Maya took a day off work the next morning, so Anni was thankfully spared more teasing. The day was going slowly, so she got plenty of time to just listen to the incessant pounding of water on everything outside while she worked. When her shift finally ended, she stood under her umbrella for a moment, a bit lost. What should I do? Her lingering anxiety wouldn't allow her to sit still in her lonely apartment. She couldn't attend any of the major events that would come later this evening. Maya was busy, and everyone else she knew would be doing things she couldn't get anywhere near, for fear of changing them.
Her feet decided for her, leading her to wander about. Even the rain bouncing off her umbrella and the assurance that everything would turn out right didn't quite dispel the gnawing feeling that something was going to go wrong anyway. The foreboding curled in her stomach, making her uneasy. So Anni did the only thing she could think of; she called Alex. When a few rings went by, she was worried he wouldn't pick up, but he seemed to catch it at the last second.
"Yo."
"Hey. Are you busy?" Anni asked. She didn't even know what she wanted to say, she just didn't want to be alone with her thoughts.
"A bit. Is this important, or just another interrogation?" Alex asked, his tone suddenly biting.
"Nothing too important. I'll just call you later" Anni offered with resignation.
"Talk to you later, Trouble" he said, hanging up on his sister before she could respond. She was alone. That was part of her problem. Anni advocated for being able to take care of herself, and being otherwise independent, but she didn't like being alone. Her feet had started moving again while she thought. She walked without notice like this for a while, her mind wandering from her current problems to her past, to Shizuo, to Izaya, and how long he would leave her alone.
It came as a great surprise when she wandered into an alley, and found herself staring down two pools of blood the rain was slowly washing away. A small brown parcel and a clear umbrella lay to one side. Anni stood in silence, somehow stunned that he had done exactly what she'd expected; gotten back up. Once she'd gotten over her shock, she picked up and closed his umbrella, and retrieved the parcel. She decided to buy some bandages as well, as the ones Shinra was going to put on, or was putting on right now, would only last so long. Anni wasn't about to hunt Shizuo down, he had better things to do, so she left the gifts on his coffee table and locked the door again behind her. From there she tried to set out wandering again. The rain stopped soon after she left, so she gave up on avoiding her empty apartment and went home.
-!DRRR!-
Shizuo was frustrated. It made sense, now that he thought about it. All the little things that bugged him about her came together. Even when they'd first met, she hadn't asked anything about where she was, or who they were. She'd just accepted it. When she told him it was the flea who trashed her apartment, she didn't so much as flinch at his reaction, like she'd expected him to know who and where the flea was. Even when she'd seen him lose control and chase the flea off of her the next day, she didn't seem the least bit surprised. Anni always seemed simply to understand him and his rage, without question. Now this. It was far too much of a coincidence that after never showing concern for his physical well-being, she would demand he be careful the night before he's shot. It couldn't be a coincidence that she'd not only found and returned what he'd dropped, but brought him extra bandages as he was bleeding through the ones Shinra had put on. He knocked loudly at her door. There was a shuffling within, so he didn't bother knocking again. He would probably put a hole through the door if he did.
"Who are you and what do you want this late at night?" Anni groaned through the door, obviously just waking up.
"Open up. I want to ask you something" he demanded.
"Shizuo…?" he heard the click of the lock and the door came open to reveal Anni in what he recognised as her favorite pajamas. "What's this about?"
"How did you know I was going to be shot today?" Shizuo asked calmly. What had once been surprise in Anni's features morphed quickly into confusion and terror. The was more fear in her eyes now than Shizuo had ever seen. She hadn't been this afraid when he first found her, drugged and fighting for her life in the back of a van. She hadn't been this afraid when he'd found her curled in a ball in an alleyway after chasing off the flea. She wasn't this afraid of him while he was shaking her in anger the night she convinced him to let her sleep on the couch, or even when he'd thrown her into a wall after she'd pulled a knife on him, but she was terrified now. It didn't make any sense.
"What gave you that idea?" she asked in a small, weak voice, trying to force a smile over the expression he'd seen not a moment before. He just glowered down at her, waiting for his answer. Anni's little smile slowly disappeared. "Shizuo, I… I can't answer that."
"Why not? It's a simple question." Anni hung her head. He wasn't going to get anywhere asking about this. "Then what else do you know about what's going to happen?" he continued. Anni's head snapped up at the question, her eyes once again filled with that same fear. She was cowering back, clinging to the doorknob.
"I can't answer that either Shizuo, I'm sorry" she said sadly, swiftly closing the door in his face. Shizuo stiffly stalked away. If he stayed any longer he knew things would end badly, and he couldn't let himself lose his temper now, not with her. He'd hurt her one too many times already.
-!DRRR!-
Alex was jerked from his dead sleep by his phone ringing. He wasn't surprised to see who it was, or the time. 6:29 AM. Just before his usual alarm. "Anni, if you're going out of your way to wake me up, good job. Now what do you want?"
"I'm sorry, I thought-" *Beep beep beep bee-* Alex was quick to silence the screeching.
"What do you want?" he asked again, rubbing his eyes. He hoped she didn't ask more about what he did while he was still in Japan. He didn't want the reminder.
"Shizuo figured it out" she said curtly. Even the phone didn't distort her voice enough to cover her worry.
"Shit."
"My thoughts exactly" Anni said with a sad, quickly decaying laugh.
"How did he figure it out?" Alex got up and pinned his cell between his shoulder and ear while he started getting ready.
"I think I did something stupid. I just wasn't thinking."
"That doesn't help me at all, Anni."
"Last night was the yellow scarves fight in the abandoned factory."
"Ya I know, so he got shot and threw around a giant street sign. What did you do?"
"I left him a present of the stuff he dropped when he was shot and some fresh bandages" she explained haltingly.
"... You're an idiot."
"Tell me something I don't know." There was a cushioned impact of some sort followed by a muffled sigh from her end. Alex could only picture his sister faceplanting into her couch again.
"I can't help you."
"I expected as much." Anni's words were slightly muted.
"Is there anything else, or do you just want to rant for a while?"
"Could you drop by the MIB universe and grab me a neuralizer?" she suggested hopelessly. Alex laughed.
"I wish. You knew we could only get one link though. You made your choice."
"But you're Alexander the Magnificent! Surely you could make another if you put your mind to it!"
"I could ask Shizu-chan to punch a hole into another universe for me" he joked in return. He was met with silence for his trouble.
"You're mean" Anni said after a moment.
"Ya, well, I never claimed to be nice. I'm going to go take my shower now, so unless you want me to test how waterproof your only way to reach me-" *Click*, *Beeeee-* So he really had made her mad. Good. She wouldn't worry as much about everyone else if she's angry with him. He put his phone away and went on with his day.
-A/N-
Edited by my dear friend Faded Phoenix
