The (rut) cycle (shinsoukoku)

Chapter 21

The first thing Atsushi does in the morning is write letters. Well, ‚a' letter.

A letter to Chuuya, stating Atsushi's new position as the new boss of the port mafia. He puts the letter in a box after sealing it with some wax and cuts one of Mori's arms off for proof that the boss is dead. He would send him the head but there were only bones left so there was no telling who they actually belonged to.

So limbs it was.

After sending the letter, he hears the doors open and sees a tired Akutagawa in the doors.

This was the first day without chains on his legs.

"Hi, Ryuu!" Atsusih says with a smile as Akutagawa wipes his eyes, trying to get used to the sudden brightness. A few seconds ago when he first realized the basement door was open and he didn't have any chains on himself, he quickly got up and went up the stairs.

He was not surprised when Atsushi hugged him and waited for the weretiger to back away before finally opening his eyes.

This was the living room Akutagawa saw on his first day here. The day he got knotted and later got forced into the basement.

And today, he was finally here again. It was one step closer to freedom.

"What are you doing?" Akutagawa asks and points to the box on the table. He tries to ignore the dead body of his ex-boss which was still on the couch. He felt a bit sad for Elise though. She was a nice kid when Mori wasn't around.

„I don't know how all this stuff works yet. So I want to sent a letter to Chuuya to tell him about the situation."

"How do you know he will help you?"

"He probably won't. But atleast he'll know not to mess with me now" The weretiger answers and tapes the box, writes an address on it and walks into the kitchen.

He comes back with a plate of pancakes and puts them on the table, as far away as possible from Mori's headless and armless body.

Akutagawa eats in silence and can't stop glancing at his dead boss.

"Don't worry, I will clean him up soon. I thought you'd be sleeping for a while longer and I wanted to do it at that time, but since you're awake I wanted to make you breakfast"

The diablo nods and doesn't say anything else. He reaches for a glass of water and drinks it but spits the water out almost immediately.

"What is in this?" He asks loudly and angrily. Was Atsushi seriously trying to drug him again?

Atsushi takes the glass and drinks the water too.

"Oh, I added vitamins to it. You didn't have any sun for a long time so I wanted to give you vitamins which will give you some vitamin D. I don't want you to become sick or anything." He says

„And additionally, this is going to help your already existing illness" Atsushi adds and smiles at Akutagawa while handing him back the glass.

"... I'm pretty sure my illness is incurable." The diablo mutters but drinks the water. Maybe some miracle will happen. Atsushi just smiles.

He doesn't know if the water will work. He added some of his blood to it, hoping the regeneration in his ability would help his mate heal. He made sure the blood wasn't visible though to not freak out Akutagawa.

The diablo puts the empty cup on the table and slowly stands up. He walks over to Atsushi and stays still a few centimeters away from him.

Atsushi raises an eyebrow and turns around to look at the diablo. He sees that Akutagawa is tightening his fists ad a few seconds later he gets punched in the face. He falls backwards and touches his cheek. It would surely be swollen soon.