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Natsume Souseki’s not entirely sure why he’s following the young man.
Perhaps because he wants to see who Mori deemed worthy of his attention. Perhaps to see what kind of diamond has polished Osamu Dazai to his current sheen. Perhaps because he wants to see his philosophy in action.
Or perhaps because he simply likes to meddle.
At any rate, he’s closer to Chuuya Nakahara than he’s ever been, trotting daintily behind him on four light paws.
The young man had visited a wine shop and arranged a delivery (Natsume applauds whoever cultivated his exquisite tastes), and a small bakery, where the mafioso cheerily encouraged the shop owner’s daughter to get back to her schoolwork if she really wanted to be a doctor someday. He’d even taken over her duty of feeding the strays in the bakery’s back alley, the clowder swarming him the moment he arrived with the leftover tuna.
Now, he’s finished the croissant he purchased and is headed for a secluded corner of Motomachi Park, attention focused on the smartphone in his gloved right hand.
“I know you’re following me, asshole,” Chuuya says suddenly, whipping around to face Natsume.
Natsume, through long practice, doesn’t look around to see if there are other people about. Instead, he just stares at Chuuya and lets out a plaintive mew!
But instead of looking frustrated with himself (as Dazai had once done when he was convinced someone was following him only to discover a cat), he instead looks more annoyed as he pockets his phone.
“Yeah, I’m talking to you, mackerel.” Well, that’s specific. Natsume resists the urge to sigh, instead flipping onto his back and presenting his belly in the most perfect display of distraction in his arsenal.
It doesn’t work.
“I’m counting to three, buddy. And if you don’t tell me why you’re following me before then, you’re going to be a kitty pancake. No, flatter. A kitty crepe.” He casually backs up the threat by letting the glow of his Ability outline his form.
Allowing this to escalate into a conflict would be unfortunate for many reasons. Natsume lets out a huffing sigh, which nets him a raised eyebrow.
“Three…”
He waves a paw at the redhead, indicating his intention to comply in an all too human manner.
Chuuya stops counting, but gestures at him to get on with it.
Natsume centers himself, then lets his ability go, returning to his human form with an audible snap! and a puff of smoke.
“Huh,” Chuuya says, examining the man now in front of him. “That’s a pretty neat trick.”
“Pray tell, how did you spot me? For what I am, I mean? Most people see a cat and move along.”
“Your weight.”
“Beg pardon?” Natsume isn’t sure what that means, but he feels vaguely offended. He’s very svelte, whether feline or human (despite an overfondness for sardines in either form).
Chuuya rolls his eyes, obviously sensing his affront.
“Your weight,” he repeats. “Your gravity. What you displace doesn’t match any cat I’ve ever come across. Which meant you were either a special kind of cat, or another Gifted asshole.”
Natsume appraises the younger man with this new knowledge.
“You know, very few can spot me as I am. Even Mori doesn’t know about it, and I spy on him and Fukuzawa all the time.”
At the mention of Mori’s name, Chuuya straightens up, his posture shifting from defensive to offensive.
“Who are you?”
“Hmmm, his mentor, I say, would be the most accurate, although he took some rather unintended lessons from my teachings. I’m Natsume Soseki. And you’re Chuuya Nakahara, one half of the duo known as Double Black, a Port Mafia Executive, and possessor of the entity known as Arahabaki.”
If Chuuya was tense before, he looks tauter than a bowstring now.
“Your business with me?” he snarls out from between gritted teeth.
“Curiosity. You know what they say about cats, I’m sure. Your partnership with Dazai is partly my doing. For better or for worse. The better of Yokohama I’d say, although I’m still determining which of you came out the better as partners.”
“Dazai,” Chuuya says flatly. “Every time.”
“Ah, perhaps that’s true. Although I dare say you would have died years ago if he and his ability hadn’t been around to stop your corrupted form from raging until death. Wouldn’t you agree?”
The color drains from Chuuya’s face, and his Ability drains away as well as his concentration is shaken.
“How…?”
“I may be a…how did you phrase it? ‘Gifted asshole’? But I’m a well-informed one. Your very existence could lead to Yokohama’s salvation or its destruction. Or both. You’re a powerful young man, Chuuya. And a clever one, too, since you spotted me. That makes you worth knowing, in my estimation.”
“And what does you ‘knowing me’ entail, exactly?”
Chuuya’s fists have dropped to his sides, and Natsume is a bit dismayed to see them shaking. This hadn’t been his objective in the slightest.
“Nothing nefarious. I’m perfectly capable of looking in on Mori on my own, so I won’t ask you for information on your organization or your superior. I could ask you about that partner of yours, but the same is true for him as it is for Mori. I can get my answers about him at a far more leisurely place, as he gets rather chatty around those friends of his.”
Natsume notices Chuuya’s teeth sinking into his lower lip at that, the bone pressing down until the flesh splits and blood starts smearing across his lips.
“What. Do. You. Want?” It’s ground out slowly, like Chuuya is employing every tactic he’s been taught or learned to avoid hauling off and punching Natsume. Deciding not to push his luck for once, Natsume considers the best course of action.
“Head pats. And sardines.”
Amused, Natsume watches Chuuya’s lower jaw loosen in shock, dropping down in a manner he’d always assumed was only available to animated characters.
“You…the fuck?”
“No, not intercourse. Head pats. When I’m in my cat form. It’s hard to find someone who knows how to get behind the ears just right. And you definitely do. Don’t think I missed you feeding those strays earlier. I would have been right there with them if so many of my compatriots weren’t hungry. You like cats.”
“So? It’s not weird for a guy to like cats!”
“You seem to have rather missed my point. There should be nothing offensive about this deal.”
“And what do I get out of it?”
And oh ho. The young man is learning. Natsume’s impression of him rises another notch. He rather likes this type of surprise.
“What would you like?”
That seems to throw Chuuya, like he’s used to fighting much, much harder for even an inch in negotiations. It seems Dazai has done his part in polishing the other part of Soukoku.
“What’s on offer?” he finally says.
“Hmm.” Natsume taps his cane against the ground, considering. “As an Executive, money isn’t an issue for you.”
Chuuya rolls his eyes, the ‘Obviously’ going unspoken.
“However, with power of the type you possess, I wager honesty is not something you receive as much as you should. Hmm, perhaps ‘honesty’ is wrong.” Natsume muses for a few moments. “‘Bluntness’ then. You are straightforward and passionate from what I’ve seen, but the Port Mafia runs in ways diametrically opposed to those attributes. So, I’ll put on offer my straightforward opinion. And my friendship. I dare wager I can sniff out quality wine bars better with my feline nose than you can with all your sources. Perhaps a new hattery as well. I can see you’ve got taste.”
He tips his own bowler at Chuuya’s hat.
“I see,” Chuuya says slowly.
He seems to be contemplating the offer, trying to figure out where the trick is. Natsume can’t blame him. From what he’s gleaned from his sources and the official reports kept by the very helpful (if unwittingly so) Ango Sakaguchi, Chuuya is a person who trusts too easily, even when evidence has shown him it leads to heartbreak and literal stabbing.
“Fine, we’ve got a deal. Go back on it, and I’ll crush each of your bones to powder one by one. We clear?”
“Crystal, my good lad. Now, wine bar first, or scritches first?”
Amusingly, Natsume finds Chuuya looks more torn at that than anything else. The redhead ends up gesturing at a nearby bench.
“Just for a little bit. I expect you to find a nice wine bar when we’re done. Some place with an actual good variety of varietals.”
Natsume doesn’t bother responding. Instead, he whispers, “I Am a Cat.” Letting the transformation take over him, he promptly twines around Chuuya’s ankles as soon as he’s got all four paws on the ground.
Chuuya snorts, but makes his way over to the bench without tripping over Natsume, despite Natsume’s well-meaning attempts to send him to the ground. Sitting down, Chuuya hesitates for a moment before he strips off his leather gloves and lays the pair over of his knee.
“So, uh, you coming up here or am I leaning down?” Chuuya asks, hunching over awkwardly and holding his fingers out. Natsume can’t snort in this form, but he gives it his best try as he leaps daintily onto the bench, plopping himself down next to Chuuya’s right thigh. “Right.”
Chuuya reaches out, tracing his fingers over the shell of Natsume’s ear. Natsume shudders a little in delight, but Chuuya recoils. When Natsume turns his dark amber eyes on him, Chuuya holds his hands up.
“I’m sorry, but it’s so weird.”
Natsume huffs, stretching out both paws and snagging Chuuya’s right wrist, dragging it down until he can butt the top of his head into Chuuya’s palm.
“Fine, fine. A deal’s a deal. Still weird.”
Natsume shoots Chuuya a pointed look, and Chuuya sighs (although Natsume can practically smell the amusement beneath the awkwardness).
And then he promptly forgets everything as Chuuya’s clever fingers start stroking and scratching behind in his ears in the most perfect way.
“Soft,” Chuuya whispers, obviously not meaning for Natsume to hear it. But Natsume does, and he starts purring in response.
At recognizing it, Chuuya relaxes and chuckles a little.
“So, pretty sure this is going to be the weirdest friendship ever. And I go drinking with a guy obsessed with lemon bombs,” Chuuya says, then does something with his thumbnail that has Natsume’s eyes crossing.
There’s a long moment where they just sit there, Natsume occasionally shifting when he wants to direct Chuuya to a different spot.
It’s when his purring pauses during one of these shifts that he hears Chuuya whisper, “Just don’t…don’t betray me. Or the Boss. Or even that idiot Dazai. And don’t die either. My friends…they…just don’t okay?”
And that…that just won’t do.
Natsume stands up, shaking off Chuuya’s hands in order to step into his lap. Carefully, he rises up on his hind legs until he can plant both of his front paws on Chuuya’s chest and look him straight in the eyes.
He’s not telepathic in this form (or any, which is rather a shame in his opinion), but he’s learned he can convey quite a lot of emotion with slitted eyes and the proper tilt of his triangle-shaped face.
“What are you…?”
Natsume stares harder, and Chuuya seems to get that he’s trying to convey something important, as he stares back.
Satisfied with the younger man’s attention, Natsume very slowly leans in until his head is under Chuuya’s chin and he can slide his paws around Chuuya’s neck.
“You’re…you’re hugging me. Oh. Oh, that’s…right.” And then there are gentle hands cupping Natsume’s head and his back. Natsume doesn’t move aside from occasionally pushing his head a little further into Chuuya’s chin until the other man lets go. Mission accomplished, Natsume settles back into a seated position on Chuuya’s lap.
“Um, thanks. For…for that.” Chuuya hastily scrubs his hands across his face before giving Natsume a shaky smile. “Okay, I’d say I’ve held up the, uh, scritching part of the bargain. Wine?”
Natsume nods, reaches up to pat Chuuya gently on the cheek, then leaps to the bench and off to the ground. Looking behind him, he twitches his tail around in a sharp “S.” Taking a few steps forward, he repeats the motion until Chuuya stands up, pulling on his gloves as he goes.
“Follow the leader, eh?” Chuuya take a deep breath, centering himself. “Alright. Remember my warning though. You cross me, and you’re a kitty crepe.”
Natsume yowls his displeasure at the threat.
“Don’t take that tone with me! And you better be human when we finally reach this bar. I’m not taking a cat in with me!”
Natsume grumbles, but starts a purposeful trot towards downtown, letting a grin grace his face when he hears Chuuya sigh before following.
Chuuya Nakahara is an interesting diamond, and Natsume can’t wait to see how he’ll shine. In the meantime, he’s not opposed to adding a little polish himself.
“Slow down, you crazy cat! Some of can’t take shortcuts under benches!”
And if he has a little fun along the way, well, that’s his prerogative.