Shizuo and Kasuka met each other's eyes as they heard the knock.
It couldn't be time yet, could it?
Slowly, Shizuo headed towards the door. Kasuka followed behind, staring curiously as his brother reached for the knob.
Suddenly, the thought of Izaya being behind that door flashed through his mind. He hesitated briefly, then shook his head, reminding himself that the flea wouldn't be doing any of this.
As the door opened, he still couldn't help but close his eyes and mentally prepared himself for who might be there. But then he opened his eyes and...
"Shinra?"
"Hey Shizuo, hi Kasuka." He put a hand up in greeting.
"What are you doing here? You aren't that guy are y-"
Shinra pushed past him and set a large binder onto the table. Shizuo shut the door and watched the seemingly-rushed doctor.
"I came here as soon as I could." He opened up the binder and flipped a few pages until he reached a particular page.
"Yuhei Hanejima. Occupation, Actor."
He began to read loudly as Shizuo and Kasuka walked to the table to look over his shoulder.
"Status, To-be-terminated. Details on his abduction are pending. Actions are to be carried out within one week of this task having been presented."
Shinra looked up at the two men to be sure that they were paying attention. Shizuo's eyes were widened while his brothers still remained neutral, with knowing. The bodyguard grabbed the binder and looked at it closely.
"So it was true..." He turned towards the underground doctor. "Are those people who are after my brother...are they no longer a threat?"
Shinra sat down at the table and sighed. "Yes. It's safe for Kasuka to leave. It has been confirmed. I brought everything that I was told to." He turned a page in the binder. "But...there was a cost to all of this." The page showed information on two men, obviously the people behind the threat.
"Cost? How do you mean?" Shizuo sat at the table and looked at the photographs on the page. "...Bastards..." He muttered to himself as he pushed the binder away.
"Weeellll...you're probably surprised to think that I am the one who supplied you with this information."
The blonde nodded as his brother patiently stared.
"But I'm not."
Kasuka turned his head. "I figured. Your voice sounds much different than that of the person I spoke with."
Shinra grinned at this comment.
"Shinra, if you aren't this person, then where is he?"
The underground doctor put a hand to his head and slumped his shoulders. "Remember I mentioned that there was a cost to all of this? Well, something...something sort of...happened..."
"Happened?" Shizuo watched the brunette with slight impatience.
Shinra adjusted his glasses as he tried to find the right words.
"Last night, Celty was assigned a transporting job. She went in and took care of everything she was assigned. But when she was ready to leave, she noticed two men...these two, in fact..."
He pointed to the page.
"They were outside of the building. They went inside, then exited shortly after. They looked suspicious,"
More suspicious than that man's usual clients...Shinra thought.
"She watched them for a while and overheard some of what they were saying. They had mentioned something along the lines of a certain someone being 'easy to put out'. When Celty heard this, she rushed back inside and found her client lying on the ground, unconscious."
He paused.
"So she brought him to our place and now he's there, recovering. It would seem that he had been tased." He nodded towards the two silent men. "I came in his place. He had told Celty a bit about what was going on before he had been attacked, and she told me. I knew that I had to get this information to you quickly."
Shizuo sat in silence, taking in what had been said. This was all happening so fast. The man, who had possibly saved his brother's life, was risking his own.
"Shinra, you said that these men attacked that guy. That would mean that they're still around. If they got away and-"
"No, Shizuo. You don't get it. Their plan has been demolished. They've failed. The real person in charge of this potential tragedy is currently behind bars." He nodded towards the binder. "The men who you see in the file used to work for them, but they aren't much of a threat to Kasuka anymore because their boss is in prison. They don't work in the industry now, therefore, they have no access to even getting close to your brother."
"Not much of a threat? That makes me feel so much better." The bodyguard rolled his eyes as he stood to face away from the doctor. "Well, I guess if it's safe again. As long as you feel okay with going back now, Kasuka. It's up to you."
The young actor nodded his head. "I have some pretty reliable bodyguards that are always with me. Including you, brother. You're the best one yet." Shizuo blinked and smiled widely at this comment. "Thank you for having let me stay here with you."
"Anytime, Kasuka. I'm glad that I can be of some help to you."
The brunette slowly opened his eyes and quickly closed them again upon the brightness of the light. He soon made another attempt and was then able to adjust.
Where...
The lighting in this room wasn't dark like he was used to at his home when he normally woke up. It was almost like a room for patients at a hospital...
That was when he realized where he was.
Shinra's place...what happened to me? He sat up and looked at his arms. There's nothing weird attached to me like needles or anything, so it must have been minor...Although...I do feel slightly dizzy...
Izaya slumped back into his pillow and allowed the dizziness to fade. When it did, he looked to his side at the doorway. When was someone going to be around to check on him?
A seemingly panicked dullahan suddenly burst through the door, accompanied by Shinra, who was just as nervous as she.
"Izaya! You're awake!" He ran to his friend's bedside and grinned down at him.
"Hey Shinra..." He looked away to his hands. "What happened to me?"
Shinra adjusted his glasses as Celty typed something frantically on her phone.
"-You were tased by those two men from that file you had. I brought you here after you fell unconscious.-"
Izaya nodded. "They're too stubborn for their own good. Heh." He shrugged and laid deeper into his pillow.
Just as soon as he had relaxed, something crossed his mind which made him bolt upright.
"The file! I have to get it to-"
"Already taken care of, Izaya. Please try to calm down." The doctor watched as his patient's shoulders rested.
"How did that go?"
"I went in your place to report the information. Kasuka has already returned to Europe, where he has been for the past few months filming. He has stronger protection now, as well. Everything's okay."
Izaya held the underground doctor's gaze for a long while before breaking it to stare at his hands again.
"I see. Thank you, Shinra. And thanks to you too, Celty. For bringing me here."
Shinra exchanged what would be glances with the headless woman, smiling. Izaya rarely thanked anyone, after all.
"One more thing...did you tell them that it was me?"
Shinra's smile dropped into a serious expression. He hadn't told Shizuo that it was, indeed, Izaya who had pretty much saved his brother. He couldn't think of how the blonde would react, so he hid the details.
"No."
Izaya nodded once more at the response, keeping his attention to his bed sheets. Shinra sighed and sat down in a chair nearby.
"I didn't tell them because I didn't know how he would react. He wouldn't believe me if I said that you, of all people, were behind this. He probably would think that it were a fraud, or a joke of some sort."
Izaya frowned.
"You know how Shizuo gets with you. Don't act like that's not expected."
He paused when he saw how unusually...depressed...Izaya seemed to be. He just kept staring at his hands.
"Jeez Izaya, if I had known that you wanted me to reveal it was you, I would have. I'm just surprised that you would want that. I mean, Shizuo and you aren't exactly on the best of terms. Why would you wa-"
"Shinra," Izaya cut him off. "I have my reasons. But I'm not mad at you. You didn't know, and I appreciate that you brought this over to them." He began to move his legs off of the bed when he suddenly felt light-headed.
"This again..." He laid his head on the pillow and let out a long sigh. "Shinra, please tell me that I'm not going to suffer long-term waves of dizziness..."
"You won't. The effects of the taser, including soreness throughout your body, should have passed by now. You've been out for about three days, after all."
The informant frowned. "Three days? But why am I dizzy then-" Izaya mentally hit himself for asking something with such an obvious answer.
Shinra answered anyway.
"You haven't eaten in a few days and you've been sleeping the whole time. So you can guess why. Celty will get you something to eat while I run a few tests. I suggest that you try to sit up again and keep yourself that way for the time being. Oh, and drink this,"
He set a glass of water on the side table near Izaya's bed.
"You're probably dehydrated."
He stood up and left the room, Celty typing something else on her phone. She showed it to Izaya.
He let out a weak chuckle.
"Now why would that be the case?"
The dullahan, if she had her head, would probably be rolling her eyes at him, unconvinced. She left the room and closed the door softly behind herself.
Izaya sighed. The words that he had read played themselves in his head as he pondered the thought.
"-You must really want to gain Shizuo's trust, don't you?-"
He spoke quietly so that no one would be able to hear him from the next room.
"Yeah, I do."