How To Heal: A Fragmented Shadow

Prologue/Beginning Stuff

Just writing here that I don't own Bungo Stray Dogs or any of this art, credits go to the owners of it. And to inform, this is a Bungo Stray Dogs Reader Fanfiction of Akutagawa Ryuunosuke. There will be versions for any other characters that interest me. This series will be called "How to heal: (then a fitting title)", it will cover things from fluff and wholesomeness to angst and trauma as well as healing of course.

With that said: I hope you have a good read!

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Prologue: A Fractured Light

In Yokohama, shadows spoke louder than words, and Akutagawa Ryuunosuke was their most fluent orator. His name alone was a warning, whispered in the underbelly of the city like a definite warning of death. The Port Mafia had honed him into a weapon, sharp and precise, and yet, beneath the iron discipline and cold exterior, there lingered a fragile boy who had been abandoned by the world too soon.

He was a paradox of jagged edges and hollow spaces, a man desperate to prove himself yet wary of anyone who dared to get too close. You, however, were the exception.

You were the one who'd found a way to slip between the cracks in his armor, not by force but by quiet persistence. Working alongside him in the mafia was no easy feat; Akutagawa was as stubborn as he was deadly, and his temper could scorch anyone in its path. Yet, somehow, you had carved out a partnership with him-a careful path of trust and understanding that even he couldn't explain.

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"In the silence of the streets, shadows and light collide,
Each hiding truths the other cannot abide.
In his world of edges, you became a flame,
Flickering softly, never seeking fame."

The mafia demanded loyalty above all else, and together, the two of you made an efficient pair. He was the blade; you were the strategist. Where he relied on brute force and Rashomon's lethal precision, you provided the clarity and subtlety he often lacked. It was a dynamic that should have been purely transactional, but somewhere along the way, it had become something more.

You saw him-not just the weapon he wielded, not just the mask he wore, but the person beneath. It was infuriating, exhilarating, and utterly terrifying.

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The two of you often worked in silence, your tasks intertwined like threads of the same tapestry. There was an unspoken understanding between you, a rhythm that needed no words. He'd bring the chaos; you'd bring the control. And when the night's bloodshed was done, there were moments of quiet where the lines between who you were and what you were supposed to be began to blur.

He didn't know how it happened, this bond you had forged. He didn't know why he let you close when he'd spent his entire life pushing everyone else away. All he knew was that he couldn't stop thinking about you-and that terrified him more than any enemy ever could.

You'd go on missions with him or his sister, Gin Akutagawa, and he began to trust you enough to let you by her side - although you and Gin often get along like sisters, even doing typical girl things together. Higuichi, however... Was not the most pleased with this, she didn't know of the secret relationship even now but she had suspicions of a growing trust between you and the Akuatagwas.

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"In the quiet after violence, a seed takes root,
A fragile thing in soil mixed with soot.
Will it grow in shadows, or wither in the fray?
Only time will tell if love finds its way."

As the days turned to weeks, Akutagawa found himself caught in a quiet war. Not against an enemy, but within himself. You made him want to be better-not for the mafia, not for Dazai, but for you. It was a thought that both comforted and consumed him.

And so, in the fractured light of your shared world, the story began.