Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara! :(
"Shizu-chan's not back yet?" Izaya asked as he and Mamoru entered Shinra's apartment.
"They're having some issues with the clean up. Shiki's trying to retrieve our guy's gun without the authorities noticing," Akabayashi told him from the couch. "Oh! And before I forget, he told me to give you this." He held up what looked like a small phone. "One of his men dropped it off while you were gone. The code is 4357 if you need to use it."
Izaya took the gift carefully from the other, wondering what kind of gimmick the yakuza executive had built into it. Akabayashi sighed, leaning back onto the sofa as he returned to watching the continuous onslaught of "breaking news" on the television. "It looks like just a matter of time before they call the SDF in."
"That would be catastrophic," Izaya groaned, unwilling to imagine just what bloodshed would occur if they were to bring in the Japanese military. If it came to that, then he might as well return to Kyoto and consider this a lost cause. "I don't understand how they don't realize how much danger they've put the entire clan in."
"Orihara-sama had stopped sending out patrols after the Boshin War," Mamoru explained. "She was afraid that too much involvement with the humans would draw further attention to them, given what happened to her closest confidant."
"But she still took a human husband and kept her family on the side. She could have at least warned the clan about the outside world," Izaya grumbled as he placed his cloth bundle on the coffee table, carefully uncovering the glass sphere without touching it.
"What is that?" Shinra asked, eyes gleaming with childlike curiosity. He made a mental note to himself to not let the doctor anywhere near it.
"A little demon we met back at the Orihara household entrance gave this to me. Apparently, it's a memory orb," Izaya replied, frowning. "I'm actually not too familiar with these. I just know we shouldn't touch it directly if we're not the owner."
"That is correct," Mamoru confirmed. "It is said to be very dangerous to come into contact with another demon's memory orb."
"What does it do exactly?" the doctor inquired, obviously itching to touch the glowing sphere himself to experiment with it.
"Demons live very long lives, so sometimes we use these to keep precious memories. Touching one would allow one to relive their stored recollections. The caveat is that it only works if there is a particularly powerful emotion associated with the memory, or so I have been told. It also tends to pick up a lot of unwanted echoes since we tend to feel our negative experiences more strongly."
"Sounds useful," Celty commented.
Izaya scoffed. "What's the point of reliving the past if you can't change it?" He peered into its depths, still unsettled by the soft whisper that seemed to be drawing him to it.
"Whose memories are in there?"
"We were told it was Uta's," Mamoru replied.
"Why would they bother giving you her memories like this if they're dangerous?" Akabayshi asked, frowning.
Izaya bit his lip before replying slowly. "I can think of two possibilities."
"Two?" Akabayashi quipped.
"It'll depend on whether that demon was actually from the main house or is from Uta's group."
"Don't you think it's a bit of a gamble then?"
"Perhaps." Izaya steadied his breathing, trying to keep his apprehension at bay. The demon had told him that it would help him answer his "question." He grimaced, wondering just how the others could possibly understand him and his plight the last hundred years. They did not witness the wars first hand like he did.
What did they know?
Izaya defiantly removed the rest of the cloth before wrapping his hands around the glass.
Nothing could compare to what he had been through.
"Izaya-sama, wait!" Mamoru implored, but it was too late.
The orb glowed, engulfing him in a soft light as his surroundings melted away, Shinra's white walls and glass windows slowly replaced by the walls of an old wooden house, the smell of smoke filling his senses.
Izaya blinked, studying his surroundings carefully before a sensation that he had not felt for many years suddenly flowed through him, nearly washing away his own thoughts as Uta's memories flowed into him.
She smiled at the baby in her arms, his large brown eyes fighting to stay open as she continued to rock him to sleep. The other finally relented, and his soft even breaths gave her the green light to place him back in the crib.
"He finally fell asleep?" Shinji whispered from the doorframe.
Uta smiled, brushing some of her hair away from her face as her husband knelt by the crib.
"I still think he looks more like you than me," she commented. "So cute."
The other chuckled softly. "He'll grow up strong like you."
"Yes," Uta agreed. "Do you hear that, Tsukishima? Grow up strong and healthy."
The scene shifted, throwing Izaya into a spiral as he fell deeper into the jumbled memories.
Orihara clapped a hand to her forehead in exasperation. "You too?"
Uta laughed. "What do you mean, me too?" She gasped when she realized what the other meant by that statement. "Don't tell me!"
Her best friend blushed furiously, looking away.
"W-wait! You're the matriarch of our clan! What are we going to tell the others?"
Orihara bit her lip. "But I love him. You love that human you've been meeting too, right? You're bearing his child."
"You could tell?" She had forgotten how observant her best friend was.
The other grinned. "You know nothing gets past me."
"But you know that you're still my number one right? I will still protect you with all my power."
Orihara laughed. "Of course, Uta. If I didn't believe that, then I would have never approved of your escapades with him."
Uta raised an eyebrow at the other. "Just how long have you known?"
"Long enough. I know you quite well, you forget," Orihara laughed.
She reveled in the warmth that wrapped around her as she held her belly, smiling as she thought of the life within.
The scene shifted even more violently this time, ripping him away from the warm scene as he plummeted back into the house from before.
The distinctive smell as she entered the house gave away that something was wrong as Uta dropped the bag of herbs Orihara had given her at the genkan. She kicked off her geta and ran into the living room, finding it empty save for the smoking soup Shinji had been preparing on the hearth.
"Shinji?" she called out, still unsettled by the strange sickly smell. She couldn't hear Tsukishima's usual cries either and made her way to the bedroom, sliding the door open slowly. "Where are-"
She screamed.
Her husband lay in the middle of the tatami in a pool of his own blood, the source a huge gaping wound on his stomach. She ran over to him, trying to stop the bleeding helplessly with her sleeve, but it was hopeless.
His skin was cold and blue, face contorted in horror at whoever had attacked him. "Shinji!" she called out to him helplessly. There must be something that she could do. Wasn't there a spell?
Something…
"Shinji..."
She knew he was gone as she sobbed quietly, fearing the worst as she turned to the crib, trying to blink away her tears.
"T-Tsuki-chan?" she called out helplessly, but she did not see the infant among the sheets. "W-where?" She dreaded to look further and instead stayed where she was next to husband, trembling uncontrollably.
Uta heard the sliding door open, but made no movement to retaliate. Perhaps, if she went the same way Shinji did, then she could... However, her wish was not to be granted as she realized that she recognized the footsteps as one of her own.
"Uta…"
"W-who did this?" she asked Masaru, cradling her husband in her arms. She couldn't imagine that the culprits could have gotten far if her long time friend was nearby. The blood on his clothes only served to prove her assumptions true.
He bowed his head. "I overheard the humans on one of my patrols. I'm sorry, I didn't make it in time. Shinji was already dead when I found him."
"What about Tsukishima?" she barely managed to whisper.
"They told me that they had thrown the child into the river. I searched everywhere, but…" he trailed off, hands clenching at his sides. "I killed them all, Uta. I know we were told to stay away, but I couldn't stop myself."
Uta stayed silent for a long time, her friend graciously quiet as the wave of grief continued to wash over her until it settled into a rumbling storm. It was useless. There was no other alternative to go to his side except… She stood up briskly and flew to the kitchen, seizing the knife from the table. She turned it upon herself when Masaru suddenly grabbed her from behind, swatting the knife away from her.
"No, Uta!"
"Let go of me! Let me see Shinji!" she shrieked.
"This is what they want! Don't let them win! Uta!"
She sobbed, sinking to the floor as Masaru slowed her descent.
"Nothing good ever comes with associating with humans," the other whispered. "They've destroyed everything they've ever feared."
She sniffed. "The humans did this because they feared me?"
"Yes, Uta."
She sat there for a while, hoping to wake from the nightmare that had engulfed her life. She felt lightheaded, her vision blurring as the tears came and went.
"The humans… should die."
"Yes, they should," the other demon agreed.
I'll kill them all.
Every single last one of them.
I'll rip them apart like they did to me.
He saw red.
He blinked, her rage overwhelming him as he fell out of the memory, jumping back and nearly tripping over something soft behind him, the sofa? What was a sofa again? He didn't recognize where he was, the faces before him blurred. All he knew was the one in the corner was a human, and Uta's voice echoed in his head like a chant.
I will kill them all.
Humans had killed Shinji and Tsukishima. They've destroyed everything she ever loved.
They should all die.
His body acted on instinct, and he lunged, the voices around him muffled in his ears as he registered someone shouting.
A wave of darkness caught him before he could reach the human and propelled him across the room into the door. He crashed into the wood, the impact breaking the lock and sending him into the opposite wall.
.
"Whoa! Izaya?" Shizuo exclaimed when the informant slammed into the hallway, the impact causing a sizable crack in the wall. Izaya stood up shakily before brushing past him violently, disappearing down the stairs in a flash of black. He peered into Shinra's apartment to find the others looking just as shocked. "What happened?"
"I-I don't know!" the doctor stuttered. "Izaya was playing with this memory orb thing and then suddenly tried to attack me!"
"Hurry after him!" Celty typed furiously.
"The emotions from Uta's memories must have overwhelmed him. He's in a highly agitated state right now, so be careful," Mamoru told him, also shaken. "Please."
"Tch, stupid flea!" With those words, Shizuo turned and sprinted after the informant without a second thought.
Shinra, Celty and Akabayshi all looked at the older demon as their friend disappeared down the stairs.
"Wouldn't it make more sense for you to chase Izaya?" Akabayashi asked. "You know, full demon versus full demon."
Mamoru shook his head. "It is unlikely that he would listen to me. I should've torn him from the memory orb the moment he touched it."
"So you knew this would happen."
"I did not expect Izaya-sama to touch it so suddenly"
.
"Wait," Sakaraya suddenly whispered as he pulled Shitsuo down with him behind a trash can.
"What?" the other began, but he held a finger up to his mouth as a flash of black sprinted across the opposite street.
"Huh? It's Nii-san," Sakuraya realized before he studied the other's movements a little more closely, keeping a strong grip on Shitsuo to keep the other from standing up.
"Is it really necessary to hide?" the other asked. "He's your brother."
"No, something's wrong."
"I-za-ya!" They saw Shizuo appear from around the corner in pursuit of the other in a mad dash.
.
"Izaya!"
His pursuer caught up to him and grabbed hold of his arm. He turned around and swung with his free hand only for the other to seize his other wrist, stopping him in his tracks.
All humans should die...
He struggled to break free from the other's monstrous grip to no avail, the anger surging through him like wildfire. He needed to kill them all. They had to pay for what they did.
"Izaya! Get ahold of yourself!"
The human's voice was desperate, as it should be. They should fear him.
He broke free of the other and took off again, trying to make his way through the unfamiliar streets. He didn't understand how the ground was so even and white, as if someone had painstakingly paved the rock under him. The buildings were strange and pierced into the sky.
Just where was he?
"Nii-san!"
He turned to see another demon across the black pavement yelling at him and stopped, his vision still hazy. It took a moment before he noticed yet another human standing next to his kin and the rage surged again.
That wasn't right.
He gritted his teeth, taking a step towards them. Demons and humans were never meant to coexist. He'll make sure of that. His steps quickened, turning into a run.
It was then his head lurched, and Izaya hesitated for a split second before something heavy suddenly collided with him, throwing him to the ground as whatever it was that slammed into him broke into pieces around him.
"Nii-san!" he heard again through the haze as he struggled to his feet, trying to lunge haphazardly at the human before him.
A pair of strong arms wrapped around him before his feet could leave the ground again, pinning his arms to his side. He squirmed, turning himself to face his attacker before trying to strike only for the embrace to tighten around him, causing him to hesitate.
He recognized this warmth.
He stopped struggling, confused at all the emotions surging through him.
Who…
"Izaya!" the other yelled at him.
He had already admitted that he hated humans. They had taken Tsugaru away from him after all.
'Wait… Tsugaru?'
He was surrounded by a sea of petals, their light pink hues contrasting with the one in blue before him. Ocean eyes stared back into his.
The other smiled at him, washing away all of the other emotions that swelled in him and leaving him with the soft ache that he had endured all these years.
Right, Tsugaru was gone. All he had now was the one in front of him. Izaya blinked as Shizuo's face finally came into focus, the afternoon sky far too bright as he looked down, burying his face in the warmth that surrounded him.
I think I can see the end in sight! Maybe 3-4 more chapters?
Thank you for coming this far with me! *hugs*