Dazai, Atsushi, Ari, and myself were all sitting together in the same tea shop where Dazai had taken us after our reunion. My eyes danced around the inside of the tea house, my mind not letting me drop the feeling of being watched. Dazai and Ariake sat across from myself and my brother, Atsushi occasionally sparing a few glances at Ari. Every time he did so I would smile ever so slightly. My right foot swung slightly under the table as we all conversed together about anything and everything that came to mind. Suddenly Dazai's gaze flickered over to Ari, a serious atmosphere falling over him. "Ari... is your little friend hungry as well?"
The girl, who was mid sip of water, suddenly choked and sputtered, her face becoming pale.
My brow twitched and I kicked Dazai under the table, the action causing my drink to spill all over Atsushi in the process. "Ah! Dang it, Kotori! I've gotta go clean up, I'll be back."
My brother stood from the table and walked away, muttering quietly to himself the entire time. Once he was gone, I smirked just the slightest. "Now that he's gone... if need be, I'll go find some Mafia grunts. I've been dying to lay the hurt on them after my latest run in with Akutagawa..."
Ariake frowned just the slightest bit and looked away, "If that were possible I would say sure... but, there's not really any left."
I blinked in confusion, wondering if the flickering thoughts in my head were the answer she was going to give. My eyes met Dazai's, who's were wide with shock and unbelief. Ari looked up at me, "There are no mafia grunts left anymore. They're all dead."
My eyes suddenly widened and caused me to bolt up straight, "You don't mean..."
Ari's eyes looked down at the table with a frown, "I killed them all."
Ari didn't dare look at anyone, instead choosing to play with the food on her plate. Meanwhile my gaze stayed trained on the girl, a blank expression on my face as I comprehended the girl's words.
She killed them all? When she says that... was it her or Nothing that truly killed those people?
I blinked and tilted my head, "Ari, you really killed all of them?"
She looked up at me, fear dancing through her eyes until she saw my compassionate expression. This caused her to blush just the slightest bit, "It was my own will..."
She suddenly started to shovel food in her mouth, her face flooded with embarrassment. Dazai's eyes widened, "So... you really did kill them. It wasn't Nothing."
I looked up with a stressed half smile, "All in favor of keeping this a secret from Kunikida, say I."
Dazai and Ari simultaneously raised their right hands, "Agreed."
I nodded and crossed my arms over my chest, "Great. Now tell me... what happened back then, Ari?"
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As soon as Ari finished speaking, I sat back with a shocked expression.
So they treated her worse after I died... and Chuuya practically abandoned her. I can't believe this. Why couldn't I have stayed alive just a bit longer? This is all my fault. The fact that they started to abuse her even worse after my death... those fucking bastards are going to pay. I'll kill Mori the next time I see his stupid face and I can't believe Chuuya would allow himself to be so swallowed by grief that he completely abandoned that girl. Dammit.
I clenched my jaw and shut my eyes tightly, trying my hardest to calm down. Footsteps approached our table and I opened my eyes, turn gin and looking to find Atsushi coming back. To keep him from thinking we had talked about something bad, I faked a smile, reached across the table and rubbed Ari's head, "You're such a goofball, kid!"
"Sorry for taking so long... what did I miss?"
I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off by Dazai, "Why we were just discussing the possibility of little Ari here staying with you, Kyouka, and your sister!"
I grumped quietly at the fact that Dazai had interrupted me, but quickly masked it with a false smile, not wanting to give anything away.
Dazai suddenly covered Ari's ears and leaned towards us, "If I were to have women over I wouldn't want our small innocent girl to here us!"
I blanched and Atsushi became extremely embarrassed at the sudden topic. My lips twitched angrily and I kicked Dazai under the table again, this time harder than I had earlier, "You nasty bastard! That's so gross! I can't believe you would ever say something like that!"
Ari pulled Dazai's hands from her ears and smiled widely, "It'd be really cool if I got to stay with Kotori and Atsushi! And I can't wait to catch up with Kyouka again!"
Dazai smiled at the girl and then looked up at my brother and I, "You're both ok with this, right?"
Atsushi looked at Ari and smiled kindly, "I wouldn't mind having Ari around..."
My eyes widened and I looked at Atsushi with a sly smirk, "Oh really, now?"
My brother panicked and flailed his arms around wildly, "I meant WE!! WE would be ok with that!!!"
I snorted and then burst out laughing at the panic written across my brother's face, waving a hand in Dazai's direction, "Yeah we'll let her stay with us. Besides, how bad could it be to have four dangerous ability users living under one roof?"
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Life of a Stray Fox
Fanfiction'To the Stray Dogs' Kotori Nakajima had a strange ability. Well... any normal person considered an ability user strange, she just felt hers was... a bit more out there than others. Was it like Rashomon? Or her brother's ability, Beast Beneath the Mo...
