Work Text:
Chuuya sighs as he opens the door to his home. Slowly he walks in, while calling: “I’m home.” As he takes off his shoes, a young girl walks up to him. She looks at him with her usual gaze: calm, or even emotionless. Chuuya never knows, what she is thinking about, even though he spends his free time with her. When he fulfils his missions, he gets home and talks to her. It is hard to start a conversation with her, because she is way too cautious and tries to avoid them. Finding a topic probably is the easiest thing out of socialising with her. Asking casual things about what she did today. Mostly she stays at home and does the household and cooks. Sometimes she goes to the grocery store and sometimes Kouyou comes over. Sometimes he can predict what she will tell him, because her answers are always short and the same. If he talks about his day, she will listen and nod, without the need of more information.
“Welcome home”, she greets him politely, bowing to him. “How was your day?” Her voice is quiet and soft. He can’t help but give her a small smile, when she asked.
“Boring”, he answers honestly. He wished for a mission, but today he only was allowed to watch Akutagawa torture someone in order to get informations. Akutagawa is cruel, not as cruel as Chuuya’s former partner, but he knows how to get people to talk. Chuuya just stood in a corner, his arms crossed and memorized everything. And afterwards he just sat down with some colleagues and only talked the whole time. Those are the only activities he did in the last month. He is not one of those people, who love working, but he also is not one of those people, who love free time. He needs a perfect balance between those aspects. Having too much work stresses him, having too much free time bores him.
The girl nods and turns around. “I prepared dinner”, she explains, walking into the kitchen. As he follows her, he notices that the round table was decently decorated. White table cloth and in the middle of the table is a blue vase, which was made of glass, with only a red rose and water in it. Two bouillon cups, which are placed on small, round plates, are put on the opposite sides. On the right side of them: a bouillon spoon, which is placed on a white napkin that was fold into triangle. Above the tip is placed a normal glass.
Kyouka prepared a clear soup, nothing in it, since she still is unsure about the older one’s likes and dislikes in food. Of course she is aware of his love to wine, but she is not allowed to touch them, out of various reasons. Mostly because the bottles could break, or he is afraid to lose one of the wines, that were hard to get. Hard to get actually means, nearly impossible. And for those he has plans. The time he would open them would be for special events. He has three wines saved for the day when his former partner, who is called Dazai, dies. But for now, only two wines are important to him.
The first one is Penfolds Grange Hermitage, red wine from the year 1951. It is known as the most expensive red wine from Australia, not even 20 bottles of them left. Recently Chuuya was able to buy two bottles. Of course he was able to taste other vintages, but nothing could compare to an exclusive wine like that.
The second wine is not as rare and not expensive either. Domaine LeFlaive Batard Montrachet, from the vintage 1989. He loves not only the Chardonnay, but also the wine house. Anne-Claude LeFlaive only produces the finest white wine. The white wines are listed as the most expensive ones, but worth it. The high quality of the grapes is not the only thing that makes it worth it, also the hint of hazelnut. Chuuya also enjoyed the note of lemon, until he got introduced to Kajii. They had one conversation and Chuuya already hated it. Since it was the time, where he still had a partner, Dazai used the chance and joked: “You look as sour as a lemon.”
But the purpose of those wines are to give them to Kyouka, as soon as she reaches the age of drinking. She deserves it. In his blue eyes, she is a pure child, a victim of circumstances. Her parents were killed –by him, which she doesn’t know yet and hopefully never will- and she got taken by the mafia. Kouyou demanded to take her in, but Chuuya wanted to raise her. He doesn’t understand it himself. Maybe he feels guilt. But why should he feel this? He killed so many people, saw so many people getting tortured right in front of him. Women, men, old and young. Who knows. But in these few months, he never once regretted it. She was well raised and polite since the very beginning. She helped in the household and he taught her cooking and how to set a table right. She was a quick learner, so it was pretty fun. Sometimes they made road trips, sometimes they went to the park. Sometimes she would fall asleep in the car, so he had to carry her into bed and tuck her in. He never minds those situations, actually he likes them. She looks peaceful, when she sleeps. Her quiet atmosphere gets more comfortable.
The only thing that he disliked was that he would hurt her, if he is drunk. He didn’t stop drinking, but he never drank more than one glass. Sometimes he still wishes to get drunk and just drown his sorrows, but he always stops as soon as he thinks of her. He doesn’t want to hurt her more than he already did. He wants her to be happy, just like she deserves it.
“And how was your day? Did something exciting happen”, he asks quietly. As always, the only answer is a shaking head. The red haired sighs, before he takes his place on the kitchen chair. Quietly he waits until the girl serves him the soup. Her feet almost levitate over the floor, as she gets the top with the warmed up soup and fills the cups. Carefully she puts the pot away, before sitting down too. Their eyes meet for a few seconds, before they reach out to the silver spoons. As they begin to eat, their thoughts are the only voices that they hear.
Kyouka’s thoughts are as quiet as herself, even though they sound loud in her head. They are all messed up and as soon as she finished a thought, many other appeared. She stopped listening to her inner self as the mafia, or to be more accurate, Chuuya took her in. she knows something was wrong, so she always hid her true feelings since then. Whenever he was around, she acted quiet, calm and thoughtful. Sometimes he described this as cold, but that was not on purpose. Whenever he wasn’t around, she tried to tell herself that everything will be okay. It was a comfortable lie and for now, it also is the truth. Even though she would like to be able to deny it, but she is happy here. The house is big and beautiful; everything is tidy, thanks to her cleaning. And she even got closer to Chuuya. Sometimes she sees her dad in him. Even though he works hard, he also spends time with her and only wants the best for her too. It is funny, when they spend time together, she admits to herself. Or, was it considered fun? Sure, she feels happy with him, but she still never manages to laugh, no matter how hard she tries. But she sure is grateful for everything, which is the reason, why she bought a present for him today.
Chuuya’s thoughts are not about anything personal. They are more about, how he could tell her that her cooking is amazing. Tasty would be too… casual, or even childish. And it doesn’t suit his vocabulary. Delicious would be fitting, or wonderful.
As Chuuya opens his mouth to speak, his voice is soft and relaxing: “This is delicious. Your cooking really improved since you came here.” If some people would hear him, they would doubt that this is actually him. Many people only know his “aggressive” or “angry” voice, which he doesn’t understand. He is nice, if you aren’t annoying or making him angry. He would even drink a bottle of wine with someone else. But many see him as –like Dazai always said- “angry, small lemon”, another thing Chuuya can’t understand. But well, it must look like Kyouka is the only person that doesn’t piss him off. But he never really cared what others think of him, so why would he now?
“Thank you”, she replies, before they silently finish eating. “I will do the dishes”, she announces, while standing up and carrying the dishes away.
“I will do it, you deserve some rest”, he refuses, carrying his own dishes to the sink. He didn’t notice before, but her face is paler than usual. And he knows, that doing the whole household is exhausting, especially when you do it every day. He always had to struggle with motivation, while doing it.
“I can still do it”, she shakes her head. Of course, she would like rest. But he also must be tired from his work. She doesn’t know what exactly he does, but she can only imagine being a member of the mafia as troublesome and dangerous. Of course he is skilled and all, but he needs more rest than her.
The red-haired sighs, as he takes his second-favourite fedora from his head, just to put it on hers. “What’s wrong”, he asks. “If you are sick, go to bed. I will bring you some tea. And if you don’t feel better tomorrow, I will do the work.” Since he has free tomorrow, he wanted to go to the zoo with her. She loved going there, especially the pet corner. Since they visit regularly, the bunnies and rabbits, which Kyouka always plays with, already started recognizing her. She often brings them something to eat and they almost overrun her. But she looks happy, when she plays with them. She doesn’t laugh or smile though, but still, somehow the expression lightens up. Her cheeks turn into a weak red, her eyes show happiness a little. A face that he could never forget, not even when he wanted to. Even though he is sure, he would never want to forget it.
“I have a present for you”, she announces to stop the topic. She wouldn’t need to look at him, to know that his gaze is both: surprised and confused. “Please close your eyes for a moment.” He does what she told him, while she walks to a kitchen counter and opens it. Quietly she takes a bottle of white wine. For a short amount of time, she stares at it, before she walks back to her friend. Before she tells him, he could open his eyes, she spins the bottle so that the etiquette shows to him.
As his eyes see the present, he doesn’t need to read the etiquette. It is a Riesling, vintage 2013 and made in Lower Austria. Since the wine is young, its colour should be pale. A Riesling has a distinct tone of peaches and apples, but also of spice ad honey. Wines like this suit both: main course and dessert. It is a rather common brand, but Chuuya is happy about it. He does not know how she could get it, since she is too young to legally buy alcohol, and he actually doesn’t need to know. If he would brag about it as “stealing is wrong” or something, what would he reach? He is a criminal himself, so it would be stupid and useless. And maybe she didn’t actually steal it, but he can’t think of another way.
“Thank you”, he says, as he slowly takes the bottle. “What is the occasion for this?” she doesn’t answer. Chuuya notices that there is a white ribbon on the neck of the bottle, holding a note to it. Carefully he unties the ribbon and reads the note.
The writing on the note is done with black ink. Beautiful and clear. “You earned it”, it says. Kyouka knew it wouldn’t be his typical wines, but she wasn’t able to get one that was more expensive. But she knows, that he almost stopped drinking completely for her. Sure, it is not healthy to get drunk, but he must miss it. And she wants him to know that it is okay to get drunk once in a while.
Chuuya must admit that Kyouka is a good daughter. She is patient, nice and careful. And even though she can’t show it, she cares about others. Sometimes he wants to regret taking her in. It will be the same with her as it was with other members of the mafia: Her personality will be broken into pieces. He sure wishes that she won’t break, but everyone does. And even though he will be forced to watch it, he can’t regret taking her in.
“Kyouka, it is getting late”, Chuuya notices, without looking away from the bottle. He wants to sound like a father, as he continues: “You should go to sleep now.” He gives her a soft smile, as he promises: “I will do the dishes and then I will tell you a story, is that okay?” She nods, before she slowly goes upstairs.
Quietly she goes into the bathroom to brush her teeth, before getting into her tidy room. She walks up to her closet and takes her red Jinbei out. As she changes, she stays quiet. She puts her red Kimono into the –otherwise empty- laundry basket, which stands next to the door. Quietly she stares into the mirror next to her bed. She would describe herself as a doll, when she looks at herself. Breakable, pale, soft, quiet. She doesn’t hate her appearance, not even a bit. But she doesn’t want people to think, she is weak. Yes, she doesn’t have the same physical strength as Chuuya, but even she can fight.
Quietly she decides to just get into bed and wait for Chuuya. Since she came here, he always tucked her in and told her a story. Sure, she thinks it is odd that he does it, but she got used to it and probably wouldn’t be able to fall asleep otherwise now. Sometimes she wonders why he even started it. Maybe because he grew up to this “tradition” or because he read that some parents do this. Her parents did it, until she was around eight years old, so it always gives her a little nostalgia. At first, she felt sadness with it, but not anymore.