You all are too good to me. Enjoy the next chapter!
…~-~…
They both ran out of the building, turning around the corner to the alleyway a few buildings down. Izaya was already fairly worn out from the fight, not to mention the energy drained from him when Saika left his body. He immediately fell against the wall, breathing heavily as he desperately tried to think.
And then came the concerned questioning. "Izaya, are you hurt? What happened?" and after feeling his forehead; "Shit, you're burning up!"
His mind was still in a frenzy as he tried to put everything into perspective.
Saika had its own body.
He couldn't hurt it by cutting it.
It would likely start cutting people and creating a new army soon, or perhaps awaken the army still dormant in Ikebukuro now that it had Anri's piece back.
He needed time to think. There had to be some way to take it down.
"Izaya?! Izaya?!"
It suddenly registered that Shizuo was shaking him, trying to get his attention.
"Shizuo, I… I don't know what to do…" he admitted.
"We'll worry about that later. Right now we need to get you somewhere you can rest. You don't look so good."
"I can't, Shizuo." Izaya argued, "I wasn't able to find out exactly what it was planning, but I do know that it's going to attack. And soon."
"You can't fight it like this." Shizuo reasoned, "Besides, even if it possesses people in the time it takes you to rest, once we kill it, all those people will be back to normal, right?"
"I… I guess… But we don't even know how to do that! Normal attacks are useless!"
"Listen, we'll figure it out. I want to stop it as much as you do, but you've got a fever, and honestly you look like you're about to pass out."
"Yeah… I'm starting to feel that way too."
…~-~…
It felt odd.
Lying in bed when he knew he should be searching like a madman for the answers he so desperately needed.
But he was tired.
So ridiculously tired, he could barely keep his eyes open as Shizuo began raking his fingers through his hair.
"Just sleep for now." Shizuo said softly, "Your fever probably came from overexerting yourself."
"Mhm…" Izaya weakly voiced back, quickly slipping into a deep sleep only seconds later.
Shizuo watched as Izaya fell asleep. He would be lying if he said he wasn't nearly as nervous as Izaya was about Saika having its own body, but the only way they'd be able to defeat it is if Izaya could get his wits about him long enough to figure this mess out.
He had secretly hoped that when the time came, he would be able to fight Saika using his strength. It was what he needed. To be able to use this power he hated so much to defend someone. To protect a person he cared about. He thought if only he could do that, then maybe he could learn to love his curse.
But being unable to fight Saika with his fists made him anxious. He was no expert on fighting the supernatural, even if he conversed with a headless woman more often than your average person. He could only rely on Izaya's knowledge of Saika and its weaknesses.
Although, from what he's heard from Izaya, it didn't seem like it had any.
He couldn't help but feel absolutely powerless at that thought. Izaya was breaking down right in front of his eyes, and there was nothing he could do to help him except offer his shoulder for him to lean on, and help lick his wounds clean—both physically and mentally. But it killed him inside that he couldn't do anything to stop the source of Izaya's pain.
He'd been able to fight off Saika's army before using his strength, yet he still wasn't the one to defeat the cause. In fact, he still wasn't sure how that had happened anyway. Maybe he should ask Izaya when he woke up. Who knows, maybe it'll give Izaya's mind the right inspiration to figure this out.
Izaya was smart. He always knew that much. Always getting the top grades in the class…
Shizuo let his mind wander a bit to their high school life. He could remember Izaya going off to the library on lunch breaks, and often returning with a large stack of books in hand. It seemed he was always studying. He focused in class, yet rarely took notes and Shizuo could only assume the psycho memorized everything the instant he heard it.
All the while, he was stuck borrowing notes from Shinra and sometimes even Kadota because his lame ass brain couldn't absorb even the smallest bit of information.
As much as he'd hated Izaya, he'd always envied him, and maybe even idolized him in some sick and twisted way. Orihara Izaya was a kid who could so easily understand and interpret class material, his grades were damn near flawless, he was athletic, and even somewhat popular amongst the class for his looks.
To say he'd been jealous might be going a bit far; however, he did feel a sort of… longing for the life Izaya had.
He never lost control.
He was always calm and collected, even in a fight.
He never destroyed public property with hands that were too strong to be considered human.
Izaya simply was.
And even if he was a manipulative asshole, he was still far closer to normal than Shizuo could ever hope to be.
A small grumble from Izaya caught Shizuo's attention, drawing his focus back to the body curled up in his bed.
He did like watching Izaya sleep. As strange as it might be, he liked the way Izaya's features relaxed into those of an innocent child. It was that look that had convinced him that maybe, just maybe beneath that hard shell around his heart, Izaya could be a kind person.
Izaya had never been in love before. Maybe all he needed was someone to care about other than himself to bring out a new side.
Shizuo had already gotten him to vent a bit of his frustration, and maybe with a bit more coaxing, he could get Izaya to open his heart just enough to let him slip in and see the Izaya that no one else had ever seen before.
Gently pushing ebony hair away from closed eyes, Shizuo smiled at the thought of being able to understand this man. Against all odds, he'd managed to learn to trust him, and he hoped that once he knew more about the informant, he'd be able to love him even more.
Deciding it might be best to leave Izaya alone to sleep, Shizuo carefully got up, and made his way into the living room where he let himself fall onto the couch.
When his stomach began to growl, he decided it might be a good idea to order something to eat. Considering how much energy had been taken from Izaya, he'd probably need to eat as well when he woke up.
And so he ordered a late lunch for them from Russia Sushi, making sure to get an order of ootoro, and giving a message to Simon to knock softly when he arrived.
After paying Simon (thankful that he had been paid early this week before taking time off), Shizuo ate his meal, and spent the remainder of the afternoon with the television on low, continuously checking up on Izaya in the other room. He wasn't really watching the television though. His mind was far too occupied to care.
A little while passed before Shizuo soon began to doze off, his eyes becoming much too heavy to keep open, and soon, he too was fast asleep.
…~-~…
Auburn eyes slowly fluttered open, and limbs stretched out on the bed, cracking slightly as stiff joints were moved. Even though pain still flared in certain spots, he was comfortable.
And best of all, his mind was clear.
He felt like a significant haze had been lifted, allowing his mind to think without any nagging distraction. His body felt similarly clear. Like it was his and no one else's.
For the first time in his life, he didn't have another voice in his head.
He wasn't sharing a body with another soul.
And it felt amazing.
He'd never realized just how taxing it had been on him to have Saika living off of him, and as much as he knew it was only bad news, he was relieved to finally have it out of his body.
He could finally have peace.
That is, after he figured out how to destroy it once and for all.
Pulling himself out of bed (and truly regretting having to move his body as the pain from the fight began to worsen upon standing), Izaya headed out of the bedroom.
"Shizu-chan?" he called out quietly.
He began to worry slightly when there was no response only to stop and smile when he realized why.
Shizuo was passed out in a rather uncomfortable looking position on the couch, one arm hanging lazily over the edge, and one leg beginning to do the same while his neck was draped over the arm of the couch.
Kneeling down in front of the couch, Izaya leaned forward, pressing his lips against Shizuo's. A small grumble indicated Shizuo's waking up before Izaya could feel the kiss being returned, and a hand moving to hold the back of his neck, rubbing lightly.
"How did you sleep?" Shizuo asked groggily.
"Really well, actually."
"Wait here." he said, quickly getting off the couch and heading into the kitchen.
When he returned he handed a small box to Izaya, causing a small smile to spread over Izaya's face when he opened it.
"Thank you, Shizu-chan." he said, plopping a piece of the fatty tuna in his mouth.
"Yeah, well… I was kinda hungry, and I figured you would be too after today."
Izaya nodded, continuing to eat as if he hadn't in days. And honestly, he might as well have considering his anxiety hadn't allowed him to eat very much. Not that he wasn't still quite apprehensive, but not having a decent meal in so long had caught up to him.
Shizuo watched as Izaya hungrily devoured his food, happy to finally see him eating a healthy amount. Looking closely, Shizuo could tell that something was definitely different about Izaya, and he couldn't help but wonder exactly how much strain Saika had been putting on him.
He'd never really thought of that little detail. He knew that when Saika purposefully messed with him it was taxing, and he'd been too distracted by that to really consider anything else. Having two people contained in one body couldn't have been easy on him even when it wasn't acting up or talking to him.
"You look better." Shizuo pointed out, causing Izaya to pause for a moment.
He finished chewing the bite in his mouth before responding. "Yeah. I feel pretty good actually. Despite everything."
"So what do you think we should do…?"
"I'm not sure," Izaya said solemnly.
There was a short pause in which Shizuo could see a little spark of something making Shizuo wonder if Izaya had suddenly remembered something.
A grin spread over his face as he turned back to face Shizuo.
"But I think I know someone who can figure this out."
…~-~…
So we're nearing the end of this fic now… Seven chapters left… I have to say, this fic ended up being much longer than I had anticipated, and it has taken my entire summer to write, but I think I'm proud of it. It's the longest thing I've ever written, and when it's finally finished I don't know what I'll do with myself. XD I start classes again in a week, and I just… Gah.
But thank you all for reading! :D
