"Found you!"
Blaze popped around the corner of the mini structure which sat on top of the school's roof. Sitting down on the ground, smoking yet again, was her recently acquired target. She smiled gleefully at Shizuo, who in return scowled at her.
"Go away."
"Aw, you're no fun. I just wanted to hang out with my best buddy and here he is telling me to go away," she sighed dramatically and walked around him. Her back slammed into the wall and she slid with little to no grace the rest of the way down. "Well I've got news for you: If you were really intent on avoiding me then you'd choose a different place to smoke."
"I come up here because it's the best place to be left alone," he muttered. She watched as he inhaled deeply and let out a plume of smoke in defeat. An easy going half grin sprawled along her face and she relaxed further until she was comfortably sitting against the wall.
"Too bad for you, we're best buddies who can't bear to be separated from each other!"
"Tch. I never agreed to being your buddy."
"Best buddy."
"My point still remains!"
Blaze held her hands up in surrender with an indifferent shrug. She always knew that she had a disastrous knack for pissing people off, could probably even make a living off of it if it were an actual profession that paid, but this had to be record breaking time. And that's saying alot considering she had a firecracker for a friend that wasn't Shizuo.
Tsuyoi won't be happy about that, she chuckled inwardly.
Absently her hand slid into a shallow pocket in her skirt and wrapped around the small, rectangular metal block. She rubbed the smooth surface with her thumb, flipping it over and over until it was slowly worked out of the pocket. Blaze rested both arms on her knees, sitting in a way that would usually result in being called uncouth for a young woman such as herself, and flicked the lid off the lighter. With a click a tender flame burst to life.
Immediately Blaze's vision zoned in on the dancing hues, entranced. There was something so peaceful about staring at something so dangerous. If she didn't know the innocent looking light would burn her, she probably would have stroked it like it were a long lost relative. In so many ways she felt that she understood why a moth was attracted to such a simple, yet hazardous object. Fire was warm, bright, and mesmerizing. And Blaze absolutely loved it. But unfortunately for her, society had seen fit to deem her attraction to fire unhealthy and therefore something to be frowned upon.
"You run out of cigs?" She forcefully pried her eyes away from the flickering delight to see Shizuo digging his pack out of his back pocket, crunching the box slightly to pop one out for her. Touch by his sentimentality she beamed at him. Immediately after, though, she waved him off and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from her other pocket and held it just within reach of the flame.
Bye bye dead threat from lame ass lackies~! You wouldn't have been able to follow through with any of it anyways.
"I tried smoking once, just to see what the hell was so appealing about it to my dad that he had to become addicted to it and everything else in its subcategories," she said thoughtfully. "Nearly gagged to death and decided it wasn't worth it after that."
She soaked in the way the paper turned black and curled in on itself as the fire licked at it greedily. A trail of smoke hazily rose above it and intermingled with Shizuo's. Her smile spread further along her face and she felt a little dopey for getting so excited at the sight of something burning.
"Then why do you bother carrying a lighter around if you aren't gonna smoke?"
Blaze turned to him and deadpanned. "Friend, buddy, pal, comrade- look at what's in my hand and ask yourself that question one more time."
His eyes widened, giving her a decent view of the warm brown that, up until now, had always been relatively obscured by his blonde bangs.
"You're a god damn pyro," The words slipped out of him in mute horror. The regret for even asking the question flashed in his eyes and his shoulders grew rigid as he glanced between her and the burning wad, which was nearing her unguarded flesh. Blaze cackled and dropped it, crushing it beneath her foot to put it out. His response was amusing to say the least, definitely not unusual for her though.
"Not exactly, Sherlock. You see, I'm more like a recovering addict of pyromania. Used to have terrible, and I mean terrible, impulse control and would set shit on fire like there'd be no tomorrow. In fact, I think at one point I tried to make that the goal- But anyways, then Tsuyoi came along and beat the shit out of me any time my hand would so much as twitch in the general direction of my lighter. Don't worry though. Now I only set fire to paper, sticks, my cheating ex…"
It was quiet enough that she swore she could almost hear a cricket somewhere.
"That was a joke, hot cakes. You were supposed to laugh," she prompted. Still no reaction. Either she had just scared the one guy rumored to be the most strongest in Ikebukuro or else he was trying to think up a way to disentangle himself from a snare that had already started dragging him towards the pits of hell and insanity. Based off the look in his eyes, Blaze would place her money on both being the correct answer.
Blaze closed the lighter and held it up to her mouth like an audio recorder, scrunching her face up in mock annoyance like a detective. "Note to self: Don't let Fred be in charge of the jokes."
"Who the hell is Fred?"
Methinks someone isn't very good at learning from previous mistakes, otherwise he'd stop asking questions he's going to regret. She couldn't help herself as she snickered. His scowl was strong enough to burn holes into anything, just like Superman's laser eyes. On a backhanded wave she partially wished that he could actually do something like that; albeit those holes would be burning into her.
"One of the voices in my head," Every few words wheezed out of her between hoarse laughter. Her answer drew out yet another round of astounding silence from her best friend.
Wiping away the upcoming tears she reached out and lightly punched Shizuo's shoulder, missing the way he tensed as if in preparation for a fight. "That was another joke man! Geez, do you just not possess a sense of humor? For shame. Looks like I've got some work to do with you."
"You're a fucking pyro!" he muttered blatantly. Shizuo took a deep drag from his cigarette before turning away from her and pretending she didn't exist. "And a mental case too!"
Blaze chuckled, leaning her head back to stare at the clear sky.
"Ya know, in times like these you've just gotta remember the wise words of the Chesire Cat: 'We're all mad here.'," She raised her hands and wrote the saying in mid air, looping her letters in a neat and calligraphic way. "And then, knowing that, just move on like life is supposedly normal!"
He scoffed and stood up, flicking his cigarette to the ground and crushing it under foot. Shizuo shoved his hands deep into his pockets and stalked off. Blaze scrambled up and managed to keep up with his suddenly irritated pace.
"Go away, you're annoying."
"Aw, love you too hot cakes!"
{+ = +}
Izaya couldn't understand it.
Then again he couldn't understand a lot of things about Blaze, although it certainly didn't stop him from pretending he did.
Why on earth would she, or anyone for that matter, want to be friends with a monster?, he mused with intermingling curiosity and annoyance. Izaya stared across the main foyer with a mask of calmness dominating his face. There was the Yankee, talking loudly and animatedly with the Monster of Ikebukuro like they were old pals. On the other end of the conversation, however, his poor Shizu-chan was struggling to contain his short fuse. For a brief moment Izaya wondered what Blaze's reaction would be when she would become the collateral damage of Shizuo's rage. Oddly enough he couldn't place a believable expression on her face.
A slow grin pulled at the corners of his mouth and he bared his fangs with narrowed eyes glinting harshly. He could just waltz right on over and say hello right now to get his answer.
He put one foot forward and bounced the rest of the way, removing a hand from his pocket to bring it up in a small wave. With painstaking care he rearranged his features into a mask of pure innocence. In a voice of falsetto he called out to her, causing both monster and pawn to snap their heads in his direction. "Blaze-chan~! I found you~!"
Instantly Shizuo's face went into it's own carefully sculpted mask. Izaya liked to call it the Psycho Mask. Though there was a leering smile in place, the wide eyes with their shrunken pupils and bowed brows told a different story; a killer's intent. For a brief second he lowered his own mask to flash the wolf underneath at his monster.
"Oh, you're here too, Shizu-chan," He relished the way Shizuo stiffened, knowing that he knew that Izaya's tone implied Shizuo was a crumb he had picked off his jacket and flicked away. All the while Blaze just studied them from the side with indifferent curiosity.
"'Sup, Izaya. Did you need something?" She asked him coolly, subconsciously shifting closer to Shizuo. He didn't let his grin rise any further, instead flipping the mask to worry and concern.
"I see that you're trying to make friends with Shizu-chan," he stepped closer to her. "You really should watch out for him, he's a scary brute with an uncontrollable temper! If Blaze-chan isn't careful she could get hurt!"
His shadow darkened in her eyes, which narrowed and gained another layer of frost to them. She opened her mouth to say something only to be interrupted by the monster himself.
"Oh yeah?" Shizuo chuckled darkly, the glint in his eyes growing stronger as he took an aggressive step forward. "Then the same goes for you flea bastard! I'll show you scary, I-zay-aaa!"
Izaya had to resist the urge to giggle as he danced out of the way to avoid Shizuo's punch. He twirled around Blaze as Shizuo turned and lunged forward again.
"See Blaze-chan? He's a monster that can't be reasoned with."
The girl merely remained rooted to the spot, tracking the two of them with warped eyes, arms crossed tightly over her chest. He frowned, wondering why she wasn't showing any kind of concern for the situation, fear, screaming in terror, anything. Sure he knew that being a Yankee meant she'd seen some pretty horrific scenes, but compared to this?
Izaya could safely and soundly conclude Blaze had to be at least partially insane.
He ran away then, closer to a large and heavy object that could be thrown. Shizuo took the bait and followed after him. If he couldn't get a reaction out of her from something like a little physical violence and rage, then he'd go for a grand display of inhuman strength.
Shizuo roared and leaped through the air, bringing his fist down in a very recently vacated spot. Izaya pranced back and watched as the monster gave one look at the vending machine and tore it away from the wall, lifting it high above his head and wheeling around smoothly on the balls of his feet. He made absolutely certain to be lined up with Blaze when the metal container went flying.
"Do you see it yet, Blaze-chan?" he called while ducking, forgetting himself just a little as the thrill of adrenaline pumped through his veins. The vending machine broke through the opposing far wall, sending up a plume of dust and crumbles of the wall. He pivoted on his heel and whipped out the switchblade as Shizuo charged him yet again. He spared just a brief glance in order to see the look of utter shock on her face.
What happened next was something he had failed to even think of as a possible outcome.
"That's enough!" Blaze grunted as she strode forward, her pace causing her to meet up with him at the exact same time as Shizuo. Both of her fists connected with a head- her right hitting the base of his neck, while her left cuffed Shizuo up the side and knocked him off balance. He gripped his neck and looked up at her through watering eyes.
"What the hell was that for?! Dammit, don't get in my way!" The blonde across from him hissed in a way that made it impossible to tell if the hit had actually hurt him or if he was still thoroughly annoyed.
Blaze stalked forward and grabbed Shizuo by the ear, dragging him off towards the stairs.
"Well for starters, that was a wake up call," she replied crossly. "NCIS, Gibbs Law number 27 or other states that a slap to the face is an insult, but a slap to the back of the head is a wake up call. You, bestie, really needed that."
He recoiled slightly as her head whips around to pin him with a poisonous glare.
"And you. I shouldn't have intervened because you clearly provoked him, and street laws about fights say that you had it comin' to ya, but obviously you were trying to manipulate my perception. And buddy, I don't take well to being treated like the rest of the student population. Don't think I'm that stupid, Orihara."
Izaya blinked before running his tongue over his teeth, which felt longer than the last time. His eyes narrowed and he smirked playfully at her. She frowned and turned away, leading Shizuo up the steps at a rather forceful pace.
"Oh I didn't think you were stupid Blaze-chan," he said softly. "I was just solving your puzzle by finding my corners first."
{/ = /}
"So you're telling me," Blaze watched her partner in crime gesture dramatically around her with amusement. "that you hit Heiwajima Shizuo upside the head, but didn't get punched through the roof for it?."
"Oh he was very pissed off with me so even I thought he would, but the guy is surprisingly chivalrous. Says he won't hit women 'cause it's not right. Though I did get an earful for stopping him from killing Orihara."
Tsuyoi shook her head.
"And then there's the deal with that information broker in your class. If you hadn't caught his attention before, you sure as hell have it now. Bitch, you are playing with fire."
"Tsuyoi," She shook her head and reached for a bottle of soy sauce, pouring it generously over her soba.
"What? You know the difference between a figure of speech and reality, you bloody pyro."
They grinned each other, frosty cyan meeting with inkwell black. Tsuyoi snatched some sushi from a plate and popped it into her mouth, brushing her dark hair out of the way only to have bangs fall back over a scarred eye.
"Anyways," the other girl continued talking with a full mouth. "Be careful. Metaphorical or not, fire is still dangerous. With your impulse control you'll probably end up burning all of Ikebukuro to the ground."
"Geez mom, if you're so worried about me then why don't you come to school with me?"
Tsuyoi snorted, nearly inhaling her sushi in the process. While she coughed and hit her chest she glared at Blaze.
"The day I set foot over Raira's threshold is the day you need to shoot me," she deadpanned. "I haven't kept up this avoidance streak for nothing you know."
Blaze waved her off with a grin, snarfing her food down with great gusto. Tsuyoi screwed her face up and pushed a couple napkins forward and poured a glass of water. Slurping her noodles noisily, most definitely on purpose all just for her beloved friend, she reached out with a free hand to grab it.
For a mere moment her perception slowed down and the glass split into two separate containers, spinning hazily back and forth. Blaze hesitated before reaching for the one she hoped was solid only for her hand to pass through empty air. Her hand landed with a dull thud on the wooden table and twitched with uncontrollable tremors. Inhaling sharply she retracted her hand, grabbing the real cup as she went went past it. The ice clinked gently against the glass because of her shaking.
Closing her eyes she tipped her head back and downed the cold beverage in hopes to drown it out. When she opened them again she was faced with Tsuyoi's stony grimace.
Blaze averted her gaze and stared firmly at her near empty bowl. Both of her hands clenched tightly; the left into a fist and the right around the cup. Though she was grateful her friend liked her enough to be concerned about her, she hated showing a growing weakness.
"What did Issa-nii tell you?" Her friend's voice was quiet, controlled. Blaze clenched her teeth tightly together and began to slowly grind her jaw from right to left. The memories of her visit to the underground physician and long standing friend, who doubled as a guardian in times of need, left a cloying taste in her mouth. It reminded her of the first time she had smoked. The nicotine and smoke piling at the back of her throat and coating her tongue. The way she had gagged until bile had surfaced. Nothing about it had been pleasant.
"He said that all he can do right now is give me some pills and hope that it goes away within the next couple of weeks. Being as it is he's under surveillance for his dealings with the different gangs, so he's walking on fraying tight ropes at the moment."
Tsuyoi slumped back in her seat, rubbing her face tiredly with both hands. They both understood the fine line everyone that was against society walked. One misstep and they would all fall down. Whether it was because someone pushed them off the edge, or they did it to themselves. In the end there was only one place it seemed that all misfits met. And that was a dead end.
She blinked, snapping her head up and plastering a cocky grin on her stiff face. "I'm sure it's nothing. It's probably just my system trying to outgrow something or other. Don't worry about it."
The firecracker opened her mouth wide to let loose a snide remark, her eyes flashing with unguarded fears. But just as quick as her temper was to flare, it died out. Tsuyoi snapped her mouth shut and settled for glaring instead. Blaze leaned forward and rested her chin in her hands, staring smugly at her handiwork. An idea popped into her head and she went with it in order to move away from morbid discussions.
"Oh yeah by the way, Shizuo beat your record for how fast I can piss someone off," She stuck her tongue out and waved a finger lazily through the air.
Tsuyoi sat upright and crossed her arms tightly underneath her bust. The glare increased in potency and a slight shiver ran down Blaze's spine. Her grin became slightly more pointed and she inclined her head a little in order to spur the other girl's rage on a bit further, grin becoming a bit more pointed and eyes more narrowed.
She took the bait.
"Bullshit."
{+ = +}
And thus problems arise... *as the author tries to be ominous the reader suddenly has a squirrel moment* *cough*
So originally Tsuyoi had not been a part of the half-baked plan I had for this story. On account of a partial request from the first guest reviewer (thank you by the way) I took it into consideration and decided that I could make it work.
QOTD: Does anyone ever listen to a song while they're working on a fic (or just reading one) and think that it'd be a perfect anime opening if the story were to be animated? I've been stuck on a song called "Dreamer" by One OK Rock and I've decided that it's officially the anime opening to my fic, weird as it may sound. It's actually fairly good and if you guys have the time then you should check it out.
Anyways, I'll stop wasting your time with an A/N that probably no one's gonna read anyways. Best regards,
-Yopū Yuna