The Tiger and The God

Chapter 7

The Next Morning Chuuya's POV

Chuuya awoke bright and easy and after a shower and breakfast, he was on his way to the ADA dorm building. He was on time but the weretiger was not. He tried calling Jinko, wondering if he was standing him up. He didn't receive an answer and he clicked his tongue as he disconnected. Looking back towards the building he found the weretiger hurriedly rushing out of his apartment and down the stairs, nearly tripping over his own feet.

"Morning, Princess. Did you oversleep getting your beauty rest?" Chuuya asked him, noticing that the boy was suffering from a major case of bedhead.

After giving his contact information to the mafioso he had waved goodbye and headed home. Once he arrived home he noticed his front door was unlocked. Sighing, he pushed his door open and was not surprised to see his mentor relaxing on his futon. It was 3 am before he was able to get Dazai out of his dorm. Collapsing onto his futon not bothering to change as he was exhausted. He groaned as he knew he had to get up early and meet up with Chuuya. He grabbed his phone, setting an alarm before laying his head on his pillow falling asleep.

Morning Atsushi's POV

The light filtered into his room glaring into his eyes. He groaned as he dug his face into his pillow wanting to get more sleep. As he laid there he thought about what he had to do today. He had to meet up with the mafioso, then he had to go to the lab, and come back and do paperwork that wasn't his. Suddenly he sat up with panicked eyes. He flung to his phone that was sitting beside him trying to check the time. His eyes widened as he realized that he was late. He quickly got up headed to his closet to get dressed. Once he had changed into an appropriate outfit for today's job he ran to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth so fast that it would make a dentist cry. He didn't even bother to tidy up his hair as he ran back into his room, grabbing his phone and keys he slipped his shoes on. He grabbed his bag that held the mission folder on his way out. Rushing down the stairs he lost his footing which resulted in him almost face planting into the ground. He rushed over to the meeting spot to see Chuuya already there.

Blushing at the term princess he quickly tried to explain. "I am so sorry. I didn't get to bed until 3 am due to Dazai not leaving me alone. I didn't mean to oversleep. I am sorry." He felt bad for causing the shorter male to wait. After being told it was fine they headed to the lab. On the way there they made small talk as they seemed to be a little more at ease with each other. Arriving at the lab Atsushi went up to the front desk pulling out his id so they both could be let in. Once in Atsushi followed the directions to lab 3. He greeted the main scientist before asking about the tests. "The organs have seemed to stay fresh no matter how long it has been. We have found traces of certain elements in the tissue of the organs. It seems that they were injected with some type of solution that keeps them as fresh as possible. We have also found the not that was surgically placed into one of the organs." The scientist handed the note over, Atsushi looked it over before his eyes widened. The note was snatched out of his hands by the ginger. All the note had said was 'We are coming for you.' with a paw print. He didn't know who the message was for, actually, he had an idea. He could feel a chill run down his spine. The tiger in him growled as it was on edge as well. He now needed to make sure to watch his back.

After getting all the information and sealing the note up so he could take it to the agency they left. Atsushi was trying to figure out what connected to what as they walked. "What do you think, Nakahara-san?" He had decided to ask the man next to him. As he now knew he wouldn't be able to do this alone. It seemed they both had their work cut out for them. But Atsushi had a gut feeling that something bad was going to happen and he hoped his instincts were wrong.

Chuuya's POV

Chuuya's mind was reeling from the paw print left on the note. Was that meant for the weretiger or someone else and the paw print was the orchestrator's signature? If it was meant for Jinko then leaving a letter there made no sense; the kid would probably never see it. Still, there was a chance it had been left for him and if so... Chuuya just couldn't take any chances. If people associated with the hospital incident were targeting Jinko, then he had to do something to get one of them alive so he could force them to cough up information.

"I think that it's a lot to fully process but that at the same time we don't have much information," Chuuya told him as he walked over to a drink vending machine. He put in some money and got a bottle of cider for himself and a strawberry soda for the weretiger. Opening the strawberry soda bottle, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny vial. He shook out some of the powder into the bottle and swished the powder around until it had dissolved in it. Turning to face the boy he walked over, pretending to just open the soda.

"Here you go. Something to kind of tide you over since I doubt you've eaten breakfast." Chuuya handed the soda to the boy and opened his tea, taking a sip. He felt a little bad for betraying the trust of the kid, but making someone pay for hurting his subordinates was always first priority. "Come on, kid. I'll get you some breakfast." It would take twenty minutes for the drug to kick in. Once it did, Chuuya would take Jinko to a Port Mafia safe house. If they were going to come for Jinko Chuuya wanted to be present, and he couldn't do that as well through a stakeout. It was quite likely that the weretiger was already being observed. If so, they'd follow him to the safe house and wait for an opportunity to attack when they thought Chuuya wasn't around.

Since he couldn't risk Jinko passing out or causing a scene in a restaurant, he pointed at a bakery that was across the street. "Let's get some pastries we can eat while I drive you to wherever you'd like for me to drop you off yet," Chuuya told him with a smile. He wasn't the best actor, but Jinko thankfully didn't know him well enough to identify any of the body language that would have been a dead giveaway to a more knowing person.

Atsushi's POV

As Chuuya walked to the vending machines Atsushi pulled his phone out to update Kunikida. Once he was done he looked up to see the shorter male handing him a strawberry soda, his favorite. He quickly gulped down the drink before thanking the older man. He agreed to get breakfast as he had yet to eat due to waking up late. He looked over at the bakery that was pointed out to him. He nodded as he started to walk over with Chuuya following him. Just as they got to the front of the door Atsushi's stomach growled. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as he walked into the bakery. He walked up to the counter to order a large coffee and a breakfast croissant.

Chuuya had paid after he had ordered so Atsushi had time to pull his phone out again to check to see if Kunikida had gotten back to him. Seeing no new messages he sighed, he was then startled when coffee was shoved into his face. Looking up he saw the older man handing over his drink and food. He grabbed it before following the mafioso to a car. He got in and told the ginger to just drop him off at the agency. He quickly drank his coffee knowing he would need the energy. As he was eating his breakfast he started to feel drowsy more than before. He finished his food before rubbing his eyes.

"I must have gotten a lot less sleep than I thought." He quickly looked over to the one driving his vision getting blurry. He could see that the older man kept glancing at him as he drove. Rubbing his eyes as he tried to stay awake he asked the redhead a question that sounded like nonsense to his ears. His eyes felt like deadweights as they finally closed pulling him into a deep sleep.