Yes, this topic has been done a million times before, sorry. I just wanted to do my own. Anyway, I've had this sitting around with the first chapter half written for months and finally decided to start writing it again since I'm sort of stuck with my other fics. Second chapter is almost finished too.

Also, this was technically the first fanfiction I ever wrote, just never posted it till now, so sorry if the concept is overdone, lame, etc. Let me know if you like though.

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"You want to talk about whatever has you so distracted lately?" Tom asked his bodyguard Shizuo as they were leaving the last job for the day.

"It's nothing." The blond replied, kicking a rock down the mostly empty street. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it before offering one to his boss.

Declining, Tom continued to push the matter. "It's not 'nothing'. Does it have to do with that informant?" He guessed since he hadn't seen the two fighting recently. Apparently, he guessed right.

Shizuo nodded taking a long inhale. "I haven't seen the stupid flea in months. It's not like him."

"Maybe he got tired of fighting with you or something. You always tell him not to show up here. Maybe he is listening."

Shizuo stopped mid step and stared at Tom with furrowed brows and narrows eyes. "Are we talking about the same flea here?!"

"It's just a thought." Tom shrugged. "Anyway, I'm heading home. I'll see you tomorrow at 2."

"Yeah. Okay. See ya." Shizuo waved as he watched Tom walk out into the more crowded streets. Looking at his watch and seeing it was only four P.M., Shizuo grunted and started making his way towards Simon's for an early dinner while trying to shake the uneasy feeling he had.


Shit. Izaya had finished up his business with his client as quickly as possible. He felt like crap. He was pretty sure he had held himself together fairly well during the meeting. The only times he removed his hands from his pockets was to hand over the folder of information he had kept tucked in his jacket, and to shake hands before and after the meeting, so his shaking probably wasn't noticed. Probably. The meeting was in the back of a car too, so he hadn't felt dizzy until after he stepped out. And, he had somehow managed to carry on a typical business conversation without yawning. However, now he was on the sidewalk in Ikebukuro where the client had dropped him off. The last thing he needed was for Shizuo to spot him.

"IIIIZZZZAAAAAYYYYYAAAA!"

Shit! Why today… Izaya cursed as he looked up to see his enemy coming towards him. I can't let him see me weak…I'll have to just play along and lose him in the alleyways, Izaya thought. With a deep breath, he gathered his thoughts and turned to Shizuo with a cocky ass smile painted on his face (trying not to sway from the lightheadedness caused by turning to quickly).

"Hello Shizuo-chan! Lovely day out here isn't it!" He taunted in an overly cheerful voice.

"I thought I told you to stay the hell out of Ikebukuro, FLEA!" Shizuo pulled a stop sign from the corner and continued to close the distance between the two. Passerby's cleared the way as the two men's reputations preceded them.

It felt like his lungs were on fire as he ran, but he couldn't stop. Not yet. "Too slow, Shizu-chan!" He taunted again. It was a half-hearted taunt just to keep up appearances, but Shizuo was too fired up to notice.

The blond was closing in too quick for Izaya's preferences but he couldn't will his legs to move any faster and everything was spinning and blurring in his vision. He needed to lose Shizuo and quick. Spotting the entrance to an alley way, he slipped in and nearly stumbled over the trash situated at the corner but jumped over it last second. He landed on his ankle at a slightly wrong angle and felt a bit of pain surge up his leg but he ignored it. Unfortunately, turning into the alley didn't shake Shizuo off his tail and he had to keep running. He was getting more and more desperate, his eyes darting all around for some sort of escape opportunity knowing that if he didn't get away soon, he was going to faint.

If only he hadn't accepted a meeting outside of his office. If only he had protested and made them drop him off in Shinjuku. If only he hadn't been so prideful and refrained from taunting the monster that was hell bent on killing him.

But no, none of those things were the real problem here and he knew it. However, he would rather blame his current undesirable predicament on those things. The true problem wasn't something he could easily admit to himself and he wasn't going to try, because only a small part of his mind even acknowledged the problem existed. The rest of him was convinced he was still fine.

Well, as fine as anyone could be with the strongest man in Ikebukuro chasing after him with deadly intent. After several more twists and turns, Izaya found himself in one of the last places he wanted to be…a dead end. How he ended up there, he wasn't sure. He knew the alley ways like the back of his hand, but then again, everything was so blurry and he felt so disoriented that it actually wasn't all the surprising. He must have made a wrong turn somewhere, but that didn't matter now. Pulling out his switchblade, he turned to face Shizuo who appeared only seconds later.

"Well Flea, looks like I caught you!" Shizuo growled, raising the sign still in his hands preparing to swing. Letting a grin form on his face, he brought the sign down and nearly slammed it into Izaya, only missing by a centimeter or two.

Izaya stumbled back almost collapsing onto his butt but managed to stay on his feet. He opened his mouth to say some smart-alecky retort but a sudden pain cut him off. He clutched his chest where the throbbing feeling was coming from and gasped.

Shizuo raised his eye brows and frowned. "Oi! Don't think you can fool me!" He shouted angrily at his opponent taking several steps forward. "Backed into a corner so you try to trick me huh?"

In too much pain to give a verbal reply, Izaya shook his head. Fear etched itself into the features of his face and filled his eyes as a few unwanted tears slipped from them. He couldn't breathe, and it wasn't like that kind of difficulty breathing one has after running too hard or too long, no, he seriously couldn't breathe and the pain radiating from his chest was too much to bear. Setting his pride aside, or rather, not being in any shape to worry about such things, he gave a pleading look to his enemy to help him.

But Shizuo still thought he was faking. Even as Izaya looked up at him with such fear and pain, Shizuo wasn't convinced it was real. Izaya was a good actor when he wanted to be and surely he would never show true weakness in front of an opponent. Shizuo was sure of that much….at least until Izaya's knees buckled and his body collapsed onto the ground. There was a quiet whimper, then nothing.