Out in the Open

Disclaimer: This amazing series does not belong to me. It belongs to the very creative Ryohgo Narita.

(A/N: I know that I've got so many stories going on right now, but this idea just wouldn't leave me alone. This fan fiction was loosely inspired by the song Sirens [Band: Pearl Jam].)

Anri Sonohara sat on her couch. Her brown eyes stared unseeingly at the television. She was trapped in her mind. It was a dangerous place to be, but at this moment Ikebukuro was even more dangerous.

'Had he been hiding this side of him all along?' She thought with an air of detachment. Behind her eyes, Mikado's gently grinning face flashed. She swallowed as the detachment she held so closely to her crumbled. A small sob built up in her chest. The pain in her chest caused her eyes to glow red.

His blue eyes had been so cold when she had confronted him. "Stay out my business and I'll stay out of yours." His tone had been just as cold as his blue eyes. Anri wrapped her arms around her waist as if to keep the emotions inside. She curled in on herself. Tears fell in rivers down her eyes. It felt as though her entire world was falling apart at her feet. Masaomi was gone. Mikado was turning into a person she didn't recognize anymore. He was so distant. She gasped in a breath in an attempt to relieve the pain. The trio she adored being a part of her was slowly fading before her eyes. Mika was happening all over it again. She was losing her best friends. She had foolishly forgotten how badly it had hurt.

She jumped when she heard a knock at her door. Anri slowly uncurled herself and stood from the couch. She instantly brought her hands up to her eyes to wipe away the evidence of her breaking down. If it was another attack, well, she didn't want to show weakness. Anri shook her head as if to dispel thoughts of Mikado's recent behavior. She stepped toward her front door and looked through the peep hole. Her eyes widened instantly at who stood there casually leaning against the railing in front of her door. She fumbled with the locks as she worked to get them unlocked as fast as she could. She jerked the door open and came face to face with a solemn looking Masaomi Kida.

"Can I come in?" He asked. His golden eyes studied the female of what seemed to be the now dissolved trio. It seemed that Anri hadn't really changed. He scowled slightly when he saw the sadness that swam behind the mask she valiantly tried to hide behind. Anri nodded and stepped aside to allow him entrance. "So…how long has Mikado been acting this way?" Kida confronted the moment the door shut. He studied her closely. He took in the way her shoulders instantly tensed.

"I don't know…" She whispered. "He just…started pulling away from me one day." There was tightness to her voice that hinted at the suppression of tears. "He confronted me about something and when I wouldn't give him an answer…he just…well, it seemed like he cut all ties from me." Kida's golden brown eyes softened as he mentally cursed his best friend for his careless behavior. She finally turned from the door to face him. Tears bubbled up behind her eyes. He stepped back as he noticed her eyes had begun to take on a red glow.

"Anri?" It wasn't as unnerving on her as it was on the countless other people he had seen with the same glowing eyes. It seemed to fit her.

"We made a pact, Mikado and I, that all of our secrets would come into light once you returned. We had said that we would tell you together so that the other two would know…but it kind of seems like a moot point now." Kida nodded.

"He's the leader of the Dollars…he told me," Kida elaborated. He expected shock, but not a small nod of acceptance. Anri sighed.

"I thought as much," she told him, "he was so worried over the Dollars for a long time. I had thought that he was either in the Dollars or that he led it. Either answer wouldn't have surprised me." Anri sank down on the couch and motioned for him to join her. Kida did instantly. A dark chuckle escaped her lips. It surprised him, but he didn't say a word just as she never did about his outburst all those months ago that ended with a stinging cheek. "We make quite a group, don't we? You, the leader of the Yellow Scarves; Mikado, the leader of the Dollars; and then there's me." She turned her glowing red eyes toward him. "I am the leader of the Slashers, by default. Once Haruna Niekawa attacked me, I couldn't let her stay leader. The night I was attacked by the Slasher," she looked over at him, "was also the night I took the power back." Anri eyed Kida as he took all that she had told him in. A small laugh escaped him.

"You know, I kind of expected some large secret from you…" Kida said. His head fell back onto the back of the old couch. "The night you were sneaking around the Yellow Scarves base hinted at that… It was very hard to find. Only someone who was in the Yellow Scarves," he glanced over at her; amusement danced in his eyes, "or someone very good at getting information could find it." She blushed slightly. The redness of her eyes slowly died down.

"I'm glad you're back, Masaomi…" Anri whispered. Kida's mouth fell open at both the confession and the use of his first name. "But what made you decide to return?"

"I decided that running away wasn't a way to correct my flaw," he told her. Anri raised her eyebrows. He smiled for the first time since arriving in the apartment. "Running away," he elaborated. Anri smirked slightly. She could sense that there was more behind his return, but she let it lie for now.

"That does sound counter-productive." Silence fell between them. Neither wanted this time to end because that would mean returning to reality. Anri glanced over at him. "Want to watch a movie?" She suggested, motioning toward the previously ignored television. Kida glanced over at her.

"That sounds great."

She knew she should be paying attention to the movie. After all, she had been the one to suggest it. Her eyes, however, had different plans. They kept drifting over toward the boy next to her. Vaguely, she wondered if she could even call him that anymore. They both had seen so much. Their innocence had been stripped from them by this sprawling district called Ikebukuro. Anri really looked at him for the first time since he entered her apartment. His eyes, which were fixed on the television, had a more serious light in them than before. That horrible night that landed Masaomi in the hospital changed all of them. Mikado saw firsthand the horrors of Ikebukuro and the horrors of mankind. Now, it seemed he was becoming one of those men that searched only for power. Anri, herself, hadn't been changed by the sight. Her father had taught her that mankind was cruel. The only thing that changed within her was the lie that she told herself. She couldn't love. Masaomi had changed as well. The carefree demeanor that he had had before seemed to die down. 'Maybe,' Anri thought, 'that like Mikado's previous behavior, it was all a mask.'

"Why are you staring at me?" He asked, breaking her from her thoughts. She flushed slightly.

"We can't really be called kids anymore, can we?" Anri whispered. "We've all seen too much." Sadness filled Kida at that statement. He looked at Anri closer. He could see the bags underneath her brown eyes. She was tired. Kida reached forward and wrapped a hand around one of hers. He squeezed it gently.

"I suppose not," he answered.

"Will you change too?" She asked. The vulnerability behind that statement had him cursing his friend. Just what did Mikado's words do to her? He was certain it had to of been something Mikado had said because, no matter how much he changed, Mikado would never lay a hand on Anri. "For the worst I mean…"

"Nah," he shrugged, "I'll always just be your Kida Masaomi." Anri blinked at the ownership he added to his sentence, but she smiled anyway. She was just going to take that at face value because trying to find a deeper meaning behind that statement would only lead her down a very confusing road.

"Good," Anri mumbled as she laid her head on his shoulder. His eyes widened at the rare display of affection. As the shock melted away, he felt warmth toward his friend. She had been fighting this all alone, he realized. Not for the first time, he cursed himself for leaving.

Anri gave a small sigh as she closed her eyes. Around Kida, she felt safe. She wasn't worried about being attacked. He would protect her for at least tonight. Tonight, she didn't have to be strong. She could just be Anri. She felt Masaomi lay his head atop hers. She smiled softly.

'I'll make it up to her,' he promised as he closed his eyes. 'And Mikado…' Soon, Kida and Anri drifted off to the sounds of the television. Morning found them still sleeping on one another with their hands still clasp tightly together between them.