in the shade of trees ; n. chuuya

.quatorze

Ineko stands up, hearing satisfying cracks as she stretches. She's been working for eight hours straight, sitting at a desk and trying to analyse the movements and intentions of a certain intelligence agent.

First, she's a field worker; she doesn't cope well with sitting at a desk. Second, it's no surprise that someone who can't tell the difference between right and wrong has no goddamn clue on what Ango is doing.

"Boss is a little shit," she spits, her bloodshot maroon gaze zeroing in onto her bandaged shoulder. Now her entire left arm is covered in bandages, but Ineko deems it semi-good looking.

"God, I must be tired if I considered that," she hisses. Ineko quickly replaces her dirty trousers with grey pajama shorts and her tank top with a clean one. She slumps against the sofa, pondering on how the fuck she can execute her mission.

Running her fingers through her hair, she stares at the ceiling, feeling completely hopeless. She hates this feeling; she always knows what to do.

The doorbell ringing cuts her from her increasingly frustrating train of thoughts. Ineko slips her fingers underneath the hem of her shorts and pulls down, trying to make it longer and a bit more presentable.

The bell rings again.
"Yeah, I'm coming! Who's there?" She yells, and gets a muffled response which makes her almost cry in annoyance and relief at the same time.

"Shut the fuck up seadog and open the damn door!"

Ineko immediately stops trying to make herself presentable. She slams open the door and lets him come in, gesturing for him to shut the door.

She can't stop the words pouring from her mouth.

"Chibi~ I really don't know what to do and I don't know what Boss was thinking but either I'll die or Ango does, and I just-"

Chuuya barely registers the fact that she called him chibi.

"What." His voice is low, dangerous. Chuuya's eyes glint.

"What?" Ineko looks at him in confusion. "Why, you worried?" She teases as she slides back down onto the couch. Chuuya eyes her recently-shaven legs that look strong and lean in her grey shorts and her bandaged arms that are crossed over her chest. He coughs.

"You're my subordinate," he sidesteps the question.

"And?"

"And nothing," he hisses, "so shut up and let me think." He pauses in surprise when she doesn't rebut him.

"What, cat got your tongue?" He teases but frowns when she ignores his taunt.

"I saw someone trying to snipe Odasaku," she starts off, and Chuuya listens carefully as she vividly recounts what happened.

"I leave for, like, three days, and you get into deep shit," he runs his fingers through his hair as he takes off his fedora and places it neatly on the couch. The apartment drips with unwelcome tension as both of them tense at the prospect of Ineko dying.

"Guess I shouldn't leave you alone, huh," he muses under his breath. "Ask Dazai about Ango," he says louder, but Ineko shakes her head.

"The thing is, I can't even talk to the most trusted person in my life, because he'll know something is up as soon as one word comes out of my mouth. He's Dazai, for god's sake," she grits. Ineko crosses her legs as she unconsciously twitches her finger- a nervous sign. The room settles into a silence- so silent that one may hear a spider breathing.

Chuuya's blue eyes cloud as his thoughts stray.

"I know that Ango has meetings in the rain on isolated streets; so no one can hear," he doesn't look at Ineko in the eye. She blinks in surprise- why is he helping her? She doesn't say anything though; he might not continue to help her.

"Ah... I'll track him then," she decides. "Whoever Ango really is... he's not going to survive."

And so she walks out of her door, leaving Chuuya to stand in the middle of her small living room, foreboding feelings creeping onto him.

"Stay safe."