Chapter 50: Disintegration

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As though he doubted his own eyes, Shizuo continued to read in disbelief.

Izaya's intense cries of ecstasy echoed throughout his enemy's small apartment as Ikebukuro's beast continued to thrust into him. He really couldn't think much whenever Shizuo unleashed his lust upon him, but it still amazed him how the man who claimed to hate him seemed so desperate to borrow himself deeper within him with each new forward motion. "Bea...ahh...st!" Izaya whispered besides Shizuo's ear as the man appeared to be dead set on driving his once enemy, now lover, to an early grave, the pleasure overload almost turning Izaya's brain to mush. "Shut up, flea," Shizuo said, grinning and

"What the hell?" Shizuo couldn't help but cry out again. He felt his face heat up after reading a bit more of what was written, and no matter how much he wanted to erase it from his mind, he couldn't. What was written there was very different from what happened back when Shizuo kept driving into Izaya with the sole intent of breaking the man to pieces. Izaya's moans had been of agony, not of pleasure, and Shizuo nearly felt sick as the two opposite images twisted and turned inside his head at a dizzying speed. Unfortunately, as much as he wanted to wallow in misery, he couldn't afford it. His eyes fell back on Izaya, the man's wan face making him worry. "Oi, flea," he tried, but Izaya seemed to be in a world of his own. "Izaya!" he tried again, but it didn't look like the poor man was able to comprehend a word he was saying. Seeing no other choice, he pocketed the phone, picked up Izaya into his arms and headed towards the restaurant's back door. It only took a few paces to reach it, but it was enough to make Shizuo worry when he realized that Izaya might've passed out. Raising a foot, he kicked the door open and walked inside.

"Hey, you're not allowed―" one of the employees tried, but he was cut off by the blond's angry growl.

"He passed out." Judging by the terrified look one of the people was giving him, the man knew who he was. "You," Shizuo barked his command, "help him!"

The man's face went as white as a sheet, but he nonetheless guided Shizuo to a nearby room where the employees ate or hanged out during breaks. Immediately, Shizuo laid Izaya on the table and turned dangerous eyes towards the people trying to pell-mell into the room. "Leave!" he ordered, and even though most of them didn't seem to know who he was, they still made themselves scarce. "You stay," he then added as pointed at the employee who'd shown him the room.

The man approached the terrifying duo that was Heiwajima Shizuo and Orihara Izaya with legs weakened by the fear he felt rushing through his veins. Realizing that he had no choice but to help―even though he had no idea why Ikebukuro's monster would ever want to help Orihara Izaya―he picked up a glass of water, dove his fingers in it and then splashed some droplets onto the pale face belonging to an extremely dangerous Informant. "Raise his legs," he instructed Shizuo while he struggled to take off Izaya's jacket, but he stopped when he heard a ferocious growl. The sound reverberated throughout his brain, and before he even knew what he was doing, he was down on his knees begging for forgiveness with his head touching the floor and his palms flat against the surface. "I'm sorry, please forgive me! I was just trying to loosen his jacket!" the man tried in an attempt to explain himself.

Shizuo felt a bit embarrassed for reacting that way, but he had a feeling that Izaya would not appreciate some stranger divesting him of his clothes even if it was only the jacket. "I'll do it," he informed the man as he pulled Izaya's arms out of the sleeves, wrapped an arm around the much smaller back and lifted it a bit higher to pull out the jacket from underneath the passed out form. It was almost ridiculous how gentle he was being to the insect, especially after what had happened that night, but what guided him was the suffocating guilt he felt towards the man, and he had a feeling that he would never be able to rid himself of it for as long as he lived. Seeing Izaya's unconscious form, and feeling the bones beneath the baggy t-shirt, served as further confirmation that Izaya was on a downwards spiral of blood, revenge and suffering. He remembered the strong body from back then, struggling to get away, the way those muscles had shook underneath the porcelain skin as Shizuo had restrained his prey and proceeded to utterly crush the man by shattering his soul and pride to a thousand pieces. Shizuo felt ashamed, but it was a feeling he was starting to get used to. Nothing would ever erase what he'd done, the proof being right before his very eyes. "What now, ehh... what's your name?" he asked, hoping to distract himself from memories of Izaya screaming into his palm.

"Matsuda!" the man shouted as he jumped to his feet.

"Matsuda… Well, get on with it." As soon as he gave the green light, the man wet his hand again and ran it over Izaya's forehead, face, neck and collarbone before finally slapping him gently on the cheek.

"Orihara Izaya-san, wake up! Orihara-san!" Matsuda kept repeating and shaking him gently until red-eyes, their color resembling that of blood, fixed him with their gaze. "Ori―" but the rest of the word ended up as nothing more than a squeak the moment he was pushed away by Ikebukuro's strongest. "Leave," he heard the man say, and he didn't need to be told twice. He rushed out the door and closed it behind him, relief overflowing him for having survived the encounter.

Inside, Shizuo carefully moved Izaya's head in his direction, but judging by the hazy stare, it didn't look like Izaya was fully back. "Flea, are you okay?" he tried in a gentle tone, but then all hell broke lose when recognition came back to Izaya's blood-red orbs and the man―even though mere moments before had been unconscious―started struggling for all he was worth to get away from him. "Izaya, calm down!" he tried, but Izaya's eyes only grew wider with terror.

In his bleary mind, he was back in that alley, the place where he'd been stripped of his god-like status and flung down to a much lower level than even that of a regular human. He loathed those hazel eyes and their disgusting pale color, staring him down as though he was nothing more than an insect deserving to be squashed. Just like back then, the fear rushed through his veins like the blood pumping through them at such dizzying speed that he could almost hear the sound in his ears. He couldn't escape the beast. He wanted everything to stop, please stop, pleasestop, stop, stopstop,but the monster was enjoying himself too much to put a halt to his sordid activities before finally ruining him beyond repair.

"Izaya!" the sharp sound sliced through the fog in his mind, and it was then when he finally realized that he was cowering in the corner of a foreign room. Huh?Where was he? And why was Shizuo looking so broken when the monster had been the one doing the breaking? Slowly, he straightened his back as he took in his surroundings. He remembered the site, reading it, and how the disgusting words written on it had made him sick to the core of his very being. He remembered the dizziness and the nausea, and then nothing. He wasn't in that alley, bleeding on the dirty ground and feeling the heavy weight of the rain whipping his battered body. Inside this room it was dry and warm; he wasn't there. Focusing on Shizuo again, who was standing still in the middle of the room, Izaya came to the conclusion that he must've passed out. A broken laugh almost spilled past his lips, but he pressed his lips tightly together to contain in. It was ridiculous, that he would end up getting help from this monster of a man who was the cause of everything that had gone wrong in his life. His eyes drifted over to the jacket placed on the chair next to the table, and this time he couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. "Shizu-chan, were you trying to take advantage of me while I was unconscious?" Of course, the mere idea of what he was saying made him sick, but he wanted to cover his own shame at having reacted in such a cowardly way by making Shizuo feel both embarrassed and insulted.

"I was just tryin' to help," Shizuo mumbled as he picked up the jacket and threw it in the insect's direction. Izaya was too slow to catch it in time, so when the clothing article fell on the floor, the man glared murder at him. Instead of apologizing, Shizuo shrugged and turned to leave. "I'll wait for you outside," he said over his shoulder as he walked out and closed the door behind him.

"I don't need your help, you dumb brute," Izaya mumbled to himself after Shizuo had left the room. His limbs were still shaking with fine tremors, but he forced his weary body to bend down and pick up the jacket. "Ruining my coat wasn't enough for you?" he hissed between tightly clenched teeth as he proceeded to dust off his precious jacket. He couldn't help but wonder if the brute had carried him all the way to wherever he was. The simple thought brought a disgusting taste to his mouth on top of the bitter one, but he clicked his tongue and slowly made his way towards the door. He wouldn't thank Shizuo for anything; after all, the monster didn't deserve his gratitude. Taking a deep breathe, he forced a relaxed smile on his face before he pressed the door's handle and stepped out of the small room and into what appeared to be a restaurant's kitchen. "Ah," he exclaimed before he could stop himself. The people there were busy preparing food, but there was one person who was talking to Shizuo.

"I'm glad to see you're doing better," the stranger said, and Izaya's brow quirked upwards into a questioning manner.

"Thanks for your help," Shizuo told Matsuda before he headed towards the exit, Izaya chirping his thanks in a lively voice as he followed behind the monster of his nightmares. "You should go home for today," Shizuo told him as soon as they were outside. "You don't look too well."

"Do you really think I'll stop now?" Izaya nearly spat out the words in disgust.

The urge to smack Izaya unconscious almost overwhelmed Shizuo for a moment, but instead he balled his hands into tight fists and shoved them inside the pockets of his jacket. "What are you planning now?"

"We'll continue looking for the person who requested for the picture to be printed, and in the meantime, I'll call one of my contacts," Izaya said, the corners of his lips going upwards into a disturbing smile that promised pain and suffering to whoever had been unlucky enough to incur the Informant's wrath.

Shizuo nodded and handed him the phone. Izaya glowered at him for a few moments, but instead of starting another fight, he took it from the beastly hand and they both headed towards the next store. Izaya walked beside him, talking on the phone with someone and ordering that person to find the owner of that messed up site, even if that meant hacking it. Truth be told, Shizuo wanted to know just as badly if not more. Instead of splitting up again, they continued to walk together, ignoring the strange looks some people were giving them once in a while. There were only a few stores left to check, and they were all in the same direction, so there was no point in splitting up, especially after Izaya had passed out. The man still looked as white as a ghost, and despite his dislike for the insect, Shizuo didn't want him to end up passing out in the middle of the street. It was ridiculous that he even cared as much as he did, but he guessed that he didn't want to add to his already mountain-high guilt. What he wanted was to atone for his sins, and even though he was certain that Izaya would never forgive him, he still couldn't stop trying to achieve redemption somehow. His apologies meant nothing to Izaya, but helping the man made him feel better in a selfish kind of way, and he'd take every opportunity he got to lessen the guilt weighting on both his heart and mind. "About earlier..." he spoke softly when he realized that Izaya might be embarrassed about it, "I shouldn't have touched you. I had no choice though."

Izaya let out long sigh and slipped cold hands into the pockets of his jacket. His fingers brushed against the neatly folded sheet of paper and he wondered if he'd find the one responsible for forcing him into such a situation that he'd require Shizuo's help. His eyes drifted over to the blond's twitching fingers, and he knew how hard the beast was struggling to not smoke in his presence. The monster was still a monster, but at least he was trying to be considerate. Finally, when he senses Shizuo's stare boring into his form, Izaya let out a sound of annoyance and stopped in his tracks. "Forget what you saw. It doesn't concern you anyway."

"It doesn't concern me?" Shizuo asked in disbelief as he balled his hands into fists and glared at Izaya with burning hazel eyes.

"It doesn't," Izaya repeated and then continued to walk, leaving a stunned Shizuo behind. Just when he thought that the beast would no longer follow him, he heard hurried footsteps heading towards him. They were walking side by side again, two enemies being forced to work together because of certain circumstances beyond their control. A nasty smile spread across his face and he turned to Shizuo. "Even I can get startled by your ugly face."

The urge to throttle Izaya surged from somewhere deep within, but Shizuo shoved it back and continued to follow the man. It was just like Izaya to use jokes and insults to squeeze through tough conversations and situations, and Shizuo thought that Izaya had never resembled a bratty child as much as he did right then. As always, Izaya's mocking glare made him want to punch the bastard so that he could once again wipe that disgusting smirk off that irritating face. Deciding that it was best to ignore the flea, he kept his mouth shut and continued to follow the bastard to the next store, which also turned out to be a dead end, as did the following three, but on the fourth one the clerk seemed to remember having printed that picture a few days earlier.

Izaya's heart beat wildly inside his chest as he pulled out some money and placed them on the counter. "If you can describe to me how that person looked like, these," and here he tapped the bills with his index finger, "are yours." After so many days of torment and fear, he'd finally caught a lead, and he wasn't about to waste the opportunity to find out everything there was to know about the person who had dared to torment him.

The man's eyes glowed. It looked like his salary for a whole week. He coughed, almost chocking at the thought of getting the money so easily. "It was a woman." The finger tapping on the bills stopped, and the blond man's brows furrowed in something that looked like seething fury. Judging by their expression, they were desperate to know who this woman was. Putting on an innocent smile, he sighed loudly. "My memory is a bit hazy when it comes to what she looked like," he said in the hope of getting more money, but then his small beady eyes met the almost crimson one of the man offering him the money for the information and the chill he felt as they stared at one another made him spew the description before he even knew what he'd done. "She was wearing a black hat and a long sleeve, black matching dress with black ankle boots. She was carrying a small silver slash bag. She has dark brown eyes and her side bangs reached her chin!"

Both Shizuo and Izaya stood there frozen for a few moments, until Izaya raised his hand and pulled out his phone. He dialed as he exited the store, Shizuo following behind him in a numb sort of state. "Did you find out anything?" Izaya asked, but when he heard the other man chuckle into the phone, he barely stopped himself from hurling it to the ground. "Onishi," he growled out the name in an uncharacteristic way, and it seemed the other picked up on the not so subtle threat because he gave a long sigh before finally telling him what he wanted to know.

"Karisawa Erika. About the payment... this wasn't easy you know? I expect―"

Izaya ended the call. He was gripping the device so tightly that his knuckled were turning white.

"Whose site is it?" Shizuo inquired.

"Karisawa," was Izaya's simple answer. He'd been so stupid, assuming that it was about the rape when the disgusting woman had most likely been referring to his non-existent relationship with Shizuo. He should've seen it, but he'd been so blinded by fear that he couldn't see past what was in front of him. The site, the giggles, the note, the stalking, they were all obvious signs of a disgusting fujoshi trying to get him and the monster together. Out of nowhere, he started laughing, a laugh so insane that made Shizuo take a step backwards. "Stupid, so stupid, stupidstupid," Izaya kept repeating the words like a mantra as he made his way towards the place where he knew Erika liked to hang out. If they were lucky, she'd be alone, and even if she wasn't, he still had no plans of letting her go. Her stupid assumption had nearly driven him to despair, and he wasn't about to let it slide. The fujoshi would pay for having played such games with him. Suddenly, as though he'd forgotten Shizuo was even there, he cast the man a glace, and judging by the stiff posture, the twitching fingers and the veins protruding on the beast's forehead, he too was beyond pissed at the stupid woman. For once, they shared a common goal, which was to make Karisawa Erika pay. Izaya's hand tightened around the handle of the switchblades in his pockets as he fantasized of a few ways on how to carve that skin as punishment for what she'd done.

"Ne, Shizu-chan, do you want me to tell you something else that Kasuka said?"

Shizuo's head snapped in Izaya's direction, and he let out a small sound of annoyance. "I'm not in the mood for your games right now," he hissed.

"No games. Just follow my lead with Karisawa and I'll tell you something interesting. I promise~! Don't look at me like that, ne? I'm not going to hurt her. I'm not a monster," he added, pouting.

Izaya's word didn't mean much to Shizuo, but he nodded nonetheless.

As expected, she was inside one of the manga stores, but she wasn't alone. Pulling out the phone again, he looked through his contacts list and pressed enter after finding her number. "Shizu-chan and I have a confession to make." As soon as he finished saying those words, he heard her squeal into the phone, and he had to try really hard to not let the disgust he felt seep into his voice as he spoke his next words. "We're outside the store," he chirped in a cheerful manner and waved when Erika turned to look out the window, "so can you come outside for a second? Alone if possible." As if on cue, the woman dashed out of the store and nearly got hit by a car as she attempted to cross the street without looking left and right.

"Kyaa! I knew Izayan and Shizu-Shizu were an item, but everyone else thought I was crazy!" Her eyes glowed brightly as her gaze moved from one to the other, her perverted brain already coming up with a few ideas for her next Shizaya one-shot.

Smiling, Izaya wrapped an arm around her shoulders and started leading her away. "I'll tell you more, but not here~!" Seeing her nod frantically, he steered her in the direction of a less populated area. Shizuo wasn't saying anything, but he had a feeling that the monster was having a hard time not bashing Karisawa's head into the nearest wall. Shizuo might've been a stupid protozoan, but it seemed like even his two neurons were able to put two and two together and figure out that Erika was behind the note and the picture too.

"Is Shizu-Shizu the beast I imagine him to be in bed?" she asked excitedly, not yet realizing that she was being led towards a construction site.

"Mhmm," Izaya confirmed with a large, fake smile on his face. "Beast is an understatement~!" Izaya sang, but right at that moment Shizuo let out a terrifying growl, enough to make the hair on the back of his neck stand out. "Come now, Shizu-chan, there's no point in hiding it any longer. Karisawa was just trying to help. The note, the picture, the fanfiction. Oh, the fanfiction~!"

"You liked that? Erika squealed, her face going as red as a tomato. I... I wasn't sure if I got it right."

As though he was trying to reassure a lamb being led to slaughter, Izaya gently raised his arm and patted her on the head. "It was fine." A look at Shizuo confirmed that the beast was one step away from losing it, and it surprised him that he hadn't even noticed when the blond had uprooted a stop sign from the side of the street. Ikebukuro's monster's whole body was shaking with fury, and before Shizuo lost it and really killed the stupid woman, Izaya pushed her so hard that she ended up falling on her knees.

She let out a strangled cry of pain, and it was only then when she realized where they were. "What's going on―" She didn't get to finish though, because a stop sign embedded itself into the ground next to her and she ended up screaming in terror. As the stop sign was pulled out, she stumbled to her feet and away, now facing what appeared to be two very enraged and very dangerous men. "W-what is going―?" she repeated in a shaky voice, but she ended up choking on the words when Izaya slowly pulled out the switchblades from inside the pockets of his jacket, slowly, slowly, almost as if to prolong the terror he knew she was most likely feeling. For the first time in her life, Karisawa Erika feared for her life.

"Did you think that you could play with me, Orihara Izaya?"

"I... I..." she stuttered, her back now pressed against a wall. "I was j-just fighting for l-love."

"Love?" Izaya spoke the words with such disgust that Erika was starting to doubt her theory that the two of them were in love. "The only thing we share is mutual hatred."

"I hate this bastard," Shizuo spat out the words before he took a step in Erika's direction, the noise of the stop sign as it was getting dragged across the ground making her body tremble in fear.

"And I despise this monster," Izaya added as he too moved closer, the moonlight reflected in one of his switchblades making Erika flinch when the light hit her eyes.

She felt her knees go weak, and before the two could grab her, she broke into a sprint. She didn't want to admit it, but it looked like she'd made a mistake, and it was all she could think about as she squeezed between a fence and a wall and ran across a construction site in the hope of finding the guard there. "Help!" she shouted as soon as she spotted him, but she ended up screeching when the man was sent flying by none other than Ikebukuro's beast.

"Erika-chan, you can't escape us," a malicious voice spilled from the darkness on her left, looking as though Izaya was materializing in front of her very eyes as the man moved in her direction. "Ne, Shizu-chan, how should we punish her?" the Informant's voice pierced her mind with its coldness, and her eyes darted between the red and yellow eyes of the two predators.

"I don't particularly like to hurt women, but I think she won't complain too much if we break an arm or two, considering the shit she pulled," Shizuo spoke in a serious tone as he raised his arm and rested the pipe on his shoulder.

"You heard him~!" Izaya sang out, but instead of attacking her, he walked slowly towards her, wanting the terror to sink into her very soul so that she would never screw with either of them again. As expected, she bolted yet again, but instead of chasing right away, they gave her the chance to hide. "Erika-chan~! You can't escape us! We're going to find you~!"

"Aren't we taking this too far?" Shizuo asked in a low voice so that Erika couldn't hear them.

"It's fine, it's fine; we're just playing a bit, s'all!" he assured the other while smiling sadistically. Obviously, he had no plans on actually hurting the woman, but he wasn't about to let her get away with almost driving him to despair and keeping him awake for days on end while all he could think about was that someone else knew his shameful secret. Oh no, Karisawa Erika would pay; he would make sure of it.

Shizuo let out a sigh before he lowered the stop sign and continued to drag it after him as he started looking for Erika. While he was pretty pissed about the whole thing, he had to admit that it was stupidly funny too. The two of them had freaked out over nothing, and instead of seeking revenge on a silly woman, he was simply relieved that no one else knew what really happened that night. Sure, the fanfiction, the stares, the giggles were annoying as fuck, but it wasn't serious enough to break Karisawa's bones over it. Still, the whole thing had nearly driven Izaya to insanity, and if scaring her was what the flea needed to calm down, then so be it. The alternative was to leave Izaya to take revenge by himself, and he had a feeling that it would be extremely dangerous for Karisawa. Izaya still pissed him off to no end, especially because of Kasuka, but Shizuo liked to believe that he wasn't evil enough to hurt people over something as stupid as a fujoshi's assumption that the two of them were romantically involved. Truth be told, he was tired as hell, and all he wanted was to get some sleep and then deal with Kasuka somehow.

"Erika-chan~!" Izaya called out as he started searching around the construction site, his cheerfully sadistic voice heightening the terror Erika felt at being hunted by Heiwajima Shizuo and Orihara Izaya.

With trembling hands she pulled out her phone and dialed Dotachin's number. "H-help, please! They're really going to k-kill me!"

"Wait, what's going on?"Kadota asked in a voice filled with worry. "Where are you?"

"The construction site closest to the store we were in earl―kyaa!" she screamed and dropped the phone as she scrambled to get away.

"I found you~!" Izaya chirped happily from behind her as he started running after her. Shizuo blocked her path, and she ended up turning right and disappearing inside the not yet finished building. "Well, this is going to be fun," he commented as he followed her inside, Shizuo letting out a long sigh before he too went into the building.

Izaya was reminding him of a vicious cat playing with its food, and even though Karisawa had pissed him off as well, he was starting to feel sorry for her. They went from hallway to hallway and from empty apartment to empty apartment, Izaya singing an indecipherable, creepy song that made Shizuo's hair stand on end. Just as he was about to finally call it a night and tell Izaya that he was done playing games, he heard a scream from the apartment Izaya had just gone into. Immediately he rushed there and found Erika in the corner looking scared out of her mind.

"Imsorrypleasedontkillme!" she shouted, the terror of it all finally getting to her. She wasn't a coward, but Orihara Izaya was a terrifying man, and she knew well enough what happened in the past to those who had pissed off the Informant.

"Shizuo, Izaya, are you crazy?" Kadota's voice boomed in the empty apartment from somewhere behind them, and they both turned around to face the newcomer. The fact that Izaya had his switchblades out and that Shizuo was carrying a stop sign while Erika looked terrified didn't help matters either.

Izaya let out a puff of hot air, as though to expel the disgust he felt inside him by simply being in such a situation to begin with. Without any explanation, he pulled out the phone from his jacket pocket, as well as the printed image and the note and made his way towards Kadota while Walker ran out to Erika. First, he handed his former schoolmate the note, then the picture, and finally he showed him some of the stuff written on the site, leaving Kadota standing there with his mouth agape, an expression of revulsion mixed with disbelief plastered all over his face. "Not only had she been sending me anonymous notes and stalking me, but she even wrote this... this disgusting thing you see here. Because of what's written here, now more and more people laugh whenever they see either me or Shizu-chan. Tell me, Dotachin, how would you feel if let's say someone wrote something like this about you and Walker, or about you and Saburo?"

Kadota was in so much shock that he needed a few moments to recover enough so that he could answer. "I'd be pretty pissed." Even if Erika was his friend, he knew that this time she'd gone too far. Even so, he couldn't let the two of them hurt her. "I'll make sure she doesn't do this type of thing again, so how about you let her go this time?" he attempted to negotiate, but he felt a chill run down his spine when Izaya's expression turned sadistic enough to scare even someone like him. The man's almost crimson eyes spoke of some insanity hidden in their depths, and even though he'd always known that Izaya was dangerous, only now he was finally seeing what everyone else had been talking about. Between a pissed off Shizuo and a hell-bent on revenge Izaya, Walker and he couldn't do a thing to protect Erika. His eyes drifted over to Walker, and even though it looked like he was protecting her with his own body, he knew that all it took was one hit from Shizuo to knock him unconscious. "Shizuo," he then spoke in a calm voice, even though on the inside he was anything but calm, "you're not seriously planning to hurt Karisawa, are you?"

Instead of answering, Shizuo gripped the stop sign tighter, the metal bending beneath his fingers. He wasn't planning to hurt Erika, but he was supposed to follow Izaya's lead, so he chose to remain silent. He wanted to know what Kasuka had said. He was desperate to know anything about his little brother, even if that meant making a deal with the devil that was Orihara Izaya. Besides, Izaya had promised that he wouldn't hurt her, and judging by what had happened until then, the insect was keeping his word.

"Stop bothering Shizu-chan, ne? I'm willing to let her go on one condition," Izaya said, his dark chuckle resonating throughout the empty apartment.

Kadota nodded. "What do you want?"

"Bring here all of Karisawa's manga books and anime DVDs and then we'll let her go." It was a simple request, but everyone there seemed taken aback by it.

"No!" Erika shrieked in horror! "I won't ever―" She didn't get to finish though because Walker clamped a hand over her mouth. She started struggling to free herself, knowing that she had to get home and protect her precious collection, but Walker told her to stop in what was a really harsh tone. Suddenly, she went limp in his arms. If even Walker wasn't on her side then... A tear slid down her face, and then another, and when Walker released her, she ended on her knees, sobbing.

Walker thought about different ways to get out of there with Erika, but all of them involved hurting either Shizuo or Izaya, and not even he was willing to go that far for some manga. Besides, they could always buy others. Before making his final decision, he walked up to Izaya and asked to see the site too. Flipping through the text, he ended up shaking his head in disbelief. He knew Erika was into Yaoi, but to use real life people for her fantasies was wrong on too many levels. He gave a nod to Kadota's questioning gaze and then went back to Erika.

"Fine, I'll be back," Kadota muttered unhappily as he made his way out of the empty apartment.

Inside, Walker sat down next to Erika and pulled her into his arms while Shizuo finally dropped the stop sign, the sound it made as it collided with the floor making everyone there wince. "Izaya, come here for a bit," he requested, and they both made their way towards the door, which was far enough for Walker and Erika to not hear them talking while at the same time blocking their only way out. "You're going to destroy her manga?"

"Bingo! Oh, Shizu-chan, you amaze me! Perhaps you have two neurons instead of one inside that empty head of yours."

Izaya's smirk was annoying, but instead of punching him in the face, Shizuo stepped out so that he could light a cigarette. "I'll be right back," he told the man and raised the hand holding the packet when he noticed the questioning look in those brown-red eyes. It was only after he put enough distance between himself and Izaya that he lit up the cigarette and took a much needed drag from it. It'd been a crazy day, and there was only so much he could stand before finally snapping and indulging in his vice. He almost felt dirty somehow for playing along and scaring Kariswa, but it was the only way to make Izaya reveal that something the bastard had mentioned earlier. After his too many fights with Kasuka, he hoped that he could learn something which would help him figure out his little brother. Even though they were brothers, there were only so much Shizuo could understand when it came to Kasuka. They were like night and day, and even though sometimes they met halfway through, most of the times he was having a hard time understand what was going on in his little brother's head. He let out a long sigh and went back inside the apartment. He felt a bit bad at seeing Erika bawl her eyes out, but he knew that once Izaya set his mind on something, no one could do anything to change it. He didn't say anything when their eyes briefly met and instead he leaned against the wall and stared out the empty window as they waited.

About an hour later, Kadota showed up. "They're in the van," he mumbled as he led the way.

With a spring in his step, Izaya followed Dotachin down the stairs and then towards the parked van. "Carry them over there," he ordered as he pointed to a rather empty space inside the construction site. Walker was carrying Erika more than she was walking herself, but Izaya made sure to keep an eye on them in case they tried to make a run for it. He knew that he was being a bit petty about the whole thing, but goddam if he wasn't pissed about it, especially since the note had led to several breakdowns while he stressed over who knew his secret. His eyes glowed brighter with each new stack of manga they placed on the dirty ground, and once they were done he turned to Shizuo and asked him for the lighter.

"No! Please, anything but that!" Erika cried in despair as Izaya picked up one of the manga books and lit it up before dropping it on top of the others, her precious treasure going out in flames. She was in Hell. Her beloved BL manga, as well as all the others she had gathered over the years were burning under her very eyes and there was nothing she could do about it. Not even the DVDs were spared, and she ended up crying anew as she crumpled to the ground in despair.

"Ahh ha ha ha!" Izaya roared with laughter as he watched her cry her heart out. The glare she shot him was pathetic more than anything else, but that only made him laugh harder. Finally, when everything was aflame, he handed the lighter back to Shizuo and walked away, ignoring the idiot Dotachin's furious glare as well as Walker's murderous stare that he could almost feel burning holes into him. "Oh, and I want that site gone by tomorrow morning," he told Erika over his shoulder before resuming his pace.

"That was very cruel," Shizuo commented as they turned a corner and made their way to the main street.

"If that was cruel, then what do you call what you've done to me, hmm?" Izaya asked, his tone sounding spiteful. "You don't have any right to judge me, beast." He didn't even glance at Shizuo, sick of seeing that stupid guilty look the brute always gave him whenever he reminded him of that night. "As for Kasuka, he said that he's more of a monster than you and I will ever be."

"What does that mean?" Shizuo asked, confusion written all over his face.

Izaya shrugged. "I know your brain is primitive, but try using it sometimes, and if you can't figure out, then ask him yourself."

"You're such a bas―" He didn't get to finish though, because he caught sight of Celty speeding down the street with what appeared to be the full police force on her tail. Beside him, Izaya started laughing hysterically. "What's so funny?" he hissed. Regardless of what happened, he still cared about Celty, and it bothered him that Izaya would laugh at her misfortune.

"Ah... just something," Izaya replied, smirking nastily. It looked like Iwasaki finally had a talk with Kuzuhara Kinnosuke. He'd been certain that once the man found out that Celty, his prey, had dared to step inside a police station, the man would stop at nothing from capturing her, which translated into fear and stress for the Dullahan. He didn't feel sorry that his actions had led to such a thing. After all, Celty was long overdue for punishment. He'd only used her fear of the police against her, and compared to what he could've done to her, this was nothing more than an innocent joke. Don't get caught,he thought, looking amused, as he stared off into the distance. Without as much as a wave of his hand, he turned left and headed for the train station, leaving a confused Shizuo behind. Perhaps he'd finally succeed in getting some sleep now that he knew what the note had really been about. Relief flooded his being at the thought, and he couldn't help but smirk. Stupid fujoshi, I hope you've learned your lesson.