Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The day was going especially slow in the office of the Armed Detective Agency. No scheduled meetings, no missions, and almost no paperwork. Dazai was taking a nap on the couch, Yosano was out of her office chatting with Ranpo, Kyoka and Atsushi were out for crepes and Kenji wasn’t in the office, most likely working on his farm. The calm atmosphere claimed everyone except Kunikida who was grumbling about the others, finishing up reports from his and Dazai’s assignment yesterday. This calm was however broken by the front doors slamming open and a distressed woman barging into the office. “My child! *pant* My son went missing in front of my eyes!” The woman wailed, immediately latching onto Atsushi when he went to calm her down. He helped her get seated on the couches where Dazai sat up, studying the woman with curious eyes. Kunikida wanted to prevent the brunet from asking his usual questions so he shot him a fast glare before sitting next to him. “If I may ask, what exactly happened?” The blond asked the woman. “Well *hic* my son Tayamo Rin..” “Tayamo-san, I understand that it is hard for you, however we need information: the more, the faster we’ll be able to locate your son.” Kunikida succeeded at somewhat calming her down and the woman opened her mouth to speak again when she got interrupted. “If I may ask, is your son from a yokai bloodline?” The local troublemaker asked in a strangely serious voice, catching the ADA off guard. “Yes…*sniff* how’d you know?” Tayamo asked, genuinely confused. “ There have been recent kidnappings of the humans with yokai blood, I just had an informant to look into it. Me and Ranpo have been working on gathering the evidence to bring the black market selling them to court.” He said, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Yes, we planned to deal with them next week. But now we can take this case officially.” Ranpo, mirroring Dazai’s expression, almost perfectly added, heading to stand at the brunet’s side. Silent conversation passed between them and they both headed to the president’s office. Kunikida and Atsushi were left gawking at the display of production from their laziest coworkers. The woman named Tayamo Aki was relieved that the detectives were already looking into the case beforehand, the chance of getting her son back increasing.

When the geniuses returned from the president’s office, they signaled for Kunikida,Atsushi and Tanizaki to follow them out of the door, completely ignoring the distressed mother still sitting on the agency couch. Atsushi just shrugged, got up and followed after his mentor. Kunikida looked torn between attending to the client and following them, ultimately deciding to run after the others when Yosano returned from her shopping trip with Naomi.

It didn’t take long to reach their destination; a seemingly abandoned warehouse. If it weren’t for the hidden detail of newly purchased cameras securing the perimeter it would sell the act perfectly. Unfortunately for the traders, almost nothing escapes the gazes of the best detective in the world and one of the oldest beings to roam the planet. This being also was also one that prided itself on not breaking its oath of protecting the remaining blood of the yokai. The crimes of humans forced the kitsune into its primal instincts as a fox, guaranteeing that the kidnappers signed their own death certificate.

(This case also opened Ranpo’s eyes to the truth of his colleague. It explained most of the brunet's behaviors, like sitting a bit too much on the edge of a chair, expecting something to be in the way, or even moving his human ears in the direction of an unfamiliar sound. The biggest giveaway, however, turned out to be the anger radiating from the man. Since he is a kitsune, his anger is accompanied by small bursts of magic which normally cannot be sensed. His, however, affect the abilities of the others in the agency. The others didn’t notice their abilities flickering in and out of use.)

When the five detectives entered the building the enemies immediately opened fire at them. This was of course, in the plan made by Dazai and Ranpo so the only people the shooters killed with their guns was an illusion made by Tanizaki. The green particles that rose into the air confused the enemy, giving enough time for Atsushi and Kunikida to sneak in and knock out most of the men. Dazai, Ranpo and Tanizaki meanwhile went around looking for rooms, which according to their informants, contained the children. When the enemy men realized the detective’s plan it was already too late as most of the main defense/attack force had been knocked out. The moment Dazai and Ranpo found the room with the children the kitsune felt a great anger in his heart. The kids were held in cages, armed men pointing guns at them. The room shook as Dazai properly took in the scene. The shift in the air alarmed the men and in their panic they shot some of the children. By that point, Dazai saw red. His illusion fell apart showing his ears and tails which flared out behind him as he raised one clawed hand, pointing at the men. They started floating, grabbing at their throats as Dazai choked them with magic power.

Ranpo and Tanizaki stood in the doorway as Dazai fell to his knees and fiddled with the lock. The self proclaimed best detective in the world had to admit, he was surprised by the vast amount of bloodlust that spread through the entire warehouse stopping everyone in their tracks. He knew that Dazai was an ancient being, however he never knew the full extent of his abilities. With a startle Ranpo realized that this show of power was a little more than the bare minimum for the fox.

Tanizaki returned to his senses when the two men, who were now dead, fell to the ground with a thud. The ginger’s knees gave out the same time the bloodlust retreated to the source. When he looked up he got confused when he saw the 9 white tails flared before him. He froze again when he realized their source. Tanizaki opened his mouth to speak, promptly closing it when no words were spoken.

Dazai, still not looking at the detectives behind him, took a few steps forward. Luckily most of the children were not injured, and the few that were only had minor cuts. However what caught Dazai’s attention were two dead children in front of him. Tails drooping and ears flattening against his head, he looked down in guilt that he was not able to save them, thus breaking his oath. The room turned colder with his sadness and the two detectives behind him shivered.

This is the scene that Kunikida and Atsushi barged into, almost tripping over the frozen ginger still sitting in the doorway. They felt the bloodlust and wanted to make sure that their colleagues were unharmed but they arrived late because of the remaining enemies still in the room. Even though it retreated after a few minutes they were still worried. That’s when they barged in to see the grieving kitsune opening the cage and cradling the dead children close to himself.

“What the hell is happening here Dazai?!” Shouted a confused Kunikida once he properly took in the scene. The brunet completely ignored him, focusing on the two boys in his arms. He closed their eyes and laid them down in order to let the remaining 8 children out. “That Kunikida,” Ranpo answered instead. “Is the last pureblooded kitsune on Earth. Right, Dazai? Or should I say Tsushima?” Ranpo continued, finally connecting most of the dots. The brunet in question turned around and softly smiled. “You’re correct as always Ranpo. However I abandoned the use of that name centuries ago, so I would prefer that you use the name I have given you.” Dazai said, completely shedding the mask of a lazy, broke idiot he usually wears. While Kunikida fainted and the others, excluding Ranpo, were frozen, Dazai turned his gaze back to the kids covering in a corner of the room, thankfully outside of the cage. “Since all of you have parents or are part of an orphanage we will contact them and return you to them with the necessary arrangements like therapy. For…for these two since they were orphans I believe that I should be able to bury them using the yokai tradition. It’s the least I can do.” He informed them of the situation. Turning to his colleagues he promised them an explanation later. The detectives in question gawked as Dazai renewed the illusion and turned to Ranpo who was finishing up calling the police in order to apprehend the criminals. Still dazed, the group returned to the agency.

Chapter Text

“Now that we closed the case, I believe that I should explain.” Dazai said once he made sure that the agency won’t be receiving any more cases. The detectives who weren’t involved in the kidnapping case were briefed about what happened by the ones present at the mission, except Ranpo, who was snickering at the shocked expressions of his colleagues. The man in question returned hours later as still he still had some arrangements to complete. The brunet’s colleagues formed a semicircle around his desk, even the president came out of his office. the president was curious enough to join them. “Well…”

Dazai told them the tale of a young fox that was born to a noble family of kitsunes. He told them about the conflict with tengus and how after freeing a young boy from being sealed he ran away with him. How the two stumbled upon an organization and joined to help out in the revolutionary war, and how they started dating shortly before the war came to a close. He told them about his travels around the world and how he and his mate decided to travel alone for a while before they found each other again when they saw each other in the port mafia, 50 before their set date of reunion. And how he promised to a dear friend of his to protect the remaining yokai blood.

“That is certainly one interesting story you got there Dazai.” Yosano commented when he finished speaking, examining his claws which he forgot to hide. “Can you show us your tails and ears?” An enthusiastic Kenji asked, his eyes shining at the revelation. Dazai smiled at the boy's innocent expression and stood up, walking towards the center of the room. Without looking back he let the illusions fall, revealing his kitsune features.

Atsushi didn’t remember Dazai’s eyes from their earlier mission. He regrets that now. They were beautiful, their color could vary from completely golden to the darkest black, depending on how the light hit them. Right now, his eyes had a color similar to chocolate and when he stopped focusing on Atsushi and turned towards Kenji, They became a reddish brown. “Well? Do you like this form?” His teeth became visible as he talked, showing that he had longer canines then were considered normal. “Cool!” Kenji replied to the brunet’s question. “You talked a lot about your ‘mate’, how did you reunite with her?” Naomi asked, growing confused when Dazai laughed. “I reunited with him,” he gave her an amused look, “by the little hat-rack mistaking me for an enemy and kicking me into a wall. Since I was with Hirotsu then, I had to keep appearances and pretend I didn’t know him. I did pretend that I was fifteen at the time.” Naomi blushed from embarrassment at her mistake and most of the agency gawked. “Now that I think about it, I shouldn’t be called the youngest executive, my title should be the second oldest, since chibi is older than me by 3 centuries.” Dazai contemplated, his voice breaking his colleagues out of their stupor. “You certainly know how to give our colleagues a brain freeze, don’t you Dazai.” Ranpo commented with an amused tone. He was sitting at his desk, munching on some popcorn. Dazai just giggled. “In any case, you really should go home. Mr. Fancy-hat will be waiting for you and it's already past work hours.” The detective informed, making Dazai nod in gratitude at the reminder.

“I’m home!” Dazai yelled out once he stepped over the doorstep. “Your later than usual, something happened?” Asked Chuuya as he approached the brunet and gave him a light kiss. “I lost my temper today and broke the illusion, so I had to explain.” Dazai answered, throwing his arms around his mate. “Is it about the case you have been investigating?” The redhead tengu asked, ranking out his wings and wrapping the kitsune in them. “Yeah…two of the children died. I scared the enemy too much.” Dazai was holding back tears. Chuuya, picking on Dazai’s mood, led him into the living room to sit down on the couch. “Shh, don’t blame yourself ‘Samu it's not your fault…you tried your best.” The redhead attempted to comfort him, and partially succeeded. Dazai gave him a soft smile, kissing his nose before standing up. He changed into his original form - that of a white fox with brownish highlights and lay down on top of Chuuya acting as a blanket, his 9 tails immensely helping with their fluffiness and size. The redhead immediately started carding his fingers through his mate’s fur. This is how they fell asleep, Chuuya with his wings out, squeezing them on the back of the couch, and Dazai acting as a fox blanket. However, both the kitsune and the tengu are used to sleeping like that, born from living on the streets while powerful yokai searched for them, Dazai putting up a few illusions and Chuuya defending them with gravity. Afterall, who would protect them if not themselves?