Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara.

'I'm in love with Izaya,' Shizuo thought over and over again, eventually causing Tom to call it quits for the fourth day in a row after his kouhai had sent another five of their clients flying thought he skies of Ikebukuro.

Shizuo walked home with that line in his head, backtracking a few times because he had taken the wrong turn and stopping more than once after hitting and denting a random unfortunate street sign. Eventually, the bodyguard was settled comfortably in his own sofa, a cigarette in his mouth.

"When the hell did I…" he muttered before exhaling a trail of smoke in a half sigh. He recounted the events of the past month, the times he had seen the flea helpless and had unwillingly decided to help him. Or was it because he wanted to help Izaya? Impossible. The informant was and will always be his greatest enemy. He had decided that years ago, back to that very first day he had met the other in high school.

'Then why did I want to kiss him?' He ran through a list of ideas as the cigarette in his mouth burned away. Maybe he had just mistaken the two words. Kill and kiss. They were similar enough, right? But, he was certain that what he imagined during that thought, what he had his eyes on, was the informant's eyes. 'Okay eyes…' Red, wide, and curious, not scared, wide, and in pain. That was… 'I was just relieved that he wasn't still afraid of me,' Shizuo confirmed. 'But… don't I want him to be afraid of me? I want to kill him after all… right?' He sighed, remembering to put out the cigarette this time before it burned him.

"Forget this," he said, deciding that a nice nap would do his mind good.

.

Izaya stared at the message on his phone before closing the device, sighing. "Really now…"

"Does it still hurt?" Shinra asked as he walked into the room.

"Oh, no, it was something else," the informant told him, slipping the device under his pillow.

The doctor frowned. "Is it by any chance because…"

"Nope, you guessed wrong!" Izaya answered immediately, grinning.

Shinra sighed, his attempt to convince the informant that he wanted to see the bodyguard thwarted once again. "Ah okay. I'm going to bed now then. Call me if you need anything."

"Right right," the informant said, waving him away. He watched until the door closed and lied back down on his pillow, blinking at the ceiling above him. "Really… if Shinra would stop assuming that Shizu-chan would visit…" Honestly, he never expected the bodyguard to visit, even with that previous verbal promise. On the other hand, the informant himself was quite irritated at the whole idea of it now that Shizuo had gone and done something he had thought was impossible.

"There's no way Shizu-chan likes me," Izaya confirmed to himself before laughing. "Absurd." He snuck the phone out from under his pillow and looked at the message again. "Humans are so absurd…"

.

The bodyguard nearly fell out of bed when his phone blared to life at 3 in the morning. He grabbed at it grumpily, nearly crushing the device in his hand when he saw the doctor's name on the screen.

"What the hell, Shinra!" he snarled as he flipped the phone open.

"Shizuo! Shizuo!" the other called his name out excitedly.

"What?" the bodyguard yelled back.

"It's Izaya! He's gone!"

It took a full 10 seconds for that statement to hit him.

"What?"

.

"I know what happened," Shinra read out loud to the two in the room.

"Who's it from?"

"The sender's listed as Shiki," the doctor said, thinking. "Wait! Shizuo, didn't you mention someone called Shiki a while ago when you brought Izaya in with the gunshot wound?"

"Uh… maybe?" the bodyguard said, frowning.

"Then maybe…" Shinra scrolled down the list of names, finding Namie's.

"What now?" the woman answered on the other line. "Stop calling me on my days off already!"

"Uh… Namie?" the doctor stuttered, a little intimidated.

"Oh? Shinra?" She calmed down, recognizing his voice immediately. "Why are you using Izaya's phone?"

"Uh… well… I was wondering if you happen to know someone called Shiki?"

"Oh, that guy. What about him?"

"Uh… I was wondering if…"

"You want his address?"

"Maybe?" Shinra almost laughed with relief that the other was so sharp.

"It'll cost you." He could almost imagine her smirking on the other end.

"But…" he stuttered when Shizuo suddenly took the phone from him.

"You didn't pay me last time when I went with you to Izaya's apartment."

"Shizuo?" she sighed. If Shizuo was involved in this, she'd rather not be caught in the crossfire, having seen enough of the wounds Izaya received from the bodyguard. "Fine, give me a few minutes."

.

"You actually came," the head of the Awakusa greeted the informant as one of his men led Izaya in, closing the door behind him, leaving the two alone in the room.

"I'm actually taking quite a big gamble this time," Izaya replied, smiling as he sat down, looking around the place. It hadn't changed at all, he noted, despite having not been here for almost two months.

"Oh, really?" Shiki replied, resting his chin on the back of his hands. "Then you know what I meant in the message?"

"Maybe."

"Then why did you come?"

"I want to see what you're going to do with that information."

"Not how I obtained it?" he asked, flipping his cigarette lighter open.

"Oh, you probably caught one of them already before you even emailed me."

Shiki laughed, exhaling a trail of smoke, "Sharp as always, Orihara. Hm… I was wondering if I should confirm it," he said, lightly touching the other's knee, but Izaya stayed where he was, seemingly unfazed.

The informant smiled. "And what good would that do you?"

"Hm… I don't know. If it affects you so much that you'd stop working, then I really have no use for you." He looked into the other's red eyes. "And you know what happens when someone's purpose runs out in the yakuza, don't you?"

He drew back his hand when the other didn't look away. "Amazing as always."

It was at this point that he could finally see the uneasiness in the other. "Just what…" Izaya began.

Shiki sighed, shaking his head. "You read me wrong. Take a little time to think." He stood up, walking over to the refrigerator in the room and took out two cans of beer, offering one to the informant, who shook his head now. "No? You were always pretty eager to drink one," he commented.

"Ah, not today," Izaya replied, remembering the painkillers probably still present in his bloodstream. He had found that he could move around freely without ripping open his stitches just yesterday, but without the painkillers, he couldn't even sit up. That and the taxi had miraculously gotten him here, and he was not about to get transported into a hospital because of a bad mixture of drugs. 'I wonder if Shinra found my phone…' he thought, hoping that the doctor had not panicked enough to overlook the shiny black object on his empty bed back at the apartment.

"Whatever you say," Shiki said, returning the other can to the refrigerator before sitting back down, taking a gulp from his. "Orihara…"

Izaya suddenly had a realization. "That last job was a test."

Shiki laughed. "So you figured it out?"

"You were wondering why I haven't been doing my job the past month, and when this opportunity arose, you took it to see if I was still able to work."

"And you performed magnificently." He took another gulp. "Too perfect actually. I was wondering…"

Izaya closed his eyes. "I'm fine."

"Really?" he smiled, turning to look at the informant, who met his eyes. "Then I was wondering if you can take care of a little something I received the other day. You must be running out of money, taking such a long vacation."

"It was for health reasons, you know," Izaya responded, frowning.

"Of course." He handed the informant an envelope, which Izaya pocketed. "I'd look forward to seeing you in action again."

"Soon," Izaya told him, slowly standing up. 'Aw, crap…' he thought when he felt the familiar wave of dizziness start to engulf his conscious.

"Orihara?" Shiki called.

"Eh?" Izaya said, turning to look at him.

"I've seen a lot in my line of work."

The informant chuckled weakly. "I figured."

"Well, you are my best informant. Take care that it does not happen again. I won't be so lenient next time."

"Of course." He nearly sighed in relief.

At that moment they heard a crash outside the room, followed by some yelling, before the door to the room suddenly fell over, torn cleanly from its hinges.

"Ah, he's here!"Shiki chuckled, looking at the damage, unfazed. "It's just as they say, such strength."

Shizuo strode over until he was between the two, eyeing Shiki with the eyes of a predator hunting its prey.

"Shizu-chan…" a soft voice brought him back to his senses, and he realized that Izaya was grabbing on to his sleeve to steady himself.

"You'd better get him back to the doctor," Shiki told the bodyguard, before downing the rest of his beer. He watched as Shizuo hoisted the ailing informant onto his back and, with a last glance back, walked casually out the door. "Really," he sighed as he took out his phone, lighting another cigarette with his other hand as he dialed.

"Hello? Oh, yes he came." He took his cigarette out briefly and breathed out a trail of smoke. "It's just as you said; Orihara seems fine." He chuckled. "Well, thank you for your work. I'll be sure to give you the ingredients you were looking for."

"Shiki-san?" one of the underlings called out uneasily.

"Oh, I need to calm my men. He's caused quite the scene." He laughed. "I'm pleased to do business with you, Shinra Kishitani." He hung up.

"Uh… Shiki-san?" the man repeated. "Is everything okay?"

"Of course," he replied, standing up to stretch. "I just got my informant back. Everything's fine."

.

Shinra hung up, sighing in relief before turning to his girlfriend, a wide smile on his face. "How'd you like my acting?"

"You just established connections with the yakuza?" Celty asked, coming close to hitting him.

"It's just this once!" Shinra said, raising his hands up in defense. "Besides, I really wanted that…"

"That's illegal!"

"It's for medical research!"

She shook her head, wondering if the doctor could get anymore crazy. "Since when?"

"Uh… since he called the first time inquiring about Izaya."

"He had your number?"

"Maybe Izaya gave it to him?"

"Sheesh, that bastard."

"Hey Celty, don't be vulgar," Shinra said, grinning. "Besides I did send Shizuo to get him, so this should get interesting."

"Do you think that Izaya knows?"

"Of course he knows! He's Izaya! Now we just have to wait to see what happens!"

"You're getting way too into this," she typed, shaking her head.

Hello! Sorry for the long wait! X.X I'm randomly hitting writer's block nowadays. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thanks for reading!