I got this idea by reading Shirohimesstories's "Shingeki no Shizuo" and decided to write one of my own! While it is inspired by their work, it is not a copy of it and I honestly just thought that it was a cool idea!
Also, please note that the rating is subject to change whenever I feel like! This is your first and only warning on this.
"So, you didn't die, Captain Orihara."
He hadn't been back inside the walls for an hour before his precious humans tracked him down for something that they deemed important. His humans were getting less and less patient it seemed for his return. His ruby gaze looked over at the dark brown-haired woman next to him, her stoic gaze focused on him with a stack of papers in her hand. Smirking, Izaya Orihara put his hands into the pockets of his favorite black coat with fur lining causing the woman to roll her eyes. "My my, Namie. Did you miss me that much to come greet me as soon as possible?"
His smirk only widened when he was rewarded with another roll of her eyes, causing them both to start walking together, the action itself is routine. It wasn't long until her eyes caught the glint of sunlight from his rings, drawing her attention toward his fingers that soon inclined her to scan his lithe frame quickly before focusing her gaze back in front of her. She ignored the looks that the two got as they passed other people, her fingers caressing the stack of papers. "You shouldn't have taken off your gear once inside the walls, you know. You are aware that you are always needed somewhere once you get back." She watched the raven shrug in her peripheral vision as they walked, only feeding into her increasing irritation. "I also suggest you put your gear back on along with changing that jacket of yours. You're wanted at the training grounds."
"Now Namie, who would I be if I did that?" The question, they both knew, was rhetorical. Izaya didn't care for the formalities of his rank; honestly, he would prefer to observe his humans as discreetly as possible and it would be difficult to do that with his rank jacket on. Trainees or not, they would know he was important then and focus everything in attempts to impress him. What fun would that be? His musings were cut short when the stack of papers that Nami had been holding landed in his field of vision. He smirked at the woman once more, taking the papers and scanning them. "I see. Did Namie gather information on the recruits for me? How sweet!"
"That is my job, Izaya." The woman's gaze stayed stoic, her voice level as she spoke. This man was already getting on her nerves and they had hardly spoken. She glanced at Izaya once more, his smirk only widening which just aggravated her more. "Hopefully you won't let these get killed like you did the last." The dark look he sent her way didn't go unnoticed, but she didn't react in the slightest. In fact, she smirked slightly; it was nice to get under her boss's skin occasionally. "I suggest that you look over those files and head over toward the training grounds. Akabayashi-san wishes to speak with you."
"Oh, I wonder what he wants." Izaya sang, a knowing look in his eye. He knew what the man would want the moment he came back. It was always the same thing, the same questions, the same accusations. He never liked watching his humans die, eaten by the monsters outside that are dressed in human skin, but it was a nasty side-effect of his job. Granted, it did give the raven more of a reason to put down the monsters. He didn't appreciate his humans dying by their hands, even if his humans didn't always make the smartest decisions. "It looks like a total of one hundred volunteers." Izaya sighed, resisting the urge to throw the papers behind him in some form of dramatic fashion. Instead, he threw his arms in the hair dramatically as he spoke. "They're just in it for food and the idea they'll be a hero. Ah, humans are predictable!"
"I thought you loved the predictability of your humans."
"Oh, I do. I'm just hoping at least some of them will be worth the effort to train. I don't enjoy watching my humans run to their deaths like lambs for slaughter." Izaya sighed dramatically, scanning through the pages once more. He could already tell where most of these volunteers would end up even if they made it through basic training and became cadets. Most of them would stay as either a member of The Blue Squares or Yellow Scarves and focus on guarding the walls and enforcing the laws, the top 10 would become part of the Awakusu-kai, who protect Shiki-san, and whoever was either brave—or dumb, depending on who you were speaking to—enough would join and work under Izaya as a member of the scouts. "In your opinion, did any of these recruits seem interesting?"
"Not particularly. Though, there were some volunteers from your wall. Raijin was it?"
The raven hummed in acknowledgment but said nothing. Raijin was the outermost wall, the one closest to the outside world and the titans that inhabited it. About ten years ago, the wall was breached and thousands of his precious humans were slaughtered by titans. The Raira District was the first to be affected and Izaya could remember it as if was yesterday; the screams of his humans, the smell of blood heavy in the air, and the pang of fear that he had felt for the first time in his life as he witnessed everything firsthand—though if you asked him directly he would deny the fact he felt anything of the sort. The raven would also deny that said fear is what made him join and become one of the best Scouting Captain that anyone had seen, as well as an asset to anyone with the information that he can gather as if it's nothing. He was irreplaceable.
It took the raven a few silent moments to collect his thoughts before he spoke up once more. "I wonder how those will turn out. We were the ones who faced the titans first hand. We saw the destruction that they could do."
"Well, I suggest you make your way towards Akabayashi-san, then. He is waiting for you." The black-haired secretary paused in her steps momentarily, causing her boss to pause a few paces in front of her. She pushed some of her black hair out of her face before speaking. "I would suggest you actually go to see him this time. I don't enjoy dealing with the fallout of your reckless actions."
"Yes yes, Namie. I heard you. I'm going to see him." Izaya waved off his secretary's comments with just a motion of his hand as he eyed her uniform. She continued to wear that green, two-toned turtleneck that he never understood the constant need for her to wear year-round (though, he couldn't say much due to his obsession with his favorite fur-trimmed jacket that was almost never off the Scout Captain) and her red mini-skirt—which in his opinion, clashed with her entire 'I take no shit' image. Though, he could tell she tried to keep her professional image with her black tights and black heels. She wore a long-sleeved, white half-jacket that stopped at her mid-back that had the image of a cat's head in both black and yellow on the left breast and on the center of her back. It was the standard jacket for the ones investigating the Titans. The scientists, but in Namie's case, she was Izaya's secretary first. He smirked, enjoying the annoyed look at he received. "Who said my actions were reckless?"
The raven didn't stay to see his secretary scowl at him as he walked away, he could feel it burning his back as he walked. He couldn't fully disagree with Namie; avoiding Akabayashi wasn't the safest decision he's made, but he was known for playing with fire—and he really liked playing with fire. Giving a quick glance to his surroundings, his humans seemed to be too preoccupied to even register his existence. Izaya bit the inside of his cheek quietly, hiding his annoyance as he walked. He couldn't let his mind wonder just yet; Shiki might have someone following him just to make sure that he went to see Akabayashi this time—the man was becoming impatient with the raven's antics it seems.
Chuckling to himself, the raven casually skipped his way toward the training grounds humming an unknown tune. He had no issue ignoring the strange looks that he started to get as he skipped past small groups of his humans. Their glares were warranted, he supposed. It wasn't his fault his humans always died on his missions and he always came back alive, but his humans needed someone to blame and he was willing to be that person—or god in this case. Even with those glares and heated looks, Izaya's attitude wasn't deterred in any way; in fact, he was kind of excited to see Akabayashi.
A small smirk made its way back onto the captain's face as he walked, his mind traveling toward the new 'volunteers' that he could observe. According to Namie, none of them had seemed interesting, but at the same time, there were a few from his old district. He wondered if he would see some of his old acquaintances in the mixture of everyone, and honestly, he hoped that he wouldn't. The chances of actually finding at least one were high, and he secretly worried that they would be dumb enough to work under him. Maybe he should have told Namie to invest deeper into them to see what they wanted.
It wasn't long until the sounds of pain from his humans hit his ears, startling the raven ever so slightly. His mind flashed back to only a few days ago, the memory of his mission still so vivid. He could still hear the blood-curdling screams of his former squad and feel the blood of the Titans on his skin, making him feel itchy and disgusting—and in desperate need of a shower. Blinking the surprise out of his eyes, the Scout Captain grounded himself by focusing on the buildings surrounding him and the feel of his favorite switchblade in his pocket. His gaze soon landed on a nearby building that overlooked the training grounds. Smirking to himself, the raven climbed his way to the roof of the building, his eyes landing on Akabayashi.
Izaya hummed to himself, it seemed that the red-haired man hadn't noticed his presence on the rooftop—and why would he? It took no time for the raven to lay on his back and stare at the blue sky, his gaze focused on the few white clouds that littered the area. The air was calm and the rays of sunshine bathing his skin soothed him slightly, he instinctively relaxed slightly under the heat. The raven let a small sigh escape his lips as his eyes closed for a few seconds, relishing in the calm atmosphere around him. It was sickening how calm everything seemed from below when reality as they knew it was falling apart due to monsters.
The raven let his mind wander to those monsters just outside of the walls and the mission he had just returned from. It was supposed to be a simple mission, observe the Titans for a few days to gather relevant information, but his humans had decided that it was more important to kill the monsters against his orders. It happened faster than what the raven thought possible at that moment, his humans rode past him once they had noticed the monsters, blades out.
The first to die, an average man with dark brown hair—Izaya didn't bother to learn his name, he figured the man would die soon—had run toward the Titans, he didn't even get to use his maneuver gear. As soon as he was spotted, fear had taken over the man and he stood there, paralyzed as the monster just smiled at him. He remembered cursing inwardly as he had to make the quick decision to save the human or let him die; neither option sounded appealing. Using his maneuver gear, the raven flew up toward the trees, commanding his troops to retreat. He watched the titan grab the man slowly, lifting him up to his monstrous mouth before biting him in half. The blood of his old subordinate flew, covering the ground and the hands of the monster that held him.
None of his humans wanted to listen to reason, though. After the first one's death, his humans felt as though they had to avenge him. The raven cursed to himself, watching his humans run as if they could change the outcome of this situation. It was saddening to watch, some of these humans had the potential to stay alive. His eyes landed on a woman, her black hair ruffling in the wind as she rode up to the titan. The Scout Captain cursed to himself once more, taking the risk of using his maneuver gear to fly up and cut the nape of the monster, causing it to crash onto the forest floor.
Izaya could feel the blood of a titan hit his skin, his eyes focused on a clearing nearby and the screams of his humans. This really wasn't ideal; his humans were attracting attention. His gaze landed back onto his subordinates, a small smirk playing on his lips. "We should retreat unless you wish to die."
"There was only one titan, we should be fine!" One of his scouts had yelled, eager despite the recent death.
"Not if you don't keep your mouth shut."
"We should just kill them!"
Izaya never got a chance to order his team to retreat as the thundering of footsteps ran through the forest, the Earth thundering with each step. This wasn't good. The Scout Captain fixed his eyes on the oncoming titan, his mask nearly faltering in the process. There wasn't just one titan; he could feel the presence of multiple, but the question was: how many? "Now, see what you did?" The raven couldn't keep the teasing out of his voice, relishing in the fear that his humans felt at that exact moment before he narrowed his eyes. "Now, retreat if you wish to live."
His humans screamed, charging toward the Titans once more which only aggravated the raven. "What is the point of me leading if none of my humans listen to me?" His question left unanswered, knowing it was rhetorical, to begin with. He followed his humans, doing his best to lessen the already increasing number of dead bodies. He used his gear to fly toward a tree, landing on a branch gracefully in order to count the oncoming threat.
Six. There were six monsters wearing human skin running toward them, and the raven couldn't tell if any of them were abnormals. Huffing, Izaya used his gear to maneuver with his team, doing his best to keep his humans from killing themselves. As quickly as he could, Izaya took out his blades in preparation for the fight that was coming with a smirk on his face. He waited only a few seconds before he attacked, his agility making it easy. He could feel the blood of the Titans on in skin as it slowly evaporated into nothing, making him feel gross. He'd have to remember to shower once he got back.
Izaya felt his eyes widen slightly as he watched more of his humans die. He watched a titan grab the wires that connected the grapple-hooks to the gear and pull down, the person's body crashing to the ground with a sickening crack. The titan picked up the body, smiling as it did and opened its mouth. Izaya could see the body lay limp in the monster's hands, indicating that the person was already dead before they were going to be ingested by the creature.
Everything else after that moment was a blur to the raven. He wasn't sure in what order his squad had died, but he did remember the smell of blood that raided the air and how heavy his body felt as he stood on the nape of a titan. Izaya looked at the six monster bodies that littered the ground around him as he glared. This wasn't how this mission was supposed to go. He loved his humans—he really did—but the fact that they all seemed to lack self-preservation skills and slowly started to irritate him.
Holding in a sigh, Izaya sat up and scanned the cliques that the volunteers seemed to have formed. He hummed quietly, eyes scanning faces that he didn't recognize, nor did he bother to learn. It's not like most of them would be in the scouts anyway, and the ones that were would probably end up dead by the month's end. The raven twisted the rings that donned his fingers once more before his eyes landed on a dreadlocked man, who was currently watching some of the other volunteers test out the maneuver gear; and failing.
Izaya's blood red eyes focused on the tall man with dark brown dreadlocks who, to the raven, looked vaguely familiar in some sort of way. The raven quickly scanned his papers once more, looking for the one that carried this man's information. His confusion was soon replaced with a knowing look as he stared at the information printed in front of him. Tom Tanaka. Age: 27. Birthday: May 5. Height: 172cm. Weight: 64kg. Blood Type: B. Wall: Raijin. Izaya closed his eyes briefly, humming to himself as he let it sink in. The Scout Captain wasn't surprised to find someone from his wall, hell it wasn't the first person he's seen from his wall join the fight, but it still worried him slightly.
"Tom-san, do you think we'll be able to do this?" A female voice broke the raven of his thoughts as his eyes significantly widened. This couldn't be. If she was here that meant that the others would be here as well, and he wasn't sure how that set with him.
"I don't see why we wouldn't be able to. It doesn't look too hard."
Izaya let his eyes land on the female, surprise almost evident on his features. He didn't even need his files to figure out who she was, he knew everything just by looking at her ever so familiar face. Erika Karisawa. Age: 22. Birthday: November 3. Height: 160cm. Weight: 55kg. Blood Type: B. Wall: Raijin. Erika hadn't changed since the last time that he had seen her, her hair still in her typical style—pulled back into a braid along the back of her head. The brunette was still wearing her standard black newsboy cap and a long-sleeved, black cheongsam with black ankle boots.
"Don't underestimate things." A blonde man stated, only causing Izaya to bite the inside of his cheek. "I'm pretty sure this isn't going to be like they are in manga."
"I didn't assume it would be." Erika half-heartedly snapped at the blonde, which only caused the two of them to grin at each other.
Blood red eyes landed on the blonde Erika was currently talking to, a small smirk on his lips. Even if he didn't want all his acquaintances there, that didn't make this any less interesting. Besides, they weren't guaranteed to even make it past the training phase. Walker Yumasaki. Age: 22. Birthday: January 23. Height: 174cm. Weight: 55kg. Blood Type: A. Wall: Raijin. It seemed that he hadn't changed much, either. Walker still wore his light blue sweatshirt and black pants that he did back in middle school, he even still carried that backpack full of manga. The raven also noticed the typical kitsune no me (fox eyes)expression that he had always appreciated.
"Do you two ever focus on things other than anime and manga?" A brown-haired man asked, sighing slightly at the two. He brushed some of his bangs out of his face as he looked over to the three other people of their small group, an attempt to ignore the two friends.
The raven didn't even need to think about who this man was. Saburo Togusa. Age: 25. Birthday: July 30. Height: 166cm. Weight: 56kg. Blood Type: A. Wall: Raijin. If anything, he was sure that Saburo grew over the last ten years, but that wasn't much of a surprise. He had always been the calm, laid back type of person of the group; hell, he wasn't sure if he had ever lost his temper. Izaya watched Saburo talk to two other humans that he didn't know, a dark brown-haired male and a blonde male. Who were these two and what was their relationship with Dotachin's gang?
Izaya noted the brunet male hadn't spoken to anyone, let alone show any sign of emotion on his face. He looked interesting, why could that be? His eyes scanned the stack of papers once more, his fingers tracing the corners of the paper as he read on. Kasuka Heiwajima. Age: 21. Birthday: February 22. Height: 177cm. Weight: 62kg. Blood Type: O. Wall: Raijin. Ah, so he was there as well? The raven hummed to himself, not surprised. Maybe seeing the Titans was what caused the lack of emotion on the man's face, but Izaya found that unlikely. He figured it had more to do with the extremely animated blonde next to him who had been smoking a cigarette.
"Do those two ever shut up?" The blonde had asked, irritation clear on his face. He glanced over at Kasuka with a sigh. "Yes, I know. Keep my temper in check. I got it."
Izaya hummed to himself as if he was responding. He turned to the next page, he had already concluded they might be related, but the scanning of his name just confirmed it. Shizuo Heiwajima. Age: 24. Birthday January 28. Height: 185cm. Weight: 70kg. Blood Type: O. Wall: Raijin. The man had blonde hair, which Izaya wasn't sure if it was dyed or not, and blue sunglasses. He also wore a bartender suit, which only confused the raven as to why. Maybe he was a bartender before he decided to join the fight (granted, one could not join as a cadet until at least the age of 20—Izaya being an exception. Something about this name seemed familiar, but Izaya couldn't place it for the life of him. Instead, he turned his focus to the last of the group, one of his favorite humans.
The last of the group wore a black beanie with a teal jacket, jeans, and black shoes. His hair was dark brown under the beanie, and his brown eyes looked over at Shizuo. A small sigh escaped the man's lips as he shook his head knowingly. Kyouhei Kadota. Age: 23. Birthday: September 15. Height: 183cm. Weight: 74kg. Blood Type: B. Wall: Raijin. Dotachin, being as peaceful as ever it seemed. The raven watched Dotachin shake his head at his friends with a sigh escaping his lips. Izaya felt for the man, he knew that those two wouldn't stop their conversation about the latest manga even if the world was ending—and to some people it was.
Izaya scanned the grounds once more in an attempt to look for Akabayashi, a smirk playing on his lips once he spotted the man sitting down on a nearby bench. The raven stretched his arms, tossing the papers aside in a dramatic fashion. Placing both hands inside of his pockets, Izaya jumped from the roof and landed on his feet gracefully before walking his way toward the man. "Ah, Akabayashi! I was told by my dear secretary that you wished to speak with me."
"Orihara," Akabayashi stated, his eyes scanning the raven as he spoke. "I see you made it back in one piece. I'm glad."
Izaya smirked at the man in front of him, eyes scanning the volunteers as he spoke. "Please, you do not have to pretend."
The man chuckled as he finally faced the Scout Captain, a knowing smile on his face. "I am not pretending, Orihara. While I am suspicious of you, I am quite glad that you did come back seemingly unscathed. I am not looking forward to the day where you do not return." Akabayashi fiddled with his cane as his smile never faded, making the raven chuckle.
"I see. I do not believe that time will be soon, but I am honored that you are concerned about my wellbeing."
"How could I not? I'm sure that Shiki-san would be quite disappointed to find his favorite captain had been slain."
The raven chuckled once more, the idea amusing. "I wouldn't go as far to say that I am Shiki-san's favorite captain, but I will say that he finds me quite useful." Izaya let his eyes roam his surroundings once more, locking eyes for Erika for just a split second before he looked back over toward the scarred man next to him. Ah, it seems he had been spotted a bit sooner than what he would have originally liked, but what else did he expect? Maybe the woman would keep quiet until tomorrow, or at least until he left. "I do believe that he will wish to speak with me soon. I have some information that had asked me for."
"It stinks." An unknown voice came from Erika's direction. Izaya didn't bother turning to face the source, his focus was on Akabayashi. He would be sure to come back tomorrow with Shinra, who he was sure would love to talk to their old acquaintances from Raijin.
"Is that Iza-Iza?!" The woman's voice rang out, louder than it probably should have been. The raven held in a sigh, keeping his smirking mask toward Akabayashi would just give him a quizzical look in return.
"Wait, are you serious?" He could hear Kadota ask as he tried to ignore the number of eyes that were now focused on him. As subtly as he could, the raven maneuvered his body to where his back was facing the group in an attempt to prolong Dotachin seeing him. He wasn't in the mood to deal with the questions that would ensue if he was found.
"Yes! Dotachin it's him, I'm sure of it!"
"What kind of nickname is Iza-Iza?" Shizuo asked, only earning an annoyed groan from Kadota.
"Iza-Iza, don't ignore me!" Erika almost screamed, instantly earning a reprimand from Kadota to keep her voice down and if the person doesn't answer it clearly wasn't Izaya.
"I see you are quite popular with that group," Akabayashi stated only causing the raven to chuckle once more.
"Yes, they are acquaintances of mine from Wall: Raijin. I haven't seen them since the wall was breached, but I plan on catching up with them some other time." Earning a hum of acknowledgment, the raven smirked down at Akabayashi once more. "I believe I shall leave you to your training." Izaya backed away from the man slightly. "I would find it quite amusing if you work that group," Izaya tilted his head toward Kadota and Erika swiftly, making sure the man knew who he was talking about. "twice as hard. Think of it as a 'welcome' gift from yours truly."
Akabayashi chuckled to himself as he shook his head. "You're a piece of work, Orihara." The scarred man stood, using his cane as support in the process before taking a step forward to leave. "I will be sure work them twice as hard for you." With that, the man walked toward the groups of volunteers, his demeanor changing drastically in the process to a friendlier one.
"Yes, I know," Izaya replied more to himself than to the man walking away as he chuckled. He tilted his head back once more to Kadota's group, seeing Erika's eyes on him once more. He gave her a smirk and a small wave of greeting before he walked away, earning an annoying sound from the woman.
"Iza-Iza I know that's you! Get back here and come greet us properly!"
Ah, once he told Shinra who he found things would sure get interesting~!
Thank you for reading this! I honestly had a lot of fun typing this up and I hope it's received well! I have no idea where I am going with this idea-since I don't know much about the Shingeki no Kyojin universe. Any ideas or thoughts that you have would be appreciated if you like it enough to actually see it go on lol
And please be aware that any updates to this story could take a while due to the fact that I don't know what I'm doing, and just this one chapter took me almost a week to type because I just wasn't happy with how things were worded at first.