Chapter Text
It was gradual.
It was so gradual, that Atsushi didn't notice it. Not at first.
But, then it started to become a problem.
And when confronted with a problem Atsushi can't solve right away, he does what he does best.
Hide it and wait it out.
~~~~~~~~~~
It had become something of a greeting, between Akutagawa and him.
Akutagawa attacks, taking off one of his legs, or both, and Atsushi regenerates them and attacks.
Then, it somehow became a greeting from any enemy.
Atsushi had told Yosano-sensei the truth.
His leg was completely restored.
He thought it was.
And then his legs got cut off again.
And again.
And again.
"Is this just a thing now!?" He yelled angrily at the newest person who took his leg off. He asked Byakko pleasantly to regenerate it, and they did.
"It would appear that people don't care for you walking around, Jinko." Akutagawa coughed.
"Oh, just like they don't like you coughing all over them." Atsushi fired back, slipping off his other boot.
Akutagawa gave him an affronted look. Atsushi thought he would have clutched at his pearls if he had any.
"I don't cough over anyone, Jinko." Akutagawa hissed, incensed.
"And yet here you are, coughing all over me!" Atsushi snapped back, cartwheeling with one hand to avoid the enemy's attack.
"I'm sorry, am I interrupting a lover's spat? Should I leave?" The enemy crooned sweetly.
Atsushi and Akutagawa straightened.
"This is Uncanny Tales." Atsushi muttered, stretching.
Akutagawa grumbled, Rashōmon hissing in protest.
"I'd prefer Spinning Gears." He huffed.
"Yeah, well Uncanny Tales gets the job done faster. Do you want to spend more time with me? Is that it?" Atsushi teased.
Akutagawa looked offended, and got into position for their Uncanny Tales attack.
"That's what I thought." Atsushi hummed, getting ready to spring the trap.
In the heat of battle, he completely overlooked the fact that his legs were a little more dead weight than normal, the pins and needles fading too quickly to be normal.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Atsushi was just walking to the store. Kyouka-chan wanted some mochi, so he was getting her some mochi.
She had solved a case with the Tanizaki's earlier that day.
She deserved a reward.
It happened.
His foot tingled.
And then all of the feeling in his right leg was missing.
His leg gave out from under him, sending him crashing down on one knee.
"What the hell?" He whispered, and tried to stand.
His leg was still numb.
It wouldn't support him.
He tried again.
The feeling came back a little. Then a little more feeling. Until it was almost back to one hundred percent, but not quite. But enough to walk on.
"Weird." Atsushi grumbled.
He hobbled slightly, making his way to the store.
Atsushi didn't think he had injured his leg on his last mission, or that there were any lingering effects. The enemy hadn't used any poison coated blades, or any poison in the air.
It was probably nothing.
~~~~~~~~~~
It was starting to happen more and more often.
Atsushi didn't know what to do.
He had looked up on the internet what it could possibly be.
Nothing came close to what he was looking for, other than nerve damage.
But that didn't make much sense, because Byakko healed everything.
. . . . . .
Didn't he?
He restored his legs and his arms and his organs whenever Atsushi lost them.
They were always in perfect condition whenever Yosano-sensei examined him.
So why was this happening?
It was getting worse.
Atsushi was stumbling more.
Fortunately, it only happened in places that he could explain it away.
On a rocky battlefield, after he had taken a hit.
At home with Kyouka-chan, after a very long day.
He had gotten better at predicting when the nerve damage would flare up too.
So there were some plusses!
Let no one say that Atsushi wasn't an optimist or an opportunist.
Because even while he had been a diligent desk worker before, his work there had at least tripled.
Kunikida-san praised him for it, ruffling his hair when no one else was in the office.
Atsushi would deny leaning into it until the day he died.
Kunikida-san would deny that he touched Atsushi outside of a spar.
It was their unspoken agreement, that they would never acknowledge.
Just like Dazai-san would never acknowledge him when Atsushi had a bad day, and flopped onto him when Dazai-san was lazing on the couch.
Dazai-san merely moved enough so he could breathe easily, and started to talk, his hands raking through Atsushi's hair as his mind wandered. Thoughts of suicide techniques that would never work for one reason or another, what food would be good this time of year (crab was always at the top of the list), and which stores were having discounts on ingredients.
Other times Dazai-san was quiet, but still always kindly touched Atsushi. His touch was always gentle, never cruel. Fiddling with his hair, tracing shapes of nooses and guns on Atsushi's back.
For all that Atsushi hated bad days, he loved it when Dazai-san just relaxed with him.
But back to the problem at hand.
Atsushi couldn't figure out what was wrong, beyond nerve damage.
And then he got a text from an unexpected person.
So of course he went to meet them.
Atsushi didn't know why he was sitting across from Katai-san in a cafe of all places.
Katai-san hated leaving his home.
Katai-san stirred his coffee, not meeting Atsushi's eyes.
"So." He started awkwardly. "I know this is going to sound really stalkerish, but I promise that it's not like that at all."
Atsushi sipped his green tea, narrowing his eyes at the man. He had a feeling he knew where this was going.
"But Kunikida wanted me to try and keep an eye on everyone after that," a hand motion, "debacle with the Hunting Dogs. But to do that, I kinda have to use my ability."
"Which would mean you've been monitoring my search history." Atsushi sighed.
Katai-san flailed his hands. "I swear it wasn't my idea!"
Atsushi waved him off. "I know it wasn't. Just please, don't tell anyone? I think it's going away soon."
Katai-san narrows his eyes at Atsushi.
"Are you sure?"
Atsushi was a horrible liar.
"Yes, I'm sure. It's only happened once, so I was concerned."
But he was a damn good actor now that he's had practice.
It would be fine.
Atsushi could manage.
But unfortunately, he'd have to ignore the signals right now for the flare-up.
The enemy today was powerful.
So powerful it needed Soukoku, Shin Soukoku, and Kunikida-san on the battlefield, all at once.
~~~~~~~~~~
Doppo knew there was something wrong with Atsushi. There had been for the last few months, but he trusted the brat to come to him if it became too much.
Whatever it was.
(He should have remembered who he was dealing with. The brat hadn't come to him with a problem until Kyouka had threatened to tell Fukuzawa-dono.)
This battle was intense, and Doppo tried to keep Atsushi in sight.
The enemy was powerful, Doppo would give them that. The ability was frighteningly similar to the young child who was still in the Mafia's hands.
If anyone harmed the person with an ability, then they could take that ability.
Trying to get Dazai close enough to nullify the ability was a nightmare and a half.
Dazai barely managed to brush them.
In a last ditch effort, the enemy lashed out at Atsushi, barely missing.
"Shit!" Atsushi swore.
He went down.
"Atsushi!" "Atsushi-kun!"
Twin cries from the Armed Detective Agency members made the Port Mafia members look up.
"I'm fine!" The boy yelled, gripping his legs. "Finish the fight!"
Nakahara Chuuya didn't need another incentive, claiming rubble and using it as a weapon.
Dazai was racing over to Atsushi.
"Where were you hurt?" The man muttered, hovering his hands over Atsushi. His voice was thick, almost raspy in its quality.
"I'm not." Atsushi grunted. "This just happens sometimes."
Dazai's hands froze, before one shot out and gripped Atsushi's face.
Kunikida thought that they were getting a glimpse at the Port Mafia Executive Dazai right now, with that look.
"Atsushi-kun."
Atsushi blinked. "You're not Akutagawa."
"What do you mean, that this happens sometimes?"
Dazai's voice was dangerously soft.
Atsushi tried to lean back, but couldn't go too far when Dazai kept a tight grip on his face.
"I- I don't know what you're talking about?" He squeaked.
Dazai's face now looked disappointed. "I've taught you to lie better than that."
"You shouldn't be teaching him to lie." Doppo clucked his tongue, crouching beside them.
"It's an essential life talent, Kunikida-kun." Dazai teased, but his smile was still tight.
"Oi!"
Dazai's smile dropped completely.
It seemed the Mafia was done with the enemy.
No surprise, with their ruthlessness.
"What's going on over here?" Nakahara strolled over, looking nonchalant.
His eyes were betraying him, scanning Atsushi head to toe for injuries.
"None of your concern, Chibi. Go crawl back into your hole, or wherever slugs live." Dazai snipped.
"Yeah, well maybe I don't want to listen to the orders of a traitor." Nakahara sneered.
"Well maybe-"
"Can we go back to the fact," Doppo said loudly over the squabbling pair, "that this apparently happens often, Atsushi?"
He looked at Atsushi over his glasses, making Atsushi shrink.
"What happens often?" Nakahara frowned, taking a step forward.
Dazai stepped in front of the executive, a false smile playing on his face.
Atsushi squirmed on the ground. His legs finally twitched, and he started to get his feet under him.
It finally clicked in Doppo's head.
Dazai opened his mouth first.
"Atsushi-kun. How long have your legs not been working properly?"
Atsushi was quiet.
"You've been stumbling often." Doppo whispered. He pulled out his phone and began texting Katai.
If the fool knew and didn't tell him, there will be hell to pay.
"Jinko."
Akutagawa whispered. "Your legs. . . They've often been cut off, haven't they?"
Atsushi stood, ignoring them all. "Can we not talk about this?"
"Hell no! This is a health hazard!" Nakahara said, slamming his foot into the earth and stomping forward. "How long had this been fucking happening kid?"
Atsushi was successfully quailed, either by the display of cracked earth under Nakahara's foot, or the sudden yelling.
Doppo's phone pinged, and he decided he was going to strangle Katai.
"Over a few months." Atsushi squirmed.
Doppo snarled at his phone. "Over five months, to be exact."
Dazai snatched his phone from his hand.
"And I suppose," Akutagawa's voice was thick with suspicion, "you only searched after it happened a number of times. Which adds at least two months."
Atsushi looked away.
"Atsushi-kun."
Dazai gave Doppo his phone back, and pushed Nakahara out of the way.
"What were you thinking?"
Atsushi was silent.
"Atsushi-kun. Do you know how worrying this is!?" Dazai's voice was charged with emotions, and his hands came out to grip the youngest's shoulders. "One misstep, and it doesn't matter how well you can regenerate! You can die! Do you understand that!?"
Atsushi was hiding his eyes with his bangs.
Meanwhile, Nakahara was shifting away, looking at Dazai oddly.
Dazai's hand shot out to grip Atsushi's face again, making him face them.
"We could lose you, Atsushi-kun." Dazai said sharply.
Akutagawa cleared his throat. "It would take. . . Far too long to find someone to fight well with."
Nakahara raised an eyebrow at the second youngest, who now averted his face.
"Atsushi." Doppo strode forward, nudging Dazai out of the way.
"We are worried, not angry. Well, not truly. The anger is secondary."
Atsushi finally looked up, kitten eyes pleading.
"You're not?"
"No. We're not. But you need to let Yosano-sensei look at you. This has gone on far too long."
Atsushi's shoulders slumped. "I was afraid of that."
~~~~~~~~~~
A slew of tests later, and the kid was on the table of the agency's doctor.
Now everything was silent as the woman read the results from the tests.
"Do you know what's wrong?" Dazai broke the silence first.
Chuuya didn't know why he was here. Other than the fact that this was a kid, and Dazai was near him, and that was enough to make Chuuya worry.
Except. . .
Back on the battlefield, that hadn't been the case, had it?
Shitty Mackerel had shown a level of care that Chuuya had died long ago. Died with a certain future-seeing gunman.
The agency's doctor hummed, looking at the chart in her hands.
"The problem isn't just his nerves." She finally settled on.
"What do you mean?" Kunikida took a step forward.
"It's also his brain." She explained, tapping the chart. "His legs have been cut off so many times, that his brain has started to shut off feeling to them. However, this connection. . ."
She hesitated to tell the obviously protective idiots in the room.
She sighed. "It's cutting off all feeling to his legs."
"So how do we fix it?" Dazai immediately asked, patting the kid on the head.
The doctor was silent.
"Yosano-sensei, you can fix it, can't you?" Kunikida asked, fixing his glasses.
Yosano (that was her name, now just to remember that-) grimaced. "It's not so simple. The brain is complex. In theory, I could kill him. And hope the brain resets. But-"
"But Atsushi-kun's regenerative properties make it nearly impossible for him to die." Dazai muttered.
"There is a way, but it's not foolproof." Yosano said, haltingly. "Dazai. You'd have to hold his hand while I kill him."
Chuuya straightened where he stood.
He couldn't see Dazai's face.
But he knew for certainty that it was blank as could be.
Lost in the memory of losing someone else.
Knowing the Shitty Mackerel, he probably held Oda as he died as well.
"Now hold on-"
"Do you have to be the one to kill him?" Kunikida interrupted.
All eyes turned to the blond, who started to fiddle with his glasses.
"Kunikida-san, you don't-"
"Shut up and let your elders talk, Atsushi." Kunikida said, reaching forward and pressing his hand over the top of the boy's head.
"But you-!"
"Would do it for you."
Chuuya couldn't see the kid's eyes.
But he could gather what was happening by the hitched breath and soft murmurs Dazai was letting out, trying to soothe the child.
"Fuckin' hell." He groaned, pushing off the wall and striding forward.
He shoved the shitty mackerel out of the way.
"Dumbass, he wants a hug."
Chuuya wrapped an arm around the kid, and almost immediately the kid latched onto Chuuya, hiding his face in Chuuya's shoulder.
The boy trembled in Chuuya's grip.
Chuuya ran a thumb up and down the kid's shoulder, making mindless shushing noises to calm the kid down.
"Could just let Akutagawa fight you and not fight back." He offered lightly.
The kid chuckled wetly. "No way. He'd hate me for just giving in."
The kid's legs dangled uselessly over the edge of the examining table.
Chuuya could sense the growing irritation from Dazai behind him. Shitty Mackerel is still as possessive as ever it seemed.
Chuuya slowly pulled away, and let the shitty traitor take his place.
Dazai possessively wrapped around the boy, giving Chuuya a sharp look as he rubbed the kid's back.
Chuuya sneered at the idiot, before turning and walking out of the window.
Whatever.
Shitty fucker could deal with this on his own.
~~~~~~~~~~
Atsushi breathed deeply, squeezing Dazai-san's hand.
"You won't feel anything." Dazai-san whispered, stroking Atsushi's hair. He had barely let Atsushi out of his sight since Yosano-sensei had proposed the plan.
Kunikida-san was fussing with the blankets at the foot of the bed, refusing to meet Atsushi's eyes.
That was fine. It was just like their shared, unspoken agreement. Atsushi understood. Kunikida-san understood.
Yosano-sensei entered.
Dazai-san tensed up, his hand gripping Atsushi's tighter.
Kunikida-san froze, clearing his throat hoarsely.
Dazai-san clenched the bedsheets.
"We'll see you soon." He whispered fiercely.
Kunikida-san reached for something.
Atsushi closed his eyes.
"Mm." He said softly, squeezing Dazai-san's hand. "I'll see you when I get back."
He didn't hear the gunshot.
Kunikida-san must have been nice enough to put a silencer on the gun.
~~~~~~~~~~
Doppo watched closely.
Dazai watched closely.
Yosano-sensei was checking the monitors.
Kyouka was messing around with her knife.
Atsushi kept breathing.
He wasn't waking up.
Everyone was waiting for him, although they weren't in the room.
Nakahara had texted Doppo at least five times in the last half hour, asking for updates each time.
Doppo had only negatives to give the mafioso each time.
Atsushi groaned.
All heads in the room snapped to him.
His eyes fluttered open.
Dazai's hands fluttered around the kid, wanting to touch.
Yosano-sensei pushed him aside gently.
"Atsushi. How do you feel?" She asked, checking him over.
Atsushi smiled up, a small thing.
"I feel fine." He whispered, and started to sit up. He pushed his legs over the side of the bed.
He smiled happily.
His legs swung up and down, under their own power.