M.P-chan: It's been awhile since I last updated hasn't it? I've been working on Nocturne and some of my APH fanfic, but without betas they haven't been coming along. So to take it easy, I decided to work on some plot bunnies that have been running around for awhile.
Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara! or Okane ga Nai. They belong to their respective owners.
The Demon of Shinjuku
"I've already bought Ayase."
"That's invalid."
"What . . .?"
"Our auction is open to members only. We don't intend to sell to a man who entered by deceiving his identity. If you understand, take the offer and leave."
"Don't misunderstand. I participated as a substitute for a member. You can check with him if you like."
- Kanou and Hayashida, Okane ga Nai – Volume 1, Chapter 3
It was in the late hours of the night that Kanou first met him. It was as if he had appeared out of the shadows themselves. He was dressed all in black, except the white fir trim of his jacket; his hair glistening like ravens' feathers. But his eyes were a bright red that seemed to pierce through men's very souls, looking into the depths of their hearts and manipulating their greatest desires. In the years since Kanou's father's death, this man had grown to have a great influence on their world of corruption and greed.
Kanou knew that man's name was Izaya Orihara, but he was always referred to as The Informant in business circles. The Informant was exactly what his name implied. He was an information broker that sold the right tidbits to the right people for the right price. It seemed simple enough, but with his extensive and mysterious information system and good business sense, he'd become a very dangerous but necessary but of the dark side of Shinjuku.
He'd been a headache for the older ones when he'd first traded his native Ikebukuro for Shinjuku, but most people were afraid that if they tried to attack or silence him and it failed because he saw it coming and was so well-protected, that he'd send the Courier after them in revenge. No one knew his courier, other than it was the mysterious Black Rider, a reckless motorcyclist that was a rumored urban legend in Tokyo.
But what was this man doing here?
"Somuku Kanou, pleased to make your acquaintance at last. I trust you know who I am?" asked the Informant, eyes glowing in the streetlamp's mild light.
Kanou nodded. "The Informant. Not many in Shinjuku that don't know who you are." He thought on this. "Not any who matter anyway. What business do you have with me?"
Kanou had no idea what Orihara wanted with him. It was true that his father had once owned an powerful company and was one of the most important men in Shinjuku, but after his death Kanou had been forced to file for bankruptcy and lost the company after several disastrous business decisions due to youthful mistakes. Now he was a homeless man, though after a chance meeting a few weeks previously, he had begun to look at life in a bit more positive way. There was nothing that the Informant could gain from associating with him.
"I came to ask if you would be interested in a business proposal of mine."
Kanou stiffened. There was nothing good to come from business with this man. The immediate benefits were great, but everyone was eventually left a broken mess after the Informant had gotten bored with them. "A proposal to a homeless man with nothing to offer in return? You're getting soft, Orihara."
He seemed not to notice the lack of honorific. "Not soft, smart. A young man with plenty of talent and ruthless business sense doesn't have nothing. If losing a billion dollar company and sinking hundreds of millions in debt bothers you, it's just a little slump. You'll be sure to recover, won't you? That is, if you haven't started already. Rumor has it you're thinking of start your own company from scratch but lack the funds. I'm willing to invest . . . for a price of course."
"Thanks, but no thanks. Everyone knows dealing with you is bad idea," answered Kanou curtly, as he turned and walked away. But he admitted to being tempted. He was desperate to start his project as soon as possible.
As for Orihara knowing about it . . . well, he seemed to naturally know everything as soon as it happened. But now all he wanted to do was sleep. He had a long day of stalking guarding his love tomorrow.
The Informant crossed his arms behind his head and started walking behind Kanou. "Are you sure? Didn't you want to become a powerful man again for the sake of the little bird? He has many more admirers than you. Some of them not as noble or harmless as you."
Kanou, realizing what the man was talking about, spun around to face him, venom emanating from his glare.
Izaya stopped and took a graciously step beck. "Don't worry, I have no interest in Ayase-kun one way or another. But the fact of the matter is that you do. So why don't we work together?"
Kanou's glare softened a small degree. "What do you have in mind?"
"I'll give you all the money and supplies you need. But I want thirty percent of the profit for the first 5 years and twenty percent for following 10. I'll give you discounts on my services as a bonus."
Kanou, for one of the very few times in his life, hesitated. He wanted to become powerful. For his own sake, as well as the boy he had met on that fateful day. He wanted to repay Ayase, to one day save Ayase the way he had saved Kanou. And he wanted to protect him from those worms Orihara had mentioned. And Orihara could give him the resources to do that.
But the confident look in the Informant's eyes seemed to hide something more sinister. And when Kanou finally agreed and shook his hand, he felt something inside him break. There was an overwhelming feeling of no return, but he ignored it in favor of the knowledge that he was about to get everything he'd need.
Three years later, Kanou received a phone call from Orihara. "It seems your little bird is in a bit of a bind. He's up of auction at that gambling ring down the street. If you're willing to pay, I'll give you my ticket."
Kanou did not hesitate. "How much?"
"500,000 yen."
"500,000 yen, including the cost of the information?"
"No, that's been added to you tab. Will you take the offer?"
"Yes. Where will we do the exchange?"
"Downtown. My courier will meet you there."
Kanou hung up. He stashed 500,000 yen in his breast pocket and ordered the twins to prepare 1.2 billion in cash. The time had finally come. Because this time, he would save Ayase.
Several weeks later
Kanou had decided to take Ayase out on a walk. The boy was become more and more withdrawn with every passing day, and while Kanou would have liked nothing more than have him locked away with his house, hr knew that Ayase needed more freedom than that.
It was while they were walking that a man of 26 dressed all in black except the white fir trim of his coat, passed them by, waving a hello at the couple as he went.
Kanou ignored the gesture, but Ayase kept his eyes on the man. "Who was that Kanou-san? Someone you know?"
Just as on that day he had made the deal with Orihara, Kanou hesitated. "If you see that man again, run. He can give you what you want more than anything but," Kanou remembered Ayase's expressions of intense fear, pain, and disgust that he had been witness to over the last few weeks, and the way Ayase still flinched from his touch, "but at a price that is almost too much to bear."
Ayase, confused, merely nodded, but that night, when he was tossing in his sleep, he would dream of red eyes with a piercing gaze.
M.P-chan: This fanfic is basically what happened when I realized that both Izaya Orihara and Somuku Kanou live in Shinjuku. This takes place after Kanou meets Ayase for the very first time, but before he becomes the businessman that everyone knows him as. Since his father had also been a man of wealth (or so we assume) I wrote in him losing his father's company, which leads to his meeting with Ayase.
I have always seen Izaya as a corrupting influence on everyone he meets (except Shizuo) and letting him be the one who gives Kanou the power to let loose his darker side without restraint seemed something I could see him doing. Especially since that darkness prevents him from ever truly finding happiness with Ayase (at least as of volume 8).