Warnings: Maybe some violence, a little slash though nothing overt (Kida/Mikado slash only, there will be no Shizuo/Izaya, just FYI), some profanity. Nothing serious on this one, really.

Chapter One

It always amazed Celty, over and over again, what her body remembered, and what her mind could do with no brain near by. Like how her index finger automatically went to scratch at her temple. He body remembered that her head wasn't on her neck, but more than likely held in front of her, so that was where her hand went. Then, only after, did it go up to the appropriate spot on her helmet. So many things missing.

How Shinra could love her this way was no less amazing, though she supposed that had more to do with the heart and nearly nothing to do with the brain or mind. She knew she still had her heart. Right where it belonged. Even if it was just a flutter of shadows instead of a beating organ. It would hurt when Shinra was gone at the end of his human lifetime.

Sometimes her heart remembered things, or at least the impression of things, that her mind knew. Like there was a way, if you were willing to give up enough, to make a human like a fae. But only her head knew what had to be given. So, for Shinra and because of Shinra, her heart was happy without her head.

If she wanted to stay that way, she would have to find it. Before his fragile human lifetime was up and he took her heart with him.

But that had nothing to do with what she was thinking about at the moment, so she set it aside. Right now, as her gloved finger rubbed at her helmet next to the visor, she was worried about another life that might be ending before it had lived out its full span.

Sometimes Izaya made her happy she didn't have a head. If she did have it, she'd have to bang it into a wall just to stop herself from strangling him. Usually that was because he was just being himself. This time though, it was because she was pretty sure he was not himself.

Because one thing Izaya never was, was in trouble. Except he was now.

Namie was shelling out good money, most likely Izaya's money, for her to find the man. She hadn't been able to. All she had found was his knife kicked into the corner of a place where he had been but no longer was.

Shadows swirled and the heavy weight of it dropped into her hand. She considered it, in an odd way, to be a representation of Izaya himself. Small enough that it didn't look dangerous at first glance, but sharp enough to make the air bleed. Most people only found that out too late. It disappeared up her sleeve again and she looked out over the city.

She couldn't figure out where he had been taken, so the next best way to find him was to figure out where he would go. Where he would go if he was weaponless, if he didn't want to be found, if he needed someone he could trust at his back who would ask nothing of him, because Izaya hated owing people.

There were very few people in the city that generous. Even fewer that could offer any sort of protection. Her posture straightened as the answer came to her. Less than a moment later, she and her horse sped off through the city.

There was no one in front of Russia Sushi, but Simon greeted her with his usual bright smile when she stepped through the door. "Picking up take-out for Shinra-sensei?" the large man asked. She canted her helmet to the side ever so slightly at the unexpected question and then nodded once. "It's in the back. Such a large order is sometimes difficult to package up." He pointed to a small door at the back of the restaurant before going back to serving customers.

She walked through the kitchen and into what she assumed must be an employee lounge. Izaya was spread out over the battered sofa. As usual, his posture and demeanor displayed that he didn't have a care in the world. It was in sharp contrast to his appearance. His face was darkened with bruises, swollen to the point where one eye couldn't open. He was holding a bag of ice against his abdomen, pressed there by both arms so he could ice both his wrists and his ribs at the same time. One leg was propped up on a footstool - casually, to be sure, but obviously put there so no weight would rest on it, and so it could be kept elevated.

More than that, he was dirty. Celty didn't think she had ever seen him dirty - messed up after scuffles with Shizuo, yes, but not like this. His hair was matted and tangled. There was a smear of grime across one cheek. His clothes were tattered, even shredded in some places, his trademark jacket gone, and what was left covered with dirt and muck, like he had had to crawl through a sewer.

Celty took a moment to observe the disaster that Izaya had been turned into. With most people it wouldn't have bothered her that much. You play with gangs, you get hurt. But Izaya? He always seemed to float out of the way of any danger. Despite the attitude he was projecting, this wasn't him. Someone had tried very, very hard to dull what should have been painfully sharp.

She dropped into an easy crouch so they were more or less at eye level with each other, or would have been if she had eyes. With a swirl of shadow like a magic trick, the weight of his knife dropped into her palm again and she held it out for him to take.

There was a look that might have been called gratitude in a normal person plastered all over Izaya's face for the most fleeting of moments. He accepted the knife and made as if to tuck it away into his jacket pocket before remembering that he wasn't wearing his jacket. It disappeared into his pants pocket instead. Then the corners of his mouth turned up in his usual smirk. "And the excellent courier arrives. I thought I told Simon not call anybody."

Celty was glad that Izaya, unlike Shinra, couldn't read her mood and expression from every minute twitch she had. She was almost shocked that Izaya had even let that expression be born on his face, but to let him see that would have been insulting to him. If he had expressed it on purpose, she would take it in the spirit in which he offered it, and not make a big deal out of it. If it had slipped, she didn't think he needed to be reminded about how off things really were.

With a practiced flick of her wrist and a flicker of shadow, Celty's PDA fell into her hand. She typed quickly and then held it out for Izaya to read. 'He didn't call anyone. I found you anyway.' She didn't want to ruin Izaya's trust in Simon. His trust, she knew, was a rare thing.

"Ah," was all Izaya said in reply to that. His gaze seemed almost blurry for a moment. Then, without a delay in which Celty might ask any questions, he said, "Shall we go?"

Celty typed a message to Shinra before making the PDA disappear. She stood and offered Izaya a hand. Looking at his leg, she knew he would need a shoulder too, but with Izaya it was better to start small. With careless grace, Izaya shoved the bag of ice onto the floor and reached out to take her hand, revealing more dark bruises and scrape marks on his wrist. Celty closed her fingers around his hand and wondered what had made those marks. It wasn't the usual duct tape, rope, zip-ties or even handcuffs that the underbelly of Ikebukuro favored. Some of the marks were almost like burns. After a moment, she put her free hand under his elbow. That would injure his pride less than a face plant would.

Izaya got to his feet a little more slowly than usual, keeping all his weight on his good leg. The smirk had disappeared and his face was set in a fixed lack of expression. Celty took in the flat expression and the way he shifted his weight and decided he would need more than a hand on his elbow. The trick with Izaya was to not give him a chance to protest or argue. She ducked under his arm so it lay across her shoulders and was careful to hold his arm above the injured wrist. Her other arm wrapped around his waist. She was glad her clothes were actually made of shadow and magic and couldn't be stained with whatever he had had to slog through. She gave him a moment to adjust and then tipped her helmet as if to ask if he was ready to go. He smirked at her, though it wasn't quite up to par with his normal expression, and said, "I'd better be careful. We'll make Shinra jealous!"

Her shoulders shook a little in silent laughter. It was true. Shinra was so easy to ruffle on the surface, but underneath she was sure he knew better. She took a careful step forward. Izaya hopped with her, and for the first time, a hiss of pain escaped him as his ankle was jarred. She tried to take more of his weight, but there wasn't much else she could do aside from asking Simon to carry him, and his ego would never survive. She couldn't even offer words of comfort with her hands full, though she was sure, had she been able to say them, Izaya would have laughed it off. She took another step forward. The kindest thing she could do now, not that one usually associated kindness and Izaya, was to get him to Shinra to have his wounds treated, his bones set, and his bloodstream loaded with painkillers.

"Hm, you know what would make me the happiest person in Ikebukuro right now?" Izaya asked, his voice casual, as if nothing whatsoever was wrong. "If your bike was parked in the back."

Celty shrugged a little under his arm and then nodded once, conceding. Sometimes she wished her horse was a normal living creature, so she could reward it with all the things she knew horses liked. By the time they made their way out of the back entrance, her horse was standing there in its guise as a motorcycle as if it had been parked there the entire time. Normally, she would have gotten on and had her passenger climb on after, but she didn't think that would work all that well in this case. She was convinced that Izaya wouldn't be able to stay upright on his own, so she stopped beside the bike and gestured for him to climb on.

Without a word, Izaya carefully lifted his bad leg over the bike and slid on, perching on the very back of the seat so there would be room for Celty in front of him. He looked a little distracted now, either deep in thought about what he was going to do to whoever had done this to him, or just hazing out from the pain.

Celty waited for him to settle and then her hands came up near his head. The shadows pooled for a second and then as she motioned like she was putting a helmet on him; it formed around his head and face. He wasn't allowed to argue the point, and didn't try. After that she climbed onto the bike and waited for Izaya to move closer to her. He did so without compunction, even leaning against her a little for support. "Drive safe," he said, with the usual mocking note in his voice.

She shook her head a little and with a wave of her hand, shadows wrapped him in what seemed to be a black leather jacket. Normally she would have trusted him to keep his balance, but not at the moment. She reached back and pulled his arms to wrap around her, still being careful of his wrists and those wounds that bothered her so much. There was something there, something about them that made her reach for memories that she just didn't have without her head. She didn't expect him to have much in the way of strength and let the shadows do most of the work for him.

Not much later, she pulled to a stop in front of the apartment building she and Shinra lived in. Normally, she would have just brought the bike in, but this time she waited, looking for Shinra. He was waiting downstairs, having received her text, with a somewhat worried expression on his face. When he saw her pull up, the worry intensified for a brief moment as he took in Izaya's battered state before disappearing, replaced with an expression of excitement. "Orihara-kun! What on earth happened? You don't get hurt like this! I have to document this for science!" He whipped a video camera out of his pocket and flipped it on.

Izaya gave him a look that suggested he wanted Shinra's head mounted above his desk, before returning to his usual smirk. "I'm afraid you're doomed to be disappointed, Shinra. I'm absolutely fine."

Celty shook her head and whipped out her PDA. There was swift typing and then she held it for Izaya to see. 'Then maybe you'd like to walk upstairs without help?' Then, after having the shadows loosen their hold, she climbed off the bike, though she was nice enough to make sure Izaya didn't fall.

"It warms my heart to see you showing such concern for me, after everything we've been through," Izaya said, with a grin on his face as he slid off the bike behind her, still careful not to let his left foot bear any weight.

'More than half of those events are your fault. You are a professional trouble maker.' The PDA then disappeared up her sleeve and she again ducked under his arm, before waving Shinra over to help from the other side.

Izaya chuckled quietly. "Ever the excellent courier," he murmured, but allowed the two of them to support the majority of his weight as they shuffled towards the elevator.

It was slow going to get to the apartment but eventually she and Shinra were able to set Izaya down in the spare bedroom. It was mostly for those Shinra patched up but wanted to keep an eye on for a while, and that was a fairly low number as he was not in the habit of inviting trouble into their home.

Despite all his efforts and his iron will, the relief on Izaya's face was practically tangible when they helped him sit down. He let out a breath and even gave them a nod of thanks.

"What on earth happened?" Shinra repeated his query, grabbing his bag. He gestured for Izaya to take off his shirt.

"Oh, you know," Izaya said, stripping it off and dropping it on the floor. "I don't think the new gang in town likes me very much."

Celty had darted off to get a couple of wet washcloths and some towels to help peel the dirt and grime off of their, dare she think it, friend. She set her load down on the table in the room and after a second showed the PDA to him. 'Why? What happened?' There was a pause as she considered who she was talking to. 'In detail.'

"They sent me an invite," Izaya said. "I went to see what they were all about. Turned out they were really more interested in information than in me personally. What kind of thing is that to say about a person?" He winced as Shinra felt along his ribs. "Hey, easy on the merchandise there."

There was a pause, then 'maybe one of them had met you before.' She shook her head a little, trying to stay on topic. 'What did they want to know? Why did they hurt you?' Another pause and the screen was cleared. 'How did they manage to hold you?'

"Oh, it's just the usual," Izaya said, as Shinra carefully cleaned out the wounds on his chest and abdomen. "They want to start a gang war. They've heard all about those spooky Dollars, want to know everything about them, how to find them, who's in charge." He shook his head. "No originality."

Celty nearly dropped the PDA. 'I have to find Mikado!'

"Relax," Izaya said. "I didn't tell them." He even looked faintly offended that Celty might think he had.

She relaxed, almost slumping, and then stiffened. There was furious typing and then, 'You tried to use Mikado to start a war once before.'

"A war of my choosing," Izaya pointed out. "And actually, I was more using Masaomi-kun; Namie-san is the one who got Mikado-kun involved."

'Not comforting.' The PDA appeared in front of him and then was snatched back. More typing followed. 'What were they like? How did they catch you? How did you get away?' She gave him a second to read and then pulled back. The screen was cleared and she tapped away; this time it was shoved at Shinra. 'There's something I can't remember. About his wrists.'

"His wrists?" Shinra examined them carefully, pulling the light over so he could see them better. "These are odd looking wounds. What did these?"

Izaya huffed out a breath in a sigh. "They were like handcuffs. But they weren't handcuffs. Whenever I tried to get away, they tightened. Hurt like crazy," he added nonchalantly, ignoring all of Celty's questions.

Celty's shoulders tightened and she fought off the urge to bean Izaya upside the head with her PDA. Her frustration wasn't entirely his fault. The typing was furious. 'I can't remember!' It was shoved at both of them. Then without warning, her fingers, while still careful not to hurt him, were moving Izaya's hair out of the way and running over the shell of his ear.

Even Izaya seemed taken aback by this. "Um . . ."

"Celty?" Shinra asked, though he got out of her way, kneeling next to Izaya and take off his left shoe and sock.

'Normal. Human.' It was typed almost absently and she pulled her hand back away from Izaya and held it to her chest, unsure of what to do with herself. After a second, she carefully set the PDA down on the table – it was a gift from Shinra after all – and walked out of the room.

Once she was gone, Shinra focused on Izaya with narrowed eyes. "You really didn't tell them about Mikado-kun?"

"I really didn't," Izaya said. "Not saying that I wouldn't have, if they'd offered to pay me instead of making demands, but as it happens, I didn't."

"Good." Shinra gently squeezed Izaya's ankle. He let out a wheeze of pain between his teeth. "Not broken. Just badly sprained. Walking on it probably didn't help."

"Didn't have a lot of options," Izaya said.

Shinra nodded and began wrapping it. He thought about pointing out that, as much as Izaya might try to hide it, he had done more than just 'not bothered' to tell the new gang about Mikado's identity. He had actively withheld the information. The wounds he had were too methodical to have come from anything other than a purposeful beating. Whether Izaya had refused to tell them to protect Mikado, or simply out of spite because they wouldn't play by his rules, Shinra wasn't sure. But either way, he had refused.

Celty listened to all this as she stood in the hallway. The helmet was tossed onto the sofa with a bounce. Shinra liked her better without it, and at the moment it just made her angry. She wanted her memories in her head, not an empty fake. This time it was important. Not just lost history. This time it was about a friend.

She stood at the window looking out for a couple of minutes and then at her own headless reflection. The memories were gone and for now it couldn't be helped. She turned and made her way over to the closet. Izaya would need clean clothes and she was pretty sure that Shizuo had, at some point or another, left some pajamas there. They'd be loose and comfortable for Izaya and his many injuries. If she had been physically able she would have smirked. Izaya would be appalled when he found out. Which wouldn't be until tomorrow, if things went her way.

Shinra glanced up as she came back into the spare room. Izaya didn't. His gaze had gone somewhat glassy. "Oh, thanks," Shinra said, as she put the pile of clothing down.

She nodded, or gave the smoky equivalent, which she was sure Shinra could read. Then she picked up the PDA. 'Is he going to be okay?'

"Yeah, the wounds are serious, but nothing critical." Shinra smiled at her. "Could you do me a favor and get a glass of water?"

"No," Izaya said, stirring slightly. "No painkillers. They could still be looking for me, and the last thing I need to be is sedated. Why do you think I went to Russia Sushi instead of here?"

Celty typed and then set the PDA down on the bed for him to read while she went and got the requested water. 'It's safe here. I made sure.' She came back and held out the glass to him.

Seeing his skeptical look, Shinra said, "It really is. She did this faerie mojo thing that keeps anyone from finding the apartment if they don't already know where it is. Anyway, trust me, you're going to want the painkillers when I start stitching up the lacerations on your stomach, to say nothing to what I'm going to have to do to your hands. You have three broken metacarpals."

Izaya gave him a stare. Shinra smiled back cheerfully. After a long stalemate, Izaya grudgingly accepted the glass of water and the pills that appeared in Shinra's hand like magic, gulping them down. "Not a word to Shizu-chan," he said.

'My lips are sealed.'

Shinra laughed merrily at this. Izaya just rolled his eyes and waited for the drugs to kick in, but allowed himself to relax. Whether he wanted to owe Shinra and Celty or not, he knew he was in good hands. Seeing this, Shinra went immediately into serious mode, the laughter on his face clearing off as he saw to some minor things while he waited for the drugs to dull Izaya's senses. He cleaned the wounds on his wrists and applied some antibiotic ointment, then wrapped them in bandages. He offered Izaya one of the washcloths to get the worst of the grime off his face.

Once Izaya was properly limp, staring up at the ceiling in dreamy lassitude and no longer fit to protest, Shinra got an IV in him to start fluids and glucose. He wasn't sure how long it had been since Izaya had been gone, but he was clearly dehydrated. Izaya didn't voice any annoyance, so Shinra began work on the more major injuries.

It had been the previous day that Namie had called him, wanting to hire Celty to find Izaya. She hadn't seen him in three days. This was of no particular concern; Izaya would often be gone for days or even weeks at a time, seeing to his business. What did concern her – and Shinra – was that she couldn't reach him either by cell or by text. Izaya was always wired, always reachable, in case something interesting came up. Shinra checked with Celty and she mentioned that he hadn't been in the chat room for several days, either.

Namie had offered to pay double the standard rate, but Shinra suspected that Celty would have taken the job anyway. Neither she nor Shinra had any particular love for Izaya, but they both understood that he was what he was, and all the griping in the world wouldn't change that. Ikebukuro would be different without him; it would somehow be less. In any case, any person or group of persons who could pose a threat to Izaya was bad news for all of them in the long term. They all understood that.

Shinra glanced up at some point to grab another tool and saw that Celty had wandered off, presumably bored with the proceedings. Shinra guessed that she was going to go online and check on Mikado, though he wasn't sure how late it was. He always lost track of time when he was working. Her absence and Izaya's dazed stare offered him a golden opportunity that he hadn't thought to ever get.

"Hey, Orihara-kun, can I ask you something?"

"Mm," Izaya replied.

Shinra's hands never slowed or stopped what they were doing. "Do you know where Celty's head is?"

"Mm," Izaya said again.

Shinra was pretty sure that was a yes; if the answer had been no, he would have put up a protest. "Is it safe?"

"Mm."

Relaxing, Shinra began to examine Izaya's hands. He heard the other man mumble something and said, "What was that, Orihara-kun?"

A long pause. Then Izaya slurred out, "Fuckers took my jacket. They're gonna pay for that."

Shinra smiled slightly. Izaya's eyes fluttered and then closed as he finally succumbed to exhaustion. It didn't surprise Shinra. Izaya had been missing for several days, probably hadn't eaten during that time, possibly hadn't slept. There was blood loss and pain and a strong dose of narcotics to contend with. Izaya was strong, he was fast, he was sharp – but he was still human.

Shinra recalled Celty's frustration as she examined Izaya's ear with a touch of unease. Izaya was still human – wasn't he?

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