Love your ex-partner even as a werewolf? | SOUKOKU WEREWOLF AU! ☆

Chapter 1: Shadow Of The Past

The night was thick with silence, broken only by the faint rustling of leaves and the soft hiss of the wind against the alley walls. Chuuya Nakahara wiped the blood from his gloved hands, his movements precise and detached. He stood over the body of his victim, a lowlife who had thought he could outsmart him clearly. He had been wrong.

Chuuya’s ginger hair caught the dim light of the streetlamp, the messy strands framing his sharp features. His eyes, usually filled with fiery determination, now glimmered with something cold, calculating. The job was done. He turned to leave, the collar of his coat high around his neck, when a voice from behind froze him in place.

“Well, well, if it isn’t my favourite hat-wearing shrimp.”

Chuuya’s blood ran cold. He recognized that voice anywhere. Slowly, he turned on his heel, and there, leaning casually against a wall as if he owned the place, stood the last person Chuuya wanted to see, Osamu Dazai.

The man hadn’t changed much in the years since Chuuya had last seen him, but that familiar lazy smirk tugging at his lips? That hadn’t changed at all. Dazai, with his tousled dark hair and bandaged arms, looked as annoyingly smug as ever. His eyes, though playful, held a dangerous glint and the one that Chuuya knew all too well.

“What the hell are you doing here, Dazai?” Chuuya growled, fists clenched at his sides.

“Aw, don’t be like that, Chuuya. It’s been years, and that’s how you greet your old partner?” Dazai took a step forward, his long coat swaying as he moved, a shadow of his past self. “Still as short-tempered as always, huh?”

Chuuya felt a muscle twitch in his jaw. “And you’re still an insufferable bastard,” he shot back. “I should’ve known you’d show up when things were getting messy. That’s your style, isn’t it?”

Dazai chuckled, his gaze sweeping over Chuuya from head to toe before settling back on his face. “And you’re still as short as ever. Does your height even change with age? Or do you just stay the same?”

“Shut up!” Chuuya snapped, his face flushing a deep shade of red as he took a threatening step forward. “I’ll tear that smug grin off your face, Dazai! You don’t get to just show up after all this time and-”

“Relax, shrimp. You’ll give yourself a heart attack at this rate.” Dazai waved a dismissive hand, clearly enjoying Chuuya’s rising temper. “I didn’t come here to fight you.”

“Then why are you here?” Chuuya’s voice was harsh, but there was an undercurrent of something else. Beneath the layers of anger, there was curiosity. Wariness. Why now? Why had Dazai, who had vanished years ago, resurfaced out of nowhere?

Dazai’s smirk faltered for the briefest second before he tilted his head, his eyes drifting skyward. “That’s… complicated,” he murmured.

Chuuya followed his gaze, but all he saw was the black expanse of the night sky. “What are you looking at?” he asked, confused.

“Nothing,” Dazai said quickly, but his voice lacked its usual playful edge. “Just… reminiscing. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, Chuuya.”

Chuuya narrowed his eyes. Something was off. Dazai didn’t do “reminiscing.” He didn’t get sentimental. But before he could call Dazai out on his strange behaviour, something even stranger happened.

A cloud drifted away from the moon, revealing its full, luminous glow.

For a split second, Chuuya saw Dazai’s entire body stiffen, his eyes widening as if he had seen a ghost. The smirk that had been glued to his face vanished, replaced by a flash of panic that Chuuya had never seen in Dazai before.

“Dazai?” Chuuya took a step forward, his voice sharp with confusion. “What’s wrong with you?”

But Dazai didn’t respond. His eyes were glued to the moon, his entire demeanour suddenly tense, almost... afraid. Without warning, Dazai turned on his heel and bolted, his coat flapping wildly behind him as he ran into the shadows.

“Oi! Dazai!” Chuuya shouted after him, but Dazai didn’t stop. Chuuya’s mind raced. What the hell had just happened? He hesitated for only a moment before breaking into a sprint, chasing after the fleeing figure of his former partner.

Dazai was fast, faster than Chuuya remembered, but Chuuya was determined. He couldn’t let Dazai get away, not without answers. Not after years of betrayal and silence. Chuuya’s boots pounded against the pavement as he darted through narrow streets and alleyways, his heart pounding in time with his footsteps.

“Dazai, get back here, you bastard!” he shouted, his voice echoing off the walls. But no matter how fast he ran, Dazai always seemed to be one step ahead, slipping through the dark like a shadow.

And then, just as suddenly as it had started, the chase ended. Chuuya skidded to a stop, panting heavily as he found himself standing in the middle of an empty street. Dazai was gone.

“What the hell...” Chuuya muttered, his breath ragged. His eyes darted around, searching for any sign of Dazai, but the street was deserted. The only thing that remained was the eerie glow of the full moon overhead, casting long, sinister shadows on the ground.

Chuuya clenched his fists, frustration bubbling up inside him. What the hell was that all about? Dazai had never run from a fight but not from him, not from anyone. And that look in his eyes… it wasn’t fear of Chuuya. It was something else. Something deeper. Something tied to that damn moon.

Chuuya growled under his breath, kicking a nearby trash can in frustration. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something important, something Dazai hadn’t wanted him to know. But what?

He stood there for a moment longer, catching his breath before pulling his hat lower over his eyes. “Fine, Dazai. Run all you want. I’ll figure out what’s going on eventually.”

With one last glance at the sky, Chuuya turned and made his way back into the shadows, his mind already racing with plans to find Dazai again. Whatever was going on, whatever Dazai was hiding from Chuuya was going to get to the bottom of it.

One way or another.