I have come down with an illness, which is my excuse for not updating until now. Even so, I think the cold medicine may have made this one a little trippy.

Hope you like it~!

Breakdown

When Izaya woke up, he was really surprised. The last thing he remembered was getting hit by that truck, so he didn't expect to be alive.

Izaya sat up and winced, putting a hand to his head. He had one hell of a bump up there, but could that be all? Izaya looked down and patted his body. Well, everything seemed okay...

"Ah, awake at last, eh?"

Izaya grinned at Shinra. "Sorry, but I needed my beauty sleep," he replied, stretching. "Thanks for patching me up."

"Not much to patch," Shinra said with a shrug. "If you want to thank someone, thank Shizuo. He's the one that brought you here."

What? Izaya blinked. He knew that Shizu-chan probably didn't hate him as much he had before, (Izaya still refused to believe that Shizuo actually loved him), but it seemed so weird that his greatest enemy would go through the trouble of carrying him to Shinra's. Weird, but also nice.

"Hey, what's with that look?"

"Huh?" Izaya glanced at Shinra. "What look?"

"It's gone now, but your eyes were all dopey and you had on this smile that was...well...I can't explain it. It was creepy."

Izaya laughed. "Aw, that hurts, Shinra~!" he pouted. "I find out I'm not dead, and I'm not allowed to be happy about it?"

Shinra shook his head and sighed. It had been more than that, he was sure, but Izaya clearly wasn't going to elaborate. "Speaking of Shizuo, he'll be back soon. He went out with Celty to get all of us some dinner."

"I see." Izaya sat there for a moment, thinking, then he got to his feet. "Well, then it's time I got going."

"Izaya, slow down!" Shinra said. "You've got to be sore; just take it easy!"

Izaya waved a hand dismissively. "Tch, I'm fine."

Suddenly, Izaya's legs gave out. Shinra caught him. "You don't see fine," Shinra said. "Why don't you relax until Celty and Shizuo get back, hm? I'm sure you're hungry, and Celty's bringing your favorite: Fatty tuna!"

Izaya's stomach growled, but as tempting as that was... "No can do," he said, pushing Shinra away and walking over to the window. "I've got some unfinished business to take care of."

"Izaya, hey!" Shinra said, sounding panicky as Izaya climbed onto the windowsill. "What are you doing?"

Izaya ignored Shinra's question and waved. "I'll keep in touch. Bye-bye~!"

Then he jumped. He fell a while, then reached out and snagged a tree branch, leapt onto the roof of a parked car, then landed in a crouch in the empty street. Izaya grinned as he took off at a run. He had used his escape as an experiment to see exactly how much the truck had weakened him, and he was satisfied with the results.

But, as he had told Shinra, he really did have some unfinished business. Unless he was mistaken, the only rapist to live through Shizuo's rampage in the warehouse had also survived being hit by the truck, and Izaya wanted to pay him a little visit.

Izaya laughed as he ran towards the hospital.

xxx

"WHAT?"

"Shizuo, calm down," Shinra pleaded nervously. "You don't really want to kill me, eh?"

But the fire in Shizuo's eyes said otherwise. He let out a roar and put his fist through the wall. "That damn flea..." His voice was deep and threatening, like thunder. Suddenly, Shizuo turned and stomped away.

"H-hey! Where are you going?"

"To find that bastard and drag his ass back here!"

The door slammed. Celty and Shinra stood there for a moment, then Celty typed on her phone and held it up.

[That's love?]

Shinra gave her a crooked smile.

"That's love."

xxx

The man lying in the hospital bed was woken up by a tap on his forehead.

"Rise and shine~!"

He blinked a few times, then a pair of familiar red eyes came into focus. "Mmfph!" the man cried out. That was all he was able to say past the duct tape over his mouth. He tried to get away, but he couldn't move. Izaya's grin widened.

"Ah, sorry about that. I hope you don't mind, but I hit some pressure points in your arms and legs to keep you from running off. Something I learned from my little sister." Izaya shrugged and gave an apologetic sigh. "And with that tape over your mouth, I don't think you'll be able to give me any good conversation."

The man began to struggle as Izaya walked closer. A flash of silver, and there was a flickblade in Izaya's hand.

"But that's okay. I'm not really here to talk."

"Mmm! UM MMMPH!"

Izaya's red eyes glowed as he tapped the tip of the flickblade thoughtfully against the lower lip of his grin, enjoying the man's pitiful struggles. "Hmm...you're right," he said. "I can't just start cutting you up."

The man stopped and looked at him hopefully. "Mm?"

"No, that won't do at all." Izaya walked over to the door as if to leave, then he suddenly turned around, eyes dancing. "We need a little privacy, first."

The man shook his head desperately, tears streaking down his face. He continued to fight and struggle, his eyes wide with horror as he looked from the flickblade, to that insane grin, to that even, blood-red gaze.

Izaya slowly closed the door.