I am up to my usual no good, here. I just... like de-aged fics from time to time, y'know? So - yes. I'll update, and I guarantee that this story will be completed. (Actually, all I really need to do is type it up and revise it. The thing's mostly written already.) I don't own the original work. Thank you for choosing my story!


Dullahan are mysterious creatures. Rarely encountered by the living, they are regarded as harbingers of death. Their legends are founded on vague rumor and the superstition of old. Who knows how much of that can be taken seriously?

For example, it's been said that there are only female dullahan. But that brings quite a dilemma to mind, does it not? If there exists only one gender within a species, how can that species reproduce? Perhaps the dullahan utilize some sort of asexual reproduction – almost like a certain type of toad!

But there is one more distinct possibility, and that is that these beings are impervious to death. They exist completely beyond the flow of mortality. Outside observers who are allegedly able to interfere with that stream – does it not also stand to reason that if they can bring death to humans, they must also be able to prolong life?

There must be unreported incidents here and there in which a dullahan toyed with a human's lifespan. Younger, older, beginning and end. It's an interesting concept.

Don't you think so?

(~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~)

"Come on, Shizu-chan! You're so slow today!" Izaya was the one running, but taunts like these were what drew Shizuo after him – like a leash, perhaps – so that he had far more control over the situation than did his pursuer. He hadn't tired, either, and his smile didn't fade by even a fraction as his agile feet lifted him from one vertical surface to the next.

And an enraged Shizuo followed him at a feverish pace despite knowing that he was probably playing right into a bored flea's hands, called the other's name so that it carried across the city and down to the streets below, and didn't bother to consider giving up – sure, that would have been the best way to get back at the bastard, but he didn't have the self-restraint to hold himself back.

Uninvolved citizens traversing the same path as the two – though several stories lower – paused in the midst of evening errands to marvel at the energy of Ikebukuro's infamous pair. The city was ever ablaze with lights and sound, but their clashes always managed to make themselves heard despite that.

Those long-winded chases weren't the only action that the city saw on nights like this. The popular young actor Hanejima Yuuhei had just finished his work – a new romantic comedy to air starting the following week – for the day. Tanaka Tom was preparing to meet his kohai for work. Customers, beckoned by an oddly outgoing Russian man, were trickling into the eccentric Russian Sushi, and Kyohei Kadota was returning to the van he shared with three companions as the cat-and-mouse pair passed overhead.

"What, back alleys weren't enough for you guys tonight?" the bandana-clad man muttered under his breath as a disturbingly excited Karisawa Erika launched into another of her fujoshi rants.

Celty Sturluson, too, had her hands full – in her case, it was with a group of yakuza or some such that were quite intent on interfering with tonight's job. And, as fate would have it that night, Shizuo and Izaya – for the most part unaware of the others' activities – had carried their fight to the dullahan's exact location just as she was forced to condense her shadows into the familiar form of a large scythe.

Izaya saw it materialize and, with a triumphant grin on his face, paused just long enough mid-stride to place his pursuer in the path of the dullahan's swing as soon as he leaped clear of it.

The unsuspecting blonde was hit hard in the left side and sent sprawling. The men that Celty had intended to threaten from the get-go realized the situation quite clearly, then, and they did not hesitate to make a quick getaway to escape the fallout. Alarmed and caught very much off guard, Celty let her blade disintegrate after a drawn-out moment of confusion. She reached her friend's side at the same time as Izaya.

Are you alright?! I'm sorry I didn't see you in time!

"Man… that hurt," Shizuo grumbled as he pushed himself into a sitting position. He noticed Celty's PDA and nodded unconcernedly after reading the message. "Don't worry about it." When he tried to stand up, however, he swayed unsteadily and immediately fell backward again.

Izaya laughed. "How about that? Totally shaken up by just that one little impact, Shizu-chan?"

Shizuo glared back at the informant with a dangerous look shining in his eyes. "The fuck are you still hanging around for, flea? Didn't I tell you to get out of Ikebukuro?!"

"I can't do that and miss the chance to see Shizu-chan falling all over himself, can I?" Izaya retorted, and Celty decided that she would have to step in before the argument escalated any further.

With one hand on Shizuo's shoulder and the other pushing back against Izaya's chest, she came between them and then quickly wrote, Do you feel at all strange right now? The message was obviously intended for Shizuo alone, but Izaya managed to catch a glimpse of it despite the dullahan's best efforts to hide it from him.

The blonde nodded, looking pensive. "Yeah, now that you mention it, I guess – just a little dizzy, though. Why? Is – "

"Is something fun going to happen to Shizu-chan?" Izaya cut in with a look of intense excitement about him.

Celty turned the visor of her helmet on Izaya, apparently so that she could scrutinize him for a moment. Distrust was plain in the way she hesitated. You should get going, she typed at length, and Izaya smirked. She might as well have just answered yes, and of course that meant that the informant wouldn't be going anywhere just yet.

"Do you really have time to worry about me, carrier?" he said by way of distraction, and the dullahan visibly hesitated once again before shaking her yellow helmet back and forth in brief gesture of disgust and turning back to Shizuo.

Her next message was more carefully guarded, so Izaya wasn't able to read it. He watched as Shizuo's eyes widened in response to whatever Celty had to say, though, and he yearned to satisfy his curiosity. The blonde's full attention was on her, now, and his chocolate gaze was one of incredulity. She nodded as if to assure him that what he had been told was true.

"Hah… No way…" The blonde climbed slowly to his feet and glanced down at Izaya. If the informant hadn't known better, he might have labeled this new expression 'concern' – 'fear,' even. "Flea," the blonde snapped, and Izaya cocked his head to one side playfully.

"What might the problem be, Shizu-chan?"

"Get out of here."

That was it. No added threat or insult – just a simple order, and it came off as more of a request. Shizuo obviously wasn't in a position to force Izaya into anything, after all; his breath was coming noticeably faster, and a cold sweat had sprung up along his brow.

Well, no problem, then. Izaya stood, too, and Celty looked indignantly on as the informant smiled and said, "I might consider it, Shizu-chan, but I'll need a little more than that from you first."

Shizuo's face flushed slightly and he shook his head. "Fuck you, louse. This is your fault, anyway – just get lost."

"Why so cold all of a sudden?"

Can't you two just let it go this time? Celty demanded – too late, though, because it was at that precise moment that Shizuo gasped and found himself knees-on-the-pavement below the other two.

"Damn," he hissed softly, and Izaya blinked confusedly. Celty shoved him to the side when he moved as if to check on the blonde, though, and her message to the informant was very to-the-point.

Get back.

No sooner had Izaya complied, putting a few feet's distance between himself and the other two, than a silky cocoon of shadow materialized around the blonde, obscuring him from view. "What – Are you doing this?" Izaya asked, surprised, and Celty again shook her 'head.'

'Damn. Just how badly was he hit?' the dullahan wondered to herself as she waited desperately for the black substance to disappear. Her knowledge of this was just too incomplete; she couldn't stop it, and she wasn't entirely certain of how much damage could be done with just one blow. She was so focused on the time that she barely noticed Izaya move back to her side to get a better look at the strange cloud.

"Oh~! This is really interesting, after all!" Izaya declared cheerfully as he extended a hand out to touch it.

Celty was about to warn him not to when, to her intense relief, the shadows cleared as suddenly as they had convened.

A small figure was left huddled in their wake, and a sudden breeze ruffled the blonde hair of this figure as he straightened up and looked around at the two people who sat stunned before him. He – Shizuo, Izaya realized disbelievingly – noticed the informant's hand extended toward him and narrowed his chocolate brown eyes angrily.

No one said anything. Shizuo looked down at his hands, away from Izaya. His clothes were hanging off of him in great waves of fabric, and he had to struggle to free the small digits from the sleeves of his dress shirt. He carefully avoided looking back up at the other two – although his cheeks were flushed a deep red as if to acknowledge their presence – as he dug around in the right side of his pants for something.

He finally produced an orange cell phone from one of the pockets. Powering it off, he gazed into the clear black surface for a moment before clearing his throat – an oddly high-pitched sound coming from him – and flipped it shut with a soft click.

"Um," he mumbled, sighing softly at the sound of his own voice. "So, how long is this supposed to last?"

Izaya wrapped his arms around himself as his entire body shook with laughter that helped shatter the previous silence. "Oh, wow," he gasped at length. "Shizu-chan, that's a great look for you!"

"Shut up," Shizuo snapped immediately.

Celty offered her PDA to the still-angry blonde after taking a moment to finish her earlier explanation. Shizuo accepted it with both hands and, this time, he took the liberty of reading it aloud. "Like I said, it's old magic. I don't remember many details, but I think I can at least guarantee that it won't last more than a week… or so…" Shizuo raised his eyes pleadingly to the dullahan. "Doesn't it work both ways?"

The dullahan took the PDA back and wrote, I'm sorry. I don't think so, and trying something like that out on you now would be way too risky.

Shizuo breathed another sigh. "Alright, then. A week's not… terrible, anyway." He paused, and then seemed to realize something. "Or… you could try it on this flea, right?" He nodded in Izaya's direction, and the dullahan seemed to seriously consider the suggestion.

"Hang on, hang on," Izaya interrupted quickly, "how about showing a little respect for my human rights?"

"Fleas don't need human rights," Shizuo muttered, but the effectiveness of his belligerent attitude was halved by the sound of his own voice – higher in pitch, just a little too cute to be considered threatening.

Izaya grinned and moved a little closer to his enemy. "That won't do, you know~! You have to respect your elders, and besides" – he let his hand fall on Shizuo's head so that he could ruffle the other's hair – "you look like more of a flea than I do, right?"

Shizuo blushed and tried to swat the informant's hand away, but his arms got tangled up in his clothes and he managed only to embarrass himself further. Izaya grinned. "Shizu-chan, you should come and stay with me for the next week," he offered, and the blonde looked at him incredulously.

"Why the fuck should I?!"

"It can be my contribution – instead of letting that monster cut me." Izaya nodded at Celty, who conveyed her indignation at the insult with her body language alone.

She calmed down quickly, though, and decided to add her own opinion to the conversation. He does have a point, even if he can't seem to make it any more pleasantly than that.

Shizuo looked confused, so Celty added, Would you rather stay with Shinra and I? It's probably better if you don't spend the rest of the week alone, after all.

"Oh," Shizuo said, shivering a little as another gust of wind swept the top of the building on which the group was huddled. It was a frigid night in the middle of winter, and a heavy snow was starting to fall – big, light flakes hitting the ground with little taps that somehow reminded Shizuo of a cat's paws. "No thanks," he decided after a moment, and there was a little tremor starting in his voice. "I'll be fine, really, but… well, I guess I could use a ride back to my place."

Of course. But Celty clearly wasn't terribly confident in her friend's decision.

"Shouldn't you be more concerned about something else at the moment?" Izaya asked, then, indicating the mess of clothes that surrounded Shizuo. "Shizu-chan won't make it very far without clothes and a coat that fit him, right?"

"You're the one who brought the other thing up, flea," Shizuo muttered, his voice shaking even more now that he had realized just how cold he actually was.

"Obviously," Izaya said impatiently. "You can't live alone for a week if you're not even tall enough to open a door without help. What will you do for food?"

"None of your business," Shizuo huffed.

Izaya frowned, too, and turned to leave. "Whatever, then." He took a few steps toward the edge of the rooftop and called back to Celty, "Ne, do me a favor and keep Shizu-chan here warm until I get back."

"Oi, where do you think you're going?!"

Thought you wanted me to leave, Shizu-chan? "I'm going to buy some clothes for the little Shizu-chan! I'll be back in an hour, so don't go anywhere. Also, try to avoid freezing to death~!" Izaya ignored Shizuo's attempts to call him back, then, and made his way easily down to the sidewalk and toward a more crowded portion of Ikebukuro.