Story: Read Between The Lines, Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara!/DRRR!

Ever since he could remember, Heiwajima Shizuo had hated every single thing he could think of about Orihara Izaya, with a passion! From his mocking smirk, to his auburn red eyes which had a look of evil intent written all in them, to his know-it-all arrogant attitude, to his choice in 'occupations', to his obvious screwed up hobbies, to even how he was always bouncing around Ikebukuro like a cat, and made him look like a dog chasing him around, and falling for stupid childish traps and how he constantly ended up 'sniffing him out'.

He hated how he could never live a peaceful life due to him, and how he could never concentrate or focus when he even suspected that the "bastard flea" was somewhere around.

Beside of that, he was always sneaking and twisting his way around every damn question that was thrown his way like it was everything was some sort of jacked up 'game', even though it was pretty obvious that most things were. But what did he hate the most about him, you might ask? Honestly, there were several things at the top of his head of which he couldn't even slightly choose between because they completely annoyed him in equal measures.

For one, the guy could never be trusted, but that one was pretty much a given.

The second, was something obvious but more personal. He was usually an overall forgiving guy, but he was almost certain he would never forgive that bastard fleabag for all the problems and torment he'd caused him over these past however many years.

Three, he really hated violence; he despised it. He absolutely loathed it, but that flea's presence, alone, had seemingly been enough to trigger him every time, anymore, let alone just hearing his name being said, because it reminded him of many things he wanted nothing more than to just forget about all together.

Again, he hated violence, yes, as he'd stated so many times before he'd quickly lost count. However, more importantly, the existence(or, at the very least, presence) of the one, which was always more or less intentionally provoking him use what he hated and likely to simply spite that fact, just plain pissed him off more than anything else.

He had to admit, as he had found himself compelled to follow after said information dealer, that, perhaps, it wasn't Izaya he hated, after all, but, rather, the fact that he'd somehow wound up being the center target for most of the bastard's annoying-as-hell antics.

But as a sudden thought passed through his mind, he slowed down, and stopped, before the slight stomach turning realization dawned on him.

What did he know about Izaya...?

He was a technically illegal information dealer.

He had two younger twin sisters, Kururi and Mairu.

He lived in Shinjuku.

His birthday was in early May, sometime.

He likely also had some ties with both the Dollars and those weird sword wielders, as well as the Awakusu-kai and some of the other Yakuza bastards out there.

Him and Shinra were supposedly friends since... junior high, was it...?

Just as he had hated Izaya, Izaya hated him with a passion, and was obviously far more fixated on their "rivalry" than even he was, himself.

In other words, despite their supposed 'ties' with one another, he hardly knew much anything at all about his rival and enemy, Izaya, other than random basic information, and that much was proven, especially after that...

Initially, he would have just blown it off as Izaya being the typical jackass he always was, if only he hadn't seen those many jagged horizontal, cuts, scars, burns, scratches, and, not to mention..., the many horrible words that had no doubt, over a period of at least ten or so years, been etched into the skin of his forearm. Most of the words had scarred, but still... who does that kind of thing to themselves...?

Running a shaky hand through his fake blonde hair, he let out an exhausted sigh, deep in thought on what he actually needed to do right now.

"...Damn it. I'd probably only end up makin' shit a lot worse for him, if I went after that flea, right now... Not that I really care, but... dammit, I'd still probably end up feel guilty if something actually did end up happening to Izaya, as of right now..."

Unfortunately, he hated it, but to 'deal' with said person, he realized he'd have to find out what he was even dealing with, anymore. Wrapping his sense of 'logic' around Izaya... purposely tearing his own skin to pieces, over and over again... it just didn't seem possible or like something Izaya would ever do. He supposed he had always sort of seemed a tad bit masochistic, considering he had never once actually seemed afraid of him, per se, just a bit cautious cautious around him, and somehow even amused by him. Despite his strength, and even after getting hit by all those vending machines so many times, that blood sucking tick had always seemed to come back, as if asking for more. However, even so, he'd never once suspected him to actually have been the type to self harm. He was always too egotistic, and too proud to let himself give off those kind of vibes.

Then again, he, himself wasn't all that damn smart about recognizing things like that, was he? Plus, this was Izaya, the walking mask of many different contradicting expressions. How the hell was he suppose to have known or even guessed that the guy had been doing that kind of thing to himself all that time?!

It was the fleabag's fault for not letting anyone in, and constantly being as dishonest as he was!

So why did he somehow feel... even slightly to blame for it...?!

Why the hell was he going out of his way to possibly find a way to 'help' him, whom he always thought he had hated...?!

Moments passed, before he then realized why.

...They were both human, in the end, weren't they...?

Punching a nearby wall, he cursed allowed. "Kuso...! You flea bastard. I swear, you'd better be damn grateful 'cause I'm doing this for you more than myself, 'cause, unlike you, I know how to be honest with myself, at the very least! So, you bastard, with that said, I'm gonna help you help you whether you like it or not, even if it's the last this I do on this earth, damn it...!"

Suddenly, as a sick sense of euphoria came upon him, he smirked slightly at the thought of how amusing this situation as it was could end up being. However, at that point in time, he had no clue how bad Izaya's problems had gotten, nor did he know how difficult said task might actually prove to be.

On the other hand, he didn't like liars, nor did he ever want to become one. He had already sworn to himself that he would see this all the way through to the end no matter what. Sure, he could go back on that word right now and not a single person would know about it, but, once again, he refused to turn into that, especially... so early in this 'game' as Izaya might try to call it, even though it was most assuredly not one.

Thinking back to his earlier thoughts, Shinra's and Izaya's friendship came back to mind.

"...I don't really know if they were that great of friends or not, but... Shinra would probably know more about him than anyone else... Even though I could potentially ask Kururi or Mairu... Actually..., I think I'd I actually rather pass on asking them anything about that..."

No, he didn't particularly have anything against the twins, but, nonetheless, they weren't just any siblings. They were the Orihara siblings. More importantly, they were Orihara Izaya's twin sisters.

He most assuredly would admit to caring about them to some degree, but... he still wasn't able to say he could have ever fully 'trusted' them, for fear of Izaya's very likely-to-be bad influence on their development.

"...Tch. Guess I'll just go to Shinra's, then..." having finally cooled down, he let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding back.

And with that thought it mind, he, turned around making his way to the apartment of his technical friend-since-elementary-school.

~ End of Chapter

Translations:

Kuso: Damn(it?)...!

A/N: I know it's probably not much, but it is something... So what did you think? Gomen~ A lot has been going on, but hopefully, I'll be able to write some more soon for you all, ne?

Domou arigatou~ =w=

Jaa matane~!