Withering moon lit rose

Extra 2.5

"This is Ichigo speaking, who is it?" Atsushi began to panic, Chuuya stated this was Gin's number. So why did Higuchi pick up!?

"Hi this is Atsushi Nakajima, I was informed this was Gin Akutagawa's number. Can I speak with her?" There were some muffled voices at the other end of the line until someone spoke.

"Atsushi, is that you?" It was Gin, she sounded out of breath slightly as she spoke down the receiver.

"Yes, I'm aware you've never met me but would it be okay if I could meet you. It's urgent." There was silence at the opposite end of the phone for a solid few minutes. Atsushi worried if it had been a mistake calling. He was about to put the phone down when Gin spoke.

"Meet me at this address...." Gin began to relay an address to Atsushi who quickly scribbled it down on a scrap of paper nearby.

"Be here as soon as possible." She sounded a lot more serious than when she first answered the phone. Atsushi stated he'd be there as soon as he began to make his way to the address.

Atsushi was slightly confused when he finally arrived at the address, wasn't this the building he'd run into four years ago? He shook his head ignoring that fact, he had to get to Gin as soon as possible. He had to get answers.

When he arrived at their door he knocked three times, except instead of being greeted by Higuchi or Gin herself a small girl opened the door.

"AHHHHH! MOMMY THERE A STRANGE MAN AT THE DOOR!?" She ran off screaming and crying to wherever her mother was. Gin then rounded the corner a few seconds later.

"Atsushi, please come inside." She gestured with her hand disappearing into the main room. Atsushi wasn't aware of how many rooms this place had or what it looked like, the only glimpse he got was of Akutagawa's bedroom for two seconds before Dazai had thrown him out of the window.

The pair settled on the sofa, the child which Atsushi had no idea who she was had disappeared to her mother who was nowhere to be seen. Although Atsushi could hear the kettle boiling in the kitchen and imagined she was in there.

"So Atsushi, it's been a long time since I saw you last." Atsushi quirked an eyebrow in confusion,

"I'm sorry, I don't recall meeting before?" Atsushi began to panic that had he actually forgotten meeting someone after all those bullets, he shook his hand at the thought. He'd fixed his memories so it wasn't that. Gin gave a small laugh at his panicked expression.

"Oh you were unconscious, don't worry." Then it made sense to Atsushi, she must have lived with Akutagawa when he'd arrived.

"Thank you for taking care of me then." He bowed to her but Gin began to panic. She waved her hand in dismissal.

"No, no. I didn't do anything, it was all my brother. But it was nice to see that side of him while you were around..." Gin seemed to trail off her words as she ended up in thought. However, she quickly brought herself back to the present.

"Anyways, down to why you came here. What is the urgent issue?" Atsushi stalled for a moment after Gin's question. He had to carefully word what he was going to say, Gin was the only lead he had on what had happened.

"It's about your brother, I need to know something. But it's a bit of an unpleasant question to ask." Gin nodded quickly.

"Atsushi, we both grew up in the slums. It wasn't very pleasant there either, so tell me what your question is?" After a few seconds of silence he finally spoke.

"Has Ryuunosuke ever tried to take his own life before?" There was a silence that enveloped the living space, neither one breaking the silence.

"I'm taking Mirai out for a wal- Weretiger? Why are you here?" Despite the crude nickname Atsushi still smiled kindly.

"Higuchi, long time no see. How have you been?" He didn't really want to recall the last time he'd seen her, after all it had been the day Akutagawa had torn off his leg.

"I'm quite fine thank you, now if you don't mind I'm taking my daughter out for a bit." Atsushi nodded before responding.

"I see you finally got over Akutagawa." Atsushi gave an awkward laugh as he knew his joke was bad.

"No, why would you say that?" She looked at Gin and then at Atsushi again. It then clicked in her mind what was happening.

"Neither of them told you!?" She exclaimed, poor Mirai covered her ears at her mothers scream as she was being held in Ichigo's arms.

"Told me what?" Gin began to snigger at the situation.

"Atsushi, you're in a room filled with Akutagawa's." He was initially confused at Gin's statement, until the pieces started to line up.

"Wait! Your Ichigo Akutagawa!?" He exclaimed, the two wives burst into laughter at Atsushi's ignorance. Mirai was just confused about what was happening, she was still slightly scared of Atsushi as she had no clue who he was.

"Yes. And that is my wife you're talking to, so don't get any funny ideas." Ichigo gave an icy cold glare to Atsushi, he was sure the temperature dropped a couple of degrees. Gin shook her head at her wife.

"Ichigo, look at him and tell me he's straight?" Atsushi felt a bit awkward with being accused of sexuality, he'd come to find out about his partner. Not to be accused like this.

"No, he's not. He's a bisexual, I mean look at how he dresses." Atsushi suddenly felt very self conscious, he had slowly reverted to his old style he wore at the agency although he had a few darker shades in his wardrobe.

"True, you have a point there." Gin laughed as she smiled at her wife.

"Ahem." Atsushi interrupted, they were getting off track and he had to get back before Akutagawa did.

"Right, sorry." Gin apologised as she continued to explain, Ichigo and Mirai had left at this point.

"So the thing is, you're gonna have to be more specific." Atsushi was confused for a second before it hit him.

"How many times?" He felt his heart breaking asking this.

"Too many times to remember. Sometimes he didn't even realise he was doing it, others it was his own decision." Gin grabbed at her arms recalling what had happened.

"I wasn't there to witness them all, after all, me and Ryuunosuke were separated for quite a long time. But he told me all about them." Atsushi wasn't sure what to say, he sounded almost like Dazai.

"Did he ever say what triggered them?" Gin shook her head. This disheartened Atsushi.

"No he didn't, but I can take a pretty good guess as to why he did it most of the time." Atsushi felt his hopes rise almost immediately, there was still a chance.

"Fear. The fear of being alone. The fear of being abandoned. He's always been so alone, and he never really coped well with it." Atsushi was shocked, Akutagawa was never the one he'd expected to be afraid of being alone. But he couldn't blame him, it scared him as well.

Just as Atsushi was about to ask more from Gin, his phone began to ring. It was Akutagawa.