Withering moon lit rose

Chapter 12

It had been an hour since the kidnapping of Atsushi. Chuuya had decided it best if they kept Atsushi at his home instead. Gin offered to stay at the apartment as five of them would be a crowd at Chuuya's, as well as being able to inform them if the group tried to come and ambush them again. Ryuunosuke tried to say he wanted to stay with Gin but she silenced her brother.

"I know you still haven't made a full decision yet. So stay with him, once you fully make up your mind come back." Ryuunosuke nodded in agreement, then enveloped his sister in a hug that caught her by surprise. But she returned it nonetheless.

Dazai had locked himself in the bathroom, refusing to come out after multiple coaxings from Chuuya. However, just as Ryuunosuke was receiving a hug from Gin he heard the door open. Dazai entered. All smiles. As if the earlier events had never happened.

"Why are we waiting around slug?" He annoyed Chuuya with that nickname, Ryuunoskue was sure he saw the light in Chuuya's eyes waver ever so slightly but he dismissed it as nothing. After all, Dazai had always used that nickname for him when they were both in the Mafia.

Dazai made his way to Ryuunosuke's room where Atsushi lay, with still no signs of him awakening. He was about to lay his hand on the boy's head when he froze for a second, fear apparent in his eyes as he looked at his hand. Shaking ever so slightly. He scrunched up his hand and let it fall limp at his side.

It was now one in the morning, Ryuunosuke was fast asleep beside Atsushi in Chuuya's spare room, although the bed was slightly tight on space. It didn't matter as Akutagawa had nestled himself incredibly close to the boy. Dazai and Chuuya decided that one would sleep on the sofa and the other Chuuya's bed. However, at this point in time neither was resting. Dazai was laying on the sofa with his headphones on, eyes closed. Sleep a distant memory. Chuuya was laid upon his back on his own bed, it was larger than the other bed the two boys were sharing. He'd offered it to Akutagawa however the boy felt it was disrespectful.

Dazai could have shared the bed with Chuuya, it wasn't anything new. They had to share hotel rooms quite often when they were in the mafia.

Chuuya kicked his feet in annoyance and decided to get up to fetch a drink. When he snuck into the living room expecting to find a sleeping Dazai he was shocked to see the man standing at the sink. His hands bathed in water.

"Dazai? What on earth are you doing?" Chuuya made his way over to the sink, however as he drew closer he could feel the heat emanating from the sink. It was borderline boiling. He quickly grasped Dazai's wrist and pulled his hands from the water. A small bit splashed on his own hands but due to him having his gloves on he hardly felt it. He dragged Dazai to the bathroom and immediately began to run cold water over his hands. Dazai flinched in the sudden change in temperature but his eyes didn't change, his voice still not uttering a word. Chuuya had to hold Dazai's hands under the water as he tried to pull them away, resulting in his gloves becoming soaked.

"God dammit, you really are an idiot." He continued to run Dazai's hands under the water, they still appeared to be a reddish colour. "Why did you do this? It's not exactly a way of suicide is it?" Chuuya tried to joke with the man but got no response.

"Dazai, I'm being serious. Why did you do this?" Chuuya watched as his eyes still remained dull, the only noise filling the apartment was the sound of running water.

"Osamu!" He shouted in annoyance at a lack of response. This seemed to catch the man's attention at last. He turned to look at Chuuya, instead of his eyes being full of dullness from earlier they were brimmed with tears. Before Chuuya could say anything further Dazai began to cry. Tears streamed down his face but the emotions still remained under a tight lock and key. Chuuya wanted to throw his arms around Dazai and try to soothe him at that moment but knew that these burns would worsen if he didn't keep them under the cold water. So for the next fifteen minutes they both remained in silence with the running water.

Chuuya eventually arrived at a point where he deemed the younger hands to be at a cool enough temperature. He turned off the tap, silencing the water. He then forced Dazai to sit himself on the edge of the bathtub; the man had no refusal to be forced to sit.

Chuuya slowly removed his now soaked gloves to reveal his soft hands, with a silver ring which sat perfectly on his right hand, fourth finger. It was embedded with a beautiful sapphire gemstone in the centre, it looked incredibly well cared for. Chuuya then began to move, attempting to envelop Dazai in a hug; however the man flinched back in response and fell backwards into the bathtub.

"N..No... Please... Don't touch me!" He cried fear being the only evident emotion that had slipped. Chuuya gave up on trying to comfort the man by physical means. "Okay, I won't touch you. I'll just sit here." He lowered himself onto Dazai's previous seat. Minutes passed by with no words, they both just stared at one another. Dazai in fear, Chuuya emotionless. He knew sympathy would do nothing to help the situation at this point.

"Why are you here?" Dazai questioned, stuttering his words ever so slightly. "Because I am." Chuuya responded, not a single trace of doubt in his voice.

"Who sent you?"

"No one did, I came by my own means."

"Don't you fear me?"

"Never."

"You should! I have blood on my hands! Look!" He cried as he shoved his right hand towards Chuuya, the only evident thing was the still red skin.

"I know." He responded calmly, "So have I." Chuuya extended his hand to show Dazai. The man stared in shock.

"There's nothing there?" He replied, "I know that." Chuuya responded. "And there's nothing on your own hands." Dazai turned his hand to check, the man was right. There was no blood evident on his hands.

"Osamu." Dazai locked his gaze with Chuuya's, how he missed being called by that name. "Open your shirt." This caught Dazai by surprise. "Why does Chuuya want me to strip!" He cried in a panic, "No there's something I want to show you, it's beneath your shirt." Dazai slowly but surely with shaking hands began to unbutton his blue shirt. When he had finished he was left with a bare chest littered with scars. One specific scar was evident on the middle left of his chest. Sitting directly in the middle was a thin silver chain, attached was a silver ring. It appeared to match the ring Chuuya wore but a ruby stone in contrast to the sapphire.

"I told you, there's nothing there. It died a long time ago." Chuuya nodded in agreement, "Yes, you've said." He stretched his hand out and carefully lifted the silver chain. Never once coming into contact with the man's skin. "Now tell me what this is?" He questioned as Dazai looked at him in bewilderment. "The biggest mistake of my life."