chapter twelve - vulnerability
Insomnia.
Izaya was no stranger to it, but all he wanted that night was peace, quiet, and rest. What annoyed him as well was how he expected Shizuo to be there when he rolled over, proceeding to curse his idiocy for rolling over onto his bad side. He wasn't about to let this become a habit. It was one night. It'll never happen again.
Though, I know this case isn't over yet. That bastard has something planned. If he didn't, he wouldn't have gone without resistance. He has as much hatred as Shizu-chan does.
Did.
Izaya couldn't help but say he was a bit surprised by this fact. Wasn't Shizuo supposed to be a monster? Monsters didn't develop as humans did, right?
Why had he smiled after Shizuo left?
The raven haired man frowned, staring up at the ceiling hopelessly as he waited, silently wishing he had gone back to the hotel. He was better than this; he had work to do, making sure nothing else happened that was out of his control. If there was anything he hated more in that moment than him relying on Shizuo, it was that. He didn't want to rest until he knew there wouldn't be another problem. I just need to get back home, back to my normal life. Fire Shizuo and try to get Namie back, maybe stay alone again. I can't just stop working because of one little incident.
Instead of staying up all night thinking on it, however, he managed to fall asleep, only to be woken up a couple hours later. Something was going on in the hallway, though Izaya attempted to pay no mind, failing miserably. It didn't take too long for someone to open the door, though, Izaya recognizing the man from the day before, his badge telling him his name was Jacob.
"You doing okay?"
"I've been worse," Izaya said simply, sitting up and stretching, lowering his right arm almost instantly, per usual.
"If you don't mind me asking, Nakamura seemed to have a really bad issue with you. What happened between you two?"
Izaya gave a small shrug. "He was a client of mine a while back, paying top dollar for information, and he was outraged when I told him, demanding his money back and going as far to blame his misfortune on me. I'm used to aggressive clients, but he's taken it a step further, being in with the underground now and all. At first glance I thought all he wanted was revenge towards me, but it seems like he's really taking it out," he paused, letting out a small sigh. "Because of this, I have reason to believe that things aren't settled yet. He showed no resistance yesterday, and neither did his men. He has something planned."
Jacob nodded. "Yeah, anyone could've noticed that. I'll tell the others to still keep an eye on him. He was only just brought in for questioning, though, and it was really late last night. They might still be sorting things out as we speak."
"What time is it now anyway?"
"About ten."
So I slept decently, I suppose. You're welcome, Shizu-chan.
When Izaya didn't reply, Jacob made his way towards the door, turning back towards him. "Anyway, I should probably head back."
"Actually," Izaya replied, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "Would it be alright if I come with you?"
"Mr. Orihara, please," Jacob started, stepping back towards him. "You should probably rest a little more. Think about it, you were shot twice, and now this. Alexa even thought that you might have signs of internal bleeding."
"I'll be fine," Izaya insisted, standing up and walking past him. "Besides, I could be of use to you in figuring out what he might have planned."
"I suppose..."
Izaya let a small smirk return to his face. "It's settled then."
"Why am I not surprised."
Shizuo had arrived a few hours after Izaya had made it down to headquarters, listening to Alexa telling him about how he insisted on working in his condition.
"You're not at all concerned?" she raised an eyebrow at him, looking back at Izaya, who sat talking with Jacob and Cathryn with the laptop in front of him.
"You should know I'm concerned; it just doesn't surprise me. He's stubborn."
"I can tell," Alexa muttered, earning a small chuckle from Shizuo.
Izaya looked up from his laptop then, glancing at both Shizuo and Alexa. "Laughing at my probable almost-demise, Shizu-chan?"
"Keep dreaming."
Or in other words, "I can't go back to hating you." Izaya rolled his eyes, focusing on the screen again. Thing is...I don't think I can, either.
Shizuo walked over to him then, looking over his shoulder at the screen. "What are you doing now? I thought this was all done and over with."
"Did Alexa not tell you?" Izaya sighed, Alexa giving him an awkward shrug in return. "I can almost say that I know for a fact that this isn't over yet, and ninety-nine percent of the time, when I have a hunch, it's right."
Shizuo smirked. "What about that one percent?"
"For once, I'm going to have to ask you to believe in the majority rather than the minority."
Shizuo simply nodded, watching as Izaya scrolled through a few tabs. "What are you even going by to get information? How would we know through this?"
"If he's a clever bastard and not some idiot, I bet you there was something hidden in the fake information you found," Izaya replied, adding sarcastically, "Nice job, by the way."
Shizuo frowned. "A for effort?"
Izaya smirked, closing out of his tabs and closing the laptop, looking up at Alexa. "How much is left of the questioning?"
"Not a lot, probably. There should be enough evidence to show their crimes clearly and have them arrested."
"Unless..." Izaya began, pausing for a moment and blinking in surprise. "I'm the idiot here."
"What do you mean?"
Izaya turned towards Shizuo then. "Thinking back to the information in their system. It took so little time to delete everything because it was only what was relevant. I bet you they carried the police files over to their system before deleting them all here."
Alexa's eyes widened. "So in other words, you were the one that deleted all the evidence?"
"I guess I was."
"So how are you still accessing that?"
Izaya sighed. "Shizu-chan, did you not hear me? I said everything that was relevant. That wasn't their location, as we already established. All the information given here was fake."
Shizuo looked away awkwardly, Izaya narrowing his eyes at him, about to speak again when Cathryn spoke up.
"There's got to be something there still," she said, getting up out of her seat and disappearing off to another room, coming back a few minutes later with a shrug. "You were right. Nothing, as if they didn't exist at all."
What is he trying to accomplish with this? Izaya pondered, staring blankly out into the room. As if they didn't exist...I might be reading too far into this, but that is something worth thinking over. Besides the point. Causing so much trouble over something that wasn't even my fault...typical.
"Izaya?"
The informant blinked, looking over to see Cathryn and Shizuo, eyes on him, Cathryn speaking again. "Did you hear what I said?"
Izaya shook his head. "No, sorry."
"I was saying that some of those involved are in holding right now. Maybe we could get some information out of them?"
"In his condition?" Shizuo blurted out, about to try and cover it up, though earning a glare from Izaya shut him up.
"I'd be happy to," Izaya replied, choosing to ignore Shizuo the best he could at the moment. Getting his mind off of it, he gazed around the room, one question coming to mind. "Where's my jacket?"
Cathryn got back up then, leaving the room once more and coming back with both his jacket and switchblade. "Here, sorry."
Izaya merely nodded, slipping his jacket back on, switchblade returning to his pocket. "Let's go."
It was silent after Izaya and Cathryn left, with nothing left to go over until they returned - if they even managed to find anything new.
Shizuo kept thinking over his outburst, silently cursing himself over it. Alexa noticed his obvious discomfort, gazing over at him a few times, though neither spoke for the time being.
Over the course of the past few days, Shizuo had developed a small habit of checking his phone, though all seemed to be silent in Ikebukuro, though he knew that was too good to be true - impossible, even. Though, he had at least expected something from Shinra, maybe Celty and Tom as well. Though, there was nothing.
Hopefully all of this will wrap up soon and we'll be able to go home. Shizuo sighed, gazing around at the others briskly. It's nice here, but it's not a vacation.
Then again, what did I expect from Izaya?
After a while more passed, Izaya and Cathryn returned, the informant holding a file. "I got a bit, but this might need a bit of thinking through."
At first glance Izaya seemed fine, though when Shizuo looked at him again, there was some sort of discomfort on his face, if not more than that. He seemed really off, making Shizuo wonder what he had possibly found out. "So, what exactly did you find out?"
"I'm getting there, Shizuo," Izaya snapped, taking his place back beside Jacob, setting the file down. Shizuo and Alexa exchanged a glance on who would read it first, Alexa giving a nod towards Shizuo. The blonde nodded in return, taking the file and starting to skim through it, freezing and looking over at Izaya, who didn't make eye contact.
The first page was an article headlining a supposed double homicide, with a picture of what was clearly Izaya's apartment complex, though set ablaze. Past that, however, were the victims' names.
Mairu and Kururi Orihara.
Shizuo was speechless for a moment. He might've acted like it, but he honestly didn't hate the twins. In fact, there were times he quite enjoyed their company, when they weren't reminding him of Izaya. Seeing a picture of the two girls and their names as victims left his heart with a bit of an ache.
"What, jealous that you can't be as close with Mairu and Kururi?"
"Not at all."
Shizuo managed a small frown at this. Liar. I knew you were, but now...
"Izaya..."
"I'm not in the mood, brute," The informant grumbled in response. "I know what you're going to say, but we need to focus on this case, and that's that."
Focus so we can go home. Shizuo thought, attempting to protest, but Alexa cut him off. "Can I see that file?"
Shizuo nodded, handing it to her, eyes widening as she read through. "This is...well, ridiculous, to start. They're blaming you for it, even though you're out of the country. Have they pressed charges against you for anything else?"
"Not that I know of," Izaya replied with a shrug. "At least that gives me a better chance of sorting that all out."
"Well, the article was printed two days ago," Alexa continued. "You might want to get back home as quick as you can and deal with this."
"What about the case?"
Both Alexa and Izaya turned towards Shizuo, who didn't turn away this time.
"By the looks of it, both of you really need to get back. We can handle the rest, but thanks for your concern."
"We'll leave tomorrow, then," Izaya said, getting up and putting the laptop back in its case, looking towards Shizuo, and without another word, walked out.
When Shizuo simply sat there, Alexa looked at him questioningly. "You're not going to follow him?"
"I'd rather not get killed today."
Alexa let out an amused huff. "Funny how you're more concerned about him killing you rather than a whole underground organization."
Shizuo shrugged, standing up and making his way towards the door. "Guess I'll take a risk, then."
The hotel wasn't too far away, as a bit of relief, though it made Shizuo catch up to Izaya a bit faster than he wanted to, the other man scowling at him as they kept pace.
"I know you probably want to be alone right now-"
"Congratulations," Izaya muttered.
"But I really think you should talk it out. You can't just bottle everything up like this."
"Who says I have anything bottled up?"
"If you didn't care, you'd be smirking, rejoicing at the fact that two of the most annoying people in your life are now gone."
Izaya didn't reply for the whole way back to their room, the raven haired man curling up on the bed, facing away from Shizuo.
Shizuo let out a sigh, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Izaya, you've got to stop being this stubborn."
"What, do you want me to just pour my heart out for you?" Izaya hissed, sitting up and grabbing the laptop to order the tickets. "Because it's not going to happen."
He was silent for a while, until he looked up at Shizuo, frown still present. "They're not accepting my information."
"What?" Shizuo blinked, scooting over beside him to see that he wasn't lying.
"Don't tell me..." Izaya started, opening a new tab and opening a bank webpage, briskly logging in, and sure enough, there was no money in any of his accounts.
"I..." Izaya froze, burying his face in his hands. "How the hell are we supposed to get home? How..."
The informant stopped, closing his eyes and letting himself fall against Shizuo without a care.
Shizuo was obviously shocked at first, but didn't push him away.
"You're figure something out."
I doubt it.
author's note~
Aaand Izaya steals the spotlight for this chapter. xD I'll stop torturing him (for a while), I promise. /holds up shield
And, with the exceptions of chapters 5-7, this is the fastest I've gotten a chapter done. cx Considering the load of homework I have to do now, though...well, it might be a while for chapter 13. xD" I'll try writing this weekend, though, since it's Labor Day weekend and all, so you might see it soon.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you in chapter thirteen~
