"If vision is the only validation,
then most of my life isn't real."

A/N- Enjoy! And please review!

Noisy.

So noisy.

The sound of traffic, of crowds, of squealing girls shouting how everything was cute cute cute. Men laughing at stupid window displays.

The smell of the streets garbage strong thanks to the few amounts of snow that would come and go due to the cities heat, leaving small rivers along the concrete slabs.

And the music.

So noisy.

So annoying.

If only he could silence it. If only he could shut everything up without resorting to vio-

"Oi, what's with that face?" His boss asked, not having to turn to even look at the bodyguard to sense that he was flustered and pissed beyond comfort. "Calm yourself. It's almost the holidays. Let them be themselves." He advised, running a hand to fix his dreads.

Shizuo snarled lightly, his teeth biting into the filter of his cigarette, eyes glaring, hiding behind purple blue shades, but dark furrowed brows making it evident that he was not going to ease up any time soon.

Why should he care about their well being or happiness, if they obviously didn't care about others? Obviously Shizuo wasn't the only one who was on Grinch mode.

Surely.

And not to mention those who were more of a killjoy then a frustrated geezer roamed the streets, killing the joy in shopping for presents as they made a painfully evident fabricated smile.

His dark hazel eyes calmed lightly as he took to observing his surroundings with his vision rather then his hearing.

And he noted, from all his years of living in the district, that the chaotically large amount of crowds that usually littered Ikebukuro around this time, had substantially decreased by the hundreds.

He could only guess why.

It's been all over the news since Halloween.

Doom's day. The end of the world, of the human race, and some even had the nerve to say- the universe.

Most of course were religious, others, just not knowing if they should deny the obvious cycle of human life.

It's already been a proven theory that the asteroid that wiped the dinosaurs from existence had hit the earth multiple times before after a certain amount of years.

Some attached that theory with the Mayan calendar and the alignment of the planets, stating something about the gravity being out of whack and the asteroid having a higher possibility of targeting the earth from it's distance of hundreds of light years, hiding somewhere far away in the galaxy.

But of course, Shizuo didn't know, or care much about what to believe in.

Unfortunately, he was being forced to give a damn, because that's all the news was about. 2012 this and that, would it happen or not, mass suicide, a bunch of theories, every fucking day.

And now that the date was set for tomorrow, people were literally jumping in front of trains, off buildings, overdosing, mutilation, you name it.

It was beginning to become another mass suicide, worse then the ones that took place around the last day of 1999, Y2K.

But those who decided to not off themselves remained under the belief that suicide would damn them to hell- others stocked up on foods and survival gear, thinking that they could in fact survive the end of the world as if bomb shelters were that advanced and strong, forgetting that they were primarily used in the mid 1990's, and that it would ultimately be useless if the earth was to implode.

However, as he saw, most didn't seem to give a damn, either accepting their fate, or simply not believing. And he was surprised to see that ideology within the ignorant bubbly bunch of society.

Tom however seemed far more calmer then anyone he had witnessed, maybe even more collected then Shizuo.

Because the blond was thinking too much about it, and from his boss' expression alone, he could tell that the man didn't seem to give a damn, much less contemplate it.

But the bodyguard decided to ask anyways.

"Oi, Tom." He started, his eyes focused on their stride before them, afraid that his face would flush from such a stupid question. "What's your take on…" He paused. He was going to put it bluntly, but decided that it would sound too corny. "What's your take on tomorrow?" He decided. Saying 2012 or 'the end of the world' sounded way too comical, too cheesy.

His boss only glanced up and him and let out a low huff, chuckling lightly. "I'm surprised you're even worried about it!" He exclaimed cheerfully, laughing it off like he was witnessing his employee wearing something out his regular attire.

Shizuo lightly blushed and turned his head away, observing elsewhere.

"Well," Tom continued, his smile remaining, as he looked before them, walking relatively calm, his usual pace. "I think it's a load of horse shit." He pulled a hand from his grew uniform slacks. "I mean really? It's all just some joke to scare people off. There's no way it's gonna happen." He shrugged, stuffing his hand back into his pocket.

Shizuo remained silent, his flush fading, now turning back to face the sidewalk before them, that was rather clear compared to it's usual crowd.

"I mean," Tom continued after a pause when they reached a street corner, waiting for the walk sign to give them the right of way. "Think about it. I mean, did you know that it was predicted that it would end last May?" He glanced to Shizuo, who glanced back suddenly interested. "Yeah," Tom nodded. "May 31st, 2011, was a marked date on the Mayan calendar as well, the original speculated date. And look at us! We're still here. Supposedly they pushed the date forward. I'm guessing for the sake of religion and Nostradamus." His words drifted, his mouth getting tired from all the talk.

Shizuo's brow furrowed. "Nostradamus?"

Now, this, of course, wasn't that unusual of a question. Different countries, different studies, and subjects in schools that were mainly focused on. The story of a man who made premonitions from a bowl of lukewarm water, wasn't deemed educational.

Tom's jaw slacked lightly, brows knotted, as he looked at Shizuo in a rather skeptical manner. "You're telling me you've never heard of him?"

Shizuo shook his head lightly in response, not offended by the mans reaction in the least.

"Well," Tom's face suddenly scrunched, as he tried to figure out a way of putting it to words.
It took him awhile, eyes to the sky, brows furrowed, when he finally decided to pull out his touch screen phone. "Here, let me search it on the internet." He decided. "The guy's some historical legend, having been one of the best predictors of all time. How that worked? Well, I have no fucking idea, since I don't believe in that magical, fantasy bullshit."

Shizuo coolly blew smoke from his nostrils, too lazy to pull the cigarette from his lips. Of course, Tom was perhaps the only few who didn't watch the news that one night, or care to search the internet, when Celty had ridden the side of a building with a huge black mass of smoke tailing her.

Or when her helmet was removed.

But how his boss didn't believe in the impossible when Shizuo himself was a human weapon, was beyond the bodyguard himself.

Tom handed the phone to Shizuo, the blond removing a hidden hand from his pocket to gingerly hold such a delicate device, him not being too into advanced technology and fancy expensive phones, nodding when Tom instructed him how to scroll down the page with his finger.

"May God protect you!"

Both men suddenly halted from the volume of the voice itself, and looked to the young voice, that in fact belonged to an older woman, standing before a closed shop, holding out books of the new testament, begging that they take one.

"The end has been dated. The signs have been strong! The world will surely end tomorrow! And from the heavens, God will come onto this earth, and save those who truly believe in him, his son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost! To keep us from the outweighing battle between good and evil!" She shouted, eyes wild. "Believe in him with all your heart, and you will be spared not only when the world comes to it's end, but when the final judgment shall part you to heaven, limbo, or hell, for eternity!"

Tom chuckled lightly, holding his hand out with a crooked smile. "Listen lady, I don't believe in that crap." He huffed, grin on his lips as he kept a low laugh from growing louder. "I mean," He turned away, and continued to walk. "Just listen to yourself. Absolute horse shit."

Shizuo, who remained in his place, turned his body lightly towards his boss, one hand in pocket, other holding the phone, cigarette still in mouth. Glancing to the shorter frantic woman, he bowed lightly, and without a word, walked away.

Pacing in his steps, the bodyguard finally matched his bosses steps, and continued with his read.

"So?" Tom asked, a few steps in, glancing up to his employee who was gravely interested in his reading. "What do you think so far?"

Glancing from above his shades, face still facing down towards the screen, he looked back and read some things he found quite interesting. "Well, he predicted the exact deaths of those in a royal family, predicted the finding of his tomb by thieves, of Hitler and bad leaders, along with ground zero and wars."

"Yeah yeah," Tom wafted a hand. "But they're more cryptic if anything. His riding was just a construction of riddles. It could be translated to anyone's fancy. I mean, he doesn't literallysay a plane taken hostage was going to ram into a building. Anyone can translate his shit into their own liking."

Shrugging, the blond handed the phone back, bored, but seemingly interested, as he rose his head to the walk ahead, and stared, almost blankly.

Tom would glance from the corner of his eyes, only guessing what the man was thinking about, well, in truth, not having to think too into it.

A sigh broke past Tom's lips as his hands, accustomed to the gesture, reached up to smooth his dreads, fingers passing by the roots, his mind reeling away from stupid thoughts about the world ending, and concentrating on an appointment to tighten his dreads.

The bodyguard in bartender clad was so distracted and concentrated on the outcome of tomorrow, he didn't even notice Izaya in the alley way right next to him, as the informant scaled a wall to grab hold of a fire escape staircase folded high from the ground- pulling himself up to run up the stairs towards the roof and his favorite view.

Didn't catch how the informant paused dead in his tracks like a deer in the headlights as he ran up the wall and grabbed the ladder's drop handle, or the curious glare as the bodyguard walked away, dazed.

Scoffing lightly, Izaya went back to his task, flawless parkour skills allowing him to climb such things.

Shizuo couldn't really say. He couldn't say that nothing was going to happen, or that something was.

He wasn't going to hide in his apartment and drink to wasteland, or run the streets on a last hoorah rampage.

Instead, if this was his last day, he wanted to spend it as calmly as possible, finishing his job with some rare and odd Russian sushi after a long day, then go home, have a shot of liquor, smoke a few more cigarettes, until the nicotine put him to sleep.

Who knows when it'll happen if it does. In the morning, in the afternoon, at night. All he could do was sit it out, wait for it to happen, and if it doesn't and they reach 2013- and mind you he found saying the years digits in his head sounded off, as if not right- but if they were to reach the new year and continue, then that's that.

All he could hope for was a nice day, a nice sleep, and that's it.

Just to assure himself he'd call his brother and ask him how he was doing, before heading off to bed.

The only thing that he would surely like to avoid was that disgusting pestering flea.

As the last swirls of smoke from his cigarette danced in the cold night air, his calm expression cringed lightly.

"The air stinks…" He muttered, as he looked up to the dark sky, the new moon making the district darker then usual, even with the array of city lights.

A/N-... Most people don't know what a new moon is... It's not a FULL MOON. A new moon is when the moon isn't in the sky, or rather, you can't see it (but it's there). I know it's slow, but just trying to get you used to the way the characters think and what not, to get you in an understanding mood later. Also trying to connect you for those angst moments.