Characters: Shizuo x Izaya

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara or any of it's characters.

Full Summary: Shizuo and Izaya are both experiencing depression, both trying to cope with it without letting any one else know, more specifically, each other. Whilst dealing with said emotion, Izaya receives an odd bruise on his wrist that begins to pull at his mental state of mind, causing his friends to worry in their attempt to bring him back to his normal self.

"You don't actually think you've won here, do you?" Shiki chuckled, staring ahead at the group that had finally cornered him on the rooftop of the building they were in. Kasuka had successfully blocked off the ignorant lackeys of the Yakuza man, separating Shiki from his protection. It took some time, and some obvious wounds, but they were going to make sure that by the end of the night, there would be an end to something.

Izaya locked his eyes onto Shiki, hesitating before answering. "I wouldn't say that we've won anything...I do know that you have definitely lost here tonight." He stuffed his hand in his pocket and then kicked his foot out a bit. "What do you think you can by yourself, against us?" He raised a hand, fanning it towards the people that stood behind him. Shiki followed Izaya's hand with his eyes, meeting the orbs of the four that stood behind the thin man. He was at a loss for words as well as a loss for what to do. He kept a stern face, regardless. "I want answers." Izaya said firmly. "You lost Shiki, face it. If you want to leave unharmed, then tell me everything you know about this damn doll."

Shiki let out a low chuckle. "Well then, where should I start...?"

"You can start by telling me what it does to the people that are holding it. Why were both Kasuka and Namie so intent on killing me? The reason's that I've been given don't add up with their own logic, skills and emotion, as well as just making sense in general."

"What makes you think the doll has any control over that? It's like with any human being. Once they get a taste of some power, they thirst for more."

"That's insulting to my intelligence level, Shiki. If that were the case, then why is Kasuka not attempting to kill me right now? Why would someone as smart as Kasuka possibly think that killing me would result in the end of his one-sided feelings with Shizuo?" Izaya emphasized the questions, drawing them out as to let them sink in with the older man. Kasuka's eyes widened slightly as he listened to Izaya defend him. "Shizuo doesn't truly wish to hurt anyone, let alone kill someone. Both I and Kasuka know this, so why would he even think that my death would cause Shizuo to fall in love with him? Kasuka's both smarter and more rational than that, so why did he do everything he did?" Izaya slipped his hands into his pocket, continuing on with his insight. "Also, While I wouldn't put it past Namie to want to try and kill me, there is absolutely no benefit for her if I were to be killed. If anything, it would just cause problems for her, seeing as how she would've been out of a job, out of money, and out of easy information on what her brother's spending his days doing. I actually can't think of anything that would benefit her from my death. So, what would prompt her to want to kill me so irrationally?"

Shiki remained quite, but his face softened, showing that he knew there was no getting around Izaya's intelligence level. No matter what lie it was he told the informant, all he would do would spew question after question, while reminding him of the ones that stood beside him. "...The doll's a curse, y'know." Shiki started, pulling a cigarette from the inside of his jacket and placing it in between his lips as he retrieved his zippo lighter. With a flick, he lit his cigarette and took in a deep breath. "As I'm sure you've noticed, it has a way of playing with the emotions of who it's encountered with. You see, the doll's supposed to benefit the person it's marked with, which would be you. Your benefit would be the love of Shizuo. In order for you to obtain your happiness in that, another pairing has to have the opposite effect." Shiki Let a puff of smoke out and then continued. "We originally went after Namie because of the mere fact that she basically lived with you, and it was easy to monitor her actions. After she took hold of the doll, we noticed the changes in her behaviour and investigated the doll a bit more to find this out. The more you fell in love with Shizuo, the more she began to hate you. Granted, it wasn't much at the time, but you killed her before we were able to tell how deep it would go. Because she was killed, we needed someone else to take the place of the doll holder, problem being, it was supposed to be the person she was in love with. We couldn't touch her brother with the amount of security that she put on the kid, and instead thought we could maybe trick the doll by getting someone who was in a similar situation. Not to mention, it would make cleaning this whole mess up a lot easier if we were to use Kasuka instead of Seiji. What kind of director would want news of their lead actor committing a murder? Keeping that in mind, we contacted him, and tried it out. Seemed to have worked just fine after he held the doll for a week or two." Shiki shrugged his shoulders as he pulled the burning stick of cancer from his lips and held it between his fingers. "That answer your first question?"

Izaya took a glance at Kasuka, Shizuo, Shinra, and Celty, before turning back to Shiki and nodding at him. "..Kasuka stated before that if he were to kill me by using that doll, he'd 'lose Shizuo forever'..." Shizuo scrunched his eyebrows together hearing this, turning his head slightly to examine his brother. "What did he mean by that...?"

Shiki did a glance over of Kasuka and then brought his eyes back onto Izaya. "Obviously, we're not positive on it, but we were assuming that by killing you with the doll, it would pass the curse onto Shizuo, since the two of you were never able to complete your part of the ritual... We assumed that if that happened, Shizuo would forever be marked with that curse since his partner would have already died and there's no one to take over your spot." He then shrugged and took a breath from his cigarette, returning it to his side once again afterwards. "Whether or not that's what Kasuka meant, you'd have to ask him yourself."

Izaya remained quiet for a moment, not paying the actor any attention. "He also told me that there were only two ways to get rid of this mark. Is that correct?"

"Two that we know of, yes."

"I see." Izaya then thought over everything, and glanced back at Shinra. "Anything I'm forgetting to ask?"

Shinra nodded and then turned his attention towards Shiki. "I'm pretty sure I understand just about everything there is to this whole doll thing and what it's done to Izaya. What I don't get is how it had any affect on Shizuo when he had no connection to the doll whatsoever. Are we supposed to assume that his involvement was some spiritual connection made by that doll...?"

"That's exactly what it was. I can only guess and say that the reason Orihara Izaya and Heiwajima Shizuo were connected was because of their intense emotions for each other. Izaya never felt any type of emotion towards anyone as strongly as Shizuo, and Shizuo never hated anyone as strongly as he did Izaya." Shiki paused a minute to let out a small laugh. "The fact that the two are trying to say they love each other just seems like a bad joke."

Shizuo's face immediately flushed, as he turned his head off to the side and mumbled some slur of insults about the yakuza man as Izaya did his best to hide the blush that surfaced on his face. Kasuka glanced over at the two and then held the doll up slightly for him to look at. His face didn't show much of anything, but anyone could tell there was a slight hint of jealousy there. He stared at the details of the doll for a moment longer and then brought his focus back up to the Yakuza man. During these past few hours, he'd come to the conclusion that he never really hated Izaya as much as he thought he did, or as much as the doll made him feel. He was really just envious of the amount of attention the man was able to take from his brother. What he also realized was that he hated this doll, and he was pretty sure he hated the man that brought it to him as well. Kasuka wished that out of everyone he had come to harm, it could've been him instead. "You see..." Shiki started again, reaching towards his back pocket to obtain something. "I can give you as much information as you'd like about that doll, but in the end..." In a flash, Shiki had pulled a gun out and without hesitation fired it at Kasuka's hand. "We need it." He finished as the bullet went whirling into the hand that was holding the doll. Kasuka released it the instant the bullet made contact with his skin, holding back a loud yelp of pain in the process. He winced, clutching his bleeding hand. "Ah..." He breathed out.

Shizuo was ready to murder the man but both Izaya and Celty lunged to stop him. "Shizuo, don't!" Izaya called, jumping in front of him. Shizuo hesitated a moment before spitting off to the side and holding himself back as best he could. Celty wrapped her shadows around the doll that was now stained with Kasuka's blood and carefully held it out towards the Yakuza man. Shiki aimed his gun from person to person, on guard as he directed one of the few men that were with him to retrieve the doll from the dullahan. After said deed was done, he once again met Izaya's gaze. "It's a shame things couldn't have gone more smoothly... I still have my orders to kill you, Orihara."

"I know you do." Izaya breathed.

"I never thought I'd see the day we became enemies." Shiki added, walking back with his gun held up at them still.

"I could say the same thing."

Without another word, Shiki fled the building along with all of his men, the sound of screeching cars echoing through the lot as the amount of men all pulled out. Izaya's mind wandered off, dipping into things that he would've rather not thought about at the moment until a light weight on his shoulder pulled him from such thoughts. "Hm?" He hummed, turning to Celty.

You're really something else, you know.

"Ah, why thank you Celty-san, but I'd watch what you say, unless you want a certain doctor to get suspicious!" Izaya chuckled when Celty's shoulders dropped.

Cracking jokes at a time like this... Are you alright?

"I'm fine. You seem invincible as always." Celty didn't have much of a reaction to that and went on typing.

How long do you think it'll take for them to figure out that dolls fake...?

"Who knows. It won't matter though as long as you've still got the one Shizu-chan gave you the other day..." Izaya looked down at his wrist, noticing that the bruise hadn't changed at all from the last time he looked at it. That was one good sign. He turned back to Celty, and then looked past her to see Shinra taking care of the bullet wound Kasuka received. Shizuo was pacing back and fourth with a cigarette burning at his lips, most likely mumbling cuss word, after cuss word about the whole ordeal. Shinra hadn't even gotten to check Shizuo's wounds yet, and he, of course, looked completely unaffected by any of the bullets he had been dealt. Izaya couldn't help but smile at the scene. He let out a deep breath and then made his way towards the three men, Celty following behind him.

"I'm really surprised the bullet didn't hit any bones.. It just barely caught the skin between your thumb and index finger too.. I just need to stitch this up and you should be all set." Shinra rambled, after carefully removing the bullet that was lodged in Kasuka's hand.

"...Ngh..Thanks." Kasuka winced as the brunette poured a numbing liquid on the surface of the wound and then retrieved his thread and needle afterwards. Kasuka clamped his jaw down when Shinra began to stitch him up, doing his best to keep from tensing up. Shinra finished, tying the loose ends together and then after checking it over, made to help Shizuo and his wounds. The young actor looked up, catching the informant's eyes. Izaya stared at him for a moment and then figured now would be the best time to say anything.

"You know..." Izaya started, stuffing his hands into his jacket's pockets. "I was perfectly content with the relationship Shizu-chan and I had before... I hope you know I had no intention of things coming out like this." He let out a sigh, continuing. "I suppose it's understandable if you still hate me and everything, but at least realize that I'm not out to hurt your brother anymore... If it really bothers you so much, I could always-"

"Since when did you pity anyone...?" Kasuka interrupted, his eyes focused on nothing in particular. Izaya stared at him for a moment before letting out a laugh.

"Ah, what's that supposed to mean, Kasuka? Do you think I'm that mean?" The actor didn't answer his question, his flat eyes looking up at his brother.

"If brother's happy, than I have no choice but to be happy for him..." Kasuka told him. "Do what ever you like, but don't ever hurt him."

"Coming from the man that nearly stabbed me to death, I suppose it'd be good on my part to follow those guidelines of yours, hm?" Izaya chuckled, though he noticed Kasuka didn't find it funny at all. Then again, what did the man find funny?

The informant let a smile settle on his lips as he thought over everything that had happened that night. It was all so close to being over. Everything was so close to coming to an end. It was almost hard for him to believe, thinking on all of it. Izaya felt like at some points, he was cursed to spend the rest of his life in that horrible pain, but, he'd made sure that he wouldn't be experiencing it any longer. Well, unless Celty had some kind of hidden grudge against him and decided to let that doll's power over come her.

That was highly unlikely though.

One thing that was Izaya wished he could've understood more were those Delic and Psyche characters. He wasn't sure if that was real, or if his mind had completely made that up in some kind of dream of some sort. Letting out a sigh, Izaya pushed the thought into the back of his mind.

Izaya felt a presence next to him, and both Kasuka and him turned to see Shizuo, his arm bandaged up, and body cleaned up. He crossed his arms and peered down at his younger brother. "What in the hell were you doing shooting at me!"

It was silent for a moment before the actor shared a glance with the informant, and then over to the doctor as well. He looked back to his brother, and before he could say anything, a small giggle escaped Izaya's lips before it erupted into a full on hearty laugh. Shizuo's brow twitched as he let his hands unfold. He watched, confused as Izaya doubled over in laughter. Izaya grabbed his stomach, his laughs cutting off as he realized just how painful it was with his stab wounds and all. "Ahahah! AHAH-Owww! Haaaaa! Ahahah!"

"What the fuck is so funny?" Shizuo yelled, noticing that Shinra was chuckling a bit, Kasuka had a small smile on his lips and Celty's shoulders were moving in the motion that he assumed meant she was laughing as well. After waiting a long moment for a response, or for Izaya to stop laughing, Shizuo just threw his arms up in the air. "You guys are all insane."

The informant wiped tears from his eyes, calming down enough to actually breathe. "Ooooohh, Shizu-chan, that was too funny...!"

"What was so funny about that!" Shizuo yelled, confused.

"You didn't figure it out, brother...?"

"Ahh, Shizuo, that whole thing was an act, to trick Shiki and his men about what side Kasuka was on. It bought us quite a bit of time actually..."

"An...act...?" Shizuo mumbled. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "And I didn't know about this because...?"

"It was a mutual agreement by all of us to keep you out of the loop." Izaya explained. "You're about as secretive as you are calm..."

"..Psch, could've at least told me you guys had something in mind..." Shizuo scoffed.

"Oh please," Izaya rolled his eyes, stepping closer to him. "You were already stressed enough about Kasuka, and myself, if we would've said that, who knows what you would've done."

"I'm still gonna kill that bastard for shooting him." Shizuo spat out.

Kasuka looked off to the side, while Shinra rolled his eyes. "Ahhh, yeah, yeah, Why don't we all just get going home now before Shiki-san sends men out here to follow us and slaughter us all?"

Celty nodded and Izaya smirked, looping his arm around Shizuo's and then pulling on it. "Sounds like a plan." He stated, Shizuo rolling his eyes.

"That's my wound you're tugging on, Flea."

"Ah, oops."

A/N: -hides- Don't kill me ;A; I know it's really late, and I know it's really short compared to my other chapters, but LISTEN. Work has seriously been taking it's toll on me .w.

Anyways, so I kinda need you to read this part here because it determines what the Epilogue for this story will be. Sooo, here's the two options, because I have both in mind, and whatever isn't picked will most likely be turned into a short.

Izaya "learning to swim"

Ooor Homophobic Neighbors.

Yeah, I know, not much to go off of, but I don't want to give the whole thing away. So, Pick one! Pick one and let me know!

And, jsyk, smut will be in the next chapter. (It's why this one's so short D:)

-edit- Totally forgot to reply to reviews...xD

CgB- Huh, you're the only one who wasn't logged in that reviewed this time x'D Anyways, It can't go on forever because I don't want to write it forever :T I honestly would've quit on this story a really long time ago, if it didn't get as big as it has xD Well anyways, I love you too ;A; So much, ya don't even know.

And again, thank you everyone x3 I love all the feedback, and I'm actually over 200 reviews...I can't really believe it... I really appreciate it, and love you all.

again, sorry for the late update.