Author's Comments:

Gah, this chapter was bugging me. I like the first part, I'm okay with the second part, and I don't like the last part much because it was rushed, since I really wanted to get this chapter up before I have to sleep (which I should have been doing about two hours ago... oops).

SHIZUO WHY ARE YOU SO DAMN HARD FOR ME TO WRITE?

*sigh*

Oh, and college starts again for me tomorrow (well, today really, since I'm posting this at 3:00 AM). I've only got one class, but it still takes up a decent chunk of my time. Updates may be a little slower. Not that they've been particularly regular anyway, but still.

Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or any of it's characters. I'm writing this for my own entertainment and for that of others.


Chapter 7:

I sent Izaya a dull glare as he spun on his feet by the window. He was happy, apparently, excited even, both of which I wasn't. I had a feeling he wasn't on the losing end of life very often, and all of the success had apparently gotten to his head.

Time for me to make a point.

Walking over to him, I aimed my palm at the back of his head. He caught my reflection in the window, as I knew he would, and he turned to catch my wrist. I deftly moved my other hand in and out of his coat pocket, slipping his flick blade up my sleeve.

He smirked at me, red-tinted eyes sparking in amusement. I gazed at them for a moment, wondering at their color. Humans didn't have red eyes, unless they were fully albino; I wouldn't be surprised if this man had some non-human blood mixed in somewhere, though not nearly as much as me.

I felt a little less lonely at the thought.

Izaya shook a finger at me, clicking his tongue. "And I thought you said you were faster than humans, Edna," he said, sounding almost disappointed, then dropped my wrist and slipped his hands into his pockets.

I hopped up onto the desk again as his eyes widened slightly, his hands grasping for the missing weapon. The trick had worked; one of the simplest tricks I could have used to snatch his flick blade, and it had worked.

I sighed sadly as I let his flick blade slip out of my sleeve and into my hand. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into, Izaya." I held the blade up for a moment, tilting it so it caught the sunlight, then tossed it back.

He caught it easily and turned away from me, going back to his swivel chair. "And you, Miss Finley, have no idea who you're dealing with," he said.

"I don't know much about you, true, but our situations are entirely different, which renders that argument useless."

"What were you trying to prove by taking my blade anyway?" he asked, leaning back in his chair as he turned to face me, "that you could beat me in a fight? I'm not too sure you could." He was frowning, the first time I'd seen him do so.

"Basically, yes." I said, and he raised his eyebrows. "Tell me; how much have you seen of what Celty is capable of?"

He scoffed, "not as much as I'd like."

Now I had to raise my eyebrows. I wanted to ask about that response, but it would get us off topic, if he was even willing to answer. I suspected he wasn't. Either way, he didn't seem much in the mood to chat anymore, so I decided to drop the conversation altogether. I had to think when talking to this guy and I was too tired for much more of that. I needed sleep.

I spun around on his desk and hopped off the other side, walking over to the couch. "I'm going to take a nap."

There was a moment of silence. "You're going to let your guard down around me already? I thought you said you didn't trust me."

I kicked my shoes off and laid back on the couch. "You're the closest thing I've had to an ally in nearly a year, Izaya. If I'm safe anywhere, it's here."

He didn't answer right away after that, and if he ever gave a response, I was asleep before he did.


Shizuo had said he'd be waiting for me in East Ikebukuro Cental Park. Usually we just happened across each other, and when we met up intentionally it was generally in West Gate Park, so the location had surprised me. I hadn't questioned it though; Shizuo probably had a reason. He hadn't said anything about what he wanted to talk to me about in his text, but if Izaya had known about it, it probably wasn't good.

I spotted the blond mop of hair over by the fountain and found a place to park Shooter—legally, since I'd been trying to obey the law recently. Shooter nickered, apparently pleased with my efforts. I thanked him with a pat on the handlebars, then walked over to Shizuo.

He glanced up and gave me a lazy wave as I took a seat next to him on the stone bench. "Yo, Celty; you took a while to get here. Were you on a job?"

'I was just finishing one when you texted,' I said, not wanting to go into details with Shizuo. He'd probably get too angry at the mention of Izaya to explain his original reason for wanting to talk to me. 'So why did you ask me out here?' I asked.

"A couple of foreigners were asking about you earlier," he said, which made me stiffen a little. "They said they'd heard rumors about you and were curious," he continued, "so apparently they asked around and heard that I was friends with you. They saw me in West Gate Park and asked about you."

'I'd think they would have heard even more about you than me,' I typed out half-consciously. I was busy trying to think through what he'd said. They must have been fae, if they'd been brave enough to ask Shizuo.

He grunted, mumbling around his cigarette. "Yeah, I'd think so too, which made me curious. The two of them just didn't feel right, though. Oh," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, handing it to me, "they asked me to give you this."

I hesitated for a moment before I took it. There was no magic on it, at least nothing I could detect, so I unfolded it carefully. There was a sentence of about a dozen words written in the center in neat hand writing, the kind of practiced sweeping script you might see on old letters. It wasn't Japanese, though it was a language I recognized. Unfortunately, though, it wasn't one I understood anymore.

"What language is that?" Shizuo asked, looking at the paper with a confused expression.

My shoulders drooped a little as I typed. 'It's Gaelic. I can't understand it without my head, though.'

"Gaelic... that old language they speak in Ireland and Scotland, right?"

'And Nova Scotia, yes.'

"So these people are from one of those places?"

I folded the paper slowly and slipped it up my sleeve before replying. 'Yes, and I'm pretty sure they're fae, like me. Not many people speak Gaelic anymore.'

"Fae? And you know that just because you know they speak Gaelic?"

I fidgeted uncomfortably; I wasn't going to lie to him, but he was never happy when he learned of me doing anything for Izaya. I explained the situation briefly to him, though I left out anything that would make Shizuo too angry or worried, like the warning Edna had given us. I wanted to warn him to stay away from the fae, but if he thought the situation was dangerous enough, he'd run over to Izaya's office in Shinjuku looking for a fight. Or worse, he'd try to find the fae and fight them himself. Shizuo might be able to take on one, maybe even two, but only assuming the others weren't proficient in magic. I had a feeling at least one of these were.

Shizuo's brows were creased by the time I finished. He crossed his arms and looked over at the quiet water fountain across from us, probably trying to let the sound calm his nerves. After a moment, he let out a loud sigh and took a long drag on his cigarette. "I was wondering about Izaya today. I managed to hurt him last night, but he didn't stick around to try to get me back. Makes me worry that he's planning something again."

I didn't really have anything to say to that, so I just nodded a little. After a few moments of silence, I asked, 'do you work today?'

He gave a curt nod. "In about an hour." He paused, then looked curiously at my wrist, where he'd probably seen me hide the paper. "How are you going to find out what that note says?"

'I'm not sure,' I said, not looking up as I slumped a little in my seat.

He seemed contemplative as he continued to look at the hidden note. I was just about to ask what was up, when he said thoughtfully, "What about that half-fae girl... Edna, was it?"

I started to type something to the effect of 'that's highly unlikely', only to realize it might not be. Edna had said she had some of the inherent knowledge that fae had; Gaelic most definitely was part of that, though it might not be a piece she had. 'You're right, why didn't I think of that? There's a good chance she doesn't speak Gaelic, but it's worth a shot.'

The crease in Shizuo's brow deepened. "If you're going to start texting Izaya, I'm going to leave. I'll start throwing things if I stick around."

I hesitated; I probably shouldn't let it wait, but I didn't want to force Shizuo away, and I didn't particularly want to deal with the note yet anyway. In just a couple of hours, there had been a lot of information to take in and just as many things to worry about. 'No, it can wait a little while,' I said. 'Besides, I need to relax a bit. It hasn't been an easy day so far.'

His honey-brown eyes looked into the visor of my helmet, as if he was searching the eyes I didn't have. "You're not putting it off because you feel guilty that I'd have to leave, are you?" he asked.

I shook my helmet. 'No, of course not,' I said, then wilted a little. 'Well, that's one reason, but it's fine, honestly. I really do need to relax for a while. I should probably text Shinra, though. I've been gone for two hours now; he's probably tearing his hair out.'

Shizuo gave a short laugh, a huff of air more than anything, and smiled a little. "It's a miracle he's not bald yet."

I chuckled as I switched my phone from PDA mode to texting mode.

Shizuo sighed a little then and turned his gaze back to the water. After a moment, he pulled his spent cigarette from his mouth and dropped it onto the cobble stones, grinding it out with his heel. "Sorry," he muttered quietly, his smile gone.

I wanted to reject his unnecessary apology, but I knew it wouldn't make him feel any better, so I just gave his shoulder an encouraging squeeze.


I was a little surprised to receive a text from Celty only two hours after she'd left. I briefly wondered if the fae had found her already, though I quickly decided that was unlikely. In two hours she'd probably just met up with Shizu-chan and had their chat. I had a feeling two hours wouldn't be enough for an encounter with the fae.

Unless she'd had to run from them. That would be an interesting development, though a little too early in the game for my tastes.

That didn't appear to be the case though; the message just asked if Edna was available to talk.

I glanced over at the still sleeping young woman. The top of her head was facing me, so I could only see her hair and her feet from my angle. I could wake her up—which would probably elicit an amusing reaction from her—but that would be more of an interruption of my research than I cared for just then.

'No, she's sleeping,' I typed back, 'and I'm not in the mood to wake her up.'

Celty sent back a message almost instantly. 'Any idea when she'll wake up?'

'No, though probably not for a while.'

Her next text took a little longer. 'Let me know when she wakes up; it's somewhat urgent.'

Somewhat urgent? Just what had the fae talked to Shizu-chan about? The urge to find out almost made me reconsider waking Edna, but I still decided against it. 'Hmm... if only somewhat, you can wait a few hours. She and I will be in Ikebukuro tonight. You can talk to her then.'

Another pause. 'Fine. Let me know when and where.'

I put my cellphone down and went back to my research. Come to think of it, I needed to get Edna a cellphone. I doubted she had one, and as much as I liked the idea of all contact with her having to go through me, I was pretty sure it would get tiring after a while.

Did she even know how to use a cell phone? I was pretty sure she'd been out of the technological loop for a while, though I didn't know for sure how long. She'd hinted at about year; that seemed likely.

Hmm... what color phone should she have? Pink? Purple? Somehow I didn't see the feminine colors working with her. Her coat was thick and dark green, her shirt was dark gray, and her pants were brown. Nah, all too dull. Her eyes were blue-gray; that could work, but finding a phone that color would be difficult.

"Edna Finley," I mumbled, rolling the name around in my mouth, getting a feel for it. An idea struck me. Chuckling, I turned my full attention back to the computer.

Names really are fascinating things.


Author's Comments:

By the way, the place Celty and Shizuo met up appears several times in the series. The only occurrence I remember for sure is where Celty spots Mikado sitting alone and goes to talk to him. That's the same bench and fountain that's in this chapter. Is that even called a fountain? I know there's another less-specific word for that, but I couldn't remember it. Water fixture? But that makes me think of something small inside a building. I don't know. Fountain works, I guess.

Replies to Reviews:

Aviantei: Indeed, Izaya is fun to write. Mood swings, random thoughts, and a bit of insanity. Lol, stalkers. Hmm... makes me wonder how Namie might interact with them... I actually haven't considered that yet. *is attacked by dozens of little plot bunnies*