I am so sorry for the late update. This chapter has given me some problems and even though I'm not completely happy with the way it came out, I'm okay with it. There is a lot of angst on it's way so be prepared.

I'd also like to let everyone know that I do in fact have a tumblr account under the same name as here and would love to hear from you. I also have made a tag for this fic under"#fic: turmoil reigns". It doesn't have much of anything yet but I will be posting anything about this fic under it as well as when I go back and edit the previous chapters.

Would love to know everyone's feedback and any suggestions for the story. Enjoy!


Nearly a month had passed by and the attack on the duo had continued. Their assailants had even grown brave enough to target just Shizuo, but he'd always walk out of it with no more than a scratch or two. Izaya, on the other hand, had trouble almost every time he left his apartment. Word had spread to just about everyone in the world of crime now about his injuries and they all were taking advantage of that. While he had been healing, Shizuo had gone everywhere with him since Izaya was usually unable to handle more than one attacker at a time. This was a fact that his enemies were well aware of.

He had healed for the most part, with his side still being the problem, and once again could take care of himself. He might not have been at full health just yet but was once again a force to be reckoned with. The informant no longer needed the blonde to leave the apartment with him, even though sometimes he had a habit of doing it anyway.

Although, it all began to drain him to the point he would drink nightly again; Izaya refused to let the bastards get away with all they had done and put him through. Izaya Orihara was not one to be trifled with, too bad for his attackers that they would have to learn that the hard way. It was due to his revenge that had him researching more than just for his job. He was gathering information about every single person who had crossed him in the last month and was scheming how to make them all pay for their actions against Shizuo and himself.

The informant did all of this without telling the blonde. Izaya knew that Shizuo would not be happy if he ever found out, so he figured it was best for them both if he just kept it a secret. The blonde would just overreact and stop the informant from putting these dogs in their place.

Sure he was putting himself in danger but if he just allowed things to progress as they were without doing anything, matters would only get worse. He'd appear to be weak and that it was alright for these acts of aggression towards him to continue. Izaya was tired of feeling weak and was done relying on Shizuo to bale him out of trouble when he couldn't handle it himself. It no longer happened as often but even once was enough. Izaya was a grown ass man for heaven's sake, he should have been able to take care of himself.

On that particular day, there was only the clicking sound of a keyboard to fill the silence of the informant's apartment. He was currently searching through files he had found on one of the smaller groups that had attacked him a few weeks back. A twisted smirk pulled at his lips as the final piece he needed for his current plan of action to deal with the pathetic humans was laid out in front of him. Izaya would make them all regret ever crossing him.

The raven started dealing with those on the bottom of the totem pool and would be working his way up from there. He had already made great progress and was looking forward to completing what he started. Once he got to the bastard that had begun all of the attacks, Izaya wasn't sure what he would do. Dealing with the mafia would be a lot more complicated, but by the time he even got to that point there might not have even been a need to deal with them. The Vongola family, hopefully would have already dealt with the matter themselves by then. Izaya could at least hope that would be the case. His last encounter with Byakuran was not something he wanted to be put through again. Even thinking about that man sent chills up his spine.

A grin appeared on Izaya face once more when the number, he needed to continue his plan, sat on the computer screen in front of him. He quickly dialed the number and waited patiently as he listened to the continuous ringing of the phone in his ear. It only took a few rings before a woman's voice could be heard through the speaker. "You've reached Tomblin Insurance, this is Emilia Newman. How may I help you?"

A smirk pulled even further at Izaya's lips before he spoke. "Yes, is this Mrs. Newman, the wife of Victor Newman?"

"Yes, has something happened to Victor?" The obvious worry in her voice was even that much sweeter to the informant.

"Then I'm glad we reached you. This is the Ikebukuro police department. Mr. Newman has been insistent that we contact you. He has a man at gunpoint and won't see reason. He has demanded to speak with his wife within the next hour or he will kill the hostage. I'm not sure what the cause of this behavior is ma'am but would it be possible for you to make it to the old warehouse district as soon as possible?"

"Oh my goodness, I'll be right there!" The woman's voice sounded panicked as Izaya could hear her fumbling around with something while she remained on the phone.

"We appreciate it ma'am, we are trying to keep out of sight as not to invoke hostility. He is currently inside the warehouse closest to the dock."

"Thank you officer, I will be there as soon as I can." With that the woman hung up.

A laugh escaped Izaya's lips as he spun in his chair. Things could not have been going any smoother for him in that moment. It had felt like far too long since he had felt in so much control of a situation. A giddiness overcame him as he grabbed his coat and nearly ran out of his apartment. After finalizing his plan of what to do to the leader of one of the group of his attackers, he had only needed a few more pieces to his game.

The phone number had been the only thing he had been missing at the time and now that he had it, he set his first pawn into place and was ready to continue. He would use the wife as bait to lure Victor Newman, a member of the blue squares, to the warehouse district where he would teach the man the consequences of crossing him even if an innocent had to get hurt in the process.

Izaya practically skipped down the sidewalk once he was off the train. He was nearly where he needed to be and his excitement grew the closer he got to his destination. There was no difficulty with anyone on his way to the warehouse other than a few strange looks he received, due to his crazed laughter. It should not have come to a surprise to people, since this was not the first time that Izaya had appeared like a complete lunatic in his favorite city. He would never grow old of the reaction from his dear humans.

Now that he stood in front of the correct warehouse, with only the sound of a frantic woman calling into the empty space, Izaya's expression grew serious. As soon as he walked inside, he closed the door behind him, and locking the door along with it. This way there would be no chance the woman would run out on him, not that she'd be able to outrun the raven in the first place.

"Mrs. Newman!" Izaya called out, not feeling the need to find the woman when she was likely running around looking for her husband, whom was not even there yet.

It only took a few moments before the woman came running from the room on his right. The panicked look that crossed her features was exactly what he was hoping for. Her worry made her reckless, something he had now known firsthand, making his job all that much easier. His pawn was moving across the chessboard just as he expected, now if only the other piece would move as he predicted it would.

"Who are you? Where is my husband?"

"We spoke over the phone Mrs. Newman. As for who I actually am, that you will just have to wait and find out for yourself." Izaya began as he took a step closer to her. "Your husband will be joining us shortly but it's not quite time for that."

"What are you talking about? He isn't here?"

"Bingo! Don't worry about that though, we're going to have some fun of our own while we wait."

"You're not..." She gasped as she couldn't finish her sentence.

Izaya just rolled his eyes at the implication of her words. "No, I'm not going to do that."

"Then what-"

"You ask too many questions," Izaya interrupted before pulling out his knife and pointing at her. "Now if you wouldn't mind, please walk into the room on your right."

It was obvious to the raven that she was contemplating running for the door as she eyed the space above his shoulder, so when she actually darted for the door Izaya was prepared. He moved quickly after her, sweeping his leg into hers, and causing her to fall onto the hard cement floor. Izaya originally had not planned on actually harming the woman but she was trying his patience.

"You are just making the situation worse on yourself. If you just learned to listen we wouldn't have any problems." Izaya spat at her as he grabbed a handful of the woman's hair and pulled her to her feet.

"What do you want from me?" She cried out as she let the informant lead her to the room he had mentioned earlier.

A laugh escaped the raven at that. "Who said anything about wanting anything from you? You are merely bait my dear. It's your husband that I'm after. He thought that there would be no consequences for crossing me. He hurt me and now I plan on returning the favor."

A gasp followed shortly by sobs were the only sound that escaped the woman as Izaya led her up a set of stairs and into another room where he sat her down and tied her to a chair. There was no other words spoken between the two, which was perfectly alright with the informant. It was better that he didn't have to listen to her blubbering any longer.

Izaya decided now was the time to put the next step of his plan into action. Everything was slowly falling into place and now all he had to do was get the perpetrator here, then he would be able to cross off one more name of his list of targets. He was getting that much closer to finally getting closure for what he had been put through. If he was lucky, the raven would once again feel like he wasn't just a pathetic piece of trash that everyone could just kick around for their own pleasure. He was better than that, or at least that was what he used to believe. If this was what it would take to not feel like he was drowning in a dark sea of despair any longer than so be it.

He dialed the number of his current target and placed the phone to his ear. He glanced at Mrs. Newman while he waited for her husband to pick up the phone. Izaya wondered if the woman even knew what her husband had gotten himself into. Did she know that the man she slept next to every night was in a street gang? That the man tormented those who were at their lowest? If she didn't, then it wouldn't be long now when she found out everything.

"Hello, who's this?" A gruff voice was heard from the speaker of the informant's phone.

"A very impatient informant." There was a silence for a moment, that Izaya assumed was the man piecing together who was calling him.

"Orihara?"

"Yes, and now that you realized who is calling you Newman you might want to shut your mouth for a few minutes." Izaya's tone became dark as he remembered exactly what the man had done to him with his buddies. "I don't take being attacked lightly Newman, in fact I always return the favor. Now then, let's get to business. You will come to the warehouse district, at the one closest to the dock, within an hour to settle the score."

"What if I chose not to?"

"Well then, I'll just have to settle our score with your wife instead. It would be a shame to hurt such a pretty face."

"You're bluffing."

"Am I?" Izaya then moved over to Mrs. Newman and put his call on speaker phone while moving the phone closer to her face. "Why don't you say something dear?"

"Victor! Please help me!" There were sobs escaping the woman as she yelled to her husband.

" Emilia! You bastard! You better not have hurt her." The voice over the speaker growled out in anger. It just made a laugh escape the informant as he took the device off speaker phone and placed it back to his ear. That was the type of response he was looking for. That would make getting the man there so much easier.

"Well that all depends on you Victor. Now listen carefully because I will not be repeating myself again. You will come to the warehouse district within the next half hour, because I am a very impatient man. Any minute later and I will have to punish your wife here for your misdeeds. Don't keep me waiting."

With that, Izaya hung up the phone without giving the other man a chance to say anything else. He didn't want to wait any longer than he had to to get this done. There were bigger plans he would need to put together for the rest of his list and he needed all the time he could spare to pull everything together.

Thankfully, it didn't take the full thirty minutes he had given for Victor Newman to actually show up. It wasn't difficult to tell when the man arrive, what with the guy making a very loud entrance by slamming the doors open that Izaya had taken it upon himself to unlock while he waited. The yelling of his wife's name was the next clue as to that it had actually been the raven's target who arrived.

"Now let the real fun begin," Izaya smirked to himself as he strut out to the walkway that overlooked the bottom floor. It was convenient and one of the reasons the informant originally chose this specific warehouse. It kept him out of direct contact with his prey.

As a welcome, Izaya threw one of his blades down to land in the ground next to Victor's feet, missing by only an inch. There was a short gasp of surprise from the other man before his gaze had turned up to where Izaya stood.

"Where is she you bastard!" Victor yelled after setting his sights on the informant.

"She's a bit tied up right now."

"Bastard!"

"That's what I hear," Izaya laughed manically.

"What do you want Orihara?"

"What do I want? Just to settle a score. You brought harm to me so I'm just returning the favor." Izaya hopped down on one of the stack of crates that had been abandoned with the building and then down to the floor. "Did you really think you could just get away with crossing me? I could ruin your entire life in just a few mouse clicks or phone calls. Honestly you should have finished me off, now it has come back to bite you."

"If that's all this is about then why bring Emilia into this?"

"I needed a way to get you here, she will be released after this is all done and she will be just fine. You on the other hand..." He trailed off with a smirk pulling at his lips.

"You are a sick bastard."

"You really have no idea," Izaya spoke before lunging forward in one swift movement, slashing a long gash across the man's chest, before sweeping out his feet again and knocking the man flat on his back on the dirty ground.

"Fuck, you bastard! We should have killed you, even though we were ordered not to."

A boot clad foot came down harshly on the man's side before he knelt down with his knife pressed against Victor's throat. "So what were your orders then?"

"Just to incapacitate you. Try to put you out of business."

"Is that so?" Izaya cut the man across the face before returning the blade to his neck. "Did you know I could cover up a murder if I truly wanted too, even planting evidence that would lead to the arrest of your wife as the culprit? It seems to me that everyone is unaware of how good I am at what I do. Perhaps I should make an example out of you and remind them."

"P-please, I'll do whatever you want. Please don't kill me."

"You should have thought about that before." He pressed the blade of his knife enough to slightly puncture the skin underneath.

"Izaya?" Another voice spoke from the entrance, making the raven whip his head up and stare in shock at the sight of Shizuo standing there. "What the hell is this?"

Izaya glanced down at Victor before looking back at the blonde. This was not what was supposed to happen. Sure the informant wasn't going to actually kill the man, just rough him up and scare him but it likely looked really bad to the bodyguard.

"What does it look like Shizu-chan? I'm getting revenge from the bastards that made the last month of my life hell." He spat at the man underneath his blade.

"Izaya..."

"No! He deserves to pay for what he did! They all do!" Izaya spat angrily before pressing harder with his knife and earning a cry of pain from the man underneath his blade.

"Izaya stop!" Shizuo said before moving over to him.

"He deserves it! He shouldn't be allowed to get away with what he has done." Izaya's voice was filled with venom as he glared down at the one of the men who made his life even more of a hell than it already was.

When he felt a strong hand grab his arm and pull him away from Victor he struggled against the grip. Shizuo pulled the raven to his feet, allowing for Victor to climb to his feet without the fear of Izaya lashing out at him.

"Where's my wife?" Victor managed to gasp out as he held his neck. The words had the blonde raising an eyebrow and an angry scowl cross his features.

"Up the stairs and down the hall from the door on the right," Izaya said softly, anger still laced in his tone.

Izaya a suddenly became aware of Shizuo again as he was being dragged towards the door. He pulled his arm, only for the grip to tighten around it. A yelp of pain left Izaya as he hadn't expected the blonde to hold his arm tight enough that would easily leave bruises. The blonde hadn't actually hurt him since high school before everything with his uncle had happened. It sent a cold sickening feeling through the informant, causing Izaya to lash out and cutting the blonde.

"Let go of me!" Izaya shouted as his chest tightened to the point that he had trouble taking normal breaths of air. Old memories had begun to resurface and all the raven wanted to do was run. Instead, he tugged and beat on the arm that had been holding his own, wanting to be free of the touch.

As soon as Shizuo let him go, Izaya quickly distanced himself from the blonde as he tried to control his breathing. The familiar feeling of drowning was setting in yet again as his limbs felt heavy to the point that he was barely able to hold himself up. He did not notice the worried expression on the blonde's face as he closed his own eyes and leaned against the wall to try to pull himself together. His mind was racing along with his heart as the lingering feeling of rough hands crept along his skin. Izaya knew that it had only been Shizuo but that's not what his mind was thinking about in that moment. Suppressed memories resurfaced and played out vividly in front of him. All he wanted to do was fall to his knees and possibly vomit out what little there was inside of his stomach.

"Izaya?" Shizuo's voice could be heard somewhere above the surface of the informant's thoughts. It wasn't enough for the images to leave him or for his breathing to even out and chest to stop hurting. Everything was just made worse when Shizuo reached out to him and barely touched his shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" Izaya wailed, the panic evident in his strained voice. His eyes had shot open and glanced at Shizuo as he placed a hand on his chest. He could feel the tears in his eyes but he stubbornly refused to let them flow. "Don't. Fucking. Touch. Me." He repeated as he gasped for air.

"Izaya, I didn't... I mean...I..." Shizuo let his hand return to his side as he just looked at the raven with concern and confusion. They were both caught up with what was going on with the informant that neither had noticed anyone leaving the building, even if the woman had still been quietly sobbing.

Izaya just stared at the blonde as he tried to calm himself. The only one here was Shizuo, there was no one here who wanted to hurt him. It was only Shizuo. He hadn't actually meant to hurt the informant, had he? Izaya eyed Shizuo carefully, unsure at that moment of what the brute's actual intentions were. The blonde could be waiting for a moment like this since the beginning. At the thought, something in the informant broke and everything came crashing down around him. Could that have been the truth? Was all of this a lie?

"You..." Izaya wheezed out as the air had only just started to return to his lungs.

"I'm sorry Izaya, I didn't mean to-"

"Save it you lying bastard!" Izaya spat as his mind continued to repeat the same words and scenarios over and over. How could he have been so stupid?

Shizuo looked dumbfounded at the venomous words. "What?"

"Don't act like you don't know! Was this all some sick joke to you?"

"What on earth are you talking about? You're not making any sense." Shizuo said as he took a step closer to only have the informant take a step away from him.

"You know very well what I'm talking about. How could I have been so stupid?" Izaya spoke as his body begun to shake. "I actually trusted you. What a bittersweet betrayal."

"Betrayal? Izaya what are you-"

"Are you really going to keep talking like you have no idea what's going on? How stupid do you think I am? I know this has all been a lie! You couldn't do any lasting damage so you had to go and do this. Waited until the time would be right to finish the job, right?" Izaya spat at the blonde as he felt his heart break.

"Izaya what the hell-"

"Just shut up! I'm tired of listening to your lies!" Izaya yelled as he felt a tear run down his face. "And I thought I was the manipulative bastard..." The last words came out in a whisper as he continued to struggle to return air to his lungs.

Shizuo reached out again but Izaya just pushed him away and shook his head. "You really are a monster like everyone says. I can't do this... I never want to see you again." Izaya voiced without looking at Shizuo before he broke off in a run.

He ignored the shout of his name or the footsteps that had followed after him. Izaya's whole body felt like it was shutting down on him but he kept running until he no longer could hear the blonde following him. Once he was sure he was alone he leaned against an empty wall, out of sight of others, and completely broke down. His sobs were silent as he finally let the tears pour down his face as he slowly slid down the wall.

As his mind raced it was difficult to decipher which of his memories were true and which his mind had tampered with. Each and every one leading to that moment in the warehouse where he thought he saw the truth about the blonde. Why had Shizuo been there in the first place? He shouldn't have known where to find him, unless he had been following him the whole time. It looked like the Heiwajima brothers had at least one thing in common; they sure knew how to act.

The ringing of the raven's phone pulled him out of his thoughts for a moment until he saw who was calling him. Ignoring the call from the one who sent the ache to his chest, he turned off his phone. He had no desire to speak with anyone and any business related calls could wait. His mind was in no condition to do his job effectively anyway.

When the pain through his chest dulled to a small ache, he got to his feet. It had gotten dark while he sat there so he decided it would be best to just head home. He hadn't completely failed in getting his revenge, knowing the fool would no longer try anything against him but that day did not feel like a victory.

The walk home took longer than normal as he walked at a slow pace, barely able to keep his legs moving at all. They felt like lead as he dragged himself to his apartment building and up to his door. Without even thinking, he immediately walked to his kitchen and grabbed his liquor from the cabinet before walking back into the living room where he plopped down on the couch and threw back the bottle, not noticing the burning in the back of his throat. His body felt completely numb from earlier events and soon enough his mind would join it, leaving him the broken shell of a man that he now was.