Author´s note: Thank you all who have been following my story! I know is kinda late, but this story was almost one year old the last time I updated, so I will use my AN this time to thank all of those who have kept up with me since the very beginning, and for all of those who just recently started, let's wish for steady updates this year! We start May with an update! Yeeeey! Thanks to Naria for beta-ing this and helping me come up with some ideas that, I assure you, you will like! Now, for the anons!

ShiZayaUsUkSinJa (who signed as "Guest" but I know it's you): Thank you for your lovely review! You really flatter me since I'm not that wonderful, but I'm glad you find my story amusing enough to think that of me! I really feel you when you say school is time consuming. I'm the same right now, between college, work and the story. But I manage to find time at work to keep writing. The last three chapters were wrote at my work, lol. Hope you like the new chapter too! (BTW, I'm kinda curious as of how you know when I update the story xD But if it's a secret, its a secret x3)

Guest: I'm glad you think this story is lovely! I'll try to update as soon as possible! But life sometimes is a bad friend that keeps you away for a while xD Enjoy the next chappy!

Chapter 7

Shizuo´s POV

"Do you need my help?", I couldn't help but ask after waiting outside of the cave for twenty minutes already.

"I can handle this by myself, impatient brute", Izaya answered back from inside, but judging by the tone he was using, the one who was getting impatient about the situation was him.

I smirked at that. I'll give him another ten minutes.

Weeks have gone by now and finally the Blue Moon Festival had arrived. It was a really big event since this festival only happened once every two or three years, when a calendar year would happen to have thirteen full moons instead of twelve. And such a rare astronomical phenomenon was quite popular at the moment, so the whole city was working extra hard this year. Or that's what I've heard from Tom and the citizens.

This was by no means my first Blue Moon Festival. I have attended quite a few since my childhood, most of them with my brother in tow. But considering who was accompanying me today, I had a feeling that this one would be interesting.

I stood up and dusted the sand from my pants, a little impatient myself. I know I said ten minutes, but who cares?

"The festival will be over by the time you're ready, flea!", I stormed to the entrance with all the intention to go and get Izaya, but right at that moment he stepped out of the rift.

His eyes immediately darted to the sky and the sea that we had right in front of us, and I could clearly see the happiness and relief wash over his face. How long has it been since he last saw the sea? How many months now?

Of course he must have missed it. Will he go back, now that he was out of that cave? My heart clenched at the thought.

I must have been making a weird face, because when I returned from my deep thinking, Izaya was looking at his clothes somewhat embarrassed.

"If I look weird, it's your fault", he commented, glancing the other way.

I blinked at that and then chuckled, he must have thought that my frown was because of his clothes.

"It's actually the opposite. If I didn't knew better, I would have thought you were human", I said truthfully, ruffling his hair a little to get rid of his insecurity.

And I meant that; Izaya looked even more human now with the clothes on. He was wearing the trench coat that I saw along with a pair of black slacks that Celty picked out. I scanned his outfit and I was proud to see that he had managed to tie his shoes properly and button down the coat by himself.

After he had mastered the art of walking (and running, and jumping around like a real damned flea), I had took it to myself to teach him the basics of human interactions. Not that I was an expert or anything, but there were some things that even I could teach him. And the result was now in front of me.

"Perfectly normal, except for those marks on the sides of your head", I added, running a finger over them.

I had actually never touched them before. I was surprised to find that they had a slippery feel to them, and that they were actually embossed on his face. Izaya flinched at the motion and I immediately retrieved my hand.

"Don't touch them!", he hissed, taking a step back and covering them with his hands. "They are not just marks, I use those to breath underwater"

"Sorry. I didn't know", I excused myself and then looked at them for a few seconds. They are gills? "You can say they are ugly tattoos", I proposed.

He sent another glare my way before sighing and letting it go. I smiled at that, the festival was more important than our daily bickering, it seemed.

"Shall we go?", I asked, already hearing the music starting to drift from the market plaza.

He only nodded, finally entering his silent mode. We started to walk to the port and he immediately latched himself to my right arm. I sent a look his way, trying to figure out the reason for that, but he was just looking everywhere but me. I urged myself to keep my eyes on the road ahead, trying to ignore the warmth that was threatening to set my face on fire.

oOoOoOoOoOo

We reached the entrance of the city and I could feel Izaya vibrating with excitement at my side. I would occasionally send a sidelong glance to my right just to see what kind of expression he was making. He was just like a little child experiencing a lot of things for the first time, and even though this festival was nothing new to me, I found myself smiling more often than not over the silliest of things. Even though Izaya had vowed not to speak, his expressions were more than enough to tell me where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do.

We spent the first hours of the festival just walking around the food stalls, trying some of the food or simply watching how they were made. It was mainly peaceful, only disrupted by the occasional tug on my arm to indicate me that Izaya wanted to go where his finger was pointing.

However, I did notice that whenever a stall seller got too close to us, Izaya would use me as some kind of shield and warily eye the seller. I guess that as much as he claimed that the humans were interesting and how much he wanted to come to the festival, he still seemed to be cautious around others. It reminded me of those first encounters I had with him...

"Shi. Zu. Oh!", a strident voice called me from somewhere behind, interrupting my thoughts.

I turned around and Izaya did the same with a curious expression. We spotted a large black man waving one of his arms in our direction. The man stood out like a sore thumb, not only because he was well over two heads taller than the rest of the crowd, but also because he had a big sign attached to his back that served as advertisement for his stall.

"Yo, Simon", I greeted, waving a hand when we got near him.

"Ah, Shizuoh, good to see you here", the man said with a relaxed smile, a gesture that seemed out of place with that giant wrestler body of his. "The festival is good for you. And you know what else is good for you?"

I didn't even need to think my answer for that, but it wasn't like Simon was going to let me voice it anyways.

"Sushi!", he answered himself, handing me a flyer that announced his stall at the festival and also had a fifteen percent off on a next purchase at his restaurant.

I had met Simon during my many trips to the market, searching for Izaya's tuna rolls. Kadota had seen me purchasing sushi at the other stand and recommended me Simon's restaurant in the commercial district. The man was a foreigner and a little on the nosy and eccentric side, but his prices were good and Izaya seemed to like the food there, so I quickly became a regular.

"Thanks Simon", I answered offhandedly, putting away the flyer in one of my pockets.

Izaya's curiosity had finally overpowered him and he got out from behind me to eye the sign over Simon's back, his eyes wide, recognizing the words of his favorite food.

"What is this?", Simon asked, crouching a little to get a better look at Izaya. The sudden movement set Izaya on alert and he immediately tensed. "You with a friend, Shizuoh?"

"Something like that", I mumbled, ignoring the fact that I didn't know what to call my relationship with Izaya. "This is Izaya, he is new to the city", I quickly explained, placing a reassuring hand on Izaya's shoulder.

"Nice to meet you! Shizuoh's friends are my friends!", Simon said with that broad smile. "Good for you, Shizuoh!", he suddenly added and I turned to him, confused. "Friendship is a beautiful thing. Friends are good for the soul", Simon had somehow gotten behind us and was now crushing us with his arms over our shoulders. "Do you know what else is good for the soul?"

"No, Simon. We really don't-", I tried to interrupt him, knowing very well where this was heading.

"Sushi!", the man completely ignored me. "Come, I give you good sushi. Sushi good for the heart", he had started to push us in the direction of his stall, and all of a sudden, the man didn't know how to properly speak english anymore. "The heart is very important, like love", he kept on mumbling incoherences that I had tried to decipher before, but now just let them fall on deaf ears. "Sushi very good for love, too"

I turned a little to see what face Izaya was making over this, but I found that he looked rather eager by the idea of getting some of his beloved sushi, his previous cautiousness gone from his face. I sighed and let myself be pushed by Simon.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Here you go. A serving for two!", Simon exclaimed, putting a varied selection of sushi rolls before us.

"Simon, I don't-"

"Oh no, no, no", he said, waving his hands in front of me. "You never say no to sushi. Sushi good", he added as if that explained everything. "Sushi good for love, too", I remembered he said something similar on our way here.

I looked up to the black man and saw that he was clearly sending us a meaningful smile this time. I frowned, successfully controlling the blood rushing to my face.

"We're not like that", I scoffed, looking over my shoulder to where Izaya was, but he was way too absorbed by the sushi in front of him to be paying us any attention.

"Sushi good for any kind of love", Simon stated, finally getting away from us to continue with his self-advertisement.

I rubbed my temple, turning to face Izaya. He was happily munching on his favorite tuna roll, but I could clearly see that there were other rolls already missing from the plate. The image calmed me and I rested my chin on one of my hands.

"Is it really that good?", I asked, seeing how he was practically glowing while devouring the tuna.

He turned my way, as if noticing me just now, and nodded eagerly. Then he looked back to the plate and shoved it to me. Want some?, my mind did the translation.

"No thanks", I quickly declined, shaking my head.

He propped a brow at that. Why?

"I don't like sushi. Or raw meats in general", I answered the silent question. But the interrogation mark didn't disappear from his face after that, so I continued. "I have more of a sweet tooth".

He looked surprised for a second before his grin returned to his face along with the mocking eyes. So childish~, I swear I could hear his voice on my head.

"Tch, don't laugh", I muttered, as if the other had really spoken. "You done? We have much festival yet to cover", I reminded him, getting up from the table.

Izaya huffed and quickly stuffed his mouth with the rest of the roll before running after me. I bid Simon goodbye and was glad to see that Izaya had relaxed enough to even wave a hand at Simon while we were walking off.

oOoOoOoOoOo

After the short (and forced) break, Izaya seemed to have relaxed around the other humans as well. He even had gotten near one of those one-man-band by himself to try and figure out how they were handling so many instruments at once. It was quite amusing, seeing all the kids surrounding the guy, and then the grown up that was Izaya watching with the same illusion as the children. After he was satisfied with that, we went to the game stalls.

The festival was divided between the food court and the entertainment plaza, where the game stalls were set up, along with some stalls with puppet plays for the children and some others playing music for the collective dance taking place at the center of it all. All in all, it was quite the show everybody was making; be it the kids running after each other or people laughing, drinking and dancing, it looked like the festival was a success.

While admiring the show taking place in front of me, I had lost sight of Izaya. When I turned again to look for him, I found him with his head ducked in one of those water barrels where you have to fish apples out of with your mouth. Some children were already surrounding him, admiring how he could hold his breath for that long and I had to refrain the impulse to smack my head before grabbing him by the hood of the coat, pulling him out. Izaya looked surprised for a second before recognizing me and giving me a innocent (and fake) smile.

"What are you playing at-?!", I was about to try and smack some sense into his flea-sized brain when someone tapped my shoulder.

I turned around to check who it was while Izaya could only crook his neck to the side to see.

"Yo, Shizuo", it was Tom.

"Tom", I greeted back, quickly releasing the flea.

"I'm glad to see that you decided to join us", he sent a glance to Izaya's disheveled appearance. "I… hope you're not causing problems", Tom added, sending an apologetic smile to Izaya.

"If anyone is causing trouble here, it's this flea", I remarked, pointing at Izaya.

He frowned and, since he couldn't speak, opted for sticking out his tongue.

"And who might he be?", Tom asked with a smile, curious at the interaction.

"Oh right. Tom, this is Izaya; Izaya, this is my superior I've talked to you about", I introduced them.

"Tom Tanaka, nice meeting you", Tom stretched a hand at Izaya and the other shaked it firmly this time, his hair starting to stick to the sides of his face.

I took notice of Izaya's wet hair and got a towel from the apple stand, putting it on his head to dry it. Izaya tried to resist me at the beginning, but was quickly overpowered by my relentless ruffling. When I removed the towel, he was glaring at me, but with his hair standing out in all directions, the glare had a rather funny effect instead. I snorted at his attempt to kill me with his eyes, which only made him try even harder.

Tom laughed at that moment, drawing our attention again.

"I was worried that you may be feeling lonely at the festival, but I see that I had nothing to worry about", he said, looking at us with an oddly satisfied smile. "Well, I'll leave you two to your things", he said, starting to walk off in the direction of the collective dance, where a woman was already waiting for him. "See ya"

I watched Tom go, a little confused at his words, but Izaya simply waved a hand at the retreating man with a smile of his own.

"Oh, by the way", Tom added, looking over his shoulder. "I saw Vorona looking for you before", he looked at Izaya briefly before continuing. "You should avoid the food stalls for a while", he finished, turning away again.

I had no idea how those two statements related to each other. I turned to look at Izaya to see if he had somehow understood what Tom meant, but he was actually frowning at Tom, as if something had upset him.

"What's wrong?"

He turned to me with the same upset expression and opened his mouth, as if he was actually going to speak this time, but suddenly looked unsure about something and sighed, closing his mouth again. He shaked his head and smiled at me.

The parade of expressions confused me, but I decided against asking anymore, even though I could tell that his smile just now was a fake.

oOoOoOoOoOo

It was already late and we had almost finished visiting every game stall in the plaza. The whole tour had been quite fun, watching Izaya fail miserably at most of the games, and making sure that I didn't miss any chance to rub it on his face.

The only game that was left was the famous throwing knives course, which we were nearing now. That game was pretty popular, for some reason, so there was a moderate crowd surrounding the course and putting some extra pressure on the participants. I sent a daring glance at Izaya and he immediately catched it, putting his prideful smile on and stepping right on the middle of the course, barely hearing the instructions from the clerk.

However, the flea turned out to be really good at throwing knives. He started hitting the targets with a precision that bordered on scary, getting the attention of those already around us and some more that were nearby. When he was (finally) out of knives and targets, he turned around just to receive a round of applause and cheers from all the people that had gathered to see him.

The crowd of people intimidated him, but his expression quickly softened seeing how all these people were actually congratulating him and giving him friendly punches and hugs, some even ruffling his hair. I moved away a bit, to try and see the whole scene. He definitely looked like he belonged there, surrounded by other humans and laughing with them. I couldn't help the smile that took over my face.

When he received his prize, some kind of knife that could fold over, he turned around to look for me. From where I was I could clearly see the panic that momentarily crossed his face before his sight fell on me and he quickly moved to where I was, gracefully dodging the people that were on his way like he was swimming.

"I hope you were not thinking of me while throwing those knives", I spoke up when he was within hearing range.

He feigned surprise at the comment before putting a hand to his chest, as if I had offended him with it. How could you think that?, his voice played in my mind.

"Because I know you", I smiled at that. Didn't I?

He froze for a moment, as if the words had really taken him by surprise. He then raised his head to look at me for a second before smiling a real smile, that got me by surprise in return. Izaya then grabbed my wrist and started to walk in front of me and into the backstreets, and since the alley was a little narrow, I was not able to see his face until we got out.

oOoOoOoOoOo

We had arrived to a place of the city that was not so far from the festival, but was currently empty due to everybody still enjoying the celebration. It wasn't as illuminated as the plaza either, but thanks to the full moon, it was pretty clear out.

Izaya led me to one of the lonely benches that were facing the ocean and we sat down, admiring it for a while.

Suddenly, one of the clouds that were over the moon moved, giving way for the moonlight to fall on the waves, which resulted in a sparkling effect. I heard Izaya gasp at my side, and I turned my head to see him. His eyes were amazed by the ocean and his cheeks and nose were pink, most likely because the night air was chilly. Still, I found myself mesmerized once more.

"Beautiful…", the thought that usually remained a thought, decided to make its way through my mouth before I could stop it.

Izaya immediately turned to look at me, surprised and it could be just wishful thinking from my part, but he looked a little more pink than before. I quickly ransacked my head for an excuse, feeling how his eyes were boring on mine.

"The ocean", I said, looking right in front of me.

I watched him from the corner of my eye, but he remained like that for a while before he relaxed a smile, suddenly scurrying his arms around my right arm and resting his head on that shoulder, facing the sea.

"Yes, very beautiful", he said in a whisper, finally speaking after so long.

I almost jumped at that, suddenly faced by the reality when he spoke. I took a deep breath and relaxed, but when I dropped my gaze again, I catched a glimpse of this forlorn expression on his face.

"Do you miss it?", I asked, watching him intently.

"What?", he turned to me with a unknowing smile.

"The ocean", I felt his grip on my arm tighten slightly. Or maybe it would have been enough to harm any other person, but not me.

"A little", he answered looking at the sea again, his voice barely audible, but still there.

I was expecting that answer, but actually hearing it squeezed my chest uncomfortably. I took a deep breath before continuing.

"Will you go back?", I managed to get out.

"I can't", he said after a while, straightening up and letting go of my arm. I was about to ask him what he meant by that, but he continued on his own. "There is something I lost, and I need to get it back. Otherwise, I will never be able to leave this shore".

"You lost something?", that was new. "What is it?"

"My soul", he answered, his gaze looked very far away.

The answer left me dumbfounded. He turned to look at me and noticed the confusion in my face, chuckling at whatever expression I was making.

"Ah, I guess it would be kind of difficult for a human to understand", he sent me a somewhat sympathetic stare. "Sirens are very different from humans", he said slowly, like you would to a child. "Unlike you, who have very short lifespans, we can live a few hundred years. Because of that, I guess, you humans have ethereal souls that are one with your bodies, while ours are condensed and we carry them around, in the form of a pearl"

"...and you lost yours?", was the only thing I could think.

"You could say it was stolen from me", he said bitterly.

"How...?"

"I may have made someone mad out there…", he responded vaguely, shrugging it off as if it was nothing.

The information that was finally being provided to me was overwhelming my mind. I was having a hard time grasping the meaning of Izaya's words. He had lost his soul? Was that even possible? And who did he made mad enough to steal his soul?

"Don't you, like, need your soul?", from my understanding, souls were actually pretty vital, weren't they?

He looked at me, incredulous.

"Are you stupid? Of course I do!", he exclaimed with a laugh. "If my soul gets to far from me, and I die…", he lowered his tone. "If a siren dies away from his soul, they will turn into sea foam", he said this as if it were part of a children's lullaby. A creepy lullaby.

"And you are sure that it is in Sagena?"

"I can feel it", he lifted his eyes to the night sky. " I can't pinpoint where it is exactly, but I know it's here"

A silence settled in.

"And you will go back?", I insisted. "Once you get your soul?"

"Maybe…", he turned to look around us. "Humans are so much fun, though", he muttered with a weird smile.

"Can't you stay?", I quickly added, not even sure of what I meant myself. He looked directly into my eyes and scanned them as usual.

At some point of the conversation, we had closed up the distance between us (or maybe there was none since the beginning), and the once loud voices were now mere whispers that nobody would have been able to hear unless they were us.

"What? Will you miss me if I leave?", he asked back in a joking tone, a smile accordingly decorating his face.

"Maybe…", I whispered, raising a hand to his cheek.

Izaya seemed taken aback by my answer and the sudden caress, but otherwise didn't make a move to remove my hand.

"Shizu-chan…", this time, that irritating nickname sounded so intimate. He raised a hand and put it over the one already covering his cheek.

The heat radiating from the flea's hand added to the one I was already getting from his blushing cheek gave me some kind of confidence that I was lacking before and I moved my lips to Izaya's slightly opened ones, but I stopped before going all the way. I didn't want to do something that was not mutually agreed, so I waited for Izaya to make the final push if that was what he wanted. My heart almost stopped when I noticed Izaya moving in to meet my kiss...

But just before contact, as if by some whim from a higher being, a sudden light engulfed Izaya's lower half. I quickly removed my hand from his face to shield my eyes from the glow that had so rudely interrupted us. After a minute, the light disappeared, only leaving behind a surprised Izaya with a pair of wide glowing eyes and a torn pair of black slacks, his tail sticking out from what used to be one of the legs of the pants.

Such timing…

"I guess we abused the amount of words...", I commented, the disappointment dripping in my voice.

He threw me a condescending smile, removing the ragged slacks and throwing them away.

"It lasted five hours, huh?", he mumbled to himself, taking mental notes once more.

When Izaya's tail was free again, I quickly took off my own jacket and wrapped it around the slippery limb, trying my best to cover it up so that no one would see it on our way back to the beach. We had mistakenly gotten too far from the cave and now we would have to be extra careful so that no one would notice us.

Once the tail was completely covered, I picked up Izaya from the bench. As usual, his hands laced behind my neck, bringing our faces close to each other. Our eyes immediately met, the feeling from the previous situation still fresh on our minds. We stared at each other for a little more than necessary before the sound of a nearby tripping drunkard snapped us back. Izaya intelligently went for the hood of the trench coat (that was thankfully still intact) and covered his face, concealing his glowing eyes, and after that I started to walk back to the alleys.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"And?", I said after a while of walking. "Did you imagine that the festival would be anything like this?", I asked, half out of curiosity and the other half just to initiate a conversation.

We had walked past the market plaza and were now almost out of the city. Luckily, the festival was nearing its end and those who were still awake had gathered at the entertainment plaza for the grand finale, making it easy to travel the alleys without having any unpleasant encounter.

"No", he finally answered back after a short silence. "It was much more fun than I thought it would be", I couldn't see his face, but I could hear the smile in his voice. "Thanks", this part was muffled and almost unintelligible, but Izaya was so close to me that I could even make out his breathing over the rest of the night sounds.

I took a deep breath and continued walking towards the port, feeling how Izaya decided to rest his head on the crook of my neck, his breath calm. He must be exhausted, I thought while watching him. So many things could have gone wrong, but I was glad we had carried this out. I liked to think it had helped us, in more ways than one.

"Superior Shizuo, is that you?", I froze in midstep, feeling how Izaya's breath hitched at the sudden voice.

Crap, was the only thing I could think of.

oOoOoOoOoOo

OtPr: We are done! I must say I enjoyed writing this chapter. I specially enjoyed writing Simon xD He's one of my favs character in the series, but he doesn't get as much spotlight as I would like, but that's part of his charm too! The things are going to get hot soon enough, and I hope you keep liking it! What did you think of Izaya's "lost thing", hmm? I used several references from the real world as well as part of the original story of The little mermaid, if you want to check it out ;3 Read you soon!