"Dazai-san, what are you doing?"

Akutagawa Ryunosuke, 14 years old, stood above his superior, 16 year old Dazai Osamu, who was currently sitting on the floor of the bathroom, holding a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

"Oh, nothing much. Just got a few small scrapes is all." The Mafia executive grabbed a cotton ball and soaked it with the strong-smelling sterilizer. His bandages were littering the floor, exposing cuts and bruises down the length of his arms, some newer than most.

"From a fight?" Akutagawa questioned, watching as Dazai cleaned the wounds with a skill that boasted he had done it before, perhaps too much.

"Not exactly. Tripped over Chuya's motorcycle trying to avoid him throwing a wine bottle at me."

Akutagawa raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He had come to learn that between the two, there was an odd sort of mutual hate relationship.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go now, executive work and all that." Dazai stood and quickly put away the medical supplies.


Several hours later, Akutagawa happened across Chuya. "Nakahara-san." He nodded, acknowledging his presence.

"Hey, Akutagawa, could you do me a favor and give this to Dazai? The dumb macarel won't talk to me." Chuya held out a pile of papers.

Akutagawa took the papers, and noted, "Well he told me today you threw a wine bottle at him, so I could see why."

Chuya stared blankly at Akutagawa for a moment, and answered, "I never threw a wine bottle at him."

Akutagawa raised his eyebrows once again. "He was in the bathroom earlier with cuts down his arms. Said his tripped over your motorcycle."

"Ohhh...you don't know yet, do you?" Chuya asked, and laughed a little. "No, that makes sense. Of course he'd keep his own protege in the dark. He's suicidal." Chuya explained, nodding in understanding.

"So then those cuts were..."

"Yeah, probably. Don't know what that idiot managed to do it with, but he definitely didn't trip over my motorcycle."

"I see. Thank you for the information, Nakahara-san." With that, Akutagawa turned to go find Dazai, wondering how on Earth he would deal with having a suicidal superior