He should've known better than to trust an anonymous online client. He should have taken safety precautions before agreeing to meet a stranger.

He could have prepared the situation better, but today was the day Izaya Orihara's system was majorly flawed. He was bombarded by more than one man. In fact three huge men came after him unexpectedly at once; one that was clearly thinner than the others, one with a scar that trailed down his chin, and another with almost white grey hair.

Izaya tried to run away from them, but he was jumped by the smallest of the three. Quickly pulling out his switchblades, he stabbed him in the abdomen with both in hopes of escaping. Although, instead of the man letting go, he went limp onto the smaller male; causing them both to fall harshly onto the concrete.

Izaya started to panic, trying to shove the bleeding brute off of him. The one with grey hair approached the, now dead man, and the informant. He stomped onto Izaya's ankle, compelling it to break. A scream erupted from the man's throat as he felt his bones crushing. The one causing him that pain picked up the dead man and threw him off of Izaya. The last man, the one with the scar, neared them both. He leaned down and grabbed hold of the slender neck in front of him as he started to choke the man.

The silver fox crushing Izaya's ankle stepped onto his thigh, continuously stomping on it with as much force as he could. The struggling informant tried to scream, but failed due to the chokehold he was in. As the old man was crushing every bone residing in his legs, the more masculine one choking him released his neck and reached over to the slender dead man; pulling out one of the switchblades. Advancing the beaten man once more, he hovered over him and thrust the knife into his lower stomach as deep as he could.

Izaya's blood curdling screams is what led the two men to run away, leaving him to bleed out on the cold hard ground. Leaving him to die.

Gulping down some of the blood that had risen in his throat, he turned his head and saw the only light he could see in the darkness. Then he could smell it, the smell of nicotine. Gulping down more blood he could hear the most recognizable of voices. He could hear the loud stomping of feet. He could feel the warmth of the arms embracing him. The blonde man he saw in front of him was the last person he expected would help him.

He felt something warm drip down his chin and he reached up to feel it. It was blood of course; the blood he tried so hard to keep down was dripping from his mouth. Suddenly he felt like he wasn't laying on the cold ground, he looked at his surroundings and discovered his enemy carrying him to safety. He wondered why he was helping him; he thought that the debt collector would rather have him die. Shizuo ran as fast as he could through the streets of Ikebukuro to get the man in his arms to safety. There was no way he was going to let him die, no matter how many words of hate they spewed at each other beforehand. Turning the sharp corners of the back alleys, Shizuo quickly neared the city hospital.

He ran inside, shouting for help; demanding for it. Pleading that Izaya get the help he needs before he dies. Nurses and doctors flooded towards the two, taking the raven from the man's arms and placing him onto the gurney. They covered him up and tried to pump oxygen into the bleeding man's lungs. Shizuo ran with the hospital staff along side of Izaya. The ex-bartender grabbed hold of the informants pale hand, staring him into the eyes with a hesitant smile.

"You'll be okay Izaya, everything will be okay."

Izaya coughed and more blood ran down his pale blue lips, more and more stars started emerging from the night sky above him. He blinked and turned his head confusingly. Where was he? Where did Shizuo go? Why is it so cold?

Questions flooded together in his head until he realized that what he experienced was all an illusion. In his time of death he thought he would have been stronger. He thought he would have been struck down, not attacked by a bunch of cowards.

Lifting a weak arm, he reached up into the pitch dark night sky. He felt dizzier by the second and felt more blood leak from his body.

It was quiet, so quiet. Slowly turning his head to the opposite side it was laying, he saw a light. Feeling his arm go limp, he started to smile. His eyes began to sting and tears trickled down his nose as they started dripping off of his cheeks sideways onto the cold concrete he lay on.

The burning light from across the street, the smell of nicotine.

His eyes drooped shut and he heard the yelling of his name.

"IIIZZAAAYYYAAA!"

He felt rumbling feet approaching and his last breath escape him.

"Shizu-chan…"