Star Crossed (Chuuya x Reader)

(C. 3) The Beginning of the End

For Chuuya, the world began with one boy and one boy only: Dazai Osamu. For Y/n, the same boy was how the world ended. Maybe it was the other way around, that Chuuya's world ended with Dazai and Y/n's began. Maybe, thats how they felt at the beginning, that Dazai began Chuuya's world and ended Y/n's, but that as time passed, it would switch. Or maybe, just maybe, it depended on when and how you asked them, it changed from day to day. No matter which way someone decided to take it, meeting the boy changed their lives.

The only thing anyone knew for certain is that in those eighty eight days, more corpses had been produced than the Yokohama underground had seen in its history and that numerous organizations were involved in the bloodshed. It went down in history, referred to only as The Dragon Conflict.

Almost a year to the day earlier, Chuuya had brought down a plane with intel gained by Y/n's growing skills as a spy for the Sheep. It brought their little organization of ragtag teens into the limelight. It was what had solidified Chuuya's title as King of the Sheep. It was also when the Sheep had openly declared war on the Port Mafia.

Since then, the organization's only goal had become those of destruction. Gone were the days of trying to get enough food to keep one another alive, gone were the days of ignorance, gone was their freedom too in a way, Chuuya's more than anyone else's. He didn't regret his decision per say. No, he knew his was a noble goal and one his organization supported. He also knew that with his increased responsibility, leading a war against the city's most insidious underground organization, he no longer had the time he once did for his oldest friend.

As much as Y/n was un-approving of the decision the Sheep had made regarding the direction of their small organization, she had some respect for it. It was no secret that many of the Sheep's members had ended up on the streets in the first place because of the Port Mafia. While she didn't support violence or really revenge at all as a concept, she did understand protection and if this was the direction they wanted to go in, she would do her best to make sure they did it safely. Besides, she had a promise to keep and that was more important than anything. What was a person who didn't keep their word worth in a world like this one?

Y/n had become an invaluable asset in their war. Her control over her ability had strengthened considerably and the information she was able to obtain was more often than not the source from which all their plans sprouted. This didn't change the way her fellow members of the Sheep saw or treated her, but it made her happy to at least know she was doing what she could to keep them safe, to benefit the organization and earn her place among them.

There were still those late night conversations, where Chuuya would fall to the ground at her side with a world weary sigh as the rest of the gang celebrated one thing or another, even if all there was to celebrate was one another. They would stare into the fire instead of at one another, she would pull her knees into her chest and he would tell her it was okay if she wanted to leave, thank her when she said she wouldn't.

"You know, you ask this of me so often, sometimes I feel like you'd rather I not be here." she mused softly one night, the laughter of their companions bouncing joyfully off the walls of the old factory they inhabited.

Chuuya had only sighed in response and she had turned to look at him, surprised to find his gaze fixed on his hands which rested in his lap. She reached forward, brushing a stray lock of hair behind his ear.

"I'm right, aren't I." she stated, leaning back and crossing her legs.

He shook his head slowly, still refusing to meet her gaze.

"No, not exactly." he muttered at last.

Y/n scoffed and Chuuya stole a glance at her crestfallen visage.

"I don't want you not to be here, it's just..."

"Just..?" Y/n prompted after another moment's silence, scooting herself closer to her oldest friend.

Chuuya sighed again.

"I don't want you to get hurt." he said lamely.

Y/n laughed.

"Seriously!" he reproachfully responded to her, meeting her eyes at last, "I know you don't like them and what we're doing. You shouldn't have to be on a path you don't want to be on."

"But you're on it?" she asked calmly, "This path, I mean."

"Yeah."

A small, almost forlorn smile slipped onto Y/n's face as she gently took both his hands in hers. The contact surprised him, it wasn't often the pair touched one another when Y/n was in her human form, especially not on purpose.

"Then it is the path I want to be on."

Chuuya wanted to tell her she was a fool. He wanted to scream, to yell at her, to lash out and make her go away, make her save herself. He couldn't.

"Thank you." he whispered, his voice small and cracked with discomfort at his own vulnerability.

That had been two days ago. The memory replayed in Y/n's head as she watched the two Port Mafia members she'd been tailing after having spotted them wandering Suribachi city a few minutes before. One of them, a boy who couldn't be much older than herself, was reading a small red book as he walked while an older man trailed respectfully behind him.

"Dazai." the older man began and the boy looked over at him inquisitively.

"Yes?" he asked.

From the angle he was now holding his head at in the moment, Y/n could see the brown haired boy had a bandage on his cheek and another over one of his eyes.

"This area is in a state of conflict." the older man announced, "Be careful."

The boy, Dazai, closed his book and slipped it into an interior jacket pocket.

"Conflict?" he repeated.

"The Port Mafia currently has three enemy organizations. One is Takasekai. Another is GSS. And, lastly, a complementary army comprised entirely of juveniles, the Sheep."

Y/n felt one of her ears perk up as the boy's phone began to ring. She was fully transfored at the moment, hiding herself behind an old piece of sheet metal leaned up against a nearby wall. Methodically, Dazai took the phone from his pocket.

"It's Mori." he stated before flipping the phone open and taking the call, "Hello?"

There was a moment of silence, clearly the man on the other end, the Boss of the Port Mafia, explaining something to his subordinate.

"Yeah." Dazai nodded stoically, his eyes shut in something akin to concentration.

He paused once more, briefly this time, before speaking again.

"I learned a few things." he shrugged, "Long story short... I found the previous boss."

The previous boss?

Sure, Y/n had heard the rumors, seen the destruction, but she had thought it was nothing more than a prank really. She had had no idea the Port Mafia was taking such a thing so seriously.

"He came back from the pits of hell." Dazai continued after a moment, a sickening grin breaking out across his porcelain face.

In a flash, Y/n dashed out from under the sheet metal and scampered the opposite way down the ally. Neither man seemed to notice her existence as she did so and she was grateful for it. As soon as she was out of their line of site, she transformed back into her human self. Rabbits were fast, but teenage girls who grew up on the streets were faster. She had to get word back to Chuuya and the rest.