Shizuo walked down the street, licking at his ice cream and feeling a bit stupid, but damn...that was good ice cream! He glared at the kid who had talked him into it...and paid for the ice cream. Shizuo felt bad for allowing the kid to buy him so much food, and even candy. He silently cursed his inability to resists sweets. He'd pay him back, somehow, he swore to himself. He looked at the kid, taking a nibble of his own ice cream and wrinkled his nose.

"Why coffee flavor? How can you stand something so bitter?" Shizuo grumbled.

The ice cream was meant to be sweet. He was sure there was something wrong with both the kid and whatever moron that invent the stuff said kid was eating.

"What? I love things that taste bitter! Dad says I take after him," Harry said happily.

Shizuo only grunted a reply.

"Ooooh, can we go buy mangas? Please? Please? Please?" Haru piped, practically jumping with excitement.

Shizuo sighed and placed a hand on Haru's head and ruffled his hair.

"Sure kiddo."

Shizuo couldn't help but smile at his excitement. The kid reminded him of someone, but he couldn't place his finger on precisely who... for some reason he made him want to both laugh and throw something at him at the same time. Not that he'd ever do that to a kid. He refused to become the monster everyone else saw him as.

SHIZU-SHIZU~!" That...happy...exited...voice... Shizuo groaned.

"Erica. Walker." Shizuo grunted.

"Ooooh, Shizuo is babysitting today? Kawaiiiii*!" Erica cooed.

"No, no, no! It's the kid of a mysterious woman Shizuo met in his wild youth, and now he discovered he had superpowers and was sent to Shizuo to train to join the secretive Shao Lin monks in a battle to save the world!" Walter spurted out, and Erica nodded along with him.

Shizuo tuned out what she said next. They always gave him a headache. What would he have to do to get some peace? Join a Buddhist temple? Suddenly he got an idea. It would save him two problems, all at once!

"Hey... Kiddo... Why don't you have those two manga-crazed guys show you the manga section? I'll just wait outside for you to finish," Shizuo asked him.

"Um, yeah, sure!" Haru said and grinned at them.

Shizuo did NOT like the look in their creepy, starry eyes when they looked at the cute little kid the way hungry tigers look at their prey... Maybe it was a mistake. Who knows what they'd do to the kid?

"On second thought, I'm coming with you," Shizuo said, flicked his cigarette away and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

He cursed himself for feeling the need to protect the little brat and thus being exposed to all this shit, but... He smiled as he listened to the three of them discussing mangas with a passion. The damned brat was cute, he couldn't help but admit that.

Shizuo was regretting his decision to follow them into a manga store before long, and after what seemed like hours, he'd had it! Shizuo grabbed Haru by the neck of his jacket and started dragging him out.

"We're done. Let's go!" He said grumpily and dragged Haru and his stack of books to the registry to pay it, before hauling him out of the store.

"Ah, Shizuo-san! Wait up!" Walter and Erica started running after them out of the store.

"Oi, Shizuo-kun." Came a voice from the parking space they ended up heading towards.

"Kadota-kun?" Shizuo said surprised, before giving a wry smile. "Should've guessed you'd be here too."

Shizuo exchanged a few words with Kadota while lighting up another cigarette. Those four always seemed to hang out together somehow. Usually in their van...

Come to think of it, where... He suddenly realised that Haru was over by the van with the rest of the crew. He smiled a little. Damn, that kid was sociable and jumpy. He almost bounced around as much and as quickly as that damned flee. Even now he was sitting on top of the railing they were parked by, and it wouldn't surprise Shizuo at all if he went on to balance precariously on it sooner or later, as kids are prone to do.

Shizuo and Kadota decided to haul their asses over to the rest of the crew. Slowly... Who knew what kind of fantasy nonsense they'd ramble on about now that they'd gotten an excitable kid to teach about the wonders of the manga?

"...and that's how you make a Molotov cocktail!" Walter said, and Shizuo facepalmed before he rushed over to cover Haru's ears.

"Walter-san! DON'T teach the kid that shit!" Shizuo grunted at Walter.

Who the fuck taught kids shit like that?

"Why can't I learn how to blow things up too? I wanna blow things up too!" Haru harrumphed, crossing his arms, glaring at Shizuo.

"Look... it's not kid stuff. Heck... Shouldn't even do it as an adult...," Shizuo muttered out the last sentence, knowing full well it was lost on Erica and Walter...and probably the kid too.

"But I already know how to make napalm!" Haru stated stubbornly. "Daddy won't mind!" Haru said with a grin, making Shizuo snap the cigarette he was holding.

"THE FUCK KIND OF PARENT ALLOWS THAT SHIT!?" Shizuo shouted at them, before snapping back, realising he'd just yelled at a kid.

Damn. Shizuo expected the kid to cry and want his daddy now. WHY couldn't he hold his temper?!

"Fuck, kid...I...I'm..." Shizuo didn't get very far in his apology before Haru spoke up, not looking even remotely scared.

"Scary, scary~," Haru said with a grin and patted Shizuo's head, standing up on the railing to reach his head. Something about the whole scenario just rubbed Shizuo the wrong way.

"Don't worry about it, Shizuo-san~," Haru chirped, making Shizuo twitch at the tone of his voice.

That damned kid reminded him of someone...he just couldn't quite place who... It kinda sounded like... No! That was just too ridiculous to even contemplate. Simon was right. He should stop obsessing over that damned flea, it messed with his mind.

"Oh, hi! I'm Haru. Hajimemashite!" Haru said to Kadota, attempting a formal bow...a little unsteady, but surprisingly enough he didn't fall down.

It was a pretty good attempt for a kid that didn't seem to be overly skilled socially. It was summer vacation, so he didn't have school, but Shizuo worried the kid might be home-schooled, he appeared to lack social skills a bit. Not that he cared. It was just some random kid that was dumped at his doorstep. At least that's what he told himself. But it just wasn't healthy for kids to be denied the opportunity to socialise with other children.

"Kadota Kyohei. Yoroshiku onigaishimasu," Kadota replied with a bow, a slight smile tugging his lips. He was surprised to see a kid hanging around Shizuo...not that it was the first time, come to think of it.

"Hey, Shizuo-kun. Another kid...?" Kadota said carefully, looking from the kid to Shizuo with a questioning look.

It took Shizuo a few seconds to process what he was asking.

"Ah, no. Absolutely not! Wasn't anything like that! I'm just...watching him. Yeah." Shizuo ruffled his hair in grumpy embarrassment.

Man... You have ONE kid try to kill you, and people never let you forget it.

"Hey, Dota-chin~?" Haru said, trying to get Kadota's attention.

It was what his dad always called this guy, so he figured he should too.

Said 'Dota-chin' froze up at both the nickname and the tone of voice, and Shizuo felt a habitual spike of anger. Both of them whipped around, almost expecting to see that damnable, exasperating information broker jump out of nowhere.

"Dota-chin? Shizuo? Why are you angry?" Haru said, looking confused up at them. Which made them realise it was just the kid.

"How did you... Never mind, I don't wanna know." Kadota said exasperatedly.

Rumours sure got around fast in this town.

"Thought I heard a damned flea," Shizuo grunted, before composing himself.

He didn't want the kid to see what a monster he was. But damn how hard it was to restrain himself, especially when the kid sounded like his mortal enemy. Just thinking about the damned flee sent his blood rushing and made his heart beat faster. It pissed him off!

Shizuo was stopping himself from breaking the table with his head, still tired from the craziness last night as he sat down by the desk the next morning.

For a moment he wondered where that damned kid was before he looked over to the stove and was greeted with the sight of Haru carefully pouring a portion of rice into two different bowls, and cracking a raw egg over the top of it, before sprinkling some sesame seeds over the top.*

Shizuo couldn't help but stare... Mostly because he KNEW he didn't have a rice cooker. Or rice. He couldn't afford it, and he usually just ate out anyway. Which meant the kid had been using the gas oven...

"Hey, kid! Don't touch the oven! It's dangerous."

His glare intensified when the kid just grinned and waved him off as he placed one bowl down in front of Shizuo.

"It's fine, it's fine~" Haru piped while waving away his worries. "I've been cooking since I was old enough to reach the stove standing on a footstool. I don't burn myself anymore."

He grinned broadly, which only made Shizuo worry all the more. Who made a CHILD cook?! He hadn't noticed before, but when Haru picked up his chopsticks, Shizuo saw there was a pretty big scar on his arm that was apparently a burn mark. Shizuo grabbed the kid's arm...as careful as he could, though he quickly let go when the kid whimpered, and he cursed himself for not being able to control his strength.

"Doesn't look safe to me," Shizuo said with a glare at his arm.

The kid twitched on his chair while rubbing his arm.

"Mh..well..." He rubbed his upper arm awkwardly, biting his lower lip. "...wasn't an accident," he muttered, looking down and away in embarrassment.

Haru hated to think how weak he was before his daddy saved him.

"WHAT?!" Shizuo stared at him in shock at his words.

"My aunt... When I burned the food..." Haru heard the chopsticks snap in Shizuo's hands and shrank away at the sheer rage he saw in those eyes.

His dad HAD warned him, but right now Haru could only hope his daddy was right that he never hurt children, because Shizuo was SCARY!

"The fuck kind of people would do that to a KID!" Shizuo yelled as he stood up. "Tell me where they live! GONNA KILL THEM!"

Shizuo glared at what was now an awe-struck face of a child that previously looked terrified of him.

"You...you'd do that for me?!" Haru looked like he was on the verge of tears.

No one, NO ONE, had EVER lifted a finger to help him! Not even the teachers or neighbours whom he knew HAD to know and now this monster...wanted to protect him?

"..." Shizuo's anger dropped into confusion as a small body collided with his own and hugged him.

He knew fully well how terrified everyone got of him when he was angry, and yet this small, breakable CHILD was hugging him.

"Thank you!" Haru almost whispered the words, his voice thick with emotion.

It made Shizuo's heart constrict at the thought of what the child must have gone through to be happy about his own family getting killed. He carefully and awkwardly patted the kid's head. Children were so fragile, and he had no idea how to deal with them.

"Don't worry, Shizuo-san. Daddy saved me. They can't get me now," Haru told him, smiling up at Shizuo, still hugging him.

It made Shizuo understand why this kid loved his new dad so much, he supposed. He sounded like a shady guy, but he was apparently pretty damned good to the kid. Maybe he was a yakuza, Shizuo thought. Would explain a lot.

"I heard you had some information for me~" chirped a happy voice.

"Do you have the money?"

The guy looked around him in a shifty manner, as if he expected someone to pop out of thin air and descend upon him.

The Asian looking man that seemed to pronounce the r's as l's, although his English was mostly flawless beyond that, held out a convolute. But when the shifty man tried to grab it, he pulled back and wiggled his finger at him.

"Ah-ah-ah!" he said. "The information first."

The nervous shady man looked around himself yet another time, before taking off his backpack and held it out.

"It's all in there. Books, documents, addresses. Everything." He nervously licked his lips. "You...you're going overseas yeah? I can't have 'em trace it back to me, you hear!" The man lowered his voice and acted like he was in a spy movie or something, which only made the Asian man chuckle.

"Sure, sure~ I have a cover story, no problem."

He handed the thick envelope with the cash to the shifty looking man, whom promptly pulled out a stick and... hesitated.

"You can't see this! Go! Go!" The shady man prompted, shooing the Asian man away.

"Haaai-hai! A pleasure doing business with you." The Asian man said with a curt bow, before vanishing around the corner.

The other man waited to make entirely sure he was alone, before using his stick and promptly vanishing.

Above him, in the shadows on the roof of the building that the Asian man had vanished behind, it became clear just where he had gone.

"Fascinating ~!" The Asian man said to himself, before hoisting the backpack on his shoulders and vanishing over the rooftops of London.

In the meanwhile, in a castle in Scotland, an old man was sitting at his desk looking very, very tired. He was at his wits' end and finally ended up sending Severus to rifle through the memories of the muggles in the neighborhood for any clues as to what might have been going on, or whom might have kidnapped their savior and killed his family...if that was indeed what had happened.

Something about it felt wrong though. Like he was missing an essential piece of the puzzle. He also felt distinctly uneasy with going to such lengths, toeing with something as borderline Dark as Legimens.

It was all for the greater good. Dumbledore had to remind himself of that. Nobody else could defeat Voldemort, he truly believed that. The prophecy was very, very clear. He HAD to find Harry and correct the mistake he had made with Tom Riddle. He HAD TO!

"Ah, Severus! How good of you to join me, my boy!" Albus smiled as Severus sneered at the nickname. The man never changed. "What did you find out?"

"The muggles clearly don't know what happened. Nobody witnessed anything unusual."

Severus grimaced at some of the things he had seen, hoping he was just misunderstanding the situation. Kids were prone to get into fights on their own, although it didn't explain how skinny the boy he had seen had been... Though the memories were old, and fuzzy around the edges. It was clear that everyone around there was convinced he was some kind of delinquent kid, and nobody really wanted to remember him at all. Guess his father's criminal tendencies showed up in the kid early, he thought to himself.

"Oh dear... Did you find any leads at all, dear boy?" Albus said.

"There was one thing..." Severus paused.

It was just a small detail. He didn't know if it even mattered.

"Several of the neighbors had observed an Asian man loitering around the neighborhood for a few weeks, or maybe months, it's hard to say for sure, before this happened."

It was the problem he had when dealing with disorganized minds. People didn't bother to remember WHEN it happened, especially something that was not worth much in the eyes of gossiping housewives and family fathers. He sneered at all the petty problems the damned muggles seemed to have, and that he had to sift through.

"Nobody ever saw him as much as talking to that blasted kid though. Could be a coincidence," Severus finished.

But Albus had a gut feeling that this might be important, and his gut feeling had never led him wrong before.

"What did he look like?" He inquired.

"Asian. They are indistinguishable for me," Severus sneered, and Albus sighed.

For a spy, Severus lacked an eye for details, and he had an unfortunate tendency to generalise everything. He stood up and fetched his Pensive.

"Show me."

Shizuo was pissed off. He kicked open the door to his house, nearly cracking the wall in the process, after getting back from work that day and kicked off his shoes before entering. The fucking asshole has tried to talk his way out of paying and pissed him off so much that he'd end up throwing him into the sky...again. Tom had been disappointed with him, he knew that. He hated himself for not being able to control himself, but that damned moron just pissed him off!

"Okaerinasai!~"* Haru's voice chirped happily as Shizuo walked in and the smell of food hit his nose, making him realise how hungry he was.

He sighed at the lost battle it had been to make Haru stop doing these damned nice things for him. He felt almost guilty for not being able to repay him adequately. He smiled as he sat down at the table. It looked like Haru had made omurice for dinner, and he wondered where the kid had learned to make Japanese dishes. From what the kid said, he'd come from somewhere overseas. Based on his looks, Shizuo guessed at Europe or America.

"Smells delicious. Where did ya learn to cook like that?" Shizuo said as Haru sat down after having placed the plates on the table.

"Some guy named Jun." Haru grinned. "There's this YouTube channel named Jun's Cooking..." When Shizuo looked blank, Haru continued. "You know...the Internet?"

"Oh. Yeah." Shizuo nodded and took a bit of the food. "Damn that's good!" he groaned, sounding surprised.

Shizuo wasn't used to proper home-cooked food anymore. He mostly just lived off ramen and was always eating out with Tom-san.

Haru seemed to beam at the praise, and it made Shizuo feel a calm, warm feeling spread in his chest. Which was why the next words out of the kid's mouth made him feel uncharacteristically sad...

"Daddy said he'd come to pick me up today!" Haru said excitedly, almost bouncing in his chair.

"Oh. Okay," Shizuo muttered, trying to give the kid a reassuring smile.

It wasn't his kid. He had to remember that. Kids...a family...that life wasn't for him, he knew that.

Who'd ever love a monster like him anyway? Never mind the fact that he'd likely hurt his partner in bed.

He wasn't even picky about gender, not really... He'd be willing to give almost anyone a chance if he someday was lucky enough to find even a single person that wasn't scared of him...and that wasn't his brother, apparently.

"Don't be sad, Shizuo-san. I'm sure daddy will let me visit you. He doesn't say it, and he'd deny it if you asked, but I know he likes you!" Haru grinned, then lowered his voice to whisper conspiratorially to Shizuo. "He keeps a picture of you in his bedroom drawer. I'm not supposed to know, but he was teaching me lock-picking, and I practised it on every lock in the house!"

Haru looked immensely proud at this.

Shizuo was torn between amusement at his childish antics, surprise at the fact the man had his picture...and a small glow of warmth in his chest at the thought someone could even like him enough to keep a picture...still... no... he shook his head. It couldn't be...Shizuo thought sadly.

"It is! I've seen him stare at it when he thinks I'm not looking. And he smiles more softly that I've ever seen him do!" Haru insisted, making Shizuo stare at the kid in shock.

"The fuck...You some kind of mind-reader, kid?" Shizuo said, trying to push down the sliver of hope that the kid's words had lit.

Haru just laughed and shook his head.

"It was written all over your face." Haru grinned at Shizuo's embarrassed look. "I'm not nearly as good as dad yet tho, but he's teaching me. It's important to be able to understand people."

Haru nodded at his own words as if he spoke the undeniable, guaranteed truth, and Shizuo had to smile at the blind faith in his dad's words that this kid had. He supposed that was pretty normal for a kid tho, and it did sound like a good thing, to understand others. Maybe people would fight less if they did? Didn't some Indian guru on tv say something about that in some interview once? He couldn't remember.

Just at that moment, the doorbell rang.

Shizuo opened the door and instantly felt like flying into a fit of rage.

"Hi, Shizuo-chan~" The damned flea grinned happily up at him. "Don't mind me, I'm just here to pick up my..."

"DADDY!"

Haru ran up behind Shizuo and jumped into his dad's outstretched arms.

"I missed you!" Haru exclaimed as Izaya chuckled and whirled him around.

He wasn't going to admit it, but he had missed Haru as well. And from the delighted grin on Haru's face when he spun him around and made him giggle, Haru knew it as well.

Shizuo was standing on his doorstep, petrified at the scene...and its implications.

"Haru, go get your stuff," Izaya told his son and Haru rushed in to fetch his bag.

He already made sure it was packed and ready to go, having heard all about Shizuo's feelings towards his dad. But it seemed there was no rush, as the Beast of Ikebukuro was standing dumbfounded trying to mash the contradicting memories in his mind.

THIS was Haru's father?!

THIS was the loving father that bought him ice-cream and comforted him when he cried?

THIS was the man who had taken Haru to the zoo and told Haru he was wonderful and special, and...

His mind nearly had a small breakdown as his memories of the Flea, and his vision of the perfect, if shady, loving father mixed and merged like two different puzzles that were just never meant to fit.

Haru came back out, and Izaya helped him fit his backpack on tight.

"Get ready to run," Izaya whispered into his ear, and Haru nodded at him, wondering what his dad was planning to do.

"Ara, ara~ Did I break your protozoan mind, Shizuo-chan?" he teased, just as Shizuo's mind dropped by the memory of Haru's father and...that...picture... He blinked as the Flea stepped closer to him.

"Thank you for taking care of my precious son, Shizuo-chan~," Izaya said

He pressed his lips on Shizuo's in a quick kiss, making the former bartender blush furiously and sputter with his hand held to his lips as Izaya grabbed his son's hand and began running before the beast's mind could catch up with what happened.

"IIIIZAAAAAYAAAAAAA!"

The yell of rage was running out over Ikebukuro, making its citizens shudder, before going about their day as usual. They were, after all, quite used to this by now. Izaya's high pitched laughter was soon accompanied by a child's, which was a little weird, but few, if any, noticed.

Notes:

*Rice with a raw egg over it, or Tamago Gohan, is a pretty typical Japanese breakfast. And contrary to what most fanfics will tell you, egg and bacon are pretty damned rare.

*Okaerinasai - Welcome Home.

*In the unlikely case someone does not know it, 'Hai' means 'yes'.

*Kawaii - Cute/Adorable.

I do try my best to keep the cultural context in mind in my fanfics, as well as logic. So please feel free to inform me of anything I may have missed. ^^