-Chapter 7-
-Pawns on a Checkerboard-
"English"
"Japanese"
[PDA]
'Thoughts'
"Sanity calms, but madness is more interesting."
~John Russell
Dark brown red eyes reflected off of the monitor towards the man at his desk who watched his secretary pace up and down the room with the phone to her ear.
"Yes I'll be there first thing in the morning." she said closing the phone and grabbing her things.
"Aw~ you're leaving me Namie-san~?" he asked playfully knowing the answer already.
"You know already so why bother asking?" Namie turned around coldly and headed for the door. Reaching the door she stopped and turned around sharply.
"You have a guest downstairs... A girl with a black hoodie.. I'll let her in on my way out." With that she opened the door, left the apartment and walked into the elevator. When she reached the lobby she opened the security door and looked at the girl.
'What is that guy up to now...' Namie thought looking at the weird red haired girl in front of her who hid under her hood. 'None of my business... I have to check on Seiji before I start searching for that failed experiment..'
"You here for Izaya?" The girl nodded. "Go on in he's expecting you..." Namie pushed the door open before walking off without looking back, after all she was off to see her beloved brother.
Izaya watched the door open as his uninvited, yet long awaited guest walked in.
"So~ What can I do for you~?" He smiled watching her every movement. He was going to enjoy putting her through the test he had been preparing to put her through ever since he decided she was interesting~
"I want you to make me a Dollars member..." She stated firmly locking eyes with the scheming information broker.
"Why do you think I can do that?" Izaya asked intrigued, nobody had figured out on their own that he took over the adding of members.
"Because you can." Her face hardened like a spoiled child asking for another cookie.
"Let's say I humor you," he paused, "what will you do once you're a member?"
"That's none if your business." She sat down on his couch with her arms crossed.
"Oh but it is, Mi-chan~" she glared at his smirk.
"How." She demanded.
"Tsk-tsk. Didn't your parents teach you how to ask nicely?" Laughter resonated off the walls of the large room as Izaya frowned. Regaining her composure Mika checked to make sure her hood was still up then she flattened out of her jeans.
"Seems that I-kun doesn't know me too well~" it was her now her turn to smirk, as Izaya frowned at the truth of her words. It had been near impossible to find any information on her except for her passport and recent enrollment at Raira, which frustrated him to no end; until he met with Yamada-san, the night before, who had some... interesting… information about the girl in front of him.
"Say Mi-chan~" no way was Izaya going to let this girl win the higher ground, so he decided to begin his test.
"What?" she held a triumphant smile as she looked at him.
"Why don't you take your hood off?" this made her eyes go wide and wiped away her annoying smirk. That made Izaya feel better as he continued, "It's rude to keep your hood on inside someone's home you know~" his smirk grew wider as she pulled her hood closer to her head in fear.
"What are you hiding~ Mi~cha~n~" he whispered in her ear making her jump to the other side of the couch away from him. Izaya laughed, this was one of the reasons he loved humans. Their overreactions to simple things, the need to go overboard without even meaning to.
"I-i'm not hiding anything….." she stuttered the lie, her face a bright shade of red that only added to Izaya's mirth.
"Then you won't mind me taking off your hood~" she slapped his hand away roughly.
"I'm not here to play games with a flea..." She glared at him, "I'm here to get information."
"And as payment for the information you are about to receive~ I would appreciate it if you would take off your hood~"
'Flea? Seems like she spends time with that protozoan.' He though a bit ticked off that his new pawn was being tainted by the being he hated most.
"Something else...?" She tried to barter, backing away from the figure that loomed over her, in a desperate attempt to avoid taking off her hood. But what Izaya wants, he gets. He easily pinned her to the wall she unintentionally cornered herself in and he grabbed her hood and pulled it off her head revealing two dark brown cat ears. Izaya released her letting her drop to the floor defeated, as he skipped back to his desk twirling with delight. Mika's phone rang in her pocket announcing a new text message with the password and information for the Dollars website.
"Oh and Mi-chan~" his voice sickly sweet as he flaunted his power over her, "I want to use that favor you owe me~"
She looked back up at the building as she walked towards Shinjuku station, and could see his outline as he stood in the window watching her leave. A shiver ran down her spine as she pulled her hood back over head. She sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her, she wanted to be back in the familiar white padded walls of her lab prison, away from all this unnecessary fear, but the desire for freedom overpowered her fears, that and the fact that she would never let Raizou know that she was doubting her decision to come to Japan.
Never...
Ever...
Ever...
Izaya watched her leave the building, dark red hair contrasting the dun city colours. With Namie no longer under his employment the apartment was silent as a grave. The sudden silence unsettled the dark haired informant even though he'd never admit to such a petty and human emotion no matter how brief it lasted. Once the girl was out of his sight he turned off his computer and walked over to the coffee table were a checkerboard was set up with all of his playing pieces. He took the glass pawn and placed in in the center next to the black queen. He chuckled lightly. Ikebukuro would never know what hit it. After placing his new piece on the board he grabbed his fur-trimmed jacket putting it on as he walked out the door of his apartment. Once in the streets he headed for Ikebukuro placing his hands in his pockets. He froze. Something was missing. His switchblade. Where was it?! His eyes grew wide as he realized who the thief was.
"Oh good little pawn~" he sang before laughing out loud as he walked towards Ikebukuro. He knew that he was going to enjoy this, a lot at that~
Mika walked out of the station towards West Gate Park, her eyes glued to the Dollars web page on her phone. As she continued to read through different posts a thread caught her eye. There was a group of people looking for a rumored cat eared fairy in Ikebukuro. That made her stop in her tracks forcing people to move around her, which earned her a couple of glares and weird looks. Upon reading and seeing that there were no clues pointing to her being the fairy she continued walking.
'Raizou should be arriving home soon... Hope he won't suspect me ditching when he sees my uniform with me not there...' She thought looking at her watch slightly paranoid, but her growling stomach pushed her thoughts away. Looking at what remained from her lunch and dinner money for the day, she regretted sneaking to Shinjuku almost instantly. She only had a couple of hundred yen, sighing she headed into the nearest convenience store, grabbed a simple onigiri and tea before quickly paying and walking out with no money left. She eagerly opened her onigiri as she walked but as soon as she was about to bite down she found herself being pushed to the side, forcing her to drop the precious food and grab on to her hood.
"HEY! What the hell-" she froze the moment she saw the yellow bandana wrapped around the male's neck.
"E~h? You got'a problem girl? HUH~?" the thug asked looming over her with a twisted smile that made her shrink back in disgust.
"No! Sorry!" She jumped to her feet and ran. Raizou's warning echoed in her head:
'If somebody wearing a yellow bandana walks towards you, run...'
So she did just that, much to the thug's displeasure. As she sprinted through the twists an turns of the city she was able to not only lose her chasers but she managed to lose herself along the way. She pulled out her inhaler and after calming herself down she began to walk around and explore her surroundings. Her stomach complained loudly making her wince; although Lady Luck had graciously allowed her to keep the tea she bought, tea couldn't compare to a perfect ball of onigiri. After taking a sip of nice cool bitter Macha, she stowed the bottle back into her hoodie pocket she walked into a small park with a small play structure and swing set. Sitting down on one of the swings in the now almost vacant park, she watched as the last few mothers called for their children in order to bring them home in time for late dinner, playing with her new boss' switchblade.
Ope~n…...
Close…...
Ope~n…...
Close…
Ope~n…...
Close…...
Three hours earlier-
Dark auburn eyes locked with the brown eyes of his victim as the informant stopped twirling around. He watched the range of emotions that played across her face as she tried to regain her composure, and chuckled as she timidly stood back up from where he let her fall.
"Oh and Mi-chan~" his voice sickly sweet as he flaunted his new found power over her, "I want to use that favor you owe me~"
"What do you want." she hissed at him.
"Aww~ Don't be so upset little neko-chan~," he teased watching her tense at the pet name, "I only want you to work for me~"
"Why…?" she asked surprised.
"Well my secretary got her old job back~" he started.
"So you're lonely…?" she walked back over to the couch and sat down running her hands through her dark red hair.
"Of course not." he replied curtly. "Things don't get done by themselves do they? Think of this as a test, if you will~"
"A test…" she echoed picking up a shogi piece off the checkerboard, before placing it back in it's spot. "For your game right?" she said picking up the black queen and placing it in the center of the board.
"You could say that…" Izaya watched her intently as she picked up the various pieces on his game board, always placing them exactly where they were before, except for the queen, that stayed in the middle where she had moved her.
"This will be me?" she asked picking up the glass pawn that stood next to the board, "If I pass your test that is~"
"Why would you think that?" his eyes opened wide with glee, she was passing with flying colours.
"Because you still don't know my worth. You know you want me in your game, but am I a bishop? A rook? A knight? Or maybe I'm a queen…?" she placed the pawn back on the table and stood up, heading towards the door. She stopped suddenly and turned around looking directly into the devils eyes.
"Raizou never finds out." she commanded making Izaya's smirk grow.
"Rest assured your secrets are safe with me~" he replied darkly placing an exaggerated stress on the 's' in 'secrets'. She turned around and left slamming the door behind her without even giving him a backward glance.
His voice followed her out to the elevator:
"You start tomorrow Ne~ ko~ Cha~ n~"
"I-ZA-YA-KUN?!" the voice echoed across Ikebukuro as vending machines were seen floating above the buildings before crashing down into the street.
"Oya~ Gomenne Shizu-chan~" Izaya teased skillfully avoiding public property as they flew towards him, "There is somebody I need to see, therefore I don't have time to play with you~"
"IZAYA-KUN! How many times did I tell you to stay out of 'Bukuro!" ignoring the angry blonde Izaya turned a corner hopped the fence and ran out the other side of the alley, this helped only to further enrage Shizuo who followed after his opponent and once on the other side of the alley picked up the nearest object, which just so happened to be a light post, and threw it towards Izaya's retreating form like a spear. Just as the light post was about to hit it's mark, the target jumped out of the way and ran off into the crowd leaving Shizuo without a visual.
"THAT DAMN FLEA!" he yelled before charging through the streets desperate to find Izaya and rid the world of him once and for all. Meanwhile, Izaya peeked around a building corner and laughed despite obvious annoyance his eyes contained as his enemy ran past him in the opposite direction he intended to proceed in. Once Shizuo's threats could no longer be heard Izaya rounded the corner and leisurely walked into Russia Sushi.
"Izaya~ Long time~" came the familiar broken Japanese.
"Long time no see, Simon~" he replied taking a seat at the bar, "I'd like a box of the usual."
"Sushi good. Making Shizuo angry bad. Not good for business." Simon said scolding the information broker who laughed heartily at his words.
"Don't worry I'm not staying here long enough for the brute to come back."
"Good. Eat sushi. Lots of sushi." Simon said handing him his order plus an extra portion of sushi. Izaya frowned slightly paying for both portions, knowing that it would be best to appease Simon in current conditions.
"I'm off~" Izaya announced as he jumped off his chair and waltzed out of the restaurant.
"Itterashai~!" Simon called after him before turning his attention to other customers.
Izaya walked through the slowly darkening streets popping delicious pieces of fatty tuna into his mouth, which he ate with genuine pleasure. He walked past a mother who walked out of a playground hand in hand with her son dismissing them off as normal humans, but something behind them caught his attention. Dark red on black along with a timely repeating flash of silver. He laughed at his luck and walked towards the swings. The girl ignored his approach as he got on the swings next to her but unlike her he stood on the seat rocking back and forth like a child.
The girl stayed quiet playing with his switch blade unaffected by his childish presence. Her stomach, however, growled loudly at her complaining about its emptiness, causing her cheeks to redden in embarrassment as Izaya laughed and popped another piece of delicious fatty tuna into his mouth. She kept her head down ignoring her stomach's complaints and his presence.
"I'll give you some sushi if you give me my switch blade back~?" He offered holding the second portion of sushi above her head. She looked up and watched hungrily as the box of sushi swung back and forth.
"What do you say~?" He coaxed dangling the box closer to her. She grabbed for it and he pulled it up just out of her reach chuckling.
"My switch blade, please~" he said holding out his other hand expectantly.
"Fine..." She sighed placing the blade into his waiting palm; and in return Izaya dropped the box graciously into her lap as he stowed away his switch blade.
"Why are you here?" She asked between rapid bites of sushi.
"Business~" he replied.
"Sure~" she jeered taking a big bite of sushi, then continued after swallowing, "You just wanted to get your switchblade back…"
"Why would you say that?"
"Your not so scary without it." she stated simply picking up a piece of fatty tuna out of the variety pack of sushi.
"How so?" he asked just as she was about to devour the fatty tuna.
"I don't know…. you just don't seem that scary unarmed." she replied slightly annoyed and prepared to pop the succulent fish into her mouth. However, before she was able to do so the fatty tuna disappeared from her hand and reappeared as Izaya placed it in his own mouth.
"OI!" she yelled looking up at him angrily, but stopped as soon she saw his genuine smile.
"You must re~ally like fatty tuna~" she laughed uncontrollably, causing Izaya to glare down at her playfully with his trademark mischievous smirk.
"You have a little something here~" he said motioning to one side of her face. Her cheeks reddened as she wiped the side of her mouth.
"Is it gone?" she asked a bit worried.
"Nope~" he jeered removing a piece of rice that stuck to the other side of her face.
"HEY! You lied!" her face almost as red as her hair as she shoved him off his swing. He laughed dropping down so that he was sitting on the swing next to her. She glared daggers at him, which made him laugh more until he was out breath and couldn't laugh anymore. Slowly calming down Izaya wiped the tears that had formed in his eyes, still chuckling lightly. Before Mika could say something her phone rang making her jump and grab for her phone.
"A- moshi moshi?" "I'm okay Shinra! If Raizou's there tell him I'm fine~!"
"Yes~ I'm on my way home now…" "I just had sushi…"
"Yeah don't wait for me with dinner…" "I'll be safe…" "YES! I'm on my way!"
She hung up laughing slightly. Stowing her phone away she stood up holding the now empty box.
"Thanks…" she mumbled facing Izaya.
"What kind of God am I if I don't take care of my humans?" he stated.
"God?" she questioned cocking her head to the side confused.
"Sou~ I'm a God that loves all humans~!" he explained throwing his hands out in emphasis.
"There is a flaw." She stated folding the box to make it smaller as she slowly walked away.
"Oh~?" Izaya jumped off the swing and followed after with a cheerful bounce in his step. "What flaw?"
"Never mind-"
"No no no no no~ Pray do elaborate~" despite his cheerful tone there was a dangerous undertone that seemed to order her to elaborate, or else~.
She sighed before beginning, "So you are a God that loves all humans, right?"
"Yes~"
"I can see where your love from humans comes from but-" she paused before continuing, "Well… then what about monsters?" Izaya was taken back a bit, he never expected somebody to even claim that they understood his love, much less that they would make the distinction between humans and 'monsters'.
"That's a good question~ hmmm~" he put his hands on the back of his head walking along side her. "Monsters are like very special humans~"
"Hmn…" her reply could barely be heard as she kept glancing at the time and checking her surroundings.
"'I'm lost…'"
"Huh?" she looked up at the information broker who looked at her in his peripheral vision.
"That's what you're thinking…" her face paled making him chuckle. "It's written all over your face Mi-chan~"
"Is it...?" she mumbled avoiding all eye contact with him,
"Ye~p. I can help you out again~" he began
"No!" she yelled jumping to the side her arms forming an X. "No more favors!"
"So mean~" he laughed, "I'll ask you a question~"
"Just one?" she asked lowering her guard slightly
"Promise~" he urged.
"Fine." She held up a finger in his in his face, "Just. One. Question." She said stressing every syllable, before turning on her heels and continued walking,
"Oh~ Mi~chan~" he taunted, not following her.
"What?!" she said spinning around to face him.
"Shinra's house is this way~" he pointed backwards in the other direction.
"Shut up!" she commanded her cheeks flushing in embarrassment once again. Izaya laughed waltzing down the street towards Shinra's apartment, with Mika following two steps behind him.
She ran into her room quickly, in order to avoid anybody in the house, and slammed the door behind her in the process.
"Mika~ Are you okay?" Shinra's concerned voice came from the other side of the door as she stuffed her face into the pillow on her futon.
"Yes!" She managed to yell back.
"You sure..?" His voice thick with a kind of paternal worry.
"Yes- I-I ate too much sushi..."the lie passed smoothly through her lips.
"If you need anything ask... Okay?" His voice a bit more relieved but still worried.
"Mhm~" she managed burying her face further into the pillow, almost suffocatingly so.
"Get some sleep and see you in the morning... I'll tell Raizou you're okay, but just not feeling well..." Shinra's voice was soft and calming.
"Thanks!" She called back and listened to his retreating footsteps, and hushed voice in the distant living room.
She wanted to scream, throw something, throw a fit, and cry all at the same time. No matter what she tried to think about she couldn't forget his sickly sweet voice as he asked his question, which echoed like a broken record in the back of her mind...
"What happened in that fire 10 years ago~?"
"Ne~e, Mi-chan~?"
Tears slowly dried on her cheek as her breathing deepened but remained unsteady, fluctuating with how her body tossed and turned in her restless sleep...
