Asset Protection

Summary: Dazai didn't know what, exactly, but something had happened to Chuuya. And he really doubted that it was something good. Dad!Mori, oneshot.

Dazai toed off his shoes. The bottoms were still wet. Today had been messy-he had been stuck interrogating some stubborn prisoners. Since his partner would have strangled him for leaving red on the white tiles of their apartment, he had cleaned off the soles of his shoes. He put his shoes next to Chuuya's.

It was one of Chuuya's rare days off. Otherwise, Chuuya would be out on a mission. Actually, he should have still be out drinking. But Chuuya's car was parked outside, so Dazai guessed his partner just got back early.

"Chuuya?" Dazai sang as he walked into the living room.

There was no reply.

"Chuuya?" Dazai checked the kitchen.

No reply.

Dazai went down the hallway. The first door on the right was his, the door on the left was the bathroom, and the second door on the left was Chuuya's. He knocked on Chuuya's door.

No reply.

He texted his partner's phone. He heard a chime from inside Chuuya's bedroom-it sounded like a phone. He opened the door.

Chuuya wasn't inside his room.

Dazai wandered over to the desk. There was Chuuya's phone-the screen still lit up from Dazai's text-and wallet.

Dazai's smile fell.

Chuuya's car was still here. Chuuya's shoes were still here. Chuuya's phone and wallet were still here.

Dazai didn't know what, exactly, but something had happened to Chuuya. And he really doubted that it was something good.

XXX

The doctor looked rather unassuming. He had a scruffy salt and pepper beard and a sallow face. Despite his age, he was not wiry nor was he hunched over. Anyone who saw him would very well believe that he had been a military doctor.

He inserted the IV into a vein of his newest subject. It was just to keep the boy sedated, not to hurt him. He added an IV to the other side to provide nutrients and water as well.

The doctor sat down at his desk. He opened up a notebook full of scrawlings and indecipherable sketches. He pulled out a pen from behind his ear and uncapped it. "What shall I do first?"

XXX

The wind whipped the windows of Mori's office. The rebellious breeze flung the rain against the glass, pelting the window with droplets in a raucous chorus.

"Dazai-kun?" Mori asked, pausing. He looked up from the pile of paperwork on his desk. His hand was cramping up.

"I can't find Chuuya. Something happened to him," Dazai bluntly said. He drew his coat closer to him, defending against the draft in the office.

Mori put down his pen. "What happened?"

"I noticed it when Chuuya wasn't home. I checked all of the usual places, I found nothing. He seems to have just vanished, leaving his car, shoes, wallet, and phone at our apartment." As a testament to Dazai's claim of a search, his clothes were drenched and shoes were caked in mud.

Mori scrutinized the state of his protege-it looked legitimate, but he had to check. Yes, Dazai seemed to be telling the truth. "Are you sure?"

"I am," Dazai asserted. His eyes were chips of flint.

"I'll have Kouyou look into it," Mori assured. He shifted the stack of papers on his desk into something more organized. He made his order sound like advice, but it was was an order, "Dazai-kun, go home, get changed, and sleep."