealistic b.s. about how Chuuya had gone overboard with the man for such a minor offense, causing the Executive to snort with laughter, unable to keep it any longer.

"Relax, Jinko. That story was bullshit. I got my hat as a recruitment gift when I joined the Port Mafia." He said, leaning back in his seat. He went to pull out a cigarette but remembered that smoking wasn't allowed inside the bistro. He repocketed the cigarette case and lighter. "So, do you feel more at ease now?"

Atsushi's POV

Hearing the story of how the man in front of him got the hat had made him mad. How was that fair to the civilian for an accident? He started to scold the mafioso until he heard a laugh. As he heard the laugh he thought that it fit the shorter male perfectly. He quickly tossed that thought away as he couldn't stand to think like that. He stared in slight shock as couldn't believe the ginger in front of him just pulled a joke on him. Though he was kinda glad as the tension around them seemed to disappear. He let out a small chuckle as he looked at the other with amusement now taking over his anger. He could feel himself relax into his chair as he shook his head. "Yeah. I do."

After the tension disappeared he found it easier to talk to Chuuya. It was easier to ask about how things in the Port Mafia were and how the man himself was doing. The more they talked the more the were-tiger felt comfortable, they even laughed about a couple of things. They were interrupted when the waitress set their food down in front of them. As they ate the redhead had questioned why he was at the abandoned hospital. Atsushi sighed with exasperation as he thought about how he had gotten the mission. "Ah Dazai-san was supposed to go but he slipped away before Kunikida-san noticed. So like always the work was dumped onto me." He grumbled as he thought about his lazy co-worker. This comment had set off a whole new conversation between the two. Both had shared stories about the brown-haired detective.

Once they had finished their food the air around them turned tense but not because it was awkward. The topic of the mission was a serious one. They had both wanted to get to the bottom of this. Atsushi's eyes had hardened as he thought about all of the people who had lost their lives to these criminals. "The organs found in the storage container were sent to a lab. They are testing to see if anything was done to them as when the container was found all the organs looked as if they were just harvested. I have yet to go check up on the lab as I have been off duty due to my injury. I will be going to see what information was found tomorrow." He looked at the other trying to figure out if he should invite the executive to come with him as they both had the same goal. Looking over at the other he could tell that Chuuya cared about what happened to his subordinates. Now that he thought about it he didn't mind being around the shorter male. He didn't even need to think about inviting him anymore. "Would you like to come with me to the lab?"

Chuuya's POV

As soon as the kid had calmed down after realizing that the ginger had been lying his ass off about the origins of his hat the silence disappeared. The two had spoken candidly about Dazai and how lazy, flighty and annoying the brunette detective could be. Chuuya had told Jinko about the time that Dazai had abandoned him on an exploding ship they raided and the Jinko told him how the bandage squandering machine had been the cause of Jinko having to explain why he was being chased down the street by the husband of one of his one night stands. The time seemed to fly and by the time their meal was over, he felt like he had found the one person other than him and probably the four-eyed ADA detective that truly understood how frustrating dealing with his former partner was.

After paying the bill, Chuuya stepped outside with Jinko. In need of nicotine, he got a cigarette out of the silver case and lit it, taking a long slow drag before slowly exhaling. He had enjoyed the conversation but now it was time to focus on something more important to him than the past antics of a traitor. He was about to ask the weretiger for the information he wanted when Jinko surprised him with an invite to accompany him the next day. The ginger considered his offer and found no reason why he should decline an offer to get closer to the information that he wanted to accept the Weretiger's offer. He needed to make someone pay for the deaths of his subordinates and Jinko had his reason for wanting to protect the people of Yokohama. He had nothing to lose.

Removing his cell phone from his pocket, he looked at the grey-haired detective. He already knew where the kid lived from the Port Mafia's failed attempts to capture Jinko for his bounty "Let's exchange contact information so if either one of us can't make it we can contact each other." After sharing their information with each other and that Chuuya would pick him up in front of the ADA dorm building, he repocketed his phone and after a little more discussion on what information Jinko already had, the two parted ways.