AN1: This Chapter is dedicated to the awesome StolenWings, for the amazin' reviews and support *huggles*
AN2: Geez, I can't believe it's taken me so long to get back to writing! I missed this so much *cries*
There are only ficticiously awesome ballet dancers in this fic ;)
Aplomb is the dance term for safety and stability...
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Aplomb
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… She's standing outside one of those warehouses, garbage lining the street and a certain man standing in front of her with a grin on his face. She sighs, "You said you had a deal for me?"
"Did I?" he has the audacity to look confused.
"What did you mean?" she presses on, refusing to fall for his game.
"I really can't remember something saying that, at all…"
"I didn't come here to waste time, Orihara," Rin finally snaps, frowning deeply at her own impatient tone.
"And I honestly don't understand why you think I am wasting your time."
"…"
Izaya shrugs with a smile and shoves his hands in his pocket, "What are you looking for?"
"Yuki Takeda, she…"
"What…? Oh, you couldn't possibly be talking about THE Yuki Takeda, the principal of the Royal Theatre, right?… Who broke her ankle during a faulty landing during her Pas de Deux with a new partner…. Who then underwent a non- FDA approved, illegal, treatment… which got her back to dancing within a month?" he grins and finally drags his cellphone from his pocket, flips it open and starts typing way, "THAT Yuki Takeda?"
"Stop screwing around, Izaya. I also know she died seven months later of a cardiovascular failure…"
His eyes meets hers and this time he keeps the focus, "Then what do you want, Miss Ballerina?"
"I want to get this fixed as soon as possible, without getting a Death Note sentence."
"Oh….?" he says, grinning at the mention of the past year's popular manga, and lowers his cellphone for a moment, "You're looking for the newest Elixer drug, right?".
His smile's victorious and it makes her sick to her stomach.
"I'll call my supplier," he says and starts texting again, as if they hadn't just been dealing with anything illegal. As if this were a normal night out. It probably was, for him.
"How much do you want for it?"
"I didn't say it would cost you anything"
"I know your reputation well enough to know you won't just give this to me out of the good graces of your heart…" she says and starts shuffling around nervously. She hates this. She hates him… and now, HE'S the one holding the Aces.
"How do you know I didn't just turn over a new leaf?" he actually clutches his hands together in a display of innocence… until his mocking façade is up and running again and he's got his hands on his hips, "Fine, fine… you'll just owe me a favour… that's all."
"If I didn't see how messed up all your favours turned the people I know… I might've accepted"
"I promise it won't be anything illegal or against your absurd moral code," he holds his left hand in the air in a sardonic fashion.
"… Tell me how it works," she decides to change the subject before she follows her own better judgement.
"Well, first you'll undergo about three or four surgeries with a good friend of mine, then you'll be injected with all kinds of wonderfully illegal drugs that speeds up your metabolism and healing by an absurd rate… then… well, then, right before you get your last operation… I get to cash in on the teeny tiny little favour you owe me."
"So, you'll blackmail me into finishing the deal. That way, no matter what, I don't have any way to back out, am I right? You'll use that last surgery as the rope that'll hang me," she says and snorts in disbelief of his actions.
"Are you always so poetic, or is it a quality I inspire in you?"
"… I changed my mind… "
"… Oh well! … Just remember, this deal won't last forever. The body heals itself within six weeks of injury, and for a dancer… well… if your bones don't heal exactly in perfect alignment, you'll never be able to dance like you used to," he mumbles and watches the night sky.
Not that there was a night sky, it was downtown after all. There was smog, airplanes and streetlights.
"Just shu-"
"Oh and, just out of curiosity, is that little statistic I heard about right…? The one that if you don't return to work within three weeks of injury when it's performing season, you're out of a job… Tell me, what IS the job vacancy rate with dancers these days, especially with dancers with such a poor performing rate the past few years?"
She knows he's right. It's only since she met Shizuo when things started to change for her. It's only then when she started to feel happy again, free again. It's only when she met him, that she felt open enough to really talk to anyone again. It's been years. It showed.
Rin looks in the direction of her apartment, which was clear across town now. Where she left Shizuo standing. Because she couldn't stand not being herself again. She couldn't stand not being the girl that Shizuo started to get to know… until she lost what made her who she is. How could Shizuo ever know who she really is without …
"You have a deal."
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And the plot thickens O.o... I'll try to update ASAP!
