«The Language Of Flowers» (Bungou Stray Dogs)

No Longer Human Part I «Dazai Osamu»

Disclaimer: Credit goes to Asagiri-sensei for the BSD manga and credit goes to the respective artists for the art used in this fanfiction. I own NOTHING except for the plot I made up.

--*--

"Stop seeing him."

I raise a curious eyebrow at his former partner's direction while feigning innocence. "Excuse me?"

"Don't play dumb. You're seeing that bastard are you?!" He snarled but his threats had no hold on me. "You have to be more specific because there are a lot of bastards, Chuuya."

"That traitor Dazai! I know you've been sneaking out to check up on him. The whole organization is out for blood and if they know then-,"

"Then what? I'll die?" I flash him a sinister smile making Chuuya glower at me before answering, "You can't die."

"My ability 'Hinagiku's Blessing' renders me unable to. Dazai's gift is the only one that can make me susceptible to being killed. The boss knows that. In fact, he knows what I've been doing. He won't harm Dazai because he needs him and he can't kill me because there's no merit in it. Unless it affects his decisions then he won't do anything. You should know that by now, Chuuya."

My explanation renders him unable to speak, his gloved hands clenched into fists in frustration. Out of the three of us, Chuuya had always been the easiest one to read. I can tell that he's only concerned for my well-being. Dazai's departure had made Chuuya hate him enough to wish him dead. The mafia had been our home since we were kids, Chuuya being the most loyal of us three. Dazai could care less, and I- I had no choice.

So when Dazai had defected from the mafia, Chuuya saw it as an act of betrayal.

"Are you afraid that I might leave, Chuuya?" I merely asked him, making sure not to meet his eyes when I do so. He doesn't respond which makes me smile bitterly.

"I wish I had Dazai's courage to leave... This place had already become a cage ever since he and my brother left."

"Do you want to leave then? Is that it? " Chuuya spoke up, bitterness coating his words which made me chuckle, my hollow laughter reverberating in the quiet halls where he cornered me.

"Leave? I find your lack of trust for me insulting, Chuuya. If I never cared then I would have left this place the moment I found out the boss had used my brother as a sacrificial lamb to gain a permit."

"Then what's making you stay?" he questioned me, a sad smile on my face as I turn my back to him and walked away.

"Because this is the only world I know..."

--*--

The bar was empty, save for the bartender and a familiar figure sitting alone by the long mahogany table. A cat next to him yawns and jumps down the seat my brother once frequented, the feline moving onto another stool to rest.

Not too far was a vintage phonograph propped on the end of the bartender's table next to the stool occupied by the cat, the song 'Scarlet Sky' echoing in the silent establishment. I could hear rain pelting harshly outside now which made me inwardly sigh in relief that I had a car to help me get us both home.

Even though he doesn't ask for it, I know that he'll be too drunk to walk himself home. Coupled with the rain, he'll really need help making it there.

The moment the bartender sees me, I raise my hand to stop him and shake my head- his response was a simple nod before placing a glass of cold water next to Dazai's figure.

It had been a year now since Oda-nii had passed away. A year since Dazai had been hiding from the mafia and the authorities. I can only frown at that length of time. A year... It's been that long and yet here we are still.

Dazai is still drinking to his woes even though I have long since overcame mine. Probably because my gift had rendered me numb of the idea of death. Having seen so many people die before me while I continued to live... Rather than sorrow, my gift had left me frightened to think that I could not empathize with others anymore at the concept of death...

When Oda-nii had died, I had mourned his loss, yes, but then fear took over afterwards, like a never-ending nightmare that visited me every night. It had been too short a mourning when I had stopped crying over his death. It made me see the numbness of my heart over death that even my own brother's passing had been easily dismissed.

"Good evening. I see you're here to pick me up again," Dazai greets when I settle myself on Oda-nii's former stool. Dazai had long since discarded his mafia attire, a long brown trench coat replacing the black one Mori had given him and the very same one he told me he had burned.

The bandages on his face had been removed as well, except for the ones that I could see still wrapped around his arms and neck.

"I see you're getting wasted again," I merely say, his voice chuckling at my reply before somberly staring at his glass. "You don't have to do this."

I stop him from downing his liquor again, his lips grazing over my hand rather than the rim of the glass. A bitter smile makes its way to his lips when he sets the glass down, knowing well that my arrival had meant that his drinking time was at an end.

"I know. But I doubt he'd be happy with me leaving his friend to wallow in despair like this."

"You're just like him. Always worrying about others," he sighs before getting up and making his way out. I slip an envelope to the bartender before excusing myself and jogged after Dazai.

Like I predicted, he had drank too much that the alcohol had gotten to him. He was leaning by the wall, eyes unreadable under those dark-brown locks of his. I quietly made my way to his side, my hands gripping his arm and hoisting it over my shoulder. He wobbles a bit but because he had been used to this for over a year now, he manages to gain a footing and we both make our way to my car, the rain drenching us in its cold embrace.

Being this close to him, his skin touching mine, if any of the mafia were to act now to dispatch me then now would be the perfect opportunity. It had always been the perfect opportunity since I've done this for a year now and yet no movement as of yet from them. Mori knows that my death would result no gain to him, it would be a wasted use of effort and he didn't work that way.

So he left us like this- the man who wants to die and the woman who cannot die. Such an odd pairing we were...

--*--

Hinagiku's Blessing (Daisy's Blessing): A gift that renders a person unable to die of sickness and intentional accidents or attacks. Although thought to be an immortal-like ability, it is not the case. The user can still die of old age or if an ability-cancelling move was used on them.