Flashing blue lights were once again attracting attention at the Shinjuku middle school. This time, police were called to the scene, as well as a coroner. The teens stood to one side after being questioned by the police, neither of them had been witness to Tachigama's death and they had no reason to bring them in for further questioning. The death wasn't completely unexpected, at least, not to the teens anyway. However, given the situation and the cause of death, the police suspected that it was just a horrible accident. Tachigama fell down the stairs and broke his neck.

Izaya stared over at the coroner's van, he couldn't help but feel relieved. He knew all about spirits that got their revenge, he'd been a victim of said revenge himself, when Gen Aoi from his own middle school shoved him down the stairs. That could have happened to me. He thought with a frown, he could have just as easily come off worse. He wondered though whether Gen's true purpose was to simply cause him harm and not kill him like he had originally thought. When he went back to school, everything went back to normal, and he never saw the ghost of Gen Aoi again. The point was, that Tachigama was dead now, and Luna's spirit would finally stop haunting the school. The raven frowned, Tachigama deserved what he got for murdering the girl in the first place, he should be satisfied that it was over. Then why do I feel guilty?

"He got what he deserved I guess." Shizuo said as they watched the coroner's van drive off with Tachigama's body.

Izaya didn't reply, just continued to frown after the van until it was out of sight.

"Maybe," Kadota replied. "But I still can't help but feel responsible somehow."

"The hell for? Luna took it upon herself to get revenge, she wanted to be at peace. He murdered her and so I think she had every right."

Kadota sighed, "Shizuo, we're not supposed to be happy about that; despite what he did, we're supposed to stop this sort of thing from happening. If we just let all the spirits take their revenge regardless of whether or not the person deserves it, we're no better than them."

Shizuo frowned, he knew what Kadota meant, but- Shizuo shook his head. "Sorry. But I can't help but feel relieved. She can rest in peace now."

Izaya gritted his teeth, he was feeling angry with himself and what Shizuo said wasn't helping. "Shizuo shut the hell up," he hissed, he stepped forward and turned to the blond who was gaping at him in surprise. "Don't you understand? We failed. We didn't exorcise the spirit at all! The only reason she won't haunt this place now, is because we took too long and now someone else is dead, because of us!"

Shizuo blinked, not quite sure where Izaya's outburst was coming from all of a sudden. "Izaya he -"

"We're supposed to prevent things like this from happening! We're supposed to cleanse the spirit, exorcise whatever is harmful, not help it kill people!"

Shizuo stared at Izaya's narrowed eyes and his defensive posture. He's really angry.

Uwasaki walked toward them with a smile, wondering whether he should even approach them since they seemed to be having quite the argument. "Sorry to interrupt, but the police want me to go with them to give a proper statement about Tachigama. Are you kids all right? do you need me to call anyone?"

Kadota shook his head. "We're ok, thanks Mr Uwasaki. Our equipment is still in the school, so we're just going to pack up, then we'll leave."

Uwasaki nodded. "Don't stay too long. it's still a crime scene at the moment. I'll let you boys know when it's ok to come back."

Shizuo turned his attention from Izaya to the principle, "You still want us to investigate?"

Uwasaki looked at him. "Despite Tachigama's accident. Whatever is wrong with the school still needs to be addressed, are you willing to continue to help?"

Izaya looked over at him, Uwasaki wasn't to know that the spirit- That Luna wasn't going to be haunting the school anymore. "Just call us when we're allowed to return." He told him, causing his friends to look at him in surprise.

Uwasaki nodded. "Thank you." And then he left.

"Why didn't you tell him that the spirit probably already left?" Shizuo said, still somewhat worked up from their last argument, and given Izaya's narrowed eyes, the raven was too.

"Because he doesn't know anything about what Tachigama did, therefore he wouldn't understand how we know that the spirit left already. We'll just simply tell him later that while we were putting away the equipment, we did a final check and found the spirit to be gone."

Kadota wasn't sure he liked the fact they were covering everything up; he agreed with Izaya that they had failed in their case, but he didn't think not saying anything at all was the right thing to do. He understood why Izaya was angry, and if he was honest, he was too; but even though Izaya possessed incredible abilities, it didn't give him the right to play with the truth when it suited him. "Even though Tachigama is dead, don't you think Luna's parent's deserve to know the truth?"

Izaya sneered at him, "That their daughter was murdered? And we know this based off some spiritual events and an accident? Care to share what evidence we're going to present?"

Kadota opened his mouth to reply but he stopped himself, because Izaya was right about that too.

Izaya watched as Kadota nodded and then made his way back into the school. He glanced at Shizuo who frowned at him and then followed after their friend. Izaya sighed, great, now Shizuo was angry with him, he hadn't meant to turn against the blond like that, but each of them had their own opinions it seemed, and neither one was probably right.

…..

Izaya lay awake, staring at his bedroom ceiling, hands tucked behind his head. He couldn't sleep, and how could he? Everything about the case told him something wasn't right still. But it was over, they knew that for sure; Kadota talked him into doing a final check with their equipment before they left, so at least that part was true. They found nothing.

Luna's spirit.

Was gone.

Izaya frowned, and yet he still felt that he was missing something. He shook his head. Why am I dwelling on this? He really did get what he deserved after all. The memories from his dream flashed through his mind -

The mask -

The tattoo -

Izaya's eyes widened and he sat up on the bed, there was only one thing that would put his mind to rest, that would allow him to get over this. Izaya got off the bed and took off his baggy clothing that he often wore for bed. He changed into a tight fitting black sleeved top, his school pants, and slipped his hands into a pair of gloves. Slipping on the shoes he sometimes wore for gym, he quietly opened his window, it was in the middle of the night after all, and he didn't want to wake anyone. I'll be back before dawn anyway. He thought to himself after slight hesitation. He gently opened his draw and took out a black leather case and tucked it between the hem of his pants. Smirking to himself, he pictured Shizuo's face every time he managed to hack into a certain system. The blond always told him about how illegal that was, Izaya used to think he was being dramatic, it wasn't as if he hacked into anything highly classified. Now though, what Izaya was about to do couldn't be brushed off just as easily, because he really was about to break the law. If he was caught, he really was done for.

Izaya climbed over the ledge of the window and quietly made his way down the trellis, grinning as another memory of Shizuo appearing from there a few days ago entered his mind. The blond would have a heart attack if he knew what Izaya had planned, the raven felt bad for how he'd left things between them at the school; once this was over, he could try and apologise, and hopefully Shizuo would forgive him.

Izaya stepped onto the grass and ran across the yard, opening the gate would make too much noise, so he climbed the fence instead. The morgue was at least an hour's walk from his house, and not all that far from the hospital either, so he'd have to be careful encase someone saw him, and decided he looked suspicious enough to follow. Izaya already knew that within the mortuary itself, there wasn't any camera's, since it breeched medical confidentiality; at least, he hoped that was still the case.

….

Izaya walked casually past the hospital, the car park's lights were still brightly shining over the road, even though it was late at night. There were a few parked cars scattered around, probably owned by the nurses and doctors who were unlucky enough to have a night shift. Izaya tried to avoid walking directly through the hospital's car park, opting to walk around the outer edge so that it would be harder for someone to spot him.

Izaya sighed in relief once the hospital became a smaller sight, looking back for a moment, he hesitated again, wondering whether this was such a good idea. Shaking his head, he continued, there was no point in turning back now, and if he didn't go, it just meant that this whole thing would never be over. Even if what he expected to find- or rather- to not find, was revealed, he couldn't tell anyone anyway, the point was that he knew.

There was a much smaller building up ahead of him, it looked like it only had one floor, and it seemed to be formed in the shape of an L. Both sides were of long length, and he saw the neon green entrance sign come into view as he stepped beside a low wall. Now that he knew which side was the entrance, he could make a good guess that the actual mortuary was toward the back. Not wanting to run the risk of being discovered by outside camera's, Izaya ran behind the low wall until he was sure he was far enough to the back as possible. He stopped and took a running start before jumping up and grabbing onto the edge of the wall. Izaya pulled himself up and sat himself on the top to catch his breath for a few minutes. He hadn't stopped since he left his house, and the fear of getting caught was nagging at him, making him feel more out of breath then he actually was.

Taking a deep breath he jumped the small distance, landing softly on the grass. With a sigh of relief, he saw that he was at the back of the building, and the low lighting emitting from the wall lights was enough to help him see. Running across the short distance of the field, Izaya scanned the edges quickly and ducked behind two large dumpsters. After another few minutes, Izaya made the climb up onto one of the bins, he really didn't want to think about what went into these, considering where he was. Almost chuckling, he dismissed the thought entirely, it wasn't as though they would have dead body parts in them, though the thought still freaked him out. Standing upright, Izaya tiptoed and peered into the window, darkness, that was a good sign. It meant that no one was working now. He took out his flick blade. A window like this one, had a small lock on the handle; he was prepared for any type, but this one was a lot easier to get into. It meant that he didn't have to use any of his pick-locking tools, he grinned, he'd just use the blade -

Twist the lock -

And voila!

Pocketing his knife, Izaya pulled the handle up and stepped backwards as the window opened outwards. Gently, he crawled inside and swung his legs and jumped, landing almost with perfect balance on the shiny smooth floor.

He was inside the morgue -

Now there really was no turning back.

"Ok," he whispered to himself, "Just find Mr Tachigama, look at his arms and leave." His heart was pounding in his chest, adrenaline pulsed through his veins as he began searching the names marked over the chillers. "This is morbid. I should not be this pumped over breaking into a morgue." He soon caught sight of a familiar name. "There you are," he reached up toward the handle, his hand hovering over it - "I shouldn't do this…" Before he could change his mind, he grabbed the handle and pulled hard against it, the chiller hissed, and cold air fogged out for a few seconds. Izaya shivered and waited for the icy fog to clear, he gulped, and his eyes roamed over the corpse of Mr Tachigama. There was bruising decorating his neck from the fall, but that wasn't why he was here. Feeling slightly nauseated, since this was his first time actually seeing a dead body up so close and recent. Izaya pulled back the white sheet that covered the body down to his low waist. Gently, and with a slight grimace, he checked both of Tachigama's arms -

No tattoo.

Izaya was almost sure -

"It wasn't him…." And now that Luna wasn't around anymore, there wouldn't be a way to communicate with her, she was at peace because she believed her killer to be Tachigama. Izaya knew this was a possibility, that the only reason he had come here, was to give himself peace of mind.

And yet -

Somehow, it hadn't.

"You were perverted. But- I guess you didn't deserve to die after all…." Izaya sighed and pulled the sheet back over and shut the chiller. A sudden noise caught his attention, and he watched as a light switched on from the corridor behind the door. "Shit." he looked at his watch, surely no one was around yet?

It was 5:00am,

Izaya had to get out of here, fast.

The raven ran over to the countertop and quickly climbed back up to the window, he quickly checked to see if he'd left anything behind. Satisfied, he lowered himself and balanced on the edge of a crevice in the wall and shut the window just as the door to the mortuary opened, and the light in the room switched on. Izaya sighed in relief, only for his heart to skip a beat, as the small slab of wall he was balanced on crumbled under his foot. The raven fell and a loud bang echoed as he hit the dumpster with a hiss and toppled off onto the gravel. Biting his lower lip, he crawled behind the bin and peered over as the window opened. Izaya ducked and held his breath, waiting….

"Damn cats." He heard someone mumble and then close the window back up.

Letting out the breath he was holding, Izaya stood up and ran for it, not willing to risk staying there any longer. Once he was over the wall, he stopped to catch his breath, slumping down. "Too close…."

Tiredly, he made his way back home, it took him longer to get back then it did to get there. By the time he slipped through his window, the sun was just poking it's damn head into the sky. Shutting his window, Izaya collapsed across the bed in exhaustion, he couldn't believe it, Tachigama was not the one that killed Luna after all.

He couldn't have closed his eyes for no more than an hour before the alarm on his phone went off, muffled by his pillow. Izaya groaned in dismay, now starting to regret that trip for an entirely different reason. He placed his arm over his face, blocking out the light and trying to ignore the forming headache he was getting due to lack of sleep.

He had to go back to school today, and he was extremely positive that he would fall asleep in his first class, he could just skip- but he needed someone to talk to, he couldn't keep what he'd found out to himself any longer, he couldn't keep his previous cognitive dream a secret.

Dragging his tired body up from the bed, he decided that the only one he wanted to talk to, the only one he usually told everything to, was Shinra. If he left now, he could go and see Shinra before heading off to school.

…..

"You broke into the morgue!?". Izaya flinched and quickly shut the door to Shinra's room. He had explained everything to Shinra, told him pieces of information that he had yet to reveal to the other two. He felt guilty about it, but at the same time, a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

"Shhh. Damn it, are you trying to get me caught?". Izaya took his seat again on the edge of Shinra's bed, he sighed and swiped a hand through his hair. Shinra could see that Izaya was exhausted, and he'd clearly been up most of the night with all that was on his mind- and his little trip. "We don't deserve the money Shinra…"

Shinra sat up and crawled over to sit next to his friend, he was supposed to be discharged today anyway. "What do you want to do?"

Izaya frowned down at the floor. "Uwasaki needs to know what we found. Even if he can't do anything about it, even if he didn't know about Tachigama to begin with,….I feel like he should know."

"Do you think that will help? Maybe, ….maybe leave out the murder part. You can always tell him that the reason you're not accepting the money is because you failed to exorcise the spirit, because it left on its own."

Izaya clenched his fists, suddenly aware of how Kadota and Shizuo had felt before, because they really were just covering it up then, wasn't they? "But, how does that solve the problem? That means that whoever did kill Luna, is getting away with it."

Shinra smiled, "You said it yourself Izaya, we're not the police. We're just ghost hunters, and even though we failed this time, our part in this is done. There's nothing more we can do; we simply don't have any real proof."

"I know. I know you're right….I just- I'm so angry with myself."

"Why?"

"Because of us, because we didn't finish our job in time - and someone died as a result."

Shinra frowned and nudged the raven, "Hey, don't go blaming yourself for that. Besides, it sounds to me like Luna believed it too, so she made the real mistake, not you."

Izaya looked at him, and a wave of guilt crashed down on him, because there was something he was keeping from Shinra, and it had nothing to do with their job. Izaya wondered if now was a good time to tell him, they were alone, and things were calm. "Shinra, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about…."

Shinra tilted his head and chuckled, "Well that sounds more ominous then earlier, what's up?"

"I," then his phone rang. Sighing, he pulled his phone out, "It's a message. From Uwasaki."

"What's it say?"

"~Thank you for all your help. I have the rest of your payment if you want to come and collect it before school."

Shinra looked at him, "Izaya, it's up to you. I'll support your decision, and I think you'll find that Shizuo and Kadota will too."

Izaya knew that to be a fact. "Thank you"

"What about the deposit?"

Izaya shrugged, "It's a deposit for a reason. We didn't complete the job, but our time and effort should still be noticed. We did put ourselves at risk after all."

"Ok. So what was you going to tell me?"

Izaya blinked. "What?"

"Before, you wanted to tell me something."

Izaya opened his mouth with all the intention of tell Shinra the truth about him and Shizuo, but something entirely different came out instead. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry, for what happened in the library."

Shinra sighed, "Is that all? You had me worried there for a minute. And don't blame yourself for that either, it wasn't your fault. It would have gotten both of us even if you had reached me in time."

Izaya gave him a tight smile. "What time do you get discharged?"

"My dad is picking me up around four."

"Then I'll come meet you."

Shinra nodded and smiled. "Ok," Izaya then turned for the door, only to be called back by his friend. "Izaya?" Izaya turned to face him. "It's the right decision."

"Thank you."

…..

Izaya reached the Shinjuku middle school, he yawned and was getting more tired with every step he took, he just wanted this day to be over, but it had barely even begun. Glancing up toward the entrance as he ascended the steps, he gasped lightly when Shizuo came into view. "Shizu-chan?"

Shizuo looked over at him from his leaning point against the wall. "Hey…"

"What are you doing here?" Izaya said as he made his way over once he'd reached the top.

"Shinra text and said you were going to tell Mr Uwasaki to keep the rest of the money. S'pretty admirable."

Izaya rolled his eyes, "We did nothing admirable here."

Shizuo gritted his teeth and then sighed, "Look. I didn't come here to argue with you, I wanted to meet you here so that we could talk, I- I wanted to apologise, I guess…."

Izaya raised an eyebrow. "What for?"

"Just, you know- for kind of getting angry again, I should have sided with you."

Izaya shook his head. "Just because we're a couple Shizu-chan, you don't have to take my side, you have a right to an opinion, even if it's different to mine."

Shizuo frowned, "I still shouldn't have gotten so angry."

Izaya lay his hand over Shizuo's arm, "You were right Shizu-chan. I was wrong, nothing we can do about it now ne?"

Shizuo covered Izaya's hand with his. "We were both right."

Izaya smiled, "Let me just tell Mr Uwasaki about the money, then we can catch a train and head to school."

"Are you sure you wanna do that?"

"It's only fair."

Shizuo realised they wasn't talking about the same thing. "I was actually talking about going to school, I mean, you look exhausted."

Izaya gave him a small smile, yeah, he felt completely washed out, but he wondered if Shinra had told Shizuo about his little late night trip. Probably not. Because the blond would have freaked on him the moment he saw him at the school. "I'll be fine."

"That wasn't the slightest bit convincing. Why don't we get the train back to Ikebukuro, and then just hide out at my place? The bed is pretty comfortable," A grin appeared on Izaya's face and Shizuo blushed before yelling, "For sleeping!"

Izaya chuckled. Sleep. That sounded so very tempting. "Are you really suggesting to skip a school day?"

Shizuo rolled his eyes, he didn't think Izaya really had a problem with it, the raven was just teasing him as usual. "You skip classes all the time."

Izaya shrugged and then kissed him. "All right, we'll go to your place. Because I really am tired." A frown of concern etched onto Shizuo's face, but Izaya smiled and said, "Be right back."

Shizuo huffed as Izaya entered the school, he leaned back against the wall. "Damn flea," he found himself smiling. "Turning me into mush with that stupid kiss of his."

…..

"….That's why it wouldn't be fair to accept the money, and if Tachigama's accident was the same kind of incident like that of the student from the library, then I guess we really did fail." Izaya said as he stood in front of Uwasaki who was seated behind a classroom desk, on the second floor.

Uwasaki looked at him with surprise. "I see, but you know, the spirit did leave, didn't it?"

"Yes. It did."

"Then maybe you really did do something to drive the spirit away."

Izaya shook his head. "I don't think that's the case. So, in my honest opinion, the rest of the money isn't acceptable."

Uwasaki smiled. "You are truly professional; you'll go far Mr Orihara. Good luck in your future."

Izaya nodded, "Thank you sir." And then he made his way toward the door, leaving the principle to continue shuffling and grading his papers.

Izaya's hand froze over the door frame the minute he opened it, his heart skipped a beat and he felt his blood run cold. That tune. Izaya turned slowly around, Uwasaki wasn't even aware that he was still here, just continued grading papers, humming that damn tune! Izaya felt his palms begin to sweat, and before he could stop himself, he whispered, "It was you…"

Uwasaki looked up at him then, tilting his head. "Something wrong?" He then mistook Izaya's expression and laughed. "Don't mind me, I often sing to my little boy before he goes to sleep. Sometimes, the songs just get stuck in my head, silly right?"

Izaya couldn't believe it, it was him all along -

It was Uwasaki.

The man stood up with a frown. "Are you ok? you look so pale, maybe you should sit down." Izaya couldn't get himself to move, he was in too much shock, unable to comprehend what he'd just figured out. The raven flinched ever so slightly when he realised that Uwasaki was right in front of him, and he still couldn't move his damn legs. "I should send for the nurse; she'll be in now." He said as he placed his hand over the door, opting to go for help on Izaya's behalf.

And that's when Izaya saw it -

The tattoo. The three interlocked triangles.

Izaya's breathing started to pick up and he tried so hard not to let it show. He needed to get out of here before Uwasaki realised that Izaya knew what he'd done.

The principle followed Izaya's line of sight and smiled. "Had this tattoo for a while. Pretty cool huh, it's called valknut, Norse mythology. You interested in that sort of thing?"

That's it, just keep talking casually like I'm not on to you. Izaya couldn't stop his legs from wobbling, he tried to shrug it off and before he could attempt to leave with a hearty goodbye, Uwasaki's eyes narrowed and Izaya knew. I'm fucking done for. Izaya flinched when the door was suddenly slammed shut by the man's hand. Izaya's own slipped casually into his pocket, reaching for his knife. Before he had a chance to use it, his shoulders were grabbed and the man's knee struck him hard in the stomach, knocking all the air out of him. Izaya's eyes screwed shut and he felt himself being flung across the classroom, he crashed into a few of the desks before skidding across the floor.

"Should have left sooner boy! I'm truly impressed that you figured it out, how did you do that by the way? There was certainly no evidence that would point to me. I thought I'd be safe, because after all, Tachigama created this mess in the first place, didn't he."

Izaya's eyes widened as he pushed himself to stand up. "You knew…."

"About how he fell in love with Luna and made a move on her? Yes I did."

Izaya frowned. "She came to you for help, and you -"

Uwasaki just grinned. "I couldn't very well have a story like that get out, now could I. That would have been a disaster. I evidently saved myself, the school and Tachigama's career."

Izaya backed up against another desk, his flick blade now in his hand, hidden behind him, just waiting….waiting to strike. "I'm sure he didn't see it that way."

Uwasaki laughed. "Well he didn't know, as far as he was aware, Luna committed suicide before she could tell anyone. And perhaps he felt bad, looking like he was the reason why. Oh well, what doesn't kill him- Ha! Well, I guess it did."

Izaya's grip tightened on the knife, gritting his teeth.

"And now the same thing is going to happen to you. How does this sound. Dear Mum and dad, and my friends. I truly regret not being able to save Mr Tachigama from the spirit that was haunting the school. I couldn't cope with the pressure of being responsible for such a dangerous job. I can no longer live with the struggle of this life; I hope you can understand. I'm sorry, forgive me. Izaya Orihara," Uwasaki smirked. "Good right?"

All of Izaya's determination had left him, the reality of what the asshole in front of him had done- It made him feel sick, he was shaking. He wrote a suicide note for her. Izaya didn't realise his grip had loosened on his knife until it fell to the floor with a clink. Izaya glanced down and kicked it to the side, stopping Uwasaki from retrieving it himself. The man glared and grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him up; Izaya pulled back his fist and smashed it into Uwasaki's face. With a howl, the man let him go and the raven dashed for the door, only to find it locked. Izaya frowned and tried to pull it. How? He heard a laugh behind him and turned to see Uwasaki dangling a key as he held part of his face with the other hand.

"You were in such a state of shock, that you didn't even see me lock the door, did you?" Uwasaki walked toward him and kicked a desk, Izaya jumped out of the way and ran behind the much larger desk. He dashed across the classroom and jumped across a table, skidding across it and knelt down to grab his knife. Spinning around, Izaya shoved the knife into Uwasaki's hand just as it reached for his throat. The man screamed and stumbled backwards, falling over a chair.

Izaya glanced at the window and he suddenly remembered. Shizu-chan! He was out there, wasn't he? With new determination, Izaya heaved a chair up from the floor and threw it with all his strength at the window.

Shizuo snapped his head up when glass suddenly shattered above him, eyes widening as a chair came flying from it and splintered apart on the ground. "What the hell!?". Shizuo frowned, he didn't know why there was a chair being thrown from a window, but it gave him a bad feeling. "Damn it." He then ran into the school, taking a mental note of the room's location.

Izaya panted heavily from exhaustion, he was sure that got Shizuo's attention, and the blond would know he was in trouble. Izaya turned around, expecting Uwasaki to at least be crouched on the floor. His eyes widened when that wasn't the case, no, the man had taken the knife out of his hand already and was on him in a second. Izaya tried to dodge him, but he was so tired, he wasn't fast enough -

A sharp pain sliced through him and he collapsed with a breathless gasp of agony.

Uwasaki sighed in annoyance, he hadn't expected Izaya to be this capable, now his plan of suicide wouldn't work. "Well, I'll just have to kill you and burn your body." The door to the room broke from its hinges, splitting in two; the man jumped and looked over in horror to see the blond teen gritting his teeth in anger. "Now then….just- just take it easy."

Clenching his fists, Shizuo picked up a desk with little effort and stalked toward the man now cowering in fear, he didn't need an explanation to know what was going on, his instincts flared, and he soon saw the knife in Uwasaki's hand. "You bastard!" But before he could throw the desk -

"I won't be going to jail! Not today!"

Shizuo sneered. "You keep telling yourself that."

Uwasaki grinned. "Not today… not ever." And before Shizuo could knock him straight out with the desk, he watched in horror as the man ran, took a leap and jumped from the broken window.

Shizuo ran over and stared down at the fallen body, blood splattered the pavement below, he grimaced. "Shit…" He was pulled from his nausea when a light groan of pain caught his attention. Throwing the desk to the side, he skidded beside the raven. "Izaya!" Gently, he rolled him over, Izaya hissed and Shizuo could see the blood covering most of his hand as Izaya cradled his wound. "Izaya! Talk to me!"

Izaya's eyes fluttered open and he smiled weakly, "H-hey…Shizu-chan…."

Shizuo gritted his teeth, frowning deeply. "Don't move! You're going to be fine…."

Izaya winced and tried not to move like Shizuo said, he could feel his shirt sticking to his side and it fucking hurt. "Shizu-chan…my side….feels wet."

Shizuo frowned. "It's ok. you're fine. You'll be fine, I'll call an ambulance and they'll," he took note of the blood and helped Izaya put some pressure on it, causing the raven to hiss. "You'll be all right." He repeated, and Izaya didn't miss the change of sentence.

"It's…bad…right? don't…don't lie to me."

Shizuo shook his head. "No. I told you, you're fine…"

Izaya frowned, he could feel it, the blood…. That's why his side was wet, why his shirt was clinging to him. "Shizu-chan…"

"No damn it! I told you! Now shut up!" The raven watched Shizuo take out his phone and call the ambulance, Shizuo yelled everything down the phone at the poor person unfortunate enough to take his call. Izaya couldn't help but smile. "Tsk. What are you smiling at?" Shizuo said after hanging up, hoping it might keep Izaya's mind off the wound if he acted normal. Like everything would be ok, because it was going to be ok….it was.

"That poor operator…"

Shizuo huffed a laugh, if Izaya was making a joke, he couldn't be that bad, right? Shizuo then frowned, the raven's eyes began to slowly close. "Oi! Stay awake! Izaya! Stay with me!"

Izaya's eyes opened for a moment. "Sorry….I'm just- so tired…." And then they were closed again.

A wave of panic swept over him, Shizuo clenched his fist. "Izaya! Wake up! Stay with me!"

….

Izaya opened his eyes to a dimly lit room, the only source of light was that coming from the lamp beside him. He caught the faint sound of a constant bleeping noise and frowned in confusion. Where am I? A sigh of relief caught his attention and a delicate hand wrapped around his as he looked into the crying eyes of his mother.

"Oh sweetheart… you're awake, we were so worried."

Izaya didn't know what had happened to him, but he got the feeling it must have been bad. Seeing the room more clearly, he realised he must be in hospital. "W't… happened?"

His mother smiled at him and kissed his forehead. "Shh. It's ok, just rest. You'll be all right."

Izaya frowned at the familiar words, and he then remembered. "Shizu-chan…?"

A hand came up to stroke his face. "He called the ambulance, and he rode with you all the way here. He hasn't left your side you know. He's in the waiting room, along with Shinra and Kadota, you're friends are very attentive."

Izaya opened his mouth to correct her statement, because if it weren't for Shizuo, he wouldn't be here now. "Shizu-chan is," Not just my friend. But he couldn't find the courage to tell her. "Yeah, they are."

"We were so worried, when we got the call- Your father and I rushed over right away. Mairu and Kururi are with him at the moment in the cafeteria."

"I'm sorry…."

"Shhh. Don't worry about it for now. The doctor said that with all the blood loss, your injury might have been mistaken for a stab wound, because the cut was deep enough."

Izaya sighed, so he hadn't been stabbed? It certainly felt like it, and Shizuo was panicking so much….. "Mom..?"

"What is it?"

"Did they find….," Seeing her son frown, she had a feeling what he wanted to ask.

"They did. And thanks to you, that girl's parents learnt the truth about what really happened."

Izaya's eyes widened. "How did you…"

Kyouko smiled. "Shizuo made a statement after talking to the police. They searched his house and found chloroform and a mask, they also found several handwritten suicide notes, looked like he had practiced to get her writing perfect."

Izaya shuddered at hearing that, that bastard had the nerve to tell him his own to his face! "I, I'm sorry."

"I've got a wonderful son, brave, respectful and isn't afraid to take risks in order to do what's right. You're my little hero Izaya, I love you."

Izaya was surprised that she didn't even get mad, was she not even the least bit curious about why the hell he had even gotten involved with all this? He was too tired to really worry about it now anyway, he smiled at her as she kissed his forehead. "Love you too…"

Kyouko smiled. "Get some rest"

…

Izaya sat himself up with a little grunt of pain, his door was open for now, since it was visiting hours anyway, and his friends had come to visit. Again. Shizuo rushed over to help, placing the food he'd gotten down on the table. "Oi, I thought you weren't supposed to move much yet."

Izaya huffed, while he appreciated Shizuo's concern, he was getting annoyed. Izaya couldn't do anything without him turning into a worried mess. "Shizu-chan…I'm fine, I was just sitting up, that's all."

Shizuo caught the slight snippiness of Izaya's tone and stepped away. "Sorry. Maybe I should leave you to rest."

Izaya rolled his eyes. "Don't get defensive. I just don't need your help twenty four seven, it's kind of smothering. I get it enough from my mother," Shizuo avoided his gaze and Izaya sighed, he then patted the bed. "Come sit with me. I want you to stay…"

Shizuo looked up at him. "I was just worried -"

Izaya tilted his head with a smile. "I know. It's ok." He patted the bed once more and then asked, "Shinra and Dota-chin?"

Shizuo sat on the edge of the bed, mindful of the IV tube that was connected to Izaya's hand. "Getting food. Be up in a minute."

Izaya curled his finger and Shizuo leaned forward, with his other hand, he lightly grabbed hold of the blond's shirt. "Kiss me…" Shizuo smiled and gently pressed his lips to Izaya's, leaning his weight on his palm so that he didn't fall forward. They pulled away and Izaya chuckled as Shizuo licked his lips. The raven turned to the door and his eyes widened, Shizuo frowned at the sudden change and was about to ask what was wrong and then Izaya spoke again, his tone a whisper of surprise. "Shinra…"

At hearing their friend's name, Shizuo turned his attention to the door, his mouth agape.

Shinra dropped the cup of coffee he was holding, the two from the bed could see the hurtful expression on his face before he ran off.

Shizuo turned to look at Izaya, who looked back at him in dismay, both cursing in unison. "Shit."

A/N: I'm debating whether or not to continue with this story.

Hmmm, your thoughts?