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Published:
2019-09-04
Updated:
2023-03-07
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3/?
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Tiger’s Play

Summary:

An AU where the agency ends up adopting a child Atsushi who is more tiger than they realize.

Or

The Adventure of A Feral Tiger Child

Notes:

An AU I suddenly thought of in the sskk Big Bang server and fueled by the collective ideas, a feral tiger child Atsushi

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Atsushi isn’t sure how long they’ve been roaming the streets and alleys of this city, but that’s okay.

They don’t need to know, content with exploring and playing until it was time to go on to the next place. It wasn’t like they had anyone to really go back to, other than the deep voice in their head that would talk to them from time to time. They liked to also converse with stray cats that hid about the place, giving the child (?) tips on the best napping spots and hunting places. 

They liked to watch people too. Humans were fascinating things, always busy, always moving. Sometimes they would look at Atsushi, sometimes giving them food or just ignoring them. That was okay. 

Mainly, they spent their time near the river, after all, the waters were fun to play in and there was a nice tunnel to sleep in when they wanted to. 

They meet their first ability user while taking a swim in the river. The sun was setting. It was a nice scene.

Until they saw the body floating down the river. 

They almost ignore it, but that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. Even if they aren’t sure what a right thing to do is, it’s obvious whoever this person is jumped in without knowing how to swim, and that is bad on its own. 

So they paddle after, snatching them by the collar and dragging them to shore with their teeth, watching as the human sits up, chestnut hair dripping wet and turning to them.

 

Dazai is almost pissed off when he’s dragged out of the water. His suicide attempt ruined! 

He is pissed until he finally sees just who pulled him out. 

It’s a child.

A child, that has white and black fur running up their arms, legs, and face, a fluffy ring of it around their neck. Their hands are clawed and that’s not the most striking things about them.

Their face is covered in stripes, mouth full of sharp teeth. Sunset eyes curious gaze at him, slit-like ac at while a pair of round ears sit on top silver hair, while a long tail flicks behind them.

The kid isn’t even paying attention to him, more interested in grooming themselves. 

“Say little one, why did you interrupt my suicide?” He asks with a smile. They finally lookup.

“Only fish should be in rivers. Humans are too big,” is the only reply he gets before the child shakes themselves of extra water, making to trot away. 

Somehow, he managed to get the child to follow him with the promise of food (paid for by Kunikida of course) and learned a little bit more about this mysterious tiger child. 

Already, Dazai could tell that life was going to become much more interesting. 

Chapter 2: The Adoption Papers are in the Fridge

Summary:

I'm back baby

Notes:

The reason this took so long was because I was having trouble trying to figure out how the scene would play out because technically this isn't like, exactly canon ya know

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Atsushi remembered the meal a man had given them once during a harsh winter years ago. He remembered the man had apologized, explaining to the small child that it was the best he could do with how badly it was snowing.

Rice doused in hot tea, with pickled plums, some shredded seaweed, leftover chicken, and dried strips of konbu. 

To the man who offered them shelter and a warm meal for the night, it was the best he could do on short notice. To Atsushi, it was the best dish in the world. 

Chazuke, the only thing they asked for when the men took them to the small restaurant.

“At least we don’t have to look for the mysterious “tiger” anymore,” Kunikida whispered. 

Atsushi finished their first bowl. And the next. And the next. 

Kunikida had lost count. 

It was worrying how much the small child was consuming. Were they not fed enough? Judging by the state of their clothing and the grim that covered their fur, it was evident that they didn’t have the best of living situations  if they had one at all , the older man thought worryingly. Nakajima Atsushi, if he remembered their name correctly, had happily supplied that they had been playing under the bridge when Dazai had come along, floating down the river. And they had been under the bridge for quite a while, but the furry child was not good with time so they couldn’t specify how long. They also weren’t good with words either, confused by the characters on the menu when it had been laid in front of them. Any other interaction with the tiger-like child had been halted as they soon become engrossed in eating their weight in chazuke. 

“Yeah. Who knew that the ‘ferocious’ tiger would be such a cute kid,” Dazai cooed, impressed with how much such a small person could eat. 

“One that is eating my wallet dry! But it makes our job easier,” he pulled out his journal to write something “despite you throwing us off schedule, with your little river trip, we can easily fix this,” 

“That beam sure does look sturdy,” Dazai mused out loud, ignoring him and looking at something above Atsushi.

“Don’t commit suicide in front of a child!”

“But it’s not suicide, it’s a stress-relieving technique!”

“Really?” 

“Yes, so you take a necktie…” 

“Okay…”

“I’m messing with you,” 

“You-!” 

From between the empty bowls, Atsushi watched the taller blond strangle the riverman, who didn’t seem that concerned about the hands around his neck.

Suddenly, the sound of eating stopped. Had Kunikida not mastered the art of double tasking, he wouldn’t have noticed. Slowly, he took his hands away from Dazai’s neck and both turned to the small wall of bowls. 

It’s time to go, it’s time to go.  The words were soft in their ears like a parent softly prompting their child to do something. 

Atsushi’s ears flattened against their head in displeasure. They didn’t want to go yet. This was the best meal they had had in a long time, and they didn’t know when the next would come. Even if Dazai and Kunikida were strange, they were amusing and had offered this meal to them. 

Move, move, move.  The word chanted loudly in their head. A feeling of restlessness washed over them and just like that, the thought of staying had spoiled, becoming unappetizing to him. They had to go. The Voice knew where. They always did. 

“I have to leave,” The child declared, pushing their chair away “thank you for the meal, but I need to go.” 

Before either could do anything, they padded away, thanking the waitress on the way out. 

“Something doesn’t feel right about this,” Kunikida said, moving to get up and follow. Dazai stopped him, holding out a note. 

“I’ll follow them. Take this back to the Agency,” 

The blond looked at his partner before taking it. “Don’t get yourself in trouble,” 

“You ask too much of me,”

As Kunikida left the restaurant, the brown-haired man began his own task. Luckily, Atsushi hadn’t gotten very far, and the light of the lamps helped to reflect the bright silver of their fur. They didn’t seem as if they were in any hurry despite abruptly leaving the meal. Gliding down the street like a ghost, it didn’t seem as if they noticed someone was following them. Either that or they just didn’t care. The curious little being led him to a warehouse. Hiding, he watched as they made themself at home, stretching out and revealing the sharp claws that were hidden within their paws. 

Atsushi stared up at the moon with a serene face, its pale light making the white of their fur glow an unnatural shade of blue. It took only a second for the transformation to occur, as their humanoid shape melted and reconstructed itself into the form of a larger than average tiger cub.

“You know, for such a cute little kid, you sure caused quite a scare for the city. But, I’m sure you didn’t mean it,” 

Dazai revealed himself from behind the crate, making eye contact with the fully transformed beast. The creature tilted their head, curious about the new person. Unlike the child he had met only a few hours ago, the golden eyes held little recognition for him. He was being presented with a completely different Atsushi. 

He had a second to get out of the way before the cub crashed into the large wooden box. The creature gave themself a second to gain their bearings before quickly turning and trying to attack him again. 

“Here kitty, kitty,” he taunted, dodging a few more tackles. 

“Sorry, but I can’t let you kill me just yet.  NO LONGER HUMAN!”  he extended his hand as the tiger pounced, confident in his nullification. 

However, instead of the tiger vanishing, the cub hit him in the chest, disregarding the extended hand that brushed against their fur. The brown-haired man’s eyes widened in surprise as the sudden weight threw him to the floor. The tiger looked proud to have pushed him down. Unaware of the shocked state of the man, they rolled off of him and gave chase to a scrap of paper that caught their attention. 

“Impossible…” Dazai whispered. The contact should have turned the tiger back into the kid. He stared at his hand and then at the playing feline.  So it’s not an ability…?

“Okay, new plan then. Atsushi~ lets play!” 

After a little while, the cub began to slow down, taking longer to pull themself up. Eventually, they trotted over to Dazai, plopping down at his feet and falling asleep. All the energy put into keeping the form melted away, leaving behind the humanoid figure of Atsushi.

“Looks like you didn’t need help after all,” Kunikida’s voice echoed from the warehouse entrance. Behind him, a few other agency members followed. 

“Is that the child you were talking about?” a dark-haired woman, Yosano, looked at the kid at his feet with interest. 

“They’re so cute!” the youngest of the group, Kenji exclaimed, bending down the pet the child “their fur is so soft, can we keep them?”

“Well, we can’t just leave them on the streets. Yokohama isn’t a place to be letting a rogue ability user running around,” another in the group, Ranpo, piped up, also taking interest in the child. 

“That’s the thing,” Dazai said, scooping up Atsushi, allowing them to snuggle into his chest “when I tried to use No Longer Human, they remained as a full tiger. I only managed to get them to morph back to their previous state after I tired them out.  I’m  tired too…” 

“So it’s not an ability?” Ranpo questioned.

“Unless their hair is acting as an anti ability repellent. That’s the only guess I’ve got,”  What an interesting child you’re turning out to be Atsushi,  he internally mused.

“Ability or not, it’s not the right thing to leave them alone,” Kunikida added, taking the child from him. 

“So they’re coming with us?” 

“For now, yes,”

As they conversed, the familiar feeling of wanderlust was absent from the child, who was content to sleep the rest of the night away 

in the company of these people.

Notes:

It's not word for word, I know I cut out some of the scenes from canon but that's because it needed to happen

Anyway, now that this is written everything afterwards is not going to be in chronological order, just oneshots of a feral tiger child vibing through life. Some fluff, some angst, crack. Whatever I feel like at the moment idk.

Chapter 3: Pants Pants Revolution

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Atsushi… you have to wear pants,” 

Kunikida was stressed. After a week of them caring for the child, it was clear that they had very little contact with normal things, which caused more problems than it was worth when they realised that if they were going to keep the humanoid, they would have to teach Atsushi about normal society along with keeping them out of harm’s way. Which led to the biggest problem currently. Atsushi’s hatred of clothing. 

“But they’re not comfy!” the cub complained from the arms of Naomi. 

The tiger child had run into her arms the minute Kunikida found out they had once again shredded their pants in protest. Usually, they would run to Dazai or even hide behind Fukuzawa, but since most everyone was out and busy, Naomi was the closest and she was always more than willing to cuddle them. 

So far, the only clothing that the kid was willing to put on were shirts-as long as they were soft and loose. Any attempts at bottoms were met with fits and the articles of clothing thrown about. 

“You still have to wear them, you can’t go around without bottoms on,”

“Mii-chan doesn’t wear pants,” Atsushi grumbled, huddling themself further into the arms of the girl as if it would get the conversation to end. 

“Mii-chan is a cat, he doesn’t need pants,” 

“I don’t need pants either! I’m a cat too! Kenji said tigers are large cats, so I shouldn’t wear pants either!” 

The blond ignored Naomi’s squealing at how adorable the kid was and how they were right about tigers “Kunikida what’s the harm in just letting them not wear pants?”

Kunikida heard a laugh and glared over at Dazai who was watching him suffer. So much for taking responsibility. Asshole. The older man took a deep breath before continuing. He knew blowing up wasn’t going to solve anything.

“Can you tell me  why  you don’t like wearing pants?” 

The cub contemplated for a second, “they’re uncomfy,” 

“How are they ‘uncomfy’?” 

Again the child took a second to respond, trying to find the words to explain. 

“They’re itchy and tight and I can’t move my tail,” 

“So if we got you pants that aren’t itchy and tight you’ll wear them?”

“My tail! I want to move my tail too! See? I can move my tail without pants,” 

“Okay yes, if we buy you pants that aren’t itchy, or tight, and you can move your tail, will you wear them?"

The child nodded, satisfied that the man was finally seeing things their way. 

“Oh my god! A shopping spree! We should take Yosano with us! You’re going to look so cute! Haruno, do you want to go with us! We can have a girls' day!”

“Naomi put the kid down-wait DON’T USE YOUR BROTHER’S CARD-THIS WILL PUT US OFF SCHEDULE-” 

Notes:

They end up buying Atsushi skirts as well and learning that if they cut a hole where Atsushi's tail is then they're more agreeable to the clothing. They also end up liking the skirts more because they're easier to move in. The girls blew up the work group chat with photos of Atsushi trying on new outfits while Kunikda had a breakdown at his desk about the amount of work that was being ignored.