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"Wow! This looks pretty bad!" Shinra nearly sang when Izaya removed the handkerchief. The piece of cloth was beyond saving now, and the informant idly wondered whether or not he should buy Shiki a new vibrant one as a joke as Shinra examined his blood-caked hand. He didn't know why his friend even bothered; Shinra had known for years just how fast his cuts closed. "Did it go straight through? So much blood..." The childlike amazement the underground doctor had for his wounds never ceased to make Izaya sigh. "Ah, it healed already…" The disappointment that followed was never much of an improvement.

"Yeah, let me use your sink." Izaya finally drew his hand back. He withdrew from the living room before Shinra had a chance to answer.

"I'm assuming you want that bandaged!" Shinra called after him, and Izaya heard shuffling in other room as the doctor went to retrieve his medical kit.

Izaya turned on the faucet in the bathroom and watched as the water ran red against the white porcelain. "Tch..." He clenched his teeth as he remembered exactly how careless he had been. The slumbering flame had ignited briefly during those short seconds; he had held back the last moment, just before his hand connected with the thug's chest.

"It's been a while since you've gotten this injured by another person besides Shizuo," Shinra commented as he wrapped the bandages over Izaya's nonexistent wound a few minutes later.

"Even I mess up every now and then," Izaya tried to wave it off, but he knew the other already suspected something the moment he walked through that door with the bloodied handkerchief.

"Is everything okay?" Their eyes met and Izaya found himself staring into a pair of honest wide eyes, genuine concern reflecting off of them. He didn't know what to tell Shinra. It wasn't something a human who had only lived two decades could understand. Yet, the other hit it right on the nail. "It's Shizuo again, eh?"

Izaya smiled. "Now why would you say that?"

The other returned with a knowing grin. "It's always Shizuo. You know, you could learn a thing or two about love from Celty and me..."

"For your information, Shizu-chan hits a lot harder than Celty does."

"You can take it."

Shinra looked up when the other didn't answer immediately. "It still hurts," he heard Izaya mutter, eyes downcast at his now neatly bandaged hand.

Shinra had offered to tell Shizuo before, but Izaya had adamantly refused, reasoning that it would be the end of the doctor were he to suddenly utter such nonsense to the fortissimo of Ikebukuro out of the blue. Besides, Shinra himself didn't know all the small details; most of his information came from Mamoru during the few occasions he had run into the older demon, and there was a gaping hole after Izaya had left Edo for the north with the one they called Tsugaru. Yet, he was certain of one thing that that had occurred during that time, and how it happened certainly had a great impact on Izaya to this day. The problem remained with finding out just how Tsugaru had died.

Shinra sighed, sipping his coffee in his now empty living room.

Over a century and still waiting... he himself would've search the ends of the earth if it were Celty.

Izaya was always a little strange to begin with, and he had a feeling that it was just going to get worse. He only hoped that he didn't have to sew too many people back together.

.

Izaya walked down the empty alley, his conversation with Shinra still weighing heavily on his mind. "He" was here, in this world, in the same city as him even. He should be happy, he told himself. Izaya remembered the first day he met Tsugaru's reincarnation, the scene as clear in his mind as the summer sky unobstructed by buildings so many years ago.

He was so happy. Hadn't he smiled? He... Izaya put a hand to his mouth, wondering just what had set the other off. Had they changed so much?

A century ago they were so close, so at peace even with war waging around them, and now, his whole world revolved around making Shizuo miserable when the other could be living a peaceful life in this peaceful post-war world.

"What am I doing..." He knew the answer. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to stop. He'd rather be the person Shizuo chased down the moment their eyes meet than just another person on the streets spying on the fortissimo of Ikebukuro from the shadows. He'd rather that he ruin the other's life than let another devour Tsugaru. Even he couldn't take such a betrayal.

Shizuo hated him. It was a fact he will never be able to change.

Izaya paused around the corner of another empty alley to collect his thoughts when he suddenly heard it again: footsteps. He gritted his teeth, deciding that he might as well confront the culprit now. At least it'll help him forget, even for a moment, he told himself.

"What do you want?" Izaya said out loud to the empty alley as his hand closed around the switchblade in his pocket. He heard shuffling and turned to face his stalker, who finally rounded the corner. His mouth drew into an amused smirk when he noted the confidence in the stranger's eyes. "This isn't the first time, is it? You're either actually very talented or very stupid."

The man smiled and drew closer, his hands hidden in his coat pocket. Izaya tried to detect the scent of gunpowder but found none. 'He's definitely hiding something in there…'

"I've seen you often around Ikebukuro." Even the man's tone was smug. Izaya liked this. It would be so much more satisfying to pull that guy off his high horse and drag him around in the dirt.

The informant shrugged, his act flawless. "You see a lot of people in Ikebukuro."

"Ah, but not ones like you."

Izaya suppressed a disgusted sigh. He could almost feel the man's eyes all over him. "I'm a busy man, so I'll kindly ask you again: what do you want?"

"Straight to the point, eh?" The man chuckled. "Fine, then I'll be blunt too." He held out a hand.

"You need information?" Izaya tried to play around it. He changed his mind about the man's confidence. It was abhorrent, and now was not the best of times to annoy him as a human.

"Don't play dumb. You're a smart man. You know what I want."

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand," Izaya lied. He heard a crack in his pocket and relaxed his grip.

The man grinned. "Come with me. I'll help you forget about your 'Tsugaru.'"

Izaya froze and just barely managed to keep himself from asking where the man had gotten that information. He managed to compose himself and prepared to pick the details out of the worm when the man finally took his hands out of his pockets and produced a photo.

The blood red eyes that stared back at him were unmistakably his.

Izaya wrenched the photo out the man's hands, and in an instant, it laid in shreds on the floor. "How dare you," he hissed.

"I have backups," the man replied smugly. "And if you're not coming with me, I'll send them to all your clients, including that yakuza guy in the white suit. I'm sure they'll take the news well." He laughed when Izaya flinched. "To think that a demon could be so easily controlled by someone as little as me… You know that photo your dear 'monster' had was mine too, don't you?"

Izaya whipped out the switchblade from his pocket, and instead a shower of plastic and metal fell to the ground, bouncing off the concrete in a pile of dust. He had clenched way too hard earlier. 'Shit...' Izaya grimaced and dug for his spare when the man took a step back.

"I-I'll expose you!" he threatened, sweat rolling off his the side of his gruff face as he produced a gun. "They'll hunt you down, monster. You'll only have me. Yes, just..."

Izaya realized that the other knew how the switchblade had disintegrated. He took his hand out of his pocket, staring down the man and his gun. He hated guns. "You know, you should always gather the appropriate amount of information before acting," he said softly as he took a step forward.

"Tch…" the man's finger tightened on the trigger, but Izaya grabbed the other's wrist before he could fire.

"So, why don't you say that again? What were you going to do to me?" he asked slowly, eyes flashing.

"I-I'll…" the man stuttered, but he didn't relent, and the grip tightened. The man screamed and clawed at Izaya to make him let go. "I'll expose you to the world!"

Izaya smiled. "We can't have that now, can we?" He felt it again.

The anger... the flame that had burned all these years... kept silent only by sheer willpower and a last promise...

"Izaya!" a familiar voice yelled just as a crack resounded through the alley. The man fell to his knees, sniveling as he clenched his broken arm, a trail of blood running down where the bone was protruding out.

Izaya came back to his senses and took a step back, looking at his own bloodied hand.

"Oh geez," Akabayashi said when he saw the damage.

"Izaya?" Izaya froze, dreading the person that rounded the corner after Akabayashi.

Akabayashi looked from one to another. "Ah, Shiki texted me saying that you injured your hand, and I happened to be talking to him at the time so…" He chuckled and grabbed the man on the ground, hoisting him up roughly after also grabbing the discarded gun. "Ah, this is one of our guns that went missing..."

"He knows..." Izaya muttered under his breath. Akabayashi's eyes narrowed when he noticed the shredded photo on the ground.

"I'll take care of this thing." The man whimpered when Akabayashi gave him a rough pull, the grin back on his face. "You two play nice, got it?"

Akabayashi's absence turned the atmosphere cold, and Shizuo struggled to find the right words to say to the flea while Izaya stared after the empty street corner, seemingly lost for words. He was here to talk, Shizuo told himself, not fight. Yet, looking at what Izaya had done to the stalker told him volumes. Maybe Akabayashi was right. Maybe he had been treating everything the wrong way. Izaya could have easily dealt with him years ago with that strength.

He tried to reason with himself. He can make amends. He's capable of doing that. Even if the flea had given him hell all these years… 'Okay, just have to take that first step…' Whether he was lying to himself at the moment, he told himself just to be calm enough to get some answers. Maybe there was more to Izaya than what he had been seeing.

"Fl... Izaya…" he began hesitantly, reach out to Izaya's furry hood.

"Get away from me!" Izaya suddenly snapped, swinging his second switchblade in an arc that just missed his bowtie.

"Why you little…" Shizuo snarled, his resolve crumbling to dust. "I just wanted to talk, flea!"

"There's nothing to say. You've already seen everything," Izaya growled. "There's no need for you talk to a 'monster,'" the last word came out as an audible choke, and he held a hand up to his mouth. "Tch..." He turned around and fled.

"Wait, Izaya!" he yelled, pursuing, but the flea had disappeared.

He had never seen Izaya move so fast.

And, those blood red eyes that didn't want to look, yet held so much longing in their depths… he had seen them for sure this time.

.

Enomoto's fleet escapes to the North, 1868. May.

The two reached the top of the last hill and came upon the ships in the harbor, ready to disembark. Izaya pulled his hat further over his eyes and took a deep breath. He was going to go farther than any of his own clan had ever been, away from the protective clutches of his mother's domain. He wondered if another clan resided that far north. He hadn't bothered to pay Edo's demons a visit, knowing that Mamoru had already taken care of it for him.

The sound of footsteps stopped him. He knew who had come.

"Izaya-sama!"

He turned. "Mamoru…"

His long time friend frowned. "You can't go with him. You know your mother only allowed you to come to Edo because the eastern clan is here, but there's none of our kind up north."

"I…" Izaya hesitated. He had denied his mother's wishes in the past, but never to this extent. He admitted to himself that he did have his doubts about the north. His knowledge of the human world, although growing, was still small, and if anyone were to suspect him, Tsugaru would be put in danger too.

He looked up when the one beside him moved. Tsugaru had positioned himself between the two of them, a human between two demons of the West.

"I'll protect him."

Mamoru's eyes narrowed. "Do you understand what will be asked of you, if your comrades were to find out about Izaya-sama's state? Could you betray them to protect him?"

Tsugaru seemed resolute. "I'll protect both of them."

Mamoru looked sad. "It won't be as easy as you make it out to be when the time comes."

Izaya held onto Tsugaru's sleeve, his eyes defiant. The older demon sighed. He recognized that look. It was the same the late king had given him right before the humans took him away from their world. If the same thing were to happen to Izaya… His gaze shifted to the samurai who had stolen the demon prince away from them. 'No… it's different…'

He backed down. "I'll be awaiting your return in Edo after the strife is over." He bowed. "Please return safely..."

.

Izaya looked out to the ocean once again in just a year. He had traveled more in the past two months than he had his entire life. A warm hand on his shoulder prompted him to lean back onto the boat.

"Are you enjoying the breeze?" Tsugaru asked him.

Izaya closed his eyes, keeping a hold on his hat lest the wind snatched it away. "This is the second time I've been on a ship." His hands were covered by the long sleeves of his red kimono, his face by the sedge hat, the few things that separated him from the world. "Your comrades didn't question…"

"Nobuo must have told them in advance."

"Nobuo?"

"The one who told me about the ships this morning."

"Oh… where is he now?"

Tsugaru looked away. "He stayed in Edo."

"Eh? Didn't he say he was leaving with..."

"Some of his friends refused to leave, and he didn't want to desert them."

Izaya closed his mouth, not knowing what to say. His clan had never encountered anything of the sort; they had already fought out their lands long before and had been lingering in a suffocating peace as far back as Izaya could remember. Also, although demons were loyal to each other, but they don't have many chances to show it.

The two remained silent as the boats continued their slow journey up, and Izaya preoccupied himself with watching the waves when he suddenly felt that someone was watching him. He knew the ship's inhabitants were no doubt curious about the "friend" Tsugaru had brought on board, but this was different. It nearly sent a chill down his spine.

He proceeded to glance behind him when a voice made him jump.

"Tsugaru! I'm glad you decided to come!"

Tsugaru turned around and smiled when he saw the voice's owner. "Oh, Yoichi."

The man named Yoichi smiled, and his eyes traveled to Izaya. Izaya wasn't quite good at reading humans, but he had the faintest feeling that those eyes were not smiling as much as the man's mouth was. "So this is your lover?" Yoichi asked, the grin unwavering.

Tsugaru blushed, and Izaya followed suite despite himself. He had never seen the other so flustered before.

Yoichi laughed. "Hey, I'm fine with it. Nobuo told me you had a lover in Edo. He's a little dense though, so he's probably never realized just who you were." He looked to the ocean, his gaze distant. "Well, enjoy yourselves while you can," he said as he turned to walk away. "Never know when battle's going to erupt these days, eh?"

Izaya stared after Yoichi's retreating back, unable to hold down the frown that had finally crept up on his face. "He's perceptive," he commented.

"We've known each other for a while now. I met him in Edo."

"I see..."

"He's a nice guy," Tsugaru said, weaving his hand into Izaya's as he returned his gaze to the ocean. Izaya squeezed the other's hand gently, shifting so that their kimono sleeves could hide it more readily.

He tried to preoccupy himself with the ocean once more, but he could not let go of the uneasy feeling those pair of eyes gave him.

'Mamoru...' He hoped his friend was wrong.

Hello! I am alive! I am... alive... Yup! It's hot T.T

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