Title: One Thousand Paper Cranes
Summary: He's fading, and, sooner or later, people start to notice. Raijin Days.
Pairings: Izaya/Mikage (kinda)
AN: I've finally gotten my shit together and I'm back to working on my DRRR! fanfics. While I do, I'll post these two stories to keep y'all occupied 'til then. ^_^
The first crane is made from a normal white paper, and his hands tremble as he folds it. He's alone, in his room, and he hasn't told anyone yet. His mother and father are on their way home from their business trip, and he'll have to tell them more when they get back, but right now he just wants some time to himself. Sleep doesn't come to him that night.
Four Paper Cranes
Only a week after he finds out himself, people begin to notice that something isn't quite right.
"Are you alright?" Shinra asks, not looking particularly concerned. "You haven't started a fight with Shizuo-kun for nearly three days." Izaya shrugs.
"Just tired, is all," he yawns. This was accurate, but not entirely true. Now that he's got a limited amount of time, he doesn't want to waste it. "Hey, Shinra?"
"Hm?"
"What are you going to do with your life?"
"Become a doctor, obviously. Why?"
"Just curious."
Seventeen Paper Cranes
"IIIIZAAAYAAA-KUUUUNNNN!" the table flies past his head, and he barely ducks out of the way. He isn't sure why Shizuo is attacking him, as he hadn't done anything in a while, but he knows that he doesn't have enough stamina to run for much longer. He turns a corner and pulls himself against the wall, hoping that Shizuo will run past him. No such luck. "Got you, flea."
"So you did," Izaya agrees, too damn tired to find a snappy retort. Shizuo's hand is around his throat now, and he feels himself being lifted off the ground.
"I'm going kill you, you piece of shit," Shizuo snarls, tightening his grip.
"Well, then, get on with it," says Izaya, boredom evident in his voice. "I don't have all day." Shizuo stares at him for a bit.
"I- I'm trying to kill you," he says finally.
"And yet, I just can't bring myself to care," Izaya responds. Shizuo gives him a long look, and then lets him go.
"You look like shit, flea," he says abruptly. Izaya rubs his neck, glowering up at his nemesis.
"What's it to you?" he sneers, trying to salvage some of his pride.
"…You aren't the one who put dog shit in my desk, are you." it wasn't a question, but Izaya answered anyway.
"Please, I have more creativity than that," he grumbles, picking himself up off the ground. "Give me a little credit. I haven't done anything interesting for three freaking weeks." Shizuo shrugs.
"That's why I assumed it was you," he admitted. "I thought maybe you were planning to leave me alone for a bit and then do something that I wouldn't pin on you, but I guess you would have stayed to see my reaction if it was you. Since you aren't being a dick anymore, I guess I kind of assumed you were up to something."
"Can't argue with that logic," says Izaya dully. "Seeing as there isn't any."
"Go fuck yourself!" Shizuo snarls, storming off. Izaya turns to go the opposite direction, but suddenly he realizes how tired he is. His legs give out beneath him and he's falling… falling… ground.
Eighty-seven Paper Cranes
He's in the hospital when he wakes up, and he's surprised by how many people are squeezed into his little room. Shinra's there, and Mikage, and Kyōhei, and his parents, and his sisters, and his grandparents, and Shizuo, for some inexplicable reason, and all of them are trying to pretend that it doesn't hurt. He jokes with them for a bit, laughing at his own expense, teasing Shizuo for being the one to call the ambulance. And then, slowly, people step outside one by one, and he's left alone with Mikage. He opens his mouth, but she beats him to it.
"You're breaking up with me," she comments, unsurprised. He nods.
"Sorry," he murmurs. "Better now than later, though." He gives her a grin and tries to lighten the mood. "I mean, dead guys make really shitty boyfriends." She laughs, and he laughs too, and then they're both laughing and crying and she's holding him and it's enough for now.
One Hundred and Nine Paper Cranes
The first time he misses school, he spends the whole day throwing up in the toilet. His mother holds him, and rubs his back, and whispers nice things to him, and he falls asleep to the sound of her soothing voice. Barely an hour later, he awakens and returns to the toilet.
One Hundred and Twenty-seven Paper Cranes
He doesn't look at his sisters when he tells them. He's scared of their faces, scared of how they'll react – scared that they won't care. He isn't surprised when Mairu just blinks at him, but it is kind of shocking when Kururi wraps her arms around him. She doesn't say anything, and he's grateful for that.
That night the seven of them – his siblings, his parents, his father's parents, and himself – go to sushi. Izaya only orders miso soup, because he knows he'll vomit up anything else, but it does feel nice to spend time with his family. The laughs are forced and the smiles are strained, but they're trying, and he appreciates that.
Four Hundred and Seventy-six Paper Cranes
He's lost a lot of weight, and he's grateful that no one comments on it. Mikage comes over every day, and the two of them sit quietly, folding paper cranes. Every now and then, Shinra stops by as well, but his visits are becoming few and far between. One day, Kyōhei comes over, and, when Mikage's left the room to go to the bathroom, Izaya speaks.
"You should ask her out," he says, pretending his hands aren't moving half as quickly as they had been a few months before.
"That'd be a bit insensitive," Kadota notes. He doesn't seem surprised that Izaya is aware of his crush, probably because he's been around long enough to realize that something like that wouldn't escape Izaya's attention.
"Maybe, but if you don't ask her soon, you'll never get the chance." Izaya grins at his sort-of-friend. "It's pretty damn insensitive to ask a girl out when her ex just kicked it."
"I agree with Izaya," Mikage walks back into the room. "Better to ask me out now than during this idiot's funeral." Izaya laughs, and Kadota shifts awkwardly, because he knows he could never joke like that.
"Ah, yes." Izaya wipes his eyes, still grinning (and it's really amazing that he can still smile, even when his legs have already given up). "About my funeral. Can I ask what you guys are going to say? Don't feel obligated to say anything." Shinra enters, grinning.
"How about, 'We are gathered here today because somebody couldn't stay alive'," he offers. Izaya claps enthusiastically.
"Yay! Always a good sport, Shinra." He sticks his tongue out at Kadota. "You know, Dotachin, it's not good to frown so much." The words come out before Kadota can stop them.
"How can you talk like that?" he blurts. "How can you act like– like it doesn't matter?" Izaya looks at him thoughtfully.
"Well," he says after a minute. "I haven't accepted it yet. Don't write me off so soon, Dotachin, I'm not dying that easily." And there it is, the gleam in Izaya's eyes that simply refuses to vanish. Izaya's fists clench. "No matter what… I'm not going to disappear."
Seven Hundred and Nine Paper Cranes
Izaya doesn't fold the paper himself anymore. Over time, his hands have gotten shakier and shakier, his cranes going from perfect to flawed to crumpled balls of frustration thrown to the floor. His family is helping now, and so is Shizuo, hilariously enough, but every time Izaya wakes up, he has to check his pulse, just to be sure he's still there.
His room is covered in cranes – hanging from the ceiling, the windows, the door, and even his bed are decked out in colored birds. He hasn't cried at all since breaking up with Mikage, and he's proud of that, but one night he just can't seem to stop the tears from flooding out, because, no matter what he told Dotachin, he knows that he doesn't have much time.
He gathers his friends and his family and Shizuo, just because, and asks to go outside. Mikage helps him into a wheelchair (and isn't that embarrassing), and he teases her and Kadota as his mother quietly pushes her son on what they've all guessed is his last 'stroll' around the city.
"Should I throw something?" Shizuo asks suddenly. "You know, for old times' sake?" Izaya laughs, something he hasn't been doing very much of lately.
"Well, I never thought I'd see Shizu-chan using his monstrous strength to throw something at a cripple." He teases.
"I wasn't going to throw it at you!" Shizuo snaps, flushing. "Forget it."
"Thanks, Heiwajima." Mikage murmurs, smiling at him. It doesn't reach her eyes. He just nods, because he isn't a liar.
Eight Hundred and Thirty-three Paper Cranes
The next time he gets a visitor, it's just Shinra, and he's grateful. Shinra holds him, and he cries.
"Everyone's outside," the future doctor whispers. "I just thought… I just wanted to talk to you alone for a bit."
"I don't want to die, Shinra." Izaya sobs. "I'm not even seventeen, and I've never driven a car or had sex or learned Taiwanese and I barely know my sisters and I never really beat Shizu-chan and I never got back at Nakura for you and one day I'm just not going to wake up, and I'm not ready to die, Shinra!" he keeps talking, but he's so busy crying that Shinra can't make out most of what he's saying.
"I know," Shinra says simply. "I know. It isn't fair." After a while, he releases his dying best friend and stands up. "I'll go get the others," he says. Izaya grabs his sleeve and tugs him back down.
"Don't go." He rasps. "Please. I need… I need you here right now."
"Should I just call for them?" Shinra asks. Izaya shakes his head.
"I just want to be with you for a couple more minutes," he says. Shinra nods, and holds him until the shaking mostly subsides. "Okay." Shinra stands up again, and this time Izaya makes no move to stop him.
"I'll be back in a second," Shinra tells him. Izaya nods.
"See you soon." He says. Shinra walks down the stairs, and gestures to everyone waiting in the living room that Izaya is ready to see them. By the time the whole group makes it up the stairs, Izaya's breathing has already stopped.
AN: So… this was less Izaya/Mikage than I had intended, but I still feel like this is kind of what I wanted. Before anyone ask, I left Izaya's disease ambiguous on purpose, partially because I'm not a doctor and partially because that's not the point of the story. Feel free to toss around theories, though. I thought about a couple other ways to end this, but I decided to go with this. I realize that it's very unlikely for someone to just kick it like that, but that's what happened, so… well, hopefully the next thing I write won't be as depressing, though I don't know when I'll be able to post this, as Mikage still doesn't have a character tag. See ya!