Disclaimer: This is a fan based fiction.
Author notes: Thanks so incredibly much to everyone who favorited/followed/reviewed/messaged. I appreciate it more than you could ever know!
I've gotten a few questions about Tamina's appearance. I've peppered her description in throughout the story but I wanted to make it a bit more clear! Tamina is pretty short, at just 5 ft. (152 cm) tall. She's about the same size as Kururi and Mairu for reference. She has very dark blue eyes and her hair is long, the length of it reaching the small of her back with natural waves and kinks. The color is what you'd call a blush blonde or rose gold, which is basically a pastel pinkish blonde.
I promised Shizuo would be back this chapter and I delivered! Hope you enjoy.
The twins stared Tamina down. After catching their brother assaulting their nanny with his mouth and promptly escorting him the hell out of their apartment, they were now left with the task of making sense of this awkward situation. The silence in the room was drawn out and tense. They wore unreadable expressions as they pondered, which began to panic Tamina. "Am I fired?" She asked, wincing in anticipation of their response.
Kururi and Mairu shared a look then a sigh. To Tamina's complete surprise they came to sit on either side of her on the couch. "You're not fired." Kururi's voice came quietly.
"Izaya is the master of manipulation and the king of corruption." Mairu said. "We're sure whatever just happened wasn't your fault."
Tamina let out an audible breath of relief. She was worried this little incident would ruin the nice thing she had going here. She hated the idea of the girls being untrusting or suspicious of her.
"But," Kururi added. "You should tell us what exactly did happen."
Tamina knew she had to be honest with them. "When I said I knew your brother before... We were kind of...involved... Briefly...Very briefly..." She fumbled over her words.
"You fucked." Mairu concluded bluntly.
Tamina cringed at that, but accepted. It wasn't as if she needed to dance around things with these two. "Yes. We did. Once." She clarified. "It was a mistake then, and it would have been a mistake tonight. So thank you both for bringing me back to my senses."
"So why did it happen?" Kururi asked.
Tamina contemplated. "I don't know. He's always had this awful ability to captivate me. It used to be something that I loved. I used to think it was chemistry. He showed me his true colors and that should have been the end of it. Trust me, I'm under no delusions. I know he's rotting inside." She pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, trying to relieve some of her tension. "He just gets so deep into my head. My view of him changes with every encounter. Every time I see him I feel like I find a different layer of him, and it's becoming hard for me to tell if he's been taking me closer to or farther from the things I really want. I'm sorry. I wish I had a better answer for you."
The girls seemed to share a look of concern. "Listen Mina..." Mairu started to say,
"You don't have to say it, I know." Tamina interrupted her. "I know what you're going to say. 'He's just using you.' or 'he doesn't have feelings for you.' or 'he'll never love you.' Trust me, all of those things are obvious to me. I should just suck him out of my life like venom, but he is my 'boss' which kind of complicates things..."
"Actually," Mairu said. "That's not what I was going to say. Look, all of those things are the best case scenario. Izaya just wanting to use you is all you should hope this is."
Tamina looked to Mairu curiously. "What do you mean?"
"Don't try to read him. Don't try to make sense of him. The fact that you are trying already makes you different from every one else." Mairu went on. "You're on his radar. You can tell by the way he looks at you."
"He looks at everyone. He 'people watches.'" Tamina said. "That's what he does."
"That may be true, but we've never seen him with his tongue halfway down someone's throat, so give yourself a little credit." Mairu retorted.
"We grew up with him" Kururi confirmed. "This is out of the ordinary, even for him."
"It's bad news, so just trust us and stay away. Whatever he's doing, whether he really likes you or not, it won't end well." Mairu implored her.
Tamina gave a heavy sigh. "I know." She admitted.
As if on the same frequency or sharing some kind of unspoken acknowledgment, the twins leaned over and rested their heads on Tamina's shoulders. Tamina smiled softly and looped her arms around to hug them both. They in turn nuzzled into her embrace affectionately. She had never been one for such affection. Growing up with a stand offish mother and no siblings, she hadn't developed a comfort with platonic touching or embracing. It had always felt strange and awkward to her, to hug or hold someone like this. But the way they all embraced in that moment didn't feel strange or awkward to her at all. It felt right. It felt like a love she'd always needed. It felt like...family.
A few weeks passed without incident. Tamina's payments showed up in their mailbox, which was completely fine with her. She wasn't eager to see the info broker again any time soon. She heeded the girls words and knew she couldn't trust him, but more importantly, she refused to trust herself with him anymore. His absence was the best thing for her she realized.
She locked the apartment behind her and made her way downstairs where her friends were waiting to pick her up. The familiar van sat idling in front of the building. She smiled to herself every time she saw the ridiculous lolita graphic on the door. She grabbed the handle to slide it open and took her usual place in the middle row of seats. "Good morning." She greeted everyone.
"Sup" Kyohei greeted her from the front.
"Hey." Saburo acknowledged.
"Morning!" Erika and Walker chimed, all the way in the back.
"Can we stop and grab coffee?" Tamina asked.
"Way ahead of ya." Saburo replied, grabbing the coffee they'd gotten for her from the cup holder and passing it back. "Got the mocha and raspberry flavors in it like you like."
Tamina took it eagerly. "I love you guys..." She said with a broad smile. They really were the best.
They got on their way and Erika and Walker resumed their usual chatter. "If I was in a MMORPG like SAO my character would definitely be a ronin type with pyrotechnic abilities. Like a flaming sword or a fire dragon attack. No! A flaming fire dragon sword!"
"I think I'd be a half demon that looks like a human. My armor would be geisha style and I could use my sex appeal to seduce dumb traders. Then I'd rip their heads off and feast on them like a praying mantis queen. I'd farm so much loot that way..."
"What about you Tamina?" Walker asked.
Tamina sipped her coffee. "I don't know. I think I'd be happy being a normal human type as long as I had a cute demon companion to protect me and ride on.. Like a giant wolf or nekomata or something.."
"Oh! Like Kirara in Inuyasha! That's a good one." Erika agreed.
The pair in the back continued on. Suddenly Tamina was reminded of something. "Hey, I have a question about the Dollars."
"What's up?" Kyohei asked.
"Well," She tried to be nonchalant. "I heard some guys from the Dollars tried to mug a girl around here a couple weeks ago."
"Where'd you hear that?" Kyohei eyed her suspiciously in the rear view mirror. With her hesitation he pushed. "Did this 'girl' happen to be you?"
"Wouldn't I say that if it was?" Tamina retorted, hoping he'd buy her poker face.
"Just tell us if we have to go fuck somebody up." Saburo said.
"We're getting off topic." She tried to regain the matter at hand. "We're talking about the Dollars, not me."
"Listen, whoever those D bags were that tried to mug," He made air quotations. " 'this girl', they weren't Dollars." Kyohei dismissed.
"How do you know?" She asked.
"Because that's not who the Dollars are." He said simply.
"You can't know that, Kyohei." She told him.
"Then how about this, the next time," Saburo also made air quotations to belabor their point. "'this girl' sees those guys, 'she' points them out so we can run them the fuck over. Problem solved." He said.
Tamina sighed, preferring not to provoke them more. She should have known this wouldn't turn out well with their protective nature. "How about we just forget I said anything."
Erika suddenly burst into their conversation, picking right back up on their early avatar conversation. "What about a dragon that turns into a jeep like Hakuryuu?! That would be a great mount for you Tamina!"
Tamina was happy for the subject change. "That one!" She replied to Erika. "Definitely that one."
The next place the group went was a manga shop in East Ikebukuro. The short list of light novels Erika and Walker had rattled off didn't particularly interest Tamina, so she opted to wait in the van with Saburo and Kyohei. Saburo was reading a magazine article on Ruri Hijiribe's work in Vampire Ninja Karmilla Saizo and Kyohei scanned through posts and videos on his phone. Tamina was content for the time being pressed against the window, watching the bustling of the city. There was such an assortment of people occupying the streets. Fashionistas and high school kids. Yakuza and families. Businessmen and tourists. Each one she imagined had a story. A place they were going to or coming from. A life they loved or loathed. She wondered what the slightest influence could do to one of those lives. The slightest push in one direction or another. She started to wonder to herself if this was what Izaya had been talking about when he'd mentioned 'people watching.'
"Did you guys hear about this?" Kyohei asked the two, pulling his ear buds out of his ears and gesturing with his phone.
Tamina and Saburo leaned over to watch the video playing on Kyohei's phone. When he pulled out the cord for his headphones the volume played. "-were blocked off for hours due to police activity, causing heavy delays in the area. Little details are available as of now, but the case has been ruled a homicide. The victims are yet unidentified but a source says this could be due to the brutality of this incident. Police have not released any official statements on the nature of the assault or suspect details, but several witnesses have asserted that a masked assailant was seen fleeing the scene in what appeared to be a wolf man costume. We'll have more information on this grisly incident as soon as it becomes available."
"Damn," Saburo said. "Maybe it's another slasher thing."
"Nah," Kyohei said right away. "This seems different."
"What's the slasher thing?" Tamina asked.
Saburo and Kyohei shared a look. "Nothing" They both said.
Tamina was immediately about to question them further, but when she glanced back out the window she noticed a a familiar face walking among the crowded street. He'd catch her eye anywhere. His tall lean form. His dark eyes and hair. That 'ever so pleased with himself' face that he wore. It was the first time she'd seen Izaya since their heated exchange in her apartment had been cut short. She planned to just silently watch, but his eyes suddenly met hers, as if he knew she'd been there all along. Their gazes locked for a short while, the smug expression on his face only becoming broader. He nodded his head, as if gesturing her to follow him, then he disappeared into the crowd just as quickly as he'd come.
Tamina thought on it hard, but finally relented, despite all her common sense. Maybe he had something of importance to say for once. Maybe she was just making more excuses for him. Regardless. "I'll be right back." Tamina blurted, pulling open the vans sliding door.
"Um, I'm sorry, did we not just listen to a news bulletin about a killer wolf man running wild in this city?" Saburo asked with a displeased expression.
Tamina snatched her bag off the seat and tossed it over her shoulder. "I'll be fine."
Saburo was about to protest more but Kyohei waved him off. "Let her go. She's a big girl. Just call us if you need us."
Tamina forced a smile and gave a wave, sliding the door shut and taking off after Izaya. She felt mildly guilty, but justified that she wasn't necessarily lying to her friends. Just avoiding a lecture from them. She rounded the corner and scanned the crowd while she walked. She squinted and stood on her tip toes to look over shoulders. When she'd traveled some distance she finally stopped. She started to think he might be too far gone and this was a waste of time.
"You suck at following people." Izaya's voice came from behind her.
She turned, unsure how she could have possibly passed him without seeing him. "I guess I haven't developed the comfort you have with it." She approached him. "Where have you been?"
"What makes you think I've been somewhere?" He asked, starting to walk again.
"Because I haven't seen you around." She commented, walking with him.
"That could be because you also suck at noticing when you're being followed." He retorted.
"You know, you should write a book called 'Things a Crazy Person Says.'" She said, shrugging off his creepy comment.
"You're out here following 'crazy people' so what does that make you?" He didn't give her time to answer his rhetorical question. "Don't flatter yourself too much, Miss Takeda. I do have more important things to do in this city from time to time. And much more important people to see." He said smugly.
"Oh, more important?" Tamina asked.
"Mhm." He nodded. "More interesting too. For example, there's a woman in a park around here that screams at birds and smokes cigarette butts she picks up off the ground."
Tamina rolled her eyes. "Right, that does sound incredibly exciting. I don't see how more people don't share this hobby of yours." She said sarcastically.
A smirk took his face. "That reminds me, I did want to talk to you about something."
"Okay, what?" She humored him.
"I don't have time right now. I'm meeting someone."
Tamina arched a brow. "Would it be one of those 'more important' people?" She wasn't sure why that displeased her.
"In fact, it is." He said a little too quickly. "But don't get your lace little panties in a twist. It's a client. Mr. Shiki of the Awakusu's."
"Awakusu? Like Yakuza?" Tamina asked, recognizing the name.
"That's right. Believe it or not organized crime syndicates have need for an informant every now and then."
She nodded. That certainly made sense. She wasn't a hundred percent sure what work as an 'info broker' would entail before now, but it was obvious his means of income were dangerous and not entirely honest. Just like him.
"But I'll talk to you about that other thing at a later time. Maybe when I take you out to dinner." He finally said.
Tamina sighed, but didn't find herself firmly opposed to that. "That doesn't sound like a good idea at all." She admitted, though not entirely dismissing the idea.
"Well I'm personally a big fan of your more questionable decisions." He said smugly.
"Maybe." She allowed with a smirk.
"By the way, I meant what I said earlier." He added suddenly.
"Which part?" She asked.
"The part about you sucking at noticing when you're being followed."
When he'd said it earlier she had thought he'd meant in the cases of him following her. Only now did she start to look around, wondering if they were being followed in this very moment. Her pace slowed as she looked about, realizing she'd walked much farther with him down the blocks than she'd meant to. He'd distracted her and lead her a ways away from her friends and her bearing on her location was a bit shaken. Izaya's pace didn't slow at all though. In fact, it picked up. "I'm afraid I don't have any more time for you today Miss Takeda!." He said over his shoulder. "Oh! And I probably won't be answering my phone for a while so any calls you might make to me in the immediate future will likely get forwarded. Have a good evening!" He waved
Tamina blinked at his haste. She stopped trying to keep pace with him and watched him leave with a confused tilt of the head. What the hell was he doing? And why had he been so specific about his availability? She tried to shrug it off. He was such a weirdo. She turned to leave back the way she came.
"Hey there! Remember us?" Her heart sank when the familiar, red headed punk came to stand in front of her. "Where'd your boyfriend go?"
Tamina looked around, trying to mask her frantic movements. He was gone. After hinting they were being pursued he had the audacity to take off. She wasn't sure why she was surprised. This was Izaya after all. Had she really expected more of him? Had she really been silly enough to think things might be becoming different?
Her eyes narrowed as she summed up her courage and faced the man. "He'll be back any second." She half bluffed. She still held a small hope he'd come back and assist her as he'd done before.
"Is that right?" Hiroshi said, as his gang of delinquents assembled behind him, carrying various blunt objects. One had a baseball bat hung over his shoulder. Another pat his hand over and over with what looked like a crowbar. "He's not going to take us by surprise today. This has been a long time coming."
Tamina's nerves began to flare. Still, she willed herself to be brave. "I'll call him." She warned.
"Oh, please do!" He called her on it.
The group watched, ready to stay right here and wait for a chance to settle the score with the switchblade wielding psycho. They were even lucky enough to stumble upon his main squeeze, and weren't above using her to lure him out.
Unsure of what else to do, Tamina reached into her bag and fumbled around for her phone. Once she located it she pulled it out and quickly pulled up Izaya's number in her contacts. She sent the call and pressed the phone to her ear. Her heart was becoming unsteady. He couldn't have gone far. Maybe he'd come back... The line just rang and rang.
"We're sorry! The number you're trying to reac-"
Tamina quickly ended the call when the voicemail started to play and redialed. 'Come on you bastard.' She was thinking. 'Don't do this to me now...' She mentally begged. This time the line only rang once before the call was forwarded. He had told her that this would happen explicitly, she recalled with bitterness.
"We're Sorry! The number-" The voicemail started to play again.
"Well?" Hiroshi asked, beginning to become impatient.
After one more unsuccessful try Tamina tapped the 'end' button on her phone. Her mind raced. She weighed all the possible options for her predicament. She finally came to settle on what she believed to be the best solution. "He said..." She started, then suddenly turned and took off running as fast as she could.
"HEY!" She heard them shout and begin chasing her.
She bobbed and weaved through people, darting down the sidewalk. She heard people gasp in surprise and shriek as her pursuers pushed and shoved through them. She had hoped they'd let her go once she took off but it didn't appear she would be so lucky. They were headed in the opposite direction than she'd come, so there wasn't much hope of running into her friends. That's when she started to think. Maybe she didn't need Kyohei and his group. Maybe she had other allies that were close.
"Dollars!" She started to shout as she ran down the busy Ikebukuro street. "Anyone! Dollars! Dollars!" She kept yelling, waiting for someone, anyone, to respond or notice.
A young man in an apron standing outside a deli looked up from sweeping the sidewalk and stared at the girl sprinting toward him. Unsure of what else to say he pointed to himself and said "Uh, Dollar!" Indicating himself.
At the sight of him, Tamina shouted. "I'm a Dollar too! Help!"
The young man then noticed the men chasing her, still shoving their way through other pedestrians down the street. Recognizing the need and urgency of the situation, he gestures her to follow him. "Come on!" He lead her inside the deli where he worked. Tamina followed when he guided her behind the counter and through the kitchen to a back door. "Run!" He told her as he shoved the heavy door open, leading her to a long alley that ran between the buildings.
"Thank you so much!" She shouted as she ran through the door he held for her and sprinted down the alley way. She knew deep down that Kyohei had to be right on some level. If you were a Dollar, a real Dollar, you had to look out for your own. Maybe that was one of the basics of gang etiquette. She was rather new at this so she allowed herself some surprises.
"You feeling better?" Tom asked Shizuo as he approached their table with his food tray.
"Yeah, sorry." Shizuo apologized, coming to sit and set his meal down. "I was just getting that feeling I get when that damn flea is around and it had me on edge." He sipped his drink, nerves still settling from the inkling he'd had just a short while ago.
"Flea?" Tom began to question. "Oh, you mean that info broker from Shinjuku you're always trying to kill." He realized.
"That's the one." Shizuo confirmed, beginning to dig in to his meal.
"Well, this next one has a family, so try to dial it back a bit, alright?" Tom told him.
"Got it." Shizuo said, between chews of his burger.
"Man, it's such a pain how some of these guys hide behind their families." Tom sighed, ashing his cigarette in the ashtray on their table. "If they were such 'family men' they wouldn't go gambling all their money away."
"Right." Shizuo agreed.
"We've only got two more after that, so we'll be done at a decent time. Early night." Tom went on.
Shizuo took a sip of his drink. "I gotta pick up smokes before the next one."
Tom nodded. He was about to say something else when something outside the big window they sat next to caught his eye. "That doesn't look good."
Shizuo took another big bite out of his burger then followed Toms gaze. He immediately recognized the pastel haired girl across the street. "That's Tamina." He said, mouth still full.
"She's cute. You know her?" Tom asked.
"Kind of." He said.
"Well, she looks like she's in a bind." Tom observed.
Shizuo swallowed his food so he could give his full attention. He noticed a group of four guys standing over her gawking while she nervously made phone calls. He didn't like how it looked. Not at all. His appetite was suddenly gone as he stood from the table. "I'm gonna go make sure she's okay." He told Tom, picking up his tray.
Tom nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. I'll be right out."
With that Shizuo tossed his tray and hurried outside. Not quick enough apparently, as she was gone by the time he pushed through the large glass door. The group of men were gone too. His eyes became tight as he scanned up and down the street for the girl. He could feel his blood starting to boil and he began down the street looking for any sign of her.
Tamina panted as she sprinted down the alley ways, ducking and turning at every corner. When she finally felt she may have put some distance between herself and the group, she slowed and pulled her phone out. With shaky hands she tapped away at her screen, calling her friends.
"Hey." Kyohei answered promptly.
"I need help!" Tamina managed to say between breaths.
"What's going on?" Kyohei's tone became more urgent.
"I'm being chased!"
"Where are you?" He asked.
"I don't know!" She panicked. "I never know where I fucking am in this city!"
"Just stay calm!" Kyohei told her. "We're coming to find you. Just tell me what you're close to! Anything!"
"I was by a burger place. I ran through a Deli. A kid from the Dollars helped me. I was-!" Tamina yelped when she collided with someone. Her phone flew out of her hand and skipped across the pavement.
One of Hiroshi's thugs, the man she'd collided with quickly grabbed her and tightly restrained her. She was about to scream but his hand roughly covered her mouth. Their red headed ring leader laughed as he came upon them with the rest. He began to stomp Tamina's phone into the pavement. "This is what that fucker gets!" He shouted, smashing her phone into pieces.
Tamina watched, eyes wide with fear as he destroyed her phone. She tried to fight with all her strength but she was just too much smaller than the man restraining her. She was easily overwhelmed, and greatly outnumbered. Her heart throbbed in her chest.
"So," The man began, gesturing to the rest. Two in the group grabbed Tamina by each arm and pushed her back so she was pressed against the brick wall of the building behind her. "Where's your boyfriend now?" He asked as he came to stand in front of her. Tamina gasped when she felt his hand touch her thigh and start traveling up. "Does he touch you like that?" He asked her. "Come on. Show us what your boyfriend does." He told her. She struggled against the two that restrained her but they were just too strong. He came close to her. She averted her face but he was so close she could feel his breathe on her neck. She started to panic.
Where was he? He'd shown up before. He'd kept her safe before. Why wasn't he here now? Why would he let this happen to her. 'Izaya...' She mentally begged for him to come to her rescue.
"Hey!" A new voice erupted down the alley.
Everyone including Tamina was visibly startled, but the men cringed. As veterans of Ikebukuro, they immediately recognized the imminent threat. Tamina had to look to be sure though. A wave of relief washed over her when she saw the tall blonde, staring the group down. She knew the look when she saw it. She'd seen it before. His eyes were fixed and narrow behind his blue glasses, and his jaw was tight. It was the look of fury.
The group released her and tried to disperse quicker than Tamina could have imagined, but Shizuo descended on them like an ungodly storm. He started by picking the red head, Hiroshi, up and throwing him directly into another. The way they bounced down the alley seemed unnatural. Like a stone skipping across a lake. Another man took a swing, connecting with Shizuo's cheek. He barely recoiled though, grabbing the man by the face and thrusting him forcefully into the brick wall behind him. The largest one among them jumped onto Shizuo's back, attempting to restrain him. Shizuo in return effortlessly threw him into a nearby trash can, causing debris and dust to fly everywhere. Tamina could do little but hold her hands protectively over her ears in the commotion. Shizuo's display of immense power yet again left her speechless. Despite being outnumbered, he threw every one of them a beating they wouldn't soon forget.
Eventually, each man ran like hell, making their escape down the alley, fumbling and tripping as they did. Shizuo stood, fists still clenched, unsure whether to pursue the cowards or not. He heaved heavy breaths. Tamina wasn't sure if he was catching his breath from the fight or just trying to calm himself down from blind rage. She decided to remain quiet until his adrenaline tapered off.
It was at that very moment, that some of the blunt objects that they'd carried and debris that Shizuo had shot into the atmosphere over Ikebukro descended back over them. A sizable piece of wood fell from the sky and collided with Tamina's head, immediately taking her consciousness. Her body rag dolled beneath her and she collapsed to the ground without even knowing she'd been struck. Shizuo immediately tensed at the snapping sound that resounded down the alley, followed by a soft thud. It was only then that the switch turned off, and he felt the haze of anger leaving him. It was replaced by another familiar feeling... Regret.
'Damn it.' He thought to himself, his eyes finding Tamina's unconscious form lying on the ground. 'I screwed up...'
Author Notes: I said Shizuo would make some moves! I didn't say they would be very graceful...
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