To Shan-kun, thank you for reviewing! I know I can count on you to make sure I keep everyone in character! And yeah, Arlua missed. Here's why.
Disclaimer: I own my ocs, of which there are lots, but that's all.
Arlua, her lips still pressed against Izaya's, shifted her weight slightly and brought her knee up sharply, meaning to knee him in the groin as hard as she could.
Izaya twisted and took the blow on his thigh as he pulled away, smirking even more than usual. Arlua stumbled slightly, having not anticipated his dodge.
I should have, though, she thought sourly as she regained her balance. Of course he would dodge.
"Well, Lu-chan, that was surprising,~" Izaya murmured. Arlua glared at him.
"Shut up," she snapped. His smirk widened, which she hadn't thought was possible.
"If I say 'make me,' are you going to kiss me again?" he inquired curiously.
"Why would I kiss a cretin like you?" she demanded. Izaya laughed.
"I don't know, Lu-chan. You tell me; after all, you just did kiss a cretin like me," he reminded her. Arlua scowled.
"Shut up," she said again.
I have to change the subject, but what…the password.
"Just tell me what password you set on that flash drive so I can go," she ordered. Izaya laughed again.
"But I already told you what it is. You just didn't listen," he informed her loftily. The technician opened her mouth to snap that no, he did not tell her, and if he had and she hadn't been listening, that was only because he was so insane that she had to tune him out in case his insanity was contagious. Before she could say anything, though, she felt the warmth of his mouth on hers once more.
Her brain refused to register what was happening. She had kissed him, and now he was kissing her. And he wasn't smirking, she noted absently. She would have been content to stay like that for a while, except there was a sharp crack, and a bullet ricocheted off the concrete beside them. Arlua flinched, breaking the contact. She scanned the area for the shooter, feeling panic rising.
Who fired at us? Were they even aiming at us? And if they were, who were they aiming at? Me? Or- she looked around for the informant. Izaya was gone. Vanished. Damn germ, she snarled silently.
"Are you all right?" That calm, detached, emotionless voice… Arlua whirled and found the teenager Malcolm watching her. The teen who had been with him when he was running from Izaya, the one Arlua guessed was Supai, stood beside him, holstering a handgun at his hip.
"Apart from almost being shot a second ago? Yeah," she said faintly, eyeing the now-holstered weapon warily.
"You weren't almost shot. I wouldn't have hit you," Supai said, sounding slightly offended. "I can shoot almost as well as Tania."
"But you shoot to kill. So you'll have to forgive me for not feeling comfortable by that," she snapped.
"He wouldn't shoot you or the maggot," Malcolm told her flatly. "We promised not to take any more jobs against you if you helped us with him, and the maggot Supai wants to beat, not kill." Arlua blinked.
"The maggot?"
"My cousin, Izaya Orihara," Supai sighed. "I call him the maggot."
"Everyone's got their own name for him," Arlua laughed. "It gets confusing. To Shi – Shizuo Heiwajima – he's the flea, to Natsuki he's just Orihara, to you two he's the maggot, and I call him-"
"Germ?" Malcolm murmured, referring to their text conversation.
"Your boyfriend?" Supai suggested cheekily. Arlua glared at him, feeling her cheeks heat as she blushed.
"He is not my boyfriend. I don't even like him. He's insane and impossible and he screws around with people for the fun of it," she snapped.
"And you just kissed him twice," Supai pointed out, grinning mischievously.
"Once," Arlua corrected. "He kissed me the second time. There's a difference." She could feel her face getting redder and redder. "Anyway, what I was going to say is, I call him lots of things, none of which are complementary."
"What about that nickname you gave him? Izzy?" Supai questioned. The technician blinked.
"How did you know about that?" she demanded. Supai smirked, looking so much like Izaya with that expression that Arlua debated trying to kick him in the groin, too.
"I'm an informant, like him," he explained. "And an assassin if things get messy for Malcolm," he added, patting the holstered handgun at his side. Arlua rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. Anyway, Malcolm, your sister is very helpful," she said, changing the subject. Malcolm's blank expression never wavered, but Supai froze.
"Tania? Did you do something to her?" he whispered. The technician frowned.
"Of course not. I just happened to meet her. We talked for a bit, and she told me your last names and that you attend Raira. Then she left, and Shi went to give her the jacket that she dropped while I came here and took care of some stuff."
"Shi…you said Shi was Shizuo Heiwajima. You let him go after Tania?" Supai demanded. "What if he hurts her?" Arlua sighed at the fear in the boy's voice.
"Shi wouldn't hurt her. Not unless she hurts him. He's really very gentle, not a monster like people think he is," Arlua told him wearily. She was really tired of people treating Shizuo like he wasn't human just because he was stronger than them and got very angry very quickly.
"Heiwajima is a monster. He flies into a rage at the slightest insult, and sometimes without any noticeable trigger," Malcolm stated emotionlessly. Arlua crossed her arms angrily.
"Shizuo Heiwajima is not a monster. A monster is someone like you, who takes money to hurt and terrorize and steal from people," she snapped. Malcolm didn't react. Supai scowled.
"Malcolm and I are not monsters," he snapped.
"Well neither is Shizuo. Now run home to Ikebukuro before your cousin comes back," Arlua ordered. Without waiting to see if they obeyed or not, she turned and marched back the way she had come, toward SupportTech, where she would have to figure out what Izaya meant when he said he had already told her what the password on the flash drive was.