"Colm? Are you going to be all right?" I asked, right before he ran over to a nearby trash bin and threw up. The spectacle received many looks of disgust, and backing away from my poor brother who continued to vomit into the metal bin.

"It's okay Colm, the movie's over now, nothing to fear." I said softly, rubbing his back as he started to dry heave. Kichiro soon came out of the theater Colm had previously ran out of and I had followed.

"Gross Colm. You alright?" he asked, making his way over to us, all the while holding his nose. I yanked his arm down away from covering his nose.

"Don't be rude. You know damn well we've smelled worse back home." I said, grimacing a bit when the smell finally got to me. 'I take that back. This is gross.' I thought, keeping my hands firmly by my side and on Colm's back so as not to make Colm feel worse than he already felt.

"Horror…blood…so scary." Colm whimpered, his voice echoing from inside the metal can before he pulled his head up slowly, revealing his pale green face, his skin making the freckles on his cheek bones more prominent. He wiped his mouth before promptly hurling again into the trash can when a teenager, mostly likely cutting class, came out of the theater talking to another about the, and I quote, "awesome sword going through that guys' stomach and dragging his bloody guts out." Yeah. Not something you want to hear, especially when you've just choking on your stomach.

"Colm? Do you want a butterscotch candy?" I asked him, watching as he once again pulled his head out of the trash bin, and nodded weakly before sitting down on the red carpet against the wall of the hallway, putting his head between his knees.

"Alright, we'll get you a butter candy. Kichiro, go get him some butterscotch from the concession stand." I said, sitting down next to Colm while he rocked back and forth.

"How come I have to go?" he whined, crossing his arms and looking down at us.

"Because if you do, I wont say one word about your dumb-assery for the next two weeks should you do something stupid." I said, pulling my wallet out and handing him enough money to pay from a bow of butterscotch. He contemplated the deal, before sulkily swiping the money from my hand and stalking towards the stand where a pretty brunette stood, her mouth agape at the horror that was someone puking into a garbage can, snapping out of it quickly when Kichiro approached her, sliding a seductive smile on her face before getting him the candy he wanted, letting him walk away without having to pay.

'What a dumb-ass. But at least I didn't have to pay.' I thought as he walked back towards us, opening the box and pouring a few into his hand and popping them into his mouth before giving me the box and my money. I poured a few into my own hand and held them in front of Colm, waiting until his head rose up and he took the candy out of my hand, letting it melt in his mouth slowly before he rose to his feet, swaying a bit before Kichiro took his arm to steady him. I stood up beside Colm, keeping a hand on his shoulder as we made our way to the entrance to the theater. 'At least he lasted through the whole movie.' I thought stuffing the half empty box into my pocket.

"So who's up for grabbing a bite?" Kichiro asked, pushing the doors open, and guiding Colm carefully through.

"Seriously? You just got finished watching Colm puke his stomach into a trash bin, and you want to eat?" I asked incredulous, looking between Colm's still green face, and Kichiro's pale freckled face.

"Actually, I'm a little hungry myself. Can we stop at that sushi place you mentioned last time we talked? Please?" Colm asked, looking down at me, pushing his bottom lip out in a pout.

"You guys are weirdoes. All right, lets go, my treat." I said, tugging Colm along by his hand, and letting Kichiro snicker to himself while he trailed behind us.

DRRR!

"Russia Sushi! No make you sick!" called the deep Russian voice of Simon from outside the restaurant. I had dragged a just-barely-not-sick Colm and a snickering Kichiro all the way along the sidewalks to Russia Sushi. Being some-what friends with Simon has its privileges. Such as: discounted sushi. Although, that may or may not be a bad thing depending on how Colm's stomach held out.

"You should use that pout-y face to your advantage Colm, could break a lot of hearts." Kichiro said, before swallowing a piece of yellow-tail sushi.

"Careful, if you use it too much, birds will use it as a perch." I countered, popping a piece of fatty tuna into my mouth. There is only room for one Kichiro on this Earth, the species doesn't need two Kichiros. Well, technically, there are two of him, although their personalities are polar opposites. Okay, the world does not need a duplicate of Kichiro's personality.

"Ah, don't worry Amai, I wont use it for evil." he said, smiling innocently at me. I looked at him oddly before shrugging my approval reaching over the table to swipe the last piece of yellow-tail off of Kichiro's plate.

"Hey! Give that back!" he exclaimed, immediately grabbing my wrist to keep it from bringing the delicious piece of sushi to my awaiting mouth.

"Ya snooze, ya lose Bucko." I said, tossing the fish the rest of the short way into my mouth, chewing it with renewed satisfaction. Kichiro growled at my Cheshire Cat grin, and stole a glance at my own piece of fish, so openly laid out for the taking. Kichiro moved my wrist high up into the air above the table, before making a move for the last piece of fish. Immediately seeing through his plan, I grabbed his hand and held it high above our heads. Glaring at each other over the table, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of movement from Colm, and when I broke Kichiro's glare to look at my plate, the sushi was gone. Kichiro saw my line of vision, and immediately looked over at Colm, seeing him smirk and swallow.

" 'If you fight, you lose a bite'…of fish that is." he said snickering to himself before popping a piece of salmon roll into his back-to-normal, pale face. Kichiro and I both grimaced, remembering that phrase to be one of mom's favorites to say when she caught us fighting, which would instantly land us into a heap of trouble, and a "Go straight to your rooms without dinner." of course, since we fought so much, it was decided that instead of starving to death, we would miss out on dessert. A cruel punishment when our mom made the best double chocolate peppermint ice cream from way back in her prime.

My cell phones ringer went off, and it disrupted my train of thought, releasing my hand from Kichiros' and wrenching the other from his immobile grip, I reached into my pants pocket, and retrieved it, looking at the caller ID before answering with a warmer-than-sunshine greeting to make up for the colder-than-ice one I had given this morning.

"U-umm, Amai? This is Yuumi. Listen Amai, there is someone here to speak to you." she said, stuttering a bit at the beginning. Is she afraid?

"Who is it? Wait, wait, let me guess." I said, it wasn't often anyone wanted to speak to me voluntarily.

"Amai, I don't think now is the best time for games." she said. Yeah, a definite hint of scared-ness.

"Please? It's not often I have someone who wants to speak to me." I said. In the background of the restaurant, I heard the whispered reply of my brother.

"About as rare as a Dodo bird." he murmured, before I hit him painfully in the shoulder, making him scowl and rub his arm.

"Okay, I know it's not the high school-ers 'cause they're still in school. It cant be Simon 'cause he's outside the restaurant right now. My brothers are with me. Your speaking to me, so it cant be you. Is it a guy with black hair and an Eskimo-style coat?" I asked her, hoping in my mind it was anyone but him.

"No, I'm fairly sure it's not." she said.

"Okay, well I'm stumped. Can you put the guy on the phone, please." I said, taking a bite of a salmon roll, before promptly choking when I heard his voice in the receiver.

"W-what the h…hell are you d-doing there?" I choked while Colm pounded his hand on my back, trying to help me breathe.

"I just came here to apologize, is that such a surprise?" Shizuo said, from what I could tell, he sounded a little annoyed. Because I'm not there?

"A little, yes. Why do you want to apologize?" I asked, drinking some water to dislodge any food that was still stuck in my throat.

"Cant a guy just apologize without getting questioned?!" he growled into the phone.

"Fine, but I want you to apologize in person so I can see you're being serious." I said, getting my wallet out.

"…Fine" he said, well, growled.

"Perfect. You know that Russia sushi place?" I asked, pulling bills out and setting them on the table to cover the bill and tip.

"Yeah." he said.

"Well don't go there, I'm two for two with Dennis and I cant afford a third strike. No, meet me in front of the shark tank at the aquarium in an hour. Don't be late." I said, hanging up before he could say a word.

Putting my phone back in my pocket, I looked at my brothers across from me, staring at me the way I was staring at them. After a few uncomfortable moments of silence I cleared my throat and said the only thing that came to mind.

"Soooo…want to go to the aquarium?"

"Who was that?" Kichiro asked, looking at me with an almost bored expression.

"Just a guy I know slash hate. So who's up for seeing fish and not eating them?" I said, trying to avoid his question. I got up and started to leave, only for Kichiro to mimic my movement and grab my upper arm.

"Amai, tell us now." he said. Once in a blue moon will Kichiro ever act like the responsible older brother he is supposed to be. Lucky me this is the time he chose to act like it. I hesitated, looking at Colm briefly when he got up also and stood beside Kichiro, looking at me with unexpected determination to stand by his brothers side.

"Heiwajima, Shizuo." I mumbled looking away from them and down at the ground.

"One more time." he said, turning his head so his ear was towards me.

"Heiwajima, Shizuo." I said, again barely audible.

"What was that?" Kichiro asked, looking at me with a funny expression. Could he hear me? Did he know what I said? By this point I didn't care. I hate having people ask me things so many times in a row.

"It was Heiwajima-freaking-Shizuo! Got it! Ya happy now?!" I half-asked half-yelled. I huffed, shoving past him and towards the doors of the establishment. Everyone in the restaurant sat where they were, gawking at me like I was a freak show, which, to anyone who knows me or of me, I am. Pushing past the doors, I said a small goodbye to Simon, and headed down the side streets to the aquarium. I didn't know Colm and Kichiro were following me until they did that creepy twin monotone, and grabbed my shoulders at the same time.

"Wait up Imouto-chan." they said in unison, grabbing my shoulders, causing me to panic and almost punch Colm in the nose had he not ducked out of the way, making me hit the hard metal pole behind him.

"Son of a bitch!" I yelled, gripping my hand to my chest, causing several people walking around to gawk at us, as well as several mothers to cover their young children's ears and scowl at me before hurrying their questioning children along down the street. After a minute of somewhat silent fuming, I inspected my throbbing hand. The knuckles were red and after prodding it, I came to a final conclusion.

'It freaking hurts!~' I thought, turning on my heel, and walking away from the twins.

"Amai-imouto-chan! Are you all right? Your hand is hurt isn't it. I knew I shouldn't have ducked." Colm fussed rushing to my side trying to get a closer look at my injury.

"Better my fist than your nose, Colm. Although, maybe if I had broken your nose, your girlfriend could fuss over you." I joked, laughing a bit to shake off the pain, and laughing a bit more when I saw his face go a bright red, almost matching his hair, but matching mine perfectly.

"Do ya wanna head over to the hospital?" Kichiro asked, placing his hands behind his head while he walked behind us.

"No, a bandage around it should do just fine." I responded, holding it tenderly before letting it drop by my side.

'Maybe I should keep it elevated.' I thought, wincing slightly as my hand, or more precisely my knuckles, began to throb and seemed to grow hot as time went on. It wasn't long before we reached the entrance of the aquarium. Kichiro, out of an act of kindness for my hurting hand and self, paid our fare and we went inside. I had been in this city for little more than two years. I had run into more gangs and thugs than I could count. And I had used my special calming technique on the brute this city called, "Ikebukuro's strongest man", yet I could not, for the life of me, figure out directions. I could give them, but I could not follow them. Hundreds of arrows in this ocean blue place, yet I could not find the shark tank. Giving up my pride, I let Colm and Kichiro take the lead, following them blindly while looking at the multi colored fish in the glass tanks. When we reached the shark tank, there was still twenty minutes until Shizuo's due arrival. While we waited, I watched the sharks swim from a nearby bench facing the huge glass wall. Colm, trying to get away from the "ferociousness of the predator with sharp teeth" went to hunt out a food cart of concession stand in the area. And Kichiro, well he was Kichiro. Staking out girls and chatting them up until either they grew uninterested, or their boyfriends showed up and threatened him, making him back down and retreat back to where I was standing.

"So what about you Kichiro? Any girls in your life? And before you answer, I mean a specific girl you actually want to date and not screw and never call again." I said, looking at my hand again and probing it, waiting for an answer.

"You're not gonna bully an answer out of me any time soon, so don't even try." he scoffed, resting his elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands.

"Bully is such a strong word, lets say encourage. Like I encourage you to answer me or else." I threatened.

"Tch. Or else what?" he replied, looking at me slyly out of the corner of his eye, knowing full well I was full of empty threats and limited ideas on how to force him in public. When a few minutes of silence went by without a retort to his reply, he smirked and got up, telling me he was going to find Colm. It wasn't long after Kichiro left to find Colm, that the man I was waiting for, and I mean the last hour, showed up.

"Well, well, Heiwajima-san, it looks like you are…" I said, looking around the surrounding area for a clock and said, "five minutes early." dejectedly.

'Am I the only one whose overall punctuality sucks?' I thought, looking back at him as he took the seat next to me on the bench, looking almost a little bored, subdued?

"So, you have something you wanna say to me?" I asked, watching a hammerhead swim by.

"Yeah…look, I'm sorry." he said gruffly, looking to the side away from me.

"For…?" I pushed. If he was going to apologize, he might as well do it right.

"Breaking down your door." he finished, refusing to face me. I coughed into my non-sore hand, until he said the needed word 'Twice'.

"And?" I asked. It took him awhile to answer, so I doubt he even remembered breaking my table until I mentioned it to him. "And?" I asked again.

"And what? What else is there?" he asked, an annoyed tone rising in his voice.

"You tore a hole in my hat when you threw Chikan-san into the table. You haven't apologized yet for that." I responded, looking up at him. Even sitting down he was a good head taller than me, at least now I just about reached his chin.

"Fine then, I'm sorry for that too! Happy now?" he said, growling at me, finally looking at me. Well, glaring down at me more like it. And although he was glaring at me, I couldn't help but notice his eyes through the tinted blue glass.

"Yes, I am. I'll accept your apology, but I still hate you. So let's agree to stay neutral." I said tearing my eyes away from the hidden brown ones behind the glass, looking straight at the tank as a great white swam by, peering at us with its beady black eyes.

"Why do you hate me so much?" he asked me, curiosity edging around his voice as he peered down at me.

" 'cause you smoke cigarettes. I hate cigarettes, so by extension, I hate smokers, so by extension, I hate you." I rationalized, glancing at him briefly before focusing my attention back on the shark, unconsciously curling my left hand around my bruised one.

"Some twisted logic you have there." he said, again gruffly in that deep voice of his.

"It's not twisted, it's personal experience. The teacher I hate smokes cigarettes, and my dying mother smoked cigarettes that gave her a life sentence. Therefore, anyone who smokes cigarettes I instantly hate, if not also for what they're doing to their bodies." I said, bringing my injured hand up to my chest as it began to throb painfully again.

"Hmm? Something wrong with your hand?" he asked looking at, what I hope he was looking at, my hand.

"Huh? Uh, yeah…I hit a pole and I might have broken something." I said, glancing down at the knuckles as they began to bruise.

"Why not just go to a hospital then?" he asked, fingers twitching as he rested them on his thigh, probably itching for a cigarette.

" 'cause I hate hospitals. But you're right, I should probably go see a doctor if it continues to bruise like this." I said, looking at the color with distaste. It quiet for awhile, while we sat on that bench. People walked by occasionally, some people looked at us and whispered amongst themselves. Truthfully I wasn't sure which of us would break the silence first, so I was a little surprised when Shizuo spoke first.

"Listen, I have this…friend who's a doctor. I can, umm, take you to him if you want." he muttered. Was he shy? Am I crazy, or does he sound cute when he's shy? Wait, cute? Am I going crazy? Maybe I should see that doctor and get my head scanned.

"Okay, I just have to tell my brothers where I'm going. Colm! Kichiro!" I shouted, causing several people to jump in fright at the sudden noise. It was a few seconds before they appeared, each holding what I could only assume was chocolate covered popcorn.

"What's up?" Kichiro asked through a mouthful of popcorn.

"Shizu-chan is taking me to see a doctor friend of his, so this is where we part." I responded, standing up from the bench and giving them a brief wave goodbye.

"For the last time. Stop calling me that!" he shouted, standing up abruptly behind me. I turned and looked at him quizzically.

"Why not?" I asked him, looking up into his angry eyes, and slightly bared teeth.

It wasn't the soft voice of Colm who answered me. It wasn't the snarky voice of Kichiro who answered me. And it wasn't the gruff voice of the angry man in front of me, unless, of course, he knew some kind of ventriloquism. No. It was the voice that made me immediately think of a wolf. Orihara Izaya-san

"Because that's what I call him, Amai-chan."