Soukoku Oneshots

Training

By: nakanowardcat

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"What are you waiting for?" Chuuya hissed. "Attack properly or don't bother."

He rolled off the skinny shape pinned to the floor and brushed the dust from his waistcoat. This was so easy Chuuya's hat didn't budge an inch. With a groan the streak of bandages dragged himself up again for the fifth time that day. Between his opponent's height and the fact Chuuya couldn't use his ability in training, beating Dazai senseless should be much more difficult, even if his reflexes were sloppy. But even though Dazai teased him about it constantly, he never actually took advantage of Chuuya's height. It might seem nice but Chuuya knew Dazai just wanted him to fall out of practice. All he ever did was block hits, and he wasn't even that good at it really, since Chuuya could throw one stab to his chest with a counter-strike kick and trip him over. Chuuya slammed the shelf of weights as Dazai recovered. He was definitely exaggerating with the whinging, Chuuya didn't even hit him that hard.

"You can't keep freezing up at close range. Why even bother coming here? You're just making my life harder."

"~It's your face, Chuuya, it's so ugly it's throwing me off.~"

"I wonder,” Chuuya growled, “do people punch you in the face every time they see you, is that it? Are you used to it now?"

"Only Chuuya aims for my face, because he's jealous of my good looks and charm!"

"I'm aiming for your mouth idiot. That way you might shut up."
"Oh so that's why you keep staring..."

"Waste of bandages, I'm not staring!"
"Well I have to defend my mouth from Chuuya's attacks. He wants to ruin its innocence!"

Dazai ducked in time. Chuuya pulled out of the hit panting.

"You weren't ever innocent, don't pull that shit on me. But sure, if it makes you fight better, here's a hint: try moving your head away when my fist comes at it, idiot."

Not entirely comfortable with the strange grin on Dazai's face, Chuuya took his stance on the gym mats again. Dazai, as usual, stood wide open for attack, so Chuuya headed in with a swipe to the head... and missed. Dazai spun out of the way as Chuuya ran forward. He barely had time to stumble to a stop before a pair of heavily bandaged arms wrapped round his chest and he was lifted off the ground.

"Missed me" Stunned at the sudden burst of speed and the strange breath of wind at his throat, Chuuya kicked him off and landed on his feet, ducked round Dazai's feeble hit and regained his balance. If he could move that fast, why hadn't he before? This was much more fun.

Edging a careful circle round each other, Chuuya sized up this new Dazai. He might be quick, but Chuuya was quicker and there were still plenty of ways to attack. Dazai was always so sloppy. Chuuya noted the pressure points he needed to hit as payback.

Launching forwards in perfect control, Chuuya kicked one foot off the ground, span round, arms carefully balancing his whole weight in the kick, crouched, brutal... and missed. Then Dazai's hand was round his throat.

"Missed..."

Why was... why was the garbage man's mouth on Chuuya's neck?

A vicious stab of his elbow later and Chuuya was free. Dazai kept smiling despite the ominous crack when Chuuya's fist made contact with his ribs. Chuuya couldn't believe it. He should be on the floor by now. He should be rolling around blaming Chuuya for his injuries, even though they were his own fault. And yet here he was, his brown eyes tinged something bloody, smile fixed in place, like he was taking the fight seriously. Chuuya grinned in return. This was better than he could dream: an actual training session.