Secret (shinsoukoku)

Chapter 5

The mission has been going smoothly. No fights between the weretiger and Akutagawa, the opponents weak, no fatal injuries... It was a bit too good to be true, but Akutagawa guessed they just had a good day. Well, maybe only he did.

Atushi has not uttered a single word for the many hours they've been doing this mission and it was making Akutagawa a bit uncomfortable. It's not that he missed the weretiger's voice. Of course not. But... he did realise that something was different. Again.

Atsushi's clothes are also different. They're baggier, if that's the right word. It's a long white t-shirt and his usual pants, but the straps and the tie aren't there. It's something you would wear inside your home as comfort clothes, not for a mission which could turn out brutal. It's something you would wear if you wanted to hide your body, make it seem smaller. But the weretiger didn't seem to care about that. Even though normally he did.

„Jinko, give me your phone" Akutagawa says. He needs to call Chuuya, asking what they should do next because they couldn't find anything important in the base and his own phone was broken. But the weretiger won't answer him. He's ignoring the diablo.

How dare he.

„Jinko!" Akutagawa says, this time louder, and Atsushi's head slowly turns around. He blinks and Akutagawa realises that there's black circles under his eyes. As if he wasn't able to sleep for the last few days. But the mafia executive doesn't care. They're enemies. He's not supposed to... care or worry for this stupid jinko.

„The phone" Akutagawa repeats and the weretiger raises his eyebrow, not understanding at first and Akutagawa scoffs. Seriosuly, what's wrong with his partner today?

Atsushi finally throws him the phone and the diablo calls Chuuya. He quickly explains the situation, but the older man just tells them to stay there for a while to observe any suspicoius movement. This might all be a trap or illusion, and that their intel should be correct. And that he already sent some other guys to a different location, so Akutagawa and Nakajima shouldn't worry.

Akutagawa understands, thanks Chuuya and hangs up. He doesn't say anything about Atsushi's weird state. It's not the mafia's job to fix him. It's the agency's. It's Dazai's.

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It's been one hour since any action happened and Akutagawa was busy sitting by the wall and playing with Rashomon. He was throwing a stone and Rashomon was catching it and then bringing it to him. From time to time the diablo would glance at Atsushi, only to see that the weretiger was curled up. He pushed his knees to his chest and he was looking infront of him, at the many trees. Akutagawa could not read his face.

And then, the mafia executive heard something. He carefully looked over the wall and saw a man with black sunglasses and a suitcase walk out of a car.

„Ey, Jinko" He calls.

Surprise surprise, the weretiger ignores him once again. Akutagawa throws a stone at him, which gains him a glare from his partner.

„What." Atushi asks in an annoyed tone.

„Oh wow, he talks."Akutagawa mocks him but then gets back to business. "One of the men we have pictures of is here" Akutagawa explains the situation and the weretiger listens. They get into their planned positions and go to ambush the man, but because they had this tiny fight, the man had enough time to run away. He probably heard the stone hit the ground and realised someone was watching him.

Akutagawa wanted to scream.

He turned to Jinko, who also had a dissapointed expression on his face.

„What the fuck, weretiger? What the hell is wrong with you today? Are you seriously so useless to destroy an entire operation? Again? This time a drug dealer, and last time a human trafficer. And by the way, are you deaf or something? I have called you so many times, but you ignored me, and now look where this brought us!" Akutagawa yells and because he's so angry, his Rashomon gets a bit a out of control and he hits the weretiger in the face.

Akutagawa's eyes went a bit wide, suddenly remebering that Dazai would not like them to fight with blood again, so he takes Rashomon back.

He watches how Atsushi takes his hand up to the cheek where Akutagawa hit him, and tears start falling.

The weretiger breaks down and for the first time in his life, Akutagawa doesn't want to hurt him anymore. He just stands there, observing his partner. Observing how he falls to the ground and how more teardrops fall.

He unconciously takes a step back, then another, and after a while Rashomon has already taken him away from the place. From Jinko.

Seriously, what was up with him?
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I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter
-Nat