prologue - blatant lies

Izaya Orihara was dead.

To many, that was a relieving statement, allowing them to continue their daily lives in the district of Ikebukuro without having to harbor fear for the late informant any longer.

To a small minority, however, Izaya would be missed. Believe it or not, there was quite the gathering at his funeral. His "friends" from his days at Raijin Academy, Shinra Kishitani and Kyohei Kadota, joined by the Headless Rider, Celty Sturluson, and some of Kadota's friends. Akane Awakusu, aided by the Awakusu member by the name of Akabayashi. Izaya's - now previous - secretary, Namie Yagiri. Mikado Ryuugamine, joined by a reluctant Anri Sonohara, alongside Masaomi Kida and Saki Mikajima. Even Shizuo Heiwajima, the man responsible for his death, was obscured in the background with unspoken regrets. This wasn't to say exactly that some in attendance would actually miss him, but it was better than nothing, after all.

However, there were a certain two in the crowd that would miss him. His own flesh and blood - Mairu and Kururi Orihara.

The twins had witnessed their brother's death, and it was not something they would forget, even considering their nature. Under any other circumstances, Mairu and Kururi might not have forgiven Shizuo for what he had done.

However, this wasn't an average family murder. In general, the Oriharas were not a normal family. Everyone knew that, and it was no cover. However, everyone believed that the twins and Izaya had a bit of a sibling rivalry, that Izaya didn't really care for them, that they were simply humans that didn't apply to his god complex. That's what Izaya wanted - he was a self-proclaimed god, meant to be feared, in a sense, and distribute his love for all humans equally.

In the end, his plan failed. He was too stubborn to admit defeat, however. With this, he wanted the twins, alongside Shizuo, to cover up the ties they had with him.

None of the three exactly understood what Izaya's motives were. Then again, he was Izaya Orihara, and who knew what exactly to think of him?

Even with this open idea, the three complied with his orders. Not because they hated him. No, that wasn't it.

It was because they loved him.

So, there the twins stood, on May fourth, of all days, holding hands and staring at the tombstone of their brother.

The service was brief, with Shinra giving a brief eulogy, not another soul daring to speak. Even though Izaya had hidden himself from Shinra, someone he could consider a close friend.

But not close enough.

After the eulogy was completed, Kururi deepened her grip on her younger twin's hand, gazing out of the corner of her eye at Shizuo, while Mairu watched as everyone else left the site. Not the blonde, however.

Once everyone else cleared out, the twins approached the debt collector, gazes solemn in sympathy.

"Do not be upset, Shizuo-san," Kururi spoke lightly, taking her other hand and placing it over the blonde's.

"Hey, what have I told you two about being formal?" Shizuo murmured, eyes lightening up at the two, though a frown was still present on his face.

"Fine then, Shizuo. You should know it isn't your fault," Mairu joined in, placing her free hand on his shoulder.

Shizuo sighed. "In a way, it kind of is."

"Nonsense," Kururi replied, their gazes meeting as she released her sister's hand, the two sitting on opposite sides of the man. "We did the best we could for him. He knew that you couldn't control your anger, and he was never scared of you. That was his choice, not yours."

"I know, but I should've been more careful," Shizuo protested, clenching his fists. "I never even told him…"

Mairu let out a small huff, not entirely amused considering her mood, though slightly. "Are you kidding? This is Iza-nii we're talking about. He had to have known."

"You know, for what his name gives him, he sure isn't observant when it comes to love."

Mairu turned towards Kururi then, the two managing to crack a small smile. "You can be quite romantic when you want to be, Shizuo."

A sense of awkwardness came over the blonde then as he looked down at his hands. "Yeah, well, who isn't…?"

"You and Iza-nii would've been a good couple," Kururi murmured, Shizuo gaping at her.

"H-hey, we're not sitting here to talk about my nonexistent love life," The blonde exclaimed, earning a giggle from Mairu.

"You know, it looks like your kouhai's had her eyes on you for a while now…"

Shizuo blinked. "Vorona?"

Kururi joined in with her twin's giggling then, Shizuo narrowing his eyes at the two, though it was light-hearted - for the most part. "Hey, stop it you two!" he yelped, on instinct letting a hand fly towards Mairu, the bespectacled girl taking a firm grasp on his hand.

"Now, now, Shizuo-san, what have we told you?"

"Right," Shizuo gulped, Mairu releasing his hand. "Sorry."

"Humph," Mairu pouted, folding her arms in a very nostalgic attitude for the trio.

There was a momentary silence in the group as they gazed up at the evening sky, sunset fading into night. "You think he's looking down on us right now?" Mairu asked, Kururi nodding in agreement.

"Knowing him, he's probably already taken over a throne in Valhalla," Shizuo said lightly. "Probably happy that he can be a true god now."

Kururi nodded. "Probably."

"Anyway," Shizuo started, getting up and stretching his arms behind his head. "Don't you two have homework to go do? You still have school tomorrow."

Both twins frowned at him, neither speaking a word.

Shizuo let out an exasperated sigh, turning away. "Forget I said anything. Just go on home, alright? And if anyone gives you trouble, I'll kick their ass."

"You could come with us, Shizuo-san," Kururi whispered, her twin blinking at her in surprise.

"I...I'll pass," Shizuo replied, scratching the back of his neck. "Anyway, I'll see you two around. I'm sorry."

"We understand," Kururi replied, approaching the blonde again and hugging him, Mairu joining in. Shizuo managed a small smile, hugging them back and releasing them after a while, making his way down the street, the twins turning the opposite way.

"We'll see you soon, Shizuo-san!" Mairu called, waving him off. "Yuuhei, too!"

The twins heard him manage a small chuckle. "Don't ruin it, kid!"

Mairu and Kururi smirked at one another, fingers interlocking once more as they skipped down the street back to their apartment, attempting to keep the mood light-hearted as the farewell to their brother echoed fresh in their shared minds.

author's note~

So much for waiting to start a new fic.

/cough Hello everyone~ cx I'm Umi Hinode, and welcome to my second Durarara fic~!

Now, if you're a fan of my other fic, Trial and Error, I imagine you're wondering where the next chapter is. Don't worry, it will be here soon, hopefully. I'm not giving up on it yet.

If you haven't read it, feel free to ignore that. xD"

Anyway, if you've seen my profile, you probably know that I have quite a few fic ideas at the moment. Originally, I was going to wait until I was at least halfway through T&E to start a new fic, but I realized that I can't really put them off for much longer or I'll lose interest, and I didn't want to do that, especially with this fic. I've wanted to write a fic centered around the twins' family life for quite some time, and the premise for this one was actually born when I found the cover art a while back. I've been wanting to write this one probably more than any other (aside from T&E, and of course!) so I thought, why not start off with it?

I want to give you all a friendly forewarning that this will probably mess up updating for both stories, considering I'm in school right now and I'm not really used to handling a lot of things at once. I'll try, though, even if it might mean delayed updates. I'm hoping you all will bear with me, and I appreciate that.

Also, on another note, just to be safe, I put this as an AU fic, as this will mainly be just headcanons put together to form a past for these four. From what I've read of the light novels so far, we honestly don't see too much of Izaya's relationship with the twins, other than what he tells Namie about them and what we saw in the OVA. I've gotten quite attached to the idea of Izaya being a good brother when he wanted to be (thank you, fan art xD) Besides, this is going to have a different take on Shizuo and Izaya during their days at Raijin, so there's another reason for it to be an AU. And because of that, I'm going to apologize beforehand for any OOCness. I always try my best to keep characters in-character the best I can, but there's bound to be a couple of slips, especially considering the whole premise for this fic.

Gosh, this AN is all disorganized. e-e Sorry about that. Just wanted to make a couple of things clear.

Anyway, I'm very interested in the potential this fic has - I'm personally really content with this beginning, which is new - so if you like it, please follow, favorite, review, all that good stuff. xD I really appreciate it. c: Especially considering this /technically/ isn't a Shizaya fic, which we all know is the bulk of fanfics. xD

Now, I'm not sure exactly where this fic is going to go, but I'm going to work on that. As I said, I'm going to try my best to update, though I would count on it being less frequent. Or maybe more - heck, I'm already almost done with the first chapter.

Anyway, I'm going to shut up now, so I'll see you in the next update. cx"