A Future Without You

Ch 4: More Hand Holding

  There was a long, long, longgggg sigh as someone entered the boss' office. It was a tall, lanky man with striking blue eyes and a very, very tired face. He had a cigarette hanging from his lips and a giant jacket covering most of his body. But he obviously wasn't wearing pants.

  Chuuya rolled his eyes, "see?"

  "Oh, wow," Dazai blinked, "I thought you were joking..."

  Charles Bukowski sulked over, "what is it now?"

  "You'll waste away if you never do anything," Chuuya chided.

  "I'm older than you," he narrowed his eyes. Then he stared at Dazai for a long moment, "wait, you're..."

  "I'm the one you were supposed to replace," Dazai grinned.

  Bukowski gave Chuuya a knowing look. "Don't even," Chuuya warned, "I need you to pull together a team and work with Verlaine on searching all of our jewel vaults. Specifically for all the diamonds."

  Bukowski sighed, "but why me?..."

  "Because a walk will do you good," Chuuya folded his arms, "I'll pay you extra, too, because I know you're *oh so busy*."

  "Hilarious." Bukowski sighed heavily before starting to walk back out. "Nice to meet you, Dazai. Also, boss, if you don't tell him, I'm going to." He closed the door loudly.

  Dazai turned his eyes to Chuuya, "what does that mean?..."

  The mafia boss ran his hands through his hair, "he's trying to get back at me for all the work I've been making him do. Mori let him do whatever he wanted, much like with you, but I want to push him to be better. He's bluffing... probably..."

  "Is there something you don't want to tell me?" Dazai asked plainly.

  Chuuya sighed, "plenty of things. You know, personal stuff. Like where I hide my best wine, what kind of underwear I'm wearing, my notebooks."

  Dazai snorted, "okay, fair." But he knew there was something else. And he knew that Bukowski's threat was not empty. If it was difficult news that Chuuya was hiding, he didn't want to hear it from Bukowski.

  A few minutes of more reading and searching went by. Then Chuuya sighed heavily, putting his hands over his face, "this is so stupid..."

  "What is?..." Dazai asked softly, his eyes slowly moving up from the book in his hands.

  "Ugh, Bukowski. It's been like twelve years or something, how does he even remember that?" He shook his head in defeat.

  The bandage wasting machine felt a bit hurt that Chuuya had told Bukowski something he wouldn't tell Dazai... "What is it?" He asked again. Had Bukowski really taken Dazai's place not only in the Mafia but in Chuuya's life?...

  "Bukowski's skill is emotion manipulation, but he can also feel people's emotions and how they're connected to thoughts," Chuuya sighed as he ran his hands down his face. "This is so embarrassing..."

  Dazai's eyes slowly traveled down, "you don't have to tell me..."

  "No, I do." Chuuya shook his head. He quickly tied his hair back to distract himself, "a few months after you left the organization, Bukowski joined the mafia. Verlaine was the one training him and trying to hone his ability. And I guess I was an easy target because... I was drinking a lot... pretty much every day..."

  Dazai carefully set the book down.

  "He approached me one night while I was at a bar and asked if he could help me. I didn't understand what he meant at all, but he said that he could help me... understand my feelings. I mean, I hated you for leaving, but that didn't explain why it hurt so much..."